Homebrew system thread II, part 2

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Sorry. Parental units were being a pain and I don't see it letting up. I have access for a bit over a week and I want to use as much of that time as I can getting game mod stuff done. I think it's safe to say it's time for Alfred to go on his own adventures, perhaps accompanied by Rohal.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

We thought you were gone to the army, already; only a week? No library type solution, no mobile internet?

Anyway, something to be done before then- a messenger did come and ask Alfred to attend on Andrea, who has apparently recovered consciousness, in the lower cellars of the castle, the storechambers under the great hall that are being used as a makeshft hospital.

There are usually a number of people there, busy, wandering about, the place is generally inhabited. Right now, there is nobody to be seen and it feels strangely quiet. There are sub- chambers off a long corridor/room, kitchen and well are down here, and should be busy.

There probably are some about the place, but that's not the main reason for the smell of rat. The door to the room she and several others are supposed to be in is ajar, but not open.

What's the plan?

[Kaelan]

OOC - sorry for lack of posting - ISP shut down the area for 'repair work' for the past week. Only just come back online

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Right, back to plot and just letting the dice take it from there, then.

Downstairs, there is a great deal of crashing and banging as Alfred finally manages to stab someone to death with a hammer, and in a good cause too. The Valdemironian priest waiting to try to ambush and brainwash him, and holding Andrea hostage to that effect, is no longer in a fit state to bear witness; or breathe, much.

There will be some more to happen there, but the short version is the wedding date is set for early summer.


Upstairs, Dale's testimony and Larric's add up. The baron and most of the survivors of the caverns are glaring at the Valdemironi. The wheels could be about to come off quite spectacularly.

The acolyte seems to be waiting for somethign to happen; when it fails to do so, decides the best form of defence is counterattack. 'In your absence, we held this place together. Decisions were made.'

'Was one of them to divide and rule?' The Baron snarls.

'We did not have time to improve on your practise.' The acolyte snaps back. 'You have nothing. No names, no places, nothing but self serving evasions on the part of two fools desperately triyng to talk their way out of trouble.'

What are the party, such of you as are left standing, doing at this point?

[Simon_Jester]

Larric lets the byplay develop just a slight bit, while murmuring to Dale, and Lisanna (if she's still standing with the party instead of having taken a seat with the Baron and his senior staff):

"We have two names of people whose brains aren't full of fog- that treasuryman, and the priestess. Do we talk about him, or her?" The tone of the murmur suggests that Larric is casting a vote for "him" first.

[Fiji_Fury]

OOC: Have been away for a bit. Newborn baby is the reason. I'll be back more frequently now that the baby is home and settling.

IC: "Him to begin with. Her if needed," he whispers back to Larric.

Speaking next to the Valdemironi Acolyte: "What of the horrified looks your acolyte and guards gave when we invited them to join us in questioning the prisoners? Invitations I might add that were met with a refusal then a demand by them to take the prisoners from us and to Valdemiron's Temple. When we declined, those three looked angry and worried then beat a hasty retreat. They recognized the prisoners. Your assertion that 'we have nothing' and your disrespect for our lawful Baron does little to assure us you or yours were not tied to the prisoners and their foul deeds."

Holding only a second for that to sink in, Dale switches topics. "For that matter, where are the servants of my order? Were they other casualties to your 'decisions'?"

OOC: This might be a good time for Larric to speak up and add the treasury-man's name to the court. The acolyte doesn't seem too capable or he'd have made a better excuse/deflection. Enough pressure could make the man crack and do something truly stupid/damning. I'm betting on damning and am glad we're armed.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Did the prisoners name, to the baron, the treasury man? Trencherd, I think his name was?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

To Dale the valdemironi acolyte says 'Your order? That band of boneheaded, death worshipping, navel gazing idiots? More concerned with the rotting than the living; no use at all. All we had to do to destroy them was stop shielding them from the consequences of their own mistakes. How did we miss you?'

He looks to the constable and the treasurer. 'How many of your men have been taken, jailed, by order of a man who spent three months hiding at the bottom of a hole in the ground? Of someone who ran out on his people? Is that leadership? Rightful and lawful?'


Oh yes, the wheels are about to come off. Plan?

[Simon_Jester]

So, the priest has decided to double down...

Larric bristles, looks shocked. "First you slink around trying to murder people who've done nothing to you, then you try to bully your way out when you get caught. How hard are you trying to organize your own rebellion on the spot here? That's what it sounds like to me."

[Fiji_Fury]

To the Valdemironi: "You condemn yourself with your own threats. We come here with evidence and witnesses to crimes committed. Instead of responding reasonably to those concerns you are full of bluster and sedition... are you to foster rebellion and treason then? This is your next grand 'decision'?"

Dale takes a step toward the Acolyte. He draws no weapon and in fact keeps his hands just as before.

"Constable, it grieves me to see this... man... attempt to use you and yours as a shield from the serious allegations raised here tonight. These manipulations of you mark him as unworthy."

"Answer me now Acolyte: Did you and your order have dealings with these men? Did you and your order conspire to murder Dame Tamarin? Did you and your order plot treason against our Baron? BEFORE GODS AND MEN, ANSWER!"

[Kaelan]

"Too many priests give too many plots. With many dead, we no need so many priests, especially dumb priest who acts like poor lantern show puppet. Shadow may be big, but not much there."

Looking at the party and the returned Baron things don't look good for the Valdemironi followers. "Would people of town miss them if they go away?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

'People can cope with a lot.' the acolyte says to Dirt, apparently not surprised to find a reasonably intelligent ogre. 'nobody much missed him when he went away.' Gesturing at the baron. 'Fleeing was more or less equivalent to abdication- how can you be a traitor against a deserter lord?

Did we do what had to be done- of course we did. Were there murders and betrayals- do birds fly? Who by, that's the question- we were just working towards a feasible balance of interests when you had the awkwardness to come back from the dead.' that bit goes to the baron-

who orders 'Take him. Arrest for sedition.'

There is considerable uproar at this, and a fair amount of noise from outside the hall too. Hands are still on sword hilts, people still glaring at each other; two of the knights grab hold of the acolyte, who looks strangely smug.

There's a moment of nothing much happening- inside, anyway. No windows, arrow slits, but there is a messenger ust coming in- heads for the constable. The baron orders him to report, out loud, for all to hear.

'There's a mob...'

[Kaelan]

Dirt leans over to Larric, "and we have man who says he is killer. Maybe boy killer, Yes?"

Dirt prepares for what may come this way, other than Larric and Dale he doesn't have much loyalty to either side in this potential fight (or care for that matter). Can he make out what is being said by the mob agitators.

[Simon_Jester]

Larric looks over at the messenger, who is no doubt being urged something like "details, man, whose side are they on!?" by the baron.

As a quiet aside to Dirt- "If the Valdemironi are in with the treasurer, I don't think they'd try and murder his little grandson. Then again, they may have had some kind of mad dark plan going on. But if they did, I'd rather not try to imagine what it was."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Away in a field over the weekend, had quite a lot of fun, sorry about not getting back to this sooner-

'Things like "down with the lords, down with the nobles" and "the gods and the people". They're, they're, mad. Completely.'

[Simon_Jester]

Larric groans. "Looks like someone would miss his bunch after all." He jerks his head toward the Valdemironi acolyte. "Or his friends magicked someone into thinking so." He racks his brains, thinking of who, other than the nobles and sorceress in the council hall, could be on their side and whether they could conceivably be reached.

One question: It is still daylight, yes?

OOC:

[Sorry, but looking at events and at a realistic assessment of Larric's abilities, he's not equipped to handle the situation very well until it starts to develop into something he can act more locally upon]

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

No, it's getting dark. This is going to be done by torchlight and magical light.

The sorceress' reaction is interesting. For a given value of 'utterly mad', anyway. 'Good, they've made a mistake.' She says, with a fair amount of acting in her voice. 'Once their web of allegiance is broken, the people they've just enchanted will turn on them and rip them to bits.'

A short pause. 'Any ideas how?'

[Simon_Jester]

"I've seen it done, knocked the nonsense out of a web of trickery weaved by the elves we ran into in that village on the way here. But that was one elf, one time only. Not a dozen priests."

Larric tries to recall the structures and patterns of the pulse of head-clearing magic he used back then.

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale looks at the smug acolyte.

"There is no 'happy ending' for you, scum. Your preach sedition, treason and murder."

Turning to the rest of the hall Dale speaks louder, particularly toward the Constable, the Treasurer and their men.

"Observe how deceitful and prepared to incite others to violence these Valdemironi are. They will turn on anyone and any thing that they even think threatens their power. And they're amateurs. The two men who are accused and present as witnesses are tools to these priests, just as everyone else in the community is. They transparently have no value to the priests who incited them to these foul acts of assault and murder. This acolyte," Dale points at the man who has been seized, "wants to turn the populace and members of this court into Valdemiron's tools, just like the two accused have been used. Recognize their temple's loyalties to those they use. Don't be their tool. Look beyond their duplicity at the naked, power-hungry bastards that they are. I did not want to believe myself until this pathetic excuse for a servant of the people so transparently failed to deny their possible role in murder most foul and treason against the law. Seeing his bumbling, smug and guilty reactions opens my eyes."

OOC: Dale isn't a speech-master, so while he passionately believes everything he just said, it may not be expressed with convincing inflection and cadence to the disgruntled court. My hope is that the factions of the Constable and Treasurer abandon the Valdemiron pot or at least some of their men are shaken from full commitment. It looks like it will come time soon to smite some of the Valdemiron Priests. Slaying them may break any spells they've placed on the mob. If it comes to that inelegant solution, Dale has knives. Many knives. And the magic-murder blade that unmakes things which are struck by it. And he is WRATHFUL.

[Kaelan]

Prepping in case the mob bursts in Dirt offers a suggestion to Larric,
"Easier to change river direction, than stop river. Alter head magic to change loyalty to hate, or alter allegiance."

[Simon_Jester]

Larric nods quietly, not sure what to make of that. It's a good idea but it would work better for someone who was more practiced as a manipulator. Larric's more like a professional honest man and clearer-up of misunderstandings, by nature.

Question, are there any other priests of other gods present?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Away in a field over the weekend, again; too blithered to make a sensible reply sunday night.

The Constable and Treasurer look at each other and at the Baron, weighing their chances. Dale's words have effect- it does not come out well, words falling over each other, vut the basic thrust of it does sink into a few heads. the Treasurer is an old man with little left to lose personally, but he has family to think of; he subsides.

The Constable does not. The Valdemironi acolyte waves his staff at him, and a glazed look comes over his eyes- and those of several of his men. Swords are drawn.


Other priests present- representatives from the cults of Gargath, earth and farming god, usually against the elitism of the chieftain of the gods, a Suildaini, in the treasurer's entourage, usually an elitist.

The assembled knights and lords look astonished and horrified for the most part, not expecting trouble on this scale, not wanting to blunder from one pit of horrors into another. Weapons are drawn, but this isn't a fight they want or are ready for, and some aren't sure what the sides are.

it is, however, hitting time. Actions?

[Simon_Jester]

Larric grits his teeth and casts a hard-driven beam- of Insight, clarity and sincerity and honesty and all the things the Valdemironi would declare anathema- in the direction of the constable. "The rebel's trying to make a puppet of you, milord, fight back! Resist!"

That's part magic and part persuasion, come to think of it.

[Kaelan]

So much for tact, guile and low down cunning to evade the situation then. Looks like we're onto plan B.

Dirt prepares his dispelling stick, A.K.A. the big axe. Attempting to infuse the power of the earth into it he attempts so 'keen' the edge to cut through any 'air' shield that the soon to be ex-priest has raised to keep himself safe.
Reasoning that crafting a spell over such a large area and body of people must be taxing the caster (he hopes) must be draining, or using a lot of concentration to stop Larric and Dale from fraying the intent of the spell. A dead, or jumping priest would hopefully make their task easier.

Assuming that Dirt has left his pack, along with Cross bow and carnivorous plant in their chambers for reasons of public safety and calm his first action of combat would be to throw anything heavy he can get his hands on at the priest (chair, table, one of the Constables men....) before moving in for the kill.

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale steps to the Valdemironi Acolyte (whom he got closer to earlier) and draw knives in each hand. Without waiting for an announcement, threat or reaction, he hurls them both at the acolyte and uses Motion to propel them at their target. No words now... just trying to cut the strings off the puppets by slaying the hand pulling them. (In this room at least).