[] Plan: Xanatos vs. The Forces of Evil
-[] Tell Xanatos everything you know about Toffee
-[] Tell Xanatos Celena's prophecy verbatim
-[] Ask Xanatos what he thinks about Shego
-[] Utahraptor
Given that I wandered off and fell asleep before voting even
started, I am... somewhat gratified that my plan (and plan title) won!
You think about what you should go over with Xanatos. First and most important has got to be that mess with Toffee, right? The more people think he's just some innocent lizard lawyer, the more he can infiltrate and walk all over everyone! "So, uh, David. I've been doing some looking into stuff and I came across something that's pretty surprising. You know that guy you were talking with back at the Sands Gala- Toffee, the lizard lawyer guy? Well, after investigation, it turns out that he's bad news. Like seriously bad news. Multidimensional warlord conqueror-style bad news."
Xanatos blinks. "Ah, good, you noticed. That saves me on having to bring you up to speed."
To be fair, we probably invested too much mental energy into thinking
Xanatos, of all people, would be ignorant of Toffee's true nature. Though to be fair, he may have learned indirectly through investigations of Phobos, who operates in his backyard.
"Knew that Toffee was waging an interdimensional war of conquest against Phobos with genocidal intentions in mind? Yes, I did."
"War of conquest on who?"
"Wait, the Greek god, the moon of Mars, or the type of designer headphones?"
"...Yes."
Retroactive Xanatos Intrigue Check: How much does he know about the Metaworld Wars?
DC 75 needed: 95+72+45+11=223
Extreme Critical Success!
"Ah." Xanatos replies. "Yes. The majority of Toffee's current attention is taken up by another despot fighting across the planes, one who seems diametrically opposed to him. We should be thankful; there are entire planets' worth of resources currently not being marshalled against us primarily due to greater concerns."
"And here I was worrying that it was gonna be a hard sell. I even brought over the cell phone footage that my ninjas recorded!"
"While I appreciate how forthcoming you are with this information, there's no need to try and convince me of Toffee's intentions. He is one of the greatest threats our planet is facing at the moment."
"Okay okay, just gonna go down the list to make sure I'm not missing anything. Mewni? Monsters? Kalabar? Interdimensional Corn?"
"I don't believe we're familiar with a 'Kalabar', are we Owen?"
"No, Mr. Xanatos."
Xanatos Intrigue Check: Can you extrapolate who this 'Kalabar' is?
DC 75 needed: 55+72+45-20(???)+11=163
Critical Success!
Well, we managed to tell him
something, sort of... if only the guy's name.
See, this is what I'm talking about, about how fun your Xanatos is. When he wins an Intrigue check he's urbane and delightful, and on the rare occasions when we cause him to fail or nearly fail one it's
delightful.
"There's no obvious logical reason why not." Russ adds, "and yet-"
"Magic builds itself off of symbolic meanings. The idea of thresholds and boundaries is one with strong influence." Xanatos finishes. "I'll keep an eye out for this Kalabar."
Yeah, that's good to know. Also, this suggests- at least
hints- that
Russ has an Occult score. Or at least something going on that lets him use his powerful sense of narrative and dramatic timing as a substitute.
"So, Xanay. Can I call you Xanay?" Janna asks, not even waiting for confirmation before continuing. "Word on the street is that you're the guy to go to when there's an arcane mystery at hand. That means you'd be pretty good at prophecies too, I'm guessing."
"Signs of an overactive imagination, I'm sure. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm an authority on the subject, but as you can tell from our meeting I'm aware of the arcane to an extent."
Janna is doing her whole "I try to knock people off-balance as a dominance game when I'm nervous" thing and Xanatos is all like "that's cute, sweetie, keep working on that A-game."
Janna closed her eyes. The atmosphere inside the limo seemed to darken slightly as clouds gathered outside. "The light you seek shall not be found. Though others might join and effort abound. Til' the demon stands where died her mate, against the world in reckless hate."
"Through hate she will inspire fear. This darkness comes- within one year. Though her plan will fail, the veil will lift; through truth, her people set adrift."
"With schemes unfurled, a different plan. A princess from another land. An ally of great strength she seeks. The payment? Hearts set on her cheeks."
The purple glow faded from Feldrake's eyes. "Show-off." he muttered under his breath.
Intrigue Check: Does Xanatos visibly react to this in any way?
DC 140 needed: 23+14+38+10+5+7=97
Failure!
Xanatos doesn't seem to react once Janna is finished reading off the prophecy, though you do notice that Max looks a little creeped out from the atmospheric effects Janna was adding for dramatic effect.
Ah well. Can't win 'em all... though Max's reaction is appreciated.
It's at this point that you realize you were maybe being too open? You mean, this was really important, and it seems like Xanatos totally understands your concern, but if you're going to bring up the idea of a broader alliance, you'd better be real subtle about it.
Opposed Intrigue Check: Be Real Subtle About It
Doofenshmirtz Intrigue Check: 32+14+38+10+5+7=106
Xanatos Intrigue Contest: 61+72+45-20(???)+11=169
Xanatos Success!
*Snrk*
Well, at least he didn't crit.
I have to wonder what that -20 he keeps rolling is, though.
Opposed Intrigue Check: Are these Xanatos' Real Feelings?
Doofenshmirtz Intrigue Check: 58+14+38+10+5+7=132
Xanatos Intrigue Contest: 8+72+45-20(???)+11=116
Doofenshmirtz Success!
HOLY SHIT WE WON AN OPPOSED INTRIGUE CHECK AGAINST XANATOS!!!
And we couldn't have done it without Russ...
Well… no. Xanatos is lying to you, or at least, intentionally leaving a lot out. Russ tells you as much with a quirked eyebrow that you somehow manage to catch. While you still more or less don't mind Greatest Rival Shego, even you recognize her temper, her laziness, and her overall laissez-faire attitude to the 'territory' she adamantly insists is not her territory. You're certain Xanatos notices too, and based on what you know of the guy with his brilliant web weaving and distant but careful stewardship of New York, that seems like the sort of thing he'd care about. Xanatos is intentionally painting Shego in the best possible light, which means…
You have no idea what this means.
But it seems important.
Speculation ahoy!
Intrigue Check: Where's the Secret Entrance?
DC 100 needed: 50+14+38+10+5+7=124
Success!
Russ glances around the building for a moment before coming to a decision. "It's in the offices, isn't it."
Xanatos raises an eyebrow.
"Quiet, out of the way, easy to hide from anyone who doesn't work in the department or simply glamor until it's imperceptible. Since only the reigning nobles get to use it, there's no need for large scale attention diversion. You can just put it somewhere only you are allowed to go, then make anything actually magical a backup."
"You're quite the professional."
"So they say."
Okay, Russ definitely has magical knowledge, enough to think about the subject tactically, and isn't shy about letting Doof know. At Intrigue 38 he didn't have to say a blessed thing there if he didn't want to.
You can see dozens of wizards, witches, ghouls and goblins, all chattering to each other in an endlessly fascinating riot. One woman with a red dress and a mane of silver hair is even getting thrown out by security trolls!
Hm. Wonder who that is.
"We'll see." you say noncommittally. You really don't know enough about magic at this point to understand anything more than the basics. "So, Xanay."
Intrigue Check: How does Xanatos feel about being called Xanay?
DC 150 needed: 44+14+38+10+5+7=118
Failure!
He loves it. You have no idea why Janna is grinning maniacally, though.
Ah, shit.
Of course, from Xanatos' perspective this is all like
'Oh, no, he's going to keep calling me that. Curse my total unflappability...'
"If you're not running this thing, who is?"
Xanatos points up to a podium erected in front of you. "That would be her."
You look up to see pitch black tresses hanging down over the face of a- duck?
"Magica De Spell."
Ahh, THERE she is.
