Okay, new plan now that DP has my paranoia twitching.
[X] The Dancing Slurk will slow and wait for Sir Prisca's ship to catch up, then both vessels will dock together.
-[X] Before anyone disembarks to investigate the village, Sirim will scout it out from the air while under the effects of a Mythic Invisibility spell cast on him by Kori. He will remain in contact with the party via Dark Whispers and will check the area using Detect Magic and Detect Fiendish Presence spells.
That too, but adamantine is not a coinpurse. It's not impossible to make away with it, but it would be a lot harder to dodge the pursuit if there will be anyone left to pursue.
And also, it's on a boat we made out of stone. We can just seal the cargo bay shut with a transmutation spell, and whoever is after it will have to crack the boat in half to get it... or steal the boat itself.
If we don't want to split up, the alternative would be to secure the cargo in a way that would make it very annoying for any would-be thieves to steal.
Reminder that Pepper and Mina have a 1 mile range emphatic link.
If we do need to - and may I be forgiven for what I say next - split the party, then I think we should keep Cob on the boat, chances are that any immidate town activities will not benefit from sneaking more than Cob's perception will benefit the egg's safety.
Maybe drop a Hermean Potential on Cob before leaving. At the very least I'd like to give him a (Mythic?) Heroism.
And a Cloak of The Hedge Wizard gives free detect magic
And of course at least one caster left behind.
People on boat should have shapechanger goggles, for small rats and maybe even bugs.
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I'd like to bring Gorok to the town, but only bacuse I like him being the party's face, not out of any tactical consideration.
But having a trusted/party melee person there could prove useful.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Oct 10, 2024 at 11:41 AM, finished with 16 posts and 6 votes.
[X] The Dancing Slurk will slow and wait for Sir Prisca's ship to catch up, then both vessels will dock together. -[X] Before anyone disembarks to investigate the village, Sirim will scout it out from the air while under the effects of a Mythic Invisibility spell cast on him by Kori. He will remain in contact with the party via Dark Whispers and will check the area using Detect Magic and Detect Fiendish Presence spells.
[X] The Dancing Slurk will slow and wait for Sirim Prisca's ship to catch up, then both vessels will dock together. Our party, along with Sir Prisca and a small detachment of his and Leontas' men will accompany us, while the rest remain behind to secure the ships.
Ranger's Crossing is a village with one foot embedded in the deep soil of the Verduran and another like the heron bird perched above the water, houses on stilts in the slow brown waters. It is the easiest thing in the world to set a plank from the deck of the ship to the deck in front of one of the larger houses, a net-maker from the looks of the tangle of lines set out in the sun. From there you wander up the empty streets and start to notice signs of trouble, though thankfully it's trouble past, not present: broken shutters, bent hinges hastily hammered back into place, holes in fences and in roofs. There had been a battle here, not so recently that the smell of blood still hangs in the air, but not so far distant either, within the last fortnight, Sirim and you tentatively conclude.
As to what it might have been the hasty repairs do much to hide the signs: pirates might have thrown a few shots from the river, hoping to extract tribute and then charged in to take what they could and maybe even who they could into slavery in Taldan markets, or more of those ogres you encountered upstream. A giant-kin with a good throwing arm could certainly put those holes in roofs and certainly no door these people could make would be able to stand up to one of the children of Haggakal.
Unseen, the pair of you make your way closer to the bonfire in the center of the village to get a better look at the effigy, only to find it oddly tree-like, knotted and leafy as though it had been carved from a whole tree, or several. A masked priest calls forth with a fiery tongue before a crowd:
"...oh Lord upon the path eternal, protect us from the the deceivers and destroyers that twist the seeming of Your world in unnatural manner." The voice rings hollow from behind a mask of steel. Had the man been scarred in the attack? you wonder. "Know ye people who follow in the path of the Living God that the savages have sold all of mankind into the bondage of this evil. Did I not foresee this?"
The crowd moves as if with one will, shouting and hooting their approval, young and old, men and women. Some spit in the direction of the fire as the bells grow frantic.
Sirim is silent for a while, listening to the man speak, against the evil spirits of the forest, against the druids of the Lodge, against the taxman and the Taldan Crown who had been conspiring with them, supposedly. At last he whispers. "The mask, the sermon, I think I know what this is. Upstream of here, in the River Kingdoms, there is a man named Razmir who claims to have passed the test of the Starstone, an Ascended God as Aroden was, though many doubt his word. His followers call him the 'Living God' and claim that above all other powers he truly cares for the fate of mortal men, so he walks among them and gifts them his wisdom."
"And what wisdom is that?" you ask, intrigued. Gods, even those who had been mortal seem, terribly remote to you, far more so than the spirits that are commonly worshiped in Nar Voth.
"That they should tithe one coin in four, that they should take gold from unbelievers and give it to the Faithful onto the glory of Razmir," Sirim's contempt is like acid etching the words. "Either he is no god or he is, by far, the most contemptible of that breed, wholly bereft of vision and ambition. One might perhaps suspect the elves of Kyonin of holding secret powers to stave off a god, but leaderless Brevoy? The River Kingdoms? Nay, the man is a charlatan, and these his newest fools set all upon a string."
"I'm guessing the River Guard will not take it well?" you hazard.
"In Nidal the ringleaders would die by excruciation and the village would be forced to choose between giving up half of its children to the Kuthite faith or a half of its harvest, after dues for ten years," he explains. "I am... less versed in Taldan law, but surely it is treason."
What do you do?
[] Return and inform the River Guard that the village seems to have been converted to the worship of this 'Razmir'
[] Try to use the circlet to learn more
-[] Read the priest's mind
-[] Direct the circlet into the crowd
[] Write in
OOC: The reason the DCs are hidden in this case is because the checks are untrained. Even at low DCs it's easier to not know what you don't know, and neither Kori nor Sirim are up on the politics of this part of the world.
Ugh, that asshole. Well, this probably doesn't have anything to do with the pirates, unless they aren't so much pirates as agents of Razmir stirring up shit and raiding for their 'god'.
@DragonParadox, it looks like you misunderstood the vote a bit. It only called for Sirim to do the scouting, not him and Kori together. I don't have an issue leaving things as they are, but I was being careful with Kori's Mythic power by only having him cast the one Mythic Invisibility spell on Sirim.
What auras does Sirim see with Detect Magic and Detect Fiendish Presence?
Ugh, that asshole. Well, this probably doesn't have anything to do with the pirates, unless they aren't so much pirates as agents of Razmir stirring up shit and raiding for their 'god'.
@DragonParadox, it looks like you misunderstood the vote a bit. It only called for Sirim to do the scouting, not him and Kori together. I don't have an issue leaving things as they are, but I was being careful with Kori's Mythic power by only having him cast the one Mythic Invisibility spell on Sirim.
What auras does Sirim see with Detect Magic and Detect Fiendish Presence?
We did our due diligence and checked for enemy action. We know that a representative of a foreign power is fomenting rebellion or at least seeking to sow chaos in the area. That's good information we can pass on to the authorities. Or Sir Prisca can pass on, if he wants the credit, assuming he understands that we're doing him a favor and that he owes us one.
[X] Return and inform the River Guard that the village seems to have been converted to the worship of this 'Razmir'
We did our due diligence and checked for enemy action. We know that a representative of a foreign power is fomenting rebellion or at least seeking to sow chaos in the area. That's good information we can pass on to the authorities. Or Sir Prisca can pass on, if he wants the credit, assuming he understands that we're doing him a favor and that he owes us one.
[X] Return and inform the River Guard that the village seems to have been converted to the worship of this 'Razmir'
It seems more likely he will get the River Guard out and stomp out the rebellion. Taldor is not Nidal, but they do know how to build a scaffold for traitors.
It seems more likely he will get the River Guard out and stomp out the rebellion. Taldor is not Nidal, but they do know how to build a scaffold for traitors.
As to what it might have been the hasty repairs do much to hide the signs: pirates might have thrown a few shots from the river, hoping to extract tribute and then charged in to take what they could and maybe even who they could into slavery in Taldan markets
Mmm, right, better question: which states around the Inner Sea don't practice slavery? Andoran seems to be one, what with them putting a bounty on slavers, who else?
Arcane, not divine? Or does the spell not differentiate?
Not sure what to make of our findings. The brewing rebellion is a giant "Come in" sign to anyone representing Taldan authorities, so I wonder if anyone could have counted on us stopping by. Looks like Sir Pisca's men are going to be busy.
[x] Return and inform the River Guard that the village seems to have been converted to the worship of this 'Razmir'
Mmm, right, better question: which states around the Inner Sea don't practice slavery? Andoran seems to be one, what with them putting a bounty on slavers, who else?
I'm going to have to look at a map in the morning to be sure, but just off the top of my head Andoran, Galt, most though not all the Varisian city states. Slavery existing was the default of the old Taldan Empire and states would have to diverge from it in order not to practice it. On the other hand neither traditional elven nor dwarven states have slavery.
