No, there likely will be consequences, but hopefully they'll be good ones rather than bad ones. Students need to know they can't just traffic with Hell all willy-nilly just because they see that we employ a small number of Devils.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Aug 29, 2020 at 3:00 PM, finished with 118 posts and 12 votes.
[X] Firstly, you are highly suspicious as a matter of course. While the action of summoning and binding imps might have been 'innocent', the inception of that thought into their minds had to be anything but. The Scholarum will facilitate and provide mages with a familiar suitable toward them, and they can likely even work toward an arrangement with the Crown for one crafted in Gorgossos or Lys if it can't be acquired on an open market. This is part of the benefits to being a Mage in the Imperium, and the most basic principles about conjuring make it explicit that nothing is simple and clean with the works of Baator or their inhabitants, and one must exercise rigorous standards and have absolute oversight before making the attempt.
-[X] Basically, this is directed malice, and you will find the perpetrator. Study the students' memories, chambers or rooms they might have engaged in pertinent discussions with malefactors, and ensure it does not occur again, at least from this vector.
-[X] The Inquisition will be locking down the entire Campus District, not just the Shadow Tower, with any and all assets necessary to conduct the cordon. Depending on the degree of involvement and the agency of specific actors, detention, remedial lessons and fines are not the worst punishment that someone could suffer as a result of this. In fact, if you find an agent of Baator here, you will be executing them with extreme prejudice, and will likely mandate the entire student body show up when that example gets made via Breathweapon. After extensive interrogations in an Inquisition black site, of course.
[X] As to the students, remediate them, fine them for any damages incurred as a result of the summoning, and ensure each person understands why you are capable of forging a new link with an Outsider and why any compact they make of their own is doomed to bitter and inevitable failure. Siduri could likely greatly expand on this subject, given the topic of Imps and her experiences in Dis.
[X] This will be investigated by the inquisition as with any other diabolic summoning.
-[X] Students and staff are expected to co-operate with the inquisitions to the best of their ability. If this is found to be the result of a fiendish plot, they can expect many more visits from the inquisition in the future.
-[X] The children responsible for summoning the imps will be suspended for two weeks, or until the investigation is concluded. Whichever is longer.
-[X] Their families will be expected to make reparations for the damage incurred by the imps they summoned. In monetary form for those who can afford it, or community service for those who can not. Their families and associates will also be investigated (quietly).
-[X] They will have a mark of justice placed upon them that will lead the inquisition to them should they cast anything during this punishment.
-[X] If they do not have a very good reason for doing so they will have their ability to cast removed for the duration of their punishment.
-[X] If the inquisition did not have a file on them before. They are to be informed that they do now.
Should we expel them? The main reason I don't want to do it is if we expel them, we should just place a ton of other, more than just irritating, but downright crippling restrictions on them in addition, like a Mark of Justice, and a curse that makes them incapable of actually practicing magic anymore, and a tracker/probation officer.
If we're going to punish them for minor infractions, actually make the punishment, I dunno, minor. If we're going to treat this like a major infraction, we are basically making no allowances because the potential danger of ambitious and persecuted mages is just creating an easily manipulated and available pawn. Some would argue execution would be better since they don't stop being that once you go through the trouble of removing all their restrictions, technically, barring the Inquisition burning that identity and actively searching for them. Some might still make that trade and do some real damage. Desperation makes magical people more powerful, look at Tor.
This is gonna be a PR disaster though. "Students summoned devils, weren't punished much" looks bad, especially when a whole area is on lockdown (which attracts lots of attention).
There is probably a special sub-basement of Hell with an immense hopper full of surly Imps attached to a modified Plane Shift enchantment that automatically engages when someone somewhere in creation attempts to Summon an Imp using a suspiciously cheap and effective ritual.
The enchantment activates continuously, day after day, just as quickly as an Imp can be loaded into the barrel, er, transit chamber. There are a lot of worlds on the Material Plane, and Imps are an infinitely renewable source of corruption.
This is gonna be a PR disaster though. "Students summoned devils, weren't punished much" looks bad, especially when a whole area is on lockdown (which attracts lots of attention).
We'll have to weather it. It's just that this isn't quite sacrifice worthy, but at the same time expulsion would most likely just start up a diabolical cult as the ex-students seek to regain lost magic and embrace whatever devils are willing to offer.
That said, this is one strike. They do this twice, they die.
This is gonna be a PR disaster though. "Students summoned devils, weren't punished much" looks bad, especially when a whole area is on lockdown (which attracts lots of attention).
Goes with the territory. I believe there are going to also be times where one of our institutions fucks up, and not in a way that can be solved by punishing the perpetrator harder.
This is why we even bother to build social capital and invest in our people. Will the blame fall on the Scholarum for lack of oversight? Quite possibly.
Will people picket outside the Keep because Viserys "fucking eviscerate you in front of hundreds of people" Targaryen doesn't feel you fucked up hard enough to warrant it?
Probably not, for various reasons. Maybe some people will feel a bit of resentment, but I will note... there's a correlation between that vote where we decided to execute every cultist we ran across, and since then, we have not been sacrificing many mortal patsies with NPC tier levels. Mostly because A) We killed most of the ones in our territory and B) we have been imprisoning and tossing people to mind healers more in the background, presumably.
Again, if we punish these guys harder, we are basically locking ourselves into punishing everyone for any infraction with universally harsh punishments. The onus of that is, are we making a fair system? Presumably, under what we would consider fair. Is that system equally supported by everyone enjoying the benefits of our rule? NO. And that's sort of too bad, considering we're kind of an absolute monarch who makes all of the rules. Most of the cultists we sacrificed weren't citizens, or were barely under any of our systematic rulership when they became fiend bait in the first place.
That isn't a coincidence. People stop being fiend bait when the consequences of it are outlined fairly clearly.
Goes with the territory. I believe there are going to also be times where one of our institutions fucks up, and not in a way that can be solved by punishing the perpetrator harder.
This is why we even bother to build social capital and invest in our people. Will the blame fall on the Scholarum for lack of oversight? Quite possibly.
Will people picket outside the Keep because Viserys "fucking eviscerate you in front of hundreds of people" Targaryen doesn't feel you fucked up hard enough to warrant it?
Probably not, for various reasons. Maybe some people will feel a bit of resentment, but I will note... there's a correlation between that vote where we decided to execute every cultist we ran across, and since then, we have not been sacrificing many mortal patsies with NPC tier levels. Mostly because A) We killed most of the ones in our territory and B) we have been imprisoning and tossing people to mind healers more in the background, presumably.
Again, if we punish these guys harder, we are basically locking ourselves into punishing everyone for any infraction with universally harsh punishments. The onus of that is, are we making a fair system? Presumably, under what we would consider fair. Is that system equally supported by everyone enjoying the benefits of our rule? NO. And that's sort of too bad, considering we're kind of an absolute monarch who makes all of the rules. Most of the cultists we sacrificed weren't citizens, or were barely under any of our systematic rulership when they became fiend bait in the first place.
That isn't a coincidence. People stop being fiend bait when the consequences of it are outlined fairly clearly.
Regarding leniency towards cultists, it really depends on the crime. If there hasn't been much harm done then yes, they're tossed to mind healers. But for the kinds of cultist who torture and sacrifice babies and cackle at the despair they spread (see Tyrosh where daemon cultists were feeding children to their own parents after polymorphing them into baby animals), they just die. This isn't blanket leniency for literally everyone. Similarly, if they're deemed too dangerous, they die. There's a reason no clemency was offered to the Golden Company once they broke. Cultists of the Void would similarly be deemed too dangerous to mess around with.
As for why we're not seeing them that much anymore, sure, some are being tossed to mind healers, but mostly it's more that the major cults of the Imperium have been eradicated with extreme violence, and in the wake of their demise conditions aren't that shitty. The Inquisition does its work well. There are probably a lot of NPC cultists to be harvested in Qohor.
The conclusion I was trying to draw is that not everyone is likely to be happy at the fact that they were harmed by fiends, and we are offering "protection" to minor offenders, since the key association of "one who binds fiends" is the crazy psychos who sacrifice babies and commit atrocities.
That's just an unfortunate fact with which we tied our hands behind the notion that we always knew better than anyone else with an opinion on what was right and what was wrong, and decided to make matters of conscience something no one else could chime in on except a very small, very select group of people.
The thing that makes zealous fanatics variable in their reaction to us is that they either of the zealous belief that the Gods are on our side, or they are rather offended we aren't paying attention to the strictures of their own deities and seem to treat the notion of doing so with a distant form of contempt due to our institutionalization of many of those sticking points.
And that's just fine... that's something we're going to just have to suck it up and deal with. When you create no checks on your behavior but the ones you make and uphold, you are going to have a lot of critics. You are basically selling the idea that you are always right and that you, personally, with a monopoly on temporal power, will require the right incentive to change that behavior, which in of itself is going to rub a lot of people in the wrong way, just as the fact many of our policies heavily benefit a large quotient of people under our rule will generally make them invested in supporting us.
The other consequence of this is that we are basically challenging people who are required to operate in fields that need informed decision making to adapt to a bunch of uncomfortable truths. That is going to result in a lot of people not coping very well under those circumstances. For now that basically means "if I have personal or indirect power projection ability, should I support or oppose Viserys?"
A lot of those people are not going to be trade magnates, financiers, or people we have given positions within our government like the Officials or prominent vassals. And in fact they are going to mostly be investing their efforts in perpetuating our rule through whatever means most appropriate to their own interests since, cleverly, we made their interests our interests, in some cases with a fait accompli.
The conclusion I was trying to draw is that not everyone is likely to be happy at the fact that they were harmed by fiends, and we are offering "protection" to minor offenders, since the key association of "one who binds fiends" is the crazy psychos who sacrifice babies and commit atrocities.
It's just something we'll have to weather, unfortunately. We can explain that while the students were indeed idiots they didn't commit any crime truly sacrifice worthy yet, so they're being punished within the bounds of the law. Probably need Viserys or the Companions making that press release, however, for maximum diplomacy to minimize the obvious discontent sure to follow. We should probably make it clear things would be radically different had someone been killed. That'd go a long way towards soothing tempers and warning the rest of the students.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Aug 29, 2020 at 3:00 PM, finished with 118 posts and 12 votes.
[X] Firstly, you are highly suspicious as a matter of course. While the action of summoning and binding imps might have been 'innocent', the inception of that thought into their minds had to be anything but. The Scholarum will facilitate and provide mages with a familiar suitable toward them, and they can likely even work toward an arrangement with the Crown for one crafted in Gorgossos or Lys if it can't be acquired on an open market. This is part of the benefits to being a Mage in the Imperium, and the most basic principles about conjuring make it explicit that nothing is simple and clean with the works of Baator or their inhabitants, and one must exercise rigorous standards and have absolute oversight before making the attempt.
-[X] Basically, this is directed malice, and you will find the perpetrator. Study the students' memories, chambers or rooms they might have engaged in pertinent discussions with malefactors, and ensure it does not occur again, at least from this vector.
-[X] The Inquisition will be locking down the entire Campus District, not just the Shadow Tower, with any and all assets necessary to conduct the cordon. Depending on the degree of involvement and the agency of specific actors, detention, remedial lessons and fines are not the worst punishment that someone could suffer as a result of this. In fact, if you find an agent of Baator here, you will be executing them with extreme prejudice, and will likely mandate the entire student body show up when that example gets made via Breathweapon. After extensive interrogations in an Inquisition black site, of course.
[X] As to the students, remediate them, fine them for any damages incurred as a result of the summoning, and ensure each person understands why you are capable of forging a new link with an Outsider and why any compact they make of their own is doomed to bitter and inevitable failure. Siduri could likely greatly expand on this subject, given the topic of Imps and her experiences in Dis.
[X] This will be investigated by the inquisition as with any other diabolic summoning.
-[X] Students and staff are expected to co-operate with the inquisitions to the best of their ability. If this is found to be the result of a fiendish plot, they can expect many more visits from the inquisition in the future.
-[X] The children responsible for summoning the imps will be suspended for two weeks, or until the investigation is concluded. Whichever is longer.
-[X] Their families will be expected to make reparations for the damage incurred by the imps they summoned. In monetary form for those who can afford it, or community service for those who can not. Their families and associates will also be investigated (quietly).
-[X] They will have a mark of justice placed upon them that will lead the inquisition to them should they cast anything during this punishment.
-[X] If they do not have a very good reason for doing so they will have their ability to cast removed for the duration of their punishment.
-[X] If the inquisition did not have a file on them before. They are to be informed that they do now.
"You want to lock down the campus?" Lya asks, startled. "We've got all of them and most of the imps, divination checked and all. The imps might still cause some chaos, but they are not the bravest sorts. Most will probably try to hide out as rats or something until the search dies down. Locking the campus down is just going to make it more obvious that initiates were behind whatever damages."
"Mind wards," you say, sinking into a chair, deep in thought. "We can't take the chance on a true infiltration. The last time it was bad enough and it was only the Citadel's pet mesmerist. Hells, where would initiates even learn how to summon anything, even an imp, if they weren't taught outside the Scholarum?"
"Dragon dreams," Lya answers at once. "I already looked into their minds, to check against the truth spells. No tampering and no oaths to devils yet. They were summoning blind, with no names and no unified allegiance."
You breathe a sigh of relief and for a moment consider loosening the precautions, but then another thought occurs to you. "We are not the only ones who can practice divination on a wide scale, and these initiates would not have been protected from it. If you know when and where a ritual of calling is going to take place, what is to stop you from sending certain imps, with their heads full of lies and their instructions just enough send them on a path of your choosing?"
"Nothing," Dany speaks up slowly from beside you, "But what is to say the objective here isn't to sow distrust in the Scholarum, or even get us jumping at shadows while the devils move somewhere else."
"Nothing, but we cannot throw caution to the wind just because it is the most predictable option."
***
A grey day dawns over the Scholarum the next morning, heavy with cold rain from the north and suspicions. Thankfully, through the efforts of the House of Mirrors, the worst the escaped imps managed to cause was property damage and a handful of fires. The worst of them had been ruinous to a tailor who often worked on students' robes and had something of a reputation as a miser and cheat. All sorts of whispered rumors arised about who had summoned the imps and why, though the pale and shaken perpetrators swore truthfully that they had done no such things.
There would be remedial lessons, and there would be detentions and fines. Some of them would be paying years into their careers, but there was thankfully no cause for executions and by design no expulsions. You can hardly think of a surer way of driving a mage into the arms of Baator than taking away their learning, their peers, and their future at a time like this.
In brighter news, a report arrives in the rarely hours of the morning from Mantarys by brazier, though it had traveled much further than that by raven. It hailed all the way from the Great Sand Sea, where a mage on his journey had take the notion to one of its farthest extremes, you suspect because he had come to enjoy them for their own sake.
News of a people who had retained or regained a magic unknown to the Scholarum's archives are always exciting, all the more so because the shamans of the Sand Nomads are practical folk willing to share lore and the bodies of newly hunted sand worms for the forge, in exchange for treasure and lore of your own.
Part of you wonders if you could even bring them into the fold, but one look at the map would dissuade such notions, much too far from even Mantarys to even try. Still, some gifts will go a long way to breeding goodwill.
What do you ask of from the Sand Nomad clans and what do you offer in exchange?
Buy List:
Sand Shaper Lore
Sandship construction techniques
Sand Worm bodies
Guidance to ruins in their territory for Imperial expeditions
Sell List
Decanter of Endless Water
Knowledge of magic, especially healing and crafting
Gold and trade goods
Valyian steel weapons for the leaders
[] Write in
OOC: I thought about doing a point buys system, but you guys are just so much richer than the Sand Nomads of the Great Sand Sea that it would be meaningless.
A grey day dawns over the Scholarum the next morning heavy with cold rain from the north and suspicions. Thankfully though the efforts of the House of Mirrors the worst the escaped imps managed to cause was property damage, a handful of fires. The worst of them had been ruinous to a tailor who often worked on students robes and had something of a reputation for a miser and a cheat leading. All sorts of whispered rumors about who had put up the imps and why, though the pale and shaken perpetrators swore truthfully that they had done no such things.
So pure and simple idiocy, as far as we can tell. I wouldn't put it past a devil to have escaped our gaze. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
[X] Plan Sandman
-[X] Purchase //The lore for sand shapers and sand ships is especially to be shared with the Martells, they'll probably get some use out of it
--[X] Sand Shaper Lore
--[X] Sand Ship construction techniques
--[X] Sand Worm corpses
--[X] Guidance to Ruins in their territory for Imperial expeditions (though first mark everything on the relevant maps)
-[X] Offer
--[X] 5,000 IM to spend as they please, and a reminder that the money is perfectly legal tender even in the genie citadels beyond the Terminus
--[X] Valyrian Steel weapons for their leaders
--[X] Healing and crafting lore of equivalent value to the Sand Shaper lore
@egoo, what report do we have to get through next? May as well vote to get to it first.
"You want to lock down the campus?" Lya asks, startled. "We've got all of them and most of the imps, divination checked and all. The imps might still cause some chaos, but they are not the bravest sorts. Most will probably try to hide out as rats or something until the search dies down. Locking the campus down is just going to make it more obvious that initiates were behind whatever damages."
"Mind wards," you say, sinking into a chair, deep in thought. "We can't take the chance on a true infiltration. The last time it was bad enough and it was only the Citadel's pet mesmerist. Hells, where would initiates even learn how to summon anything, even an imp, if they weren't taught outside the Scholarum?"
"Dragon dreams," Lya answers at once. "I already looked into their minds, to check against the truth spells. No tampering and no oaths to devils yet. They were summoning blind, with no names and no unified allegiance."
You breathe a sigh of relief and for a moment consider loosening the precautions, but then another thought occurs to you. "We are not the only ones who can practice divination on a wide scale, and these initiates would not have been protected from it. If you know when and where a ritual of calling is going to take place, what is to stop you from sending certain imps, with their heads full of lies and their instructions just enough send them on a path of your choosing?"
"Nothing," Dany speaks up slowly from beside you, "But what is to say the objective here isn't to sow distrust in the Scholarum, or even get us jumping at shadows while the devils move somewhere else."
"Nothing, but we cannot throw caution to the wind just because it is the most predictable option."
***
A grey day dawns over the Scholarum the next morning, heavy with cold rain from the north and suspicions. Thankfully, through the efforts of the House of Mirrors the worst the escaped imps managed to cause was property damage, a handful of fires. The worst of them had been ruinous to a tailor who often worked on students' robes and had something of a reputation as a miser and a cheat leading. All sorts of whispered rumors about who had put up the imps and why, though the pale and shaken perpetrators swore truthfully that they had done no such things.
There would be remedial lessons, and there would be detentions and fines. Some of them would be paying years into their careers, but there was thankfully no cause for executions and by design no expulsions. You can hardly think of a surer way of driving a mage into the arms of Baator than taking away their learning, their peers, and their future at a time like this.
In brighter news, a report arrives in the rarely hours of the morning from Mantarys by brazier, though it had traveled much further than that by raven. It hailed all the way from the Great Sand Sea, where a mage on his journey had take the notion to one of its farthest extremes, you suspect because he had come to enjoy them for their own sake.
News of a people who had retained or regained a magic unknown to the Scholarum's archives are always exciting, all the more so because the shamans of the Sand Nomads are practical folk willing to share lore and the bodies of newly hunted sand worms for the forge, in exchange for treasure and lore of your own.
Part of you wonders if you could even bring them into the fold, but one look at the map would disuade such notions, much too far from even Mantarys. Still, some gifts will go a long way to breed goodwill.
What do you ask of from the Sand nomad clans and what do you offer in exchange?
Buy List:
Sand Shaper Lore
Sand ship construction techniques
Sand Worm bodies
Guidance to Ruins in their territory for Imperial expeditions
Sell List
Decanter of Endless Water
Knowledge of magic, especially healing and crafting
Gold and trade goods
Valyian steel weapons for the leaders
[] Write in
OOC: I thought about doing a point buys system, but you guys are just so much richer than the Sand Nomads of the Great Sand sea that it would be meaningless. Not yet edited.
Here's an edited version of the chapter, @DragonParadox. I highlighted two words that I think we're in error, but couldn't figure out what they were supposed to be.
@egoo This sounds like a good way to get some XP for baby PCs. Not that I think we were short of stuff to send them on if we wanted them to just level up some more...
[X] Send a Herald to negotiate with them generously. You are interested in all they have to offer, and eventually your infrastructure will reach out in that direction regardless of your current reception, so you might as well treat them as you mean to go on.
-[X] Tentatively talk about starting local oases, and perhaps some irrigation construction/volcanic soil produced in your spare time, so they will have some semi-permanent arable lands. Nomads, for all the fact that there might be cultural ties to their roaming beyond the practical concerns like lack of resources in one area, would all benefit from more reliable sources of food, water and wealth, all of which you can provide directly or indirectly through ongoing trade.
--[X] And if they have some permanent settlements, you can bargain protection from banditry and other threats as well. Leaving a Herald there indefinitely would handle most of those threats. Regardless, that's not a discussion to launch into immediately, but we can definitely imply it if asked.
Now, if someone has an imp under mind blank summoned, then proceeding to wipe out the mind of their summoner, would something even show up on divination?
@egoo This sounds like a good way to get some XP for baby PCs. Not that I think we were short of stuff to send them on if we wanted them to just level up some more...
[X] Send a Herald to negotiate with them generously. You are interested in all they have to offer, and eventually your infrastructure will reach out in that direction regardless of your current reception, so you might as well treat them as you mean to go on.
-[X] Tentatively talk about starting local oases, and perhaps some irrigation construction/volcanic soil produced in your spare time, so they will have some semi-permanent arable lands. Nomads, for all the fact that there might be cultural ties to their roaming beyond the practical concerns like lack of resources in one area, would all benefit from more reliable sources of food, water and wealth, all of which you can provide directly or indirectly through ongoing trade.
--[X] And if they have some permanent settlements, you can bargain protection from banditry and other threats as well. Leaving a Herald there indefinitely would handle most of those threats. Regardless, that's not a discussion to launch into immediately, but the we can definitely imply it if asked.
[X] Fey Lore: Even though they detest the divine, the Fey are closer to the gods in nature than any mortal ever could and in their endless years, they must have acquired much lore on the matter beside. Seek out the Orphne, the Goblin Market and other Fey gathering grounds in your realm and friendly lands to see what can be bargained for. (Progress: 10, Cost: ???)
-[X] Rina (4d6 Progress), Tyrosh Scholarum Branch (+2d6 Progress)
[X] The Undeath's End: The secret of creation of the ancient and extremely potent anti-Undead poison you received from Faceless Men is lost to eons... Yet one of the greatest poison-makers the world knows is in your employ, and few other races have as much intimate knowledge of poisons as the Snake-kin, and the Drow, both of whom you have access to. Recreate the ancient mixture (Progress: 0/50, Cost: ??) -[X] Elaheh Marita (4d6 Progress), Quburn (4d6 Progress),
[X] Tireless Steel, by Sorcery Moved: The art of golem-making is ancient indeed... but one has to wonder if it is possible to wring an armor in the same qualities, to create personal defense truly unsurpassable. (Requires the "Layering the Defenses"-Research Action)
-[X] Develop the basic chassis of the Imperial Powered Armor systems - and create the Warden Pattern armor. (Progress: 8/26, Cost: 140.000 IM) --[X] Valeria the Wondersmith (4d6 Progress),
[X] The Mind's Games: The psychological effects of repeated and sustained enchantment on the mental state and brain of the average person (Progress: ??, Cost: ??). -[X] Velen (4d6 Progress), Mantarys Scholarum Branch (+2d6 Progress)
[X] A Baleful Mirage: You have recently been forwarded a set of spell-scripts and samples by which the Efreeti have been made use of to manipulate the 'Grey Veil'.
-[X] While this may be a technological dead end, studying it will prevent its usage from being as effective in the hands of your enemy and may even be of some use to your allies (Progress: ??, Cost: ??). --[X] Beryl the Strategist (4d6 Progress), Anu of Sallosh (4d6 Progress), Volantis Scholarum Branch (+2d6 Progress)
[] Checking in on Meraxes and the progress of creation of the "Imperial Steel".
[] Grabbing notes on Lannisters/CItadel/Various threats off Marwyn
[] Getting the Wildunt's mercenary Fey sorted in (get DP's statement that they are now available for assignments)
[] Getting Marwyn's party sorted in (levels, gear, statwment on availability for assignments, etc.)
[] Getting the copy of the clockwork familiar traded for in Hellven the 1st month.
[RNG: 7+ days after the 24th of 2nd month] Summoning the Void-aligned Daemon encountered in Sarnor
[RNG] Continuing to be on the lookout for the Chosen of Stranger via the dead-drops they were leaving for the Chosen of Smith.
Heres adventures and other Hero Character actions:
[X] Against the Stars: The efforts of your people have not been unnoticed by the Court of Stars. Even as your efforts continue, they are sure to retaliate - and so you shall leave a force capable of keeping the task secured... As well at stopping whatever further efforts the Fey may decide to try and implement.
Type: (Bodyguarding, sabotage, assassination, reconnaissance, direct combat when necessary)
Goal: (Defending the Fey set on breaking the Fey pact, actively stopping all the efforts of CoS possible, further looking into the ways to attack the CoS (in)direcly)
-[X] Waymar, Lady Saenena, Sandor Clegane, 3x Mind Dragons, 4x Guardian Nagas, 6x Erynies, Soft Strider, Glyra & her troupe, 1x Umbral Stalker, 1x Orphne Fey Lord, Vrath the Serpentfolk Hexblade (Hexblade 7?), Shara the Inquisitor,
[X] Heart of Waters, Darker Tides: With the ever-growing knowledge of the Illithid activities, so grows the worry. You may not be able to handle war with the group present on the Plane of Balance alone... Thankfully, you don't have to be. The Marid have proven to be at least somewhat amiable to giving help... if convinced to.
Type: (Diplomacy, looking for more allies, establishing deeper trade connections with the Marid -- Possibly Planar Terminus in the City of Glass?)
Goal: (See above)
-[X] Hermetia, Aubert Flowers (Cavalier 10), Kennos of Kayce, Koron Redmane (Fighter 6/Barbarian 3), Lothos Saan (Swashbuckler 3/Rogue 3/Scarlet Corsair 3), Grazdan the Grim (Fighter 6/Legendary Captain 2), 1x Mind Dragon, 1x Umbral Spy, 1x Fallen Shield Archon, 3x Fallen Hound Archon (3 levels in martial class), 2x Fallen Spyglass Archon (4 levels in Rogue)
[X] The Swamps Dried: Clear out the swamps of Braavos of remaining malicious entities, and whatever remains of the Bright One's court, establishing a stronger presence of trade companies and accelerating the rate of the gathering of rare resources.
(Opposition: ??; Rewards: ??) -[X] Thoros of Myr (Paladin 10), Mercy of the Soul, Alyssa Crowl (Ranger 13), Danar Crowl (Bard 6/Lyric Thaumaturge 7), Mors 'Crowfood' Umber (Fighter 2/Barbarian 6), Argo the Cunning Bull, x4 Heralds (CR 10), 5x Guardian Nagas
--[X] (if necessary) Nirah - Champion of Yss - the Voice of the Timeless One (CR 20), 1 Harbinger (CR 15)
[X] Raiding on the Plane of Fire:
-[X] Amrelath, Siduri of Dis, Yurten, 1x Yssian Naga
-[X] 1x Gelugon / Ice Devil, 2x Steel Devil, 3x Lead Devil, 6x Salikotal
[X] Infiltration into the City of Brass: -[X] Maelor (continued), 1 Mind Dragon (continued), Bronn (continued), Sarell (continued).
Now, if someone has an imp under mind blank summoned, then proceeding to wipe out the mind of their summoner, would something even show up on divination?
It's not something we have to jump on right away, and not something they are likely to commit to right away either. I am arguing a timescale of years, you are talking about next month. Just saying.
