Dawn of Heroes

[Oshha]

[X] [Power] Improve your magical skillset.
-[X] [Power] Focus on developing your repertoire of minor spells by improving the existing spells. Increase Magic Spells to 3 Point Power Array with 1 Alternative Effect.
[X] [Squire] Give your squire a magical ability.
-[X] [Squire] Use your innate magic to do a ritual to permanently satisfy the basic needs of her body. Sapphire Squire gains Immunity 1 (Thirst & Starvation) and Immunity 1 (Need for Sleep).
[X] [Skill] Have Gareth Wallis teach you about modern politics. Increase Expertise: Politics and Expertise: Current Events skills.
[X] [Skill] Have your squire teach you how to take down multiple foes in rapid succession. Gain Takedown advantage.
[X] [Life] Check out the building that the Night was using as his base of operations. Investigate the Night's base.
[X] [Life] Look over the Night's old equipment. Gareth Wallis has kept all of the spares and while it might be of limited use to you, your squire may get usage out of it. Investigate the Night's old equipment.

As the new year begins, you spend your time keeping busy. Redcoat may have been defeated and the Consortium reeling, but that doesn't mean that you can rest easy just yet. You still have the Night's legacy to investigate about and your squire is another responsibility that you need to worry about.

While you don't study magical theory, you do look into improving your spells. Urban Camouflage has served you well while Mimicry has proven useful for talking whilst in a nonhuman form. Both of them had potential for further improvement and you made sure to take advantage of that potential.

Urban Camouflage was easy enough to improve. The spell already help camouflage you by helping blend into the background of settlements when it came to both appearance and sound and it was just a matter of improving upon that. You developed the effect further, making it so you were all, but impossible to see in an urban environment.

Mimicry was harder to develop, but not by much. You could copy sound as you expanded that into copying appearance. You could already do that to a limited degree with your shapeshifting, but while you could alter your appearance, you couldn't quite copy the appearances of specific individuals. The closest you could get to that was sharing the same features as them.

Your new and improved version of mimicry changed that as the spell now filled in the details of a copied appearance. It isn't perfect as your experimenting with the Woodsworth sisters prove. While it works at a distance or someone who doesn't know the other individual, the disguise falls apart upon closer inspection as a knowledgeable individual is able to pick out all of the flaws. Nonetheless, you have fun trying to trick the sisters into thinking that you are the other one of them even if you have to stop before driving into paranoia.

You also look to your new contacts for improving your more mundane skills. Sapphire Squire is a surprising talented fighter and is more than capable of taking down multiple foes in rapid succession. You aren't sure how she learnt to perform such a feat, but it is one that would have served you well in several past situation, especially when taking out groups of criminals. So even through you should be the one teaching her, you get Sapphire Squire to teach you how to take down multiple foes in quick order.

You also take advantage of your close connections to Gareth Wallis. Your employer is a retired politician and while he is out of the business, he still keeps track of things and has enough knowhow to serve as a mentor to you in modern politics. Politics is a matter of skill and knowledge as you not only need to know the tricks of it, but you need to know just what is going on in the world.

So you learn the basics of politics and the you begin to expand your knowledge of British politics. You learn about the political parties and what they stand for and how the election system works. You discover what the major ongoing events are and who the important figure are. You still have much to learn, but you are no longer completely in the dark when it comes to politics, something which you decide is important considering how the leadership of the Consortium has some involvement with the kingdom's highest politics.

***​

"Are you sure about this?" you ask your squire as you begin the final preparations on the ritual.

"Yes," answers Sapphire Squire firmly as she fiddles with a gadget, "Mainly the no sleeping part. Not having to worry about getting thirsty or hungry is nice, but can you imagine not having to sleep? I wouldn't need to worry about getting enough sleep or spending several hours doing enough when I can be out as the Sapphire Squire."

"As you wish," you tell, giving her a friendly smile that goes unseen behind your helmet, "I see you are taking to the Mystic Wardrobe well enough."

"You bet I am," replies Sapphire Squire as she leaps to her feet, her mane of red hair falling out as her costume changes into the uniform of the rare policewoman that you see wondering about with the difference being that she has a mask to conceal her identity, "Constable Sapphire on the case! Too bad I can't shapeshift like you otherwise I might actually try my hand at pretending to be one."

"I would recommend against that," you warn her, "You might be able to look the part, but if you run into trouble, I can guarantee I can bail you out."

"I know," says Sapphire Squire, "I kind of want it to pretend to be my favourite characters. I can get the costumes, but I would need shapeshifting like yours to truly look the part."

"You like reading?" you inquire as your squire twirls, curious to learn more about your squire as an individual.

"It is a hobby of mine," confesses the girl, "I like reading about stories. They got such fun adventures in them and I always wanted to go on my own adventures. I suppose that now I am. Just goes to show you that if you work hard enough, you can achieve your dreams."

"Indeed," you concur, "Though our activities aren't a storybook."

"Close enough," says Sapphire Squire, "You're a magical knight from another realm who fights dastardly villains and you have not only taken me on as your squire, but you have given me magical powers. Heck, you are just about to give me more magical powers."

"Indeed," you say before deciding to double check that your squire knows what she is getting into, "Just so you are aware, you won't be fully human once I have performed this ritual."

"I'm pretty sure that I stopped being fully human at Christmas," retorts Sapphire Squire and you wince at the painful truth of your actions.

"That-that is true," you acknowledge, "Apologises. I should have gotten your permission before permanently changing you with magic. I just wanted to give you a surprise gift and I didn't consider that I shouldn't given you a chance to turn it down."

"Water under the bridge," says Sapphire Squire with a dismissive wave of her hand, "You know to get my permission in the future and I got cool magical powers. Now I am going to get cool magical powers. But for the sake of being complete, just how nonhuman is this going to make me?"

"Combined with the Mystic Wardrobe, for every part of you that is fey, a hundred parts will be human," you tell her.

"I suppose that is not too bad," says Sapphire Squire, "Certainly not bad enough to not have to worry about sleeping every night."

"If it helps, it is adding rather than replacing," you try to reassure her.

"That does help, but either way, cool magical powers are worth it," replies Sapphire Squire.

"Good to hear," you say as you finish the final preparations and you decide to lightening up the mood, "Now Constable Sapphire, are you ready to begin."

"Constable Sapphire?" repeats Sapphire Squire and you indicate towards her current outfit with your hand, "Oh, right. I'll change."

A moment later, Sapphire Squire has switched her outfit again, going from the uniform of a policewoman to knightly-themed attire of varying shades of dark blue.

"Ready to go!" declares Sapphire Squire and you begin the ritual.

***​

With more time to devote to the task, you begin to look though what the Night has left behind beyond his outdated notes. His equipment could have valuable insights and you are curious to see what sort of place the man used as a base of operations.

It quickly turns into a joint effort between you and Sapphire Squire with your squire swiftly taking charge thanks to her greater expertise with modern technology. You are not useless, but your place is mainly secondary even if Sapphire Squire insists that your efforts have definitely helped her out.

The spare equipment is the first thing that you and your squire look over as Sapphire Squire is eager to compare them to her own creations. Sapphire Squire once told you that she had based her great off what she knew of the Night's gear and this shows during the comparisons. While the Night's equipment is made of higher quality materials and more uniform in design, they are mostly the same what your squire uses. To your surprise, Sapphire Squire finds this discovery to be disappointed and later admits that she was hoping for some insights or breakthroughs from studying the Night's equipment.

But while his grapple gauntlets and utility belt match what Sapphire Squire has come up with, they are not all that the Night used with his greater resources allowed him to come up with more equipment to use in his vigilante activities. The Night used padding and light armour in his costume to provide additional protection, something that you decide that your squire could do with as well. Sapphire Squire agrees with you and has apparently made it her new mission to get her own armoured costume that she can incorporate into her Mystic Wardrobe. According to your squire, it is just a matter of either adding the armour and padding to her own costume or modifying one of the Night's to fit someone of her body size and shape.

The last bit of equipment that the Night used is a pair of brass-knuckles, which despite the name, are not made of brass. The vigilante used them to increase the power of his punches and while you have little use for them as a swordswoman, Sapphire Squire has expressed interest in using them. Once she has learnt how to use them safely of course.

***​

"Okay, so this place is awesome," declares Sapphire Squire as the two of you return to the main room of what your squire has dubbed the Nighthouse.

"A more detailed explanation would be helpful," you say drily.

"You were there with me for most of it," retorts Sapphire Squire with a roll of her eyes, "But okay. So house is a good size with plenty of room in it and despite being in the middle of London, it looks completely ordinary. Okay, not completely ordinary, but normal for a rich man's house. So not only does nobody know that the Night operates here, but the place is also dressed up to look like a normal home from the outside. Impossible to find except if you already know what you are looking for or you are the luckiest person in the whole world."

"So we don't need to worry about it being found," you say.

"Ehh, I wouldn't quite say that," replies Sapphire Squire with a frown on her face, "Someone looking for the base wouldn't find it, but if someone was interested in this building for another reason such as robbing a rich guy or if it got sold or taken from Mr Wallis, then we would have problems. Possibly some other problems that neither you or I thought. So we don't need to worry about our enemies finding it, but we still got mundane concerns to worry about. That said, while we might have to worry about criminals robbing the house of a rich man, the place is really secure and reinforced to withstand a brute force assault. It would take some significant skill and or luck to break into it. I could do with some difficulty, but I doubt you could do it without magic."

"Noted," you say, deciding to ask Gareth Wallis about these potential problems at some point.

"Onto the good stuff," continues Sapphire Squire, "The Night really decked this place out as a secret base though I think I might get more use out of it than you. We got a gym for working out and excising in for keeping in shape and it even comes with a shower for when we get all sweaty. There is an infirmary for if we get hurt, but given your healing spell, we don't exactly need that, but it might come in handy. The laboratory is there for researching stuff and analysing evidence, which while I got my investigation tools in my utility belt, the laboratory is far better than them. The workshop is definitely going to be my favourite room as the Night has it all set up for building and maintaining his equipment and I am going to be doing the same for my equipment with it. There is also a library that is stocked full of books. I haven't been able to go though all of them yet, but after a brief skim, it looks like the Night choose a large selection of informational books that he thought might come in handy. Lastly, there are the living quarters, suitable for, well, living here like a normal home and I'm pretty sure the Night lived here. I doubt we will do that since I won't be, but you..."

"I got my own place," you say as her voice trails off, "Anything else?"

"No one has lived here or even used the building for a year and a half," answers your squire, "As I'm sure you noticed, the place is super dusty and all of it needs cleaning. Plus a decent amount of the supplies will need replacing due to going out of date."

"Let me handle those things," you reply, figuring that Gareth Wallis will be okay with restocking the place and you can probably get to clean the place as part of your job as it does belong to the Wallis family.

"Okey-dokey," says Sapphire Squire, "Can you do the workshop first? I'm going to spending my non-patrol night time in the workshop, working on updating my gear."

***​

It was a regular evening when your next adventure began as your second January in London comes to an end. You were on patrol with your squire, you jumping cross with inhuman grace whilst Sapphire Squire follows behind you with only human mobility and grapple gauntlets. The start of the year had been quiet so far with a swift in power after Redcoat's defeat as the Consortium had played their best card against you and failed to take you down.

The Consortium was on the defensive and its would-be rivals are attacking it across the kingdom. It has been driven from Glasgow by the Glasge and is currently waging a gang war with them in Edinburgh that has escalated to open fighting in the streets. The Golden Order harass and snap at their heels in London through the Golden Knight refrains from doing anything that would call you don't upon him unduly. The vigilante Galahad has revealed their hooks in the local authorities down in the south while another heroine calling herself Boudica has been making a name for herself attacking their operations in Norwich. You hear rumours of a new crime lord rising in Manchester while the Consortium wages a secret war against the rebels in Ireland.

Through that last part had you somewhat worried as Gareth Wallis had warned you that since it had become clear that conventional forces were less than effective against the rebels so the government had turned to more unconventional and less than legal means of waging war. You didn't normally pay attention to politics and even after Gareth Wallis' tutoring, you almost missed that the Irish rebels had suffered unexpected series of setbacks since the start of the new year. Combined with what your employer had warned you about and your knowledge of Barnaby May-Porter's ties to the Consortium leadership, you feared what that news implied.

Nonetheless, crime has been dropping in London. The Consortium is reeling, the Golden Order tread carefully and you are adored by the general public. If the Consortium is gaining support and influence in the British government, then now is the perfect time to break their control over the streets of London. To that end, you and Inspector Brown have begun to conspire to bring down Peter Michealson and the Royal Ravens, the biggest gang in London and thanks to your efforts over the previous year, the linchpin for the Consortium's control over the street gangs of London.

Right now, Inspector Brown is beginning the covert preparations for swift arrests while you and Sapphire Squire gather evidence on the Royal Ravens so you could bring them down.

"What was that?" demands Sapphire Squire, coming to a stop as she stares at something.

"What was what?" you ask, also coming to a stop.

"That!" exclaims Sapphire Squire before your squire runs off after something you can't see.

What does Fairy Knight do?
[] Follow her squire on foot. Assist Sapphire Squire in chasing whatever it is that she saw using whilst wearing the protective armour of Torlyn.
[] Follow her squire by wing. Assist Sapphire Squire in chasing whatever it is that she saw from above with the wings and eyes of an owl.
[] Hang back to try and spot whatever it is. While Sapphire Squire clearly believes she saw something, you yourself have yet to see anything anything. Hang back to try and see whatever your squire is chasing and if there is anything at all.
[] Write-in.

Spoiler: Rolls

Assisting Sapphire Squire in investigating the Night's Tools.
Technology Check, DC15: 11+6 = 17, 1 DoS.

Investigating the Night's Tools. (Sapphire Squire)
Technology Check, DC15: 9+12+2 = 23, 2 DoS.

Assisting Sapphire Squire in investigating the Night's Base.
Technology Check, DC15: 14+6 = 20, 2 DoS.

Investigating the Night's Base. (Sapphire Squire)
Technology Check, DC15: 19+12+2 = 33, 4 DoS.

What is going on in Ireland?
Expertise: Current Events, DC10: 5+5 = 10, 1 DoS.

Noticing the Unusual.
Perception vs Stealth: 12+7 vs 13+11+5 = 19 vs 29, ??? wins by 3 DoS.

Noticing the Unusual. (Sapphire Squire)
Perception vs Stealth: 1+7 vs 5+11+5 = 3 vs 21, ??? wins by 4 DoS. Luck Reroll!

Noticing the Unusual. (Sapphire Squire)
Perception vs Stealth: 20+7 vs 5+11+5 = 32 vs 21, Sapphire Squire wins by 3 DoS.

***​

A bit of a long update. The upgrades to the spells are extensions of what they already did so now Fairy Knight has a specialised urban stealth spell and an imperfect disguise spell. She also has minimal tutoring in modern politics, which turned to just be enough to notice the effects of the first background roll that I made for non-Fairy Knight changes to the timeline. I leave you guys to figure out just what they are. You have also figured out all of the equipment that the Night used, which gives you a secret base to use and Sapphire Squire will passively add the Night's equipment to her own arsenal over time.

And while Tamara missed the other background roll, her squire has not. So while I was planning to have the next adventure be taking down the Royal Ravens and breaking the Consortium's control over the street gangs of London, you got another adventure to deal with first. The vote options should be simple enough to understand, but just in case, the first one is to follow with a focus on protection while the second one is to follow with a bonus to spotting/following whatever your squire spotted. The third one is to try and spot whatever your squire saw.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.

 

[Oshha]

[X] Follow her squire by wing. Assist Sapphire Squire in chasing whatever it is that she saw from above with the wings and eyes of an owl.

As Sapphire runs across the rooftops after whatever it is that she saw, you decide to follow her from the skies. While you risk harm due to lacking the protection of Torlyn, you deem the boost in speed, mobility and senses to be worth taking flight in the bird of an owl.

Having faith in your squire that she has spotted something, you attempt to spot whatever your squire has seen. Already tipped off to whatever is hiding from you, you reach out with all of your senses, hoping that if eyesight fails you, one of your other senses will pick up the slack.

This turns out to be wise on your part as while you fail to see anything at all, you do hear another pair of footsteps coming from in front of Sapphire Squire. If you had a human body, you would frown at the troubling implications of this as even with the eyes of an owl, you do not see anything at all. You literally see nothing of whatever this thing is and that should not be possible with technology.

The thing that Sapphire Squire has spotted is clearly using some kind of magic, regardless of if it is an innate ability or some kind of spell or enchantment.

Sapphire Squire is not idle whilst you are locating the magic-wielder and by the time that you have identified that this thing is using magic, your squire has already drawn and thrown one of her boomerangs. The device flies through the air to its target and with unerring accuracy, it strikes home, lodging itself in the back of the target.

As the target falls over with a light thud, still invisible as lands on the ground with the only indication that he is there being the boomerang that is sticking out of its back. You swoop down to take a look when something else draws your attention. You don't see or hear the giant invisible monster as it arrives, but you notice how it displaces the air and creates air currents that wouldn't exist without its presence.

"Look out!" you warn Sapphire Squire as your squire has no way of detecting the presence of this new arrival.

Your warning turns out to be just in time as a moment later, the bolts of green magic are fire from the invisible thing, seemingly appearing from thin air to an observer. The big beast has a poor aim and Sapphire Squire easily backflips out of the way of the green bolts.

As you glance at the damage left behind, you are very glad that your squire jumped out of the way as the green bolts have severely damaged the roof. Judging from how parts of the roof have either melted or been burnt away entirely, you decide that those green bolts are some kind of fire magic and this flying invisible beast might be a dragon or something related.

You fly up, gaining some height on the flying beast as you hope to strike it from above due to lacking ranged weapons to attack on the ground in human form. As you need to take into account the slowness of your shapeshifting, you

While she cannot see the flying beast anymore than you can, your squire does know where the shots came from. She throws another boomerang, once again with unerring accuracy despite not being able to see her target. The boomerang hits home only to bounce off of the target ineffectual, falling to the street below after failing to do anything.

The invisible monster strafes the rooftop again with its green bolts of fire magic, forcing Sapphire Squire to roll out of the way. As your squire avoids getting melted by the magic of this beast, you transform back into a human, summoning Talatine to your hand as you fall towards where you believe the flying beast is.

You swing Talatine a couple of times as you fall by, but your attacks fail to connect with anything as your silver blade slices through thin air. Apparently you have either misjudged the location of this foe or it doesn't have the size or shape you expected it to have.

With your aerial attack having failed, you reorient yourself using your inhuman agility as you come tumbling down. You land gracefully on both feet with a gentle thud. The flying beast seems to decide that you are now the bigger threat after your attempt to attack it or perhaps you are just the closest target now, but the invisible foe fires at you with its fire magic. You easily dodge the green bolts without putting any real effort into it and it becomes clear to you that for all of the power that it has in its fire magic, the flying beast lacks skill when it comes to hitting the target.

As you glare up at where the green bolts have been coming from, you are left with a choice on what to do next. The most obvious option is to just run away and hope that this flying beast doesn't follow, but that sits poorly with your sensibilities. You could attempt to try and bring it down, but it has fearsome magic, is nearly impossible to detect and you are limited in your ability to harm it. The third option is to try and capture the initial individual. You know where they are thanks to Sapphire Squire's boomerang and it should be easy enough to run off with the unconscious body through you run the risk of the flying beast pursuing you.

What does Fairy Knight do?
[] Attempt to flee the flying beast.
[] Attempt to engage the flying beast.
[] Attempt to capture the first foe.
[] Write-in.

Spoiler: Rolls

Searching for the unknown.
Perception vs Stealth: 10+11+2 vs 5+11+5 = 23 vs 21, Fairy Knight wins by 1 DoS.

Sapphire Squire attacks ???.
Boomerang Attack, DC23: 19+9-5 = 28, Successful Critical Hit.
Toughness Check, DC26: 5+5 = 10, 4 DoF, Incapacitated.

Incoming Mount.
Perception vs Stealth: 20+7 vs 10+5 = 32 vs 15, Fairy Knight wins by 4 DoS.

??? attacks Sapphire Squire.
??? Attack, DC18: 7 = 7, Miss.

Sapphire Squire attacks ???.
Boomerang Attack, DC17: 19+9-5 = 28, Successful Critical Hit.
Toughness Check, DC26: 7+11 = 18, ??? is impervious.

??? attacks Sapphire Squire.
??? Attack, DC18: 2 = 2, Miss.

Fairy Knight attacks ???
Talatine Attack, DC17: 3+11-5 = 9, Miss.

Landing safely.
Acrobatics Check, DC5: 17+10 = 27, 5 DoS, No Fall Damage.

??? attacks Fairy Knight.
??? Attack, DC18: 6 = 6, Miss.

***​

Any guesses on what you are facing? I'm not going to give out any more hints than what is in the update thanks to Fairy Knight's limited and biased perspective. And speaking of her biases, has anyone realised what Fairy Knight has failed to notice about this whole incident?

Otherwise, I haven't got much to say. This arc is mysterious and this update has been action packed so it doesn't leave me with much to say.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.

 

[Oshha]

[X] Grab the fallen foe and hold it hostage against the beast.
-[X] Awaken them with your healing magic and threaten him into calling off the flyer.

You debate your options, trying to figure out a way to eliminate the flying beast. You are limited in your ability to attack it thanks to your inability to see or hear it. You could try using your squire's smoke bombs to reveal its outline, but you still wouldn't be able to see it due to the smoke.

Paint or something along those lines might work, but you have no clue where to find any. There is none lying about nearby and you are a residential area so there are no shops in the immediate area even if you felt up to robbing some innocent store owner.

You could use your magic to create an impromptu spell that lets you view your foes through whatever spell is concealing them, but that would be a tiring effort for you and would still leave you with the question of how to take out the flying beast.

Instead you decide to try and use the original foe against the flying beast. The fire-spitting monster clearly came to the aid of the individual that Sapphire Squire felled and therefore you can use the fallen foe as leverage against the beast.

The beast is more likely than not to be unintelligent so you'll have to take the risk of healing the fallen foe so you can awake them up. Once they have been awakened, you'll threaten them into calling off the flying beast.

As you finish deciding your course of action, the flying beast unleashes another blast of its green bolts. You easily avoid them as you break into a run and jump onto the rooftop where the original enemy lies unconscious.

Ignoring the melted holes in the roof behind you, you quickly grab the fallen foe so you already hold them in your grasp when you awake them, noting that they have a humanoid form. Calling upon your healing spell, you flood the individual with your magic, healing the injury.

As your prisoner wakes up, you speak up, making sure that you got Talatine in a proper position to threaten them.

"Call off your foul beast or I'll cut off your head," you growl at your captive, holding Talatine in the right position for them to see the silver blade.

A bit weak, but intentionally intimidating others is something you have no real experience. Your previous experience with threatening others has either been accidental or reliant on being a mysterious magical being to people who have little to no knowledge of magic. Threatening someone who is clearly knowledge about magic or at least accustomed to it is a new experience.

The individual is silent for a few seconds and you worry that your efforts failed, but on the other hand, the flying beast has yet to attack again.

"As you wish," replies your captive in perfect Fey and also let out a sigh of relief at your inexperience attempts at intimidation being successful.

You release your prisoner and step back as he presumably steps away. You open your mouth to speak and realise your mistake too late as more green fire bolts are unleashed by the flying beast.

You attempt to dodge, but you are too slow and too late as your attacker has clearly taken the time to line up its shot. You scream as your face and neck burn under the super hot barrage, your only saving grace being that Torlyn refuses to melt due to its unyielding nature.

As the agonising pain overwhelms you, you collapse into unconsciousness.

***​

When you wake, you wince in pain as while it has mostly faded, enough lingers to leave you in no small amount of discomfit. While your injuries have healed rapidly thanks to the passive regeneration of your shapeshifting, you still call upon your healing spell to quickly finish the job rather than let your shapeshifting do it slowly.

As the pain finally goes away, you look around you in an attempt to figure out what happened since you blacked out. An alley, you are in an alley, sitting against one of the walls as your squire looks down at you.

"Are you okay Fairy Knight?" asks Sapphire Squire and while she tries to conceal it, you can pick up the hint of concern in her voice, "I got you out of there and you were still breathing and you were visibly healing, but..."

"I am fine now," you reassure her as you get up, "They got a good hit in, but even that wouldn't have been enough kill me."

And thank the lord for Torlyn as without your steadfast armour, you would be a corpse.

"That is good," says Sapphire Squire, "Do you mind healing me as well? Nothing serious, but I got a bit bruised and achy from carrying your body out of there."

"Of course," you answer and you reach in to heal her, "Could let me know what I missed?"

"After you got shot, I make another go at the guy," replies your squire, "Didn't knock him out again, but I injured him and left him reeling a bit. The flying thing took another shot at me for that and after that, I decide to get out of there. I didn't have any chance against the big flying one and even the smaller one I was struggling to hit.

So I threw down a smoke bomb, grabbed you and got out of there. I got a little roughed up on the way out. It is harder to swing about carrying an unconscious individual in plate armour. Once I got clear of the area and it was certain that they weren't coming after us, I dropped you down it and kept watch until you woke up."

"Good work," you reply, "Can you remember the way back to the place of the fight? I want to check it out if they are gone and if they are still there, I want to see what they are doing."

"I definitely remember," says Sapphire Squire as she readies one of her grapple gauntlets, "Just follow me."

***​

"It just doesn't make any sense," you tell your squire as you leave the scene of the fight for a second time after the police make too much of a fuss over your presence.

"What part did make sense?" retorts Sapphire Squire.

"The flying beast protecting the individual that we took down and the similar spells used to conceal themselves," you answer, "But what I was referring to was the magical residue I picked up."

"Still know nothing about that by the way," replies your squire.

"Well, I looked for lingering traces of used magic and I could only find my own," you continue, "You didn't use your Mystic Wardrobe so that explains that, but I should have detected the magic of our foes. The only reason I didn't is that they either didn't use magic or whoever is responsible for the magic they used is good enough that even I was unable to detect it.

And while both of those are ridiculously outrageous, I favour the latter over the former unless you know of some way that their abilities could be achieved with technology. But even then, I should have detected some magic from the holes they left in the roofs. It shouldn't be possible to conceal scattered magical traces left by a magical attack on the target."

"While I don't know how the invisibility stuff was done, I do have one idea," says Sapphire Squire, "What if the attacks weren't magic themselves? Like they used magic to do a non-magical attack sort of like using magic to throw a regular rock supernaturally fast. It would do the impossible with magic, but the attack itself would just be a normal rock at really fast speeds."

"Hmm, that could work," you muse, "It would still be quite a feat to keep the magical traces off of the fired attack, but a far more manageable feat then concealing magic of a magical attack. Good theory."

"Thanks," says Sapphire Squire, "Can I ask a question?"

"You technically just did, but go ahead," you reply.

"Do you have a secret identity?" asks your squire, "I'm not asking to know what it is because that would be super hypocritical because I'm not going to share my own, but you are magical warrior from another world so you wouldn't have one by default like I do. But you also act like you got one so you might have gotten one since your exile or maybe you got one as part of your exile. You don't have to tell me of course, but I'm just curious and I didn't see the harm in just asking."

How does Fairy Knight answer?
[] Let her know that you do have a secret identity and reveal it to her.
[] Inform that you do have a secret identity, but no more than that.
[] Refuse confirm either way about you having a secret identity.
[] Lie to her and tell her you don't have a secret identity.
[] Write-in.

Spoiler: Rolls

Mount attacks Fairy Knight.
Green Bolt Attack, DC18: 11-5 = 6, Miss.

Fairy Knight heals the flyers.
Healing Check, DC10: 18+1 = 19, 2 DoS.

Threatening the flyer.
Intimidation Check, DC22: 11+2 = 13, 2 DoF.

Seeing the lie.
Insight vs Deception: 2+7 vs 8+6 = 9 vs 14, Flyer wins by 1 DoS.

Mount attacks Fairy Knight.
Green Bolt Aimed Attack, DC18: 20+10-5 = 25, Successful Critical Hit.
Toughness Check, DC30: 3+11 = 14, 4 DoF, Incapacitated.

Sapphire Squire attacks the flyer.
Boomerang Attack, DC23: 19+9-5 = 23, Successful Critical Hit.
Toughness Check, DC26: 14+5 = 19, 2 DoF, Dazed & -1 Toughness Penalty.

Mount attacks Sapphire Squire.
Green Bolt Attack, DC18: 7 = 7, Miss.

Identifying the magic.
Expertise: Magic, DC20: 11+13 = 24, 1 DoS

***​

This arc is over as while you could attempt to track down your foe, I don't feel like another arc of back and forth chasing right after the Redcoat arc. So your foes in this arc go away and you have the option to reveal or hide your secret identity to your sidekick before moving onto the next adventure.

That said, this will not be the last that you have seen of these guys and those that they work for. Also, if you do reveal your secret identity to Sapphire Squire, you will do so privately back at the Nighthouse.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.

 

[Oshha]

[X] Inform that you do have a secret identity, but no more than that.

"I have a secret identity," you answer, unsure of what to say as while you aren't going to lie to your squire, for some reason, you also don't feel like telling her the whole truth, "I didn't start out with it, but I acquired it as part of my attempts to integrate into human society."

"Human society," repeats Sapphire Squire before she lets out some laughter, "I sometimes forget that you aren't, well, you are only half human and you didn't grow up amongst humans."

"I will say that I prefer living amongst humans," you reply with another smile that gets hidden by your helmet.

"By the way, how old are you if you don't mind me asking and how does ageing work with your shapeshifting?" asks Sapphire Squire and you raise an eyebrow at the somewhat personal question, but answer it anyway.

"Time does flow the same in the Kingdom of the Fairies as it does in the mortal world so while I am over a thousand, my growth has been limited," you answer, "As for the second question, it doesn't. I don't grow old as a result of my shapeshifting and while I cannot make myself too young or too old, I get to choose how old my body is."

"That sounds cool," says your squire, "Could you give that to me? When I am older of course. I don't want to be stuck as a kid."

"We'll see," is your response, not giving a yes, but also not giving a no.

***​

"So what have you got on the Royal Ravens?" you ask Sapphire Squire as you arrive at the Nighthouse after finishing your work for the day.

Your squire looks up from where she has been working on compiling Brown's information with what you and she had uncovered into something usable.

"A lot," answers Sapphire Squire with a grin, "The Royal Ravens are the biggest gang around, but between the three of us, we got all of the important bits and enough to take them down at least three times over."

"Excellent," you say, returning her grin as you dismiss your helmet, "Could you give me a highlight of the key facts?"

"Sure," replies Sapphire Squire as she straightens up, paying more attention to you, "First of all, the gang is full of caring arseholes. Like they are a bunch of bad people, but they care for their own and sometimes others. Which is a double-edged sword as while it makes it harder for us to take them down, we can use it against them if we play our hand right.

First of all, they are led by Peter Michaelson. A middle-ageing man who has recently passed his prime, the guy is an absolute cock who is highly respected by the gang. Rude, violent and impulsive, Peter has somehow leveraged that into a ton of respect with most of the criminal underworld. His gang respects him, most other gangs respect him and I'm pretty sure he is an actually member of the Consortium rather than just being another lackey.

Below that you got Allen Baxter, the chief enforcer of the Royal Ravens. The street soldiers are more actual soldiers than mere thugs or at least they got some discipline and training to them. Allen is an over the top fool that likes to punch first ask questions later, but he cares for his enforcers and gives them proper training. The enforcers of the Royal Ravens a cut above any of the other gangs and is one of the main reasons that they got such a feared reputation and can maintain their control over the other gangs."

"Sounds like if we can take out those two, the gang will fall apart," you note.

"Ehh, I wouldn't say that," replies Sapphire Squire, "Sure, it would be a big blow to them, but it would be less of a collapse and more splitting up into smaller gangs. Take out the top dogs and you will only end up with several small gangs instead of one big gang. And that isn't even considering the possibility that Consortium might just elevate a replacement to keep control over the Royal Ravens and all of the other gangs."

"I presume that you got some other targets for us to go after?" you inquire.

"Yup, Flora Gilmore is head of the Royal Ravens' finances and I believe she is a good target to go after," says Sapphire Squire as she begins to look through some of the papers arrayed before her, "Take care of her and the Royal Ravens' finances will fall apart. Flora Gilmore is basically a bitch. She cares for her subordinates, but in a smothering sort of way and has a real nasty mean streak to her. Basically an easy target, but it wouldn't be enough to take down the gang on its own so we will need to follow it up with other things. I also think she was put there by the Consortium so I'm both worried that they can replace her easily enough and removing her will draw the attention of the Consortium."

"I'm not worried about the Consortium's attention," you say, "We've already dealt with the best they got to offer and they are at their weakest in over a decade."

"I suppose," replies Sapphire Squire, but your squire looks sceptical, "Anyway, next up is the prominent sub-bosses. Three of them stand out and these guys would end up as the new top dogs if we take out the old ones. Hector Sears runs a series of gambling dens across the gang's territories. They're a mixture of illegal and legal with the latter being used as a cover to add illegally earnt money by the other operations of the gang into legal money. Not sure how. That sort of thing isn't my area of expertise. Like I said at the start, the gang is full of caring arseholes and Hector Sears is no exception. The guy has no sense of discretion and pretty carefree, but looks after his people and has no shortage of common sense.

Next up is Jaime Holden, who runs a bunch of whorehouses and before you ask, Dad gave me the talk when I stopped being a little girl and starting to be a little lady. I'm going to be honest and say that I kind of want to leave him alone even if he is profiting from making women sell their bodies. Jaime cares for his subordinates, thug and prostitute alike, and while he can be overbearing, he has left, he looks after his people. The man has left a trail of broken limbs of whose that have mistreated his women and has even gone after members of his own gang. Jaime even got into feud with Allen Baxter after he once beat up a enforcer who was too rough with one of his woman and it took the intervention from the Consortium to resolve things. Even then, I'm pretty sure there is still a grudge between them, which is something we might be able to exploit.

The last major sub-boss is Calvin Clay, who is in handling street crime. Not the unorganised stuff, but the one-time jobs and long term stuff that is planned and backed by the gang. Like the others, he cares for his men and has their loyalty for that. Calvin has an ego and is a risk taker who likes to put his money where his mouth is. That said, he likes to fill his mouth when he does that and sooner or later, he is going to bite off more than he can fit. I've bet we can bait him into a trap easily enough."

"Is that all?" you ask even as you begin to run through the different possibilities.

"One last way to hurt the Royal Ravens," answers Sapphire Squire, "While they get their best stuff from the Consortium and their street level stuff locally, the Royal Ravens do equip their elite enforcers with guns. They supplied themselves with weapons and ammo from an Irish smuggler called Amber O'Casey who is able to get them weapons thanks to all of that Republican business in Ireland. However, she apparently did it because she figured that the Royal Ravens and the Consortium would cause trouble for the government, which would help the rebels in Ireland. But now the Consortium is helping the government against the rebels so while she has quit or broken ties with them yet, Amber is really unhappy with the Royal Ravens and their masters."

"You have a plan to deal with her?" you inquire.

"More like a plan to make use of her," replies Sapphire Squire with a smirk, "Amber is a charismatic and daring individual who likes to have fun. Offer her a chance to hurt the Consortium whilst getting some fun out of it and I'm pretty sure she'll take it if it doesn't involve too much risk to her. That said, just taking her out with will cut off the Royal Ravens from some of their weapons."

"So plenty of opportunities?" you inquire.

"Yes," confirms your squire, "And we'll need to take a few of them. This is a big entrenched gang with powerful backers who can't afford to lose them. It won't be easy."

What is your first move in taking down the Royal Ravens?
[] Take out the head by going after Peter Michaelson.
-[] Engage him in a straight up fight to show everyone that you don't fear the Royal Ravens or their Consortium backers.
-[] Ambush the leader of the Royal Ravens to take him out.
[] Go after Allen Baxter.
-[] Ambush the man himself to remove the leader of the gang's street soldiers.
-[] Go after the elite enforcers of the Royal Ravens to harm the gang's reputation and power projection.
-[] Attempt to leverage his grudge against Jaime Holden to cause infighting amongst the Royal Ravens.
[] Attempt to throw their finances into disarray by going after Flora Gilmore.
-[] Try to get her arrested by the police.
-[] Attempt to turn her against the Royal Ravens.
[] Go after Hector Sears to deal with this prominent sub-boss.
-[] Go after the man himself to remove this sub-boss.
-[] Strike his gambling dens to harm the finances of the gang.
[] Go after Jaime Holden to deal with this prominent sub-boss.
-[] Go after the man himself to remove this sub-boss.
-[] Shutdown his prostitution rings to harm the finances of the gang.
-[] Attempt to leverage his grudge against Allen Baxter to cause infighting amongst the Royal Ravens.
[] Go after Calvin Clay to deal with this prominent sub-boss.
-[] Go after the man himself to remove this sub-boss.
-[] Interfere with his street crime to harm the reputation and power projection of the gang.
[] Take advantage of this Irishwoman's discontent with the
-[] Attempt to enlist her aid against the Royal Ravens.
-[] Take her out to cut off the Royal Ravens from their main supply of firearms.
[] Write-in.

Spoiler: Rolls

Helping investigate the Royal Ravens.
Investigation check, DC18: 16+5 = 21, 1 DoS

Investigating the Royal Ravens. (Sapphire Squire)
Investigation check, DC18: 20+10+2 = 37, 4 DoS

Brown's Investigations.
Investigation check, DC18: 13+10 = 23, 2 DoS

***​

Start of a new arc and you will be attempting to take down the Royal Ravens and break the Consortium's hold over the street gangs of London. This update is a bit info heavy, but it is mainly here to let you know what options are available to you. You will need to take more than one to bring down a gang as big and entrenched as the Royal Ravens and you will be back to this list once than once hence why it says you are choosing your first move in the vote.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.

 

[Oshha]

[X] Go after Hector Sears to deal with this prominent sub-boss.
-[X] Strike his gambling dens to harm the finances of the gang.

You ultimately decide to strike the gambling dens of the Royal Ravens. While you consider attempting to go after Allen Baxter and use the chief enforcer's rivalry with Jaime Holden to ignite in-fighting with the boss, you decide against it. You have grown to know your limits and diplomacy is one of them. You wield no silver tongue and while you can improve your social skills in the future, today they are lacking and that won't be changing any time soon.

So you decide to hit the Royal Ravens in their finances. For bandit scum like the gang, money is what motivates them. Well, power is what motivates them and money is just a common form of power that is both easily acquired and easily used. If you go after the finances of the gang, it will leave them reeling if you are successful.

The gambling dens are a good target when it comes to harming the finances of the gang. Not only do they provide the Royal Ravens with illicit income, but Sapphire Squire is certain that the brigands also acquire a good portion of their legal funding via the gambling dens.

The plan is nice and simple. You find the dens and then you smash them before leaving to let the police come and finish the job. Between you and your squire, such tasks are easy as Sapphire Squire is more than capable of digging up the locations of the gambling dens and the two of you are more than a match for any thug, especially now that Sapphire Squire has managed to incorporate some of the Night's armour into her own costume.

***​

"And that's the last of them," declares Sapphire Squire as you finish knocking out the last of the thugs guarding this gambling den, "Collect my things while I go searching?"

"Of course," you reply as this is somewhat routine by now.

While you are the knight and Sapphire is your squire, you have no problem acknowledging that Sapphire Squire is your better in some areas. You also acknowledge that your squire is reliant on her limited supply of equipment, which take time and resources to replace. And while she has more those things these days, Sapphire Squire still rightfully likes to recover what she can and so after a fight, she retrieved what used gadgets she can.

So by combining those two facts together, you take it upon yourself to collect up the expended equipment for potential reuse whilst your squire begins looking for useful information right away. You view the matter as just another way of cleaning, helping out your squire by doing one of the things that you enjoy. Plus a good cleaning is more satisfying than a fight.

"When you're done, can you help me sort these papers into something nice and organised?" calls Sapphire Squire from another room, "I could do with an extra set of hands."

And so the night continues as you expected it to. The guards fell to you and your squire easily and then Sapphire Squire uncovers the evidence hinted here while you help her out as best you can. That is how the first five missions went and that is how you had expected this one to go as well.

The hurried arrival of Inspector Brown changes all of that and what would have been a simple night of shutting down a gambling den is thrown into disarray. You had not expected the lawman to show up so soon and definitely not on his own. While he cooperates with you to take down the criminals, he usually just sends some lower ranked policemen to the scene due to an 'anonymous' tip. To show up in person on his own like this is a radical departure and not one that you have any inking of.

"Good, you're still here," says Inspector Brown as he spots you sorting some files into relevant groups, "We need to talk quickly. Neither of us have much time. The Consortium or the Royal Ravens have called in someone dirty above me to stop you taking apart the gang. They cancelled my operation tonight and some goons behind my back have destroyed the evidence."

"They are acting so openly in support of their foes?" you inquire.

"Yeah, it caught everyone by surprise," confirms Inspector Brown, "One of the reasons they got away with it so well. I won't deny that plenty of people turn a blind eye when they really shouldn't, but nobody has acted so openly and blatantly. Frankly, I'm not sure what to do about this yet, but I do know that you can't count on the law to help you out right now. Corrupt arseholes aren't just bending the law, but outright breaking it and I'm afraid I can't do much if the system I work stops functioning."

"We shall keep the evidence that we find here then?" you ask.

"Definitely, what you got tonight and whatever else you have is the only remaining evidence," replies Inspector Brown, "I've got some notes of my own and I'll pass on copies of them to you, but they aren't much. Look, I've got to go. I'm not supposed to be here and whoever is behind all of this is sending some specifically chosen individual to deal with this anonymous tip. Which means, they are going to help the Royal Ravens cover this up and try to take down you if they find you here.

We can talk more at our next meeting. I told the folks at work that I've be heading home for the night after my operation got cancelled and I wouldn't be surprised if they had people watching to make sure that I actually do go home and not somewhere else."

"Thank you for the warning," you reply, "May your journey be swift and peril free."

"Good luck to you to," are the final words of Inspector Brown as the lawman leaves.

"Done hiding?" you ask to your squire as the girl pops out.

"I wasn't hiding," protests Sapphire Squire, giving you an indignant look, "I just didn't want to be seen."

"That is called hiding my squire," you point out and Sapphire Squire frown slightly, "I understand that you don't want to meet up with Inspector Brown, but to actively hide from him? Is there something going on between you and him?

"Look, it is secret identity stuff, I just don't want to talk about it and I can't talk about it without blowing open my identity," says Sapphire Squire, "And speaking of secret identity stuff, I just remembered that I got to go soon. Like right now soon. Can you handle wrapping up here for the night?"

"I am capable of dealing with things on my own," you answer, "In light of Inspector Brown's warning, shall I take what I can with me and leave the rest to burn?"

"Sounds good to me," replies Sapphire Squire, "See you tomorrow!"

Watching your squire go, you briefly consider finding out her secret identity before dismissing it. To do such a thing would be a violation of her privacy and her trust in you. To break the faith that she has put in you is simply unacceptable. So as much as you have questions regarding who she is, you will let them go unanswered.

***​

When you spot Inspector Brown in the Gallant Lady, you know that things are not going well. The man is sat hunched over, nursing a drink with a glower. You can't decide if the man looks upset or angry and decide to go with a mixture of the two. Given what he told you last night, he is right to feel the way he looks.

"How bad is it?" you ask as you approach him.

"Terrible," answers Inspector Brown, "Ruddy scum, the lot of them. Gah, it is one thing to know that there is rot, it is another to see it passively existing, but it is an entirely different beast to see men sworn to uphold the law actively break and bend it to save the very criminals that they are supposed to be stopping."

"You want to talk about it?" you ask gently.

"Not really," mutters Inspector Brown before sighing, "I used to think that the system could work. That I could become a policeman and fix things the right way from within the law. That vigilantes like you were part of the problem, just another breed of criminal that needed to be stopped.

Then the Night came along and started to make a difference, to hurt the Consortium and drive them back. I didn't know whether to love him or hate him for it. He was helping people, driving back the shadow of the Consortium that lay over all of us, but he was breaking the law in the process. I even helped him out a couple of times and while I can look back and say I did the right thing, I had no idea how to feel at the time."

"What changed?" you inquire, curious about where this is all going as Inspector Brown takes another gulp of his drink.

"You and the Night got results," replies Inspector Brown, "The Consortium takes defeat after defeat, something which never happened at the hands of the law. It was vigilantes that lowered crime and it was vigilantes who made the people of London feel safer. You don't have the wide range of the Night, but by God, you can just almost anyone in your neighbourhood and they will say that your presence has made things better.

The Golden Knight is a fake, just another crime lord pretending to be a vigilante. Templar was another, a so-called hero who was just a fancy thug in truth. Then you came along and uphold the Night's legacy. You continue to be beat back the Consortium and despite being, well, being you, I decided to take a chance and reach out to you."

"The Dragonsteeth," you say, remembering back to the last time you took down a major gang of Consortium.

"Aye," agrees Inspector Brown, "Anna Lucas, Levy Porter and Marco Hoffman. A shame that Cliff Gregory got away, but that's the breaks. Sometimes they get away, that is just how the world works. How things aren't supposed to go is the men whose jobs it is to catch criminals abuse their power to let them not only get away with their crimes, but to actively protect them from justice.

If it wasn't for my family, I would consider joining you out there. But I do have a wife and kids to worry about so I have more to worry about them than just my own well being."

"There is also something to be said for not abandoning your current position to those that defile it," you say, making a mental note of the details regarding your ally's family as it is the first time that Inspector Brown has spoken of them.

"The system might be corrupted, but it isn't broken yet," mutters Brown as he downs the last of his drink, "Going to need-actually, probably shouldn't get another one tonight. Three is enough. But yeah, the system isn't broken, not completely yet. Bits of it are broken, but as I said before, something this blatant has angered a lot of other people at work as well."

"Just what is going on amongst the police," you inquire, "My own knowledge of the situation is limited to what you tell me and what rumours I can pick up on the streets."

"I should get you up to speed," mutters Inspector Brown and you notice that his voice is slightly slurred, "Basically, it was business as normal. We got another one of your anonymous tips and follow up on it based on its seriousness and track record of reliability. Then someone above my boss pulled rank and forced him to cancel my operation at last minute. Okay, not last minute, but second last minute? Five minutes to the last minute.

Whatever it is, the operation was cancelled and while I was figuring out what to do, Jimmy came along and very loudly reported that some known dirties had been destroying our evidence on the Royal Ravens. Good lad Jimmy, got a future ahead of him that doesn't include taking bribes. So anyway, Jimmy made it known to everyone what was going on and everybody rushed to see what was going on.

The traitors doing the deeds had just finished and claimed that they were just going their jobs and had done nothing wrong. That pissed a right load of people including those I know have been turning a blind eye to certain folks in the past. Turns out there is a line that some people aren't willingly to cross. A fight almost broke out, but I declared I was heading home to the night but took the opportunity to warn you of what was going on."

"How bad is it right now?" you ask, "How much can law enforcement be relied upon right now? How much I can rely upon you?"

"Worse than I expected, but also better," replies Inspector Brown with a shrug of his shoulders, "I didn't expect my corrupt colleagues to actively protect criminals, but I also didn't expect there to be divisions amongst them if they did go that far. I suspected whoever made the call on their end made the same misassumption. As I said, plenty of people who take bribes and turn a blind eye apparently have a problem with going out of your way to protect the criminals from the law.

It is a mess right now. One of the dirties who destroyed the evidence managed to fall down a flight of stairs while another one slipped in a bathroom. The whole situation is a mess right now, but whoever decided to protect the Royal Ravens decided to jump the gun. People are being forced to pick sides and while you got clean coppers like me, Sam and the rest of my crew and the dirty dogs like Hank and Phil batting for our teams, plenty of people have surprised both sides by deciding to draw the line in how corrupt they are willingly to be."

"Sounds like those who engage in passive corruption see a difference behind that and active corruption," you note, "Your enemy has made a mistake in forcing them to choose before they made sure that they would side with them. Can we leverage that?"

"Not right now," answers Inspector Brown, "It depends on how things play back. Whoever made the call has gotten some major backlash, but I don't know what they will do next. Are they the one in charge or did some flunky who jumped the gun? While they double down on this or pull back to salvage what they can? Will they attempt to purge those that refuse to go along? Until things sort themselves out, you consider the Scotland Yard to be out of play in your campaign against the Royal Ravens and I don't know if they will re-enter it."

"And if they do re-enter it, there is a chance that they will be aiding the Royal Ravens," you say what the lawman had left unspoken.

"Yeah, that too," mutters Inspector Brown as he eyes his empty glass, "I really shouldn't get another."

"I don't think you should," you agree, able to smell the alcohol on his breath if you try, "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll survive," he answers, "Most likely anyway. I don't think they'll try assassinating non-corrupt officers, but I didn't think they would go for actively protecting the Royal Ravens either."

"I'll avenge your death if you are murdered," you promise him.

"If that comes to past, I would rather you protect my family," says Inspector Brown, "Have I told you about them?"

"The first I've heard of them is when you mentioned your wife and children earlier," you inform him, "We mostly talk business and rarely about the other's personal life."

"Ah, that will do it," says Inspector Brown, "It is pretty much public knowledge so I don't mind telling you about them. I got my wife Eira. I'm from London, born and raised here, but Eira came up from the north of Ireland through I'm the only one of us who is a redhead. I love that woman to bits. Marrying her was one of the best decisions and if wasn't for her and the kids, I would seriously consider joining you and your squire out there after the recent events."

"I must confess that is something of unknown concept for me," you reply, "I may have lived for over a thousand years, but I have never had a romantic partner. Plenty of those who would court me, but none were successful for one reason or another."

"A thousand-" Inspector Brown starts to repeat, but he cuts himself off with a shake of his head, "I'll ask about that another time. But if I do die, I want you to look after Eira and my kids, Brenda and James. Good kids through I worry about them. Brenda has her eyes set on the skies and while I won't deny that the girl is talented, I worry that she has set her goal to be too lofty. James is a good lad, but he can be a little off at time. Jumping at things which aren't there and freaking out at the weirdest stuff. I'll have to show you them at some point. Discreetly of course. I can't afford to let anyone know that we know each other, not when some individuals will be looking for an excuse to get rid of me. But you can shapeshift into someone else when I introduce you to them right?"

"Yes and I could also shapeshift into an animal with you just showing me who they are and there I can find them," you answer, "I would suggest meeting on another night when you are not intoxicated."

"Yeah, that would be a good idea," agrees Inspector Brown before holding up a bundle of paper, "I also got my notes here with them. I haven't got any other copies of them so these got lost, that is it. I figure that you would get more out of them than I can."

"Thank you," you say as you take the notes and begin to plan your next move.

What does Tamara do the next night?
[] Speak with Gareth Wallis for advice and insight on how to take down the Royal Ravens.
[] Go with Inspector Brown to meet his family.
-[] Go in the form that you use to meet Inspector Brown.
-[] Go in a random form that can't be tied back to any of your other identities.
-[] Go as Tamara Lyn so if anything happens, Brown's family can find you. This will reveal your secret identity to Inspector Brown.
-[] Follow Inspector Brown as an animal and don't actually introduce yourself to his family.
[] Help Sapphire Squire plan your next move given that you can no longer rely on the law to do anything to the Royal Ravens.
[] Write-in.

Spoiler: Rolls

Preparing to strike.
Investigation team check, DC15: 16+5+2 = 23, 2 DoS
Investigation check (Sapphire Squire), DC15: 8+10+5+2 = 25, 3 DoS.

Looking for evidence in the dens.
Investigation team check, DC15: 8+5+2 = 15, 1 DoS
Investigation check (Sapphire Squire), DC15: 14+10+5+2 = 31, 4 DoS.

Getting stonewalled. (Inspector Brown)
Expertise: Police Officer, DC25: 2+8 = 10, 3 DoF

Warning the vigilantes. (Inspector Brown)
Vehicles check, DC15: 17+5 = 22, 2 DoS.

Holding his drink. (Inspector Brown)
Fortitude check, DC12: 8+4 = 12, 1 DoS.

***​

This update was meant to include other things, but the scene with Brown turned out to be far longer than I originally planned so I push some stuff back into the next update. With the developments in this update, you can still take down the Royal Ravens, but you can't rely on the law to help you out anymore. So no more busting their illegal operations and letting the police arrest and imprison them.

The vote is something of a placeholder vote where you choose what social interaction you want to see, but there will be some consequences to each other. Gareth Wallis might have some insights while helping your squire will get a bonus to your next move against the Sapphire Squire. If you do choose to visit Inspector Brown's family, there will be some more impact to it than if you let it happen off-screen. Speaking of which, if you let it happen off-screen, you will go in a random form. I'm mentioning this now as while I might give you the chance to do it again in the future, that is far from certain.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.

 

[Oshha]

[X] Speak with Gareth Wallis for advice and insight on how to take down the Royal Ravens.

While you could help Sapphire Squire plan your next move against the Royal Ravens in light of the chaos amongst the lawmen, you decide that there is a better way to spend your time. Your squire is more than capable of handling things on her own and you decide that asking Gareth Wallis for insight could be useful.

Your employer is both an experienced politician and someone who can be trusted regarding your activities as the Fairy Knight. While you don't expect any miracles to come out of this, you do hope that Gareth Wallis will be able to provide some advice on the matter.

You decide to approach Gareth Wallis during the afternoon while you are working. Gareth may be nominally retired, but the man still likes to keep active and own several small businesses which are more to keep himself busy than to earn money even if the latter quite well. Not only will this approach give you a reason to be around the man, but it will let you assess how busy he is and when will be a good time to speak with him.

It is in the later part of the afternoon that you mentioned to get Gareth Wallis to himself. Spotting the man reading a book and having finished your chores for the afternoon, you decide against just interrupting the man and choose to be more friendly about it. You take a few minutes in the kitchens to get a plate of biscuits and two glasses of water before approaching Gareth.

"Excuse me," you say as you enter, "If you got a moment, I would like to speak with you."

"Anything in particular Tamara?" inquires Gareth, giving you a curious look as you place the plate and glasses down on the table next to him.

"I wish your insights on certain matters regarding my other activities," you tell him, "There have been recent events which have caused unexpected complications and I would like your insight on the matter, especially since the situation is still unfolding."

"Given what you done so far, I am happy to help where I can," says Gareth, "And I still owe you for taking down Redcoat. I'm glad to see that the sod go to prison. So what has happened?"

You fill in Gareth Wallis on what Inspector Brown has informed you of the previous night and by the end of it, the elderly man is frowning.

"That is not good," finally says Gareth Wallis after a few moments of silence, "But in its own way, it is a sign of success on your part."

"Success?" you inquire, unsure of where he is coming from with that.

"It isn't entirely your success, but you done a good portion of it," explains Gareth, "My grandson started it, but you and others have continued it. When I was younger and still active, the Consortium was strong, powerful and uncontested. Now it has suffered defeat after defeat, The Golden Order bites at its ankles in the middle of London, the Irish have driving them out of Scotland and whilst vigilantes like Ben, you and your squire have been systematically dismantling their operations here in London.

Neither you or Brown expected them to pull such a blatant and overt move. A reasonable assumption in normal circumstances, but the Consortium is desperate right now. You are close to hurting them in a way that they won't be able to recover from and so you put them between a rock and a hard place."

"And so they made a bad move because they only had bad moves open to them," you say, "I suppose there is something to be said about not trapping a foe with no retreat."

"Exactly," agrees Gareth, "I'm afraid I don't see any good moves ahead. This is one of those situations where the cat is out of the bag. The corrupted elements might back off due to the backlash, especially if you back off the pressure on them by not going after the Royal Ravens. But by the same token, backing off in your campaign could be viewed as a sign of success by them and cause them to double down. Likewise, keeping up your campaign means that they will double down if they consider the resulting backlash to be an acceptable trade off."

"Your recommendation?" you inquire.

"I don't have one for you I'm afraid," replies Gareth gently, "Ben never went after the Consortium as directly as you have nor did he have so many brazen successes. He would also strike their smaller operations and never directly pressuring them by going after their bigger operations. From what he told me, he deliberately avoided going after them like you have done to avoid the outcome that you are currently facing.

Your situation is different to that. The die has been cast and now you are left to deal with the unfolding events. And quite frankly, I lack the experience to make the call on what to do. It is simply outside of my area of expertise. But I do have some advice for you. Your problems in the police are the price of you hurting the Consortium. You need to decide if the price is worth it and whether you are better off continuing on your current course or calling off your campaign. Sorry if I don't have the answers that you are looking for."

"I was already expecting wisdom over answers when I sought your insight," you tell him, "Your words have been informative. Regardless of whether it was the right move for either side, the battle has been engaged and neither side can afford to withdraw and concede victory to their foe. I'm not going to back down from taking out the Royal Ravens. If I had known that the Consortium would make a play to corrupt the law in an overt manner, I might have not begun my campaign, but as you said, the cat is already out of the bag."

"I am glad that I have been able to help you with your dilemma," says Gareth, "God knows that I ought to do more to help others these days. Hmm, if you don't mind, I would like to ask another couple of questions about you while we are talking."

"I cannot promise answers, but I shall listen to what you have to say," you reply.

"First of all, I want to know which of these is the real you, the Fairy Knight or my maid," asks Gareth.

"Both are me, but the former is the side of me that I grew up in and feel the most comfortable with," you answer, "What you see before you is also me, but it is a side of me that I developed as a result of my exile, only little over a year ago. It is me, but one I am still becoming accustomed with and growing used to. It is like moving to a new town. Your old town will always be home, but with time, your new town will also become home. Yet it will take time. Perhaps in a year or two, I shall be as comfortable as Tamara Lyn the maid as I am as Tamara Lyn the Fairy Knight, but for now, I prefer to be the Fairy Knight even as I embrace both sides of me."

"Understandable," says Gareth, "I hope you do come to call London home and be happy living amongst its people. As for my second question, I would like to know if I could meet with your squire? Sapphire Squire is quite the intriguing individual, but I have yet to meet her."

"That is a question I cannot easily answer," you reply, thinking about your squire's avoidance of your allies, "She is averse to meeting with others. I believe it is due to her age as while I have no problem with the youth, I gather the impression that many would."

"She isn't wrong," says Gareth, "I don't approve of someone as young as she is doing what she does, but I cannot deny that she has proven herself with her deeds. I also can't think of how I could stop her doing what she does. Can you?"

"There are some potential options, but nothing certain," you answer after a moment's thought, "And none of those options are ones that I am comfortable with."

"Then I shall do what I did when I realised that I was unable to stop Ben being the Night without going to unpalatable lengths," continues Gareth, "I supported him in his crusade to the best of my ability to ensure his survival and well being."

"I shall pass your stance onto my squire," you promise him, "She may agree to meet with you, but I can make no promises over that as while she is my squire, she remains mysterious to me in many ways."

"Hmm, I can say the same about you as my maid," muses Gareth, "Unless there is anything else...?"

"I shall leave you be," you say, curtsying before you turn to exit the room.

"Tamara, thank you for the biscuits," says Gareth as you leave, "And thank you for avenging my grandson."

***​

You follow Inspector Brown home one night, taking up a temporary appearance for the night that can't be tied back to any of your other identities. Black hair, brown eyes with light brown skin alongside the lean figure that you prefer to have.

Inspector Brown doesn't live too far away from your patrol area, which is a good thing because it won't be too much trouble to keep an eye on them. The house is in a decent neighbourhood and looks to be in a good condition. Then you expect someone of Inspector Brown's position to be able to afford a proper home for his family.

"Jordan," says a slim woman with brown hair and blue eyes as Inspector Brown enters his home with you in tow, "You're back early. And with a guest too."

"I wanted to introduce you to a friend dear," says Inspector Brown as the woman eyes you curiously, "This is Theresa, a friendly acquaintance that I met at work. Theresa, this is my wife Eira."

"It is pleasure to meet you Theresa," says Eira.

"I'll explain more later when the kids aren't around," Inspector Brown tells his wife as you hear footsteps.

The footsteps are soon followed by the appearance of an adolescent redhead girl in a green dress. There is a look of surprise at the sight of you in the girl's green eyes and for a moment, you are certain that you are looking at your squire. But the girl shifts her posture and your certainty goes with it. Instead of your squire, you are looking at an ordinary girl who happens to also be a redhead with a similar physical build to Sapphire Squire. Your thoughts are soon distracted from the girl as a younger boy comes into view behind his sister. While Brenda has inherited the red hair and green eyes of her father, James takes after his mother as a brunette with blue eyes.

"Theresa, Brenda and James," Inspector Brown continues to introduce you to his family, "Kids, this is Theresa, an acquaintance of mind from work."

"Pleased to meet you Theresa," says Brenda as she looks you over while James remains silent and just stares at you, "How long will you be staying?"

"That would depend on your father," you inform her and the attention shifts from you to Inspector Brown.

"We got a bit of time to get to know each other before I need to have private talk with Theresa and she goes on her way," says Inspector Brown.

"Is this to due with your...with what has been happening at work?" asks Eira, cutting herself off-mid sentence with a glance at the kids.

"Sort of," admits Inspector Brown, "As I said dear, I will explain it to you later."

***​

"Look at what I've done!" exclaims Sapphire Squire as she spots your arrival, looking excited at your presence as she has one of the tables in the Nighthouse covered in sheets of paper.

"You haven't been making raids on your own have you?" you ask, letting the disapproval show in your voice as you look at the mass of documents, files and other paper-based evidence covering the table.

"What?" says Sapphire Squire as she stares at you, "No! No, this is just the evidence we previously discovered. You told me how Inspector Brown told you that all of the evidence we gave to the police had been destroyed so I've spent the night recreating it."

"How?" you demand as you look over the evidence.

It looks like it could be the real deal, but you have no way of determining how accurate it is.

"I am a genius and I got an excellent memory, a photographic one even," answers Sapphire Squire with a hint of smugness, "We still have some copies of the evidence here and between that and Inspector Brown's notes, I've been able to recreate pretty much all of it. It won't be useful in courts, but I bet we can get some use out of it."

"This is good work," you say as you inspector the various documentation, "Do you have any ideas on what we should do next?"

"A few," says Sapphire Squire, "But first I was hoping to hear what you had found out."

"We put the Consortium between a rock and a hard place so they made a risky move of desperation and now the die is cast," you tell her, thinking back to your conversation with Gareth Wallis, "The cat is out of the bag and so we cannot afford to yield to the Consortium by ceasing our campaign against the Royal Ravens. If the cat was still in the bag, it may be a different matter, but it is out and we must deal with the situation that we find ourselves in."

"That makes sense," says Sapphire Squire, "So I got four ideas that we can try."

"Before you tell me those, I promised to let you know that Gareth Wallis wishes to meet with you," you say and you continue quickly as you spot the look of hesitation on her face, "He wants to let you know that while he would rather someone of your age not get involved in this, he also knows that he can't stop you doing this. So instead of wasting time convincing you to stop or trying to force you to stop, he is going to focus on supporting you to keep you alive and ensure your well being."

"I'll consider it," replies your squire stiffly, "Let's focus on the Royal Ravens for now."

"What have you got for me?" you ask, accepting the change in subject.

"Well, we hurt their finances," says Sapphire Squire, "Not too much as they got other sources of income and they got plenty of spare cash in the bank, but they will have a reduced income and loss of face. If we want to keep hitting them in the wallet, I suggest we got after Flora Gilmore and turn her against the Royal Ravens. If it is possible, I'm thinking you could use magic to mind control her."

"Not doable," you respond instantly, "My rituals aren't good for long terms effects outside of a few complicated exceptions and I object to any non-temporary mind control."

"Oh, well in that case, we would need to persuade her to turn on the Royal Ravens the old fashion way," says Sapphire Squire, "No offence, but I would recommend me doing the talking. Talking to people isn't your area of expertise and while it isn't mine, I am pretty decent at it. At least I am good at tricking people and bringing them around to my point of view. Scaring people is probably your sort of thing, but I'm not sure how useful that would be in this situation. We want to make her work with us and fear isn't the best motivations for that."

"As my squire, I don't think your words will carry the same weight as mine would," you muse, "Unless you got an idea around that?"

"I got one, but I'll need to you to judge how plausible it is because it involves more of your magic," answers Sapphire Squire and you indicate for her to continue, "I figured that since we need my people skills and you, well, the Fairy Knight to be talking to them, we could use magic to disguise me as the Fairy Knight! Flora would respect what I had to see because they would see me as the Fairy Knight and I could probably convince her to turn on the Royal Ravens."

"Definitely doable, but it would take a few days to set up," you reply, "We could disguise ourselves as the other and it might be possible to do something to boost your talking skills."

"That's one plan sorted," says Sapphire Squire, "Let's go over the other two. So Flora Gilmore is the option for hurting their finance, but Allen Baxter is the target for taking out their reputation and power project. We can't rely upon the police to arrest any of the Royal Ravens, but we can beat up all of their enforcers. We would need to hurt them hard enough to put them out of commission for a while, but if we put them in hospital, the Royal Ravens will spend some time without any elite scary street soldiers to keep the other gangs in line. Beating people up plays to your strengths and I doubt they have anyone who will pose a challenge to us."

"So a choice between continuing to harm their finances or beginning to hurt their power projection," you muse, "The latter would be easier, but the former would be more of a victory if successful. You said you had four ideas?"

"My last two ideas are about approaching others who have the Royal Ravens as a mutual enemy," says Sapphire Squire, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that."

"A sound plan, but remember that the enemy of your enemy is your enemy's enemy," you tell her, "They may also be other things, but not just on the grounds that you share a mutual foe."

"That...that makes sense," replies Sapphire Squire, "Anyway, so remember Amber O'Casey, the Irish smuggler who supplies the Royal Ravens with guns and ammo? Well, I'm thinking we could work with her against the Amber O'Casey. Given her Republican politics and motivations for supplying the Royal Ravens, I doubt she will take the recent events well. It should be easy enough to turn her against the Royal Ravens if she hasn't done so already. That said, I think it would be a similar situation with Flora Gilmore where it would be a good idea for me to be the one that talks to Amber whilst pretending to be you."

"Do you think that Amber O'Casey will be helpful?" you inquire.

"She has worked with the Royal Ravens long enough that she should a decent portion of insider knowledge and as an independent smuggler, she will have connections outside of the Royal Ravens," answers Sapphire Squire, "Still I'll admit I got nothing too concrete on her so it would be a gamble, but one I favour."

"And the last idea?" you prod.

"Golden Knight and his Golden Order," says Sapphire Squire, "I'll admit that you're going to be a bigger expert on this as I haven't actually interact with either of them. But the Golden Order is the main rival of the Consortium here in London and while they are also criminals, they have their own reasons for wanting to take down the Royal Ravens and breaking the hold that the Consortium has on the streets of London and its gangs."

"Golden Knight has struck me as reasonable in our past encounters," you muse, "And he is wise enough to avoid getting my attention. The idea is differently viable so the question is not if it will work, but if we want to do it. I am wary of taking down a tyrant just to replace them with another tyrant."

"So those are all of my ideas," says Sapphire Squire, "Since I'm just the squire, it is your choice."

Which idea does Fairy Knight choose?
[] The first idea. Continue to strike at the finances of the Royal Ravens by turning Flora Gilmore, their chief accountant, against them.
-[] Use a ritual to disguise Sapphire Squire as Fairy Knight so your squire can be the one doing the talking.
[] The second idea. Attack Allen Baxter, the chief enforcer of the Royal Ravens, and his elite goons to weaken the power projection of the Royal Ravens.
[] The third idea. Convince the smuggler Amber O'Casey to work with you against the Royal Ravens.
-[] Use a ritual to disguise Sapphire Squire as Fairy Knight so your squire can be the one doing the talking.
[] The fourth idea. Approach the Golden Knight to gain the assistance of the Golden Order against the Royal Ravens.
[] Write-in.

Spoiler: Rolls

Noticing a familiar face.
Perception vs Deception: 15+7 vs 1+9+2 = 22 vs 7, Tamara Lyn wins by 3 DoS. Luck Reroll!
Perception vs Deception: 15+7 vs 20+9+2 = 22 vs 36, Brenda Brown wins by 3 DoS.

Reconstructing the evidence. (Sapphire Squire)
Intellect check, DC25: 20+6+5 = 36, 3 DoS.

***​

And in this update, Sapphire Squire forgot how to not roll crits. Another long update and now after getting some insight from Gareth Wallis and briefly showing you meeting Brown's family, you get back to your campaign against the Royal Ravens. Since you left the planning up to Sapphire Squire, you are limited in the options available to you and are restricted to what Sapphire Squire believes to be the best. If you chose to use it, the ritual will be a simple one that can be done by routine check and will allow Sapphire Squire to use her superior interaction skills whilst pretending to be you.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.

 

[Oshha]

[X] The second idea. Attack Allen Baxter, the chief enforcer of the Royal Ravens, and his elite goons to weaken the power projection of the Royal Ravens.

While the other ideas are tempting in their own way, go with the second idea of taking out the enforcers. Flora Gilmore and Amber O'Casey would require diplomacy that you lack and using the ritual would take too long to design and build. And while you could turn to the Golden Knight for aid, you have little interesting in seeking the aid of criminals.

That leaves Allen Baxter and his band of enforcers to take care of. It is a simple of enough task of hurting them badly enough that they will be temporarily unavailable to the Royal Ravens. Fighting is your speciality and you doubt that any of your targets can pose a threat to you.

As is the usual these days, you let Sapphire Squire handle the first stage of the mission. Looking through the grand collection of evidence that you acquired, Sapphire Squire gets to work on both identifying who the enforcers of the Royal Ravens are and where you can reliably find them.

Your squire takes to the task with vigour, going through what information you currently have and repeatedly sending you out to either get more knowledge or confirm that some information is correct or still relevant. It doesn't take more than a few days and by the end of the week, the two of you have already moved onto the next stage of the plan by striking your targets.

While the Royal Ravens have plenty of street soldiers, they only have a score of elite enforcers that act as Allen Baxter's personal goon squad. Hospitalising the lot of them won't cripple the Royal Ravens anymore than hitting their gambling dens have done so, but it will be another nail in the coffin and limit the gang's ability to act.

Who knows what harm would be done to the Royal Ravens during the time that they are unable to threaten violence upon their rivals and vassals? Most gangs may not take their chances just yet, but you would be surprised if none took the opportunity to slip the leash that the Royal Ravens had them on.

The first few targets go down easily as there are few these days that can pose a challenge to you. Man after man fall before you and your squire and it isn't until you come upon Allen Baxter himself that the two of you face your first proper challenge.

***​

You had managed to catch the chief enforcer on his way from work to home. It has been a couple days since your attacks have begun and your remaining targets have caught on. When he leaves work now, Allen Baxter is neither alone nor unarmed. Two of his enforcers escort him home with the two men having pistols holstered in their belts while Allen Baxter carries a shotgun in his hands.

You frown at the sight of the openly displayed weapons. Normally brigands like these three wouldn't dare be so blatant in their lawbreaking, but the police are occupied with internal matters and there are corrupt men in power covering for the Royal Ravens.

You and Sapphire Squire position on yourselves on separate rooftops, ready to catch the enforcer trio in a crossfire. As with all great plans, it falls apart as Sapphire Squire is spotted. You can't fault your squire for it as the lass was just moving in preparation to launch her attack when Allen Baxter spots her.

The chief enforcers raises his gun. Your squire prepares to throw her boomerang. You jump off of the rooftops. All of it happens within the same second before Allen Baxter pulls his trigger. The shotgun fires with a bank and you watch Sapphire Squire take it head on. For a moment you fear the worst, but Sapphire Squire twists out of the way at the last moment, letting her now armoured costume takes the blunt of the attack.

"This guy is mine!" Sapphire Squire yells at you as you land next to the pair of enforcers behind Allen Baxter and a boomerang flies from your squire's hand.

Your squire's aim is true and the boomerang strikes Allen Baxter in the upper arm, slicing though his thick sleeve. You don't think it penetrated deep enough to do any real harm, but you don't have time to check as you have your own fight to worry about.

Neither of the lesser enforcers have had time to fully react yet. While their boss was quick on the draw, only one of his bodyguards has even begun to draw his weapon while the other is still processing that a fight has broken out. You slash one with the drawn gun across the back in a swift moment before using the techniques that Sapphire Squire showed you to move on the other one.

As the first falls, you jab the second one in the arm that he is using to finally pull his pistol out before following it up with a stab to the gut. Pulling your sword out, you glance over at Allen Baxter to see the chief enforcer pulling the trigger again. You act without thinking, instinctively moving to place yourself between your squire and the foe targeting her.

You take the full blast of the attack and you find yourself wincing in pain as while you have Torlyn to protect you, your armour fails to stop all of the attack. That said, you are grateful that you took the attack as you are certain that you would be down on the street if it wasn't for Torlyn.

As you grit out the pain, a boomerang flies over your head. The projectile lodges itself in Allen Baxter's shoulder and the man stumbles backwards as pain spreads across his face.

Seizing the moment, you ram Talatine into the chief enforcer's chest and it is as the man's body goes limp, you realise your mistake. You call upon your healing spell, but it is too late. You hear Sapphire Squire swing down behind you as you pull Talatine out of the corpse.

"Is he..." Sapphire Squire starts to ask as she steps around you to look at the body of Allen Baxter.

"Dead yes," you confirm, "That happens sometimes. When you wield weapons like swords or guns or you fight someone with them, you risk death."

"Yeah, that makes sense," replies Sapphire Squire as the two of you, knight and squire, stare at the corpse of your first girl.

There is nothing that you can do. Allen Baxter is dead by your hand if only accidentally and therefore beyond your ability to heal. It is a risk that you both ran when you wielded a sword and he chose to wield a gun yet that brings little comfort to you. You have never taken a life before and while it is a concept that you have time to come to terms with since Windstrike, you are left feeling uncomfortable over your part in the death of Allen Baster.

But while your first kill troubles you, you have bigger concerns. The Fairy Knight has killed the chief enforcer of the Royal Ravens after severely beating the other enforcers. That sort of thing will have consequences and given the impulse, violent nature of Peter Michaelson, you fear for what the leader of the Royal Ravens will do next.

***​

Things go poorly for the Royal Ravens following the death of Allen Baxter and the hospitalisation of pretty much all of their enforcers. Peter Michaelson tries to keep business running as usual, but while the Royal Ravens follow his lead, it is a different story amongst the street gangs that acknowledge the Royal Ravens as the top dog. Many a gang is unhappy with the state of affairs, eager for freedom and independence or viewing the Consortium as a sinking ship that is slowly going down.

Without Allen Baxter and his enforcers to keep them in line, a handful of lesser gangs slip the leash that the Royal Ravens have them on. Without the threat of certain violent retaliation, no amount of money or influence will keep these independent spirits in line. More cautious or savvy gangs take the opportunity to pressure the temporary weakened Royal Ravens into giving them more privileges or concessions lest they also seize their independence.

The Royal Ravens stays intact and holds most of its criminal empire together, but it quickly becomes clear that the Royal Ravens have been weakened both directly and indirectly by your strikes against them. And as expected of a man with his temperament, Peter Michaelson goes and proves your fears right as he decide to make an example of those that would oppose him.

***​

Since Allen Baxter's death and the fallout of that on the Royal Ravens and their criminal empire, you had taken to keeping an eye on Inspector Brown's family. Times were tense and it would take only a single spark to ignite things. Given that Peter Michaelson would have to do something to prove his strength and sate his own impulses, you feared what he would do against Inspector Brown as the man was well-known figure amongst the non-corrupt elements of the police and while the two of you had hidden any direct connections, there were still plenty of things to tie both of you together.

Your decision quickly proved to be the right one. You fly in a blue tit one afternoon in the following week to keep an eye on the Brown home only to notice that the door has been broken in. You don't take up your usual position on a branch and instead swoop down and into the house. The usually clean and tidy interior is a mess as you find a trio of armed thugs standing over a bleeding, beaten and unconscious Eira Brown. While two of them lack guns, their apparent leader has a pistol and has it aimed at Eira.

"Peter Michaelson sends his regards," says the thug as he pulls the trigger.

The bullet pings off of your armoured form as you transform into a human form and encase yourself in Torlyn.

"Oh-" starts the would be killer and you cut his curse short as you chop off his hand.

Smacking him aside, you stab the other in the gut before letting the final one flee as you turn your attention to Eira Brown. Calling upon your healing magic, you have a good minute to heal her injuries as best you can. You ensure her survival, but the mother of two has already taken serious injuries. Her right hand was a mangled mess and not even your healing could fully restore it while her stomach has what you believe to be a bullet wound and she has sustained a head injury upon bruises on several parts of her body.

After doing your best to heal Eira and ensuring the wounds you inflicted on her attackers won't kill them, you decide that you need to look for Brenda and James next. Inspector Brown is more than capable of taking care of himself and in any case, the man would want you to prioritise the safety of his family over his own well-being.

The first place to look is the rest of the house. The Brown kids might be out, but you need to rule out that they are at home before you can go searching the city. Holding Eira in your arms, you take the woman with you for now as you have no desire to leave her on her own while you can help it.

The rest of the house is a bit messy, but the regular kind of messy that you would expect from a family of four living here. You can find recent signs of someone moving in a hurry and follow them upstairs into a bedroom where you find James Brown cowering under the bed, which is presumably his.

"I am a friend," you try to reassure the boy, but James is having none of it, "I have saved your mother and only wish to ensure your safety and well being."

James refuses to respond and after a minute of failing to convince him of his good intentions, you reach in to heal him. While your healing spell requires touch to work, there isn't enough room between the two of you for James to escape your grasp.

The boy lets out a cry of relief as your magic flows into him and heals his injuries. He barely resists as you pull him out as you decide to get Eira and James to a safe place or at least a safe place than this while you look for the rest of their family. Given the injuries of the former, you decide to take them to one of the local doctors you know in Whitechapel. Organised crime has learnt to stay out of your neighbourhood and you are confident that Doctor Saunders won't mind looking after Eira and James with the worst case being that you will need to get money off of Gareth to pay for any costs.

Carrying James in one arm whilst carrying Eira over your shoulder, you hope that Inspector Brown and Brenda will be okay.

***​

"I wish that you didn't kill Allen Baxter," says Sapphire Squire as the two of you get ready to begin your nightly patrol and she continues before you can get a response, "I'm not blaming you or anything because it wasn't your fault. I just wish that he had survived and none of this had happened."

"Things have escalated to being out of control," you admit, "How bad is it?"

"Short of a miracle, there is going to be a gang war," your squire tells you bluntly, "The Royal Ravens may be toast at this point, but it was a messy ending that has gotten over everyone."

You let out a sigh as you think back over the last week. You can't deny it was messy and goodness graciousness was it messy. Peter Michaelson had responded to your killing of Allen Baxter by trying to make an example of Inspector Brown and his family. Some thugs ambushed Eira and James at home while some others tried to kill Brown at work and another couple attempted to get Brenda at library. You dealt with the first and Sapphire Squire had the fortune to be around in time to save Brenda while Inspector Brown proved able to protect himself with the aid of his colleagues.

Your successes weren't without cost as while you had won, there were prices to be paid despite the victory. While Brenda has escaped unharmed, Eira's hand won't fully recover and she has gained an onslaught of sadness that no one can shake her from. James jumps at shadows and has nightmares while Brown got shot in the shoulder and another officer died protecting him from the Royal Ravens.

The only upside is that the blatant and arguably unprovoked attack on a respected police officer and his family, one that had killed another police officer in the process, had halted the schism in the police in its tracks. Before it had been a matter of the clean vs the dirty, but that had fallen wayside in aftermath of Peter Michaelson's attack at the Brown family. Matters had shifted to one of a group going after the police.

Gareth Wallis claimed it was tribalism at its finest where a divided group set aside its internal differences and united to face an external threat. Peter Michaelson had followed up the attacks by attempting to cow the rest of the police into submission only to end up making Inspector Brown a rallying figure as the primary victim of the attacks. With pretty much all of the police determined to make an example of the Royal Ravens for what they had done, the police and the Royal Ravens were at war with each other.

"I heard that Jaime Holden had broken off from the Royal Ravens last night," you comment to Sapphire Squire.

"Yeah, his group are calling themselves the Regal Ravens," replies Sapphire Squire and her next words get your full attention, "Redcoat is out by the way. Working for the Consortium again."

"What happened?" you demand.

"Got a message from the Golden Order earlier," explains Sapphire Squire, "Redcoat broke Sam Carson out of their custody. I don't recognise the name, but they seemed to think that you would."

"Sam Carson, leader of the White Devils," you say, "I took him and his gang down during my first month. My first major outing as the Fairy Knight and the one that made me worth paying attention to. I left the man for the police, but the Golden Order got to him first. I'm surprised that they kept him for so long. I would have expected the Golden Knight to have ditched Sam Carson by now."

"Redcoat being out means that the Consortium are differently working with the government," says Sapphire Squire, "Which is all kinds of mess up, but what isn't these days."

"You okay?" you inquire, giving your squire a concerned look.

"Just rough times," replies Sapphire Squire, "Don't mind me, pretty much everyone is going through them these days."

"As you wish," you say before asking the other question on your mind, "So this gang war, how bad is it going to be?"

"I don't know that actually," admits Sapphire Squire, "I can tell you the players will be if that helps."

"Please do," you tell her.

"The Royal Ravens are still one of the biggest players for now," says Sapphire Squire, "Allen Baxter is dead, Hector Sears' gambling operations are still in shambles while Jaime Holden has declared his independence and Amber O'Casey has cut them off from their main supply of firearms. And while they still got some gangs answering to them, the majority have declared themselves to be no longer be answering to the Royal Ravens. Their losses also aren't slowing down and they got the police gunning for them so I don't fancy their changes. I'm also not sure if the Consortium are doing to continue supporting them after the attacks on....the attacks on Brown's family.

The other big player is the Golden Order. Golden Knight is still playing his strategy of laying low and not drawing attention as he snaps up small bits of the Consortium's pie. He is making any grand moves, but the Golden Order are bringing some of the gangs into their fold while Warhound and Wardog have been more active.

Those two are the big players, but we got smaller ones as well. The Regal Ravens are a split off from the Royal Ravens and are basically the Royal Ravens who don't want to quit the gang, but don't want to go along with Peter Michaelson and his madness. Smallfry with the potential to be bigger and I wouldn't be surprised if the Consortium chooses to back them instead of the Royal Ravens.

Cliff Gregory and the Dragonsteeth are also making a come back in the midst of all this. I'm not sure what he is up to, but the Dragonsteeth have been recruiting support amongst the other street gangs. Notably, Cliff Gregory has cut ties with the Consortium and the Dragonsteeth no longer work for them under his leadership.

There are also a bunch of other rising stars amongst the street gangs. The Silent Brotherhood, the Azure Skulls, the Crow Crew, the Night Wolves and who knows who else. I'm a genius not a miracle worker after all."

"Such a mess," you mutter, "Please tell me there is some good news."

"We've broken the Consortium control over the streets of London," answers Sapphire Squire, "For whatever that's worth, we done it. I'm not sure if the price was worth it and we will be dealing with the aftermath for a long time, but we've succeeded in what we set out to do."

"Hmm," is your only response as you try to decide if this brewing gang war was worth freeing the streets of London from the Consortium's grasp.

You hope it was.

***​

"Eira would have died without you," says Inspector Brown, "James too. And if it wasn't for your squire, who knows what would have happened to Brenda."

"I only did what I could," you reply, "Will Eira be okay?"

"Only God knows," answers Inspector Brown, "Her hand isn't going to get completely better and your magic is the only reason that it is still usable. But I'm more concerned about what is in her head. Hers and James'."

"Things are bad?" you inquire.

"I think so," answers Inspector Brown, "I was needed back here so I didn't serve, but I had friends who fought in the Great War. Those that came back were sometimes troubled in the mind. Some folks like to call it being craven, I know better. The human mind isn't made for pain and war and when faced with it, not everyone is able to hold up. Shell shock is a better term for it than cowardice and darn sight more accurate.

It isn't just war vets, I've seen plenty of people like that across my line of work. Officers who seen something particularly nasty or victims who had suffered something vile. Make someone suffer or witness enough badness and they don't make it out without something lingering in the mind. I hope that Eira and James will get better, but I know that sometimes it sticks with you for the rest of your life."

"So what now?" you ask, unwillingly to linger on that sombre subject, "I know the state of the gangs, but what about the police?"

"Funny enough, a darn sight better since that little piece of filth went after me and my family," replies Inspector Brown with a bark of humourless laughter, "Hank, well, he was the guy who died protecting me, but he was one of those that took bribes. A known dirty cop and he died at the hands of the criminals he was taking bribes from. Criminals who tried to murder the family of a police officer. Turns out that a man might sell out his duty for money, but it is a different story when his life and the lives of his family are on the line.

I won't deny that things are tense right now, but pretty much no one is in the mood to consort with criminals right now. I'm not sure what it will be like afterwards, but right now? Everyone wants to bring down the Royal Ravens, to make Peter Michaelson pay and to make an example of him. Speaking of, there's talk of making me Chief Inspector."

"Should I congratulate you?" you inquire.

"Eh, it is more politics than anything else," says Inspector Brown with a shrug, "Normally I would need to work a few more years in my current position, but I've got a lot of supporters as thanks to my successes, I'm the biggest figure in the non-corrupt faction. So after this whole fiasco, somebody or somebodies upstairs feels the need to try and appease me and my supporters."

"And will that work?" you ask, curious about the inner workings of the police.

"I personally don't care, but it is an action that is actually meaningful and gives me more authority so I suppose it will," answers Inspector Brown, "But enough about me, what are you and your squire doing to do? Still going to go after the Royal Ravens?"

What is Fairy Knight going to do?
[] Continue her campaign against the Royal Ravens. Peter Michaelson and the Royal Ravens need to pay for what they have done. Help the police finish off the gang.
[] End her campaign against the Royal Ravens. The Royal Ravens have made too many enemies right now and aren't going to relevant for much longer. Call your campaign a success and see how things play out before making your next move.
[] Switch to a new target. The Royal Ravens have made too many enemies right now and aren't going to relevant for much longer. Go after one of the other gangs that are filling the vacuum to get an early start on the brewing gang war.
-[] The Golden Order.
-[] The Regal Ravens.
-[] The Dragonsteeth.
-[] The Silent Brotherhood.
-[] The Azure Skulls.
-[] The Crow Crew.
-[] The Night Wolves.
[] Write-in.

Spoiler: Rolls

Identifying the targets.
Investigation team check, DC15: 17+5+5+2 = 29, 3 DoS
Investigation check (Sapphire Squire), DC15: 11+10+5+2+5 = 33, 4 DoS.

Initiative Check:
Fairy Knight: 11+11 = 22
Sapphire Squire: 16+7 = 23
Allen Baxter: 20+10 = 35
Enforcer 1: 13+1 = 14
Enforcer 2: 3+1 = 4

Element of surprise?
Stealth vs Perception: 12+7+5+5 vs 16+11+2 = 27 vs 29, Allen Baxter wins by 1 DoS.

Element of surprise? (Sapphire Squire)
Stealth vs Perception: 4+9 vs 12+11+2 = 13 vs 25, Allen Baxter wins by 3 DoS.

Slaying the Squire.
Shotgun Power Attack, DC18: 18+7 = 25, Successful Critical Hit.
Toughness Check, DC27: 3+7 = 10, 4 DoF, Incapacitated. Luck Reroll!
Toughness Check, DC27: 19+7 = 26, 1 DoF, -1 Toughness Penalty.

Returning the favour.
Boomerang Attack, DC19: 12+9 = 21, Successful Hit.
Toughness Check, DC21: 18+5 = 23, 1 DoS, Allen Baxter is unharmed.

Removing the extras.
Talatine Attack, DC14: 13+11 = 24, Successful Hit.
Toughness Check, DC24: 14+3 = 17, 2 DoF, Minion is Incapacitated.
Takedown! (free extra attack)
Talatine Attack, DC14: 11+11 = 22, Successful Hit.
Toughness Check, DC24: 2+3 = 5, 4 DoF, Minion is Incapacitated.

Continuing the job.
Shotgun Power Attack, DC18: 15+7 = 22, Successful Hit.
Interpose! (Fairy Knight)
Toughness Check, DC22: 3+11 = 14, 2 DoF, Dazed & -1 Toughness Penalty.

Another boomerang.
Boomerang Attack, DC19: 17+9 = 26, Successful Critical Hit.
Toughness Check, DC26: 15+5 = 20, 2 DoF, Dazed & -1 Toughness Penalty.

Laying low the chief enforcer.
Talatine Attack, DC19: 9+11 = 20, Successful Hit.
Toughness Check, DC24: 1+4 = -1, 5 DoF, Allen Baxter is dead.

Keeping everyone in line. (Peter Michaelson)
Expertise: Criminal Check, DC15: 3+11 = 14, 1 DoF.

Fearing the Fairy Knight?
Intimidation Check, DC15: 2+2+2 = 6, 2 DoF.

Cowering the police (Peter Michaelson)
Intimidation Check, DC20: 1+9-5-2 = -1, 5 DoF.

Rallying figure? (Inspector Brown)
Persuasion Check, DC15: 18+5+2 = 25, 3 DoS.

A sinking ship? (Peter Michaelson)
Expertise: Criminal Check, DC20: 10+11-5 = 16, 1 DoF.

***​

This was an update full of escalation, bad decisions and things being on fire. I didn't expect Allen Baxter to die and all of the resulting stuff to happen, but it did and here we are. Peter Michaelson is a man of bad decisions and boy, did he make some.

I found the background stuff behind the Royal Ravens going after the Browns to be the quite interesting since I didn't really use the M&M rules for that. I did some dice rolls to determine if the Royal Ravens found the Browns, where the Browns were and how badly hurt they got alongside other stuff such as back up plus I did routine checks for characters doing stuff like attacking, healing and the like.

End result, Jordan Brown was ambushed at work and got a minor injury whilst a cop died protecting him. Fairy Knight barely showed up in time to save Eira Brown from death. Meanwhile Brenda/Sapphire Squire just kicked arse and got away unharmed (apart from bad things happening to her family).

Now the Royal Ravens are falling, other gangs are rising to fill the vacuum and a gang war is about to break out in the streets of London as the criminal underworld decides the new status quo.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.

 

[Oshha]

[X] End her campaign against the Royal Ravens. The Royal Ravens have made too many enemies right now and aren't going to relevant for much longer. Call your campaign a success and see how things play out before making your next move.

"No," you tell him, "While I would bring him to justice, you and the police are doing that for me. Beyond that, things are tense between the gangs and I'm not sure that my intervention would improve things. My squire tells me that a gang war is certain at this point, but proper fighting has yet to break out. If I come down on one of the gangs, that may be the spark that is needed to ignite the gang war in earnest."

"I can't disagree with that assessment," replies Inspector Brown, "We're pretty much leaving the Regal Ravens alone for the same sort of reasoning. Sure we could go after them, but that doesn't accomplish much and undermines the message that we are trying to send about Michaelson's actions being unacceptable."

"So back to business as usual then?" you say.

"For you, yeah," says Brown, "Probably me as well once we dealt with the Royal Raven, but frankly, I'm not sure what happens after that. We got an enemy and a threat to our lives and loved ones uniting us, but I'm not sure what will happen after that. Things got buried and not resolved."

"Bridges to cross when we get there," you comment.

"That about sums it up," agrees Brown.

***​

The last few days of February are an odd sort of tense. The city is a tinderbox and everyone knows it. Yet because everyone knows it, there is a general carefulness to avoid being the one who ignites the city. With the exception of the police going to war on the Royal Ravens for the actions of Peter Michaelson, everyone treads gently to avoid upsetting the balance, including you.

That can only last so long before one groups feels confident in their position to make the first move and you don't know who that will be. The only thing you know for certain is that it won't be the Royal Ravens and you would be surprised if the Royal Ravens will still be around once the law is done with them.

Meanwhile you got another thing to worry about on the home front. Sapphire Squire has decided to switch from her subtle approach and directly ask you to teach her magic. To your mild surprise, your squire has been studying in her own time and using her free time to teach herself about it.

To her credit, Sapphire Squire has proven to be a very adept learner given she is limited to what she has witness you do and studying the effects of the magical abilities that you have given her. In fact, you are somewhat jealous of her as despite being reliant on self-teaching, Sapphire Squire has developed her understanding to be almost equal to your own when you were exiled to the mortal world.

You decide to take it as a sign of Sapphire Squire's genius that she is so capable rather than treat the fact that she achieved in months what took you centuries as being indicative of your ability.

In any case, these events have led to this conversation.

"I don't care about the price," says Sapphire Squire as the two of you sit in the living quarters of the Nighthouse, "I need to learn more about magic. I need to be stronger and magic is the easiest way to achieve that."

"I'm not entirely sure of the side effects," you warn her, "Just using a ritual to download magic into your mind would have consequences. All shortcuts like that do."

"Fairy Knight," says your squire as she looks you in the eye or would if both of you weren't concealing them under headwear, "I can only do so much a mere human. There is only so much that the human body is capable of. So I rely upon my inventions to make up the gaps. But there is only so much that modern technology is capable of. If I can learn magic, I can do so much more."

"And this ritual you are proposing is dangerous," you tell, "Magic doesn't like it when you use it to permanently gain knowledge. Temporary knowledge is fine, but when you don't let it fade, it leaves open gaps which let untamed magic flow into you."

"It can't be that dangerous," protests Sapphire Squire as she holds up some papers, "Look, I done the math. It is safe and there won't be any harm done to me so long as we keep it reasonable."

"But there would be side effects," you reply, refusing to budge, "And while those side effects might not directly harm you, they could potentially upset your secret identity. Could you explain it away if your skin changed colour for a week or if you could only sing in song? Both of those have happened to in the past from meddling with magics that didn't have dangerous side effects."

"I would be able to cope," says Sapphire Squire dismissively, "I've dealt with things just fine so far."

"Sapphire, I know that you have your secrets, but is there anything you want to talk about?" you ask, deciding to take a different approach to this, "You are rather insistent on this."

"Just secret identity stuff and recent events proving that I need to be better," answers your squire defensively, "Are you going to help me with this or not?"

Sapphire Squire wants to use a ritual to increase her knowledge of magic. Will Fairy Knight help her with this?
[] [Ritual] Yes. Sapphire Squire has enough knowledge to do this on her own. Help her with it so you can get involved if things go wrong.
[] [Ritual] Partially. You will not allow her to do this ritual, but you shall teach her magic. Give her crash course in magic to let her acquire the knowledge she seeks the proper way.
[] [Ritual] No. This may not be dangerous, but it is foolish and reckless. Refuse to let her do this.
[] [Ritual] Write-in.

If you refuse to let her do it, there is a chance that Sapphire Squire will do it behind your back. If you pick to give her a crash course in magic, Fairy Knight and Sapphire Squire will spent the next arc fatigued. Any bonuses gained from this will stack with the skill option of teaching Sapphire Squire magic.

Pick up to 1 Power Upgrade for Fairy Knight.

Spoiler

[] [Power] Improve your Shapeshifting.
-[] [Power] Channel your innate magic to let you stretch and elongate your body, extending your reach. Gain Elongation 2.
-[] [Power] Channel your innate magic to let you grow a pair of additional limbs when necessary. Gain Extra Limbs 2 (Sustained).
[] [Power] Channel your innate magic to create a pair of fairy wings to fly with. Gain Flight 1.

[] [Power] Improve your Faerie Heritage.
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to hone your flexibility and grace. Gain Agility.
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to hone your precision and coordination. Gain Dexterity.
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to hone your senses and instincts. Gain Awareness.
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to hone your aura and force of personality. Gain Presence.
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to hone your mind and reasoning. Gain Intellect.
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to improve your resistance to diseases and poisons. Gain Immunity 1 (Disease) and Immunity 1 (Poison).
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to change the basic needs of your body. Gain Immunity 1 (Thirst & Starvation) and Immunity 1 (Need for Sleep).
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to get rid of your need for air. Gain Immunity 2 (Suffocation Effects).
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to improve your speed and running ability. Gain Speed 2.
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to improve how quickly your body can accomplish tasks. Gain Quickness 4 (Limited to Physical Tasks).
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to improve how quickly your mind can accomplish tasks. Gain Quickness 4 (Limited to Mental Tasks).
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to develop the ability to speak to animals. Gain Comprehend 1 (Speak to Animals).
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to develop the ability to understand animals. Gain Comprehend 1 (Understand Animals).
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to develop the ability to speak any one language. Gain Comprehend 1 (Speak any one language).
-[] [Power] Use your innate magic to develop the ability to understand any language. Gain Comprehend 1 (Understand Language).
-[] [Squire] Use your innate magic to sharpen your hearing. Gain Senses 2 (Accurate Hearing).
-[] [Squire] Use your innate magic to let your see in the dark. Gain Senses 2 (Darkvision).
-[] [Squire] Use your innate magic to improve your eyes and ears. Gain Senses 2 (Extended Vision, Extended Hearing).

[] [Power] Upgrade the power of Talatine.
-[] [Power] Make it easier to disarm and remove the weapons of your foes. Gain Binding and Disarming for Talatine.
-[] [Power] Make it easier to break and cripple the weapons of your foes. Gain Breaking and Smashing for Talatine.
-[] [Power] Decrease the effort that it takes to summon Talatine back to your hand. Reduces Standard action needed to summon Talatine to a Move action.
-[] [Power] Empower Talatine so those stuck by its blade have their fighting ability hindered. Gain Weaken Fighting 2.
[] [Power] Upgrade the might of Torlyn.
-[] [Power] Use your magic to improve its protectiveness. Gain Impervious Protection 1.
-[] [Power] Make it so that Torlyn extends its unyielding nature to the body it protects. Gain Impervious Toughness 2.
-[] [Power] Strengthen Torlyn so that it can resist even the most accurate hits. Gain Immunity 2 (Critical Hits).
-[] [Power] Empower Torlyn to shrug off any attack without any weapons behind it. Gain Partial Immunity 5 (Unarmed damage).

[] [Power] Improve your magical skillset.
-[] [Power] Focus on developing your repertoire of minor spells with new spells. Gain additional 2 Alternative Effects for Magic Spells.
-[] [Power] Focus on developing a fire-based ranged attack. Gain Ranged Magic/Fire Damage 1.
-[] [Power] Focus on developing a lightning-based ranged attack. Gain Ranged Magic/Electricity Damage 1.
-[] [Power] Focus on developing an ice-based ranged attack. Gain Ranged Magic/Cold Damage 1.
-[] [Power] Focus on developing a teleportation spell. Gain Teleport 1.
-[] [Power] Focus on developing a way to conceal your noises. Gain Concealment 1 (Normal Hearing).
-[] [Power] Focus on developing a way to conceal your smells. Gain Concealment 1 (Normal Smelling).
-[] [Power] Focus on improving your healing spell. Gain Healing 2.

Pick up to 1 Power Upgrade for Fairy Knight to help Sapphire Squire with.

Spoiler

[] [Squire] Improve her physical body.
-[] [Squire] Help Sapphire Squire set up a routine to improve her strength and muscles. Sapphire Squire gains Strength.
-[] [Squire] Put Sapphire Squire though a training regime to strengthen her endurance and constitution. Sapphire Squire gains Stamina.
-[] [Squire] Help your squire copy your own innate fey grace and mobility to improve her flexibility and grace. Sapphire Squire gains Agility.
-[] [Squire] Assist Sapphire Squire in practicing her precision and coordination. Sapphire Squire gains Dexterity.
-[] [Squire] Put your squire though a series of combat training that hones her reflexes and reaction times. Sapphire Squire gains Fighting.
-[] [Squire] Channel your magic into Sapphire Squire to hone her mind and reasoning. Sapphire Squire gains Intellect.
-[] [Squire] Help your squire train her senses and instincts to she may better detect danger and oddities. Sapphire Squire gains Awareness.
-[] [Squire] Help Sapphire Squire practice her social ability and force of personality. Sapphire Squire gains Presence.
-[] [Squire] Use your healing magic to help Sapphire Squire boost her immune system so she succeeds rather than harming herself. Sapphire Squire gains Immunity 1 (Disease) and Immunity 1 (Poison).
-[] [Squire] Channel your innate magic to give your squire a boost when she is improving her running ability. Sapphire Squire gains Speed 2.
-[] [Squire] Help Sapphire Squire train her body and mind to their limits of how quickly they can accomplish tasks. Sapphire Squire gains Quickness 2.

[] [Squire] Give your squire a magical ability.
-[] [Squire] Grant her some of your shapeshifting by giving her a copy of your ethereal beauty via ritual. Sapphire Squire gains a copy of Ethereal Beauty.
-[] [Squire] Channel your innate magic into a ritual to create a pair of fairy wings for Sapphire Squire to fly with. Sapphire Squire gains Flight 1.
-[] [Squire] Use your innate magic to do a ritual that gets rid of her need for air. Sapphire Squire gains Immunity 2 (Suffocation Effects).

[] [Squire] Empower your squire's Mystic Wardrobe.
-[] [Squire] Improve the quality of the protection that it provides. Sapphire Squire gains Impervious Toughness 2.
-[] [Squire] Make the clothing of the wardrobe quieter and allow for silent movement. Sapphire Squire gains Concealment 1 (Normal Hearing).
-[] [Squire] Make the clothing of the wardrobe blend into the background. Sapphire Squire gains Partial Concealment 1 (Normal Vision).

Pick two areas for Tamara to improve in.

Spoiler

[] [Skill] Study magic and the mystic arts. Increase Expertise: Magic Skill.
[] [Skill] Have your squire teach you about modern technology. Increase Technology skill.
[] [Skill] Train and exercise your body alongside your squire. Increase Athletics and Acrobatics skills.
[] [Skill] Learn how to properly investigate matters from Inspector Brown. Increase Investigation skill.
[] [Skill] Improve your ability to trick and deceive others. Increase Deception skill.
[] [Skill] Improve your ability to scare and terrorise others. Increase Intimidation skill.
[] [Skill] Improve your ability to socialise and convince others. Increase Persuasion skill.
[] [Skill] Learn how to drive from Inspector Brown. Increase Vehicles skill.
[] [Skill] Teach your squire about unarmed combat and swordplay. Teach Sapphire Squire how to fight like a knight.
[] [Skill] Learn about stealth and trickery from your squire. Increase Deception and Stealth skills.
[] [Skill] Teach your squire about magic. Teach Sapphire Squire about magic.
[] [Skill] Teach your squire how to fight with more force. Sapphire Squire gains Power Attack advantage.
[] [Skill] Teach your squire how to attack in a defensive manner. Sapphire Squire gains Defensive Attack advantage.
[] [Skill] Have your squire teach you how to attack with more precision. Gain Accurate Attack advantage.
[] [Skill] Have Gareth Wallis teach you about modern politics. Increase Expertise: Politics and Expertise: Current Events skills.
[] [Skill] Have your squire teach you got to accurately throw items at a target. Increase Ranged Combat: Throwing skill.

Pick two activities for Tamara to get up to.

Spoiler

[] [Life] Investigate the Consortium and their lackeys. Find out more information about the Consortium.
[] [Life] Investigate the Golden Knight and his Golden Order. Find out more information about the Golden Order and its leader.
[] [Life] Investigate the Royal Ravens and their splinter, the Regal Ravens. Find out more information about the Royal Ravens and their breakaway group the Regal Ravens.
[] [Life] Investigate the lesser street gangs of London. Learn more about what the Dragonsteeth and the upcoming gangs are up to.
[] [Life] Investigate what Redcoat is up to. Find out what Redcoat is up to and why he isn't in prison.
[] [Life] Investigate what the Templar is up to. Find out what the Templar has been up and is currently up to.
[] [Life] Expand your patrol area beyond Whitechapel. Patrol Whitechapel and the surrounding neighbourhoods to help deal with any street crime and deter organised crime.
[] [Life] Learn about the other prominent vigilantes in the kingdom. Find out more information about the rest of Britain's vigilantes.
[] [Life] Learn about other influential villains and criminal organisations in the kingdom. Find out more information about other villain and villainous groups in the British Isles.
[] [Life] Gather rumours regarding the supernatural and extraordinary in the kingdom. Find out information on any known extraordinary events in the British Isles.
[] [Life] Integrate your social circle further together. Attempt to form links between your various contacts.
[] [Life] Properly look through the Night's notes to see what useful information remains even the majority of them are definitely outdated by now. Investigate the Night's notes thoroughly and properly.
[] [Life] Write-in (Subject to QM Approval).

Spoiler: Rolls

Self-Taught Magician (Sapphire Squire)
Expertise: Student Check, DC20: 18+7 = 25, 2 DoS.

***​

Since you decided to end your campaign against the Royal Ravens without going after another targets, the arc is over. Now you got the chance to get some upgrades and some additional information on how things are playing out.

You also got Sapphire Squire wanting to do a ritual that will have minor side effects. Nothing serious, but the sort that Sapphire Squire feels she is confident of handling and worth dealing with. I'm trying to portray her as acting like a teenager who is genuinely smart and capable so feels that they aren't getting over their head and knows what they are doing.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.

 

[Oshha]

[X] [Ritual] Partially. You will not allow her to do this ritual, but you shall teach her magic. Give her crash course in magic to let her acquire the knowledge she seeks the proper way.
[X] [Power] Improve your Faerie Heritage.
-[X] [Power] Use your innate magic to change the basic needs of your body. Gain Immunity 1 (Thirst & Starvation), Immunity 1 (Need for Sleep) and Immunity 2 (Suffocation Effects).
[X] [Squire] Give your squire a magical ability.
-[X] [Squire] Channel your innate magic into a ritual to create a pair of fairy wings for Sapphire Squire to fly with. Sapphire Squire gains Flight 1.
[X] [Skill] Study magic and the mystic arts. Increase Expertise: Magic Skill.
[X] [Skill] Teach your squire how to attack in a defensive manner. Sapphire Squire gains Defensive Attack advantage.
[X] [Life] Integrate your social circle further together. Attempt to form links between your various contacts.
[X] [Life] Expand your patrol area beyond Whitechapel. Patrol Whitechapel and the surrounding neighbourhoods to help deal with any street crime and deter organised crime.

"I will help you, but not by doing this foolish ritual," you tell your squire, "Since you are so willingly to pay the price for this knowledge, we shall do it the old fashion way. It will leave you exhausted and push you to your limits, but I can give you a crash course in magical knowledge to teach you the basics in using it."

"I am willingly to do what it takes," answers Sapphire Squire, "I need to get stronger."

***​

Giving Sapphire Squire a crash course in proper usage of magic proves to be tiring, but worthwhile addition to your obligations. While it stretches you to your limits, you are left feeling satisfied with the work as Sapphire Squire proves to be a most capable student.

Your squire had already figured out the basics and then some using by applying her intelligence to what she has seen of your magic. While a lot of it is educated guesses with plenty of assumptions to bridge the gaps in her knowledge, you are nonetheless impressed by her. It doesn't take you long to figure out that Sapphire Squire is naturally better than you when it comes to magic and should she ever reach your knowledge of magic, she will surpass you.

You also benefit from this training as having someone else to talk to, especially someone of Sapphire Squire's calibre, exposes things about magic that you wouldn't have normally considered. There are many things that you would have just made assumptions about or just overlooked entirely if it was for Sapphire Squire's inquisitive questions about them, making you confront aspects of magic that you would have never uncovered on your own. Just having an equal to discover the various topics with forces you to go back and reevaluate what you thought you knew

But just as you are left impressed by your squire, she also leaves you feeling concerned for her well-being. Sapphire Squire has thrown herself into learning magic with an admirable vigour, but you feel she is putting too much into it. You are already pushing yourself with your lessons, but Sapphire Squire takes it a step further.

She doesn't cut corners when it comes to learning magic, but your squire begins to struggle in other areas. She puts less effort into her information collection and there are a couple patrols where she refuses to join you in favour of studying more magic on her own time. Given that is just what happens while you are together, you are concerned about how your squire might be doing in her secret identity.

It comes to a head one evening when Sapphire Squire arrives with a hurt hand.

"Would you mind healing this for me?" asks Sapphire Squire in lieu of a greeting as she arrives in the Nighthouse.

"Of course," you tell her, already moving to deal with her injury, "What happened?"

"Didn't pay enough attention in class so I got the cane," answers Sapphire Squire as you heal her hand, "My own fault. I've been too focused on other things."

"What is the cane?" you demand, "And why has it resulted in you being harmed?"

"A common school punishment," explains Sapphire Squire, "A cane across the hands through I think boys get it across the butt sometimes. I don't get it, but I'm usually not so focused on something. I'll just have to do better in the future to avoid it."

"I see," you say as you process this information, "Who do I need to stab?"

"I beg your pardon?" says Sapphire Squire as the girl stares at you.

"The individual who harmed you," you clarify, "I will not use this information to look into your secret identity, but I need to know who unleash my wrath upon."

"No, that is terrible idea," says Sapphire Squire, her eyes widening as she realises what you intend.

"Do not worry," you reassure her, "I can bring this fiend to justice without anyone realising it had anything to do with me or you. As far as anyone will be concerned, it will be a random incident that just happens to befall a deserving victim."

"This is an extreme overreaction!" exclaims Sapphire Squire, "Caning is normal. I didn't pay proper attention in class and got punished for it. You've healed me so that's the end of it."

"Someone harming my squire is unacceptable," you declare, looking her right in the eye with your arms crossed, "Leaving you injured enough to require my healing for something as minor as not being focused enough is not an acceptable state of affairs and one that I shall correct."

"Again, this is completely normal," insists Sapphire Squire, "Look, let's talk about something else. Like anything else."

"I'm not letting this go unpunished," you continue, refusing to let your squire change the subject, "I was serious when I said this state of affairs is unacceptable."

"Can we talk about this later?" begs Sapphire Squire and you grunt, but let the matter lie for now.

Fairy Knight is Fatigued and Sapphire Squire is Exhausted for the remainder of this arc.

***​

As you wait for the situation regarding the gangs to clear itself up and go down a path for the better or worse, you channel your magic to empower both yourself and your squire. Noting how you have been pretty pressed for time these days with all of your various commitments, you decide to do what you did for Sapphire Squire for yourself and get rid of your basic needs. Thanks to your inhuman heritage, the process is easier for you than it was for your squire as while you had to do it from scratch for Sapphire Squire, you already part of the way there when it comes to your own body. As a result of what your mother was, parts of your basic needs are already sustained by magic, lessening them compared to what would be the case if you were fully human. It is just a matter of adjusting things so that the magic is capable of fulfilling all of your basic needs.

Sleeping, eating, drinking and even breathing are no longer required for your continued survival, even if you can still do them if you wish to. You take a couple of hours one day just to test your newfound abilities, refusing to breathe for the entirety of both hours. Where you could only hold your breath for a couple minutes before, you are now able to just go without breathing. Well, you still have to breath as part of your secret identity if you want to keep it up, but you don't have a biological need to breath anymore.

When it comes to Sapphire Squire, you decide to give her a set of wings to help her out. Your squire primarily relies on ranged attacks and avoiding being hit so by giving her a set of wings, you can enhance those advantages by greatly improving her mobility. Accounting for her secret identity, you put in the same summoning and dismissing mechanisms that Talatine and Torlyn have, letting Sapphire Squire summon and remove her wings at will. All of this has led to the enjoyable scene of watching Sapphire Squire flutter about the skies of London.

"Whoo-hoo!" exclaims Sapphire Squire as she does a loop, a set of sapphire blue dragonfly wings sprouting out of back, seemingly appearing from thin air as the wings aren't actually physically attached to her body.

"Having fun?" you ask from a nearby rooftop as both you and your squire have wide grins on your face.

"Yeah!" shouts Sapphire Squire as she drops down to your level, "I can't go too fast, but I can fly. How utterly amazing is that? Shapeshifting and being smarter are cool, but so is this."

"I'm glad you like my gift," you say, doing your best to avoid frowning at the general weariness that Sapphire Squire is displaying despite her happiness.

"It is awesome," says Sapphire Squire happily, "Want to go patrolling?"

"I suppose you would like to do a patrol that is mostly flying," you state drily, "I'll oblige you for tonight."

"Thanks Fairy Knight," says Sapphire Squire as you jump off of the rooftop and assume the form of a blue tit, your favourite bird.

Shapeshifting as gotten easier for you over the course of your exile. Where you would once struggle to maintain a form an animal form under the stress of combat, you feel comfortable doing such a thing and while it used to take some time to shift behind forms, you can now do so almost instantly with just a thought. Given how much you use your shapeshifting, you are proud of the progress that you have made in mastering one of your most prominent and useful abilities.

"So how is the situation with the gangs?" asks Sapphire Squire as the two of you fly across London.

"You're asking me?" you note in a deadpan voice and your squire blushes.

"Yeah, point taken," replies Sapphire Squire, "I've been a bit mono focused recently. But I do need to know."

"Royal Ravens are putting up a fight, but the police are rolling them up if not as quickly as they would like," you say, taking the time to enjoy the peacefulness of the sky, "Outside of that business, the Regal Ravens are doing the best and the Golden Order is doing the worst. Regal Ravens have managed to acquire the backing of the Consortium and have rallied the other street gangs into a coalition against the Golden Order."

"How did they pull that off?" wonders Sapphire Squire.

"I don't know," you answer honestly, "That sort of thing is more your thing than mine."

"Ouch," mutters Sapphire Squire before sighing, "I'll look into it. I don't think Golden Knight could have pissed off the gangs like that so it must be the Consortium's work and I really want to know how they pulled that off. The rest of the gangs?"

"All part of the anti-Golden Order coalition," you inform her, "They are doing about as good as each other, but the Dragonsteeth and the Silent Brotherhood are at the top, competing for it as best they can without openly attacking the other. The Azure Skulls are tailing a bit behind them and the Crow Crew and the Night Wolves have lost some prominence. They are still major gangs, but they are starting to fall behind the others."

"Urgh, I really need to start paying attention to things again," says Sapphire Squire, "No offence or anything Fairy Knight, but you just aren't up to my standards."

"I know," you say, "I would also appreciate you taking over these duties again."

"So about this patrol..." starts Sapphire Squire after a couple minutes of companionable silence.

"Let's just forget about it and enjoy this flight as knight and squire," you say and Sapphire Squire's grin tells you all that you need to know about your squire's thoughts on that plan for the night.

***​

You can't help but feel some amusement at the sight of Sapphire Squire flying through the open attic window that you left open for her. While you have seen your squire many times before, this is the first time that you have met her as Tamara Lyn the maid and not as the Fairy Knight.

Dismissing her wings as she lands, Sapphire Squire looks at you and you can't quite place what passes over her face at the sight of you. Guilt? Curiosity? Surprise?

"It is an honour to meet you Miss Sapphire Squire," you greet her, "Mr Wallis is waiting for down below."

"Sure, let's go and meet him," replies Sapphire Squire as she gives you another look and it clicks into place for you.

"You know," you half-ask and half-state as you raise an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah," admits Sapphire Squire, averting her eyes, "I figured it out back around Christmas. Sorry."

"I'm not upset," you assure her, "I just didn't realise that you knew this secret."

"It was kind of obvious to be honest," says Sapphire Squire as she looks back up at you, "I was looking into Gareth Wallis after I learnt he was the one who owned the Nighthouse and you just stood out as the newly hired maid who didn't have much history to her. Combined with how you liked to clean and the various timings, I just clicked into place for me. And I didn't really know, I just assumed that it was the case because that is what it looked like to me."

"So what do you think?" you inquire, curious about what your squire thinks of your secret identity.

"I can't really picture the Fairy Knight who the public knows and I fight alongside doing it," answers Sapphire Squire, "But I totally get the Fairy Knight who trains me and teaches me magic doing being someone's maid. You like cleaning and helping out whilst not having much pride to be offended by servitude."

"A fair assessment," you say, "Now if you don't mind, Mr Wallis is waiting for you. If you wish to spend time with Tamara the maid, we'll have plenty of time in the future."

"I'll take you up on that on offer," replies Sapphire Squire, "But yes, we shouldn't keep Mr Wallis waiting. Lead the way."

You hum to yourself as you lead your squire down into the mansion. While unexpected, you don't consider this to be unwelcome development. Sapphire Squire has known your identity for some time now and the only change tonight is that you know that she knows.

"Do you like being a maid?" asks Sapphire Squire.

"I enjoy cleaning and takes great satisfaction in successful cleaning something," you answer, "The work itself is something I like and the fact that I have an understanding boss who treats me well means that I enjoy my current job. A boss who lacked their understanding and or mistreated me would make me dislike a job even if I had no problem with the actual work I was doing."

"I see," says Sapphire Squire, "If you don't mind me asking and I totally understand if you don't want to answer, but which is the real you?"

"Both are the real me," you answer without needing to think about it, "Just two different sides which hold different aspects of who I am as a person."

You make a bit more small talk with Sapphire Squire as you lead her down to office where Gareth Wallis intends to meet her. You open the door, alerting the room's occupant to your arrival.

"Ah, the famous Sapphire Squire," says Gareth as you walk in with Sapphire Squire in tow, "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I see you met my maid, Tamara."

"Just so you are aware Mr Wallis, Sapphire Squire has admitted to knowing about my other activities," you inform your employer.

"I figured it out at the end of last year," says Sapphire Squire sheepishly, "So you wanted to speak with me?"

"Indeed," replies Gareth, "While I do not approve of someone as young as you being out there, I do support your endeavours. Regardless of what some might say, you have certainly proven yourself."

"Thank you," says Sapphire Squire, "I also appreciate the assistance that you provide us with. Is there anything in particular you wanted to speak with me about?"

"No, there isn't," answers Gareth, "Tamara and I just felt it would be a good idea to tie her connections together, especially in light how deep the corruption runs in the government. Given how I am the one funding the base and materials that you have been making excellent use of, it is only natural that we get to know each other better."

"Right," agrees Sapphire Squire, "I guess I should thank you for that. The Nighthouse is pretty useful and having a supply of materials that get re-stocked is definitely helpful, especially with the workshop."

"Is there anything in particular that you would find useful?" inquires Gareth, "While I make no promises, I do understand that you may have different needs to my grandson."

"Not really," answers Sapphire Squire after a moment's thoughts, "I use the same basics as the Night did and more exotic stuff is covered by Fairy Knight's magic-Tamara's magic. She can ask you for the stuff we need for that though I'm learning magic myself so I might end up being the one asking for resources in the future."

"Shall I get refreshments?" you ask.

"If your squire here doesn't mind," replies Gareth, glancing at Sapphire Squire.

"Yeah, sure," says Sapphire Squire, "Water and some snacks sounds good."

"I'll bit right back," you declare cheerfully.

You feel a sense of relief that the two of them are getting along. You expected that they would, but you feared what would happen if your squire and your employer failed to like the other or cooperate with each other. Yet all seems to be going well with the last thing you hear as you stride down the corridor is Sapphire Squire's voice.

"You have no idea how weird it is to see she acting and looking like that."

***​

"Greetings Chief Inspector Brown," you say after opening the front door and identifying the new arrival, "Mr Wallis and his other guests are waiting for you."

"Good to hear miss," says Brown, "I hope I haven't kept anyone waiting."

"You are on time," you reassure him, feeling mild amusement that he hasn't recognised you, "If you would like me to take your coat?"

"That would be nice dear," says Brown as he takes off his coat before before handing it over to you.

While this technically falls outside of your duties as a maid, you and Amar often end up doing whatever jobs are needed at the time. In this case, the butler would normally handle taking a guest's coat, but Amar is occupied so you take up the job in his stead.

Once the coat is hung up, you lead the recently promoted Chief Inspector Brown to the living room where Gareth Wallis and Sapphire Squire are already waiting for you to arrive with Brown.

"Ah, Chief Inspector Brown," says Gareth Wallis as the two of you enter the room, "I am glad you could join us."

"Me too," replies Brown glancing at Wallis and Sapphire Squire, the latter looking rather stiff and nervous through you doubt you would notice if you haven't gotten to know her so well.

Brown's gaze hovers on your squire and he frowns at something. His eyes narrow a moment later, but then he shakes his head and mutters something under his breath that you can't catch.

"So where is Fairy Knight?" asks Brown as he looks around for you.

"She's the maid," answers Sapphire Squire promptly and Inspector Brown quickly spins around to stare you.

You casually summon Talatine to your hand and smile at the gobsmacked maid.

"This is my secret identity," you explain to him, "I work for Gareth Wallis as his maid."

"And she makes for a fine one if she is rather unconventional about it," says Gareth, "My grandson Benedict was the Night while Sapphire Squire over there keeps her identity secret for reasons relating to it."

"Isn't she rather young?" says Brown hesitantly as he eyes the girl in question.

"I'm not going to quit," declares Sapphire Squire, crossing her arms, "I have definitely proven myself at this point."

"I'm-I'm not going to contest that," replies Brown as he takes another chair as his seat, "It's just that you are so young."

"Anyway, we need to discuss the current situation of the city and the future," you say to be the silence that follows Brown's words, "Sapphire Squire?"

"Right," says your squire, straightening up as everyone else in the room pays attention to her, "The situation with the gangs are pretty simple right now. Golden Order is getting nowhere and the Consortium has put together a coalition of the remaining gangs to oppose them with the Regal Ravens at the head. Things have pretty much ground to a halt as a result and the lines are pretty much draw at this point. It is just a matter of seeing who makes the first punch. I don't think the Golden Knight is the sort of guy to do that, but the Golden Order is pretty much cut off at this point. On the other hand, it might be possible for him to wait out the Consortium coalition depending on what sort of hold the Consortium has over the other gangs. If it is fragile enough, the coalition could fall apart on its own if the Golden Order doesn't make any aggressive moves.

Now, I could give some information on the Royal Ravens, but I think Inspector Brown probably knows more than me."

"I guess that is my cue," says Brown, "Basically, we're hitting them hard with pretty much anything we can get away with, including some less than legal stuff. At this point, they are running off of inertia and are bleeding pretty much everything. We're not giving them a chance to recover so they're going to break sooner or later, but for now, they're dug in and they are putting up a decent defence. For all of their bad decisions, they're not incompetent.

Now back in the Scotland Yard, things are more complicated. Things are still pretty tense, but we can ignore them whilst we got an enemy like the Royal Ravens to focus on. After that it is anyone's guess. I personally think that our side has the advantage between the Consortium jumping the gone by forcing things early and Peter Michaelson going after me and my family. But if the Consortium does something big and drastic again, I'm not sure what would happen. Frankly, those sons of bitches have made too many big risky gambles for me to dismiss the idea of them making another one."

"I also have some news," says Gareth, "And I am afraid isn't good. Have your heard the news in Ireland and the war going on over there?"

"Massive government victories, Republican leadership captured and tons of rebel equipment," says Sapphire Squire, "I don't know much, but given apparent connections between the Consortium and the government over there, I've keep an eye on the headlines regarding Ireland."

"Well, the official line is exaggerated, it is mostly truthful," says Gareth, "I've been in touch with some old friends and starting to get active in certain circles again so I've got access to certain information that the public won't be seeing. Long story short? The basics are true. A series of planned IRA ambushes have been foiled before they could take place with most of the perpetrators and their equipment captured. A major cell wiped out in Dublin. The majority of the IRA leadership captured in a raid on a secret meeting through that they got lucky with that rather than clever like they are officially climbing. They also managed to located several caches of equipment and either destroy or capture them and I've been informed it was due to new friends in not so low places."

"Forgive me if I am missing something, but I fail to see how the government crushing a rebellion is bad news for us," you cut in, unsure of just why the news that Gareth is providing counts as 'not good'.

"It means that the government has been cooperating with the Consortium and getting results out of it Tamara," explains Sapphire Squire, "Thanks to the Consortium, they were able to fight the war against the IRA in an unconventional manner and have seen a series of successes. Given that they got a firm precedent of cooperation with the Consortium, the government might attempt to replicate it elsewhere."

"Which means that you might need to worry about the government coming after you on the Consortium's behalf," says Gareth, "I also got some reports that Redcoat has been working for the government over in Ireland in a wink-wink, nudge-nudge sort of manner. In, well, I'm not sure if you would consider good or bad news, but the government's victory isn't quite as complete as they are claiming. They got a few hundred men and women captured and while they are all officially stated to working with the IRA in one capacity or another, I've got unofficial word that barely a quarter of them are actually members of the IRA. It seems that government has been favouring an approach where they get some innocents alongside the guilty rather than risk the guilty getting away."

"That sounds like bad news to me," you say while Brown nods to back up your stance.

"From a perspective of justice, I suppose it is bad, but we personally benefit from it," continues Gareth, "The IRA leadership may be gone along with most of their remaining supplies, but they haven't actually lost that much manpower and a lot of Irish are now rightfully angry against the government. The IRA will have plenty of recruits to place those lost and then some. The Irish will has not been broken and if anything, it has been strengthened by recent events. That said, the IRA have lost their current leadership and their supply lines are effectively gone. While I am sure that the former will be fixed, the new leaders may not get along and the IRA will not be fixing their logistical problems any time soon."

"I still don't see how this affects us," says Brown, "Things are going badly for the IRA, but why do we care?"

"We could leverage these events to form an alliance with Amber O'Casey?" suggests Sapphire Squire, "She and her crew are still hanging about and if the supply situation in Ireland is as bad as you say, I bet she would love some help from us."

"While we might be able to form an alliance of convenience with this Amber person, I recommend in the strongest terms to not get involved with the IRA," says Gareth sharply with an approving nod from Brown, "This is not one of those times where the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"I would also have discomfort with supporting traitors who seek to overthrow their rightful king," you add, "Is that all the news you have Gareth?"

"No, there is another bit which while related to the events in Ireland, it has a greater impact for us in London," says Gareth, "As you know, the government's budget hasn't been too good as a result of the Great War and one of the primary concerns regarding the fighting in Ireland was the costs of it on the treasury. It seems those concerns were misplaced as the government has found a source of cash."

"This isn't going to be good," mutters Brown.

"No, it is not," confirms Gareth, "The government or other proxies of those in power have been running some secret superweapon projects and I'm afraid they've seen results."

"How bad is it?" you ask.

"If only they had been bad," says Gareth, "Alas they have been quite successful. Successful enough that we've been selling the results to the Yanks under the table."

Brown curses while you and Sapphire Squire exchange a look.

"As a result, the government has been expressing an interest in expanding these projects," continues Gareth, "Part of that I've learnt is that they wish to get the Fairy Knight and her magic under their control one way or another. I suspect they will attempt to willingly recruit you, but should you turn them down, they will almost certainly force the issue with their successes. And before you ask, I do not know what these successes are, only that they exist and they got a few of them."

"I will face them as they come," you say with a shrug, "I have little desire to serve those that would align themselves with the Consortium and while I call London home, this is not my kingdom and your king is not my king."

"Do you think you could take on the British government?" asks Brown in a quiet voice.

"I fancy my chances," you say in what you hope is a factual tone.

"I suspect things won't get as badly as you openly fighting with the government," says Gareth, "If it happens, it will behind the scenes so if they lost, they save face and if they win, they can downplay the force it took to recruit you. In any case, I will continue to support you if they do come after you."

"Mine too for its worth," adds Brown, "I don't fancy picking a fight with the government and I certainly don't want to, but if I have to choose between you and them, I'll choose you as long as you stay on your current path."

"I shall have your back," says Sapphire Squire, "And not just because they'll want me as well once they learn about the powers you given me."

"Powers?" repeats Brown as he gives your squire an inquiring look.

"The ability to change my outfit at will, a pair of wings for flying, no need to sleep, eat or drink and some magical protections applied to whatever I am wearing," answers Sapphire Squire, "Tamara has also been teaching me magic."

"That's...I'll figure out how I'll feel about that later," says Brown, "Anything else or have we covered all of the topics?"

"My old friends have asked me to get in touch with Inspector Brown so I can pass on a message," says Gareth, "They would like you to let the Fairy Knight know that the government is interested in recruiting her."

"Any reasons they couldn't approach me directly?" you inquire as Brown raises an eyebrow at the news.

"I think they figured it would be easier to get Inspector Brown to pass on a message than to locate you themselves," replies Gareth, "I also suspect that they wanted to give me a job to see how I dealt with it. In any case, it is a convenient cover for me to form a connection with Inspector Brown. I passed on the message discreetly and since we got on well with each other, we decided to keep in touch."

"That sounds like a good idea," agrees Brown, "We got a reason to meet up in the first place and further meetings can be attributed to us getting on with each other."

"Tamara is my maid and has a reason to be here while Sapphire Squire can use the methods that Ben used as the Night," says Gareth, "Tamara has connections to all of us and can act method of contact until we can form something better."

"Everyone agreed with that?" asks Brown, "Yes? Good. Now, I just want to ask something. What is Fairy Knight's next move?"

What is Fairy Knight's next move?
[] Start the gang war. Kick some things into action and get the gang war started.
-[] Try to get the Golden Order to be the aggressors.
-[] Try to get the Consortium Coalition to be the aggressors.
[] Attempt to dismantle the Consortium Coalition.
[] Try to contact Amber O'Casey to see if she can help against the Consortium in a temporary alliance.
[] The Night discovered Barnaby May-Porter's connections to the Consortium and now it is time for you act on that information.
[] Attempt to uncover these successful super weapons of the British government.
[] Approach the government to hear their recruitment pitch.
[] Write-in.

Spoiler: Rolls

Learning magic extra hard. (Sapphire Squire)
Expertise: Student Check, DC20: 3+7 = 10, 2 DoF. Luck Reroll!
Expertise: Student Check, DC20: 20+7 = 32, 3 DoS.

Investigating the gangs.
Investigation Check, DC10: 11+5 = 2 DoS.

Does she know?
Insight vs Deception: 16+7 vs 2+9 = 23 vs 11, Tamara Lyn wins by 3 DoS.

Recognising the squire. (Inspector Brown vs Sapphire Squire)
Perception vs Deception: 14+6-5 vs 6+9 = 15 vs 15, Sapphire Squire wins 1 DoS.

Getting in touch with old friends. (Gareth Wallis)
Expertise: Politics, DC10: 14+14 = 28, 4 DoS.

***​

So in the vote, you get to pick what your next objective will be and one of the focuses of this arc. The other won't be under your control and if you look at the name of the arc, I bet you can take a guess at what will happen. In other news, Sapphire Squire figured out your identity back at the end of Knightfall and her asking you about it was her testing what you would tell her. If you had failed the roll to figure out that she knew, it would have been hidden like the last two times it came up.

And speaking of figuring out secret identities, Brown almost figured out what his daughter has been up and he would have done so if it wasn't for his denial and wilful obtuse on the matter. He basically recognise her and then decide that he must be mistaken because his daughter couldn't be the Sapphire Squire before convincing himself that he was wrong about recognising her.

With the IRA stuff, I've rolled for it as part of background rolls for other stuff in the setting and it was brutal for the IRA. The Consortium got an advantage over them and then the government got a 98 to their 12 so I rolled to see just how badly they got hit. They got a 1 on the status of their leadership so their organised leadership has been picked off one way or another whilst they rolled low on the status of their remaining supplies. Manpower status got an above average roll so that didn't get hit too much and when I rolled their will and continued motivation and support, they got a break in the form of a 97. I figured that must mean that despite their victories, the Britsh government must have pissed off a lot of Irish in the process. How things played out also means that the British have no one to negotiate a truce or some other form of peace with.

For you guys, it means that the Consortium is in the good books of the government and British political situation has just had its first major divergence from RL as the British were not decisively winning the Irish War of Independence in March 1921 and going strong while the IRA was on the ropes.

I also put Suffocation Effects into the Immunity you choose to make up the points difference of turning Partial Immunities into full Immunities rather than buying from scratch.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.

 

[Oshha]

[X] The Night discovered Barnaby May-Porter's connections to the Consortium and now it is time for you act on that information.

"So how do you plan to investigate these connections?" inquire Sapphire Squire as the two of you meet up at the Nighthouse, "I get that we got plenty of dirt on Barnaby, but little of it implicates anyone else."

"I am planning on getting more evidence," you say, "We know that Barnaby is guilty so we break into his home to see what else he has hidden away."

"Do you think we can just do that?" asks Sapphire Squire, "I mean we've done it before, but that was to gang leaders and known criminals. Barnaby May-Porter is a respected politician as far as everyone else is concerned and it would look bad on us if we went after him for seemingly no reason."

"We will have to be discreet," you acknowledge, "That is why I plan to call in an old favour. It was before you became my squire so you may not have heard of him, but the former criminal known as the Squirrel owes me his freedom."

"The Squirrel," says Sapphire Squire, "Oh yeah, I remember him. He was a thief who stole from a bunch of rich people before vanishing last year."

"Inspector Brown asked me to help deal with him as the Squirrel was tying up police resources and keeping Brown from going after the more serious criminals," you tell your squire, "I cornered the Squirrel and in exchange for his freedom, he agreed to stop committing crimes and help me with a job in the future."

"And now you want to call in that favour to get him to help us against Barnaby May-Porter," concludes Sapphire Squire, "That could work."

"Will you help me find him?" you ask her, "I've left a trail, but at this point it has gone somewhat cold. I can find it easily enough, but this is more your area of expertise then mine."

"I'll give you some pointers," replies Sapphire Squire, "But I got something I want to try out while you are taking care of the Squirrel. You don't need my help dealing with him do you?"

"No, I can more than handle the Squirrel," you answer, "While your company would be appreciated, your assistance isn't necessary."

"Good because I got a couple of ideas to try out," says Sapphire Squire, "I'll work on them while you are out chasing the Squirrel."

***​

It has been over half a year since you last encountered the Squirrel and true to the criminal's word, he has not committed any more thefts or any other crimes. Instead the man has vanished and not made any waves to the point. Given that is one half of the deal that he has upheld, you hope that the Squirrel will be willingly to uphold the other half.

The first step is to find the man and while it proves harder than you originally expected due to the time that has passed, you are able to pick up the magical scent that you left behind for this very purpose. Following the faded trail, you find yourself being led to a mansion of someone who is clearly well off.

Transforming into a spider, you sneak into the building via means that are impossible for a human to achieve and therefore not guarded against. Waiting around for a bit, you take the time to locate the Squirrel. While your target won't be wearing the attire you saw him in when you last met, the man has a distinctive figure and before long, you find him.

The Squirrel is waiting in this room on his own, apparently writing something at a disk. With the man blissfully unaware of your presence, you stand behind him before shapeshifting back into your Fairy Knight form, complete with Torlyn covering your body.

You clear your throat to get the Squirrel's attention and the man looks over his shoulder. He freezes at the sight of you before screaming at the top of his lungs. You blink at the unexpected reaction before shapeshifting into an fly as you hear footsteps approaching.

Flying over to the bed in the room, you land and wait as the door into the room opens and a servant of some kind enters, clearly concerned for the Squirrel's safety.

"Mr Donald," says the servant in a gruff voice as he looks around the room, "Is anything okay?"

"Everything is fine Franklin," replies the Squirrel, "Just I thought I saw something."

"As you say sir," replies the servant before leaving, closing the door behind him.

"What you do you want?" says the Squirrel after turning around to see you fitting on his bed.

"Remember the second half of our deal?" you inquire gently.

"Oh for crying out-yes, I can remember," replies the Squirrel, "How could I forget? I hoping you had forgotten for that matter."

"I need your help sneaking into somewhere without being identified," you tell him, "Sneaking in and out of somewhere isn't my area of expertise and therefore I need an expert, which is you."

"Just one job okay," says the Squirrel, "Then I've upheld my end of the deal and we've done. I get to leave all of this behind. "

"Acceptable," you agree.

"Then tell me a time and place to meet you so we can discuss the details there and then," the Squirrel.

***​

"You did what?" you exclaim as Sapphire Squire tells you what she spent the night doing.

When you arrived back at the Nighthouse, your squire had already left and it took some time before she finally came open with a bound stack of papers, a couple of trinkets and some books.

"I've snuck into the home of Barnaby May-Porter and found tons of evidence," answers Sapphire Squire.

"How did you do this?" you demand, "Were you not the one warning me about be careful to avoid the backlash of being caught?"

"Yes, I did and I used magic," replies Sapphire Squire before launching into explanation, "I used the magic you taught me and my own skills to give a couple of magic rings. The designs were pretty easy to figure out. I did in my head in literal minutes. Construction took a little longer. I had to find the rings, the right tools and then I had to weave the magic into the rings properly. Even with me cutting things a little close with how fast I followed the designs, I still took a few hours to finish them."

"And you didn't wait for me why?" you ask, raising an eyebrow at her, "And what were the designs?"

"I was expecting you to be back by then," admits your squire, "But you weren't so I decided to go ahead. As for the rings, I had a ring of urban concealment and a ring of urban investigation. The former basically made normal people not noticed me when I am in a settlement. Doesn't work on nonhumans or extraordinary senses, but I didn't need to worry about those so they were acceptable trade-offs.

The second ring also only worked in urban environments and boosted my ability when it came to searching for things. It was hard to explain. I just sort of noticed things far more easily and certain pieces of a puzzle would just click into place with barely an effort. It was pretty awesome while it lasted."

"Lasted?" you repeat inquiringly.

"The enchantments were only temporary," explains Sapphire Squire as she tosses a pair of rings at you, "The magic faded from them after they got used. Good for one use and then I would need to redo the enchantments if I wanted to use them again."

You inspect the two rings that you just caught. The rings are cheap and simple, but your expert eye can spot the magical traces when you know what to look for. You can see your squire's touch and you have to admit that she did a good job. It is definitely something worth learning yourself or encouraging in her.

"So how did your solo mission good?" you ask.

"Without any difficulties," answers Sapphire Squire, "I arrived and entered without anyone questioning me. I had free run of the place and I took great advantage of that. That said, I did use a different costume so if someone did see me or try to stop me, they wouldn't recognise me as the Sapphire Squire."

"Good thinking," you note and she beams at the compliment, "I take it from what you brought back that you found plenty of useful evidence."

"Oh yeah, far more than either of us imagined," confirms Sapphire Squire, her grin fading away to be replaced by a more serious look, "Ever heard of the Order of the Eternal Empire?"

"No," you answer, "Should I have?"

"Doubtfully," says Sapphire Squire, "Turns out Barnaby May-Porter is a member of the Eternal Empire rather than being part of the Consortium. He funds the latter on the behalf of the former and acts as a go between, but he is loyal to the Eternal Empire and doesn't seem to care much about the Consortium."

"That is definitely interesting," you say as you think about the implications of what your squire has uncovered, "Do you have any clue on what the Eternal Empire desires and why they are aligning themselves with the Consortium?"

"They want to use the Consortium as tools for their own goals," answers Sapphire Squire, "Or at least that is what Barnaby thinks of them. Other members of the Eternal Empire could have different opinions. As for goals, I haven't had a proper look yet, but from what I saw in Barnaby's office, they seem to be a secret group of Imperial supremacists in the government and upper classes. They believe in the glory of the British Empire and wish to ensure its dominance on the global stage."

"Nothing too objectionable on its own, but if they seek to aid the Consortium and undermine justice, then they have chosen to be our enemies," you muse, "While I don't approve of you going off on your own, good work."

"Thanks," says Sapphire Squire, smiling at you, "Can I ask something of you?"

"Of course," you answer.

"Can you be Tamara the maid?" asks Sapphire Squire, "I kind of like seeing that side of you."

"I see no reason why not," you reply, exchanging Torlyn for your uniform and letting your body grow out, "I would like to request in turn that you be the Sapphire Maid for a bit."

"Done," replies your squire as she swaps her costume for a masked maid uniform and the two of you share a grin.

"Hey Tamara," says Sapphire Squire, "Do you think I'll be pretty like you?"

"Not like me," you answer as you eye your squire's body, "My beauty comes from my shapeshifting and you do not have that. No, you will be your own kind of beauty."

"Are you sure?" asks Sapphire Squire, "Because as silly as it seems, I don't want to be ugly."

"A desire to be attractive is perfectly normal," you inform her, "I will not judge you for acting your age. As for my certainty, I am because you are already a pretty girl who needs to finish growing into a grand beauty."

"That actually helps a lot," says Sapphire Squire, "I still think it is silly, but it is nice to have someone else say it."

"If I may ask, why are you going to me with this?" you inquire, "Surely you have someone else you can ask about these things?"

"I do, but I also don't," admits Sapphire Squire, "Mum is my mum and she...she is going though a rough spot which I'm not sure she'll get better from. I don't have any aunts or big sisters and I can't talk to Dad about girl stuff. My friends are the sort of people that I can't be open to. That leaves you and honestly, I trust you a lot and I know that you won't try to lie to me. I just hate when people lie to me as I as I can always see through them so I really appreciate that you don't."

"See through lies?" you inquire.

"Yeah, I can't always figure out when someone is trying to trick me," confirms your squire, "Doesn't matter if they are being benign or malicious, I know when they are trying to deceive me regardless of their intentions. Same with trying to scare me into doing something or talk me into it. Just doesn't work. I see through the tricks and I'm just too stubborn for my mind to be changed if I don't want it to be. On one hand it is nice, but on the other, it makes it hard to fit in when I can just see through all of the silly social games that everyone my age plays."

"That is interesting to know," you say, filing that little titbit about your squire away.

"Can I ask something of you?" asks Sapphire Squire, "Something else that is. A big something else."

"You may always ask," you tell her solemnly.

"Thanks," says Sapphire Squire before taking a deep breath, "I'm sort of going through a rough spot right now and I'm limited on who I can turn to, which is part of why I am in a rough spot. Can I rest against you and you hold me whilst telling me happy stories?"

"You may," you reply gently as you stand up and walk over to a more comfortable chair, "I am willingly to help. Is there...?"

"I just need someone to be there for me when I need to be a girl my age," replies Sapphire Squire as she follows you over, "I might be the Sapphire Squire, but sometimes, I just need to be...I just need to be a little kid who can't sole the world you know? I had someone for that and that has been taken from me."

"Oh my squire," you whisper as she curls up against you.

You politely ignore the tears she leaves when she cries into your chest as tell her of your own days as a squire.

***​

"So we need a new target for the Squirrel," you say to your squire as the two of you fly over London, "I was going to have him steal evidence from Barnaby May-Porter, but since you have already done that, it is no longer an option."

"I'll need to look through the evidence I got," replies Sapphire Squire, "There has to be something of value in there, but I need to find it first. Probably a lot of things of values actually and I wouldn't be surprised if it included the names of more upstanding members of society or places belong to them."

"True," you agree,, "I'll be meeting the Squirrel in a few days so if you can get something by then, everything should be fine."

"That's plenty of time," says Sapphire Squire, "I will definitely have something by then. Hmm."

"Got something on your mind?" you inquire.

"I just realised that I'm not finding this to be all that weird anymore," replies your squire, "We're dressed up in magical armour whilst flying through the sky on our way to fight criminals. We can both use magic and have magical powers, neither of us are fully human and I am speaking to a talking bird right now. Yet I am finding this to be increasing normal. It is awesome and cool, but I am not finding to be weird all that much. Like I know it should be weird so I think it is weird, but only on an intellectual level."

"While I can't directly compare my own experiences, that does sound about right," you reply, "I used to find fighting to be something odd and strange at first, but the more I did and more experience I got, I became increasing comfortable with it until-"

You cut yourself off as you see the tendril of light flying towards you. Clearly sensing the magic behind it, you swerve to avoid it, but the spell is too accurate as it strikes you in the chest. You feel a sudden onslaught of disorientation as your body feels sluggish. Your mind feels clouded and it is hard for you to think straight.

"I see him!" shouts Sapphire Squire, pointing at someone as she draws a boomerang.

Sapphire Squire. She's the enemy right? You swoop at her, but something within you resists and you rebel against attacking Sapphire Squire because she isn't your enemy? Or is she? You break off your attack as you struggle against the conflicting thoughts as you startle your foe-friend into not attacking.

"What was that?" demands Sapphire Squire as she glances at you.

"Magic," you reply quickly as you turn back around to attack the figure in green and brown robes, "Try to make me into thinking you were an enemy, but it didn't take. Be careful."

"Right-ahh!" Sapphire Squire is cut off as a series of dark green bolts of magic slam into her.

You almost dive into the way to block them, but the fact that your hawk form lacks the protection of Torlyn stays your hand. Without your steadfast armour, your squire is better suited to receive the attack and so you let her take the blow. Instead you swoop down at the man on the rooftops, switching into your human form mid-flight and summon Talatine to your hand as you replace Mimicry with Urban Camouflage.

The man raises a robed hand at you and attempts to repel you with some kind of magic, but your aim is true. Whilst his defence may have worked under other circumstances, Talatine slams into the magical field shielding the man's power. The silver blade fails to pierce the mystical defence, but you have done noteworthy damage and reduced how much the shield can take before it fails.

Jumping back, you feel it before you see anything as your mind begins to feel clouded again. Yet it is your mind that feels sluggish this time around as your body remains active and agile. You recover your wits just in time to see the Sapphire Squire attacking your master with one of her boomerangs. With the swiftness of an experienced knight like yourself, you intercede the attack to protect your master, physically blocking the projectile with your body.

You grunt in pain as Torlyn refuses to protect you from the girl's attack. Putting the pain to one side, you wheel around to face the Sapphire Squire in defence of your master even as something feels horribly wrong at the back of your mind.

What happens next?
[] Switch to the perspective of Sapphire Squire. Play as Brenda Brown/Sapphire Squire as she deals with her mentor being bewitched by the Druid.
[] Timeskip ahead to when Fairy Knight breaks free. Skip ahead to when Fairy Knight breaks free of the bewitchment.

Spoiler: Rolls

Locating the Squirrel.
Investigation Check, DC15: 11+5+2 = 18, 1 DoS.

Convincing the Squirrel.
Persuasion Check, DC15: 15+4+2+5 = 26, 3 DoS.

Searching Barnaby May-Porter's house. (Sapphire Squire)
Investigation Check, DC15: 9+18 =27, 3 DoS.

Searching Barnaby May-Porter's office. (Sapphire Squire)
Investigation Check, DC25: 3+18 =21, 1 DoS.

Searching for Barnaby May-Porter's secrets. (Sapphire Squire)
Investigation Check, DC25: 16+18 = 2 DoS.

Initiative Check.
Fairy Knight: 11+11 = 22
Sapphire Squire: 2+7 = 9
Druid: 4+6 = 10

Druid casts on Fairy Knight.
Bewitchment Attack, DC18: 16+10 = 26, Successful Hit.
Will Check, DC20: 4+10 = 14, 2 DoF, Fairy Knight is Compelled.

Spotting the attacker (Sapphire Squire)
Perception vs Stealth: 19+8 vs 18+7 = 27 vs 25, Sapphire Squire wins by 1 DoS.

Sapphire Squire attacks Druid.
Boomerang Attack, DC20: 1+9 = 5, Critical Miss.

Fairy Knight charges Sapphire Squire.
Unarmed Attack, DC18: 1+8 = 4, Critical Miss.
Will Check, DC20: 15+10 = 25, Fairy Knight is no longer Compelled.

Druid shoots Sapphire Squire.
Mystic Bolts, DC18: 18+10 = 28, Successful Hit.
Toughness Check, DC25: 15+8 = 23, 1 DoF, -1 Toughness Penalty.

Sapphire Squire attacks Druid.
Boomerang Attack, DC20: 3+9 = 12, Miss.

Fairy Knight charges Druid.
Talatine Attack, DC20: 20+11-2 = Critical Success.
Toughness Check, DC29: 17+9 = 26, 1 DoF, -1 Toughness Penalty.

Druid casts on Fairy Knight.
Bewitchment Attack, DC18: 13+10-5 = 18, Successful Hit.
Will Check, DC20: 1+10 = 6, 3 DoF, Fairy Knight is Controlled.

Sapphire Squire attacks Druid.
Boomerang Attack, DC20: 18+9 = 27, Successful Critical Hit.
Fairy Knight interposes.
Toughness Check, DC26: 2+11 = 13, 3 DoF, Staggered & -1 Toughness Penalty.

***​

An interesting update if I do say so myself. I'm not going to make you play as a mind controlled character due to the conflict of interests, but I will give you a choice of either skipping ahead to when the mind control is over or switching to Sapphire Squire and playing as her until the mind control is over.

As for the rest of the update, while I was originally going to give the Ritualist advantage to Sapphire Squire, I went with the Artificer advantage instead as I feel it better fits her character. Speaking of which, Sapphire Squire's solo job consisted of her deciding to be helpful by using her new magical skills to create a couple of specialised and easy to make magic rings and when Fairy Knight had yet to come back when she was done, Sapphire Squire decided to try and impress her mentor by doing the job solo. Basic teenage stuff of being excited to try out the new cool thing they learnt and trying to show off how good they are.

With the scene where Sapphire Squire opens up to Tamara, I originally planned to have a light-hearted where Tamara and Brenda socialise. I started to write about Sapphire Squire asking about something girly like her looks, but then it went to Brenda appreciating that Tamara doesn't lie to her with Brenda explaining one of her powers to Tamara (take a guess what it is). From there Brenda continued to open up until I realised that after writing about Brenda using Tamara as a substitute maternal figure due to her mother being unavailable due to depression and PTSD with Brenda acting like a fourteen year old girl who is going through a rough spot rather than as the badass sidekick who can take on the world.

Given that we go from a scene where Sapphire Squire opens up to Fairy Knight to a scene where Fairy Knight is mind controlled into attacking Sapphire Squire, I hope it doesn't come off as mood whiplash-y.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.