CASE: THE WEB OF TREASON MONTH 4
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Martial
Shipwatching
DC: 25. Roll: 19 + 2 + 3.1 + 5.4 = 29.4 - 3 (The Wasting Cough) = 26.3
The rumors of the plague quickly spread - and yet, the ships continue to come in, and provide work and labor for those still hale enough of health to help unload the cargo. With them comes merchants, and with them comes jobs. The hungry and the desperate leap at the chance to get a better-paying job, and the merchants aboard the ship happily take the chance to dump their current sailors, who expected higher wages, with the starving people of Merridge.
With this first wave of merchant ships dumping their sailors from elsewhere, also came the merchants looking to drop some adventurers hoping to stay in Merridge for a while, many of which are also looking for work.
Kerrie decided to put out a request for some hired muscle, especially for when you might need to conduct some arrests later. Surprisingly, one of the inner city merchants actually tracks Kerrie down with an offer: hire the Edinpikes exclusively, and the merchant will pay, although it might have to be in Alanyivan currency, if that's alright.
[] [Muscle] The Red Lances
Hailing from the eternal low level wars of Etrella, the Red Lances have decided to pick up a merchant escort mission along the northern circuit - and perhaps get paid multiple times along the way. Cost: 4 Budget.
[] [Muscle] The Edinpikes
Contrary to their name, the Edinpikes are actually now a squad of musketmen hailing from Edindale in Alanyiva, and they're looking for work here. Cost: 0 Budget*
[] [Muscle] None
Costs nothing, gains nothing.
Diplomacy
The Artisan Guilds
DC: 20. Roll: 20 + 2 + 5.1 = 27.3 - 3 (The Wasting Cough) = 24.3
Tekla attempts to get an in with the Artisan Guild, and feel out how their relation to the inner city and Oskaria as a whole. Despite the prevalence of the Wasting Cough, the Artisan Guild insists on staying open for business, making his task easier than he thought. The trick, then, is to get the Artisan Guild to express their real opinions, with the City Guard's eyes and ears everywhere - or at least, in so far as an Artisan Guild could have a general opinion.
In general, while the artisans in the outer city are generally on the poorer and more unfortunate side - anybody good enough to get invited in to the inner city would, well, go to the inner city, after all - the artisans generally tend to be split about which group they feel more loyalty towards: the inner city nobles, who provide more of their consistent business, or the traders who provide the majority of their lucrative business. As a result, most of them have an opinion somewhere around "whatever keeps the dockyards open" - they don't care who's in charge of them, so long as the trade continues to flow through their ports.
In any case, however, it seems quite clear that they will not be available to take down the City Guard if necessary.
Intrigue
Investigating the Guard
DC: 22. Roll: 19 + 2 + 8.9 = 29.9
Stewardship
Searching for Answers
DC: 30. Base Stat: 20 + 4 + 2 + 3 + 2.0 = 31.0
Unfortunately, Kerrie and Ophelia work together to confirm that yes, taking down the Guard may in fact be necessary. Using the Eye Approaching Divinity, Ophelia began tracking down the location of inner City Guard documentations - and when the Eye Approaching Divinity returned "Unsearchable due to anti-divination", Kerrie took that as license to steal the whole desk where the documents were located. With Tekla's help cracking open the locks, the team was able to get their hands on the documents - or more specifically, the letters and contracts.
Contracts not enforced by the King and the judicial system but rather the written promises of the foreign nobles to ennoble the leading members of the City Guard and rule Merridge, if the City Guard cooperated with them.
From the signatures on the documents, it is abundantly clear that the City Guard's upper leadership fully intends to cooperate in the takeover.
Learning
Brewing Up a Solution
DC: 25. Roll: 23 + 4.3 = 28.3
Amid the grim mood of the Wasting Cough, Tekla sets about setting up an alchemical practice. His first project is a rehydrating and soothing draught, after hearing your reports from the front line about how part of the problem was that those who reached the point where they were blue in the face stopped being able to drink water without choking due to coughing - the potions were supposed to help ease the coughing and let the water down the patient's throats better.
He has to sell them on his own - and for what it's worth, it does seem to make the patients better for a while, at least.
And then they run out of draught, and cough, and choke, and die.
But it works, and soon he's boiling great big vats for distribution to the sickhouses, who both have to and almost cannot afford the potions.
But at least his reputation as an alchemist who can create draughts which sort of suppress symptoms is established.
Learning
On the Front Lines
DC: 50. Base Stat: 16 + 3 + 0.9 = 19.9
Random Event Roll: 34
The victims of the Wasting Cough continue to multiply. Day after day after day the sickhouses remain at capacity, while the sound of the heavy hearse wheels on pavement continue dragging the corpses to the pyres outside the city. Day after day after day, you wake at the greying sun and sleep at the greying night. You're tired, maybe from the spiritual exhaustion, maybe from raw exertion, maybe just plain despair at the number of blue-faced people you must drag to the tinkling bell of the hearse. You continue to stagger awake and stagger home and stagger your way through your protective rituals, just in case - maybe vigilance can protect you where it did not protect your colleagues.
Your vigilance fails.
It starts with a cough - could be nothing, and the front line needs you, so you head back in. It continues with a tiredness - but you've been pushing through tiredness for weeks now, so you head back in. It hits you, then, that your coughs are deepening - and you pull yourself out to the grim nods of your fellow priests. Better safe than sorry, after all.
You lock yourself in a room and explicitly order your team to leave food outside your door.
You will not leave your room for another 4 weeks.
It's the only way to be sure.
Lost access to Cormag for Month 5. Lost 2 Free Actions.
Piety
The Dead
DC: 25. Base Stat: 22 + 2.8 = 24.8
Unfortunately, your self-imposed lockdown comes at the worst possible time, just as the number of dead begin piling up so high that not even the current pyres are able to keep up. You can tell, just as a scent in the air and a feeling in your gut that a minor ghost outbreak has emerged, the overburdened priests unable to keep up with the sheer amount of dead bodies piling up.
You clench your fists, and breathe.
There's nothing you can do about it.
Event Chain 1A. [10/10] [2/10]
Event Chain 1B. [6/10]
Somehow, the blizzard over the Smok River still has not faded - this can only be the work of magical power, the rumors say. In fact, the rumors even say that the blizzard is at the behest of, or channeled through, a witch's get, a snow-haired boy who roams the woods without a coat or sinking into the snow. The rumors say that the nobles that would normally take care of such problems have left for the Crusade, so their house is currently trying to put together a force to kill the boy - hopefully, they say, that should put a stop to this endless blizzard.
Your team looks at each other, the unspoken question clear: isn't Agueda close to the Smok River right now?
What is he doing?
Event Chain 2. [7/20]
Far to the distant south, apparently the Royal Army had spent the winter training and drilling. With the coming of a winter so brutal Lake Vlona nearly froze over, the King realized that there was an opportunity to gloriously advance into Transulinia while everyone else thought that there was no possible way to do so - including the vampiric Baron that was the target of the Crusade. The Royal Army marched east and over the Smok River, crushing all the hordes of zombies and skeletons in their way, as well as one of the vampiric lieutenants of the Baron, as of the last bout of rumors from that region.
Remaining Budget: 365
Well, you now know that the City Guard's upper leadership is in on the plot to betray Oskaria. You have no idea about the politics of the inner city, but Tekla may have his way in - and you can also pick up your own mercenary company to help, should it so be necessary. You need to make the call about what your overall plan is, because certainly it appears as though you might need reinforcements in order to actually bring those traitors to justice.
[] [Approach] Continue quietly investigating.
You have a way into the inner city, and you're not going to risk moving before you have all the information about who the people in this city are loyal to.
[] [Approach] Go loud, go hard, go fast.
You have a vessel of Oskaria and the element of surprise on your side. If you move quickly enough, perhaps you can arrest the ringleaders and try them for treason - quietly.
[] [Approach] Call for reinforcements.
If the problem is that you don't have enough loyal people in this city, perhaps you can head back to properly Oskarian lands and bring back reinforcements. Will cost 2-3 months.
Shipwatching
DC: 25. Roll: 19 + 2 + 3.1 + 5.4 = 29.4 - 3 (The Wasting Cough) = 26.3
The rumors of the plague quickly spread - and yet, the ships continue to come in, and provide work and labor for those still hale enough of health to help unload the cargo. With them comes merchants, and with them comes jobs. The hungry and the desperate leap at the chance to get a better-paying job, and the merchants aboard the ship happily take the chance to dump their current sailors, who expected higher wages, with the starving people of Merridge.
With this first wave of merchant ships dumping their sailors from elsewhere, also came the merchants looking to drop some adventurers hoping to stay in Merridge for a while, many of which are also looking for work.
Kerrie decided to put out a request for some hired muscle, especially for when you might need to conduct some arrests later. Surprisingly, one of the inner city merchants actually tracks Kerrie down with an offer: hire the Edinpikes exclusively, and the merchant will pay, although it might have to be in Alanyivan currency, if that's alright.
[] [Muscle] The Red Lances
Hailing from the eternal low level wars of Etrella, the Red Lances have decided to pick up a merchant escort mission along the northern circuit - and perhaps get paid multiple times along the way. Cost: 4 Budget.
[] [Muscle] The Edinpikes
Contrary to their name, the Edinpikes are actually now a squad of musketmen hailing from Edindale in Alanyiva, and they're looking for work here. Cost: 0 Budget*
[] [Muscle] None
Costs nothing, gains nothing.
Diplomacy
The Artisan Guilds
DC: 20. Roll: 20 + 2 + 5.1 = 27.3 - 3 (The Wasting Cough) = 24.3
Tekla attempts to get an in with the Artisan Guild, and feel out how their relation to the inner city and Oskaria as a whole. Despite the prevalence of the Wasting Cough, the Artisan Guild insists on staying open for business, making his task easier than he thought. The trick, then, is to get the Artisan Guild to express their real opinions, with the City Guard's eyes and ears everywhere - or at least, in so far as an Artisan Guild could have a general opinion.
In general, while the artisans in the outer city are generally on the poorer and more unfortunate side - anybody good enough to get invited in to the inner city would, well, go to the inner city, after all - the artisans generally tend to be split about which group they feel more loyalty towards: the inner city nobles, who provide more of their consistent business, or the traders who provide the majority of their lucrative business. As a result, most of them have an opinion somewhere around "whatever keeps the dockyards open" - they don't care who's in charge of them, so long as the trade continues to flow through their ports.
In any case, however, it seems quite clear that they will not be available to take down the City Guard if necessary.
Intrigue
Investigating the Guard
DC: 22. Roll: 19 + 2 + 8.9 = 29.9
Stewardship
Searching for Answers
DC: 30. Base Stat: 20 + 4 + 2 + 3 + 2.0 = 31.0
Unfortunately, Kerrie and Ophelia work together to confirm that yes, taking down the Guard may in fact be necessary. Using the Eye Approaching Divinity, Ophelia began tracking down the location of inner City Guard documentations - and when the Eye Approaching Divinity returned "Unsearchable due to anti-divination", Kerrie took that as license to steal the whole desk where the documents were located. With Tekla's help cracking open the locks, the team was able to get their hands on the documents - or more specifically, the letters and contracts.
Contracts not enforced by the King and the judicial system but rather the written promises of the foreign nobles to ennoble the leading members of the City Guard and rule Merridge, if the City Guard cooperated with them.
From the signatures on the documents, it is abundantly clear that the City Guard's upper leadership fully intends to cooperate in the takeover.
Learning
Brewing Up a Solution
DC: 25. Roll: 23 + 4.3 = 28.3
Amid the grim mood of the Wasting Cough, Tekla sets about setting up an alchemical practice. His first project is a rehydrating and soothing draught, after hearing your reports from the front line about how part of the problem was that those who reached the point where they were blue in the face stopped being able to drink water without choking due to coughing - the potions were supposed to help ease the coughing and let the water down the patient's throats better.
He has to sell them on his own - and for what it's worth, it does seem to make the patients better for a while, at least.
And then they run out of draught, and cough, and choke, and die.
But it works, and soon he's boiling great big vats for distribution to the sickhouses, who both have to and almost cannot afford the potions.
But at least his reputation as an alchemist who can create draughts which sort of suppress symptoms is established.
Learning
On the Front Lines
DC: 50. Base Stat: 16 + 3 + 0.9 = 19.9
Random Event Roll: 34
The victims of the Wasting Cough continue to multiply. Day after day after day the sickhouses remain at capacity, while the sound of the heavy hearse wheels on pavement continue dragging the corpses to the pyres outside the city. Day after day after day, you wake at the greying sun and sleep at the greying night. You're tired, maybe from the spiritual exhaustion, maybe from raw exertion, maybe just plain despair at the number of blue-faced people you must drag to the tinkling bell of the hearse. You continue to stagger awake and stagger home and stagger your way through your protective rituals, just in case - maybe vigilance can protect you where it did not protect your colleagues.
Your vigilance fails.
It starts with a cough - could be nothing, and the front line needs you, so you head back in. It continues with a tiredness - but you've been pushing through tiredness for weeks now, so you head back in. It hits you, then, that your coughs are deepening - and you pull yourself out to the grim nods of your fellow priests. Better safe than sorry, after all.
You lock yourself in a room and explicitly order your team to leave food outside your door.
You will not leave your room for another 4 weeks.
It's the only way to be sure.
Lost access to Cormag for Month 5. Lost 2 Free Actions.
Piety
The Dead
DC: 25. Base Stat: 22 + 2.8 = 24.8
Unfortunately, your self-imposed lockdown comes at the worst possible time, just as the number of dead begin piling up so high that not even the current pyres are able to keep up. You can tell, just as a scent in the air and a feeling in your gut that a minor ghost outbreak has emerged, the overburdened priests unable to keep up with the sheer amount of dead bodies piling up.
You clench your fists, and breathe.
There's nothing you can do about it.
Event Chain 1A. [10/10] [2/10]
Event Chain 1B. [6/10]
Somehow, the blizzard over the Smok River still has not faded - this can only be the work of magical power, the rumors say. In fact, the rumors even say that the blizzard is at the behest of, or channeled through, a witch's get, a snow-haired boy who roams the woods without a coat or sinking into the snow. The rumors say that the nobles that would normally take care of such problems have left for the Crusade, so their house is currently trying to put together a force to kill the boy - hopefully, they say, that should put a stop to this endless blizzard.
Your team looks at each other, the unspoken question clear: isn't Agueda close to the Smok River right now?
What is he doing?
Event Chain 2. [7/20]
Far to the distant south, apparently the Royal Army had spent the winter training and drilling. With the coming of a winter so brutal Lake Vlona nearly froze over, the King realized that there was an opportunity to gloriously advance into Transulinia while everyone else thought that there was no possible way to do so - including the vampiric Baron that was the target of the Crusade. The Royal Army marched east and over the Smok River, crushing all the hordes of zombies and skeletons in their way, as well as one of the vampiric lieutenants of the Baron, as of the last bout of rumors from that region.
Remaining Budget: 365
Well, you now know that the City Guard's upper leadership is in on the plot to betray Oskaria. You have no idea about the politics of the inner city, but Tekla may have his way in - and you can also pick up your own mercenary company to help, should it so be necessary. You need to make the call about what your overall plan is, because certainly it appears as though you might need reinforcements in order to actually bring those traitors to justice.
[] [Approach] Continue quietly investigating.
You have a way into the inner city, and you're not going to risk moving before you have all the information about who the people in this city are loyal to.
[] [Approach] Go loud, go hard, go fast.
You have a vessel of Oskaria and the element of surprise on your side. If you move quickly enough, perhaps you can arrest the ringleaders and try them for treason - quietly.
[] [Approach] Call for reinforcements.
If the problem is that you don't have enough loyal people in this city, perhaps you can head back to properly Oskarian lands and bring back reinforcements. Will cost 2-3 months.