The Second Great War IC

[The Guardian]

The lieutenant thinks for a moment, then nods.

"I've sent a runner, but you have horses. Go as quick as possible to the Army HQ and request assistance. Here, take this, it will make you more believable."

He hands Gareth a small token, emblazoned with the Imperial crest on one side, and the Army crest on the other, complete with the single-bar of rank for a Lieutenant.

The men turn and race back to help others who are now stumbling out of the building. The entire unit seems to be on fire now, and smoke now comes out of the units on either side.

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No result on the Spot checks. We'll see if Nemal spots anything.

[Quietus]

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Nice. I'll hold off for the time being, but barring something Nemal does changing my course of action, I'll be looking at hopping on Flare with Haschel (poor horse, but he'll survive) and getting the hell out of dodge with everyone else.

[Tyrael]

Garrett

The thief blows out a sigh of relief. "Let's get out of here," he mutters to the others.

[Mahtobedis]

Fitz wordlessly follows the party off, and heads back to the inn to report his findings to the monks, presumably with Garrett. (he doesn't have a horse)

[zagan]

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I'm sorry guy's but you always act when I'm sleeping (Gmt+2 here).
Assuming Nemal as the time to do so, he has recuperate the chest, it's a logical move.
Spot check: (1d20+4)[19]

Seing the flame engulf the house Nemal listen to Gareth account of the situation and mount the horse to follow him while signaling to Blair to follow allong.

[The Guardian]

Okay.. so everyone makes it back in more or less one piece.

Gareth, just let me know if you DID in fact warn the HQ or not.

That's 1000xp story bonus, and 200xp for driving off the tall man. For each of you five.

Fitz earns the RP bonus for this mission - 200xp. (I will typically give this out any time a story bonus is awarded, to whomever I think played their character in the most interesting way... in case of a tie I will rotate it around. You were all pretty good this time, it was a hard choice! It doesn't necessarily have to be the most in-character speaking or what not. You'll see as we go along.)

Go ahead and do your level ups and rest/recuperate, the monks will "debrief" you afterwards.

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As in, I'll type it all out later today. Also I'm going to find out if JT Jag/Devan will be playing or not.

[JT Jag]

(OOC: Sorry about my absence, been dealing with some personal issues. I'll drop into the game whenever is appropriate.)

[Mahtobedis]

Before going to bed and resting after his harrowing night, Fitz seeks out the Monks scribe.

"Excuse me sir, but do you know of anywhere I could go to purchase scrolls of the spell identify?"

[The Guardian]

Monk: "Definitely. We can aquire these for you, but it's expensive. How many do you need?"

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I don't have access to my DMG here at work. It will be double the DMG price, whatever it is. And they can't get any scrolls more powerful than 1st level.

[Quietus]

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I most certainly WILL alert the HQ. It'd be remiss of me to potentially let people die just to very slightly increase my chances of getting away safely.

Just as an aside, I suggest someone deals with that chest while Gareth tends to Toby and Flare, unless we're gonna play off of that aspect of the character dynamics... heh.

Gareth

Once he's certain that everyone has arrived safely, and has made certain that Haschel is comfortable and getting whatever attention he needs in order to tend to whatever made him so weak, Gareth travels to the stables, giving both of his horses a thorough grooming, speaking softly to them and lavishing both Flare and Toby with plenty of praise for working so hard. Once he's sure that both have relaxed, and finished giving them their much-deserved brushings and treats, he returns to his room, and spends a further hour in quiet prayer, thanking the Gods for the divine guidance they gave him before, which allowed he and Nemal to arrive in the nick of time. Between tending his horses and prayer, he finds all the stress of the night slowly seep out of him, and when he finally rises to his feet once more, he stretches loudly, and gives a wide yawn. Finally, he crawls into his bed, and gets himself some much-deserved sleep, until he's woken by the feeling of the sun on his face.

On awakening, he quickly dons his equipment once more, and returns to the Order's halls by way of the secret passage, careful to ensure he doesn't have anyone tailing him. When he reaches the monastery, he heads to the same room he met everyone in before, either finding somewhere to sit if he finds it empty if he's the first there, or if someone got there before him, joining them.

[Mahtobedis]

Fitz thinks for a moment

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if the waved material component carries over to scrolls then it will be 50 gp per scroll, double DMG price, however if you are not waving the component for scrolls of this spell it is 250gp per scroll. I hope you do the former of the the two since I cannot learn the spell myself until level 3.

"I believe five should serve our needs. This should cover the cost." Fitz hands him a bag filled with gold coins.

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there is either 250gp in the bag or 1250gp in the bag. Depending on what is needed to buy four scrolls.

[The Guardian]

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A waived component is a waived component. :) So 250gp then.

As it happens, the Monks already have 5 scrolls available, so you don't have to wait to purchase them (but it still takes what like 5 hours to cast them all).

[Mahtobedis]

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Yep, it is going to a long night before I can regain my spells. Fitz will be sleeping in tomorrow. Thankfully I have another cantrip to cast now so I can make sure I only use these on the items that are actually magical.

Fitz retreats with his scroll, and all of the items that they had pilfered from the house before it was burned, to a quiet and relatively secluded portion of the monastery. Laying out the items in front of him he casts *Detect Magic*.

Those of the items that do not register as magical if any he then puts to the side. He also sets aside the copy orb since he is already familiar with what it does.

Then he picks up the first item, the cudgel with the stone set into it from earlier (assuming it was magical if it wasn't he grabs the dagger that Garrett had found), and one of his scrolls. Opening the scroll he reads off the words of power written on it *Identify*, and begins to concentrate on the spell.

After an our has passed Fitz sets aside the staff and does the same to the next item, and so on until he has identified all of the magical items they took with them.

[Nebuchadnezzer]

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So do I recover those ability points?

[The Guardian]

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Unless you want to (try to) beat up some other Monks or party members... there won't be any more action before you recover them.

[Mahtobedis]

Once Fitz has identified all of the magic items

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and gotten the results from his spellcraft check

he gets up and staggers back to his room with the items. On the way he drops off the belt of daggers at Garretts room with a note saying what he found out about them.

Once he gets back to his room Fitz stumbles over to the bed and crashes on it for the next 8 hours.

[zagan]

After returning to sleep in his room this time Nemal comment to Blair "Well thing didn't go as planned, good night my friend we will probably need all our strenght for the reunion with the rest of the group tomorrow.".
After a good night sleep and spending an hour in the garden to commune with nature. Nemal and Blair return to the meeting room giving a nod to Gareth and sitting next to him waiting for the other to arrive.

[The Guardian]

Several Monks enter the room and sit cross-legged on the floor. (We'll assume this is hours later)

"So. Everyone seems to be rested now. We gather that everything did not go exactly as planned. First of all, were you successful? Secondly, what went wrong?"

[Quietus]

Gareth

Gareth returns Nemal's nod, grateful that there appeared to be at least one reliable person in the group - Devan had failed to answer his summons, and the other three... well, he tried not to focus too much on them.

"As to our success, you would have to ask whichever of the night shift is currently in posession of the gem you gave us. I did not think it was prudent to ask about such things until we were safely within the Monastery's walls. Regarding what went wrong, I believe that may have something to do with the night shift's impatience - they went ahead of their own accord, before we even took a full day to judge what we were dealing with, and without informing any of the rest of us that this was their plan. As a result, the building was set aflame, and Haschel was almost captured. It was only a missive from the Gods which set me in motion, and as a result of Nemal and myself being present, Haschel returned safely, and we were able to use the fire as a distraction and get away safely. Have you any word on the extent of that fire's damage, and how is Haschel's recovery coming?"

[The Guardian]

Monk: "The building was completely destroyed, all twenty homes. Word on the street is that three people are dead. Haschel however will be fine."

[The Guardian]

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Phone rang hehe

Monk: "Haschel was hit by some kind of stunning weapon. We have our suspicions however without actually having the weapon in our hands we cannot confirm them. He is already almost back to full strength."

[Mahtobedis]

Fits looks a bit groggy, it is clear that he had a very long night with his cow licks and rumpled cloths indicating that he had just gotten out of bed.

"I believe I can...Yawn, sorry. As I was saying I believe I may be able to help with that. While we were looking for the information that you seek we discovered this in the vault with the ledger. From what I can gather about it, it is a replica of the weapon used on Haschel. It is completely out of charges. Perhaps someday I can figure out how to restore power to it."

Reaching into his pack Fitz retrieves the cudgel and sets it down in front of himself (I'm assuming that we are sitting cross legged in front of them. He then proceeds to lay the other items in front of him saying,

"We were also able to recover these cuffs which appear to be bracelets of binding, a very nasty piece of work that will drain the strength of a person if they attempt to struggle. In addition, we recovered these goves of vampiric touch. I believe they have three uses everyday although I am not completely certain as to how much they will drain from the victim they are used on."

Fitz then begins setting out the papers as he continues his monologue.

"As I mentioned earlier we were able to find the ledger. The pages exceeded the charges in the stone, however Garrett found another one in a drawer. I went ahead and copied the information that was on it too although I don't know how useful it will be to you. We were also able to obtain a very decent amount of Gold from the vault." Fitz pauses a moment before continuing, "and Garrett we are going to share it all of it I know how much was there I helped count it. I agree the that we were overly hasty and impatient when it came to retrieving the information and I regret the destruction of the building."

[zagan]

Nemal exclaim after the exclamation. "Ah so it was gold in the chest, I did wondered but a the time we where a little preoccupied. What I'm most curious about is how where you discovered ? And what lead to the burning of the building". He add very curious about the matter.

[Mahtobedis]

Fitz sighs

"I'm not sure about the detection since Garrett and I were able to avoid being noticed but you blame me for the destruction of the building. I used a fire spell in a room filled with books and parchments and it went up like kindling."

[The Guardian]

The monks share a long look after seeing the stunning weapon but say nothing, allowing the conversation to continue.

[Quietus]

As Fitz describes the looting of the building, Gareth sighs, his eyes closing and his expression changing to one of what could be best described as 'diplomatic calm'. The revelation that the entire block of buildings was destroyed, and three people possibly killed, draws a sharp intake of breath from him, but he manages to retain an impassive mask, only the most observant among them likely to notice the minor lines that crease his forehead, or the denied urge to grit his teeth.

"I was afraid of that. I doubt my presence would have changed the results, had I gone back after getting Haschel to safety, but it pains me to hear that we had anything to do with such widespread destruction and death. I will pray for them and their families.", he says, his voice as tightly controlled as his expression. "Perhaps if less greed had been exhibited, your unplanned expedition would have been more subtle, and we could have avoided the loss of so many homes, and the deaths of those therein. It is a tragedy... I suppose the only good thing that's come of all this is the successful copying of the ledger. I suggest the monks hold all of the items you looted from the building, until such time as they've had the chance to look over that copied ledger. If there is nothing therein suggesting the Empire is looking to act against the Order, then they should use that money, and the funds from the magic items, as an act of goodwill, rebuilding those houses and assisting with the funerals of those who died as a result."

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Concentration roll not to go off on someone : (1d20+7)[18]

[The Guardian]

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LOL @ concentration roll

Monk: After another long look, "Actually... we do not think it would have made a difference."

He picks up the cudgel.

"This is a Scepter of Stunning. It is a very rare magical item, and used only by the Dagashi, the personal assasins of the Emperor. The same is true of those throwing knives you have. If there was a Dagashi present, it was lucky that you escaped with your lives."

[Tyrael]

The thief's expression is unreadable in the shadows of his hood, but his glass eye glints in the torchlight. "I did my job," he grumbles sourly. "The monk's the one who drew all the attention to himself, and Fitz is the one who burnt down the place. Don't try to pin anything on me."

Garrett shakes his head slowly to himself. That was one of the worst-bungled jobs I've ever seen, and all because I agreed to drag a team of fools along with me. On top of that, now they're refusing to let me actually profit from anything I found.

He casts a dark glare at Fitz.

That's the last time I take anyone else along on something like this. I hope you know what you've dragged us into, friend...

[The Guardian]

Monk: "If one of the Dagashi wanted you dead... you would be dead. We must therefore assume that they wanted at least one of you alive, for some reason.

The more important question is, did they want to capture you to find out who your employers were, or do they already know and merely wanted to capture you for... some other purpose?"

Another Monk: "The fire has no doubt destroyed any evidence... does the Dagashi know that you copied the ledger?"

Third Monk: "Here is your payment for this mission. Your next one will be in a day or so, when the opportunity presents itself."

The monk hands you all the payments you were promised.

[Tyrael]

Garrett shakes his head. "Nobody saw us enter and copy it. I'm confident of that."

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What, specifically, is the reward we're given?