AvB - Little Green

[planswalker]

"Indeed, then it is as this simple servant had hoped. Then you would agree that if the worms that crawl before the Pit Lord were to jeapordize our position here, that they would be worthy of a strong reproof?"

do I need another diplomancy? - (d20+19)[31]

[Monodominant]

"As I said... we are not allies... if something interesting were to happen that causes issues to the Lady and we could stop it then definetly it would be in our interest to do so... if we could do so without our involvement becoming obvious all the better!" he says and nods.

"But enough of this dancing around the issue Little Green. Tell me what you know and be quick about it. The way of the Mother of Dragons is not one of cowardice!"

[planswalker]

"

Very well, the blunt honest truth. I have learned that there is a cult dedicated to the Pit Tyrant who is trying to destabilize the wealth of this city and steal all its souls for their dark lord. It would seem to this simple servant that doing such in this city when we have things so well established for ourselves could be seen as going against the greater purposes of our being here.

"

[Monodominant]

He frowns at this.

"Interesting... well He always creates cults to steal the souls of people... or rather he usually tempts them to do so themselves... He rarely does so directly. He reasons that he gives people the means to make a choice but that choice is always theirs..." he says as he sits on the single stool in the room.

"But still, destabilising the financial elements of the city will plunge everything into chaos and when people die he will reap the benefits... You have my blessing into stopping this Little Green... or better yet if you can find how it is done and you can bring the interloppers or cult leaders to us perhaps we can glean some interesting information from them to use for ourselves in the future..." he says maliciously.

[planswalker]

"Very well. I shall do what I can to benefit us who all strive for the Great One's will."

[Monodominant]

"Great!" he says and smiles.

"If you need any basic divine spell casting support during your ventures to complete this mission you will receive them for free." he says proudly.

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basic meaning levels 1 to 3 maybe even 4 with some convincing... which you are good at.

"But make sure you succeed Little Green... our Mistress offers Her support and blessing but she expects results and is NOT forgiving of failure..." he continues.

[planswalker]

"I would swear upon my soul that I will not fail, but it is the Dragon Goddess' already."

bluff - (d20+17)[27]

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this is in no way true and in fact, Little Green is far better at lip service than true devotion. He does have a healthy respect for Tia, though. She's much bigger than him and her aspects tend to be deadlier than his.

[Monodominant]

"Splendid! Then go forth and do her bidding" he says and he escorts you back towards the entrance of the Temple. From behind for just a moment you have the feeling that you heard something big moving around.

[planswalker]

Figuring that the temple had a dragon or five in residence, Little Green doesn't care to get more involved. Despite his healthy respect for the Tiamat, he notes where he can likely find more dragon parts if he needs to for his grafts.

Still, the task at hand is not to kill dragons. The task at hand is to stop a cult. To do that, Little Green goes to the first name on his list invisibly and observes the man.

[Monodominant]

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Give me a few minutes and I will make a post with the four names and where they live. I am also writting their info as we go so I need a few minutes :D

[Monodominant]

The paper from your employers says the following.


- Mad Old Celia (Faded Aasimar): Seen walking around the Docks with a begging bowl and a mangy dog.

- Gorsk Ilianson (Dwarf): Has a smithy with a partner in South Market district.

- Johan Mardher (Human): The leader of a farmers union and an unofficial mercenary captain. Often found in the Guildsman District

- Rafa Sirekus (Eladrin): A money lender operating from out of the Mage's Quarter. Is said to have connections with the Guard.

Locating the whereabouts of each one of them would require a gather info or lead chasing of its own :D

[planswalker]

gather information - (d20+1)[13]
gather information - (d20+1)[5]
gather information - (d20+1)[14]
gather information - (d20+1)[20]

one for each, taking a total of (4d4)[1][1][3][4](9) +1 each hours. When it gets to be night, Little Green will return to Jana's place and explain to her that he is on a quest from his master but that he will take the time to at least tell her a story every day, but that he's having to quest most of the time now.

He tells her the beginning of a story about the prince of cats and the wizard squabbling over who should eat the wizard's cream, for the wizard caught the prince of cats red-handed eating his cream, for like all cats, the prince of cats did not care whose something was if he wanted it. He leaves her with he wizard growing more upset as the cat saunters off.

After the story, Little Green will sleep under her bed once more, wishing to ensure that if something happened to her that he would be on hand to protect her.

The next morning, he will leave without giving evidence that he was there all night, invisibly steal some breakfast, and either continue the investigation if he needs to or pause and think on the information he gained.

[Monodominant]

His search for info, along with getting to the relevant areas, take the best part of the day and even early evening.

The girl is half asleep when he arrives but she wakes up and listens to his story. She seems happy to "see" you and hear ou and overall you have a nice happy night.

You have your breakfast and set out again.

You learn the following per person:

Mad Old Celia: gather information - (d20+1)[13]

The woman is said to be crazy. Her husband, a human sailor was lost at sea and his ghost is said to have appeared to her and taken her sanity with it. She generally hangs around the fishmarket it the docks peddling for alms. She mutters to herself and to her cat and some women of sailors come to her to receive blessings or be read their fortune in the guts of fish.


Gorsk Ilianson : gather information - (d20+1)[5]

Very little seems to be known about this dwarf other than that he and his female partner run a smithy are very traditionalist.


Johan Mardher :gather information - (d20+1)[14]

Johan is fairly powerful as his guild controls the most profitable farms around the Aldhaven. He and his people control well over one third of the city's food supply. His ties with mercenary groups come from his old adventures as a hired blade that fought against the various monstrous races on the mountains near Aldhaven.

When you ask around about him you realise that your questions raise suspicion and soon after you find yourself followed. You escape your followers quickly by turning invisible but you notice that you people are open about talking to you afterwards.

Rafa Sirekus :gather information - (d20+1)[20]

Its fairly easy to learn about Rafa since you even find signs pointing to the direction of one of his locations. Rafa has come from Brunsgrove 4-5 years ago and since then he made a name for himself. Unlike most banks he gives loans with almost no interest and he seems to not care about big loans. He helps small businesses to grow and even offers his own fortune as securities when a bigger loan from a bank is needed.

His "trick" is that he asks to become a partner in most enterprises and though there is no indication he does any fraud what happens is that he lays claim to the business after the owner dies. No strange deaths have been reported though so despite being investigated by the Guard two or three times he seems to be legit and has since then become a major benefactor of the Guard securing their support after funding many gear upgrades from them.

[planswalker]

Little Green will re-investigate Gorsk the rest of the day.

(3d20)[10][12][16](38) for (3d4)[4][1][2](7) hours. +1 to each of those number, btw, both result and hours.

[Monodominant]

Fifteen hours later he has gathered all the basic info there is to know about the guy.

Gorsk Ilianson came to the city a few years before the first gnomes even arrived. He and his brother Merfenutero Ilianson are very traditional dwarfs and yet they decided to stay in Aldhaven. They opened a weaponsmiths/blacksmiths/armorsmiths store that generally serves non-human races.

They do not seem racist as such but rather humans find their store unsettling. It is half underground with many officers and layers under the ground. It is a known fact that somehow they managed to get permission to bring in their own building material that ensured that the soft earth of Aldhaven (due to the river) does not collapse on them.

The two brothers are rarely seen visiting the city for anything other than business but they have a network of halflings and gnomes running other errands for them.

[planswalker]

If he knows where she is, Little Green will visit Old Mad Celia.

if not, he retires for the day and spends his evening with Jana.

[Monodominant]

He has heard that more often than not she spends her time begging around the fish market in the Docks.

He has heard its bad to go there at night and indeed it is late evening...

[planswalker]

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.... dang it, I just wrote myself a delay, didn't I?

well, the average skulky doesn't have see invisibility or some such. Still, tonight is the wrong night to go to the docks. There's a total war going on...

It being late, Little Green will head to Jana's and continue the story before going to bed.

The wizard decides to get revenge by summoning a dog to worry the prince of cats. Not to hurt the cat, only to chase him and teach him some manners. However, the prince of cats was, after all, a prince with subjects. When the dog came to worry him, he ran, just as all cats do not want to fight dogs if they don't have to.

However, the prince of cats, like all cats, didn't take well to being attacked and came back with his father the king of cats' most powerful warrior, who was in fact a tiger!

[Monodominant]

Jana asks if the dog also came with reinforcements! Like wolves!

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Well time is relevant... Little Greens explorations in the Docks can have been happening a few days before the attack...

[planswalker]

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normally, how we handle this is that whenever to pc's enter the same area, it happens at the same time, and the one who got there first is the one who sets the chronology.

unless there's a good reason to do otherwise, like someone specifically visiting the docks in daytime while Ish is specifically there at night.

Indeed he did! He brought a pack of wolves with him, and the tiger brought a pride of lions, and the mage conjured up firewolves, and so on and so forth until all the kingdom of the cats and all the kingdom of the dogs were circling the palace and bickering and snapping at each other.

It was at that time that the princess's uncle looked outside his window and saw all the dog and cat kingdoms outside the castle, and he sent his soldiers to separate the two armies and find out who started this, for the kingdom of men was ally to both, for cats kill the vermin and dogs help the hunters.

When the uncle asked the king of dogs why he had assembled his army before the gates, he said that he did so because the king of cats had.

When the princes's uncle went to the king of cats and asked him why he had assembled his amy, he said that he was here because the king of dogs had sent his army of legendary dire flamehounds.

Back and forth the uncle walked between the two armies, asking why each soldier in turn was here. After two days of walking back and forth learning why who came where, the uncle learned that the hound had been summoned by the wizard to worry the prince of cats.

At this the king grew very angry, for the wizard had almost started a war between cats and dogs over this. He asked the king of cats and his son the prince of cats, for like all cats, one could not demand anything of them and demanded that the king of dogs and the wizard meet with him to settle this.

Little Green stops the story there and asks Jana, "How do you think the princess's uncle will try to get everyone to work together again?"

[Monodominant]

"By giving them treats!" she called out and then clamped her mouth with both her hands and looked guiltily towards the door.

Thankfully nor uncle, nor aunt seemed to have heard the cry of triumph!

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Got it about the "scene" mixing... well he could go for one of the other individuals :D

[planswalker]

Little Green smiles. "You certainly are a clever little girl. Unfortunately, though, not even the whole of the uncle's castle had enough treats for all the cats and dogs in both armies.

No, what the princess's uncle did was to make the two people who started this talk out their problems, for talking is much safer and cheaper than fighting and fewer people are likely to die over it.

"Why did you set a hound after the prince of cats?" The uncle asked.

"Well, I just wanted to teach him a lesson about asking before you take someone else's things." The wizard says.

"I don't normally teach people lessons by attacking them with brutes." the cat added.

"Did you know that the cream was his?" the uncle asked.

At this, the prince of cats, like all cats, looked uncomfortable at being caught. "Well, yes, but I didn't think the old man would mind. There's plenty of cream in the castle and he can always get more. It's not like he doesn't give me plenty of cream already."

"But that cream I wanted to eat with biscuits and sausage. When I fetched the new cream, my sausages were cold."

"I did not know that." The prince of cats said, looking almost guilty. However, like all cats,it's a very had thing for them to actually feel guilty.

"If you had, would you have eaten his cream?"

"Of course not. I'd have just gotten the maid to give me some cream, for I respect the wizard's territory." Which, like all cats, was only partially true. The prince of cats respected the wizard's territory only because he was convinced that the wizard would turn him into a mouse if he didn't.

The uncle then turns to the wizard and says, "And how does summoning a dog to worry the cat help teach him to ask before taking your cream?"

The wizard, not being a cat, does indeed look guilty at this. "Well, I guess it doesn't. It just helped make me feel better."

"And do you feel better now, that there are two armies about to tear the castle apart?"

"Well, no."

The uncle turns and addresses both at once. "Then may I suggest that the two of you forgive each other and ask the kings to please leave and go back to their realms?"

The two went back to the two camps, the prince of cats to his father and the wizard to the king of dogs.

The prince of cats told his father that he had humiliated the one who had hurt him in front of his lord, and that he was now feeling like taking a nap rather than go to war. Like all cats, the king and prince were very lazy creatures who decided that taking naps was better than fighting when one didn't have to, and the king of cats took his army and left.

The wizard told the king of dogs that he had embarrassed the prince of cats in front of his lord, and that the cat army was going to retreat in the face of this shame. The king of dogs found this quite funny, for cats were so very arrogant creatures. He left with his army, baying and laughing that their rivals had been so easily humiliated.

Once the two armies left, life at the castle returned to normal, but with two small changes. The prince of cats now looked around before eating the wizard's cream, making sure that eating it wouldn't upset him too much. The wizard, for his part, no longer sent hounds to worry the cat when he did this, instead contenting himself with telling the mice of the castle where the prince of cats was, making him miss a meal for the one he stole."

Little Green sits down next to Jana when the story is finished and asks, "Can you tell me what the moral of the story is?"

[Monodominant]

She tilts her head as she sees the bed covers indicate the presence of someone yet she doesnt see you still.

"Hmmm... thats a tough one Talehos... I guess that we should be considerate of each other? As my mommy used to say actions have consequences!" she says carefully...

[planswalker]

"That is an important lesson, Jana, and one that is in this story, but it is not the lesson that is the point of the story. You are not wrong though. All the best stories can teach more than one lesson. To me, though, this story teaches that words are the most powerful army, for that is the lesson that the characters learned.

At the end, the cat still stole the wizard's cream, and the wizard still abused magic in petty ways, but both had learned from the uncle about the power of telling the truth in ways that get things done.

It was the the princess's uncle who spoke with them and convinced them to make the armies go home, and it was with their words to the kings which sent both armies back without a single blow falling. Words, when used well, are the most powerful weapon of all."

With that, Little Green kisses her on the forehead and tells her "Goodnight"

[Monodominant]

She looks at your direction dumbfounded by the words of wisdom you just spoke and considering it. Considering especially how she could lie if it would mean getting what she wanted. She grins.

"Daddy used to joke with mommy and tell her - words can hurt you know -. I guess that is also important!" she says as you tuck her in.

She smiles and closes her eyes.

[planswalker]

Glad to have imparted important, practical life lessons, Little Green goes to bed underneath her bed and the next day goes to visit the mad crone.

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any chance for xp for this story as well? I know I hand-waved through the first part, but coming up with those stories off the top of my head like that is hard.

[Monodominant]

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This was not as huge an epic as the last one :) take 500xp for it but dont hog the story telling XP! Otherwise you will have to take skill points on profession storyteller or perform oral stories or something :D

The docks seem quiet... almost too quiet. Life goes on as normal though there are still some blood stains and the like in some parts of the district. He hears quiet murmurs from many people though noone seems open or willing to disclose what happened.

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Which fits with the facts that I also dont know the details of how the attack went... will I find out the Skulks were wiped out while Ish was away?

As he nears the fish market he notices the figure of the Mad Old woman by a fish stall. It seems the vendor has taken a liking to her and has given her an empty fish tray to use as a chair and she spends her time mumbling and holding an empty cup in front of her while an old large tomcat is prowling around her feet.

[planswalker]

Little Green will invisibly walk up to her and say, "Greetings, elder. I was wondering if I could speak with you?"

[Monodominant]

The cat snarls as you approach but it doesnt seem to notice where exactly you are.

The beggar woman turns towards the voice and smiles a smile fool of rotten teeth.

"Why yes little imp! You can speak with all of us! We are all ears" she says and laughs softly. Her breath is making you feel nauseus yet her voice is but a whisper and you have to be very close to actually hear her.

[planswalker]

"I was curious to know if you have ever come across an odd little coin."

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diplomancy - (d20+19)[20]