Defenestration of King Bryce (Risus)

[Tibbius]

Spoiler: OoC - Personal

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and a third post in a row, sorry. I will be offline Friday-Sunday, back Monday. Possibly able to post more today depending how fast things move.

[JbeJ275]

Adrian took a moment to duck back into an alcove in the tower, shedding most of his outer armour and concealing his weapons about his person wherever he could. He also waits for the other two members of the group to catch up, his lips uttering a silent prayer as he does so.

[Tibbius]

Despite Sir Adrian's good intentions he finds himself twenty feet above ground and a hundred feet below the tower, exposed to view on an open staircase with the wind whishing across it. There is no place to discreetly shed his armor and no way to conceal a three foot longsword on his person. He must make the best of the crowd's distracted fixation on the disintegration of the tower above them.

[Feirgon]

Shayala

"You must know something to help. This is not a place for either of us to die!"

The barbarian shouts at Alfred as she continues in a hurried pace down the stairway.

Spoiler: Roll

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She is attempting to jostle useful information from her companion.

Unafraid to Speak Her Mind: (3d6)[2][1][4](7)

[flyinglemur]

Alfred replies, "By the moon you needn't yell. The tower is unfixable at this point, and we won't be able to run down fast enough. We'll have to find a new route." Alfred thinks back to his education here, the church had plenty of secrets. After a few more minutes of desperate running Alfred shouts,"Stop I've got it." Alfred walks a few steps upwards, "I remember this spot. There should be a magical exit around here. The priests wanted a quick way to get out of the tower, in case it was ever besieged. If we activate it we should be transported to ground level, although with the tower failing the way it is I'm not sure exactly where we'll end up."

Spoiler: roll

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Wizened scholar: (3d6)[2][1][3](6)

[Tibbius]

A moment of opening his mind to possibilities convinces Alfred that he indeed has found the emergency escape Place Of Departure. Now he must activate it...

Spoiler: OoC

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@lemur I figure it would be difficulty 5 to remember where this was - nice thinking on the narration of what you were doing - but it's still going to be difficulty 9 to escape the tower by activating the POD. I will make it a one-shot deal though because you thought of a way to circumvent the protracted escape that I had envisioned. You probably would want to pump your cliche to get a better chance at overcoming the difficulty.

@Feirgon Maybe Shayala could assist with some inspirational thoughts?

[flyinglemur]

Alfred finds the spot, hidden beneath a floor tile, and prepares to work the convoluted lock. It's a mess of runed gears and sapphire tumblers. It's not a puzzle to be figured out, so much as it is a hard to memorize pattern, and brute force risks shutting down the mechanism entirely. "Here goes," says Alfred, "If I can remember the old code, then we have our ticket out of here."

Spoiler: roll

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pumped wizened scholar (4d6)[3][3][2][3](11)

[Tibbius]

Alfred's memory serves accurately. With deft motions he twists the rune-etched tumblers as he watches the glowing dials. Then with a profound shuddering, the landing on which he and Shayala crouch shakes loose from the tower and begins to float away, still crumbling under them as it drifts gradually downward toward the river. It moves deceptively quickly and within a minute they are skimming the flat rooftops of Moontower at the pace of a slow jog. The weird flickering light of the disintegrating tower casts their shadows in flashes on the roofs ahead.

[Feirgon]

Shayala

"This is....unexpected. Hopefully, the others will know not to wait and will attempt to meet up at the river as we planned."

Shayala looks down at the passing scenery below her.

"It would've been helpful to know about such an escape route when we were planning this."

[Tibbius]

Hand-size fragments break off from the flying, blue-and-white shimmering slab on which Alfred and Shayala skim just above the rooftops... With a bump and a skip, the slab strikes the edge of a roof, spins in the air, slams against another rooftop, shatters, and evanesces in whisps of moonlight, dumping them onto the flat roof of a three story building.

===

In the central plaza beneath the Tower of the Moon, confused screams arise as the crowd shove back and forth to evade the chunks of moonlight tumbling down from the tower and the spiral stairs. Sir Adrian, ten feet above ground, finds himself falling through the crumbling remnants of the steps. Some small bodies in the crowd break his fall, collapsing to the ground as he finds his feet.

From above there is a sudden brilliant flash of light. Glancing upward, Adrian sees a dissipating cloud of moonlight where the tower floated. He hears a chorus of dozens of shrill screams descending from the cloud through the dark air above him, terminating with muffled thumps all around him. The crowd continue to panic, struggling with each other to escape the plaza into side streets. There is nothing left of the steps or of the tower.

He cannot see where Herlinde went.

[JbeJ275]

Damnation. He says softly before taking the only option left to him. The rest know where the boat is, if they lived they’ll meet him there and while they can’t outrun panic they’ll be out of the city before enough details to identify them come to light. With that he just starts running, pushing through the panicked crowd and yelling at gaurds to focus on restoring order as he struggled towards the river and the opportunity for escape that lay there.

[Tibbius]

Alfred and Shayala found a set of backstairs down from the rooftop to an darkened alley that Shayala recognized from the time when she lifted a merchant's fat purse. They were quite near the river. Moving at a brisk walk, they easily reached where the boat was moored to a post a dozen yards out from the shore. It was a shallow-bottomed vessel with a centerboard, about seven feet broad and twenty feet long, with a small mast forward and two pairs of oars amidships. They splashed into the waist-deep water and waded out to the boat, clambering aboard wetly and easily.

= = =

Sir Adrian jostled his way along the streets toward the river, passing bright lit doorways whose occupants stood anxiously and awkwardly asking for news from the tower. As he proceeded the crowd diminished, people returning to their own homes or entering taverns to gossip about what had happened.

Spoiler: OoC

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Here I'm tempted to ask for a TN 5 roll against some cliché to find your way to the boat. But I'd like to move it along at the close of this scene.

Within twenty minutes he had joined Alfred and Shayala aboard their escape. There still was no sign of Herlinde.

Spoiler: OoC

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I think this would be a good place for you three to discuss to where you're escaping ... somewhere downriver, or just across to Sun Citadel? Also, would you like to pause the action for a few days of conversation while we wait to see if someone will pick up the Herlinde character?

[flyinglemur]

"I'd suggest moving downriver into Redwater. We need to get as far away from Fauchard and from church lands as possible, and there certainly isn't any lost love between Katrionna and Bryce. I don't know if we'll be safe, but at the very least she won't allow Fauchard's forces into her kingdom without a good reason."

Spoiler: OOC

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I'm fine with waiting a bit for a fourth player.

[JbeJ275]

Redwater should be the plan yes, but I’d like to try and go to ground in Sun citadel first. Try and find Herlinde before we leave.

[Feirgon]

Shayala

Shayala nods thoughtfully.

"I agree. We should see if can find Herlinde. My knowledge of this land is too limited to be of much aid."

[Tibbius]

Spoiler: OoC

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I'm out tomorrow, back on Friday, out Saturday and Sunday, back on Monday. If we haven't found a fourth by then I can continue NPC'g Herlinde.

[Tibbius]

With a barely audible splash and grunt, Herlinde clambered over the gunwale of the boat, which rocked gently after she did so.

"I've been spreading rumors," she said. "I hope half the city at least now believes that the Tower fell apart because of sacrilege by dead Bryce. Some others may believe the deed was done by his guards, and that the desecration of his death caused the catastrophe." She paused. "We didn't do much planning past this point. How far should we go? I've never seen Redwater, so that's my vote. Never been further west than here."

[JbeJ275]

Good, the more confusion the better, we should now have a chance to escape, with the instability to come I would rather be at King Alden’s court, but heading directly back to Vertland is to dangerous. I don’t want to follow all the way to Riversend, but let’s go for the border with Redwater, then we can change direction.

[Feirgon]

Shayala

"I am probably the one of us most familiar with Redwater. I had travelled through and even worked there for some time in order to reach this kingdom."

[Tibbius]

Shayala

"I am probably the one of us most familiar with Redwater. I had travelled through and even worked there for some time in order to reach this kingdom."

Spoiler: OoC

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This is terrific. I am happy to offload some of the world building onto your imagination. I look forward to learning about Shayala's contacts in Redwater. I will contribute as well!

[Tibbius]

Redwater

A land of hills and swamps and tropical jungle, sparsely populated by the fierce Kylnnic tribes, who practice hunting and subsistence agriculture to survive. Rumor has it that the Kylns are scions of a long lost civilization responsible for ruins now hidden by the jungle. You know of no one who has been successful in finding such ruins. However, you have heard of timbering and mining in the resource-rich hills.

The mighty river Ullin runs southwest through the jungle from the Temple Cities to Riversend where Queen Katrionna holds court and administers the mercantile port where the exotic Traders exchange slightly wondrous goods for the wood and minerals that are extracted from the jungled hills. Along the river there are many tribal villages, mostly friendly to travelers but often hostile to each other. In her travels up the river, Shayala sometimes lent her axe blows to the causes of her hosts, in disputes over fishing or hunting grounds or over prized stands of hotleaf, an intoxicating peppery herb that the tribes trade up- and down-river.

[Feirgon]

Shayala

"If we are looking to spend some time in Redwater, I think I can get us a place to stay. I had worked for a short time with a mining company there helping to protect their minerals during transport. They provided lodgings, food, and pay.

She looks at Alfred and Herlinde.

Though, I am unsure how long we would be welcome as four very different individuals with very different skills."

[Tibbius]

"We are not so different, dear," says Herlinde. "Three of us are skilled with weapons, and Alfred here can sling a spell well. I've heard that the jungles of Redwater are mostly outside of Church control, with druids and so on running loose. I'm sure any company would welcome folk like us who could hold our own against the wild Kylnnic tribes."

[flyinglemur]

"I'm certain I can make my self-useful, and I'm willing to do whatever I'll need to be accepted. I certainly owe you for all the good work you did back in the tower."

[Tibbius]

Shayala had thought ahead to provision the boat for a few days' travel down-river. It was dark and the current was swift. They could easily cast off the mooring from the piling, work the oars just a little, and drift quickly down toward the jungle and its relative safety. With a bit more work they could make it across the river to the mile-distant docks of Sun Citadel, where they could moor and make their way into a waterfront that was reputedly as dangerous as the jungle at night. There was no sound coming from across the river at the moment; the folk of the sister temple city slumbered unaware that the Tower of the Moon was gone. From the nearby city of Moontower, sounds of unrest carried easily over the water. It seemed that crowds were roaming the darkened streets, looting - and from the sudden flares of dancing orangeish light that were beginning to appear, it seemd some of the looters also were arsonists.

[Tibbius]

Spoiler: OoC

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I'm now recruiting for a game set in Mythic Egypt, using rules tailored for that setting. If you're interested, check out the recruitment thread. Any of you are welcome to join as well as continuing to play this game. Or if people are getting bored now that the king is dead, you're welcome to switch entirely. There are plenty more adventures available in this New World, though!

[JbeJ275]

I would rather not dally in the jungles, this anarchy here must be used for something or all this death is but waste. I we should head back towards latecastle, else the court will sit around planning for a perfect solution while a good one, one that improves the lot of many, already exists.

[Tibbius]

Herlinde coughed softly. Her voice was soft and her tone embarrassed when she spoke. "You make a good point, Sir Adrian," she answered. "I too often focus only at the job to hand, without considering the aftermath. At my age you'd think I'd have more wisdom, but the most of my experience is directed toward excellence in tactics rather than to careful strategy. I've always been more a soldier than a general, and I have preferred to do my work and get my pay and leave. In fact this is the first time that I've worked without thought of a payday." She paused. "As I get older I get more garrulous. I'll only add that if it weren't for poor Reggie I wouldn't be here. But from his example, I can see some of what needs to change. And if you think we'd do better working to change it than going to ground in the jungle, I'm ready to help."

[Tibbius]

Herlinde takes a slow patient breath, then speaks again. "So what's the decision, Sir? I rescind my vote for down the river, and leave it to the three of you to decide."

[JbeJ275]

Spoiler: OOC:

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I've voiced my opinion. What does everyone else think?