Corrath - Group 1 IC

[Proven_Paradox]

Lathlan leans back a bit and puts his arms behind his head. He has an amused smile on his face though the proceedings, and raises an eyebrow at Jailbird as he appears. "Looks like we're all here, then. Lead on, Mr. Harelass."

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Krark just grunts and follows the mage, magic was never his thing though he supposed it had its uses, so long as magic users were wise enough that non of those uses were directed at him in anything but a helpful way.

[Lochar]

Miran

Miran waits for the mage to take then lead, and then follows.

[Threeshades]

Wyn Harelass glances at Jailbird: "Under different conditions I would actually join in on a little game of arcane pranks. You're lucky we have other things to do. Follow me." he says, then lifts in the air, transforms to the shape of a gray render and floats toward the tower at walking pace.

[Lochar]

Miran

Shrugging at the mage's propensity for shapechanging, Miran follows quietly.

[FullPlateJacket]

Albireo

Albireo smiles a little. "Some things never change, I guess." He mutters to himself before following.

[Jael_Darkwood]

Jailbird

Shrugging his shoulders, Jailbird follows the shapeshifting wizard.

[Threeshades]

As you approach to the tower the great geats swing open before you and as soon as Harelass passes through, he abruptly returns to his human shape and falls to the ground clumsily but still manages to stay on his feet.
"Sometimes they just don't know what is humour..." he mutters while walking on.
Before you a large set of white stairs leads up to the massive tower doors on top of them another red-robed wizard stands waiting for you. The man seems considerably older than Wyn. He wears a carefully trimmed grey beard that perfectly completes his shoulder long grey hair but also adds to his hollow traits and the grey eyes making him seem even older than he probably is. As you walk up the stairs he starts speaking in a voice unusually powerful for a man of his age: "Thank you, Harelass, you can go now" he says in an annoyed tone and then turns to you.
"Greetings. My name is Rellan White. Welcome to the Red Tower. Lord Cythian is pleased you took the time to listen to our offer."

Spoiler

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Lord [fill in guildname here] is the usual title of the official guild leaders and not the actual name

[Lochar]

Miran

Miran smiles slightly at Rellan. "I, at least, was curious. I'll hear you out."

[Random NPC]

Hyorin

A lumbering figure walks down the street. "Finally..." A grunt comes out of this Pandakin in what some people would note as Pandakin, while others would think of as "guttural beast noises".

The Pandaking comes to a stop in front of a building. A red tower, actually. He moves closer to the door and... BANG! BANG! BANG! The Pandakin pounds the door softly enough to leave no marks, but hard enough to make his presence noticed.

"Greetings! I come offering my sword for hire to the lord of this tower!" He screams soft enough to not be perceived as a threat, but loud enough to make his presence noticed.

After announcing himself, he takes out his sword from his back, still on its hilt and he holds it with his left hand, showing his readiness as a warrior.

Pandakin traditions, after all. Most Westerners find those warrior traditions quite silly.

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I'm sorry for not posting earlier. My connection has been down all weekend.

[Threeshades]

The gate swings open before Hyorin and reveals to him the stairway up to the doors of the impressive tower and the seven figures standung around a grey haired man in red robes.
"We've been waiting for you, Mister Hyorin!" the red-robed man exclaims to the pandakin. "Please join us so we can go inside together."

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Scabi taps his feet a couple times on the steps and runs his hands along the wall idly as they ascend.

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Scabi uses the Assess Opponent option of the Sense Motive skill from Complete Adventurer to get an idea of how highly leveled this wizard is.

Sense Motive = (1d20+17)[23]

[Threeshades]

The walls create an extremely low friction on Scabi's hand.

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You see Rellan as a dire threat

[Random NPC]

Hyorin

"Ah, well. I'm sorry to keep you waiting." He says as he approaches the group.

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I'm sorry, my keyboard broke down. I guess I'll have some trouble posting a lot.

[SirGhandi]

Pyll

"So, Lord Cythian, what is the nature of this summons? I'm sure I speak for everyone that we're all very anxious to hear what it is that Cythian needs the services of a group as, well, colorful, as the one that you've assembled here. If I were the guessing type, I'd pose a guess or two here, but since I'm not, I'll just wait for you to explain it to us."

The pixie tries not to seem to forward. It is, afterall, bad manners to upset wizards with the capacity to will you into nothingness, but all the same, the use of a highly skilled wizard as greeter and escort is beginning to make the pixie nervous. Best to get to the point and get out of here quickly, he thinks.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Krark stared at the wondrous tower and thought to himself, he did not really care much for magic but even he was impressed by this bastion of magical might... to a point. he grunted to himself and focused his attention on the magi before them, he still didn't know why they had been called here and his patience was growing thinner, but he waited. An outburst in here would not sit well.

[Threeshades]

As Rellan leads you inside the huge doors and along a long, impressive hallway left and right fitted with huge statues of famous wizards of the past and even some persons and creatures you have never seen before.
"Thank you, but I am not the Lord.", he smiles. "We called you here because we are concerned about a newly risen guild. They call themselves Va'ra and are setting up more and more outposts throughout all of Lefenn, and even in Kharaz, Golamn and Lonayen their influence is growing."
Rellan stops and turns to a heavy wooden door with metal fittings that has the shape of a kite shield turned upside down. By merely raising his hand he seems to command the door to open and then walks on toward it.
"There also are two posts that have been found here in Rynna. We prepared a map for you to find them out. We don't know yet how this guild works, if and what they specialize in or dedicate themselves to something and how they put up their defenses."
Rellan leads you inside a room that looks like a combination of an administrative office and an alchemical laboratory. He strides across the scarlet carpet covering most of the gray marble floor except a space about three feet away from every wall of the rectangular room and sits down behind a massive wooden desk. He invites you to sit down on one of the chairs wlaking into the room through a small door on the left-hand wall with a gesture of his hand.
"We need a well mixed team of skilled men... you... to find out these posts and get whatever information you can get about them. By all means, we don't care if violently or through infiltration and subtlety."
Rellan starts digging through a pile of rolled up parchment sheets.
"Where they have spread their posts, what their aims are, what their tools are, where they come from, who is the guild leader... anything! If you have to burn down these posts to the ground, do whatever you have to to extract as much information as you can., since he sat down Rellan's tone became more and more aggressive but suddenly he visibly calms down and says in a relaxed voice: "The payment will be very generous."

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Scabi

"That is quite a bit of freedom we're being allowed." says Scabi, leaning slightly back in his seat comfortably and crossing a leg. "Is your preference that whatever these methods you leave to us are discovered, purposely or by accident, that it be traced back to your establishment as a sort of warning, or is anonymity something to strive for?"

-=-=-=-=-

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Sense Motive for Rellan's former conversation = (1d20+17)[20]
Sense Motive for how Rellan responds to Scabi's question here = (1d20+17)[28]
Knowledge (Local) for information on this new guild = (1d20+18)[33]
Bardic knowledge check for same = (1d20+8)[13]

[Proven_Paradox]

Lathlan frowns a bit at the request. "Pardon me if I seem rude here, but I have a hard time believing that a guild with so many obviously talented spellcasters wouldn't have some spells to do all this for 'em. There something keeping you from just casting a spell and finding all this out?" His frown wavers for a moment, then turns to a wry grin as he tilts his head to the side and adds, "If you're just wanting to give some needy folks a chance at a lucrative job, that's fine by me though. I'm not complaining."

[FullPlateJacket]

Albireo

"My guess is that you just don't have the manpower to spare, what with your efforts against the other guilds. But one thing: How is it you know the locations of their outposts, yet nothing else? Surely, you must have SOME other information," he says, raising an eyebrow. "Even so, this is an interesting development. New guilds can't just pop up out of nowhere. Whatever plans they have, have probably been in motion for quite some time."

[Random NPC]

Hyorin

"Don't be hasty." Says the Pandakin from behind, as he decided to stay standing or else he might break a chair. "I rather do the job no questions asked." He retorts looking at the place, listening to Rellan's answers and thinking back about any information about the guild.

Spoiler

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sense motive for Rellan's answers(1d20+5)[19]
knowledge: local for the Va'ra guild(1d20+7)[25]

[SirGhandi]

Pyll

But my question is, what's wrong if another guild is coming about? Isn't the whole point that people are free to join into whatever idealogy they believe in? I can't imagine that this new guild poses a threat to you unless they are trying to rise as the official guild of magic, and then of course, we'd be talking about an entirely different kind of threat, wouldn't we? So, tell us, if your magic cannot penetrate their defenses, what are we to do against them, and how will you be aiding us in doing so?

[Threeshades]

"We prefer if no one finds our handwriting. This is why we don't do the job ourselves. Also a group of mercenaries with different talents is a lot more flexible than a band of wizards, duskblades and maybe a few charmed ogres or the like.. A group of mercenaries isn't as notorious in their ways as a guild of the Sixteen. We made many attempts at scrying their posts, but even against our more than powerful resources they blurred or completely blocked our attempts out. We don't know anyone who is an official guild member, which just complicates the matter."
He turns to Albireo: "We thought so too. But this guild is rapidly expanding and appeared without warning. This is a factor not only worrying us. Even our direst enemies share our concern. The other guilds are enough of a concurrency. We cannot suffer a new guild expanding this fast out of nothing. They pose a serious threat to our authority already and we cannot allow them to rise to even higher levels. This is also a matter of balance. I admit, our main intention is to keep up our own authority, but you have to realize that if the Va'ra overpower all other guilds they might establish a new order at their own will. They would have ultimate power over all of Corrath."

Hyorin and Scabi

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Rellan seems to tell the truth. Scabi is sure about that while Hyorin at least cannot find any sign for him telling only half-truths or lies

Both of you have heard about a mysterious new guild establishing their power all over Lefenn, now you have a name for it too, but that is all.

[Proven_Paradox]

Biting back comments about how a new order might actually be a good thing, Lathlan shrugs. "Makes sense to me. Get in, find out what's what, and get out," He says with a casual tone. "Sounds simple enough."

[Lochar]

Morin

"I find that the simplest things seem to have the most luck in going sour, but then again, you can always apply a judious amount of force to correct that."

He coughs, thinking for a moment. Usually.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Scabi nods with a faint smile.

"Would you allow me to verify that they cannot be reached by a foreign eye? For completeness sake mind you, I do not distrust that you are sincere in what you say." he pauses and adds, "Assuming such can be done from within this building?"

[Jael_Darkwood]

Jailbird

"Sounds like a real challenge. I love it. I'm in." He smiles.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Krark just grunts offhandedly, and says As long as theirs a fight in it.

[Random NPC]

Hyorin

The pandakin feels at ease with the mage and trusts him. Or at least enough to know he is not going into a trap. He proceeds to look and ponder about each point of view, only speaking after Krark.

"True!" He grunts at Krark with a smile.

[Threeshades]

"It is good to see we have an agreement. Mister Moondun, of course you can give it a try. We have the utilities for scrying and energy sources that are beyond belief for some.", he points at a large richly decorated silver mirror in the corner half-hidden behind a bookshelf.