CH. 3: Mages, Mages Everywhere

[mgbevan]

"Nobleman heir?" Gregeddin picks up on, "To what? An elvish estate?" he muses in thought for a few moments.

"Hmm, regretfully, from our last encounter with Captain Woodwind I wouldn't say release or exchange is likely for Darewind. His position seemed pretty closed on the matter. But if we just break in an free her we will have a cult of angry zealots after us, which I really don't fancy. Especially as we aren't exactly in fighting shape at the moment." Gregeddin says while motioning to the bandages amongst the group.

[BishGada]

"Yeah, well, as I said I might be able to sneak you in... But I still don't have a plan how to perform the rescue without having the cult after us." 'Maybe Charm Person would work on Nora too and then it will make it much easier to convince her of her wrongs...' Tulbas thinks to himself.
Understanding this company will give him no clues regarding Daxia, Tulbas is ready to leave, but he waits for his uncle to decide their next action.

[mgbevan]

"If you're after a plan not to anger the cult, then would trying to intercept her once she has been exchanged be a viable option? If there is only a small wagon for transport, and not too many guards to take her back to this elven estate, you could stage an attack on the road to retrieve her."

[HorizonsDream]

"If you two were assassins, you are pretty horrible at it," Kendra admits. They were volunteering way too much information. Honestly, she wasn't even sure how assassins were brought into the picture in the first place. "Let me straighten something out for you, I'm a Seeker guard, not a Seeker," she states. "As a...faith, it has a nasty habit of benefiting only the so called true believers," she explains. "Though, it will be impossible to get you into to see Darewind, mostly because I'm pretty sure I'm fired as I should have reported to duty hours ago," she explains.

[JadedDM]

Both Kynaston and Raetmal try their best to follow the conversation between everyone.

"To put it shortly, she has a claim over a heritage and her half brother wants her dead."

"Her uncle, actually. Her father's brother," Raetmal corrects.

"Alright," says Kynaston, holding up his hands. "Our involvement with Daxia is simple. She sought a friend of ours out for help. Someone was after her; we didn't get the details. I agreed to let her use my home for a safehouse while we took care of a problem at a local mine. Obviously, her pursuers found her, broke in, and wrecked the place." He looks to the others. "I told her she'd be safe here, and I was wrong. So she's my responsibility. But if any of you want to help me rescue her, all the better. But obviously, I can't make any of you do anything you don't want to."

Kynaston then looks to Raetmal and Tulbas. "That's our side of it. Now the question is, what is yours? How do you know Daxia? How do you know who took her, and why?"

Raetmal looks to his nephew. "My nephew, Tulbas, has infiltrated the cult of the so-called 'Master.' He managed to acquire their trust by helping them to kidnap her in the first place."

"What?" Kynaston asks, moving toward Tulbas. "You helped them kidnap her?"

Raetmal holds up a hand to warn Kynaston to keep his distance. "He did not realize she was in danger at the time. He was deceived into thinking she would be returned safely to her father, not to be executed by her uncle. He is now trying to make amends for his error. I would suggest you work with him. He is an apprentice mage. And despite his youthful appearance, he is several decades older than most of you. More than that, he has the trust of the cult's second in command and has learned the identify of their so-called god."

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra let out a small huff upon learning that Tulbas was the one to kidnap Daxia in the first place. "And you were looking at me like I was the untrustworthy one," she says with a small smirk. Though she leaves it at that. "Who is the Master then?" she asked curiously.

[BishGada]

Tulbas expression becomes one of shame, "Yeah, I was involved in her kidnap. I wanted to tell you that but foreseen it would do the opposite of working together. As my uncle told you, I thought she would be safely returned to her father. I had my suspicions and hoped to get to know why she was escaping her 'father' before helping to take her, but alas, I had not the chance and made my choice. Now I feel responsible and want to save her. Not to mention that I want to understand if Darewind is deceiving his followers and if so to expose it and stop the riots going all about this subject." Tulbas looks at Kendra, "Still it doesn't change your responsibility in causing the riots and helping the Seekers, but from the way you speak I understand you don't feel too commited to the Seekers and so you could amend your deeds too by helping finding the truth about Darewind and finding a way to stop the riots and the killing of innocent people."
Turning to Kynaston, Tulbas says, "I'll help you rescue Daxia in any way I can." Then to everyone else he says, "The cult let the real name of 'The Master' be known only to cult members, I'm not sure if the name will mean anything to you but it is 'Fistandantilus'. My uncle can tell you plenty about him, but in general he was a very powerful evil mage in the city of Istar before he Cataclism, that seeked immortality and becoming a god. He supposedly found a way to extend his life span, but no one knows what become of him after the fall of Istar or some war several decades later. If I recall correctly it is believed he died when he tried to become a god. I think it had to do with time travel error... right?" and he looks at Raetmal for confirmation.

[mgbevan]

"Oh this is getting rich" Gregeddin sighs, his head resting in his hands.

After listening to the others Gregeddin contributes, "You are right, Fistandantilus I have not heard before. Trench, Raetmal, I'd help if I thought it was possible, for the sake of the riots, but getting sucked into a cult with no escape is not something I'm prepared to do. The brainwashing might take effect and all..." Gregeddin finishes suspiciously and sinks back into thought.

[JadedDM]

"I'll help you rescue Daxia in any way I can."

"Good," Kynaston says. "And what about the rest of you? Are you in or out?"

He adds, "Once we know that, we can start work on a plan."

If I recall correctly it is believed he died when he tried to become a god. I think it had to do with time travel error... right?"

Raetmal blinks at Tulbas. "Records show he died in an explosion at what is now Skullcap."

==========

(OOC: A reminder, but as this is a sandbox game, don't feel you have to do anything. If you'd rather not do the Daxia quest, or feel your character wouldn't be interested, there's plenty of other quests in the city.

And yeah, while those of us who have read the books would know that the explosion that 'killed' Fistandantilus was from a malfunctioning time travel device, there's no possible way Tulbas or anyone else in this time period could have even heard about that.

Speaking of old Fistandantilus, the odds that any of your characters have even heard of him are pretty low, unless you are a student of history or magic or both. Haahqae may have heard the name and knows it belonged to a powerful Black Robe in the past, at best. Gregeddin might know something if he can pass a legend lore check.)

[Haahque]

It's hard to explain why Haahqae hasn't been more active in the conversation or why he's got such a large, silly grin on his face, but as it is, all he says is "Oh please do go on. We should know more about this Fistandantilus character if we plan to stop his cult. Perhaps he didn't die."

[mgbevan]

Gregeddin clarifies for Trench "I will not be setting foot into the cult blindly. If there is a plan or clear set of information then I will reconsider, but now I feel the risk is too great. I am willing to help in general however, if you want me to find out more about this Fistandantilus person, or keep a lookout for assassins, or anything that doesn't involve becoming an undercover cultist for that matter, my ears are open."

[HorizonsDream]

"Riots were bound to happen at any moment in this city considering how packed and how poorly everyone has been treated with Haven recently," Kendra explains. "Arresting Darewind just happened to be the right catalyst," she admits with a sigh. She didn't like the idea that she had started a riot, but there was nothing she could do about it. "Though, I'll help, if only to prove that Darewind is a fraud."

[BishGada]

Tulbas looks at his uncle thoughtfully. "I must have read a speculation about the real events." To his estonishment he sees that Raetmals trust those people, but strangely it makes him feel relief. One less problem to solve.

To Kendra he says, "Unfortunately you are right. Riots are bound to happen in the current situation, and the Seekers has a lot to do with it, but if we can deal with at least one of the major sources of the tension it would reduce the suffering at least for a short while."
Tulbas looks at the gnome curiously, "Learning about Fistandantilus is important if we want to understand whether Darewind is for real or a fraud. So it seems you are all in, and if we had a solid plan even Gregeddin would consider joining the cult for a short time. Am I right?" Tulbas asks with a little smile as he looks at Gregeddin.

"So I can suggest a portion of a plan, which with your help we can revise it until it pleases all of us.
The cult wants it's new initiatives to bring more newcomers with potential of accepting the new god. I could bring at least some of you in with that cover story. I can also ask to meet Daxia as I promised to bring her back her belongings.
This would be our chance to save her, though I'm not completely sure how we manage it."

[mgbevan]

"Indeed I would" he replies to Tulbas, "Got to make use of these swords after all."

Gregeddin continues to ask aloud, "Now my religious history isn't very good, but would the High Seekers know anything about Fistandantilus? Or have any interest in his removal? If we need to expose Darewind as a fraud might they be able to help on that front?"

[JadedDM]

Kynaston finally puts his axe away. He sets the chest down by the bed and sits down on it. "Let's try and focus here," he says. "Rescuing Daxia and exposing this cult are two separate goals. For the moment, I'm only interested in the first one. We can talk about bringing down the cult once she is safe."

He ponders the situation for a few moments. "My experience has shown me that there are always three ways to deal with any problem." He holds up his a finger for each one, "Force, diplomacy and intrigue. So that means, we can either try and fight our way in and rescue her, we can try and talk them into handing her over, or we can sneak in and steal her away. To do any of those things, we need a full tactical analysis of the cult." He looks to Tulbas. "I assume you can provide that, or at least obtain it. We need to know how many they are, what their defenses are, how strong they are, and anything at all you can tell us about their current leader."