Return of the Sorcerer:

Previous thread:

>>>1673533

>>1684041
>>Head to the Watch-house and report your fight with the thugs

>>1684041
>Return to the palace and make preparations

>>1684041
>>Head to the Watch-house and report your fight with the thugs

Perhaps we can inquire about finding some bodyguards or hired swords of our own. I'm sure theres plenty of mercs, legionary veterans, cutthroats, and hedge knights around.

>>1684087
>>1684137

>Information that should have been in the OP:

>You are a Knight, a Scholar, and a Sorcerer
>As a Knight you are skilled in mounted combat, and decent on foot, with a certain amount of prestige associated with your rank and access to an exclusive, secure courier network
>As a Scholar, you are respected in more academic circles and more likely to be welcomed among those who value the mind over strength of arms. You are learned in engineering and fortress design, as well as history and tales of magic and monsters
>As a Sorcerer, you have the capability to cast magic spells, a rare and illegal talent and your family legacy. Much of your families power was squandered on magical super-weapons and rings of power, and your libraries burned by the empire, leaving you little stronger than any other dark practitioner.
>Fate points: One
>Wealth: Wealthy Citizen, or enough to buy a single trading Galley
>Income: Small Palace living stipend
>Position at Court: Unsure
>Reputation: Learned knight, cunning warrior. Whispers of forbidden power

There are Watch-Houses in nearly every district of the city, many built outward in comfort and style from the fort-like primary building while others in riot-prone areas, like this one, were only strengthened with time. The walls show evidence of recent work, first-floor windows on newer outbuildings sealed up and a new, strong timber gate: it seems the watch can sense uncertain times coming for the Capital as well as the far frontier.

The sentry at the gate sends for a Watch-Sargent, who quickly comes puffing out of the nearest barracks with several of his fellows. A short, wide, bull-necked block of a man who looks like he could plow into a castle and leave a perfect Sargent-shaped breach straight through without breaking stride. He's holding the note you left with the thugs corpses in one fist, looking decidedly displeased. Perhaps he didn't like your handwriting?

"So, is the law too inconvenient for you? Are the Watches guard-houses too widely scattered for your busy schedule? Give here your excuse, oh great Sir, and if it really is 'palace business' I'll owe Sargent Gren here a silver trader.

>Knights don't run to the watch by habit
>Palace Business
>None of your concern (namedrop Emperor)
>Custom

>>1684259
>>Palace Business

>>1684259
>Palace Business

>>1684288
>>1684300

"Palace Business." You wink at the man the short Sargent gestured at, presumably Gren. You get a few smiles, but it seems that your wit is somewhat less amusing to the incensed Sargent.

"Is that so? Well, I'll just need to see some sort of proof. A word to the palace will of course result in confirmation of you going out on legitimate business, am I correct? Of course, if you were not out on legitimate business you're not exactly flush with excuses for your whereabouts. Just because there are more fools in the palace than usual does not mean that the crest you wear has become a cover for law-breaking in plain view!"

It appears you might be in danger of being Made An Example Of. This could go badly.

>Offer to pay a "fine"
>Claim it was related to your upcoming mission in the Eastern Baronies
>Ask him to confirm with the Legion docks
>Custom

>>1684436
>>Claim it was related to your upcoming mission in the Eastern Baronies

>>1684436
>Claim it was related to your upcoming mission in the Eastern Baronies
On a somewhat unrelated note, are we at all able to increase our magical power/restoring the magic in our bloodline? As well, are all of these magical weapons and rings of power destroyed, or are we able to dig some up and use it to our benefit?

>>1684436
>>Claim it was related to your upcoming mission in the Eastern Baronies

>>1684436
>Claim it was related to your upcoming mission in the Eastern Baronies

>>1684466
>>1684489

Yes, and that will be a large focus of the later game. You will be able to reclaim your rightful magic by finding the cairns of your family from other, stronger branches of the Grimuald dynasty and engaging in battles of will, wit, and might to prove your worth to their shades. Many are destroyed, though some are lost or hidden, and another route to reclaimed glory will be uncovering your families lost magical arsenal and either re-absorbing their power or restoring them for your own use. Considering your families history, your level of restored Power, spells, and magical items will be strongly linked to your legitimacy among surviving loyalists.
>Will start a Lore Pastebin soon, since I keep typing blocks of unnecessary background info and then removing it.
------------------------------------------------------------------
>>1684496
>>1684519

"I wasn't on a direct missive from the palace per se, but my business was important to an upcoming mission into the Eastern Baronies on the Emperors behalf. I trust the palace will be able to confirm the order shortly. will that rove satisfactory, Sargent?"

The Sargent raises an eyebrow, highlighting an ugly scar that looks like it came from the jagged handle of a tankard being dragged across an already less than beautific face, "I'm almost beginning to believe you, Sir. Either you're telling the truth or you're playing for time, and for your sake I hope it's not the latter. Come inside and sit while we wait for the messengers to run themselves ragged."

You follow him, having little choice if you want to keep things civil, and have a seat in the roughly furnished main room of the guardhouse. It's a suitably dark and smoky room, the identical sibling of guard-houses the world over, or at least the Empire over. Off-duty watchmen in light padded coats trading stories over watered-down ale and dice games, some glancing curiously at you while others eye the Palace emblem with obvious disdain.

>Sit still and wait
>Ask the Sargent about the glares
>Go join a dice game
>Custom

>>1684625
>surviving loyalists.

Don't suppose we have any leads on that other than that bit about some of the tribes do we?

Setting up a client state for the empire that actually worships us, sounds rather fun.

>>Ask the Sargent about the glares

>>1684680
Supporting this.

>>1684625
>>Go join a dice game

>>1684680
>>1684760

You turn to the patient Sargent, "I notice a lot of these Watchmen don't seem very fond of the Palace crest on my arming coat. I'm surprised by that, usually it's the Free Rider patch instead."

The Sargent turns to you, rolling a wide silver coin printed with a trading galley on the reverse of the Emperors face, sans several chins, "It's been a problem the last few years, fools and thieves using the Palace crest as cover. Fortunately there wasn't much of a response when we stopped treating that symbol as if it made the wearer untouchable." He smiles, "the Watch Captain thought it would be his position for sure, if not his head, but we've heard nary a word since we started busting heads equally among all of our fine classes of scum. Of course, some aren't so easily dealt with considering the company they bring with them on their illicit outings. That Free Rider patch may be getting you more a share of those ugly looks than you think."

>Thank him for the explanation and wait
>Go join a dice game
>Offer to help with any problems
>Custom

>>1684841
>Thank him for the explanation and wait

>>1684841
>>Go join a dice game

>>1684841
>Go join a dice game
>Offer to help with any problems

>>1684841
>Go join a dice game

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>1685019

>>1684939
>>1684950
>>1684989

"Thank you Sargent, now if you don't mind waiting alone, I'll go see if I can lose enough money to take the sting out of parting with that silver."

You get up, ignoring the Sargent's questioning look, and hear him mutter something about your funeral as you walk up to the busiest and most open table.

You drop a silver tile studded with a single ruby, an odd bit of currency you took off a dead foreign gladiator, and hold your hand out for a die. The men at the table stare at you in mixed anger and shock, and all is silent for a moment as you wait with palm outstretched.

Finally, one man with a dark mustache shrugs and hands you a wooden die. You feel its weight, noticing a bit of heaviness to the 'ones' side.

>Roll anyway (1d6, first roll)
>Comment on its odd weight and roll all the same (1d6)
>Call the weight out (1d20, best of first three, target 15)
>Custom

>>1685077

Ninja-deleted, my apologies. Post was rushed and didn't meet my minimal standards.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>1685094
>Comment on its odd weight and roll all the same (1d6)

>>1685094
>>Comment on its odd weight and roll all the same (1d6)

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>1685179

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>1685094
>Comment on its odd weight and roll all the same (1d6)

>>1685184
>>1685161
>>1685179

>should be weighted against the One side

"Odd, this die feels a bit unevenly weighted. But then, I suppose you wouldn't be able to afford quality make here."

You cast the die, adding just a bit of Power to cancel the lead weights hidden under the six dots of paint. The die comes up against the weight, resulting in a lot of odd looks, but the man with the mustache only laughs and pushes his fat silver coin, a relic of a dynastic civil war and technically illegal, towards your piece.

One by one the other Watchmen follow suit, bits of silver and small stacks of bronze. Quite a bit of money elsewhere in the Empire, where barter stayed on strong alongside coin, but here at the trading heart of the Dragon Empire precious metals flowed quite a bit faster.

An older, gray-haired man at the end of the table leans forward, "So stranger, aside from risking being cheated at dice, what brings you to our little table? Are you so bored with ordinary theft back at the palace that you felt like trying the Watch itself?"

>Just here for a friendly game while I wait
>I've heard you've had some problems with other Palace men
>I'm here to see what I can do to help you with the other thieves, actually
>Custom

>>1685244
>>I've heard you've had some problems with other Palace men

>>1685244
>I've heard you've had some problems with other Palace men

>>1685250
>>1685259

"I've heard you've had some trouble with other Palace men, I'd like to know more about that. Straight from the source, as it were."

"You must be new," the Mustachioed man says, combing errant dark hairs into place, "the fights at the docks, ale riots, killers stalking the brothel-alleys, the worst of all our problems are the gods-damned Throne Parade."

Nods all around the table, a big tattooed man breaks in, "Time was, the Emperors favorites were untouchable, they got into the habit of tearing through the town like soldiers in a sack night after night, we started getting vigilante gangs having at them with clubs and daggers, so the Captain finally stepped up and told us to start bashing faces. It worked, for a while, but then the worst and the most throne-blessed of the lot, usually the same thing, started mobbing up for their own well being. Hired some knights," he points at the wing-and-sword on your coat, "and cut-throats to carry the worst of the fighting. Now the Palace stays out of it, 'Watch Business' they say, but that also means they stay out of it. Every time they get up to nastiness like starting fires or looting shops, we turn them back and it's damn near a battle, though every night there's some sort of fight between us and them. Our numbers swing up and down like crazy, men leaving when too many in Watch-caps end up dead, the strong lads who back us up with clubs and rocks at the worst brawls turning up to take up their spears. This watch-house is one of the only left in the city that's mostly old hands, the rest are damn near frontier militia and prone to... Unkind words about certain rarefied persons."

You lean back and think as an argument breaks out about a recent scuffle down in the Market district. So, it seems the Emperors other favorites are in a gang. Interesting: it could present a problem, seeing that they're working together and seem relatively unafraid of an honest fight, but it could also present a chance to catch the bulk of your competition outside the palace in something resembling a legitimate altercation.

>Offer your sympathies
>Offer to help
>Ask what they think of the 'root of the problem'
>Custom

>>1685350
>Ask what they think of the 'root of the problem'
We should commit ourselves publically to anything - but that doesn't mean we can't act in the shadows.

On a side note, we desperately need allies in the capital

>>1685373
*shouldn't

>>1685373
Supporting

>>1685373
>>1685404

"So, this wasn't always a problem. Tell me straight up, what's the Watchmans view of what's going on at the Palace?"

Silence at the table, before the older man speaks up again, "The Palace has had weak men in it before, and the Empire has pulled through, but never so many and never each one worse than the last. We've lost too many wars, too many Legions are scattered around the world trying to restore foreign kings to foreign thrones, and more all the time. A quarter of the Navy sailed off to parts unknown on expedition after expedition, only a handful coming back. For what? Knowing that there are islands where men file their teeth to points and empty lands with mountains carved into faces? The Empire is falling apart, and we're likely to get the worst of it.

Another man breaks in. "You're talking like all is lost already, you gloomy old timer! The Prince-"

"The Prince is in exile! If his ship returns it's to be set afire by the Legion-men at the docks!" "As if that order will be obeyed when the fat Emperor dies on his throne! Who else will they back?" "There have been mistresses..."

The table devolves into a towering argument, half making the case for the return of the Disfavored Prince, the only son of the Empress and sole legitimate heir, and half all but counting the days until foreign armies sack the city. Not for the first time...

A messenger enters and speaks to the dour Sargent, and you collect your winnings as the Sargent laughingly hands over a silver coin.

>Say goodbye to the Sargent and leave
>Ask the Sargent about his view of the Prince
>Make a final statement at the table for or against the return of the Prince
>Custom

>>1685556
>Ask the Sargent about his view of the Prince and then bid him goodbye

Time to investigate our suspicious moneylender

>>1685556
>>Ask the Sargent about his view of the Prince

>>1685556
>Ask the Sargent about his view of the Prince

>>1685574
>>1685581
>>1685600

You turn to leave, the argument behind them growing as other tables are drawn in. You meet the Sargent at the door, and you can see his regret at having to let go of a handy example in his eyes.

"I suppose you're free to go; I have yet to see proof that you were out on official business, but not even the Captain will try to nail an Agent of the Emperor to the wall. I ought to arrest you on rounds of creating discord and disunity in the Watch for starting that argument again, but today you get to see my merciful side."

"Glad to hear it," you say with a smile as several men start acing around the table yelling about various bastards, "though I wonder what wiser and cooler heads think about this Prince I've heard so much about. I've heard rumors in my travels, that he's dead, going to return and save us all, abandoned the Empire for a foreign queen and luxury, where do you stand?"

He glowers,"I stand in the present where I belong, cracking heads with my mace and finding time between fights in what used to be curfew hours to try and stem the tide of real crime. But if you have to know," he lowers his voice, leaning close, "I'd say it's a toss-up. Princes never get much exposure for their own safety, especially an only heir, but everyone says he takes more after his mother than his father, and we all know what that means if it's true. Maybe some bastard or favorite will win the throne for a time, but no one of them has the support to stay in it, so it's either the Prince or Chaos, perhaps both. Either way, if I were you I'd pick sides carefully when the Heavensent starts making to return to the Hall of the Gods, if you last that long. Advisors never seem to last long when the Crown changes hands."

You leave the watch-house, the night half over. Even the most braying revelers are stumbling home, and you feel the weight of the day on you. Time to head back, though the empty streets make you paranoid with your hours-old brush with assassination.

>Go straight to the Palace
>Take a detour through a busier district
>Find a crowd of late revelers and join their ambling toward the middle-city
>Custom

>>1685666
>>Go straight to the Palace

>>1685666
>Go straight to the Palace
Nice trips

>>1685666
>Go straight to the Palace
Try to stick to crowds and main roads, less chance of being corned again.

File: rockband666.jpg (17KB, 490x200px) Image search: [Google]

17KB, 490x200px

>>1685684
>>1685685

You walk down the lonely road to the Palace, passing suspicious Watchmen on your way. You stop only once, at a somewhat irregular crossroads where the streets don't quite meet at the same precisely engineered angles the others do. The intersection feels... Old, as if this place was a meeting of two roads long before the Capital. A soft flutter of wings calls your attention upwards, and you see a great black Owl perched on a lightless lamp-post. You're only beginning to try and remember its species before it turns to you, and the pale, almost expressionless human face looks down at you.

It's gone before you can quite realize what it was you saw, vanished in the space between one heartbeat and the next, but you hurry away all the same. You know the meaning of crossroads watched by beasts with the eyes, hands, tongues of men. That place has Power, Power that you can tap into if you dare face its guardian again.

You reach the Palace dead on your feet, having walked more in the last day than in weeks of traveling on horseback. You're not tired enough to fail to be almost awed by the opulence of your chambers, you knew the Emperors favorites lived well, but not this well! Fine silks and velvet, the best feather down, a padded privy seat and a bath-tub over a charcoal bed with a fountain next to it, a tray of sweet rolls and a jug of a strange frothy sugary drink that tickles your tongue and makes you thirstier for more as you drink, along with cool water and strong wine. You may have to face up to living in much poorer quarters in exchange for your crown, for many kings live in less comfort. Of course, an hour into trying to sleep on the cloud-like bed you give in to the old campaigners cliche and sleep wrapped in blankets on the marble floor.

You awaken before the dawn, not yet drifting off the road-cycle and into the late night musings of a scholar as you do when you're stationary for too long. You're up and dressed with the luxury of a hot bath in no time, although you do stop to marvel at the stonework and ingenuity of the living chambers, and ponder how it could be improved... Perhaps with access to a hot springs?

Still, you have work to do. You'll have to keep your mind off the engineering genius that went into the city with the same determination you've shown thus far: You're here for power, the means to one kind the means to another.

The staffer from before, an odd man named Yaruk, informs you that the Moneylender investigation has some results and the Master of Expeditions is 'craving your presence', as well as a whisper that the Emperor is greatly upset about the mine being a fraud and is being comforted by a favorite, one Jon Bartet, who you are warned is a vicious and dangerous man.

>Look into the investigation of the moneylender
>See the Master of Expeditions
>Go help console the Emperor, and meet the competition
>Custom

>>1685834
>>See the Master of Expeditions
We can look into the moneylender once we get the gears rolling with the master of expeditions.

>>1685862
Supporting

>>1685862
>>1685974

Confirmed, have to drop off for tonight but will resume when I wake up.

>>1686017
No worries, thanks OP.

>>1686017
Op sleeps for a long ass time.

>>1687356
Diarca syndrome, get checked!

>tfw Prosper went into hibernation

>>1685834
>See the Master of Expeditions
Less crowded storytelling than your last venture, if I recall that correctly. Well done on that, it promises better long-term viability.

>>1693165

>Thanks, I like to hope that my writing, plotting, and general quest-running has gotten better as time goes on.

>My internet has been intermittent all day, even more so than usual for the shitty rural monopoly, so bear with me

>>1685862
>>1685974
>>1693165

You head down a long, marbled hallway, the intricate tapestries of the walls woven with precious and semi-precious stones. Part of you, the mercenary, wonders how fierce the Palace guard must be to keep the gems from being stolen, or if they are just frequently replaced, while the buried Grimuald half cackles at how rich and fat the Capital has grown since the days when the Horned King and his heirs plundered and razed it.

The Master of Expeditions is housed in a wing of the palace flung between the Library Hall and the Stables, a position chosen half for practicality and half for symbolism. Many times fleets and armies sent to far-flung lands have returned with rich prizes, exotic captives for harems and arenas, even with foreign mercenary armies in times of upheaval, although usually planned with more care and eye for expense and timing than the current Reign.

Expeditions within the Empire, however, are far more common, for matters as routine as pressuring provincial governors and vassal princes for late tribute and Imperial visits to faithful friends. Therefore, it's a surprise to find the office nearly empty and a servant of the Expeditions Master asleep in a corner. Worse, when you rouse him with a nudge of your boot it takes nearly three quarters of an hour before the staff begin to trickle in. Has the Imperial House been so neglecting its duties that this office would have gone to dust save for grand fleets of conquest loosed across the oceans like a messengers arrow?

You can see the puffy, bloated Master of Expeditions all but trying to hide inside his own uniform: a feat indeed considering how he risks bulging out of it.

>Inform him of your mission
>Remind him of his duties
>Ask why the Office was nearly unstaffed
>Custom

>>1694143
>shitty rural monopoly
I know your pain. Pretty sure this is the first time I've followed a quest of yours, I'd say that so far your writing is pretty good quality, story and setting is pretty top notch too.

>>Inform him of your mission

https://twitter.com/MarcLeconite

Twitter is here, I'll keep running in this thread until replies stop coming in so as to avoid clogging the catalog and having to search high and low for good OP images.

>>1694183

>Basically idea overcrowding without follow-through, lack of planning, and political preachiness that leaked through my writing. Will proceed with one vote until others join.

"Hello, I've been tasked by the Emperor to lead an expedition to the Eastern Baronies to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by a powerful Baron brought before the Marble Throne, on the Emperors behalf as an Agent of the Imperial House. How soon can my escort be made ready?"

"Well, that depends," the man says thickly, speaking cautiously and slowly, "on how soon your escort is ready, and we'll see what we can do to provide food, spending coin, spare horses and the like."

You stare blankly at the suddenly nervous man, is he really trying to skip out of doing his job entirely?

>Act as though he misunderstood, and speak plainly to give him a chance to save face
>Take him to task for laziness
>Ask him if he's short on resources
>Custom

>>1694263
>>Custom

Honestly I'd rather be traveling with men who answer to us, not men who have been provided. No telling if any of them answer to others, no telling if they're there to watch us rather than guard us.

Inquire as to the best spots for picking up some men, and not the upstanding kind, and perhaps see about getting partially reimbursed for our troubles.

Also, just fine with waiting for more anons to show up

>>1694263
>Ask him if he's short on resources
>Take him to task for laziness
He's the Master of Expeditions, what is doing with his time? Clearly not supplying the general nor that foreign prince with their campaigns.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>1694308
>>1694347

In lieu of another vote, tiebreaker roll. 1 is dx0, 2 is nmz

>>1694347
Supporting this.

>>1694435
>>1694308
>>1694427

>Integrating some of >>1694347


"Well, I'm lucky that I prefer to travel with my own men, since you appear to be somewhat short on the manpower that a Master of Expeditions is supposed to have on-hand. Or perhaps this would simply be too much effort for you, the execution of your duties a bit beyond your current ambition?"

He's enraged by this, "As if I have anything to supply with! This last little war nearly emptied my storehouses, much less the pool of mercenary units on roster for frontier work! Do you know how long it takes for the permissions to resupply to be signed with no Treasurer and the interim Administrators coming and going like the cat-merchants?"

You think you sense a bit of denial and guilt fanning the flames of his anger, albeit mixed with a fair number of truths, but you hold up your hand for silence, even this blusterer knowing better than to talk over an Imperial Agent: "I have no interest in excuses, Master of Expeditions. As it stands I have need of some of those mercenaries you mentioned, what do you have on hand? From there we'll discuss what you can do for me in the way of supplies and coin."

He blusters a bit, obviously embarrassed at how unprepared his office is, and before too long returns a short list:

>A small band of elite bodyguards from the >Capital itself, numbering 10
>A minor band of Knights, blooded but short on cash, numbering 30
>A warband of former Royal Guard from the far South, numbering 100 seasoned soldiers on foot
>Custom

>Foot soldiers can still ride if you get the horses, but will have to dismount to fight, bodyguards will be better at fending off assassins than guarding your back in a pitched battle.

>>1694509
>A small band of elite bodyguards from the >Capital itself, numbering 10

Quality and flexibility, we shouldn't really be getting into pitched battles anyways and if pressed should probably retreat

>>1694509
>>A minor band of Knights, blooded but short on cash, numbering 30

What do they cost though?

>>1694566

Dependig on how you wrangle the EM, either nothing or an amount you'll have to negotiate with them. The standard price is within your means, though it will take a decent chunk out of your wealth.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>1694536
>>1694566

Tiebreaker roll, from here on out 1 will be the first post and 2 will be the second.

>>1694509
>>A minor band of Knights, blooded but short on cash, numbering 30

Lets go with the knights we might need a few more men than the 10.

>>1694925
>>1694839
>>1694566

"I'll stick with my fellows," you respond, and the man nods having obviously expected your answer, "So few? I'd thought that the Prince was supplementing the Legion with his own forces?"

The Master laughs, relieved at the change in subject from his dereliction of duty, "Hard to supplement a Legion with a dozen men! The soldiers you saw marching were the result of draining my pool of mercenaries and dressing them in Castelar livery, I doubt he could get a hundred swords from his homeland to fight for his crown."

That's certainly troubling, it seems that the departed Legion is in for perhaps one of the most useless wars yet. This could be interesting, especially if the Expeditions Master continues his poor work ethic.

"So, what of supplies? I don't suppose I'll be asked to pay for these men myself?"

The Master grows a bit grim, and leans in close to you as he speaks, servants busying themselves so as not to eavesdrop openly, "I find myself in a bit of a bind there. I have been... Less of a Master than I perhaps should have been, but the massive expeditions, Legion-scale! at such short notice, and the utter lack of interest in the vassals and provinces within our borders... I've fallen behind on certain important paperwork and filings, that sort of thing. I suppose there is no better time to remedy the situation than now, so here is what I propose: Get the Emperor to sign off on the backlog without demanding my head, and I'll get you everything you need and a little... Extra, for the inconvenience."

>Demand the supplies and funding anyway, ignore his offer
>Find a way to finance the expedition yourself without draining your coffers
>Agree, face the Emperor and try to get him to do a quarter-hours work for your own sake and the expeditionary Legions
>Custom

>>1695014
>Agree, face the Emperor and try to get him to do a quarter-hours work for your own sake and the expeditionary Legions

But he is to also supply the General with some additional funds.

We can just slip this into a pile of papers for the Emperor to sign right after his latest feast.

>>1695014
>>Agree, face the Emperor and try to get him to do a quarter-hours work for your own sake and the expeditionary Legions

After all, we've done the work for him, making sure that everything is proper and in order.

>>1695014
>Agree, face the Emperor and try to get him to do a quarter-hours work for your own sake and the expeditionary Legions

>>1695014

>Agree

>>1695118
>>1695132
>>1695236

"Agreed," the expression of relief is nearly rapturous, "but you are to help supply general Desmond at the Salt Port post whenever you can, and keep abreast from this point. I may need your services again, and I don't want to be kept waiting when I do."

"Fine, fine. Here," another purse, this one significantly lighter than the one thrown to you by the Alchemists, but that is to be expected. "I look forward to an extensive and mutually beneficial relationship, Sir Agent."

You shake hands, his still clammy with fear-sweat, and depart. It's funny, people who come to the Capital seem to fixate on the Emperor as their ticket to power, but it seems there's a web of political intrigue just waiting to be exploited behind the throne almost entirely untapped.

Of course, this begs the question: should you go to the Emperor now, and see if you can get the papers signed quickly while he's mourning his lost money and the treachery of his subjects, or see if you can bring him either good news or more evidence to rely on you regarding the Moneylender?

>Go back to your rooms (research the spell on the donated books or the symbol of the Brotherhood)
>Investigate the moneylender and his coin
>Go to the Emperor
>Custom

>>1695412
>Investigate the moneylender and his coin

>>1695412
>>Investigate the moneylender and his coin

>>1695452
>>1695456

You decide to go see if you can bring the Emperor some good news, and attend to the Moneylender issue. You go off again through the vast halls of the Palace and silently wish for the day when you become prominent enough to just call people to your office. Or prominent enough to have an office.

The Treasury is one of the few areas of the Palace that extends truly below ground, the Dragon Emperors mainly considering the subterranean world a place for crypts and cave-dwelling monsters: not that your family entirely disagreed, mainly finding a difference in the use of those locales.

You meet the interim Administrator, a nervous-looking eunuch obviously fearful of the man who sent the last to the infamous torture tower of the Eye. Evidently someone assumed that a eunuch, for their traditional use of guards, would be somehow as lacking taste for wealth as for women. A strange custom anyway: you want loyal men to raise loyal sons, you guard your prize-brides with the bones of their male relatives and husbands.

You are led almost immediately into the vaults, expecting but still shocked by the sheer emptiness of them. After the reforms of previous Reigns, the Imperial Houses lands and wealth are separate from the funding of the Legions and the public works, a concept you may borrow later, but the room should still be decently peopled with precious round citizens. Instead, you walk through room after room of nothing. There are sealed rooms, of course, the trophy-treasures taken from conquered rulers. One, you know with the hidden rage that lives always in your heart, is stuffed with the riches of your own families hoard. You wonder if they started walling the treasures off because of the curse on the family vaults, or just to keep the mementos out of the hands of greedy descendants.

At last you reach the end of the vaults, passing an anomalous bag of coins against one wall three rooms down, a small collection of chests, several from the few tribute-paying foreign lands that the Emperor has not yet lost to rebellion, the last of which is the chest of donated gold the Moneylender brought before the Throne.

The placement of every item at the very end of the vaults is odd, and nags at your mind, but you shoulder it aside when you open the chest and take out a single oddly light coin over humming almost-protests from the administrator.

>Ask the administrator who has access
>Test the coin
>Send for the Imperial Alchemists right off
>Custom

>>1695661
>Ask the administrator who has access
>>Test the coin

>>1695738
Support

>>1695661
>>Ask the administrator who has access

>>1695738
Supporting

>>1695738
>>1695780
>>1695781
>>1695840

>Connectivity issues

"Who has access to these vaults?" you roll the coin between your thumb and forefinger, eying it suspiciously. "Only my trusted subordinates, with myself in their presence, no one else. I make sure of that, I sleep in the office next to the Vault door!" He sounds nearly panicked, and you expect that he's already letting the Emperors gold stick to his fingers. Fortunately for him you think you have an intuition as to how else this might have happened.

The Administrator of Coin, so much easier to replace on a whim than a sworn Treasurer, was thoughtful enough to bring the scales with him, as part of an early campaign to prove himself both diligent and innocent. His horror at the scales showing a counterfeit coin is almost comical, and he is struck speechless.

>Blame him, investigate alone
>Keep checking coins
>Call for the Alchemist
>Custom

>>1695956
>>Keep checking coins

>>1695956
>>Keep checking coins

>>1695978
>>1696021

The Administrator finds his voice at last: "I don't understand, I checked them all when they came in! I know the kind of scum that have been making their way in court lately-

Like you, no doubt. You keep testing the weight of the coins: counterfeit, counterfeit, genuine?

"I-I couldn't have been the one who stole them, where would I even, I mean I brought you the scales! Yes, I brought you the scales, so why would I do that if I had replaced them with counterfeit coins?"

You check and re-check the scales, roughly every fifth coin is showing as genuine when they seem to be from the same mint. Genuine coin and masterful fake intermixed seemingly at random? But why?

"Of course, if I tried to avoid bringing out the scales then it would look extremely suspicious, and maybe I'm not just living on my salary, but no one here does! This is the Capital!"

You keep checking, noticing that the counterfeit coins seem to be... Almost stuck to each other in the chest, past the first layer, and the fakes seem to adhere surprisingly strongly to the real ones. You know precious metals don't react to other metals the way some iron does, very odd.

"So, in light of the fact that my innocence is plausible, I believe I should simply be stripped of my rank and sent packing. Or exiled, or beheaded. Look, I can get you quite a bit of money if you agree to put in a good word for me to be executed in any way except being put out on a honey boat. We have a deal, Sir? I've been told that you're a reasonable man..."

"Shut up." You hold up an oddly weighted coin, half too light and half just right, an almost counterfeit. What the Hell? Well, you're at least fairly certain it isn't the Administrator now, and you're not quite sure if you're the kind of man to sentence a greedy fool to likely Scaphism to cover your interests...

>You are, blame him and investigate yourself
>Call for the court Alchemists
>Keep it quite, enlist the Administrators help in getting a sample for your own investigation
>Custom

>>1696099
>>Call for the court Alchemists

>>1696099
>>Call for the court Alchemists

>>1696099
>Call for the court Alchemists

>>1696099
His ass is ours now, we don't even have to pin the fake gold on him to hold leverage anymore
>Call for the court Alchemists

>>1696099
>Find some other precious and non-precious metals, do the fake coins react to touching them as well?

>>1696149
>>1696179
>>1696248
>>1696257

"Administrator, would you kindly get the court Alchemists? I trust you not to attempt to escape the Palace in the mean time."

He looks at you questioningly, before stopping and hurrying off with an expression of mixed relief and confusion.

The arrive quickly enough, the Guild being as desperate to regain royal favor as you thought, bustling in with pouches full of purest chalk, oils, incenses, reagents and salts. they are at first dismissive of the coins, mockingly informing you of the impossibility of counterfeiting the Emperors coins with Alchemy even if their control lapsed enough for it to be possible, obviously not in the loop on your involvement with the Masters, but soon enough they pipe down, growing fearful and confused.

You think you know why.

>Leave it in their capable hands, wait for wheels to turn
>Inform them of your involvement with the Guild Investigation
>"So, someone's trying to cook their own Philosophers Stone eh?"
>Custom

>>1696391
>>Inform them of your involvement with the Guild Investigation

>>1696391
>Custom
>Ask what they think is happening.

I don't want to tip them off as to how much we know, best to keep our hand close to our chest.

>>1696391
>>Leave it in their capable hands, wait for wheels to turn

We can always swing by the alchemists guild and see what came of it, wouldn't hurt to be quiet about our involvement considering the court alchemists haven't been informed of our cooperation.

Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>1696405
>>1696409
>>1696428

Tiebreaker time. In order of posting.

>>1696428

This post wins the tiebreaker, calling it a night and will continue tomorrow. Scheduled game time will be evenings Saturday and a large part of the day Sunday barring unforseen delays. Thanks for coming and goodnight.

>>1696391
>Leave it in their capable hands, wait for wheels to turn
Order the moneylender detained, we can grill both fraudsters later. Hopefully the Master Smith will be able to tell us where the ore originated.

>>1696409
this

>>1696589
It's been Sunday for a long time.

>>1698755
yep

>>1697536
>>1697901
>>1698755
>>1698790

>Detained by family

"Gentlemen, I'll leave this in your capable hands." You palm a coin on your way out, leaving the terrified Administrator and the dark mutterings of Alchemists. To be honest, you're getting sick of them, everywhere you go in the Capital like drowned rats in the gutters after a storm, but you'll have to deal with many more before you're through.

The situation in the Capital is worse than you thought, there's a web of corruption at work here with every strand linked to rogue Alchemy, even sorcery, and sorcerers surviving the attentions of the Eye in the civilized lands of the Empire is rare enough in itself: few of your kind of the subtly your branch of the family did, or its dedication to survival. The question now, is do you attempt to sunder this network of deception to further yourself in the Capital, turn it to your advantage to benefit your once and future dark kingdom, or some combination thereof? You wish future-telling had been one of your branches gifts, but then prophecy is so often a cruel and sarcastic trap...

>Go to your chambers and research (books/Brotherhood symbol/other)
>Send a messenger to the Smiths Guild asking for an update
>Go see the Emperor
>Custom

>>1699601

Now actually AFK for an indeterminate amount of time. Most likely we'll just pick up next Friday, but I'll see if I can advance the plot a little.

>>1699601
>Go to your chambers and research (books/Brotherhood symbol)
>Send a messenger to the Smiths Guild asking for an update
Better to have good news before we go to the Emperor.

>>1699601
>>Go to your chambers and research (books/Brotherhood symbol/other)

also

>turn it to your advantage to benefit your once and future dark kingdom

this

>>1699858
>>1700133

You return to your still shockingly opulent chambers, rooms fit for a king in many lesser realms. The ever-helpful staffer who seems to be attempting to use you as a step-stone to prestige sends a messenger to fetch word from the Smiths. You wonder if the man would be so eager to be associated with you if he knew how precarious your lofty station was, or your true identity.

Your possessions were brought in undisturbed by porters in your employ, and none dare search the baggage of a man with this Emperors ear. Not that it would be disastrous if your bags were searched by overzealous guards, your truly illegal books and tools are secured in a cache outside the city. The tomes and items you brought with you are more... Frowned upon than outlawed, the tools of sorcery minor aids that could be confused for the imitation fakeries peddled by fortune-tellers and charlatans.

You set up at a desk, parchment and ink ready to take notes, cursing again that many of the more fascinating works in your possession are fragments or damaged. The Imperial Eye are ever industrious in destroying knowledge of powers that could threaten the Imperial House, something your own family may be to blame for. Still, in half a dozen languages and many written by madmen with too little space on each page and little eye for organization, it would take a man years to properly read each of these tomes front to back, even searching through them now is a task and a half...

>Research the Brotherhood
>Study the sorcery in the books
>Custom

>>1700338
>Study the sorcery in the books
+
>Think of a way we could expand our influence within the Eye itself.

The secret police are no threat if they are on our side after all.

>>1700338
>tudy the sorcery in the books

>>1700474
>>1700364

You sit cross-legged on the floor before the desk, the monks concentration stance you learned in childhood always seemed to help you draw on deeper awareness than other methods.

The books before you pulse in response to your minds probing, the spells within resonating on the blank pages. A simple work, almost amateurish, but very carefully crafted and with the touch of many hands upon it. Interesting. Sorcery and Alchemy are overlapping disciplines, talent in one almost always lending to a lesser degree of talent in the other, but practicing Sorcerers are understandably the rarer and in earlier times the two schools were often mutually exclusive and competitive. Such mixed techniques are.. Interesting.

>Roll 1d20, target 18
>You'll learn something no matter what, unless you roll a 1

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>1700517

File: c6fcdf6db08ec40f851da288fe8746e2.jpg (119KB, 564x825px) Image search: [Google]

119KB, 564x825px

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>1700517

File: 1478140318344.jpg (92KB, 800x999px) Image search: [Google]

92KB, 800x999px

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>1700517

>>1700545
>>1700550
>>1700552

Well, not quite. Nicely dodged on the 2 though. We'll be picking up again on Friday in the afternoon/early evening with a new thread, I'll archive the original if it seems to be in danger of falling off the board before then.

Goodnight, good week, and thanks for playing.

>>1700568
>We'll be picking up again on Friday in the afternoon/early evening