A5G

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[GM Post]

The fort was a lonesome structure on top of the hill. Its surrounding was empty and open, save for a well-populated stable off to one side. It had a number of horses in there... quite a lot of horses, in fact, one particular specimen was at least two sizes larger than the rest and built so muscularly one may suspect that it's used to a diet of meat.

The stone rampart was underpopulated, with only one sentry every twenty-something meter and they seems to be paying more attention to the bramble removal team than their surroundings. The walls itself was exactly how it looked, stone with some copper veins that diffused magic, yet from this close it's possible to peer through the gaps to view the people making slow progress through the overgrowth.

The same could be said about the castle wall. While the crack was at southeast side, putting it out of direct line of sight for now, there's sufficient gaps to get some idea of what's going on inside. The previously concealed first floor looked to be a great hall, currently populated by one person sweeping the floor slowly. A few people was talking in a room on the second floor, including the guard that went to deliver their report. One of them went to the window to presumably peer down on the party, a glimpse of wrinkled skin and grey hair revealed itself for a few seconds before the people dispersed.

Then it's a flurry of activity. Servants came down to the first floor, preparing various tables and refreshment. The third floor had less people than earlier in the day, presumably a portion was out dealing with the brambles. They seemed to be mostly unmoving at the moment, as if resting... or waiting for something. Beside a section of the floor that seems to be the kitchen, of course. That part was busy as beehive, as evident of the faint smoke of cooking fire that soon started to emerge from the nearest chimney.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[GM Post]

"...say that again, slower? I have a hard time comprehending what you've just reported."

"A group of people bearing the king's crest have arrived at the north gate, sir Archmage. They're demanding to see the baron immediately."

Said baron was present in the room, but both him and the reporting guard clearly treated Asevor as the superior in this situation. The archmage hummed thoughtfully, performing similar gesture as he did earlier in the day as a glimmering illusory monocle formed over his right eye. Strolling to the nearest window, he took stock of the cheap-looking cart and a few riders in the yard as a few guards stood as discreetly as armed men could near it. From a quick glance, they sort of matched the description of troublemakers that recently landed Aaron Delving's fancy pants in figurative (and, to some extent, literal) shit creek. There's more mages down there than a simple delegation would normally have but none present was the one he expected to see. True, wards or artifacts could've concealed her presence, but it's not exactly the smartest move burning one's mana supply prior to confronting an archmage of his caliber. Did they assumed the trap to have been crafted by a team of artificers instead? Or maybe she actually fell to it? Asevor had a few conjectures, but nothing will be gained by endless theorizing. Time to make his move.

"I see. Well then, I believe you should greet our guests, baron Otto. Be hospitable, would you kindly? While you're at it I shall prepare a reception they'll not soon forget." Main actor including one particular Ragnar the Red. Hopefully they'll put up enough of a fight to sate the northlander's battlelust for a bit.

"Now where had you hidden yourself, hm?"

*****

[Elsewhere]

There were several factors that tend to affect the accuracy of scrying. Distance matters, for one. Further away the object was the harder it was to scry. Then there's the nature of what's being scryed. Something solid, that the caster knew of, and if possible had interacted with before? Easy. A vague thing like something that's yet to even happen? Might as well take some psychedelic. And finally, how much someone else invested to prevent said scrying from happening.

Well, there's a few dozen more minor ways that a scry could be altered, it wasn't the most reliable form of magic. But for this particular case, Antigone had the deck stacked sufficiently in her favor. Not like it helped her sour mood, but still.

"Right here, drop the hook and make sure it reaches the bottom. I'll be right back." The duchess gazed the water with disgust. Even though they're already a bit out into open ocean, the sewage from the entire city still stank to an unbearable degree. And of course she had to dive straight into it. Really. The things she'd do for dear old Freddy. "By the endless hells, I'm not getting paid enough for this. Darksight. Elemental Guard. Stoneskin. Waterbreath. Isolation. Flight. Mage's Hand. Detect Magic."

Antigone's figure floated off the ship before hovering over the waterline, and finally plunged in like a rock.

A thin layer of protective screen covered her figure as she descended, though the physical feel of the sludgy water clinging to her clothes brought icky goosebump all over her body. It's all getting thrown into the furnace after this, cleaners be damned. Just the memory it carried was something she wouldn't tolerate.

It wasn't that deep yet, so Antigone quickly reached the bottom. With a gesture the hook lifted off the bottom and floated behind her, and after another gesture she found her direction. She found the target not too far off, a vaguely humanoid lump of metal that was slowly being pushed off by the river's flow. It looked completely inert at the moment, but to Antigone's enhanced sight there's still sign of magical activity looping in the core.

Thank the ancestors that this didn't take long at all.

Attempting to pull him up with the Mage's Hand spell broke the magic, the golem core hungrily devouring the mana. Annoyed, Antigone had to heavily overcast the spell to fortify it against intrusion before finally being able to manhandle the inert yet still ornery golem. The hook and rope was wound around and secured around the frame, and once done she tugged it thrice to signal the crew to began pulling. As the rope grew taut and Henri's figure slowly rose from the depth, the duchess' thought were only occupied by how long a bath she'll need to take to wash off the sensation of filth.

Some court mage work this turned out to be. Was it too late to reconsider a different career?

*****

[Back to Fanghorn]

Past the blocked road the party went, cutting through the grassland as they travel north. From there it took a small loop to change course straight for the fort gate, a number of men could be seen cutting and slashing and digging out the knee-high growth of bramble outside the stone walls. It didn't take long for someone to approach them, and just as swiftly they're sent back carrying words that the king's heralds came for a visit. From there their path was uninterrupted, the bramble before the gate had already been cleared just enough for passage, up until they went up the hill and into the fort's compound proper.

Words had it that the baron's being informed and proper welcome were arranged. The wait wasn't long, nor were there inspections of any kind. A manservant soon enough came to lead the party inside while a stable boy offered to take care of the horses, all under the subtle but constantly watchful gaze of the guards.

What would you do?

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[NPC Post]

Oh, Cedar's here. At least he's not missing. He came up and... looked real wary there. Well, not a new look as far as Matilda's concerned. New recruits tend to share the same dread whenever she caught them doing something they're not supposed to be doing. Kinda new seeing it on a bear though, all things considered. The orc snorted as she banished the thoughts, not even in the mood for dark humor at the moment.

"Go for it. But dont spend too much energy now." Her eyes returned back up, staring straight to the covered roof of the wagon. "It'll probably get violent real soon."

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[GM Post]

The cart was found right where the party left it, and retrieval went without any hitch. Then toward Fanghorn they went, the ride much easier than before thanks to the now illuminated path. It was some distance away from the village when Reinhold and Cedar appeared, having spotted the incoming from their vantage point and decided to come meet halfway.

"Welcome back. They had some people doing something around the stone wall earlier, and the bramble didn't grow. Right now they're working on removing the stuff. On the other hand the growth at south side was unchecked until real recently, there's already a small crowd around it." Mostly the local villagers, but also at least one group of merchant that spent the night in the village and now couldn't get out. "The people sent to disrupt the magic should still be at work, if you'd like to grab them or somethin'."

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[NPC Post]

"I'll not be moving anyway, doctor." As if a burden had been lifted off her shoulders, Matilda seemed to be more relaxed than ever at the moment. Maybe it's due to offloading the decision making to Jazdia. Or maybe her injury hurts when she's tense. Regardless, it's mostly out of her hands now. "I'm pretty sure I'm not going to die from this much. Patch me the best you can under this circumstances, if you would?"

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[NPC Post]

"A snake, you say?" Matilda replied, raising a half-burnt eyebrow. "Perhaps I do need a snake to fight a snake. I hope you'll see better result, for mine had obviously failed utterly." The entire thing had went down the gutter the moment Matilda let herself fall into the trap after all. She knew that she's way too straightforward in her approach. It's time to let the irregulars do it their way, and maybe they'll perform better than herself.

Not like she could object in her state anyway.

"This will do just fine." She announced slightly louder, tapping at the makeshift travois with a free-ish finger. "And if needed we can simply switch to our own cart. It shouldn't be far from here, is it not?" Matilda glared back at Jazdia, unamused. "Whatever. Start moving, would you?"

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[NPC Post]

Asevor was not having a good morning.

At first it seemed that everything went as smoothly as it could. The adept identified the magical working and had the muscles simply dig them out, the makeshift arrangement relying on being unnoticed to work. The undead druid that set it up must've gotten words about the trap at Pesti and was forced to trigger the growth early, thus leading to the premature notice. It didn't take long to completely remove the druidic influence, and not a second too soon - sunlight beamed from eastern horizon, marking the dawn of a new day, and their enemies seemed to be completely gone.

It was about fifteen minutes later that Asevor received the report of a still-growing wall of bramble the size of warehouse, poised to take over the village's southern gate.

And five minutes after that before another growth was found on the road a bit further south.

"No. Vast as my repertoire could be, there is nothing I have to remove the blasted brambles. Unless you dont mind to risk burning half the village, or blighting the land around it for years to come?"

"Well, if you put it like that..."

"I have sent an adept to break the magical influence so that it stops growing. Beyond that, I'm afraid it'll need honest labor to slowly chip away at the hedge. If you have to pay the peasants to do so, then so be it. Am I understood?"

"...yes, archmage. I'll have it arranged."

That's one issue done. Now, what would the enemies do next? Attacking the small squad sent to clear the druidic formation was a likely one, they'll be too far out for him to rescue. But that's only a small portion of their fighting power, even if the loss of a mage would hurt a bit. Really, worst come to worst he'll just lock down the fort. Just a few more days and everything will solve itself, then his part was done and he get to wash his hands and return home.

"What's your next step, young Antigone? After all this time... I'm looking forward for our dance."

Asevor's thoughts was rudely interrupted by the door of the hall slamming open with more force than strictly necessary, the fort itself shook slightly as the heavy hardwood impacted its wall. In strode a topless, heavily muscular, and gargantuan specimen of a man with blood-red tribal warpaint forming (admittedly) rather pleasant pattern all over his visible skin. The archmage had to suppress a sigh, already feeling the headache building in the back of his head.

"Asevor! Where are the enemies? I've gotten all fired up for nothing!"

"Ragnar, please, you are scaring the servants. It's not guaranteed yet, but if they're showing up it should be today or tomorrow so keep yourself sharp."

"Who do you think I am?! Ragnar is never dull!"

Asevor took a deep breath and inwardly counted to three as the northlander flexed and posed. This was looking to be a long morning already...

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[NPC Post]

The hunter nearly jumped out of his skin as his hand went halfway to the knife on his belt, but fortunately his memory caught up a split second later. Really, it'll take a while getting used to a sentient bear in company. Reinhold chuckled to himself, inwardly thinking that it'll make for some nice story to share in a tavern if he somehow survived the entire operation.

"Hail, ser bear." He returned to his position, mostly hidden behind some bushes as he overlooked the walled village. "They used some magic to contact the other side, I'm not sure what exactly happened myself but it seems like the dame got injured. There goes our surprise, eh?"

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[NPC Post]

"Then go." Matilda stated flatly, not the slightest ripple in her tone. "Leave me somewhere hidden, I'll see you again on your way back. Make haste, you hear me?"

It's as if she's talking about a third party instead of herself, but that's just Matilda's sense of duty. Anyone still combat capable press on, the injured stay behind. If she die, she die. That's all there's to it.

"Bring him back safely, I'm counting on you." The orc tilted her head with great difficulty, meeting Jazdia eye to eye. "And if the opportunity present itself, do pay the dead back in kind would you?"

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[GM Post]

"We found the place exactly as described. Took down some sentries, and grabbed one for questioning." Matilda's voice brought more than one pair of eyes her direction, most not expecting the orc to have regained consciousness so quickly. She's staring off into the distance, her face contorted in what seemed like a mix of anger and pain, but sounded lucid enough for conversation. "Figured that the lot likely was a throwaway bunch hired to stand guard and ask no question. If so they are loyal subject of the king still, caught amidst a seditious plot. I decided to minimize the casualties."

Her voice was flat, but sharper ears may noticed the hint of a volcanic eruption hiding underneath.

"It went well. Too well, in fact. The merc leader, Gilbert, was fully cooperative. Together we forced open the large box I thought was the prince's camouflaged holding cell. It was not. Instead, a magical edifice greeted us. Scattered around it was urns of black powder, and the opening of the box triggered sparks of flame. I... do not remember what comes after."

"As I've said earlier, the damned place blew up and caught fire somehow. Merc inside didn't make it, and the rest of them woke up with their sentries and boss missing while the place they're supposed to guard is on fire. Grabbed Mattie, fought them off, and made our getaway, that's about it. Nothing particularly noteworthy."