043: The king's takin' back the throne

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> Rosemund sets out with a frown the next morning. "You know," she says quietly to her friends, "I feel that I have heard of this place that we are traveling to before somewhere."
<Franceska> "In a bad way?"
<El-Cideon> "Oh!" she exclaims before reverting to conspiratorial whisper. "Marcus said his gang tracked that bad priest there...You know, I do hope they screen their representatives better these days."
<Franceska> "It sounds unlikely anything changes in this place," Franceska admits, "so the chances are bad."
<Julia> "Oh, would that be the same priest who is no longer with us?" Julia asks.
<Steph> "Yeah, he's rather dead. Which is what he deserved," says Stephanie. "I'll never understand how that church got any traction."
<El-Cideon> "Well," Rosemund says charitably, "every now and then they do club the right villains. Sometimes."
<Steph> "Sometimes." Stephanie shrugs. "Anyway, this is making solid in my mind a belief that this should be a short visit for us."
<Julia> "Should we avoid eating anything they offer?" Julia asks, mindful of the possibility of being drugged.
<Franceska> "Stephanie could try anything they offer first, if it comes to that?"
<Steph> "I'm not your taster, Franzy. Especially since you have that spell."
* Franceska snaps her fingers in disappointment.
<El-Cideon> "I suppose we should be on guard for any unseemly behavior," Rosemund admits as you hit the road. It's an even day's walk to the church itself. The "valley" qualifies as such only by Arcadian standards, it's really a gap between a few modest hills, with an impressive cathedral nestled in the crook of a horseshoe-shaped rise. There's a small village of service buildings scattered around, but the church itself dominates the local landscape.
<El-Cideon> "Nothing ever changes here," Belinda observes of the landscape. She turns to address the team. "I must compliment you all on a bargain satisfactorily completed."
<Steph> "How formal! Thanks for being very self-sufficient wards~"
<Franceska> "It is a matter of pride to follow up on it properly," Franceska responds. Especially since Belinda isn't a slaver for a change.
<Julia> "You're welcome," is all Julia says out of politeness. It did cost her a very excellent example of a skeleton after all.
<El-Cideon> "Well, I do pride myself on that virtue," she says to Stephanie, quite in spite of the maid forever hovering behind her shoulder. "Nightfall will come soon. I can arrange lodging for you if you like?"
<Steph> "Mmm." Stephanie clucks her tongue. "I still want to look into that experimental station," she says, glancing at her friends. "Shall we go to there from here, next?"
<Franceska> "As it is on another layer altogether... Rosemund, can you plane shift directly to other  layers?"
<El-Cideon> Rosemund nods to Stephanie. "Oh, definitely." To Franceska: "Well, I suppose we will find out?"
<Steph> "Mmm. Will we be able to sell our goods here?" pipes up Stephanie, who has no problem with taking money from Cuthberites.
<Franceska> "How about returning home first, then, and setting off for that other layer later?"
<El-Cideon> "The church does not lack for gold," Belinda acknowledges. "Whether they will prove a market for magical trinkets, I am less certain."
<Julia> "I don't really mind either way," Julia puts in. It does sound interesting, but going home is always nice.
<El-Cideon> "Ah, home I can definitely manage!" Rosemund says. "Approximately."
<Steph> "That's a good plan, too," agrees Stephanie. "I'll go bug Ron about the place a bit more. Oh, and let me know if you guys need any more gear so I can pick it up at market."
<Franceska> "Just enough to last us until we get home, and maybe sell a few things here before we leave?"
<El-Cideon> Day blinks into night and back into day. Rosemund gathers the gang together for the trip home, and--
<El-Cideon> roll 5d100 inaccuracy
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 5d100 inaccuracy and gets 338."12 [5d100=89, 88, 88, 2, 71]
* El-Cideon changes topic to 'Current planar traits: None! | '
<El-Cideon> It's warmer than you'd expect for Solata winter--not exactly warm, per se, but certainly not the snow-covered wonderland you last left. You arrive in semi-barren scrubland atop a hill. "Ah, off to the south this time, I think?" Rosemund guesses, looking around. "I will get better at this someday!" she swears.
<Franceska> "Sure, sure. So we need to go north, you think?"
<El-Cideon> "Ah, yes, I think so...perhaps a long ways," she guesses sheepishly.
<Steph> "I don't suppose you guys can summon up some horses?"
<Franceska> "We can just walk until we find some to buy?"
<El-Cideon> Rosemund just looks at the ground and shakes her head.
<Julia> "Hopefully we can find a river or a road to follow... hmm, I could summon something that's similar to a horse?" Julia offers.
* Franceska shudders. "We might get attacked and it's close enough to our home that they'll hear about it there."
<El-Cideon> "You can rely upon your feet," Rosemund announces as she sets off to the north. "They will never betray you!"
<Steph> "Are we worried about betrayal from horses? Actually, did you ever learn to ride, Rosie?"
<Franceska> "Did you?"
<Steph> "Well, no, but how hard can it be?"
<Julia> "Nor did I. It would be a useful skill though, wouldn't it?"
* Franceska glances at Grey, asking her, "How about you?"
<El-Cideon> "Master Dalton did not have any horses," she says quietly. "Lady Vixri had one, but it was frightening and on fire all the time."
<Franceska> "Do you think they sell horses like this somewhere?"
<El-Cideon> "They sell everything somewhere," she says with calm assurance.
<Julia> "I can get some," Julia says. "That's one of the ideas I had."
<Franceska> "I was thinking that if you must have a horse, you might as well get a scary one that is on fire."
* Franceska nods at Julia. "You understand, don't you?"
<Steph> "Aren't they from hell?" replies Stephanie, frowning. "Why do you want a horse from hell? That's the type that actually will betray you!"
<Franceska> "Rosemund is already worried about a horse betraying you, so how much worse can it be?"
<Steph> "Well, would you prefer to be betrayed by a regular horse, or a horse that's on fire?"
<Julia> "If it betrays you then you summon it back and then turn it into an undead minion," Julia says decisively.
<Steph> Stephanie shudders.
<El-Cideon> "That is your solution to everything!" Rosemund exclaims.
<Julia> "I work with the tools I have," she shrugs amiably.
<Franceska> "Ignoring that," Franceska says forcefully, "if I must suffer through the indignity of betrayal by my horse, I would rather it be an impressive horse on fire that came from Hell, yes."
<Steph> "Well... Rosemund, can you summon a unicorn? For me?"
<Franceska> "A unicorn? Really?"
<Julia> "Really?" Julia echoes.
<El-Cideon> "I do not know a spell that can do that...but I shall have to learn," Rosemund promises. "Oh, but do not unicorns prefer riders who are, ah...they are rather picky," Rosemund says delicately.
* Franceska shakes her head. "Let us be frank. Won't it die just by being in the same room as you?"
<Steph> "What?! Why would it do that?" protests Stephanie. "Are they allergic to tieflings or something?"
<Julia> "I believe Franceska was casting doubt upon your maidenly virtue," Julia coughs.
<El-Cideon> "They, um, they prefer virgins," Rosemund points out.
<El-Cideon> "Not that there is any thing wrong with not being one!" she adds quickly.
<Franceska> "And while we are on the subject, does it disturb anyone else that they prefer virgins? Especially with how they look?"
<Steph> Stephanie's face contorts, going from stunned disbelief to moody depression. "Nobody told me that," she mumbles, trailing behind the rest of the group.
<El-Cideon> "It is a state of purity and innocence that they are able to connect to," Rosemund protests. "I am sure that is all!"
<Julia> "Yes, once a girl has learned the sinful pleasures of the flesh she'll never be quite the same," Julia smiles happily.
<Franceska> "We can put it to the test," Franceska announces. "I can summon a unicorn and lock it in a room with Stephanie. Then we can know for certain."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund looks to Julia in surprise. "Julia! I did not know...well, that is to say, I only thought you were interested in dead people...Oh, I mean, not in that way too, but--"
<Franceska> "Stop. Now."
<Julia> "Please Rosemund. I may be a necromancer but I'm many things beside, a woman being a large part of those other things," she protests, hand raised daintily as if to shield from accusations.
<Steph> "But how do they know?!" protests Stephanie, suddenly.
<El-Cideon> "Oh, well," Rosemund blushes. "That is actually very reassuring," she concludes.
<Franceska> "I never thought there would come a time I would say this to people I am traveling with, but there is such a thing as too much information. I think we have well reached that part where I am concerned."
<El-Cideon> "Maybe there is a spell for it?" Rosemund guesses in response to Stephanie.
<Steph> "It should be banned!"
<Julia> "Hardly. Nobles and princes and princesses probably use it all the time," Julia sniffs. "Only on the ladies mind you. No one cares if a man sleeps around."
<Steph> "Is there a spell to restore your virtue, though? Everything else can be healed..."
<Steph> Stephanie shudders. "No, I don't even want to think about this anymore."
<El-Cideon> "It is a state of mind!" Rosemund protests. "There is more to it than, ah, physical changes," she concludes, sounding uncertain about details here.
* Franceska falls back to walk next to Grey and ignore Stephanie and this conversation altogether.
<Steph> "Don't talk about this anymore, Rosemund. This conversation never happened."
<Julia> "Oh look, that cloud looks like a teapot!"
<El-Cideon> "I do not even know what you are talking about," Rosemund agrees happily.
<El-Cideon> It's most of a day's walk through the hills before you locate even a trace of civilization, and even then it's only a Solati border fort. It takes some convincing to overcome the guards' natural suspicion of strangers from the south, but no doubt natural Solati accents are a great help today. You're directed to a small village to the north, which in turn leads to roads, proper towns...and two weeks later, footsore and weary, you trod back into Amaranth at last. Winter still has the town in its icy grip, but by now the snow is trodden into gray, sooty mush in the gutter. It's mostly just cold. Still, perhaps even that is a relief after Fire?
<Franceska> "Have I mentioned how much I hate the outdoors yet today?" Franceska asks Rosemund curiously.
<Steph> "Well, I'm gonna go home," says Stephanie. "Tomorrow I'll go to market, and it'll probably take me a while to get rid of all our junk. Then I wanna go talk to Ron a bit more... do you guys have any plans?"
<El-Cideon> "You are far behind your quota," Rosemund points out to Franceska.
<Franceska> "Well, I do. Would you like to stop by my house for a visit, first?"
<Julia> "I need to make sure Thing hasn't gotten into any mischief," Julia says. "That's about it for me."
<El-Cideon> "I will stop off at the temple," Rosemund says. "And Aunt Leah's...Ah, but if Franceska has something she wants us for, I can go with her first?"
<Steph> "You're inviting me to your place?" says Stephanie, genuinely surprised. "That's really nice of you!"
<Franceska> "It would be a good chance to store away that tree without carrying it through the streets, yes."
<Steph> "Oh. That... thing."
<Franceska> "It has a quaint charm."
<El-Cideon> "Franceska, are you going to display that in your home?" Rosemund says dubiously. "Oh, what if you have visitors? Whatever would they think?"
<Julia> "Here's a woman not to be trifled with?" Julia suggests.
<Franceska> "Maybe if I place it in the foyer, I will have fewer visitors?"
<El-Cideon> Rosemund's shoulders slump.
<Franceska> "Oh, but you are always welcome, Rosemund. And please feel free to visit as well, Julia."
<Julia> "I shall after I've disciplined Thing," she promises.
<Steph> "That's so hateful of you! Why are you such a hateful person?"
<Franceska> "Did I not invite you the once? What more do you want?" Franceska asks, getting upset.
<Steph> "I.. I don't know! I'm just sad at being excluded," mumbles Stephanie, her own shoulders slumping.
<Franceska> "I make it a habit not to make an open invitation to homeless people, or they might never leave," Franceska tells her primly. "Get yourself a house and we shall revisit this."
<Steph> "Pelor's light, I have a home! It's my dad's place!" sputters Stephanie.
<Franceska> "Since when-- you have a father?"
<Steph> "Yes!" Stephanie crosses her arms. "Well, he adopted me, but he's basically my dad!"
* Franceska gives her a dubious look. "Well, we can give this a try, I suppose. Feel free to visit once a week, through the front door, without letting yourself in."
<El-Cideon> "Franceska!" Rosemund chides. "Everyone has a father. Did you think Stephanie just appeared out of thin air one day?"
* Franceska decides not to share her thoughts on the manner of Stephanie's birth.
<El-Cideon> Julia finds Thing has not been entirely idle during her absence. Without specific commands, he evidently made time to fashion an elaborate papier-mache crown, stitch together a royal cloak from various poorly-preserved dead animal carcasses, and reign with iron fist over the estimable realm of "King Larry XIV the Apocalyptic"--or so say the many decrees posted around Julia's tower in awkwardly-stenographed Abyssal. His population of one undead subject has obviously been kept busy taking dictation. The furniture has also been rearranged to no obvious plan. Julia's bed is now on the roof and sodden with snowmelt.
<Julia> Well, at least he's kept busy in the tower rather than going out and killing little children. Still... "Thing, I think I'm getting rusty with small intestinal surgery. How about we work on that while Friday puts everything back in its proper place?"
<El-Cideon> Thing is quick to abdicate in the face of entities more frightening than himself! Not that this likely spares him a grisly fate. Franceska's home is in stark comparison quiet and orderly--Calixta is not home, but elsewise everything is just as she left it. Grey isn't evidently happy about corpse-decorated trees being openly displayed in her new residence, but she does appear comfortable to be back in a recognizably high-class home that lacks for careful serving staff. For Stephanie's part-- (OOC: roll Profession for markup on selling stuffs?)
<Steph> roll 1d20+11
* Hatbot --> "Steph rolls 1d20+11 and gets 30."12 [1d20=19]
<El-Cideon> OOC: sell at 65% instead of 50%, not bad~
* Franceska places the tree in her office to keep herself focused, and then lets Grey choose a room out of the available guest rooms.
<El-Cideon> It also comes to Stephanie's attention during her mercantile endeavors that a perpetually hat-clad elf has set up a jeweler's shop in town and unloaded quite a lot of fine merchandise on the market.
<Steph> Stephanie finds herself seeking out this merchant in order to pay a visit!
<El-Cideon> Stephanie does, of course, recognize her, and is instantly recognized in turn. Thela hasn't troubled to change her name while operating under the more locally acceptable guise of a blond forest elf. Ceasing examination of a ruby ring, she swivels a monocle off and nods slightly. "Ah, I'd wondered where you all disappeared to," she says. "Momentarily."
<Steph> Stephanie snorts. "'Momentarily'? Thela, dear, it's almost like you want me to think worse of you," she says, grinning. "I see you've settled in pretty well. Well enough that, I imagine, you can return my hat? Although I might loan it to you longer if you help me with something..."
<El-Cideon> Joining everyone else for a tour round Franceska's house, Rosemund comes back from a visit to the temple to share the following: "Oh yes, I showed the high priest our dragon statue that we thought was a real dragon but then decided was a statue? He thinks it was turned to stone on..." She struggles to recall a word. "Thul-danin? And normal spells will not work. He could not do anything for it either. Poor little creature!"
<Franceska> "Where?"
<Julia> "Any ideas on what would work?" Julia asks, a well behaved little bat clinging to her arm.
<El-Cideon> Thela hands the ring to an employee and shoos him away to talk to Stephanie alone. "I value my life too much to take it off. I suppose I should purchase my own. In the meantime, what scheme have you in mind?"
<El-Cideon> "Thuldanin," Rosemund repeats, properly this time. "It is a layer of the plane of Acheron! Everything turns to stone there if it stays too long. It requires, ah, basically a miracle to fix it. Maybe I can do this someday! But not now," she acknowledges sadly.
<Franceska> "A whole plane dedicated to making your life horrible for eternity! Who knew?"
<Steph> "I was thinking of finding a way to make money work for me, for a change," explains Stephanie. "It might not be too late. Peridot lost its trade with the Dao, right? But there's a local portal that gets reasonably close to it, and we have plenty of trading guilds here. I think there's promise in setting up a route via one of those guilds, but... they'd need two things. Capital to kick the
<Steph> route off, obviously. But they'd need someone who has the skills and experience to make a trip to that plane, ideally someone with local geographical knowledge, a good idea of what people on the Plane of Earth actually need, and someone who'd be able to organize the defence of a caravan, too." She winks. "So it'd suit you just fine! I've got the contacts to make it happen. Interested?"
<Julia> "Well, if you turn into stone you can't really be miserable. Unless it's special stone that keeps you conscious while trapped in a prison of your own calcified body..."
<El-Cideon> "Oh, do you think that is how it works?" Rosemund says, aghast. "Stephanie says that she just had dreams..."
<Franceska> "Stephanie kept dreaming about being stepped on. Which does suggest she was aware of her surroundings to a degree, yes."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund frowns. "Franceska, you were not...taking advantage of Stephanie's condition to step on her, were you?"
<Franceska> "How can you even ask me that question, Rosemund?"
<Julia> "Oh, that's horrible then," Julia gasps.
<El-Cideon> Thela sits back and considers the offer. "It wasn't my plan to stay here for any long time...but it's not as though most of my plans ever worked out in my favor anyway. It sounds a reasonably profitable venture."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund just looks at Franceska, very seriously.
* Franceska just looks at Rosemund, very innocently.
<El-Cideon> "I also asked about the ring," Rosemund says after one last skeptical look at Franceska. "If we just break it, the soul will probably fly back to Hell. There are, ah, rites to make it a person again, if we wanted to. I do not know, maybe they have learned something from being a ring that is punished all the time? I have not made up my mind yet."
<Franceska> "Just send it over," Franceska states. "If you free someone this way, you need to look after them. Do you really want a human as your responsibility?"
<El-Cideon> Rosemund gives Franceska another look. "I have several already!"
<Julia> "I say we let them out. It could be interesting!" Julia says, ever eager to experiment and learn about bodies and souls.
<Franceska> "Well this would be more like a pet," Franceska says with a huff. "A human pet. I will let it slide because it's you, but don't make a habit of it!"
<Steph> Stephanie nods. "Then would you come along with me to float it later this week?" she asks. "I'll invest about twenty-thousand and see if I can't get some others to bite. You should be able to turn a tidy profit." She clasps her hands together. "I'll be trusting you! You really came through for us before, and I appreciate that," she adds, warmly.
<El-Cideon> "It could be interesting in bad ways, though," Rosemund admits. "They probably went to Hell for a reason..." She shrugs. "Well, as I said, I am still thinking it over."
<Julia> "I'm sure if they make any mischief we can put them to rights," Julia says confidently.
<El-Cideon> Thela gives Stephanie an odd look. "Agreed. But what I ultimately want, if I am to stay here for any long time, is to shed this ridiculous disguise. It shames me to parade as one of my forest kin. I do not know whether it is within your influence to convince others witnessing my true heritage of my lack of ill intent...but perhaps you have some experience in that regard. And money does speak louder than words, does it not?"
<El-Cideon> "Well, if there is any one thing that we are good at, it is both producing and stopping mischief," Rosemund agrees.
<Franceska> "It sounds very pointless, but do as you like."
<Steph> Stephanie considers this. "The best way to do that is through success," she explains. "Right now, it would be bad to expose your true nature to the public at large. However, if you make money for the guild, they'll trust that more than anything. Of course, I'm sure those who accompany you would come to trust you as well when you do right by them. Sure, they might be a bit upset if you've
<Steph> fooled them on your first run, but if you deliver results, asking forgiveness for that minor deception is no problem, right?" She considers this. "I can get the Temple of Pelor to put in a good word for you as well, and it wouldn't hurt to tithe a little as well." She glances at Thera. "But for any of this to work, you must be at least as upright a merchant as I am. It's not that black
<Steph> markets or high-pressure sales techniques are actually the issue. Everyone dips into them. But don't buy or sell anything that would bring me or the guild any shame. Remember, even in the vastness of the planes, word gets around. The people who speak out on your behalf will have their reputations tied to your success. It would be better to fail as a merchant than to smear their names."
<El-Cideon> "I expected no immediate solution to the dilemma," she admits. "I will consider all of this for later."
<Steph> Stephanie nods. "I'm also someone who's had to deal with this kind of thing," she admits. "And some people are always small-minded idiots! There's nothing to do about those sorts." She reaches out to shake Thera's hand. "If she ever recovers, I'm sure Brijid will be glad to speak on your behalf as well."
<El-Cideon> Later, the group collects as a whole again to confer with the wayward modron about his former place of employment. His little backroom is still cluttered with clockwork figures of various sorts. They function well enough when wound up--a little soldier dressed in recognizable facsimile of an Amaranth city guard hauberk trundles out of the door waving a sword spasmodically before grinding into a table leg.
<Steph> "Sword golem needs work," says Stephanie, wryly. "Ron! Are you in?"
<El-Cideon> "Affirmative," the mechanical voice echoes out from the room. It's many hands busy themselves sorting and tidying up a desk full of gears and springs before turning to directly address his visitors. "I am informed that it is customary to greet visitors properly and politely," Ron says. Its knees bend in an awkward, boxy bow. "'Good afternoon Stephanie and friends. It is pleasant to see you again.'" It blinks. "How was that?"
<Franceska> "Mixed feelings."
<Julia> "Works better without the narration," Julia says.
<El-Cideon> "I shall omit this statement for future greetings," he notes.
<Steph> "Just say hi! Unless you're dealing with the nobility," advises Stephanie. "Real nobility, I mean, not adventuring nobility."
<El-Cideon> "'Hi,'" it echoes. "Alternately, 'Hello.'"
<Steph> "You'll get there," says Stephanie, cheerfully. "Ron, I wanted to get more information on that experimental station. We're gonna be paying a visit," she explains. "We want to rescue the experimental subjects who don't want to be experiments."
<El-Cideon> "What do you wish to know, Stephanie?"
<Steph> Stephanie considers this. "First, I'd like to know about the defences," she says. "And if there's a way for visitors to get in without raising any alarms."
<El-Cideon> "The facility employed a multitude of modrons of my own type," Ron says, starting to tally things off. "We are capable of defense but were employed for maintenance. The administrators maintained golems for formal defense. Although I was not deliberately informed about the facility's defensive measures, it was stated within my hearing that the administrators valued these constructs for their immunity to most magic. Upon the outbreak of disorder in the facility, the administrators themselves demonstrated a coherent balance of arcane and martial talents." There's a click and whir as he switches subjects. "The facility itself has one primary door. Elsewise the administrators predominantly arrived and disembarked through magical means. The facility does have windows large enough to enter for one capable of climbing however."
<Franceska> "What a horrible place." Franceska grimaces. "Can you plane shift off the grounds?"
<Steph> "How many experimental subjects are there? Roughly, since I assume the number varies."
<Julia> "I don't like golems," Julia sighs miserably.
<Steph> "But if they're golems, they probably fight on autopilot," notes Stephanie. "They're too hard to actually try and put down, but maybe you could just swarm them with a mass of things and keep them busy?"
<El-Cideon> Ron turns to Franceska. "I was not specifically informed about this, but overheard communications between the administrators indicate this was their primary means of egress." He turns back to Stephanie. "At the time of the rebellion there were twenty-five subjects maintained in the stockroom specifically under my care," he says. "Afterward there were significantly fewer."
<Steph> "How long has it been since that rebellion?"
<El-Cideon> "Four years, three months, and twenty-seven days by local reckoning," Ron answers with precision.
<Steph> "They probably got new ones still then- if that facility is still running like it was," says Stephanie, despondently. "Maybe they'll just start again no matter what we do, but... we should at least see what we can do about it now." She pounds her fists together. "I've got a plan, of sorts, then? Unless you guys know a good way to take down multiple golems, I think we should just aim to rescue
<Steph> lots of the prisoners. Plane shift is too off-target, but... what if we buy lots of teleportation scrolls and use them to ferry them to some safe place we set up on that plane?"
<Julia> "Are there any portals near the facility, Ron?" Julia asks.
<Franceska> "That would be better than a messy multiple transport," Franceska muses. "I was just wondering if we might manage to lay our hands on a Gate scroll somehow."
<El-Cideon> "None of which I am aware," Ron says to Julia. "I became familiar with the surrounding countryside after my flight from the facility but encountered no interplanar portals before being requisitioned by Blackbird." There's a complicated shifting of gears inside the modron before it concludes: "Do you require a guide?"
<Steph> Stephanie nods. "Please. A magical solution like this is our best bet! But they could dispel it or something and then where would we be?"
<Franceska> "We also need to lay our hands on a map. I made a promise to myself we will before going anywhere else!"
<El-Cideon> Ron pauses awkwardly. "The administrators will not be pleased that I am assisting infiltrators," he points out.
<Julia> "But we will be pleased!" Julia assures him.
<Steph> "And they're already not pleased with you!"
<El-Cideon> "And the prisoners will be even happier!" Rosemund adds.
<Franceska> "All valid points. Actually, can you draw us a map? That might be quicker."
<El-Cideon> "I am capable of performing this task," Ron confirms. He shuffles over to his desk to go to work with quill and parchment.
<Steph> "If you're coming with us, do you need any gear? It could get dangerous," notes Stephanie.
<Franceska> "As a rough plan, I could focus on the spells that impale everything and a couple that repair Ron if he's damaged," Franceska muses.
<El-Cideon> "I am familiar with crossbows," Ron reports while he works. "My own were lost while fleeing the facility."
<Julia> "Oh, you can use two at once with those arms, can't you?" Julia says, pleased. "I'll buy you a pair and a bundle of adamantine bolts. Do you prefer light or heavy? Or those tiny hand crossbows?"
<Franceska> "We should also consider ways to quickly free any prisoners," Franceska adds. "What do you think? The Knock spell, or Stephanie could finally get a proper set of tools for that?"
<Steph> "Ugh, I should get those anyway. For our inevitable parting," mutters Stephanie. "They'll be useful for any traps we find, too. Who knows what weird stuff we'll find in a place like that, anyway?"
<Franceska> "Good point. You should find better means of spotting the traps before they blow up in our faces when you trigger them."
<El-Cideon> "Light would be of preference," Ron says to Julia. For the others, he adds, "The principal difficulty you should encounter in freeing the prisoners lies in rousing them quickly. It was among my routines to keep them properly sedated."
<Steph> Stephanie nods. "Let's pick up a wand of restoration, then? Rosie can handle that."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund nods!
<Steph> "Oh, what should I bring, Julia?" asks Stephanie, glancing at her. "An adamantine hammer or something?"
<Franceska> "What sort of weapon intimidates you the most?" Franceska asks Ron. "Kind and make?"
<Julia> "I dealt with the sedatives on Vigilia easily enough. I'll stock up on medicinal supplies. But yes, I do recommend adamantine for dealing with constructs."
<El-Cideon> Ron blinks at Franceska. "My own subcategory is equally to susceptible to most varieties of implements of destruction. However, I observe that some sturdily built golems resist implements of the slashing or piercing variety."
<El-Cideon> ~

<Franceska> roll 1d20+18+2+2
* Hatbot --> "Franceska rolls 1d20+18+2+2 and gets 25."12 [1d20=3]

Franceska's cursory, covert inquiry into the local reputations of herself and her companions uncovers the following information:

-Franceska Durant: Franceska's parentage casts a long shadow. Even now there are some disgruntled old-timers who insist the young Franceska shouldn't even have been allowed to keep the family's ancestral home! But more broadly she is known as a talented, calm, and deliberate (if cold and distant) professional. Those who've encountered her and her avian partner on the wrong side of an argument recall with dread being stared at by the owl as it would a mouse in a field.

-Stephanie Sundown: Stephanie is principally familiar to Amaranth citizens as a merchant of various goods (the origin of which should not probably be questioned, you learn when asking in the appropriate dark corners of society). As of late, she's chosen to add quality enchanted merchandise to her stock. She drives a hard bargain, but it's still cheaper than buying wares brand-new from some wizard (cue resentful grumbling from the local wizards).

-Julia Astin: Widely respected as a healer and, by those fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to be under extensive care recuperating from severe injuries, as a damn fine cook. But, well...there's just something odd about her, isn't there? You know, just...a little off, like maybe she enjoys her work too much. Oh, sure, pride in a job well done, that's one thing, but still, you can't help but wonder sometimes...

-Rosemund Whitefall: Rosemund is a familiar face at the temple of Pelor, and a welcome one to those in dire need of medical attention. No one has anything particularly unflattering to say about her, though some young men grumble that her romantic life should be much more active did she not still live with her overprotective aunt--who carefully screens suitors and has yet to approve of any. Rosemund evidently either doesn't notice or doesn't care.