Treasure Ship Hunt

[Anastasia]

Ril'kara sneers, "Human," he drawls, voice carrying through the muck between the two of you. "The matter is simple. You are exploring property of the Githyanki. You will surrender what you have taken from it and leave, and cease putting on tiresome airs as well. I find them offensive."

Jarem smiles at that, "What I find offensive is that a man without a cock is whining at us," he fires right back, "Queen," He emphasizes this word, "I do not think they appreciate the situation."

[Iron Dragoon]

"What they appreciate is beneath my concern. This was Githyanki property. Until your absolute failure of timing made you entirely too late to the party. A feat which Vlaakith will duly reward you for, I'm sure. Though... Hmm..."

Alyssa turns to Jarem, "Should I give them a chance to save their lives from Vlaakith's wrath? I did put a fair bit of work into this already... And the smell."

[Anastasia]

Lemme get a Diplomacy check here, for reference, though this is pretty borderline between that and Intimidate.

[Iron Dragoon]

> roll 1d20+36+20 Diplo/Cunning Knowledge
<Serith> Iddy roll for Serith < 76 > [d20=20]

[Anastasia]

"How DARE the two of you?" The githyanki hisses, his soldiers shifting a bit as he glares death at the two of you. "But...to humor you, a finder's fee is acceptable."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa snorts.

"My fee is whatever I want it to be. And if you don't start being suitably respectful, I'll have the delegation I send to Vlaakith let her know you, personally, allowed the knowledge of why this ship crashed in the first place slip away. Knowledge that applies to every. single. Gith ship."

Alyssa blinks and turns back to Jarem.

"Though, I suppose it'd better for us if I just let them all crash. Many more ships to salvage that way."

[Anastasia]

Jarem smiles, not a kind smile at a ll as...

Toss in an Intimidate check, too.

[Iron Dragoon]

Not my strong suit. Jarem's probably way better at this than Alyssa.

> roll 1d20+8+20 Intimidate/Cunning Knowledge
<Serith> Iddy roll for Serith < 34 > [d20=6]

[Anastasia]

Jarem lacks Intimidate, but this is more an oversight I may correct post adventure. It feels like a skill he should have ranks in, one of those things you feel out as you start with a character.

> roll 1d20+
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 3 > [d20=3]

Total of 8, aid another fails.

> roll 1d20+20
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 40 > [d20=20]

That's an unfortunate result.

"You are bluffing. You no more have Vlaakith's ear than I have the ear of Tiamat." The gith scowls, "Cease your prattling and your posturing, woman."

"Look," Jarem says, raising his voice, "Let me put this in a way you can understand, as one head is as empty as the other is absent. I am a personal servant of The Red Knight. Queen over there rules her entire guild and more, an entire nation is hers. You're not pushing around some adventurers who will raise a stink and die when you throw a few red dragons at them. You're facing nations and groups who will roll their sleeves up, draw their swords and use them to treat you like the village whore: Everyone sticks something hard into you. Alternately, you can give us the respect you deserve and handle this properly, before you cause an incident that Vlaakith will be personally irritated over. I've heard Vlaakith is quite willing to punish incompetent servants who irritate her."

> roll 1d20+38 Jarem
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 58 > [d20=20]
> roll 1d20+58 Jarem I feel an exploding crit is appropriate here
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 69 > [d20=11]

With a look that could curdle milk with a glance and set lessers ablaze, Ril'kasa slowly grinds out, "Fine. What do you think your fee should be?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"A distinct lack of your presence, of course. One ship to save your entire fleet. Quite the bargain. And to give you... a taste, shall we say, I'll give you a few clues. I know about the crystal. I know what it does and where it draws its function from. I know you want the ship not only because of Gith pride but because you want to know how it was knocked out of a plane with no warning. You want to know how and who. You want to know if it can be repeated."

Alyssa adopts a more relaxed pose. "It can. It will. I've stabilized this one, but the clock is still ticking. It's still tenuous. It's still ready to explode, ripping yet another hole in the planes like the one Vlaakith finished dealing with not too long ago. You take this ship back, she'll have another one. And another, and another, and another, as each of your ships are sabotaged while you try to play catch up.

Or. I get this ship and I tell you everything. Including what caused it and where. The ship is already lost to you. Either I get it and you get the information, or you leave without the information, and the ship rips itself apart inside your kingdom."

[Anastasia]

That's some hardball diplomacy. Make a Diplomacy check again.

[Iron Dragoon]

It really isn't. Basically, they're getting key info for something already crippled and nearly worthless to them, outside of they don't wanna.

> roll 1d20+36 Diplo
<Serith> Iddy roll for Serith < 51 > [d20=15]

[Anastasia]

Whole lotta presumptions there.

"You ignorant woman, you know nothing!" Ril'kasa hisses, "I know well how it was knocked out, because it was sabotaged from within. You think this is the first time one of our ships has gone afoul?"

"No," Jarem says quite agreeably, "But I do know you should be asking yourself: Is this really worth it?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"I know plenty. I know who did it. I have proof of it. I know how it was it was done. It may not be the first time, no, but they're rare occurrences and we both know it. You want control of it because you don't want the information out there because your fleet is one of your biggest backbones. Every instance of one of your ships going down is an opportunity for others to find the flaw in your fleet. And every chance you can get to figure out how is another weakness you can shore up to make the rest stronger. You've figured out by now that I'm of significantly greater power than you were expecting, and neither of us wants open conflict. But what I know has a price and this is it.

You can keep throwing ineffectual insults and posturing, or we can make this trade, and you get a chance to open a path to an enclave of power and magical research that even the Red Knight thought valuable."

[Anastasia]

"We will consider your offer," Ril'kasa says shortly, "We request a brief recess in this parley."