What happened, and next steps Options

[StuartEaston]

Hi all,

Sorry I wasn't present on Starsday. Just wondering what happened? (Don't skip the bits where you smashed the bad guys heads in that's my favourite bits) And what the next steps might be?

We should probably work out a plan of action while things are still fresh and we vaguely remember what happened.


Tai.

[TimTreadwell]

Hello Tai.

I am endeavouring to start a shielded chamber for particularly sensitive information.

I'll let everyone know if I succeed .

Yorso.

[Patch]

Thank you Yorso,

Tai, I will ensure you are included in discussions and plans moving forward.

Harpell

[dnsmantra]

OOC: Safe to assume discussions on the Church forums take place in the Alguz Blinkered Eye, or similar. Huw.

[Patch]

OOC: Safe to assume discussions on the Church forums take place in the Alguz Blinkered Eye, or similar. Huw.

I'd like to Form a full list of leads and information people want to follow up.

Can all those who have suche please voice them below and I shall maintain a list.

Once we have a solid complete (or more or less complete) list we will decide on the next course of action.

Harpell

[henghasty]

Harpell

I think we have the following loose ends (my very brief remarks are made on each loose end; I suggest we treat this as the agenda please let me know if I have missed anything):-

MONASTERY OF HOPE; THREE ROADS WINDING

Ybe - Clearly a priest of Malice who has been up to no good; we need to track him down and introduce him to Shard.

Ivy and Brenigan - Their status is unclear; whilst their disappearance is suspicious it may be coincidence not causation. Yorso seems to have some evidence against Ivy.

Lyle and Cob - As with Ivy and Brenigan their status is unclear. I note Yorso has some evidence against them but Harmony seems to be unconcerned about their disappearance.

Harmony - Probably an innocent pawn but I remain concerned about wheels within wheels.

Tiberius - Ybe's pen pal. I do not believe we have identified his location. Clearly at the centre of this web.

Decimus - Yorso surmises Solaris struck him down in the prison. I believe we need certainty (albeit I agree with Yorso).

Erlene, Myrtle, Styre, Yillon and Damson - the witches on the list above Sandalath. I think we may assume they were slain; we ought to see if we can restore them before their time is up. Perhaps Harmony can be tasked with that?


SCARLENE

Arlo - I am sure he is a good man but Yorso's information as to his age and possible background concern me bearing in mind the depth of the plot to infiltrate our faith.

Staeveld - This lich needs dealing with. To my mind this is a side issue.

GENERAL

Arala'thaelan - The Triune maiden. We must decide if she is to be released or otherwise. If she is not to be released we must ensure her prison is secure.

Grisgriel

[TimTreadwell]

Decimus - Yorso surmises Solaris struck him down in the prison. I believe we need certainty (albeit I agree with Yorso).

He was described as going into the mountain in one of the letters. That was where the prison was - hence my surmise. I'm fairly confident.

Erlene, Myrtle, Styre, Yillon and Damson - the witches on the list above Sandalath. I think we may assume they were slain; we ought to see if we can restore them before their time is up. Perhaps Harmony can be tasked with that?

Only some were crossed out - so perhaps not.

Arlo - I am sure he is a good man but Yorso's information as to his age and possible background concern me bearing in mind the depth of the plot to infiltrate our faith.


If Arlo is who I think he is I don't consider him a threat. He's a genuine follower of "Hope" from a long time ago.

Arala'thaelan - The Triune maiden. We must decide if she is to be released or otherwise. If she is not to be released we must ensure her prison is secure.

Every time she uses her power her opposite/twin etc gains power. To release her empowers the One that Cuts.

Yorso.

[henghasty]

Decimus - Yorso surmises Solaris struck him down in the prison. I believe we need certainty (albeit I agree with Yorso).

He was described as going into the mountain in one of the letters. That was where the prison was - hence my surmise. I'm fairly confident.

Erlene, Myrtle, Styre, Yillon and Damson - the witches on the list above Sandalath. I think we may assume they were slain; we ought to see if we can restore them before their time is up. Perhaps Harmony can be tasked with that?

Yorso - I share your views on Decimus (although as an aside it would be helpful to know the inspiration that came to Solaris to defeat him - we may expect similar defences as we make progress to thwart these creatures.

I have only listed the witches who had been crossed off. There were two that were not. I suppose it is possible that if Decimus/Ybe/Tiberius thought they might have information then they may something of interest but I think it unlikely.

Grisgriel

[TimTreadwell]

Whilst Decimus was engaged in combat Solaris and I were trying to work out what would work.

We tried a number of things and then fell to casting 5 communication miracles about what might work using injunction to see of the the "Yes/No" answers were being deceived. After 15 failed guesses Solaris tried another option (a very well thought out one by the way) which worked.

There were no powers involved in Solaris' choice of attack - just a moment of genius.

With regard to the witches - we are assuming that they were killed. My mistake in my comment though - apologies. You are more than likely correct in your assumption - but they might have been taken hostage etc.

Yorso.

[Patch]

Ok,

So Gris' list is a complete one?

does anyone else have anything else to add?

H

[henghasty]

There were no powers involved in Solaris' choice of attack - just a moment of genius.

With regard to the witches - we are assuming that they were killed. My mistake in my comment though - apologies. You are more than likely correct in your assumption - but they might have been taken hostage etc.

Yorso.

Yorso/Solaris

What was the choice of attack?

Yorso

In terms of the witches it appeared that Decimus had worked down the list from top to bottom. I have assumed that he reached Sandalath and got the information and so entered the prison. It is possible that the last two names on the list were not crossed off because they were not reached or because they were reached but not killed (presumably as they are allies or of use to our opponents).

Grisgriel

[henghasty]

In the interests of closing off the loose ends that seemed less likely to be of importance I have made engaged in some scrying as follows:-

Clip and Myrian are indeed goodly witches. They are both well and up in the hills doing what witches do. I think we can rule that out as an avenue of enquiry.

Lyle appears to be a priest of Subtelty; I am not sure if he is a he or if she is a she. Either way they have been in Takalia for a couple of days.

Cob appears to be priest of Serenity; he is a he. He is in the hills north of the monastery and is heading further north.

It appears that Harmony's lack of concern about them both is driven by their general tendency to wander off for long periods at a time so their absence is not a worry to him.

Grisgriel

[Patch]

Right so we have a pretty good list then...

In regard to Decimus, while I don't need know the exact method of attack used, it felt very much like no amount of skill in the attack mattered, only brute force, hence only Tarquin and I really hurting him much at all, both of us are as strong as maybe four ordinary men on the street.

In regard to next steps if our ultimate goal is to locate Tiberius and pull his operation apart, then we need to find him, I would suggest working our way up the tree so to speak we hunt Ivy, and Brenigan, find them, and we likely find the next link in the chain.

Also, I received Ybe's belongings the only real item of interest is a lantern with engraved glass panels, I suspect that it is important. Killing Ybe will be a challenge, at least if he is prepared, he is a powerful assassin, and capable of moving through walls, floors and shifting etc. we would need a way to hold him in place.

Harpell

[henghasty]

Right so we have a pretty good list then...

In regard to Decimus, while I don't need know the exact method of attack used, it felt very much like no amount of skill in the attack mattered, only brute force, hence only Tarquin and I really hurting him much at all, both of us are as strong as maybe four ordinary men on the street.

In regard to next steps if our ultimate goal is to locate Tiberius and pull his operation apart, then we need to find him, I would suggest working our way up the tree so to speak we hunt Ivy, and Brenigan, find them, and we likely find the next link in the chain.

Also, I received Ybe's belongings the only real item of interest is a lantern with engraved glass panels, I suspect that it is important. Killing Ybe will be a challenge, at least if he is prepared, he is a powerful assassin, and capable of moving through walls, floors and shifting etc. we would need a way to hold him in place.

Harpell

Harpell

I wonder if there is merit in (on the assumption that Ybe's effects are mundane) casting the speak with inanimate spell on them (or some other form of enquiry) to investigate Ybe? Such enquiries, being indirect, may avoid his shielding against such scrying? I believe Galdor may have access to that spell.

I shall make some enquiries about Ivy and Brenigan and report back.

Grisgriel

[Pstaker]

Also, I received Ybe's belongings the only real item of interest is a lantern with engraved glass panels, I suspect that it is important. Killing Ybe will be a challenge, at least if he is prepared, he is a powerful assassin, and capable of moving through walls, floors and shifting etc. we would need a way to hold him in place.

It would be interesting to see if the light from the Ybe's lantern would stop him from shifting, or otherwise affect him.

Or perhaps it allows tracking whilst in darkness.

I may be barking up the wrong tree but primus does like synergies.

Galdor

[henghasty]

Yorso

Before I make some enquiries about Ivy and Brenigan can you clarify the basis of your suspicions against them (other than their disappearance)?

Grisgriel

[TimTreadwell]

More dodgy Blauze divining.....

Lyle and Ivy are both followers of the enemy. They are both priests.

Ivy is also a wizard. Ivy is female.

Lyle is also a 'scout'. Lyle is neither male nor female.

Both can wield mundane weapons.

I would presume both are followers of Subtlety's opposite as they seem quite able to deceive divinations or are protected by some object or rite that does this for them. I'm thinking that all members of their cult would likely be defended in this way.

Ybe seems resistant to divinations rather than trying to deceive which make things much harder. I believe he's deceived us in the past so is good with his defences.

Cob is more of a place spirit, a Samila perhaps. As such he was affected by the darkness/gloom that was in the area and is grateful for its lifting. He was aware of Gris divining about him knowing both your full name and the description " the holy one of glowing lights".... which is nice. He was using a variation on the Druidic "Well of Knowledge" with a "throwing the runes" style. He wears a Talthari symbol and follows Serenity. He usually chooses to look like a shepherd in worn clothes but actually looks more ageless with green & brown skin with moss & ivy patterns. His eyes are particularly glittery. He offers his aid should we need it. I know where to find him should we need to.

I've checked the local area around the Monastery and there are no enemy bases/stashes etc within 5 miles.

Yorso.

[StuartEaston]

Hi all,

Here are my thoughts on the information recovered and what we should be doing. Currently we're on the back foot, we know the enemy is active but not necessarily what their plans or goals are. We need to if possible either get ahead of what the enemy is doing or at least confound their plans and slow them down to give us time to unravel what is going on.

They are clearly trying to find the three tiles even if we don't fully know their motives for doing so. We can draw some conclusions but if we can stop them getting hold of any of them that should be considered a win for us.

There seem to be a lot of agents of the various aspects of the enemy, but clearly the opposite of Subtlety seems to be the main problem for us currently both in numbers and in the fact it's difficult to find out information about them. We should try and focus on them if possible. Uncovering their actual names and locations, as well as what their actual plans might be is key, although it may not be directly achievable.

- The letter from Moab’al’salam Glass City Curios, I don't know if we have investigated this at all? I know at least one aspect of the enemy was in Ishma although not considered active ten years ago. We should perform some preliminary scrying about this.

- Another letter clearly mentions that Aminae is still around, we're unlikely to get a straight answer from communing about him but we should be aware of him going forwards. It seems he has changed shape or perhaps been reborn but doesnt give us any leads.

- The lamp left behind, is mentioned in one letter from Ybe to Tiberius, in fact the whole letter is important and I ​re write it here:

"I’m pleased to say that with your and others help we reclaimed Corolov from the ‘nacht over the dawn. The anchors are now attached and the mistlight lamps should once again allow passage through the mockerways. They will need to be attuned again of course. Be aware that the old protections and obfuscations are empowered again."

Corolov is I believe Aminae. The mistlight lamp could possibly be the lamp left behind by Ybe. I am not aware of the mockerways, but it seems the enemy is using them and has protectiosn over them and hidden them. If we were able to use the lamp, break into these ways it could lead us to areas the enemy really does not want us to be and potentially learn a lot or disrupt a lot of their rituals/plans.

- Later in the letters they talk about reclaiming the aspect of O, this should obviously be prevented if at all possible. They speak about someone called the Archivist who T went to visit. Perhaps we should do the same? Although we should heed the warnings about him being extremely dangerous and not liking visitors. So perhaps we need to do some ground work on that.

- Lastly the final letter was signed off with five words that I am cautious about repeating here, from previous experience I believe this will be a cypher or code to reveal a name. If we could break that code then it may give us more information about who our real opposition is.

My thinking on the actions we should take is:

1. Investigate and possibly use the Mistlight lantern and see where that takes us.
2. Investigate the Ishmaic letter if we haven't already as we know nothing about it's significance.
3. Try and find the third tile and keep it out of the hands of the enemy.
4. Investigate and then potentially visit the Archivist that T went to see.

Tai

[henghasty]

Tai

I thank you for your thoughts.

The tiles

We secured one of them on Starsday and it is now safely in the Cathedral.

Mockerways

I have reason to believe Ivy may have access to these. It appears she may have entered one today.

Glass shops

You maybe onto something here. Ivy appears to regularly frequent a glass shop in Gressen. Whilst there she disappears from scrying. I should add that she has similar connections with Coris Mount and somewhere in Shedeff.

The 5 names

I do not believe this is connected to Malice. These 5 names were part of the security system in the Prison from which we extracted the tile and part, I believe, of that. The prison is no part of the schemes of Malice.

Grisgriel

[henghasty]

All

My investigations suggest that Lyle is on his way to Elenbruch before heading into the wilds of Kasnia. There may be value in seeking to get ahead of him. Does anyone have contacts in Elenbruch/Kasnia who could keep an eye out for him or could anyone get there sharpish?

Similarly if we have any agents in Gressen may I suggest some delicate enquiries about Ivy at the glass shop?

Grisgriel