LPDnD: In Too Waterdeep

[Staris]

Stavis gets a bit of confused look on his face "How did you learn my name to even find my fami....." pauses for a second or two and the confusion deepends "Why did they let you live?"

[Jimer Lins]

"Thank you very much, Professor. I appreciate the information you have given me. I also find the information about Vlad and Viggo to be extremely interesting and I'm of a mind to agree with Syric. We encountered Vlad and Viggo in the past, or two people who were human at that time. I wonder if our influence then changed anything now?"

[Blackferne]

Stavis gets a bit of confused look on his face "How did you learn my name to even find my fami....." pauses for a second or two and the confusion deepends "Why did they let you live?"

"A war wizard who owed me a favor and three cave gaints helped make that happen."

[Jimer Lins]

"My goodness, Staris. You will just HAVE to take me to meet your family sometime."

[Furiel]

"Thank you very much, Professor. I appreciate the information you have given me. I also find the information about Vlad and Viggo to be extremely interesting and I'm of a mind to agree with Syric. We encountered Vlad and Viggo in the past, or two people who were human at that time. I wonder if our influence then changed anything now?"

"It sounds to Tony Plush like meeting Stavis' family will also lead to a fair bit of violence, and we've got more than enough on our plate as it is currently.

Now not to rain on the parade of positive thinking, but as Tony Plush recalls they had been considering sitting it out and waiting previously as well. We have to remember, they are vampires, which makes them quasi-immortal so they can easily just sit the fight out, wait until someone finally wins and then take the weakened faction. They have all the time in the world. We need to keep that in mind when dealing with them.

As for your efforts Professor, Tony Plush appreciates them, but one of the things about going by a pseudonym is that eventually that trail will die, just as your attempts did. And while Tony Plush took that name to protect a family for reasons that are probable moot now. However given how the Tony Plush name has worked out that name shall be carried forward with one intention, to stuff it straight down the throats of those who would dare disparige it.

So that brings us to the question of the night, now that we're back, what can we do to make it right."

[Jimer Lins]

"Heh, it was a joke, Tony." Trinal looks at the Professor. "We were... rescued, so to speak, from our travails at the end of the Battle of the Green Sea- which is a nice name for it, by the way." He sips his wine. "We are eager to find out what the lay of the land is, and where our efforts would be most effectively applied. If I can suggest a modicum of discretion about who we are would be a good idea. I wonder if perhaps you can guide us to what would be the most appropriate problems we could tackle, Professor- avoiding the higher echelons of leadership, their entanglements and politics, and the issues of publicity would probably be a good idea."

Trinal looks serious for a moment. "I think we should even consider simply being effectively an unregistered free agent, working for the Professor here- his position in the defense hierarchy gives us ample access to information that we can use to advance his goals and take the fight to our enemies, without being answerable directly to any nobility or governments. It's faster, easier and probably less likely to gain the attention of our enemies, who have no doubt marked our possible appearance by access to information from our most recent benefactors."

[Staris]

Stavis begins to recover from the shock "Did you give them the name Stavis?" mutters to himself "May not be a bad idea for a new name just in case."

[Blackferne]

"Unfortunately Stavis I did. At the time I hadn't seen mentions in the historical record of your possible adventures, and I didn't think you'd be coming back. I'm sorry. On the plus side, they think you are dead, and don't know you have returned.

As for what you can do to help, let me outline what I do and the structure of the war effort. That may provide some framework you could use. I am a logistical analyst for General Watson. He is a good man, a bit young, but comes from good stock. He is ambitious, but has been relegated towards supply lines and the rear guard. He is one of King Gavin's cousins. The alliance is a composite of the ruling elites who escaped Sagemore and Faycrest, and the Dwarven kings who have been driven out of the mountains by Bha'al's forces. The Elves forces in the Citadel have been cut off, but the woodland elves of teh south make up a few legions.

As you can imagine this Great War is taxing on all of us, but the thing to remember is that just as much as the Blood Army wants to win, they want to crush the Chulassa as well. Orcus is as real a threat to their Bha'al as Bha'al is to Orcus. Mortals largely have gone on the defensive digging and fortifying a line to prevent either party from making it any closer to Wateerdeep. The Undead Alliance has covert been offering help on various missions as they don't like either faction, or so they say.

The main debates we have in the army is how long can we hold out in a defensive stance? Do we concentrate on one over the other and hope to remobilize before it is too late? Are there other allies we could recruit to our cause? The Dragonkin to the south have not largely been affected, except for losing their main trading partner in Sagemore. There have even been discussions about approaching the Drow for a treaty, though no one really thinks that could work. Our desperation may entice them to just attack us on their own. Some speak of the warrior clans to the west for help, but they are on the other side of the great sea and it would be quite long shot.

Regardless of what you choose, I'm bound to General Watson for the time being as part of the war effort." The professor says.

[Blackferne]

Note on lifespans:

Apparently there is a difference between 5e and 4e on what lifespans should be. I'm stating the following.
(All lifespans are excluding unnatural causes of death like violence, plague, accidents. These are the lifespan that you could expect if you lived a normal healthy life)

Humans: 75 years +-10
Elves 800 years +-50
Dwarves 250 years +-25
Half Elves 200 years +-40
Gnomes 300 years +-30

[Furiel]

"You can't fight a 2 front war and win unless you have the enemy massively outnumbered and/or outclassed and we likely have neither. Trinal's idea is a good one to have us work for now outside the system. If we are working outside the system Tony Plush isn't sure how well we can do recruiting new allies. The things that we could perhaps help with would be perhaps find a way to open The Citadel again or perhaps someone has some ideas for how we could coax the Bha'alists and Barbarians into fighting each other more. Get those 2 duking it out and weakening themselves gives us the advantage."

[Whiteness]

"Agreed, and if we can't get to the Citadel maybe there is a town we can reclaim. Something to boost morale and prove ourselves might also help us get resources or allies."

[Staris]

"Understood, what done is done."

"If Bha'al is fighting below ground with the dwarfs, they may well be already at war with the Drow, bringing Lolth as yet another deity on the war front."

"Though even if that where to be true I still disbelieve that a true alliance could be had which is as much advantage as not, Lolth I can safely say will never join forces with Orcus or Bha'al as the only deities she works with are her children."

[Furiel]

"Syric you just gave Tony Plush an idea. Professor, how do the barbarians keep their slaves? Do they have them in camps or something similar that we could raid and rescue a bunch of our people? One would think that would do wonders for morale along with giving us more manpower to fight. Assuming we have the resources to feed and equip them."

[Jimer Lins]

(ooc) Joun, what was the name of the place we rescued the son of the Duke?

[Whiteness]

[ooc] Faycrest

[Jimer Lins]

(ooc- thanks!)

Trinal says "Professor, if we need at any time to request something from some of the nobility, we can present this token to the current Duke of Duchess of Faycrest- " here he shows him the half-medallion we got from the Duke, "And ask him for any boon that is reasonably within his power. It's useful to know in case we need something that he could provide."

"Regarding our next move, I like the idea of doing something to boost morale, because from what little I've seen it's terrible right now. I like the idea of finding something that will boost morale and have a positive effect on our standing in the war. What is the exact situation regarding the Citadel? You say it's cut off; it still stands, correct?"

[Blackferne]

"Syric you just gave Tony Plush an idea. Professor, how do the barbarians keep their slaves? Do they have them in camps or something similar that we could raid and rescue a bunch of our people? One would think that would do wonders for morale along with giving us more manpower to fight. Assuming we have the resources to feed and equip them."

"Before the Chulassa moved west and encountered us, they had the bulk of their forces still to the east mopping up a campaign to subjugate the remains of the Cine Empire. The Cine are a very industrious peoples. The barbarians are very practical peoples have a large infrastructure built upon Cine administration, which includes management of their slave. Most of the time from what we can tell, a Chulassa warrior prince type figure will have his detachment of horsemen. Under that will be the logistical lines mostly populated by Cine and recently captured slaves. Promotion within the slave ranks is based on loyalty. The Cine have many of the scientific and arcane advances the western kingdoms have, so slaves will be clustered around the needs of the empire like mines, farms, building roads and what not.

As for the Citadel, it is on the far northern end of the great mountain range. To travel to it, you would need to navigate the edges of the Army of Blood's territory, some drow holdings, and the Chulassa empire. It would be a perilous journey, but if it could be made and if the proper arrangements there could be made, a second front could be opened." The Professor says.


[ooc At this point as you might notice I'm giving you guys a menu of options on how you wish to proceed. I have several different ideas which will eventually be explored, but I'm prepared to be reactive in my DMing while you guys decide your next major moves.]

[Jimer Lins]

"What about getting the Dragonkin involved? I like the idea of more allies, and if we were to visit them we could determine if an alliance would be possibly in the offing without involving anyone official and the headaches of a formal diplomatic sally."

[Staris]

"I'm not against seeking an alliance Trinal, but if Gobo is any indication of their valuing honor, having us a rag-tag group with no name for themselves in these times as unofficial diplomats may not be putting our best foot forward towards and likely to get us killed."

"Either help to get something official started or wait till we in this time have a better know name for ourselves before we attempt that would be my preference."

[Furiel]

"Tony Plush agrees with Stavis, while allies are needed, we would be better served doing something to build our reputation first and getting a better feel for what has and is happening now. We need to do something impactful that can get people talking and give them hope. Which to Tony Plush means freeing slaves or getting the Citidel back in the fight.

The follower of Avandra in Tony Plush would really like to free some slaves, give those people the freedom back that has been stolen from them. But as Tony Plush thinks about it getting the Citidel back in the fight might be the most prudent move because it would take us through all of the major players lands where we could get a better feel for what is going on in the world now, maybe get some intelligence on their plans and by getting the Citidel back in the fight we get new allies and a better ability to fight 2 factions because we now are fighting from 2 locations."

[Whiteness]

"Good point Tony, and I am definitely of the same mind. Let's head to the citadel."

[Blackferne]

"If you do travel to the Citadel, please meet with General Watson first. He may have a message he wishes to pass on." The Professor says.

"And wherever you go I want to come with you!" Sadie says enthusiastically.

Victae looks at each of you unsure.

[Furiel]

"You can want to come with us all you want Miss Sadie but that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. We are all highly trained professionals who as you may recall didn't fair as well as we would have liked the last time we encountered the Army of Blood. Now Tony Plush is not saying no, but before we can even consider allowing you to join us you have to realize it's going to be incredibly dangerous and we can't promise that we'll always be able to protect you. Tony Plush is going to be very blunt here, are you going to be able to defend yourself in a fight and even be able to contribute if needed both in a fight and along the journey in general? If not then there is no way in good conscience that we can allow it."

[Blackferne]

"I've been around swords and I've seen danger." Sadie says.

The Professor hems a bit

"Sadie, I don't know that this is a great idea. This is an extremely difficult task they are setting out on."

[Whiteness]

"We have enough blood on our hands already, the girl should stay. Find her a role to play in all this if you must, but like Tony said, we can't be there to protect her every step along the way. Unless she's hiding some kind of great power, we go without her."