Dinner at Hrad Morva
Dinner at Hrad Morva
The footman brings you up to the new castle, an airy (by borderlands manor standards of this time) almost rocket-like whitewashed building with large windows and four nestled sub-towers.
You are ushered into a large gloomy windowless hall dominated by an enormous fireplace fronted by delicate alabaster carvings depicting a wide range of fierce and suggestively-leering forest spirits feeling in terror from winsome maidens with bohemian ear spoons.
Two tables are set up in a T-pattern with the shorter table at the end being for the mistress. A single place is set for Valdemar at that table, the rest of you are made to sit far down the longer table away from her.
Dinner is deer-kidney and dandelion greens pie followed by rabbit sauteed in corn liquor, fennel, mace and festergrass and suspended in a jello-like aspic. Dessert is a pile of deep-fried potato dumplings sprinkled with a pound of powdered beet-sugar and hoosberry jam.
Lady Draga the Twitterlight is fair-haired and severe-featured (though comely in a vaguely masculine way). Despite being all of 17--and scandalously unwed—she projects an air of easy authority and is polite if distant in conversation.
After some awkward attempts at small talk she let's drop that her march-wardens have captured two kozak scouts on two successive days on the canton's northern border, one a few miles to the west of the Throves mine, the other a mile to the east. She says a bit too non-nonchalantly “so we take a few precautions, naturally.”
She pauses after some reflection and straightforwardly asks of you: “you can bring something to the defense of this sacred place, yes?”
*Whatta ya say? (Questions can be made in or out of character).
cc Gus L cole long Michael Moscrip Robert Parker Corey Ryan Walden Zach Marx Weber Dennis Higgins Ben L. Anthony Picaro James Aulds
ReplyDeleteTizzard offers that his superior understand of the science of doors can create portals unbreakable save for magic, but passable with a code word. Also he is a decent warrior by the sloppy standards of humanity.
ReplyDeleteAlso still have to figure out a time to do the Big Battle.
ReplyDeleteSurface skim her and advidors
ReplyDeleteGus L she replies, "I have been told that a door is the weakest point in a fortification. In your expert opinion what steps should be taken to secure this castle? I am of course ready to compensate you for your advice."
ReplyDeleteJames Aulds scanning her brain you definitely get the sense that she is playing way cooler than she appears. You get the sense that she is quite scared of the kozaks both for herself and something else powerful that the castle holds (you can't pick up what exactly is from a surface skim). She seems sincere from your scan.
ReplyDeleteHer servants are just plain freaking out behind the masks of dinner etiquette.
Nadezda has just returned from some wide wanderings, but she is more than willing to lead scouts in the area and prepare a few boobytraps for the Kozaks.
ReplyDelete"We'll go full VC on them," she says fiercely if somewhat obscurely, her eyes betraying a hint of the Eternal Scumbag behind.
"I am not one of my people's seige engineers, but I understand that steel beam reinforced concrete is a far superior material for creating walls then timber or dressed stone. Likewise a ghost fence of trapped souls, the energies of their torment released as voltaic charges would be a proper Eldish defensive measure - however I cannot recommend it for tormenting the souls of the dead is corrupting and against the True Hedonics.
ReplyDeleteLacking access to these resources I propose to spend the next few days bracing the exterior and keep doors with magical locks. The walls around them will still be susceptible to normal siege tactics, but the doors themselves should hold except against magic.
She smiles and says "yes I would love to hear more about this 'con-crete' but your wizardry sounds more eminently practical. I will pay you 200 gold suns for your castings. That is sufficient, no?"
ReplyDelete200 GP is a fair trade as long as me and my companions are allowed to find succor and provisions inside the castle walls in the event of an attack, which is beneficial to all involved as we can bolster the defenders. If that is not the case I am afraid we cannot reach an agreement as I will need to find another place of safety from the coming Kozak horde, and perhaps someone else will offer it to me for the ability to burst open any locked door.
ReplyDelete"Hmm those conditions seem to my satisfaction. I will have Umlar prepare some freshly-deloused hay in the comfortable environs of the stair undercroft for your quarters."
ReplyDeleteI let her know I am more that willing to heal injured defenders with White Magic, though I now only have the strength to help two people each day.
ReplyDeleteShe nods and says "I fear with the paucity of our forces that may be a significant percentage of our medical needs."
ReplyDeleteWell Tizzird will get to Wiz locking - starting with the main gate (which I'd also suggest be made to look as shoddy as possible so any attacker thinks it's a weak point and wastes energy trying to bash it open.
ReplyDeleteKolchak can't help his curiosity, and asks "What if they set fire to the door? Will it still burn up? If it did burn up, would they still be kept out by some magical force?" He is taking notes on a scrap of paper as he asks.
ReplyDeleteMichael Moscrip My understanding of Wizard Lock is that the door remains barred protected by magic and may only be opened by magical means. Chris of course can tell me different - I'm not trying to lie to our hosts here. Perhaps a force field stays in the place of the door? I think Hold portal just makes a door as strong as it would normally be if it were locked.
ReplyDelete"your gracefulness, does the keep have any additional storage underneath it so that we might bring in more food stuff or help hide the children and goats, perhaps basements and wine cellars"
ReplyDeleteChris Kutalik im also curios if any windows face the lake
Umlar the steward politely interrupts, "Lord Labi's Compleat Guide states that the Arcane Lock cast upon a door, chest, or portal magically locks in it a similar manner to the spell Hold Portal. Implying naturally that it is a door normally secured and locked as per that spell. But on the other hand the spell also clearly states that only a Dispel Magic or a Knock spell can open the lock. It's murky but later interpretations feel that it this magic only extends to the lock itself, not to say a kozak battering ram."
ReplyDeleteThe Lady raises a surprised eyebrow and Ulmar blushes and says, "I am a fan of the Great Practioners, I have all the collector cards."
James Aulds "I am afraid that the storage cellars under the New Castle are not suitable for those purposes currently being...filled to capacity."
ReplyDeleteYes windows do face the lake.
Falak, grunting an unknown curse under his breath, says: "I would relish the chance to smear Kozak blood throughout these hills. I would do that of my own accord, though the offer of free lodgings will not be declined. May the shadows always darken their loins, and may the warming rays of the sun be but a yearning never fulfilled."
ReplyDeleteUmlar shifts around a bit uncomfortable and you can hear him say in a stage whisper to the Lady "the gentleman appears to be without pants, your ladyship."
ReplyDeleteLady Draga diplomatically says "I salute the martial ferocity of your beliefs."
Charley, his mustache and pointy goatee dripping with powdered sugar and bits of aspic nods along. "Just let me blow some shit up and stab some fools."
ReplyDeleteChris Kutalik So in other words Wizard Lock is a useless spell given that everyone has crowbars?
ReplyDeleteIt is lame as written, basically an indefinite Hold Portal. I am going to say that it adds a limited protection to the portal, a hardening akin to reinforcing it with extra bandings.
ReplyDelete"Perhaps we could oversee a work crew to clear out some space down there" Hera says as she walks over to the window " what a beautiful lake"
ReplyDelete"Oh I don't think that will be sufficient," she coyly smiles. "It is, isn't it. Especially in the evening when the sun slants down on it just so."
ReplyDeleteChris Kutalik Yeah however you want to run it - it's such a limited use spell and one rarely sees it used by players. I'm surprised on the reading - though now I look it up in the 1e DMG and that has an even lamer reading of it. I guess when I was a youth the GM used to throw wizard locked doors at us so we'd have to memorize knock?
ReplyDeleteYes exactly! I remember it very much being an "oh shit lets track back and get someone who can cast knock" experience in AD&D. I looked up the DMG reference too and all it adds is "you can go through your own door." So in terms of what the Lady thinks is useful she thinks it would be good to use on the chokepoint internal doors which are not reinforced (or even have locks).
ReplyDeleteKolchak continues taking notes about the door situation.
ReplyDelete"I too am willing and able to slaughter excessively clad pseudo-barbarians in great numbers in exchange for a place beneath your stairs. As long as we're clear that this is a temporary contractual arrangement between two free persons, neither of whom has ever been one of your slaves."
ReplyDeleteChris Kutalik What are your spell research rules - Tizzird really needs a few more door related spells. Like Blink & Mend.
ReplyDeleteGus L what about Hold Portal? C'mon.
ReplyDeleteCorey Ryan Walden I have Hold Portal - Tizzird's Spell List (randomly generated) is:
ReplyDeleteLVL1
Charm Person
Read Magic
Detect Magic
Hold Portal
LVL2
Knock
Wizard Lock
It's good for an Elf, though at 5th Level I totally want to add Blink which would be terrifying when cast on a decent melee fighter. Of course that's some 30K XP away...
Wow he really is the ultimate door wizard.
ReplyDeleteCan probably scout well with my bird + speak w/animals
ReplyDelete