Zobeck Se01Ep05

General Summary

From the diary of the late Mistress Arashi, dated Highsummer 96

(The handwriting in this entry is far more formal than Arashi’s usual scrawl. Each letter is rendered with mechanical precision. The header is crossed out and *Princess Moon Shadow* is signed beneath.)
---Loading memory files---
>Zed_Paladin.txt
>Theresa_Warlock.txt
>Biddle_Wizard.txt
>Tannis_Ranger.txt
>Molly_Cleric.txt
>Gummy_Rogue.exe
Mistress Arashi has good days and bad, and she has asked me to help her keep up with her transcriptions while she is in bed today so that is what I am doing. Hello diary! My name is Princess Moon Shadow and today we will be having a conversation where I relate past events for the benefit of posterity. I have brought Mistress Arashi her broth and helped carry her into her bed so it’s just you and me, diary. Ha ha!
It just so happened that the day I will be relating in text form was also a day when Mistress Arashi was a’bed with The Vapors. A group consisting of myself and Mister Tannis and Miss Molly and Mister Biddle and Mister Zed and Miss Theresa (there is a small heart drawn here, with anatomically correct ventricles and aorta) convened to make something useful of the day.
We met with Mister Pali, a tradesman in good standing. A caravaneer working for Mister Pali had fallen victim to a theft of his goods on the road leading eastward out of the city of Zobeck roughly ~=two hours outside of the city walls. The caravaneer claimed to have been assaulted by a blue dragon. Comparing likelihood of encountering aforementioned blue dragon to previous sightings of blue dragons in expanding radius surrounding city walls… △
0.01% likelihood = true.
We investigated the sight of the attack by matching the pace and direction of the caravaneer’s original trajectory. We found an abandoned cart with small claw marks on the side of it. Definitely not regulation size for the claws of a dragon. Off the side of the road, behind some bushes was a cave. It did not have a blue dragon sleeping in front of it. To clarify: there was a large illusion of a dragon in front of the cave.
(There is an accompanying sketch, crosshatched so delicately and so thoroughly one could mistake it for a daguerreotype. It depicts an empty cave mouth in the countryside. The caption below it reads: “Because the dragon allegedly located here did not exist, I have removed it from my archives and depicted this location as it actually appeared for your convenience.”)
Within the cave there were a number of kobold bandits, which we set upon with extreme prejudice. Theresa (there’s that heart again) bolstered my movement speed exponentially by overclocking my internal gyroscopic kinetic measurement mechanism, allowing me to propel myself forward at roughly 3.14 times my usual running pace. Her magic was really something. Unfortunately, I was moving so fast that I was unable to lock on target with the same level of lossless efficiency I typically experience at a nominal stroll. My attack did not decapitate the kobold as I had intended. The stalagmite beside it suffered immense damage, though. Having committed a fatal error by rushing in first, I was 69% likely to be surrounded by the kobolds. Luckily Mister Biddle made use of his own magic by creating a thaumaturgical projectile grenade of somnic force, putting the kobolds to sleep.
With the majority dispatched, we apprehended a conscious survivor and downloaded all pertinent information from him. With the task completed, I recommended we recycle him. Mister Zed interrupted the command line and cancelled that process, allowing the kobold to survive provided it could provided it could provided it could provided it could provided it could provide us with more information. The kobold provided designation Mister “Meek,” and informed us the most precious cargo his collective had appropriated was a golden sphere encoded with runic signatures. He also informed us this device was considered so valuable that it had been exported to a stronghold in the Dragon Empire, far to the east.
Even with Miss Theresa’s use of Tireless.exe, it would be many days and many more miles before we could arrive at our destination, to say nothing of possible hindrances along the way. We resolved to return to Mister Pali and upload all relevant information, in hopes of arriving at an alternate conclusion. Mister Pali redirected us to another agent in his employ, a Miss Oriel, capable of opening a portal to the Shadow Road, a fold in space that would allow us to travel between two places on the material plane within minutes. Miss Theresa retired for the day to check in on Mistress Arashi, and Miss Gummy filled our ranks, providing a much needed element of stealth for the mission. With her acting in concert with Mister Tannis, our ability to move stealthily through rough terrain would be unparalleled. The Shadow Road was uneventful, as I am incapable of existential dread.
(There is a scale model map of a kobold settlement, with detail continuing infinitely downward. Looking closely with a magnifying glass, one could make out individual scales on the skin of the kobolds between the tiny 1 inch huts.) We arrived in Rados, the kobold stronghold, just after dawn. Miss Molly made use of Disguise Self.exe to alter her appearance into that of a dragonborn noble, so as to arouse less suspicion. We snuck past the early morning patrols and created a security vulnerability in the largest building with Mister Zed’s tinker drill. Sadly we were unable to gain sufficient vantage to see the entirety of the room within. We tried several other buildings before we were discovered. Oh, sorry.
We were discovered!!! :0
A kobold patrol located our position and engaged in standard IFF protocol. Miss Molly, thinking quickly, utilized the advantage of her disguise to command the kobolds to ignore us. Regrettably, although their suspicions were deleted, they ran to inform their leader of our presence. We resolved to meet this problem “head on” and parley with the leader for the return of the all-important magic sphere, using subterfuge.
The kobold leader was initially resistant to our attempts at bargaining. He asked for money we did not possess, and it seemed even Miss Molly’s talent for deception would not save us.
Luckily, Mister Zed downloaded a stroke of genius and said “My lady, we should return and inform high command. If the empire wishes for war, it would be best if they struck here first.”
Knowing that a kobold’s greatest weakness was fear, followed closely by stabbing or burning it, our social attack prevailed, and we returned to the shadow road rendezvous point triumphantENDTRANSMISSION

Notes

My apologies for writing this post so late. These last two weeks have been absolutely insane for me (in a GREAT way), but to top it off now I'm sick (in a bad way), meaning I may not make it to tomorrow's game depending on how I feel. Nevertheless, here's our "What are we doing" thread for our next session.
I don't have any personal input to offer since I wasn't at the last game, so I leave it to you all. What did we do last time? Where are we now? Did I hear something about switching back to our old campaign? Should I bring Rava back for some good ol' swingin' maces and punchin' faces? Let me know, and feel free to discuss tomorrow's game below!
Lucielle Marie Belle
I feel like we need to cover these eyes? Did we go to them last time and did they tell us a thing they were looking for? If not we should go get that information.
Other quest-wise, I like the look of the race and the stolen goods.
Richard Fraser teeth, wings and blood
Alex Gentile
I vote lab if we didn't do that last time!
William Flowers
I vote for the Lab quest to take next after the ordeal with undead and murder. They have fancy writing and will mostly be a quiet job until things go horribly horribly wrong.
Richard Fraser
hehe

Date

Highsummer 17, FY 92

Report Date

15 Jun 2018

Primary Location

Zobeck