The Plan
- Ell does the recap, earning Damien an advance on his least developed theme
- Snapping back to the planning stage, Vedim asks what the plan is if the Valenar attack Fort Bones while the group are there
- Nerysdeth says "not dying". Also suggests if they help the defence, they could gain trust
- Yashira says that's too risky, they've been in some scuffles but never something like an actual siege
- Charlie says they need to capitalise on the chaos, that's the ideal time to yoink the Queen of Night
- Yashira agrees. They can use their lack of knowledge of the Fort as an advantage, it gives them an alibi for being in places they shouldn't be
- Damien ponders where the piece may be stored, if not on someone's person. Maybe the Captain's offices?
- Ruckus reckons it'll be under lock and key, so they'll need to find or replicate the key. Damien says "if not, Yashira has sticky fingers"
- "Once we find it, it'll be easy enough to steal it"
- Famous last words
- Yashira's decent at drawing, they used to design dresses
- Damien thinks the fact the fort is old works in their favour, it'll likely be an old, simpler lock
- Charlie ponders it may not be a physical key. There are magics.
- What if it's bones?
- A real skeleton key
- Okay, if they can't get into wherever it is stored, could they take it from the person who has it? Is that something they think they could do?
- Ruckus doesn't think they want to pick a fight with the captain in the fort, that's too risky. Maybe Yashira can swipe it?
- They all agree that they can't fight the captain, it's a death sentence
- Nerys says the most important part of this mission is not using their real identities (Nerys gave their CV to Sahira al-Thul). They come up with a whole backstory and persona named Slieben. (Again, they used their real name in the actual heist)
- Damien asks what all of their codenames will be?
- Yashira mutters "oh we're doing codenames"
- Charlie says he'll just use his middle name, "Nathaniel"
- Oh that's a good idea! Damien will use his too! It's Dorian
- Damien Dorian d'Orien
- They all groan, and then he says he was just fucking with them. Dorian is his cousin. His middle name is Clarence (which is also the name of his unicorn...)
- (Damien did not use Clarence, he introduced himself as Damien Doran)
- Ban will be Ben, obviously
- Yashira will go with "Yashira Vaelwyn"
- They came up with codenames and half of them didn't do it during the actual heist
- Yashira summarises this part of the plan. Utilise the chaos to explore the fort, confirm the veracity of the map. Locate the chess piece, steal it, and then sneak out. Hopefully they can do all of that before the Valenar raid is over.
- They'll try and leave via the sewer grate in the Washroom
- If the chess piece is on the captain's person, Yashira will try to pickpocket it.
- Yashira then asks what the plan is if they get caught? Do they flee? Fight?
- Nerys thinks fighting Karrns in a fort is a bad idea
- Charlie thinks they could do it if they can get the captain on their own, but if anyone else is around it's a non-starter
- Yashira is dancing around the suggestion of running or surrendering, feeling a bit sore about how the last mission went
- How many days are they willing to commit to this heist?
- Damien says the longer they hang around, the more risk there is of being rattled. They can't push it too long
- Maybe a day or two at most
- They decide their time limit is until the bureaucrat leaves the Fort.
- They get sidetracked talking about a series of plays called "Game of Thrones", which Charlie has never seen (despite working in the theater). They really hated how it all went downhill in the final play
- Vedim has his head in his hands, three whiskeys deep, debating whether he made the right choice with these guys.
- Yashira drags them kicking and screaming back to the plot. If they get split up, where do they meet when shit hits the fan? Not somewhere with a lot of people
- Damien suggests the kitchens? Ban will definitely be there
- Or maybe the wash. Nobody will be relieving themselves mid siege
- They just all happen to need to piss at the same time
- Yashira agrees on the wash, they need to check out the grate anyway and confirm it's a viable escape route
The Valenar Gambit
- Snapping back to the present.
- Damien reminds Yashira that they need to meet in the "little soldiers room" after she gets the key
- She looks at him incredulously. "Is that what you call it?"
- Shut up and get on with it!
- Ban, in the kitchen, makes an excuse to slip away. "I need to use the little soldier's room"
- Captain Alinda Dorn takes Sahira away from the frontline with The Kind. Charlie sticks with them.
- Nerys is confused about what to do. Their plan was to meet if the fort was attacked, but Charlie is going with The Kind. What do??
- Do they go to the kitchen like in the plan?
- Damien says they need to go to the washroom, not the kitchen! Weren't you listening!?
- Nerys announces that they need to go to the little scribe's room!
- One of the soldiers yells at them to hurry up
- Damien takes advantage of Nerys making a distraction to just disappear
- Those going to the washroom now go past the armoury, allowing Ruckus to see them
- Nerys yells to Damien "Wait for me Damien, or whatever your name is now!"
- Damien experiences "acute despair" at this situation
- Yashira trails the soldier to the Sanctum, where they unlock a door and shut it behind them. She doesn't hear him lock the door, and everyone else has headed for the walls to defend the fort. She moves up and presses her ear to the door to listen for the private, and then tries to look through the keyhole
- She sees that the private has gone through another door, which they've left open. They can't see the door she's at
- She opens it quietly and sneaks into the room. She takes in her surroundings, seeing the big door to the crypts, and the doors to the captian's office and the "collector in chiefs" office. The door to the collector in chief's office is open, and the private seems to be in there
- Yashira examines the lock to the captain's room and debates picking it.
- She takes a peek round the corner to the private, who is stacking sheets and whistling a jaunty tune. Okay, she probably has time to take a peek
- She tries the door to the captain's quarters, but it's locked. Lockpicking time!
- It's an easy lock for her to get open, and she does so expertly.
- The captain's quarters are fairly bare. There's a desk with a stack of papers, and the captain's bed.
- She hides under the bed, and decides to wait and see if the chess piece gets dropped off here or not.
- We snap back to the others, who all needed to piss at the same time so now they're in the washroom
- They find the grate, which is rusted shut. It hasn't been used in a long time
- Ruckus asks where Yashira and Charlie are? Yashira went after the key, Charlie went with that old man
- "Old man? Why is he hanging out with old men? That's not part of the plan"
- Ban says they probably had a reason!
- Hopefully they see him later. Damien says they should wait here until Yashira joins them
- Ban doesn't know how long they can wait, the kitchen was pretty busy
- "Even now?"
- "Have you ever worked in a kitchen? It's always busy"
- Damien scoffs. Has he ever worked in a kitchen? He's never even cooked his own food
- He doesn't think they can wait too long before it gets suspicious. Ban says they may have to proceed without the others if they don't arrive
- Damien reminds them what the plan was when they got into the washroom
The Plan
- They emphasize the importance of sticking together, and sticking to the plan!
Tea Time
- While Yashira is hiding under the bed, she hears footsteps. Captain Dorn, The Kind, Sahira and Charlie all enter the Sanctum and begin having tea together
- Oh she's so cooked
- That's way more people than she expected
- Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
- Charlie stands awkwardly whilst Sahira has tea with The Kind and Captain Dorn. Captain Dorn looks very uncomfortable, she'd much rather be on the wall
- He has no idea Yashira is so close
- After some time, Captain Dorn says that she needs to check on the defence. A captain shouldn't be having tea while her men die on the walls.
- That leaves just Sahira and the Kind with Charlie, and Yashira hiding under the bed in the next room
- The others, in the washroom, reach the point where they feel they need to take action or move.
- Ban asks if anyone has any messaging magic or anything?
- Nerys has magic but not that kind
- "Useful magic" says Damien
- everyone is very offended on Nerys' behalf
- Damien apologises and says he's very stressed! Everything is going wrong!
- The chess piece is probably on the captain, where would she be? On the walls probably
- Damien says they either look for the captain or head for the captain's quarters and see what's there
- Nerys asks if they should split up or go together? Damien says they should go together so they don't get lost or lose each other
- They head towards the Sanctum
- They gather outside the Sanctum and listen to the Kind and Sahira talk. They didn't see Yashira, so they worry she's dead or imprisoned. Charlie doesn't speak so they don't hear him on the other side of the door
- Fuck what do they do?
- Damien suggests checking out the guest room, maybe there's a mouse hole or something into the captain quarters?
- If it comes down to it, they can always hide under the beds
- Ruckus also suggests Ban could go in and say they were bringing them treats! But that would involve going back to the Kitchen and then back to here
- But wait! Ban was traumatised by having no cookies for Luca Syara, so they always have cookies on them now
- But what do they do once they're in there?
- They don't wanna harm Sahira or the Kind
- This seems like a bad plan. Damien suggests trying the guest room first and if they can't find anything, they just go into the sanctum and improvise
- They check out the guest room, with Nerys keeping watch in the corridor
- Damien looks for a mouse hole or something into the captain's office. Luck is on his side, and he manages to find one, he can see into the captain's quarters!
- He says "yes! I can see into the captain's quarters"
- Yashira hears this and shuffles over to the hole, and says "Damien is that you?"
- "Yashira!? What are you doing in there?"
- "I fucked up, okay! I fucked up!"
- Yashira explains why she's in there, that she thought they might leave the chess piece in here. Now she's fucked! There's people in the sanctum and she can't get out, she's stuck
- "Shit"
- "I'm hiding under the bed, nobody would look under the bed that would be crazy."
- Yashira says she didn't manage to get the keys, the chess piece isn't in here. There's correspondence and stuff but nothing of value or interest to them. Don't teleport in, you'll get stuck in here too!
- Yashira is just waiting for a quiet time to sneak out
- She tells him that Charlie is in the next room. So that's where he is!
- Yashira is confident she can replicate the key with Charlie describing it, they just need to wait for it to be clear
- She also thinks the chess piece is still on Captain Dorn's person
- At least they know where everyone is
- Damien gets out from under the bed and explains that Yashira is in there! Long story
- "What is Charlie doing in there?"
- "I have no idea, probably something to do with his daddy issues"
- Nerys says that Damien is really out of line today. They'll let it slide for now but they'll talk about this later!
- The reality of their situation dawns on them, they're on their own.
- Nerys says "but we're the least competent people in the group!"
- They all take offense to this! Ruckus can make death machines! Ban makes magic food!
- Nerys clarifies that she just meant themself and Damien
- "Fuck you!"
- They're turning on each other, and the plan has fallen apart. They'll soon lose the chaos of the Valenar raid and then they're stuck
- Damien prays to the Traveler, who provides some over the table guidance. Why don't they go speak to Sahira and The Kind, lie, and say they're needed on the wall or something?
- Damien says he's been struck with inspiration, they can just lie!
- Nerys takes it back, he's not useless!
- They go to the Sanctum and see The Kind and Sahira conversing, while Charlie stands there awkwardly
- Damien says they're needed on the walls! The Kind asks if it's really going that badly? Damien lays it on thick, the Fort could fall!
- The Kind gets up, grabs his walking stick and comments that it's been a while since he was needed on the walls. Sahira says she's an accomplished necromancer too, she'll go help
- Charlie asks if he should go too? The Kind thinks about it, and decides he doesn't want Charlie to see what's about to happen. "You keep yourself alive, you've shown such promise"
- Once they're out of the way, Charlie asks the others what the fuck is going on?
- Ruckus goes and opens the door to the captain's quarters. Yashira waits a moment, and then comes out
- "What the fuck were you doing in there?"
- Long story
- Ruckus says they need a plan now, they're on the clock.
- Charlie, as the Kind's apprentice, has been in this room before. He's also seen the skulls embedded in the door, on the Kind's desk.
- Yashira asks if Charlie could make a skull with ice?
- Charlie isn't sure how sophisticated the magic is, it might require actual bone. He can try, and if not he'll have to go into the office and get one.
- He says he's having second thoughts about this plan though, guys
- Yashira says she'll work on getting into the office. Charlie says "please make sure you keep it clean and tidy"
- Yashira is confused, they're not gonna be there in a few hours? Why does it matter if the office gets messed up?
- Charlie looks so conflicted. Yashira asks if he's okay?
- Charlie says the Kind is the best teacher he's ever had, and he doesn't want to screw him over. He doesn't care about the Captain, but he does about The Kind.
- Ruckus says they're thieves, not monsters
- Charlie creates a perfect replica of one of the skulls out of ice, but it doesn't work. He notices there's an inscryption on the skulls, which Charlie notices is a haiku. ("As if I couldn't stan the Kind any more")
- Yashira easily breaks into the Kind's office, and sees a collection of skulls on his desk. One looks human, the others look off.
- She tells Charlie it's open, this is his area of expertise now.
- Charlie enters the office, and debates which skull to use. Yashira helps examine them for the right one
- Charlie hones in on the human skull, and feels lingering necromantic magic on it
- He takes it and slots it into the door
- The door slides open, revealing a spiral staircase that descends into the depths of Fort Bones. It's lit by everbright torches that burn with a blue hue
- Nerys says "oh no" and the others question it?
- "We're gonna discover the dark side of The Kind"
- "Nerys, he's a necromancer..."
- Before they go, Nerys asks Charlie if he wants them to create a magic note that only The Kind can read? Since he seems to care about them
- Charlie says there isn't time!
- Yashira says they can't leave anything incriminating!
- Nerys already used their real name when signing up with Sahira!
- At the bottom of the stairs, they find the crypts. In pride of place in the center of the central chamber is a Conqueror board, laid out for a new game. Towering over the other pieces, and draped in unnatural shadow, is the Queen of Night on the black side of the board.
- Yashira really hopes they don't need to win the Conqueror game first. She advises a bit of caution, let them check it out before taking it
- Yashira examines it and finds no traps or wards, but as she goes to take the piece, she makes eye contact with a huge steel construct. It's faceplate is shaped like a skull, and it has a bunch of corpses impaled on spikes on its back, hanging uselessly. She makes eye contact with it, and it's head shifts as it makes eye contact with her
- Yashira starts to panic and tells the others there's something there. What does she do? Grab it and run? Fight?
The Plan
- Nerys asks what they do if they need to make a quick exit? What do they do once they're out of the Fort, what's their escape plan?
- Damien says the plan is the sewers, no?
- Yashira asks if they'll be running on foot? Is there somewhere they can have transport waiting for them?
- Damien thinks that's another thing that leads back to them, or to Vedim
- Yashira asks Vedim anyway, and tries to convince him to leave them transportation somewhere
- They convince him to provide a nearby carriage and driver, but if the situation looks too hot, it will leave them behind
- Okay, so they get out and make a mad dash for the carriage. Hopefully they're already in the sewers before the theft is discovered
- Okay so they grab the Queen and hope there's a clean shot to the sewer. They need a back up plan though, the map is out of date and they don't know if the grate is even there
- Damien suggests Ruckus could blow a hole in the wall?
- Nerys reckons an explosion would be the "situation looking too hot"
- It's a back up, not the main plan
- Vedim says he can supply them with rapelling kits to allow them to rappell down the wall if they need to
- Damien can potentially teleport up onto the wall from somewhere where there isn't access, and provide a rope for the others to climb up, and then they rappell down the other side
- Charlie asks what they do if they can't actually find the Queen of Night? What do they do? Can they sub it for another Mabaran artifact, Nigel's not gonna care?
- Place might be chock full of mabaran artifacts, they don't know
- Damien says it's been a pleasure working with them all, he's looking forward to a long stay in a Karrnathi prison after it all goes wrong
- Nerys asks if they're doing a war crime?
- No, no, no. They're just a foreign organisation committing espionage.
- Yashira thinks they need to plan for the carriage leaving them, and having to take a long hike through snowy Karrnath. She doesn't want to be caught out in the cold unprepared again.
- Nerys says they're struggling to wrap their head around all the hypotheticals here. This planning stuff is too complicated
- Yashira just doesn't want to freeze to death!
- They summarise their plan to get away, and then we return to the present
Check
- Yashira makes eye contact with the Bone Collector.
- Yashira yells that she's grabbing the Queen and they need to run! She grabs it and sprints
- A split second later, the Bone Collector collides with the Conqueror table and sends the piece scattering. It uses one freakishly long limb to slow itself and reaches out with the other one for Yashira as she runs.
- Yashira veers to try and get a pillar between her and the construct as it bares down on her. The pillar gets obliterated, but Yashira dives instinctively and avoids also being obliterated.
- The construct, with its free hand, plucks a corpse from its back and throws it at the door to the staircase. The corpse plops down at Ruckus' feet, and then tries to grab him! They're animated!
- Ruckus doesn't have his suit! He instinctively tries to jump back to avoid getting grabbed but he's too slow, it grabs his ankle and he falls over. It starts to drag him towards it.
- Damien steps in to help, kicking the zombie and getting Ruckus out of its grasp. He looks towards Nerys in his terror
- Nerys begins to recite a story about the Necrodancer, a Karrnathi bard who invented the Danse Macabre. "He's like the Pied Piper but with bones"
- They're trying to get control of the zombie, to make it dance out of the way! And it works!?
- Charlie's up next, he runs towards Yashira and tries to take the Queen from her. Yashira gives it to him as the Bone Collector charges, having no idea what he's about to do with it.
- With the Queen in hand, he tries to draw on Mabar and control the construct. As soon as his hand touches the Queen, colour seems to drain from the world as it leaves a dark wound in his heart. It's fucking cursed
- But he feels power. Necromantic power. He tries to channel it into a command to STOP!
- His voice comes out distorted by Mabar, but it works! For a moment, at least. The Bone Collector pauses for a second, giving the others time to get further away.
- Yashira doesn't leave Charlie though, she stays with him to try and slow the construct down some more. She quickly sets her rappell gear across the wall, making a tripwire. She then grabs Charlie and yells at him "we've got to go!"
- The construct just misses Yashira's head as she does so, and a bit of debris hits her and dazes her, slowing her down. Oh no!
- Ban starts yelling encouraging words at them. Snap out of it! Run!
- It kinda works? But it's not fast enough, and both of them get knocked down as the construct swings again!
- Charlie is conflicted and not acting fast enough. Yashira grabs his shoulder and tries to get through to him. "Charlie I promise we can get out of this, throw down some ice in its way, but we have to run! Please!"
- She then takes off her jacket and throws it at the construct to try and cover its eyes and blind it for a second and she runs, hoping that Charlie follows
- Charlie thinks of Luca as clearly as he can, the only person he believes can help them, and tries to conjure ice.
- He feels the air coming as the construct swings at him, but it doesn't connect. He opens his eyes to see Luca Syara, looking like the Ice Queen, in front of him, having caught the construct's hand.
- She makes eye contact with him, and in an unamused voice, asks "Charlie, why aren't you running?"
- He bolts, to the sound of shattering ice
- They all get to the top of the stairs, back into the sanctum. Yashira removes a skull from the door, causing it to close, and they all run.
- Charlie slides a note under The Kind's door and runs with the others.
- At the next doorway, Charlie hears steel get rent as the construct tears the door down.
- They all sprint for the sewer. They never opened the grate, but Ruckus did prepare a bomb to get it open!
- As Ruckus is preparing the bomb, they hear a voice in alarm that gets cut short. No! Jeffrey! (One of Ban's cook bois from the kitchen)
- Nerys feels guilty about releasing this construct in the fort, especially when it's already being besieged by elves.
- Charlie ponders whether the construct can be controlled with the Queen of Night. What if they've doomed Fort Bones?
- "This is a moment where we have to decide whether we are mercenaries or heroes! And I want to be a hero!" - Nerys
- Nerys recites her darkest story, to try and get the bones in the walls to grab or restrain the construct. Damien tries to help, using his bracer to try and teleport the construct into the wall.
- Nerys draws deeper than they've ever drawn on their magic before, they so desperately want to change how this story ends. Their hair begins to burn due to the magic being channeled.
- Damien rushes into danger and, together with the arms reaching from the wall, teleports the construct enough that it's arm gets stuck in the wall.
- Nerys then uses magic to sound an alarm, to alert the fort to the danger.
- Ruckus blows open the grate, and they waste no time in sliding down the shit chute.
- They sneak passed the valenar raiders and make their way to the carriage, and ride away from the scene, without really knowing what happened inside.
- I narrate the construct freeing itself and going on a rampage, until it is stopped by The Kind. The Kind says that it's behaviour is unacceptable, and it stops, sitting down. He places his hand on its faceplate, and asks what could possibly have riled it up?
- Charlie is never going to recover from this emotionally
- The party are really questioning their actions. They don't think they were the good guys here.