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RoE Archive => Legends of the Hero-Kings => RoE2 Archives => Grey they Named Him, but Black was His Blood => : X-Osoerde (Alan) May 27, 2009, 01:21:19 PM
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While as of yet, very few people have been involved in this particular plot, it is about to blow-up. In recognition of how important this particular plot is becoming and to hopefully get some productive OOC planning and plotting regarding this particular story arc -- Bobby and I are wondering if anyone wants to speak via email about Manethander Elin, the Gray Duke.
P.S. Sorry Elinie! I know how long people have been working to keep this arc hidden from everyone, it is about to blow up and frankly, some of us are thinking that 'it is on like Donkey Kong'.
Please post here if you would like to join the fun. I am thinking that mostly it will be eastern March regents, and realms surrounding Elinie...
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For obvious reasons I'm in!
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In particular, we're looking to brainstorm ways to, as we have been advised, PREPARE! for an eventual effort to retrieve the Book. Suggested ideas so far are "Bring more guys" and "Don't stab him in the heart to kill him." As you can see, we're making excellent progress already!
"On like Donkey Kong", Alan? Really?
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Find out what resources the enemy has; mundane, magical, subterfuge etc.
Find out where the enemy IS
Find out what he's after
etc.
etc.
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Indeed. We're also discussing the possibility of finding allies in the Shadow World, assuming his tomb's on that side of the Veil, to support us - we need to find out who the folks that showed up during the Vampires adventure were.
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What?!
My Curse has the Book?! - ARE YOU NUTS???
WHAT INCOMPETENT IDIOT LET THE GREY DUKE GET THE BOOK?!!!!! >:(
We are all doomed. Dooomed. :D
Anyway, I can't act on this before someone tells me what you have gotten yourselves into... My angle on Manethander is that he is an awakening evil that I have to terminate eventually. - Your problems seem more... Pressing.
Seriously though. You let HIM take the BOOK!! - People needs to talk to me.
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Indeed. We're also discussing the possibility of finding allies in the Shadow World, assuming his tomb's on that side of the Veil, to support us - we need to find out who the folks that showed up during the Vampires adventure were.
Indeed. The vampires have show they have resources on both sides of the Veil. My bet is you too need resources on both sides too.
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Count Wallac in. He is, if not a resource, currently on the the other side of the veil ;D
IHH has around 20 temple level holdings in Osoerde and dont particularly find the thought of a Vampire lord holding the sacred Book of Law entertaining.
Ofcause IHH may not be in a very good position to join the fray should the current regent be dead or permanently trapped in the Shadow World.
Currently IHH know not of the Book being in possesion of the Vampire Lord so I wait getting actively IC involved in the planning untill someone tells IHH or it is public information (like in the SR)
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Yeah - IC and OOC are very different things here.
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We are talking about doing OOC planning. Which may neccessiate some IC actions.
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Yeah, spreading this knowledge around may lead to you getting some more assistance, possibly from someone who has some knowledge of the shadow world ^^
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Well, OOC, its not a good idea to skulk around in Elinie without the Patriarch being informed and approving, which as a minimum means having someone in the group to report back.
Secondly, the Grey Duke is a sore spot for Elinie, and its a delicate matter that he is re-awakened.
Third, if anyone has a pile of old documents and knowledge of where the tomb is, its Rashid.
Lastly, Manethander was not killed. He was confined and "asleep". Now he is awake but maybe still confined. - Charging in can risk breaking this confinement, doing nothing means it will break anyway, eventually.
But the key issue here, is that he could not be killed all those years ago... So, at the height of the empire, a group of trained assas... adventurers, with all their power, was unable to destroy him. - What do we have that they did not? - So far, nothing. So we will fail, if we do not locate a "something" to give us an edge.
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Exactly - we should go looking for an edge, and if not able to find one at least a way to reinforce his confinement.
I believe it would be wise to make sure Elien is kept in the loop for several reasons; one being it may involve military units moving around Elinie to contest the Gray Dukes controll of his surroundings and secondly because the Patriarch is allready engaged and besides his obvious motivation he may have important informations or easier access to them if not.
I should say involving CoT too would be a good idea since fighting vampires is something temples often have good abilities to do.
Perhaps some sort of court session could be made at some point to make for a smooth cooperation between the interested domains and/or a congress pooling ideas and resources
For IHH to get IC knowledge I intend to probe some of the domains allready hunting the book of law.
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Well, OOC, its not a good idea to skulk around in Elinie without the Patriarch being informed and approving, which as a minimum means having someone in the group to report back.
Secondly, the Grey Duke is a sore spot for Elinie, and its a delicate matter that he is re-awakened.
Third, if anyone has a pile of old documents and knowledge of where the tomb is, its Rashid.
Lastly, Manethander was not killed. He was confined and "asleep". Now he is awake but maybe still confined. - Charging in can risk breaking this confinement, doing nothing means it will break anyway, eventually.
But the key issue here, is that he could not be killed all those years ago... So, at the height of the empire, a group of trained assas... adventurers, with all their power, was unable to destroy him. - What do we have that they did not? - So far, nothing. So we will fail, if we do not locate a "something" to give us an edge.
Actually, I would wager that the story regarding his entombment is probably not complete. My guess is that his entombment should probably be taken in a less literal form. Perhaps he was trapped?
The basic premise is that we cannot be sure that anyone attempted to kill him, or even got reasonably close.
Furthermore, Domain Secrets and Domain Descriptions Lie and Lie alot.
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Prisons have an annoying tendency to become fortresses when left untended. Any modern prison would make a pretty good firebase. In Lord of the Rings, the fortifications around Mordor were intended for the men of Gondor to use to keep watch over Sauron's old home, not to protect it. And don't forget the EO's "prison" last game and how IT wound up being used. The upside is that that it's probable that Rashid can find out where Manethander was locked up, so we'll have a probable location for him. (Without question, Rashid will get brought into this. Doing otherwise would be borderline insane.)
We've got a couple things that need doing -
1) We need to find out where Manethander is located, and who is serving him.
2) We need to find out anything we can on vampires in general and anything we can on Manethander and his capabilities when he was around originally.
3) We need to see if we can find out if he's truly awake, stirring, or still largely asleep (with others trying to awaken him).
4) Assuming he's in the Shadow World, we need to find a way to GET there that we can control and protect. Our means of entry will be the main limiting factor on how much Might we can bring to bear.
5) We need to take a look at everything that was done during the theft of the Book - that could give us some ideas of his and his minions' capabilities.
6) We need to find out who the Shadow World folks that assisted in the last Vampire adventure were and if they're interested in cooperation. I'm not sold on the idea that the mystery figure was the IR, but I'll admit the possibility. Otherwise, we may need a SW adventure just to find these people.
7) We need to see if we can find out what his purpose for the book is and (particularly) if he needs OTHER things for whatever he's doing. Collecting items of power is a major trope for a reason - it makes a good story. This could be happening here.
8) We need the full story, with all the details attached (and preferably a ritual we can follow!) of what was done to confine Manethander in the first place.
9) Come to think of it, we should confirm that he's really the one behind this. So far, that's only a guess from an NPC, though probably a good one.
10) We need about a dozen more Sun Swords.
11) We need to find out if he's infiltrated or mindcontrolled more people in Elinie, in the OIT, and anywhere else he's done major work.
Other suggestions of things that need doing, or ways to accomplish any of these goals?
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Some comments and thoughts--
4) This is going to require a wizard, I think. There are realm spells which create or possibly could be modified for entry/exit into the Shadow World. The most obvious is "Shadow Gate", but that is a 9th level realm spell. Spells like "Arcane Transport" could have potential (though it would require some research, I suppose). Alternatively, there are some considerably more dangerous ways to do this, I suppose.
5) With the oddity in this was the fallen Paladins, but then I realized that Rournil Paladins are the only paladins likely to traverse the Shadow World, and probably were directed against the Gray Duke. They are a reminder of the price of failure, I suppose.
6) The Wardens are probably a good start for this.
9) I am not sure it really matters, per se. If he didn't take the book, he will still need to be put down.
11) He has definitely infiltrated Elinie & possibly Diemed (though I doubt he had a need to keep them after the theft). He is the Lord of Vampires though, so it is very plausible that his progeny are in many major cities (think level 5+). Less likely in smaller places, I think, since missing people would be more likely to be noticed, AND people that work at night would be noticed and gossiped about. ONe of the tragic flaws regarding Vampire: Dark Ages -- in midieval times, people don't go out at night...they just didn't.
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6) Why the Wardens?
1,3,7,11) One thing that occurs to me is that we might be able to get a lot of answers if we can capture some of his progeny and get information out of them one way or another. I feel confident we could find some of them in Elinie - anywhere else strike people as a good place to look?
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The Wardens have been instrumental against the Lost in the past. They lost a lot of heroes on that account and might not be too keen on helping out anytime soon... No harm in trying though.
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6) might actually solve 4). Finding allies in the Shadow World might also give us access to a weak point we could ferry people through.
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Hermedhie can help if Arcane Transportation can be used to move through the veil.
And I am sure any kind of heavy research on the matter would help some too. Maybe the College has something more on this Duke?
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Is Hermedhie interested in hiring out for some mercenary work? :D You're more than welcome for OOC brainstorming, but I don't know that you've got a real stake in this IC, as awesome as your assistance would be.
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Hermedhie is always interested in mercenary work... If the pay is right! ;D
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RCS will also be quite an asset for traveling the Shadow World. Involving them IC would be beneficial. Besides Kaven have lots of bodyparts yet to loose ::)
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I suggest that the priests do some research on holy artifacts / prayers / etc for use in the Shadow World / against it - the Celestiel Spell is the obvious front runner, but most of the temples should have 'smite evil and defend the just' somewhere on their 'to do' list.
Cutting down some of our foes attack methods (defences against charms, illusions, level drains) and coming up with weapons against them (sunlight, holy water, but on a 'less hurt more kill' design) should help even the odds.
I can obviously start trying research actions, advise people of any leads and arrange the necessary adventures...
Other questions:
1. What allies are the Red Wind, Maneatheander, etc likely to gather in Cerilia - can any be stomped before they get hovered up?
2. Do we have a list of known Shadow World weak spots - and are they all watched (rhetorical to both parts...)
3. Beyond killing/terrorising/escaping, do we have any idea on motivations for Shadow World denizens?
4. Wizards. Although obviously tainted from the outset, some of these demon worshiping backstabbers may temporarily agree not to be on the side of our enemies and may know of magical means of attack/defense/transport. The Imperial College or a trusted court mage (if their are any) are the obvious sources to speak to - but the ancient temple of Rilni in far of Khinasi might know of means to defend against the Shadow - albeit after something of a pilgrimage.
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RCS will also be quite an asset for traveling the Shadow World. Involving them IC would be beneficial. Besides Kaven have lots of bodyparts yet to loose ::)
Baaah! :P
Yes, I am quite offended that you brainstom about the Shadowworld, yet leave out the party who should be the most knowledgable in the area :P
4. Instead of creating a way (why would you make more holes in the veil, you bastards... I'm trying to close enough already :D), why not use already know locations? Some of the priests of Ruornil are capable of penetrating the veil there, and open a way to the other side, though they are normally reluctant to do so. (this also means you won't have to chase down a 17th level wizard :P)
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1. What allies are the Red Wind, Maneatheander, etc likely to gather in Cerilia - can any be stomped before they get hovered up?
That is a damned good consideration in general, and probably something the CoT should discuss at length. Assuming it can remain civil for ten minutes in order to consider a matter of universal importance.
Meanwhile - at the moment, we've got Osoerde and the OIT who know about this stuff. Osoerde's already demonstrated we consider retrieving the book vital. Obviously, Elinie has its own reasons to be part of acting against the Grey Duke, and I think we can generally assume all the Haelynic orders would find retrieving the BoL from someone that blasphemous to be a matter of moderate importance. :-P Who else has a natural stake in this? RCS?
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1. What allies are the Red Wind, Maneatheander, etc likely to gather in Cerilia - can any be stomped before they get hovered up?
That is a damned good consideration in general, and probably something the CoT should discuss at length. Assuming it can remain civil for ten minutes in order to consider a matter of universal importance.
Meanwhile - at the moment, we've got Osoerde and the OIT who know about this stuff. Osoerde's already demonstrated we consider retrieving the book vital. Obviously, Elinie has its own reasons to be part of acting against the Grey Duke, and I think we can generally assume all the Haelynic orders would find retrieving the BoL from someone that blasphemous to be a matter of moderate importance. :-P Who else has a natural stake in this? RCS?
The fallen Ruornite Paladins alone, would warrant that, yes... Besides Kaven is a Haelynite Paladin, and the RCS is the vassal of the OIT.
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Thorsten for what it is worth your Pontiff consider RCS a keyplayer in any planed venture involving the Shadow World.
If I remember correctly CoT has allready been working on indexing and locating weak spots of the Veil and Thorstens suggestion that we use an existing entry point seems to me a rather good advice.
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Fallen paladins of Ruornil? That would be something, seeing as there are no Ruornil paladins to begin with...let's call them templars (church warriors).
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Fallen paladins of Ruornil? That would be something, seeing as there are no Ruornil paladins to begin with...let's call them templars (church warriors).
Oh ok... well, they'd still warrant the attention of the RCS. ;)
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Great reading that adventure.
Sad the good Baron Tsalen seems to be quite dead though his missing body could mean he is not; or something more sinister.
You guys seem to be pretty much in for another treat unless those feys can be reasoned with. I'll look forward to see how this ends
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Great reading that adventure.
Sad the good Baron Tsalen seems to be quite dead though his missing body could mean he is not; or something more sinister.
You guys seem to be pretty much in for another treat unless those feys can be reasoned with. I'll look forward to see how this ends
Bobby totally gets credit for Tshalens missing body. His response totally set that up.
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It seemed appropriately ominous. And malicious.
I find I think like Bjorn and Jon best when I ask myself, "What would make me start swearing at this point?"
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which you apperantly ask yourself quite often ;D
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Is there another place someone can direct me so that I can learn more about this (at least IC, if not OOC). It kind of feels like I only can decipher half of the story here... Thanks!
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Have you read the adventure from turn 62? "The Vampires of Ansien, Elinie"
http://roe.twilightpeaks.net/forum/index.php?topic=433.0 (http://roe.twilightpeaks.net/forum/index.php?topic=433.0)
Then the adventure from this turn "Search for The Book of Laws"
http://roe.twilightpeaks.net/forum/index.php?topic=688.0 (http://roe.twilightpeaks.net/forum/index.php?topic=688.0)
That give you some OoC information at least. Theres a few references in the SR's for #61 & #62. I would be surprised if nothing reach to the SR for turn 63 as well
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I followed the "vampires", and saw the "book of laws" thread start up. I'll review the earlier SR's for references, but thought there might have been an additional chunk of information out there that I missed that might help flesh out some more of the history/details.
Thanks!
-Greg
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Yeah, there is. Go read the Elinie Domain description for the history surrounding Manethander and the taking of the throne by the current line of Dukes.