The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers

[Jack Simth]

Wizard "I see. What do you know of the bandits?"

D "Just a few rumors and what the Baron told me at dinner; that they are a problem."

The wizard, perhaps sensing some truth behind D's words, visibly relaxes a little.
Wizard "Well, you are unlikely to be able to do anything about it, so I would suggest rejecting the Baron's reward offer in the morning. He has made the same offer to a dozen other visitors, and none of them have returned."

With that, the Wizard takes his leave.

A short while later.
Jack "That's odd..."

D "What's odd?"

Jack "He started to mouth something about not a threat shortly before he left. Why would we be a threat?"

D "Hmm."

ooc:[Could it be that the wizard is secretly supporting the bandits, and in the process harvesting much of the tax money? Perhaps he could be making a bid for the barony, but needs to have the authority transfer come from a legitamate source to prevent the Empire from crushing him; it would explain his secrecy and tie the situation up nicely.]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[well, except where krsqk comes in. we need a post from him, before we continue, i think. his Last post sounded villinious.]

[ June 28, 2003, 08:24: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack "So, what offer do you think he was referring to?"

D "Considering the Barony's problems, I would surmise that the Baron is going to offer us a reward if we can eliminate the bandit problem. So, do you think we should accept when he offers?"

Jack "I'm game. What about you, Narp?"

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[what if, instead of being evil, the wizards under the mental influence of another wizard, but doesn't realize it? because he conversed quite readily with D about the supposed problems scrying at dinner. besides, i don't want this wizard evil.]

Narp "if you will shield this conversation from scrying?"

two spells later...

Narp "strange. at dinner, he was friendly, but it seemed to me he was talking in circles sometimes when describing the problems he was having. now, he appears agited and doesn't want the problems investigated. now, the principles in the short guide to relevancy suggest that only those with reason to object to something will object. although this is obvious, it is also a starting point. what we must determine is why. pride? if so, he hides it from the baron. he was pleasant before. or, to give him the benifit of the doubt, perhaps his fustration rendered him momentarily unpleasant. or, the option we must consider, treason. unfortunatly, it fits all the variables. pleasantness before the one one is hiding ones intentions from, unpleasantness before whoever you want to disuade, and of course, not accomplishing the stated goal of whoever you supposed to be loyal to. but there's something else..." he shakes his head "...i just can't think of it."

Narp sits on his cot and starts muttering the names of various tomes, scholars and hypothesis

ooc:[i'm not sure when our characters should start considering mind control, because the moment they do, Jack or D could probably detect it. Narp could go to sleep still not able to remember the reference he's looking for. sp check later.]

[Jack Simth]

ooc:[Works, and I think we can fix your dilemma on when to have the idea pop up, and even why D and Jack wouldn't notice immediately.]

D "He was very much a different person just now than he was at dinner - I don't think he was acting."

Jack "Mind control, perhaps?"

D "Wouldn't one of us have picked it up? Hang on - that would only work if he were being actively controlled when we checked. I didn't check him for magic just now when he walked in the room - did you, Jack?"

Jack "Yes, but he was clean. No mind control spells of any type. Then again, magic isn't the only way to control a person's thoughts. There is also telepathy, but the only way to check for that with magic would be to review his memory and look for mysterious blanks; it's too much of an invasion of privacy."

D "Telepathy?"

Jack "Yes, it allows communication without magic. An unethical person could, in theory, use it to control someone who didn't know enough about it to defend themselves. Fortunately, standard magic defenses against mind control also function as a defense against telepathic mind control, and vice-versa, so it hasn't been a problem on my home plane."

D "I'm safe then - but what about you, Narp?"

Jack "I could enchant something for you that would protect you when worn, if you like; it would only take a minute or so - it is a surprisingly simple spell."

ooc:[There - now we have considered it, and have a reason for D and Jack missing it; although, it does move it from being a wizard controlling him to a psionicist. Satisfactory?]

[ July 02, 2003, 07:54: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[yep. now, lets see...Narp was thinking of something, and now he'll come up with the reference...reference, reference, here reference...]

Narp "of course! jill's 'short study of telepathy '! strategically speaking...of course!"

he mutters to himself some more, then "if we block the telepath, the telepath will know we surmise his existance, and will take steps to eliminate us. what we need are amulets that will block our thoughts, but will throw of psuedo-thoughts. thoughts that show us going west again. and of course, little random thoughts about the terrain and the weather. then we need to sneak into the wizard's tower, break his link with the telepath, and make an amulet that will mimic his thoughts if the telepath checks. then, we should be able to track him back to wherever he is when he checks on the wizard. after that, we simply chase after him with the baron's soldier's. presuming we havn't made a mistake in our logic."

ooc:[naturaly, something needs to go wrong with the plan. maybe the telepath finding out to soon. i dunno.]

[ July 02, 2003, 08:29: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack rubs his chin briefly.

Jack "I can do that, however...."

D "However what?"

Jack "Well, no cloaking works once a telepath tries to control the subject, or dig through memories. The blocking would still work just fine, but the blocking working is a dead givaway that cloaking is happening."

With that, Jack pulls out three of his wooden disks, and begins enchanting away.

Jack (still busily enchanting the wooden disks) "This will take a while. A simple block would only take a few minutes. However, for cloaking, I have to produce the thoughts to fool our unknown adversary with, and they have to be personalized to each of us. I should be done by morning."

Jack (still busily enchanting the wooden disks) "Cacher des Pensées"

Jack (still busily enchanting the wooden disks) "In the meantime, I've put up a block and cloak on the room, with simple dreams for the cloak. You two rest up; I'll be up all night anyway, so I can keep watch."

Jack (still busily enchanting the wooden disks) "By the way - should I make some for the Wizard of Lago and the Baron as well?"

ooc:[There - now something can go wrong with the plan - the cloak will fail if he tries to control someone who is protected, or search our memories. Also, as Jack and D normally block, the cloak might alert the telepath that something is up, if the telepath has tried (and failed) to sneak a peek before.]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[post comming...]

Narp "well, yes i did say one for the wizard. one for the baron would be good as well. now that i think of it, we couldn't chase after him with the baron's soldier's. i need to read a few more books on tactics. we would be detected fast because of the soldier's. instead, we're going to have to sneak into his camp ourselves and take him out. then we can signal the baron, who could bring in his soldiers. and jack could make some of those golems if we have to much trouble. of course, some of the bandits are bound to have mithril or adamantium weapons or something, but that should do quite nicely. any suggestions?"

ooc:[if there's none, then put everyone else to sleep. we still need to figure out what to do with krsqk. perhaps the wizard took something of his that he found out in the woods, not realizing it was krsqk's? we could then have krsqk retreive it and wander off. the villagers could put all the strange weather down to the changes, and we go merrily on.

[ July 03, 2003, 07:23: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack (still buisily enchanting away) "The reason I asked is because the telepath seems to be controling the wizard on a regular basis - he will know something is seriously up if the wizard is suddenly defended, and so will be on gaurd. However, if we find and stop the telepath first, that won't cause a problem, and we have a better chance of catching whoever it is by surprise."

D "But then couldn't the telepath use the wizard's abilities?"

Jack (still buisily enchanting away) "Yes, he could. However, he would likely still be back at the castle, and so the telepath wouldn't be able to use much of the wizard's offensive capabilities."

D "He could still scry, spying on us."

Jack (still buisily enchanting away) "Yes, and if he has the wizard watch us while we travel, and compares that to the cloak, he will figure things out. Nothing is totally foolproof. I can deal with either."

D "So, if we cloak the Wizard and the Baron, the telepath will know the next time he tries to control the Wizard. If we don't, the Wizard might scry on us as we leave, blowing our cover. Well Narp, you are the tactition of the group, what are your thoughts on the matter? We'll go with whatever you think best."

ooc:[I think that's the Last of my comments on the planning stage.]

[ July 03, 2003, 08:24: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Krsqk]

[ooc: I'm mostly back, as I indicated in the "shiny new RP thread" thread. Hopefully you won't have to continue the dummy-stuffing process. ]

The swirling funnel continued in the direction of the manor, its passenger periodically checking and rechecking for signs of life. The signals from town, manor, and wood seem fairly consistent--approximately 800 people in the town; a little over 100 in the manor house proper, with a few hundred more in the immediate vicinity; and forty to fifty in the forest. The real enigma was from underground. First, there was the delay--that could be explained by several things, most likely a magic detection/filtering spell. Second, the exact number of responses varied drastically with each check. The first check revealed only a single human, but after that, it showed anywhere from one to nearly seventy.

Arthur "It's almost like there's a cloak on that area. Odd, though--there don't seem to be any magic defenses put up, other than the filter spell. And I don't know why someone would bother to let the spell in, only to alter it on the way out--the effects would be immediately obvious, not to mention giving a good reason for a closer look. Maybe I'll have to look into it after having my chat with our friend the Master Wizard of Lago."

The vortex heads directly for a window on the top floor of a tower in the manor house. Arthur steps out of the funnel, dismissing it as he greets the tower's occupant, who had not yet noticed the entrance.

Arthur "Hello, John. And exactly what is my older brother up to these days?"

[ooc: Maybe the telepath returns as many signals as the number of minds he is looking into at the moment. Even if he is only controlling the wizard, it's likely he would be periodically checking on other people as a means of staying current.]

[ July 04, 2003, 05:44: Message edited by: Krsqk ]