Accept our Terms of Service
Our Terms of Service have recently changed! Please read and agree to the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy
of all the people who Queen Galfrey could have appointed as Knight-Commander this is sure one of them
+ Show First Post
Total: 168
Posts Per Page:
Permalink

That is all useful information to know. He expects that his superiors have thought of the points he is about to raise, but is doing so for completeness:

It would be disastrous if the Knight-Commander's apparent political disagreements with Cheliax led her to violate the Worldwound treaty, and she seems unusually likely to do so. It is probably worth communicating with the Queen about possible such scenarios; he is less certain whether they should communicate with the Knight-Commander about this issue. He presumes his superiors are better-positioned to evaluate how much Lastwall can reasonably commit to a crusade run by a lawless Calistrian who may or may not have any interest in following the treaty.

It would also be problematic, though not to quite the same extent, if the Knight-Commander attempted to use her status to undermine the monarchy in Mendev. This is, unfortunately, more likely if the Crusade is unexpectedly successful. Mendev doesn't have a port on the Inner Sea, which could somewhat limit the damage in the worst-case scenarios; the more probable scenario is that the Knight-Commander will inadvertently destroy relations between herself or the Crusade and Mendev.

His impression is that the Queen has made several surprising decisions; he presumes that they have already ascertained that she was not under the influence of mind-altering magic.

Coordinating post-battle channels is generally considered a basic requirement for competence among any field officer in Lastwall. If Lastwall does send additional personnel, people qualified to do so could likely be extraordinarily useful compared to how much they would accomplish in Lastwall.

Permalink

They had already thought of those points but appreciate him raising them anyway.


He receives another update a little over a week later. Quite a lot has happened. They are delivering this report out of order because the most recent event is straightforwardly the most urgent: the crusade unexpectedly encountered large numbers of hostile vescavors. The Knight-Commander and her Shelynite cleric led separate small strike teams, and were able to dispatch the vescavors with minimal casualties. The Knight-Commander's gear was reportedly sabotaged in an attempt on her life; technically speaking, she has not publicly accused anyone, but she has reportedly had a number of technically-private conversations in which she has expressed suspicion towards the Chelish government. Cheliax has been privately representing itself as displeased with the Knight-Commander, but Lastwall's intelligence agents assess it as very unlikely that they would unambiguously violate the Worldwound treaty; they currently think this was most likely the work of demon cultists, but are also considering the possibility that the Knight-Commander is straightforwardly lying about what happened. 

In an earlier instance of tension between the Knight-Commander and Cheliax, a Hellknight order sent a messenger to the Knight-Commander requesting aid and was refused. Various accounts are circulating of what, precisely, she said, but given that there were very few people present for the actual conversation it seems likely that those accounts are largely fabricated. The treaty did not obligate her to help them, and in fact helping them was not strategically indicated, but in conjunction with the Knight-Commander's established beliefs about Cheliax it seems like a concerning sign for her willingness and ability to maintain friendly relationships between the Crusade and Cheliax. (They acknowledge the awkwardness of viewing it as concerning while simultaneously believing that she made the correct decision.) One cleric has been aggressively trying to convince everyone that the Commander is Chaotic Good, was not previously Chaotic Good, and made Chaotic Good by 'virtuously' refusing to help the Hellknights; that cleric is Mendevian, so it doesn't seem like this is a coordinated plot by Andorens (and they channel positive, so it's not that they're secretly a demon cultist).

Apart from that, the Knight-Commander has reportedly found another wizard to replace her dead companion. This one is some sort of fox-person, suspected on that basis to be of Tien ancestry; adventurers do occasionally make the journey to fight at the Worldwound. There are unsubstantiated rumors that she is related to a member of the Mendevian nobility (also a fox-person), as well as rumors that she and the Knight-Commander are in a sexual relationship; there also continue to be many unsubstantiated rumors alleging that she is in a sexual relationship with several of her companions, senior crusade staff, and the Queen. Apart from that, her conduct has mostly been fairly unremarkable, though Lastwall's informant reports that a small Calistrian altar has been installed in the camp's chapel tent and it seems likely that she was responsible.

Permalink

Points raised for completeness:

The new wizard was recruited shortly before the incident with the vescavors, correct? If possible, it seems worth investigating whether those might be connected; the Knight-Commander's adventuring companions would likely have had much greater access to her gear than others in the camp.

It seems somewhat surprising for a Mendevian cleric to be actively opposed to the Hellknights; Mendevians generally have a much more positive view of Cheliax and of the Order of the Godclaw than Lastwall does. It's possible they have some sort of personal grudge, but if it can cheaply be investigated it seems worth doing so.

He would ordinarily take the Knight-Commander's failure to appeal to Abadaran arbitration regarding her suspicions of Cheliax as evidence that she does not actually believe her accusations (technical-non-accusations?). However, considering Mendev's general administrative competence and her lack of previous command experience, it seems plausible that she isn't aware that this is a possibility she has. He concurs with their assessment that Cheliax is unlikely to be responsible.

Relatedly, it seems like the situation between the Knight-Commander and Cheliax has the potential to go extremely badly. He thinks it is probably worth it in expectation to spend significant resources on mitigating this if possible. It would frankly be somewhat surprising for an Andoran who completely hates Cheliax to volunteer at the Worldwound, particularly in Kenabres, through which Chelish troops frequently pass; the best possible scenario is that the Knight-Commander is just paranoid, but it is worth planning for significantly worse possibilities.

Permalink

It hadn't occurred to them that the Knight-Commander might not be aware that Abadaran arbitration is an option. They would appreciate him raising the possibility to her when he has the chance to interview her.

Permalink

He will do so. He's only a couple days behind her.


Okay, maybe more than a couple days behind her.


 

Permalink

The next update comes via Sending, rather than Scry. Using the standard Lastwall compression codes, they can provide quite a bit more than 25 words of information, at the cost of losing some specificity.

There was some sort of attack on the camp; the exact details are unclear, as their informant appears to be dead. The Knight-Commander herself is confirmed alive and safe, but the extent of the losses is unclear. If he encounters a knight travelling under the name of Kitrane, he is ordered to do anything he can (so long as it is compatible with his oaths and with the laws of Mendev and Lastwall) to ensure that she is safely extracted, treating this goal as a higher priority than any other aspect of his mission.

Permalink

He acknowledges this, though he expects he is unlikely to catch up with the army in time for it to matter.


 

Permalink

A few days later, he catches up to... a small camp affiliated with the Crusade! Not the main one with the Knight-Commander, though, they went ahead to march on Drezen.

Permalink

..........Is it a crusader camp, or is it a group of demons masquerading as a crusader camp?

Permalink

It's a real crusader camp! Almost none of them detect as Evil, and the Evil ones read Evil less strongly than even a dretch.

Also, if he observes for long enough, he'll see a paladin use his Lay On Hands. (Or in this case, his Lay On Hand; he only has the one.)

Permalink

No, once he's verified their apparent non-Evilness he'll approach the camp and ask about what they're doing here.

Permalink

Oh, they're a field hospital for the victims of the gargoyle attack. ...He's got a holy symbol and fancy armor, can he help with that?

Permalink

He can Lay On Hands, but he can't channel. (He's quite a bit more competent at fighting than you might expect just from that description, but the Goddess evidently did not consider it the most important use of her resources to personally sponsor him in becoming stronger.) He's heard very little about the gargoyle attack, would they be willing to give him more details? He does also have some relevant logistical experience, if the issue is getting enough of the injured into the range of a channel-

Permalink

—Oh, no, the injured have all been healed up, or else they died before anyone could get to them. This camp is for the people who were captured by the ghouls.

...They don't suppose he's the kind of paladin that can treat diseases?

Permalink

Unfortunately, he is not.

...What ghouls?

Permalink

Wow, he really doesn't know anything. 

Okay, so what happened was, a bunch of gargoyles attacked the main camp in the middle of the nights, and they killed a bunch of people and carried off a bunch more to this old church that they'd been desecrating because they have no respect for the gods. And at the church they had a lot of ghouls, and they were trying to turn as many of the crusaders into ghouls as they could. And the Knight-Commander and her companions put a stop to it, and saved Irabeth and a bunch of other people (including this person, and this person, and maybe this person but he thinks the army might've managed it without her), except then there were still all these people who were sick with ghoul fever.

(Someone objects that the Knight-Commander didn't save Irabeth, Irabeth fought her way out by herself. Someone else explains that no, Irabeth actually revealed that she had been the Queen in disguise this whole time, and she'd gotten kidnapped on purpose so that she could be taken to their secret hideout. Someone else thinks that Irabeth died in the attack and the person claiming to be Irabeth is actually Anevia in a magical disguise.)

In any case, they cured as many people as they could — there had been this Abadaran priest who died in the attack, and his apprentice serves the Good gods so he took the priest's leftover scrolls and used them to cure as many of the sick as possible — but they didn't get everyone, so this camp stayed behind to treat as many of them as they could. In addition to the ghoul fever victims it's also got some people who were injured in ways they can't fix, like this one-handed paladin here.

Permalink

He's sorry he can't do more to help. While he's here, though, he's been investigating the miracle of Kenabres, is there anything they can tell him?

Permalink

Sure, they're happy to talk about it. Just that one, or does he also want to hear about the miracle at the church?

Permalink

The miracle at the church? He hasn't heard about that one, can they tell him more?

Permalink

They'd love to!!!

Has he read the Acts of Iomedae?

Permalink

..........Yes. He's one of her paladins — probably it would be deeply insensitive to treat that like it means he would definitely have read the Acts.

Permalink

In that case this person will skip explaining the Fourth Act to him and jump into his story!

So, one of the worst parts of the attack was that it happened in the middle of the night, when many people had already spent down their spells and channels; anyone who was injured during the fight against the gargoyles had very limited options for healing. If they could just hold out until dawn, the gods would be able to replenish their healing (and of course, the undead hate and fear the sun), but it wasn't at all clear whether they would be able to.

And then there was a great flash of light above the Lost Chapel, just as bright as the light during the miracle of Kenabres, and just then the sun began to rise, and all up and down the mountain everyone knew that the gods had stretched out their hands to save them.

This, says the speaker, is basically the same as what happened in Iomedae's Fourth Act, the one with the wraiths. Which makes sense, everyone knows the Knight-Commander is blessed by Iomedae.

Permalink

What do the other people here seem to think of that?

Permalink

Everyone who was conscious to see it seems to agree about the existence of the big flash of light. 

These people think it's a great story! They're very enthusiastic about the idea that the Knight-Commander was personally chosen by Iomedae, obviously if the Knight-Commander was personally chosen by Iomedae that means they're going to win.

This person doesn't think it was a second miracle, she's pretty sure that making there be big flashes of light is just one of the things the Knight-Commander can do. Everyone knows the gods hardly ever do miracles, they want mortals to do things for themselves rather than bothering them every time they have a problem. Besides, if it were really a miracle, Irabeth would have said so.

This person is pretty sure most of the details there were right, but he's much less sure about any of the interpretive work? Apart from the presence of the undead and the tide shifting at dawn, it doesn't actually sound very similar to the Fourth Act, and they're also pretty sure wraiths are a lot more bothered by the sun than ghouls are. 

This person thinks that dawn miracles are great and all, but what would have been even better would have been a ten-minutes-before-dawn miracle, when his best friend was still alive.

This person already thought the first miracle was a gift from the Everlight, but the second miracle also involving an enormous light as bright as the sun has just made her feel more confident! She's not entirely sure why the Everlight has worked two miracles through a Calistrian, but probably her plan involves the Knight-Commander eventually repenting of the Evil of Calistrianism (which of course, like most forms of Evil, is one people are often driven to for sympathetic reasons, and deserves compassion rather than scorn—)

What, does she think they should just sit down and forgive the demons, maybe give them a nice patch of Mendev as an apology—

Permalink

He has no particular love for Calistrianism but did not actually intend to start an argument here; he'll redirect the conversation to safer topics. (Privately, he agrees with the assessment that if the Crusade leadership isn't declaring it to be a miracle, it most likely wasn't. He'll still take notes for the report, though, in case his assessment turns out to be incorrect.)


 

Total: 168
Posts Per Page: