Koltho is dead...now what?

Plans, operations, and intentions

Moderator: Imarë

Koltho is dead...now what?

Postby Sir Baris » Sun Dec 04, 2005 10:40 am

Well, it seems that our lead on Stavron has not panned out, although the fact that Koltho looks so much like him may mean something. Perhaps we can ask the madame some questions about him. Although we may want to wait a bit after any funeral. Or that may be the best time to get her to talk about him.

Hopefully Peten will come after us... so we are going to need to be prepared. Obviously we need to set up watches at Palliser house. The question arises, though- how does one prepare for a mental attack? Is there anything we can do to defend ourselves from that, or at least reduce the damage?

Or we could try and take the attack to him. Maybe he'll go to Boraga's, and we can ambush him there. Or we can go to Jarop, and find out where Peten lives, and attack him in his home. Or we could spy on him for a bit to learn his habits, and we can set up an ambush. I'm not sure how successful this will be, since his powers may tip him off to the spying or the ambush, though.
Vemion delenda est.
User avatar
Sir Baris
Squire
Squire
 
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 12:55 pm
Location: Attleboro, MA

Postby Bevan » Sun Dec 04, 2005 11:18 am

I am not sure just how we prepare for an attack. The last time I went through a Deryni attack I was pretty much helpless. I'll need to think further on that. Right now no one even knows we killed him. Some suspicion may be raised with Boraga if the body shows up on one of his tables. He may think it interesting that within a day of Ewen's inquiry a red head shows up. Fortunately I don't think he will really care that much as he likes Ewen and he earned him another penny.

It was mentioned that we should remove Elsa quickly. I don't think this is necessary and may actually raise more eyebrows in our direction. This may acutally establish a connection between them, she was a favorite of "Karl's" and he leaves just before Koltho now neither are around right after his death. I also think "Karl's" visits need to continue as well.
User avatar
Bevan
Squire
Squire
 
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 9:19 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Postby Sir Baris » Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:03 pm

Bevan wrote:<SNIP>
Some suspicion may be raised with Boraga if the body shows up on one of his tables. He may think it interesting that within a day of Ewen's inquiry a red head shows up. Fortunately I don't think he will really care that much as he likes Ewen and he earned him another penny.


That is a good point. Boraga is a good friend, after all, he wouldn't rat us out. Although, if Peten goes inquiring after Boraga (is this likely? It was raised that he may not really care about his bastard son), he may read the man's mind, which could lead him to us.

Bevan wrote:It was mentioned that we should remove Elsa quickly. I don't think this is necessary and may actually raise more eyebrows in our direction. This may acutally establish a connection between them, she was a favorite of "Karl's" and he leaves just before Koltho now neither are around right after his death. I also think "Karl's" visits need to continue as well.


That is also a good point. Although, it might be wise for Karl to not show up for a few days. It is known he lost a ton of money recently to someone who is now dead. Or maybe he should come in, at least for beer, every day or so, to not raise suspicions. ("Karl stopped showing up as soon as my son was killed... he must've done it!"). But the fact that Karl lost so much money recently would probably mean he doesn't have any to spend on girls. Sure, it could be hinted that he did some work "on the side" to get the extra money, but I don't want to raise suspicions towards that end. Karl is a big guy, so it is likely any "on the side" work he does involves bashing heads in- exactly what happened to Keltho. I don't think it would raise suspicions for him to come in for ale to drown his sorrows at having lost so much money, however.
Vemion delenda est.
User avatar
Sir Baris
Squire
Squire
 
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 12:55 pm
Location: Attleboro, MA

Postby Imarë » Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:15 am

I will point out that we do not know what powers that Sir Peten may have (working under the assumption that it is like magic and other mental powers that one has some but not all). He may be bad at some of them also so Imare will not panic here. We also know that the kind of attacks we have seen mentally have been in one on one situations. They may leave themselves open to attack if they do a mind attack and won't do it when they can be attacked by other means. A guard roster at Palliser House would not hurt (though I am afraid that it might have been Sir Peten who visited Slakka, he might be good at slipping in without the need of the front door).

I do find it interesting that Sir Ewen has a doppleganger in Golotha, who is visited in the night by a mysterious man for some unknown reason and that his brother has one also (an, at least, weak deryni). It could be that it was Stavron he saw in Coranan, someone at least saw him because of the "message" left for him (Pelissa). There does appear to be somebody on Sir Ewens family tree who has been hanging out in Golotha (do we have any clue how old our target was and in relation to how old the girl was?). Could it be that Sir Ewen is a blood relation to our target? Does Lord Graver know anything about this connection and perhaps this is why he was forgiven and sent on this mission (not to think that the GM is going to have a player character executed, not his style)?

I have found myself thinking that Sir Peten may be the father of the girl at Boranas. If the visitor stopped in to see his daughter and found another man sporting with one of his women, might that not account for the comment as the knife was going in? If Koltho knew who his father was (we don't know if he did or did not, we know what he claimed) would it stand to reason the the girl did/does also? Could they have been sent away (or moved to another spot within the city) in order to keep Sir Ewen away from finding anything out? Could the girl be a deryni also (remember her waking up because of a presence, could she have felt another deryni).

On the brothel front, I think Karl would send a signal it was him if he does not go back right away to at least have beer. I think he should try to get into another high stakes game (sold some of his stuff, spending the rent money or something like that). If the madam is there and he makes this request it could lead to an in on questioning (plus no one would ask to play with a guy he knew was dead). Elsa should stay at least awhile longer but she was in the building when the deed happened (although if Sir Peten can do truth reading and decides to question the staff...). My only current thoughts on the matter. Comments?
User avatar
Imarë
In the Blessed Realm
 
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:02 am
Location: Easton, MA

Postby Bevan » Mon Dec 05, 2005 11:20 am

Imarë wrote:I have found myself thinking that Sir Peten may be the father of the girl at Boranas.

I don't think we have any evidence he is the father of Borana's child. If it even was Sir Peten who killed Slakka, we could speculate all day on reasons for him to kill him. Slakka could have double crossed Sir Peten or Sir Peten could be a man for hire and someone else wanted him dead, or....

Sir Baris wrote: It is known he lost a ton of money recently to someone who is now dead. Or maybe he should come in, at least for beer, every day or so, to not raise suspicions.

I don't think it is necessary to go there for the acrobatics everytime..a beer would be fine. Deryn came right up and chatted with you last time perhaps she would again. Although you may be onto something with getting another game of cards. Perhaps you could say you won at dice at another bar and you are feeling so lucky today that you want to try cards again in hopes to win back your losses... just an idea.
User avatar
Bevan
Squire
Squire
 
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 9:19 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Postby Imarë » Mon Dec 05, 2005 11:39 am

The only evidence I have is the singular cooincidence of the looks of the various people. This is the time to make any sort of connection and then talk about it. Why was the girl visited just after Ewen came to town? Why gut Slakka without killing him outright (leaving him to suffer)? It seems the gene pool which created Ewen was also the one which created her. If Ewen is a natural child of his parents (no reason to believe he is not) then Koltho bears a remarkable resemblence to his brother. Both of these virtual twins live in the same city, far from where the family comes from. They both have well know mothers but (as far as we know) mysterious fathers. One, at least, has latent deryni talents (can these be acheived without at least one deryni parent?). The secret of Ewens past seems to be turning into part of our quest for Sir Peten.

In my opinion Karl should visit Elsa as often as he wants. The important thing is to go there and drink, gamble, and be seen to not change his routine. If the child is killed, the father might also go to the mothers place (especially if that was the last place he was seen alive). If he was headed home, it would seem that this would cut down on the number of places he could live (making the assumption that he would take the shortest route in the winter).
User avatar
Imarë
In the Blessed Realm
 
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:02 am
Location: Easton, MA

Postby Matt » Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:05 pm

Imarë wrote:(do we have any clue how old our target was and in relation to how old the girl was?).

Borana's daugher Jelesa is 14 or 15. Koltho looked to be in his mid-twenties.

Imarë wrote:Why was the girl visited just after Ewen came to town? Why gut Slakka without killing him outright (leaving him to suffer)? It seems the gene pool which created Ewen was also the one which created her.

If the man who killed Slakka is Sir Peten, then you are in serious trouble. Recall the skill and speed he displayed ... :twisted:
User avatar
Matt
The GM
 
Posts: 2556
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:38 pm
Location: Weymouth, MA

Postby Imarë » Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:38 pm

Matt Wrote:
"If the man who killed Slakka is Sir Peten, then you are in serious trouble"

We know, this is what we have been in fear of. My philosophy, start with the worst possible scenario and work your way down. We could always hope that there was a really good strike by whomever and a really bad one by Slakka (that or he was all reputation, we never did try him. His friends went down easily enough, I think I did more damage to Sir Baris than either did to us).
User avatar
Imarë
In the Blessed Realm
 
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:02 am
Location: Easton, MA

Postby Matt » Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:40 pm

Imarë wrote:I think I did more damage to Sir Baris than either did to us).

Yep.
User avatar
Matt
The GM
 
Posts: 2556
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:38 pm
Location: Weymouth, MA

Postby Lord Ewen » Mon Dec 05, 2005 6:52 pm

OK, I concur with the need to not extract Elsa immediately, for all of the reasons stated. And having Karl continue to frequent the brothel for a time is wise as well. If Valgari surfaces in the wake of Koltho's death (and that is, for the nonce, the question of the day), then perhaps either Elsa or Baris will be fortunate enough to either witness it or catch some info on it, although this seems a long shot to me.

So, will Valgari surface?

It seems to me that many factors impact the odds here. First, is he in Golotha at all now? My hunch is yes. Lord Graver said he was last reported here, and with winter upon us it would seem unlikely that he's travelling. More significantly, Koltho told the jeweler he was living with his father, which seems an odd detail to throw into the conversation if it's not true, especially since he was trying to seduce the woman (it's certainly an odd line to use). And Koltho seems to have been a leach, so why would he go to the trouble of living upon his own means when he could live at the brothel and mooch off of mom full-time? Answer: because he's mooching off someone else, namely his father. Granted, using the Valgari surname and claiming at the same time to live with his father was a stupid move, given that Sir Peten has been attainted and his head reserved for the block, but my guess is that the junior Valgari didn't tell his father this. Anyway, it's guesswork, but I suspect that Valgari is in town.

Second, will he care about Koltho's death, or more importantly, will he do anything? Golotha is a dangerous town, and Koltho seems the kind of chap who often gets whacked in English murder mysteries; he was so unpleasant and disliked, the range of suspects with motives is quite broad. (Unfortunately, perhaps, Karl must qualify as one, having lost money to Koltho to a degree which attracted Deryn's attention, as you guys have already noted.) Assuming Valgari senior is well-acquainted with his son's charisma, he may find his death rather unremarkable. On the other hand, it seems to me that Valgari's attainder must make him vigilant, and I wonder whether it would have been natural for him to use Koltho as his eyes and ears from time to time, thus their living arrangement. While Koltho might have been working on his scams as a means of gaining greater independence from his father, they may have been working as a sort of team. Will Valgari be paranoid enough about the desire of the crown for his head to construe the death of his son as a possible threat, and feel the need to investigate the murder in order to find out?

I for one have no clue, but even if he decides that Koltho's death is unsurprising he may be motivated to strike back. It is amazing how the most obnoxious people can be transformed, in death, into veritable saints by the surviving family, so I wouldn't rule out either Valgari, or Deryn, suddenly deciding that poor Koltho must be avenged. But my point is, it seems impossible for us to guess accurately about this at this point.

However, I think we can fruitfully debate the following: should we try to actively manipulate the situation to maximize the chances that Valgari does feel the need to take some action? I, for one, would vote yes.

The valid concern voiced when we planned the ambush was that Koltho's dying would nix our chance at getting a bead on Valgari, and we are now faced with that very real possibility. To my mind, taking a purely passive or observational role at this point increases the chance of that outcome, given the impossibility of correctly guessing what Valgari will do next. I would argue that, in order to salvage the present situation, we need to capitalize on Koltho's death to get Valgari to emerge from cover, and not just assume he will do so.

So I think our best chance of getting Valgari now will be in actively laying a trap for him and luring him in, on our own terms, by using the death of his son as the bait. Do others concur with this, or do we think other approaches have merit? If we decide to fashion a trap, then the forum seems an ideal place to begin devising the father's undoing...
User avatar
Lord Ewen
Baron
Baron
 
Posts: 1055
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:27 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC

Postby Sir Baris » Mon Dec 05, 2005 11:01 pm

Sir Ewen wrote:<SNIP>
I would argue that, in order to salvage the present situation, we need to capitalize on Koltho's death to get Valgari to emerge from cover, and not just assume he will do so.

So I think our best chance of getting Valgari now will be in actively laying a trap for him and luring him in, on our own terms, by using the death of his son as the bait. Do others concur with this, or do we think other approaches have merit? If we decide to fashion a trap, then the forum seems an ideal place to begin devising the father's undoing...


How can we do that specifically? Just some ideas, which may or may not be good:

Spread rumors that the people who killed his son are coming for him next. Then we can spread other rumors about where these people hang out, and then ambush him when he goes there.
User avatar
Sir Baris
Squire
Squire
 
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 12:55 pm
Location: Attleboro, MA

Postby Lord Ewen » Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:50 pm

I think that one is worth developing, especially if the clues or rumors we plant give Valgari the impression that he has information which the putative murderer does not know he has. This would encourage Valgari to act quickly, perhaps, as he would have the impression that he needs to strike preemptively first before he loses this "initiative". It would help, of course, if the nature of the clues does not lead Valgari to think his attainted status is an issue, else he might perceive the crown behind things and choose to flee the city.
User avatar
Lord Ewen
Baron
Baron
 
Posts: 1055
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:27 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC

Postby Imarë » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:56 am

Much as for torture, does anybody know how to spread rumors effectively? I am sure there is an ability to check this against and I am not sure that we have that ability (the idea is good, I just want to make sure that we can do so before we go down this road. If we don't, it will give us time to think something else up).

I am also in question over timing. We know he got back recently from wherever. Did Arnys see a red-haired man before his return (meaning that Stavron could also be in the city). I also believe the Arnys asked the gentleman his name, why would Koltho, going about openly and letting others know what his name is, not tell him (he seemed proud of it). The locksmith said he changed his name, my thought is are the two the same enough that both might have been calling on him? If there is some kind of relationship between Koltho and Stavron it stands to reason that they might be together with Sir Peten.

Visiting mother or the funeral home/burial is also a possibility, at least a later visit to the grave (wherever that might be) is possible.
User avatar
Imarë
In the Blessed Realm
 
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:02 am
Location: Easton, MA

Postby Matt » Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:26 am

Imarë wrote:Much as for torture, does anybody know how to spread rumors effectively? I am sure there is an ability to check this against and I am not sure that we have that ability

Intrigue perhaps, but when was the last time someone had to roll against Intrigue? :wink:
User avatar
Matt
The GM
 
Posts: 2556
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:38 pm
Location: Weymouth, MA

Postby Lord Ewen » Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:56 pm

Suggesting, I gather, that we spread rumors the old-fashioned way: we role-play it with the NPCs :evil:

Be grateful, though, that it's not left up to the dice. Ewen, hamstrung by the vagaries of his execrable die rolls, suffers ignominy and projectile fruit on a regular basis when before the crowds with his lute (in spite of the fact, for cryin' out loud, that I go to the trouble of actually producing an mp3 of what the freakin' song sounds like :x ). While our roll-playing can be lamentable (as in the most recent episode of My Dinner With Bevan), at least we have a better shot at a good result than trusting to our Intrigue scores :roll:
User avatar
Lord Ewen
Baron
Baron
 
Posts: 1055
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:27 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC

Postby Lord Ewen » Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:15 pm

As for the Koltho conundrum, Arnys reported his first interaction with the red-haired man on Halane 3rd (see Session 29 notes), which was over two months ago. He saw the red-head coming out of the locksmith's shop. The testimony of Klarina the jeweler suggested that Koltho was away from Golotha during that period, however, indicating that he started pestering her again only about a month ago. Which, I suppose, only proves that he was bothering the locksmith two months ago but leaving the jeweler alone, as I think it would be a stretch to suggest that Stavron is also in town, and that he has been trying to sell time pieces to the locksmith while Koltho is a different guy running the scam on Klarina. Both gents claimed to be "Koltho Valgari" in conversation.

As for asking the red-head his name, I'm not sure we can assume that he would as readily vouchsafe his name to a beggar as to a person who is trying to scam. He did say "dogs should be silent", suggesting perhaps a status-conscious evaluation of my man Arnys :wink:

And I believe it was Klarina the jeweler who indicated that he changed his name.
User avatar
Lord Ewen
Baron
Baron
 
Posts: 1055
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:27 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC

Postby Sir Baris » Thu Dec 08, 2005 10:09 pm

Sir Ewen wrote:Suggesting, I gather, that we spread rumors the old-fashioned way: we role-play it with the NPCs :evil:

<SNIP>


Well, the brothel is probably the wrong place for Karl to start spreading rumors, but I think we should take advantage of my common-man alter-ego. Maybe he can go to another bar, in a place closer to the docks, and start spreading rumors. Some ideas of how to do so:

"Hear about that guy who got killed down by [the brothel]? Over by [bar we want to ambush Peten- presumably we can choose one with few exits]. I heard some guys bragging about it, and how they're going to get his father next."

"You know, I've been in this city awhile, and I thought I'd seen it all. But some guy was talking about killing an entire family. 'Course, looks like he may have had good reason. That man Koltho, got killed by [the brothel]? Well, he did some bad things to the sister of this guy I was talking to in a bar. Well, this guy and his friends took him down, and tortured him for awhile. Turns out that shit ratted out his own father, and those guys are going after him next. That guy, Koltho, he stole something from this guys sister, and it's in the father's house."
User avatar
Sir Baris
Squire
Squire
 
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 12:55 pm
Location: Attleboro, MA

Postby Imarë » Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:11 am

First, to answer Sir Ewen: We only have the word of the locksmith about what the red haired man was doing in there. There is the possibility that he is afraid of or in league with Sir Peten/Stavron. There are holes in here I know, but I don't want to close my eyes to a possibility here. I think that Arny's current location is good as long as he is able to take the weather.

To move onto Sir Baris' point. The importance of spreading a rumor is not only what you say but who you say it to. If this rumor was to go to the wrong person it could bring attention to our mission and cause problems. As I said earlier, I am not against the concept of rumors but they stand a good chance of going wrong and please explain how they will bring Sir Peten to the fore to be smitten (I am still foggy on this point).

We still have avenues to follow without this. Koltho's mother probably has some idea where Sir Peten would be. We have no idea where Borana is and there is the possibility that she knows something about this (family resemblances here Stavron/Koltho and Ewen/girl). I think we may have also narrowed down where Koltho may have lived, it was an out of the way street with a limited number of residences on it (making the assumption that he would go the shortest way home).
User avatar
Imarë
In the Blessed Realm
 
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:02 am
Location: Easton, MA

Postby Imarë » Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:24 am

Since I appear to be the proverbial stick in the mud let me give you what concerns me and have others lessen my concerns.

1) Our lack of experience spreading rumors. The skill given is not one of the more evolved skills anybody has. Having to rely on henchpeople and servants seems to me to be not a great idea, we don't really want them drawn into what we are doing.

2) Even if we do use the henchpeople and servants, would they go to the right places? The kind of place we have been hanging out in do not seem to be the classiest establishments and we have no idea if rumors spread in the normal inns would make it to Sir Petens ears.

3) We do not even know if Sir Peten has any retainers who would go about listening to rumors. If he is attained and in hiding letting the servants go out drinking would not be popular on my list.

4) Could our rumors go to the wrong set of ears. Sir Peten might not be the only one who would pick up the news. Some of these could be official (murder is still illegal I believe even in Golotha) and if rumors were spread that we had information we might be in for official questions. Another set of ears who would more probably hear it would be Jarop, who might use the information for blackmail or some other purpose than getting to Sir Peten (yes, I believe that Jarop would know where he is but I doubt he would willingly tell us this information), Sir Peten or Koltho might be friends of his and he could take care of it himself.

5) Not being aware how to spread rumors, our timing could be off and we would have no idea when or where he would strike (I am sure it would not be a good time for us).

This does not even count the concern that he would not even care about Koltho's death or might sent proxies to kill us rather than do it himself.

Another thought has hit me, Sir Peten is pretending to be a merchant most of the time according to Lord Graver. If this is true he would have to make occasional appearances in business to make this work (the guildhall, merchants etc). Maybe we should keep watch in these quarters.

I look forward to my concerns being answered, I do want to get the creep but would like to keep myself alive in the process.
User avatar
Imarë
In the Blessed Realm
 
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:02 am
Location: Easton, MA

Postby Lord Ewen » Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:17 pm

I think I concur with Dave's concerns about rumor-spreading as outlined by him, particularly in regard to the difficulty, given the little we know, in ensuring that the rumors get to their intended target. In a city the size of Golotha, a scattershot approach seems as likely to backfire as not, in the ways Dave suggests, and what we do know about Valgari seems to militate against his regularly mingling in bars and soaking up idle scandal: his legal status, for one, makes such public co-mingling seem imprudent at best.

Which isn't to say that a man in his position doesn't keep his ear to the ground; it seems essential given how long he's survived as an outlaw. I can't help but wonder, though, whether we haven't just slain one of his main sources of such information. While others may likely exist, I have doubts as to how efficiently rumors spread in taverns will reach their mark, at least before he gathers his own information about his son's death and embarks on whatever course of action he might deem fit. I think we should strive to get our misinformation to him as fast as possible, in order to attempt to shape his response to our designs.

Therefore, I would advocate for considering a more direct approach to planting our information. If we ask ourselves, how is Valgari most likely to gain information about his son's death?, it seems to me that two possible answers arise. Derine, and Boraga. There may be other obvious possibilities which I am missing, and would welcome additional ideas, but I suggest beginning with these two. In my way of seeing things, we should craft our story and then retail it directly to Derine, who would naturally be the person to whom we would go if we were innocent but had learned something about Koltho's murder. And we should, as I have suggested before, consider monitoring Boraga's for Sir Peten's possible visit, and perhaps also use our relationship with the embalmer to retail our misinformation on that end.

This course of action seems less passive, to me, in that we are trying to maximize the chance that the information gets to Valgari. And planting the information with Derine has an added benefit. Since we were all in her establishment shortly before Koltho's death, we seem at some risk of being counted among the potential suspects, especially perhaps Karl, who followed Koltho out and may be recalled as having done so. If Karl were to have "seen something" and reports this in his simple way to Derine, then he deflects suspicion from himself. (He would have been walking north, maybe, saw a figure flee up the street or something, but never considered that a body might lie to the south of the building, until he heard of Koltho's death. Or something like that.) Of course, Derine herself may take action on the "rumor", but it seems to me that the same could be true in the scenario of spreading the rumor in a tavern - she, and not Sir Peten, might act on it.

(I should add that all of our planning might be foiled if a witness saw Koltho's death, or the five of us standing around his corpse. While we got lucky with Lenesque, I for one can vouch for the fact that a murder may be witnessed in spite of not seeing anyone, a la Merky. Perhaps we should take some time here to discuss a contingency plan should things go south...)
User avatar
Lord Ewen
Baron
Baron
 
Posts: 1055
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:27 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC

Postby Imarë » Wed Dec 21, 2005 2:13 pm

Sir Ewens suggestion of directed rumoring is better than the broadcast method but still leaves in place my biggest objection, that it lets the initiative go from us to Sir Peten. The successes we have had have been through our initiative to go after something (Evil Erol, Koltho). We have had less success if we are not the initiators (our stay in Selvos). If we let him direct when and where he chooses to do something, I think we have already put ourselves behind the 8-ball. What if he decides to wait 4 weeks before coming to see us? We are on high alert 24/7, does anyone think we will be ready after several weeks of this? I stand on trying something else, anything else that would keep the initiative with us.
User avatar
Imarë
In the Blessed Realm
 
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:02 am
Location: Easton, MA

Postby Lord Ewen » Wed Dec 21, 2005 6:46 pm

I agree with this entirely. The gist of my suggestions was to seize the initiative, but agree that we still remain too passive and reactive, however much our rumors might help shape Valgari's behavior to some degree. But lack of sufficient information hampers us in concocting a plan.

When you consider the question of what piece of information would be most useful, the most obvious one is the location where Koltho lived with his father, as the odds seem good that this might lead to Valgari. If we possessed that informaton, which we had hoped to coax from Koltho, we might strike quickly and ambush Valgari in or near his lair, perhaps even before he realizes something is amiss and Koltho dead.

So who might know this info? It seems possible to me that Derine might, and so we might target any information or story we feed her with the aim of eliciting this intelligence. Aside from Derine, we do not yet know anyone more than casually involved with Koltho (locksmith, Klarina, card-playing partners and whores at Derine's), so she seems the best bet here.

However, we have also discussed the possibility that Jarop knows where Koltho, or Sir Peten, lives. Our logic here has depended entirely upon the presumption that information about Golotha is Jarop's bread and butter, and I think this is fairly sound as far as it goes. So, if you are looking for direct means, why not simply offer to buy the information from the Lia Kavair master? Money talks, and while previous discussions have emphasized the likelihood that Jarop would be reluctant to part with such intelligence, I suspect that a suitable price would be within our means, albeit steep. Hell, I could even throw in a slave-girl who can do backflips as a deal-clincher :twisted: Seriously, though, I suspect that the man has his price: after all, what's the use of being the Lia-Kavair head honcho if you can't make scads of money by retailing a portion of all that information at your fingertips?

I am sure there are other direct means of maintaining the initiative as well, but I just haven't thought of them yet. Any other ideas?
User avatar
Lord Ewen
Baron
Baron
 
Posts: 1055
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:27 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC

Postby Imarë » Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:43 am

I am sure something like this would work. My reservation is that Jarop may have been providing cover for Sir Peten for payment. Somebody has to have been covering for him (I feel sure of this because there is probably a reward for turning him in and it has not been taken). It could also be that Sir P is a member of Jarops operation (we don't know what he really does now do we). We would have to go into something like this with our eyes wide open. It could get us the location needed or give us a location where an ambush might happen (with or without our quarry) but at least it would not involve waiting around for a visit on their terms (hopefully). Well, nothing ventured nothing gained (Into the valley of death rode the four and Dascomb?)
User avatar
Imarë
In the Blessed Realm
 
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:02 am
Location: Easton, MA

Postby Matt » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:13 am

Imarë wrote:(I feel sure of this because there is probably a reward for turning him in and it has not been taken).

Lord Graver would have told you of any reward. His silence on the subject may be taken as there is no such bounty on Sir Peten's head. 8)
User avatar
Matt
The GM
 
Posts: 2556
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:38 pm
Location: Weymouth, MA

Postby Lord Ewen » Mon Dec 26, 2005 6:01 pm

While it is certainly possible that Valgari belongs to the Lia Kavair, I tend to rank this as lower on the scale of probability, but only due to the following generalization (which may well be false): Lord Graver indicated that Sir Peten may have taken up Agrikanism, which seems to be philosophically at odds with wanting to be a card-carrying member of the LK. Now that assumption might be dead wrong, but I would speculate a peripheral association with the LK at best.

Since Bevan has engineered previous doings with the godfather of Golotha, and the Valgari mission is her bag anyway, I would suggest having Ms. Palliser weigh in on the notion before developing it further...
User avatar
Lord Ewen
Baron
Baron
 
Posts: 1055
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:27 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC

Next

Return to I Dare Do all that May Become ...

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron