DiscoDude: ---BEGIN SESSION---
Ryusui|GM: Right, so! We left off at the paper mill!
Ryusui|GM: Ivon Lankshire has offered to introduce you all to the "thieves" who have been "raiding" the mills!
Ryusui|GM: Also, I believe Mitsu was making plans to assassinate Under-Regent Zyll!
Ryusui|GM: Vagabonds, what are you going to do next?
Mitsunari: That can wait for a bit, of course; better to wait until other business is concluded before one gets to the task most likely to get them run out of the Clearing - or worse.
Mitsunari: If there's still daylight to burn, we should probably go see what's to be seen at the abbey.
Aulus Lusius Allectus: Yeah, unless we are still gonna visit the monks, we are probably just gonna get ready and wait for the meeting.
Ryusui|GM: Chell, you got two cents on this? Or do you need to get up to speed with what's going on?
Chell: (( Kinda need to be put up to speed ))
Chell: (( been weeks... xx ))
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (ok, so after a rather dramatic reveal, we offed the guard sent to accompany us, and now are try to figure out what to do about the Under-Regent. generally speaking the Under-Regent's death is a key part of what we are planning.)
Ryusui|GM: (well, there's a few different things going on, but the big thing, besides the search for whoever's distributing pro-Alliance, anti-Eyrie paraphernalia, is that Ivon has just revealed that the mills are all breaking down, and Under-Regent Zyll's obsessive anti-Marquisate policies mean that no one can be brought in to fix them properly - instead, the mills are being forced to use manual labor to compensate. However, some of the mills are still running.)
Ryusui|GM: (As it happens, not all the mills have been broken into, but curiously, the ones that have been better-guarded are the ones that've suffered catastrophic breakdowns. If the thieves - who are known only to take small bits of cast-off material - were in fact saboteurs, you would expect the opposite to be true...)
Ryusui|GM: (oh yeah, one more thing, that applies to you specifically, Chell)
Ryusui|GM: (you found the guy who was passing out pamphlets and he told you his boss, the guy who actually gave him the pamphlets to hand out, smelled strongly of ink and paper - but he had no other clues to give you.)
Ryusui|GM: (oh, and yeah, Under-Regent Zyll very probably offed his predecessor and claimed the Marquisate to be responsible)
Chell: (( ah right, I remember that. ))
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (I still feel kinda silly for expecting the big reveal to actually clear up who is going to do what. In the end all I know is Aulus is probably gonna try and steal some manuals on the mills maintenance from the Marquisate after this is over.)
Chell: (( The ink and paper stuff. ))
Mitsunari: (And the smell of ink was prominent in the paper mill, though its foreman was denying everything until we, ya know, offed our escort.)
Ryusui|GM: So let's clarify here: the gang's two big immediate options are "check out the abbey, like Zyll asked you to," and "wait until night to meet the 'thieves,' like Ivon asked you to." Which one are you going for, Vagabonds?
Chell: I wanna wait till night tbh
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (Do we have to pick one over the other?)
Mitsunari: Well, part of me wants to think one doesn't exclude the other.
Chell: We could also split up, right?
Ryusui|GM: (no, and yes)
Ryusui|GM: (you could check out the Abbey and come back)
Ryusui|GM: (or you could skip the Abbey for now and check them out in the morning)
Mitsunari: (We could also check out that rumor of a "bandit" camp outside the clearing - it's a toss-up whether that's where an Alliance cell is forming out of fearing-for-life refugees or if it really is just a bandit camp.)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (To be honest, after getting rid of the guard, visiting the abby could cause complications too. As much as Aulus wants the full picture it might not be worth the risk.)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (Hey, where is the dude we was sent to be with you. Uhh.... he is taking a nap?)
Mitsunari: (Does the abbey know we're supposed to be with someone?)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (They might, we don't know.)
Mitsunari: (Either way, if there was someone our escort would have been actually useful in talking to, it would have been the abbey. Whoops. XD)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (Arguably we already know everything we need to know about the Under-Regent anyway.)
Chell: (( so, maybe we could talk to the thieves then? ))
Mitsunari: (Yeah.)
Ryusui|GM: So folks are agreed: wait until nightfall?
Mitsunari: (Yep.)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (Yeah, it probably is our best bet at this point.)
Ryusui|GM: Night falls. There's no sign of increased patrols or any other consequences for your actions earlier. Certainly Zyll will start to get suspicious that you failed to report back, along with his minion, but for now, the coast is clear.
Ryusui|GM: The other workers have gone. Only Ivon is here at the paper mill, waiting by the door.
Mitsunari: (Oh, were we supposed to report back tonight?)
Ryusui|GM: (i mean. his guard never came back, so XD)
Ryusui|GM: (fwiw even i hadn't fully thought about that in advance~)
Mitsunari: (I mean, in hindsight, a-'doy. Part of me does want to roll back my decision now, but I assume that won't fly. ^^;)
Ryusui|GM: The impromptu stakeout wears on, and then...a soft but rhythmic knock on the door, like a password.
Ryusui|GM: Ivon responds by unlatching the door and opening it.
Ryusui|GM: There are three hooded figures in tattered cloaks outside.
Ryusui|GM: What do you do, Vagabonds?
Mitsunari: Mitsunari waits and watches how the others act.
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "So, to whom to do we have the pleasure of meeting."
Boozoo: "THESE TATTERED MEN LOOK LIKE A CULT!!! I COULD SCREAM LIKE A BANSHEE RIGHT ABOUT NOW!"
Ryusui|GM: One of the three figures yelps in surprise: "Shit, we're made!" He makes to run, but Ivon grabs him by the arm. "No, no, no," Ivon says, as quietly yet forcefully as possible, "these are friends!"
Boozoo: (( okay, imma try some RPing ))
Mitsunari: (Wait, we never did establish when Boozoo returned to the group. XD)
Ryusui|GM: (probably sometime during the waiting period XD)
Boozoo: (( because fuck it, he's Boozoo ))
Boozoo: (( "I HAVE ESCAPED FROM THE CLUTCHES OF STAGNATION!!!" ))
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "As it stand, friends is a bit generous, for now lets just say neither of us agree with the Under-Regent..."
Ryusui|GM: The leader of the group - ironically the shortest of the three - steps forward, cautiously, and tentatively pulls away her hood, revealing a ginger tabby face.
Ryusui|GM: "...Well, you certainly don't look like the Under-Regent's thugs," she says, looking around.
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "Also Boozoo is back, there goes the relative peace."
Boozoo: "He is tiny like a bee. IN HEAT!!!" He says about the leader
Chell: Chell would look at Boozoo then back at Aulus, "Yea..."
Mitsunari: "Well, we're technically in the under-regent's employ since today, but I'm afraid our escort had a little accident. Occupational hazard, of course."
Ryusui|GM: "You killed an Eyrie guard?" The leader of the group looks genuinely taken aback. She looks at Ivon: "They're killers and you call them friends?"
Ryusui|GM: She can't be older than her late teens.
Boozoo: "No, we're not killers. Ye see, we are blood thirsty psychopaths!"
Mitsunari: "Just disregard whatever he says! It's what I do." Mitsu's plucky smile is no reassurance.
Boozoo: "Of the good kind!"
Ryusui|GM: (pfff)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "... I sometimes forget the company I keep. Please disregard Boozoo. But yes, we are generally not afraid to get our hands dirty."
Mitsunari: The fennec leans into Chell and Aulus. "Guess they're not the cheapskate anarchist type of Alliance, at least," he whispers.
Boozoo: "Like bloody good psychos!"
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "Some... more then others."
Chell: "The Alliance isn't so anarchist, remember, I like them." She said, punching Mitsu's shoulder slightly.
Boozoo: "They have food!"
Ryusui|GM: The leader of the group looks even more confused now. "We're not..." She sighs. She nods to the other two; they reluctantly remove their own hoods. One is a grey striped cat; the other, a rust brown one. "We aren't with the Alliance. I suppose you could say we hail from the Marquisate, though we don't have any real ties with them. Not anymore."
Mitsunari: "Oh! Ohhhhhh. I see now."
Boozoo: "Marquisate?!"
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "And yet I see no other word for those who shirk any semblance of greater order. Huh, that does explain a little."
Ryusui|GM: All three open up their cloaks to reveal the satchels of tools and parts they carry. The leader takes this opportunity to don a pair of outsize spectacles.
Ryusui|GM: "Allow me to introduce us properly," the leader of the group says. "My name is Molly Wilcox, and my associates and I call ourselves the Gears of Change."
Ryusui|GM: The gray one snickers at this last proclamation.
Aulus Lusius Allectus: And then, with an unexpected grin considering how serious he has been this day "I guess the Under-Regent wasn't entirely telling a lie. To bad I think we both still feel the same way about him."
Boozoo: "What sort of gears yer changin'?"
Boozoo: (( he's being serious with the question ))
Ryusui|GM: Molly gives Boozoo an odd look, but humors his question: "Those," she says, gesturing at the paper mill. "If Ivon's told you about us, he's no doubt told you the town's mills are breaking down. My father helped build them, you know." She sounds simultaneously rueful and wistful at this. "The Marquisate keeps its ears out, even regarding...failed projects like Milltown. When we heard that the Under-Regent was allowing the town's infrastructure to die, all for his blasted political ambitions, well...we couldn't just stand idly by."
Ryusui|GM: "'We' meaning our little outfit. A handful of engineering students who'd only ever seen the Wilderness in woodcuts," the rust one mutters. "We're isolated and unsanctioned. No one's coming to rescue us if we screw this up."
Ryusui|GM: He shoots Ivon an angry look. It's clear he, at least, doesn't particularly trust you.
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "Sounds like you already have a plan, maybe one better the Mitsunari's I hope?"
Mitsunari: "Hmm... I don't suppose that explains the Alliance pamphlets being churned out, does it?"
Boozoo: Boozoo just hears about the Milltown projects and just got a bit angry. "I knew ye were about them buildin's! No respect on the tree! No food!"
Ryusui|GM: Molly shrugs. "The plan, so far, is to repair the machines on the sly as best we can. It's...not much, but we've already bought Milltown a little time. We'd need more manpower and - ideally - the leeway to operate in the open to do a proper job of it. And not everyone knows what we're up to. Ivon's one of a few who figured us out and decided to help."
Mitsunari: "Again, ignore him."
Ryusui|GM: The gray one goes over to the paper press and pulls a surreptitious lever, hidden near the ground. With a faint clinking of gears, part of the press transforms, revealing an ink plate and a handful of freshly printed broadsheets. "Teaching the locals to fix these machines is part of it. The Gears need more people, and those people are going to need instructional material," Molly says.
Boozoo: "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't meant to be rude!"
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "So you were try to sell a fix-it your self guide under the guise of Alliance propaganda and insurgents?"
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (Or was that answer not pointed at Mitsunari's question?)
Ryusui|GM: The gray one brings the stack of printed sheets over. None of them look anything like the pamphlet - not even the paper stock is similar. They're covered in esoteric diagrams, figures of gearwork and equations and long, cramped expositions of mechanical theory.
Boozoo: "Again! It's all building shit!"
Mitsunari: "Oho, it seems the game is still afoot on your little Alliance scare, Aulus."
Ryusui|GM: "Alliance pamphlets? If someone's printing propaganda, then we know nothing about it," Molly says, frowning. Ivon shrugs helplessly.
Mitsunari: Mitsunari trots over to Molly. "If it's not you, and it's not the mill workers, then who else could it be? I'd say these machines are pretty booked, even if it's not all on the books, so are there other presses we haven't accounted for?"
Mitsunari: (I'd like to Figure Someone Out as I'm asking this; he's watching her reaction.)
Mitsunari: (Is that fine?)
Ryusui|GM: (by all means!)
Mitsunari: !roll 2d6+3 (CUNNING)
DiscoDude: Mitsunari rolled 2d6+3 for 13 [2d6 = 4, 6]
Ryusui|GM: (heck yeah, hold 3)
Mitsunari: (Yee.)
Ryusui|GM: "...No. There aren't any other printing presses in Milltown. It was the one thing the original Milltown Modernization Project couldn't get the okay for - the Marquisate was too concerned a press might be used to reproduce propaganda." She chuckles grimly at the irony. "It's hardly a proper printing press, but we were able to convert the paper press into something suitable for our needs in the process of refurbishing it. The only way there might be another press in town is if there was another group of engineers we somehow don't know about, somehow finding another suitable machine to repurpose."
Mitsunari: Mitsunari has a funny little thought.
"Hmm. HMMMMMM..." He turns to Aulus. "Hey, if I initiated a whirlwind of arrests and executions, how easy would it be to have some of those Marquisate engineers simply 'disappear?'"
Boozoo: "Yer just going full on 'yer not immune to propaganda' bullshit!"
Ryusui|GM: "What are you suggesting?" Molly says, clearly unsettled at the words "arrests and executions" in your statement.
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "It would be trivial, and we are talking about the Under-Regents actions here."
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "As much as my associate here might want to spook you with otherwise."
Mitsunari: "Well, I mean," he turns to Molly, "if, say, one was an under-regent to be, and decided to off the previous guy and blame it on the Marquisate, who's to say they couldn't keep a bunch of off-the-book prisoners to keep making their wonderful machines for them?"
Ryusui|GM: Molly blinks. "All the original engineers were accounted for, save perhaps for one or two." She shudders. "My father had the privilege of dying in bed surrounded by loved ones, but he did have friends who weren't so lucky." She looks at you, Mitsunari: "Are you sincerely suggesting the Under-Regent kidnapped Marquisate engineers to put them to work for his own purposes? Where would he keep such an operation?"
Aulus Lusius Allectus: would just shrug. "Look, we've been chasing shadows for the better part of a day. Making theories is what we've been doing all day, not all of them were right, but we still need to consider the possibility. That being said the keep was under heavy security, it wouldn't be a stretch to be hiding something under there."
Mitsunari: "It's just a theory, I'll be honest! Really, I'm more hung up on the pamphlets; would he be trying to make a break for the Alliance, for real, or is he just trying to set the stage for recreating the magic of the previous leader's death?"
Boozoo: (( a cockroach appeared inside a subway bag and it was annihilated))
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (No mercy.)
Ryusui|GM: (remember, you have three hold if there's anything specific you wanna drill down on re: Molly's thoughts, feelings, and statements)
Boozoo: (( it somehow survived by being stomped multiple times inside of it ))
Mitsunari: (Yeah, I'm hunting down my options as we speak.)
Mitsunari: (Hmm, not sure how these questions would help, specifically. I guess I should ask how she's really feeling to get a bead on whether we should even trust her.)
Ryusui|GM: (right. 2 hold left, then)
Ryusui|GM: Molly is clearly...surprised, and uncertain, by your presence. She seems to believe you when you say you're not on Zyll's side, though she's clearly very uncomfortable with the idea of working with people who have blood on their hands, even if they're her one chance to save the town.
Ryusui|GM: One of her compatriots mentioned they were all engineering students. You can definitely believe that. None of them look older than their teens.
Ryusui|GM: They are out of their depth and way in over their head, and they know it, but they feel an odd...duty to the machines their people built.
Mitsunari: (Anything else, or shall I proceed.)
Mitsunari: (BTW, were any of us supposed to Meet Someone Important here?)
Mitsunari: (Hmm, I guess I should have been asking Are they lying, though I figured it was a bit late for that.)
Ryusui|GM: (...the closest connection she's got is to the Marquisate, but that's tenuous; the Marquisate didn't send them, that's for sure)
Mitsunari: (So she's not someone important, then. XD)
Ryusui|GM: (...not in that sense, i suppose XD)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (She probably would be considered a denizen then.)
Ryusui|GM: (and yeah i'm done answering that first one)
Mitsunari: (BTW, whether they're lying is in regards to their professed innocence regarding the pamphlets.)
Ryusui|GM: (Okay, one hold left then)
Ryusui|GM: She seems genuinely not to know anything about any Alliance paraphernalia. Ivon's confusion only serves to reinforce this impression.
Ryusui|GM: (next?)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "I suppose we'll want to shelf that for now. As bad as leaving unknown actors be is, I think the Under-Regent is more urgent."
Mitsunari: "Well, all we know is that someone is printing Alliance propaganda, and I find it unlikely that they could do it here while just happening to miss these other intruders this whole time. Since I've decided to believe you, it stands to reason that there are other machines, and ergo, I suspect the one person most likely to be capable of stowing those capable of making him one, Zyll; kyu, eee, dee!"
Ryusui|GM: "...Can I see one of these pamphlets," Molly finally says.
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "I don't see why not. I think Chell had it last right?"
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (We might want to call it soon, we are approaching that hour and a half mark.)
Ryusui|GM: (yeah)
Ryusui|GM: (does Chell or anyone want to show Molly the pamphlet, or...?)
Mitsunari: (I guess I'll say Mitsu has it if Chell doesn't want to act on this.)
Chell: (( ah whoop, I got it ))
Chell: Chell would shuffle into their robe and pull out a pamphlet, "Here's one of them." Chell said, handing it over to Molly.
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (Or omit if that wasn't implied, it is getting late and my brain is filling in the blanks with cheese.)would raise an eyebrow at the one of... however many statement.
Ryusui|GM: Molly grabs the pamphlet, and the three engineers go into huddle mode poring over it. Finally, Molly pronounces: "The text is garbage. The calligraphy, however, is masterful." The gray one points: "Yeah, you can see the strokes in places. It's some really good handwriting, but this wasn't printed at all."
Chell: "So, these were handmade?" Chell folds his arms some, "Must have a lot of free time to do so."
Mitsunari: "Well, dang, with how they were getting handed out to whoever, we kinda just assumed their creation had to be automated somehow."
Ryusui|GM: "It's not a wrong assumption. To an untrained eye, this would look mass-manufactured in a press, but it wasn't," Molly says, handing the pamphlet back.
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "So no machines. Kinda funny to think we wouldn't be involved at all without them bring attention to this though.... Leaves me with another theory on that Abbey, Monks are known for copying documents and such. But at this point, if the Under Regent is responsible it would be a happy accident, if not it is a question for another day at this point."
Mitsunari: "Isn't the Alliance scare like the main thing you were told to investigate in that note?"
Aulus Lusius Allectus: "Yes, but... fine you can have that one. Technically all I needed to do was confirm or deny Alliance activity. And while I'm not certain if it was authentic or a third party, the pamphlets are very real at the very least."
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (Mitsunari didn't know for sure about all that until Aulus just answered that right?)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (To be honest I'm ready to call it here.)
Ryusui|GM: (yeah i was kinda gearing up for that)
Ryusui|GM: (last lines, peeps?)
Aulus Lusius Allectus: (Aulus as nothing else worth saying for moment.)
Ryusui|GM: ( Mitsunari, Chell, Boozoo? )
Chell: (( nah I'm good ))
Ryusui|GM: ( Mitsunari, Boozoo, anything before i close out the sesh?)
Ryusui|GM: Then let us...
DiscoDude: ---END SESSION---
