Kephalonia, The Red Witch of Klarr

[Andy]

Er - you guys aren't assuming that Kephalonia is a loving wifey that moves in and sits around looking deery eyed at her Duke?

First, she's got to stop by Klarr and pick up Gallows, because she couldn't bring Gallows to Dragondale where the last adventure ended. So figure at least a half day there to solve any problems the kids have gotten themselves into. She thought Erik, Phillippe and Ciaus were there watching the kids along with Gallows but of course boys will roam. I'd like to more or less establish semi-permanent residency for the children as well in Klarr (e.g. spend more money)

Once that is taken care of, she can use her crystal ball to find Erik and Amanda, and Ophelia of course. If they're all in Greyhawk already that'd make things easy. But Kephalonia wouldn't abandon any of them!

Ideally, she'll have her own rooms in the DiShane estate, and apartments for her entourage including her sister. I wouldn't expect Amanda to hang out there often (whereas Erik and Ophelia might like it), so we'd often hang out elsewhere in Greyhawk together, or heck, Kephalonia can transport the whole bunch to Klarr, Avalon, or wherever else might be fun for the day.

However, once happily married she is still very interested in tracking down Madromo (and Omega) who, aside from the duke makes it very high on the Mr. Naughty list. Perhaps even coming up with some sort of anti-EEG league would be interesting, supporting those that continue to fight against him.

So...I seriously doubt Erik would have to make that walk, likely he'd be picked up somewhere inbetween. And the new Dutchess DiShane will have to have a talk with the local constabulary as well.

[David]

Sounds good. A couple of things, though...

You aren't assuming that Kephalonia is just ditching two dozen orphans in her former "gingerbread cottage" in Klarr, are you? The town is a community of maybe 300 or 350 people; they wouldn't be able to absorb all those kids. Now, especially if you talk to Erik, he tells you about this orphanage in Greyhawk with platinum basins and marble tiled closets...

Also, although Kephalonia might be able to START the proceedings to get Erik cleared, the local law will need to be "convinced" to drop the whole matter. Now, that can be a story, like, the boy was charmed, or simply a sufficient bribe. Whichever way you choose will, of course, have later consequences.

Finally, Erik is nervous about the SECOND contract out on his head. It would seem that he and his friends pissed off a necromancer recently and she's out to get him, but (luckily) isn't fully aware of his identity. Oh yeah, and Gallows says the kid has got a spell on him...

[Andy]

I'd like to more or less establish semi-permanent residency for the children as well in Klarr (e.g. spend more money)

You aren't assuming that Kephalonia is just ditching two dozen orphans in her former "gingerbread cottage" in Klarr, are you?

Right - it will take some time and money to make sure they are all well taken care of. I was thinking that Klarr might be more receptive than average, since they probably lost a few kids to horsemouth or stray birds. I'd assume the DM would have to roll some dice to determine that. But it is (good) news to Kephalonia that there is a good orphanage in Greyhawk, she would take advantage of that, after personally examining the facilities.

Certainly the DiShane house is no place for children, at least not to begin with. Kari also mentioned perhaps making a new Hecate witch character, I'd encourage anyone to take advantage of this pool for new characters, should the player want their character to have an 'interesting' upbringing and unusual skills.

It sounds like Erik is in more trouble than Kephalonia remembered. She'd grab him first, then figure out what was necessary. Obviously if he's going to continue his studies he'll need to hang out with her regularly, in a semi-legal fashion. What's the law want him for now?

And a necromancer? <sigh> Just another misunderstanding, because Erik wouldn't be doing anything illegal, right?

[Andy]

Oh, and for the dowemer upon him, Kephalonia would pointedly ask Erik, "Why are you radiating magic? Are you charmed?"

IAC, Kephalonia couldn't dispel it, we'd have to get Ophelia or Amanda's help to get rid of it.

[David]

"Charmed? I don't *feel* charmed...! Shit! I hope that slut Gwen didn't charm me again...! I SHOULDN'T have any standing spells on me. Let's go visit Amanda so she can 'purge' me... I'm SO going to fuck with those two...."

"Oh, yeah, well, as for what I did... Well, we both know about slitting that hired thug's throat. Well, that's murder, with dozens of witnesses, in Greyhawk. That'll be hard to make go away, but probably do-able with the right bribes and connections, especially if it comes out I was charmed AND the offended party is okay with it all now."

"As for the necromancer... Well, all I really did was walk by her house. Some thieves had broken in and were getting killed by a shadow demon, so the group I was hanging with decided to play hero. In the process, we bumbled through her home and lost to the demon. Now, she thinks WE were the ones who did the breaking and entering and is coming after us. There's no OFFICIAL legal problem here; she's just trying to kill me...!"

"At least that's what Aris said. And since I have my doubts about him, that at least shows HE didn't charm me..."

As for the children, the orphanage in Greyhawk is actually very well-run and stocked. I would assume a handful of the kids find homes in Klarr, but there are probably well over a dozen who do not. Klarr wasn't badly hit by horsemouth, thanks to Martello and Esmerelda, so there aren't lots of dead kids to 'replace'. Mark off a couple of hundred gold and we can assume the orphans all get a nice new home (and Keph gets DM's applause).

Like Kari, I have a nebulous Hecate-inspired orphan brewing...

[Admin]

Amanda would look forward to spending time with Kephalonia and Eric. While she is not comfortable with their chosen spiritual path, she could not and would not abandon them if they were in trouble.

Of course, she would not want to hang out at the DiShane residence. Since she cannot detect or dispel any charm on Phillip, she is still naive enough to believe that it's possible that he has fallen in love with Kephalonia. She's not stupid, and realizes that there is something else afoot, but on several levels, she's hesitant to challenge Kephalonia about the validity of his feelings. She is not one to hate, but he is one man who has repeatedly shown he has no remorse for his misdeeds. With Kephalonia's influence, she hopes, he will change his ways.

Amanda would offer to help find homes for some of the children. She would even contemplate adopting a child herself, but would decide against it. Knowing that she will continue her adventuring career, caring for a child as a single, working mother is just not in the cards at this point.

She would, of course, be willing to do detect charm spells or dispel magic on Erik. [Although, please note the "slutty Gwen" has helped save his ASS several times now ]. She thinks of Erik as a life long friend...she'll always have a fondness for him, but knows that their relationship will never be as close as it once was...and she's okay with that.

That said, if Erik is in trouble, she will do what she can. She knows he's not a "bad guy" and would do what she could to get his side of the story out...you know how gossip works. I'm not sure if she has a skill in streetwise, but consider me working on it With Kiro's help, if he's willing, my idea is to drop information to some of the well-known gossips around town.

[David]

Update: I rolled and Amanda's dispel magic failed to overwhelm whatever dweomer Erik is under. Erik is now contemplating spending gold to get this fixed.

Technically, Erik is not in danger. The contract on his head is not general-knowledge -- theoretically, getting him cleared of the murder wrap would fix things, although that just leaves a lone necromancer...

Kiro offers to "remove" the wizardess in her sleep...*toothy grin with fangs and horns* (complete with quiet mutter about "...show them what a REAL assassin could do..."). Speaking of Kiro, BTW, he does take a few days "off" of being Amanda's bodyguard to do some personal errand. Some sort of religious quest or something. When he comes back, he's clearly quite pleased and a little full of himself. He even wanders around town once in a while in his REAL guise, decked out in a combination of Niponese fashion and Norsk barbarism (yeah, he starting to look Kaiouseian!).

Meanwhile, Erik is TOTALLY in hiding...and worried that he might have to leave town...or spike the bitch that's out to get him...

[Admin]

Amanda would ask about his errand (having learned Nihongo) she would use it as an oppotunity to practice her language skills. She has a skill in Philosophy and would be interested to learn about other religious mind-sets.

As for his offer to "remove" said wizardess...Amanda makes it clear that killing her would only exacerbate an already troublesome situation. We'll have to think of something else...I'm guessing diplomacy won't really work, but perhaps Kephalonia may be able to assist with that??

[David]

"This is where I think human ethics get tangled," Kiro begins. "We both spent months in Furyondy, slaughtering every orc we met. Our moral justification was that those creatures were evil invaders of the human lands. And yet, when a vile and evil necromancer lives among us, threatening friends and allies, it is ethically inappropriate to slaughter her? You humans have some strange ideas... "

"No, I won't take matters into my own hands, but rest assured that were *I* the target, her corpse would be impaled on the city walls as a warning to all, not to fuck me with or those around me...don't forget, I understand evil."

"I suppose next we're going to discuss attacking the evil human priests and mages in the Evil One's lands, eh... *tsk* *tsk* I'm glad to see ogre magi don't have a monopoloy on silly ideas..."

[Andy]

Erik - "Of course you don't feel charmed..."

(Does 'Detect Charm' reveal anything?)

"As for the necromancer, perhaps Amanda and I can go talk with them and negotiate. In general, I don't believe Necromancers have access to particuarly good divinitary abilities, so as long as we keep you disguised and out of the public eye (I'll make you an anti-scrying talisman too), I seriously doubt we have anything to worry about. Likely a such a person will not make use of the authorities, but hire assassins instead. Worst case I can always send you somplace safe...like Amazonia, Dragondale, or to Harmonia's temple..." <Wry Grin>

Where is this necromancer located? In the city limits? And operating openly?

"As well, the authorities of Greyhawk have mostly had their order shaken up given the apocolypse and the destruction of the wizard'd guild. (Figure that's someone caring much about Polly Klaas in the wake of 9/11) I doubt as well they have either the resources or desire to actively seek you for that. In the future, I believe I can convince my fiancee to drop those charges as well..." <blink, blink>

Good deal on the orphanage. Kephalonia isn't overflowing with cash (penning scrolls costs $$$) but she'll sell something if she has to in order to see their safety. She'd do that first and formost before even getting her lovvie to donate as well later.

"Hmm... Kiro the Ogre-Magi... (DM can get me a personal reading on him later) The 'civilized' way we approach this is to assess our unknown adversary and see if they cannot perhaps be negotiated with. Any reasonably powerful wizard would rather negotiate than face a costly battle that we could easily call in the authorities to help our side. If such measures fail, then I'll most certainly enjoy your help murdering them in their sleep to protect Erik. I am however, not above ensuring any negotiations are most certainly in our favor. Should you be able to procure a personal item, hair clipping or other similar bauble that belongs to said necromancer, that would ensure we hold all the 'cards' so to speak."

[David]

Detect charm does NOT show that Erik is charmed. Strange...

Erik also points out that she might not be a true necromancer. She certainly is into undead, but she also took out a chunk of his old party with a simple sleep. She wouldn't come after me through the law, since the law holds that I'm innocent. It's a poisoned dagger from a fellow guild member that worries me...

She lives in a NICE house in the Garden Quarter. She appears to be well-connected.

As for Kiro...

"Fair enough. Would you like me to rip her pubic patch bald in her sleep or would cleaning her hairbrush be good enough?" It would seem that brutality is a powerful trait in his family... "Let's be clear here, there's nowhere in this city I can't get to whenever I feel like..."

[Andy]

Okay... so he's not charmed. He could be under suggestion or something else nefarious, but since he doesn't appear to be adversely affected, let's move on to the next step.

"Collecting the hair from her brush, or perhaps the brush and hair would be completely sufficient, and thanks so much for the kind offer."

"Once that's done, and she's had a chance to work a little sympathetic magic, Kephalonia will lead some people to the house, Amanda, perhaps Kiro can back us up, and we'll simply talk to this person. But Let's be clear here too - there's nowhere in Hell I wouldn't send someone that insisted on unresonably persecuting one of my close friends."

We'll have to see how this plays out though, I think it would be a good to solidify Kephalonia's position before getting into a situation that you just know is going to go wrong.

[Stephanous]

Might I just add, the other key figure in the Egg of Chaos game was nother other than T.C., the Wildcard. She helped Kephalonia and Mikhail rescue Jasmine and the others. This is also the game where she became a wildmage.

Paul

[Andy]

stephanous said:

Might I just add, the other key figure in the Egg of Chaos game was nother other than T.C., the Wildcard. She helped Kephalonia and Mikhail rescue Jasmine and the others. This is also the game where she became a wildmage.

Paul

Ah, outstanding, I'll have to add that. Very interesting that nearly everyone on that game was instrumental in the struggle against the EEG's plans. Almost like they should have been there.. <mystery music>

[David]

Jasmine sez: "Hey, Keph, before you disappear, can I get a hand with a minor problem I have? I want to have an easier time keeping tabs on Mikhail and since I'm already mentally linked to Andar's Tower Gem, if I could manage to upgrade that connection, I could use it to help me sense Mikhail (he has a spiritual attunement, via Chamois)."

"The problem is those pesky saves. I was hoping I could get a probability control from you, pay Rhom's *mother* for a moment, and get a bless from my husband, Stephanos... It should come out to a +4 +4 +1 or a +9. Since I need a 10...that should pretty clearly synch it. And Allyrion on-hand for an alternate reality...? What do you say?"

(Andar has already agreed, mostly in the interest of placating his two best students, Adama and Mikhail)