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[Taricus]

Continue training the irregulars.
If there's space in the cabal's library, use it to start studying the arts.

[Digital Hellhound]

Approach Daergoth in an ordinary setting - don't even hint at anything yet, but find out what sort of man he is. Preferably, get him drunk and see how much of his wishes and opinions he's willing to share.

[Nirur Torir]

Study more healing magic.

Gerl smiled as he looked around at the rarely used - judging by the poor organization - tomes on healing magic. Not only would he be able greatly aid the Cabal through keeping the troops healthy (a service enemies were unlikely to have in abundance), but he could charge a premium for basic healing services to nobles. Even a small healer corps for the Cabal would do well for winning the loyalty of the commoners, and with enough healers to keep everyone in and around the capital healed?

By the time anyone with power realized the Cabal was a threat, they'd already have won, even before adding in a few dozen massive flesh golems.

[Deep Waters]

Continue training Maekar. See if I can use the Cair libraries to learn how to counterspell. Alternatively, if I can't find anything on that subject, see if there's anything specifically pertaining to combining combat magic with swordplay.

[Azthor]

Carefully enter the place and seize control of a few undead with Darius; leave Darius behind to deal with the wards and prevent the guards from entering; start exploring the place using the undead as shock troopers and trap fodder; once successful, ensure all hostiles are dead and search the place. If unsuccessful, flee or defend myself as suitable, warning Darius and the guards as necessary.

[Terenos]

Act One, Part Five: Progress.

-----
Gerl Lightshade
[5,4]
Gaining some familiarity with healing magic takes you almost no time at all. In truth it is the flip side of Necromancy, it uses many of the same techniques and practices. You've laid out the tomes properly, and the material is interesting enough to keep your attention from wandering. There are few distractions though you can hear some kind of heated argument somewhere else in the library.

You have gained Familiarity with Healing Magic.

-----
Maekar Stormhold, Muirgen Frostbrand,
[3,4,4,2]

The training once more goes well, solid progress is made. Another few sessions and you estimate Maekar will be close to your level of combat capability.

Maekar, though supplies have grown more limited you construct a set of Light Armor for Milos. It fits the lizardman nicely, and should keep him safer than wearing no armor at all.

Muirgen, the Cair library has a few dry tomes on the subject of counterspelling. And once the librarian realizes what you're looking up, a few different scholars arrive and spend the entirety of your time in the Cair both lecturing you and arguing on the subject.
While you now realize that counterspelling is using your own will and magical power to dampen anothers, you gleaned almost no practical knowledge.

And a headache. You definitely have a headache now.

-----
Amon Morian
[?,?] Daergoth is not especially difficult to find. You track him down to one of his usual haunts where he is holding court and is obviously already quite drunk.
He seems to have a number of semi-firm desires, mostly involving power for himself. He holds a very high opinion of himself and thinks hes the greatest person in the city.
He does not recognize you, though that might be due to his advanced state of drunkenness. You survey his crowd and several of them seem to be devoted to him, though as far as you can tell he is the only 'noble' here. Many of his followers are rough looking fellows who probably know their way around a fight.

-----
Milos Daljulan
[5,3] It has been a long somewhat irritating road but you can now say the Cabal Regulars are now Average Fighters You've also learned a fair amount about drilling soldiers.

You enter the Library, and find it mostly empty. The others seem to use the Cair libraries for their studies. More tomes of forbidden lore for you then.
A solid beginning as you've found several copies of the most basic magical texts and have begun their study. It will take time but you should have no trouble learning magic.

-----
William Ovendvhrall
[3,6,1]
Together with Darius you instruct the soldiers to stand back, giving you space to work after clearing out the mausoleum's entrance. You reach forth with your own power and seize command of a few of the zombies lurking near the entryway. Darius makes it appear as though he has blessed you and you stride forth while the soldiers mutter and look on in awe.

Since a few moments pass and you dont scream out in pain the soldiers believe Darius has succeeded in warding you against the undead.

With a motley crew of half-rotted zombies to screen you move through the underside of the mausoleum. Torchlight barely extends 10 feet around you, and beyond the darkness is an almost palpable force. Moving slowly and tactically you sweep the various side paths and sepulchers dotted about. There are several flights of stairs and as you descend the darkness becomes even more dense, pushing against your torchlight. You are attacked a few times but your zombies keep the attackers at bay until they are either defeated by your elemental magic, or subsumed into your forces.

You have reached a barrier. Stone dotted with runic symbols fills the entirety of the passageway and blocks your egress. Beyond you feel the source of whatever necromantic energy is within this place.

-----
Local Events.

Cabal supplies are now Limited. Nargoth wishes for someone to address this. As the Capital is a port city, many supplies are delivered by ship. There are also caravans that arrive more or less monthly.

-----

[Nirur Torir]

Call for a meeting of every important PC who's not in a crypt.


"I've made good progress in my studies of healing magic. Should you find yourselves injured, I will help. My next steps will be to train acolyte healers to support the troops, and to mix necromancy and healing in a resurrection ritual, which we should be able to use to buy noble support. I think it would be useful to use our temple to heal commoners for free, after I train more healers. If the commoners love us, we will be in a far better position, both for recruiting and getting political power, and we should get a small stream of legal donations."

"Does anyone have any immediate ideas on gathering supplies? I don't think we have an easy way to blackmail any warehouse managers to just continually give us goods, but I expect they have work for strong men. I would be willing to take a team of a dozen troops out looking for work."

[Shootandrun]

Maekar joined Gerl in the meeting room, with the casual pace of someone starting to settle into a habit. He was the first to speak once Lightshade was done.

"I was thinking of a scheme to get money out of some local merchants. We could try to find a street or something that isn't too well guarded and contains a lot of shops, and send a few goons lead by someone able to handle himself to vandalize the place, maybe steal a few things. Afterwards, I could move in with other goons, do the whole song and dance about hearing they have been having trouble recently, and offer to set up a guard in the surroundings in exchange for money, either by convincing or intimidating the locals.

Not only would it land us more wealth, it could also open up a business front viable for later, and give us a good entry point to start investing in establishments around the city. Use money to make more money, if you will. However, the first part will get risky, and the second part is hardly guaranteed to work."

He stepped back and glanced around the room.

"Thoughts?"

[Digital Hellhound]

Amon strode over to the drunkard with an easy confidence, offering a smile on his face and a drink in his hands. 'Prince Daergoth? I am Amon Morian, envoy of the Black Trident. Your name is well known on the Expanse - I would be honored to make your acquaintance. Perhaps we could talk over some mead or wine?'

This drunkard was certainly no prince, but Amon was curious if he'd bother to correct the title. He seemed tiresomely full of himself - either childishly easy or a nightmare to control.

Introduce myself to Daergoth and keep him boozed up.

[Deep Waters]

"Healing for free?" Muirgen raises an eyebrow skeptically and crosses her arms, leathers creaking, "I suppose it'd be good training for acolytes, but you can't honestly expect to be able to sustain a service like that for long. Healers, sure. Getting the good will of commoners, sure. But completely for free? That will never work. Every butcher, cobbler, laborer, and beggar in this city will be lining up outside our doors looking for a free check-up, and we wouldn't be able to keep up even if we were getting something concrete out of it. There's enough demand for healing in this city that another, cheaper service will be able to undercut other healers without losing all chance of profit and having said other healers out for our blood.

"As for resurrections-- well, the easier and cheaper methods are sure to be very forbidden and very obvious, and the better methods (if there are any) will definitely be far more expensive than the many other ways we could buy noble support, such as flattery, blackmail, and straight-up bribery."

She paused for a moment, frowning in thought, before continuing, "As for your suggestion, Maekar, I'd suggest checking in with the local criminals first and see if anyone's claimed some territories. We don't want to step on any toes or get into a turf war this early on. I'm not that keen to go into racketeering, though-- personally, if we're going into criminal activity, I'd rather check up on the black market see if there are any smuggling rings we can get a piece of."

[Shootandrun]

"There's wisdom in what Muirgen says, Gerl. I would not be quick to attempt to truly resurrect anyone - if that power was easily accessible, we would know." The low rumble of Maekar's voice rang through the meeting room as he turned from Gerl to the warrior. "I would not dismiss racketeering so easily, Muirgen - in many ways it is less risky than smuggling, and if we do it correctly then it will not be racketeering at all. Scouting ahead, however, is not a bad idea - but I am unfit for it. I stand out in a crowd, as you may have noticed. Still, I intend to go into the docks with a few of the lads, not as a criminal but as a visitor, to see what there might be to see in those parts. I invite you to investigate the less than savory elements of our area."

He shrugged, indicating that it was no order.

"Do as you will, as long as something gets done and we are not put at risk. Enough time has been spent here. I'm moving out. Milos," he said, turning to the lizardman, "I'll be taking a few men with me to investigate the docks. Will look more imposing if need be, and I will be able to seize opportunities if there are any. You've trained them well - let's put that to the test."

Study magic in the library.
Head to the docks with ten men, acting as a businessman with them as my guards. Be on the look out for any events of interest or opportunities that could lead me or the Cabal to profit.

[Nirur Torir]

"I will be cautious with my research into resurrections, of course, and do not expect immediate progress. I will put more thought into the matter of free healing services - I suppose that would be better restricted to our more loyal supporters. In the mean time, I will take some men and deal with our impending supply shortage."

Perform magical experimentation on rats or stray dogs. Restrain them, then kill them in various ways (blood loss, minimal poisoning, asphyxiation), then try to heal the damage and revive them immediately and after a few minutes.
Take a dozen troops out to a port warehouse. Perform legal work in exchange for supplies.

[Deep Waters]

"To be honest, I probably should've gotten around to doing that earlier." Muirgen admits, "We would've ended up delving into less savory activities sooner or later anyway. I'll take a look around to see if anyone's willing to be our in. At the very least, it'll be to our advantage to know the name of a fence or two..."

Muirgen also privately makes a note to herself to study general magic a bit more-- there's no way she was going to walk back into that library to learn something specific, only to get lost in a technical discussion again.

Look around town for criminal contacts. Focus on trying to find a good way to access the black market, especially fences, and especially especially fences that specialize in magical artifacts.
Study at the library to get more of a handle on basic magical principles.

[Azthor]

Command the undead to form a line in each of the walls of the corridor, ordering them to stand idle, for the moment. Return to the Captain, tell him that I've managed to contain the undead within the mausoleum, but that he and his men should avoid the place until Darius and I have had the chance to investigate the source of the infestation. Inform Darius of the news and study the wall with him so that we may cross considerations. Dispel/breach the barrier, if we believe we can do so safely and it will not unleash something we cannot contend with, warding ourselves in anticipation in any way we can. Use the undead and other available resources as necessary.

Side task: along the process of studying them, write down every single rune and pattern on the wall.

[Taricus]

"Given that this lot have actually learned to hold their own now, I'd say it would be perfect. Furthermore, I can take the rest of the men and say... start making a few openings for your group to swoop in and take advantage of the victims. Sounds like a plan?"