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[Deep Waters]

Muirgen stands back, watching the elf and the lizard argue back and forth over and over and barely managing to keep from rolling her eyes. She sighs as the argument seems to resolve. Eyeing Amon for a moment, she reaches over to grab her abandoned drink and downs it in one, long gulp, wiping her mouth away on a sleeve before stating, "Give me a moment to grab some supplies from the stores. Unless we go through with the idea of stealing horses, it's gonna take a few days to get there and back."

Set off to deliver the package as soon as everyone is ready.

[Terenos]

Act One, Part Three: Missions and Studying

-----
Gerl Lightshade
[?,?]
Ah yes, combat magic. Truly the most important application of magic that you can think of. Nothing is more valuable than using magic in the midst of a combat situation in order to claim victory with ease. You spend hours studying, practicing, preparing. Then since you decide you should test it out before using it in the field. You find wherever it is Milos is training the irregulars and drag one off to test your theory against.

The magic within you answers your call. Vigorously. The irregulars stop their training to watch the sudden light show that erupts from your fingers and engulfs the poor hapless Irregular you are sparring against. His flesh writhes and melts off his form leaving his skeletal frame standing briefly before it too topples to the ground.

The Cabal has lost 1 Irregular to your practice. Still, you now know for a fact that you can use magic in a combat situation. It may not always be so powerful, but you can do it. Hopefully the Cabal will lose no more servants to your tests.
Also, you feel very fatigued afterwards and must lie down and rest.

-----
Maekar Stormhold
[2,5] Something is drastically wrong with the iron you use this time. It is horribly impure, you discover this long after you've sunk the hours into crafting the sword only to find it bends under its own weight. Its scrap and you treat it as such, discarding it the moment you discover its useless.

You travel instead to the library and promptly sink yourself into studying magic from the tomes. There isnt a huge depth of information here, but you can certainly use it to advance slowly in magical power. There is a threshold, not far from where you are. It will however take time to reach it. You also have no way of determining how much progress you've made.

-----
Amon Morian, Muirgen Frostbrand,
[4,5,1(Special Roll: Unforseen Consequences: ]
Well, you failed to get any of these irregulars to assist your endeavors but you did get Muirgen's assistance. Together the two of you pick up the package from where Nargoth presumably left it. [?] You can easily hear the sound of metal clinking within it. Not asking any questions the two of you set out at a brisk pace to the assigned meeting point.

The guards at the gate are half asleep and just wave you both through, you draw no attention on the road. Arriving at the meeting point after about a day and a half you find a small group of well-armed individuals. Seeing your approach and the package you're holding their obvious leader pulls a small package from a satchel at his side. He hands it to you without a word. You hand off your package. He nods. Everyone disperses.
How anticlimactic. The journey back is uneventful, though the gate guards are busy searching a cart, prodding it with long sticks. Brief panic sets in but they just wave you through. In fact Muirgen, you think one of the guards winked at you.

Easy. You didnt need any extra hands at all. Did you?

-----
Milos Daljulan
[3] Keeping ahold of the militia is easy, they're more inclined to listen to you than some foppish elven dandy. You drill them hard over the next few days and though it goes well, they still havent made any great strides in improvement. Still, you didnt expect immediate results and as soon as they unlearn all those bad talents you'll have a reliable fighting force.

-----
William Ovendvhrall
You travel with Darius outside of the city to the graveyard where said regiment is camped out. The soldiers are very alert and on guard. They seem to have very well-kept equipment.
The soldiers double-check your credentials while Darius takes time to mock and belittle the soldiers. Shortly you are shown to the commander of this regiment who, in response to your queries lets you know that apparently the local dead have been rising for reasons no ones quite sure of. There are some local catacombs that are now positively swarming with the undead. Since the Cair knows about magic you could probably determine the cause of this whole thing and make sure the dead don't threaten the lands. Especially not this close to the capital.

-----
Local Events.
The package has been successfully delivered to Nargoth. +2 Favor to both Amon and Muirgen. Nothing else of note occurs.
-----
A note about Magic. As you have a certain level of aptitude, and a familiarity with a sphere, you -can- simply assume certain things are within your grasp. Limited attack spells, limited raising, all possible. You dont -need- to devise a spell in order to be able to cast it.
That said you can always devise Rituals (powerful spells needing precision and having greater effects). Or also, you can do preparation work in advance so that you can cast spells on reflex (like in a combat situation) giving you bonuses, though this method will cost time and may have horrifying unintended consequences. See above.

[Digital Hellhound]

Amon stopped and grabbed a passing follower by the lapels as he made his way towards the meeting room. The man knew better than to struggle against his grip. His mood had improved, but he still needed only the slightest justification to gut any of these wretches and nail them to the walls.

'Bring the rest of them to the meeting room, if you please. Whatever they pretend, they have the time to spare.'

He waited for acknowledgement and stomped off. It was time to begin their work.

***

Amon began as soon as the majority of the other Cabalists were present. He ignored any likely barbs or insults and let his clear voice fill the room.

'Gentlemen,' he said. 'Lady. I believe it is high time we begin our work. This aimless wandering might benefit each of us personally, but does little to further the interests of the Cabal. Preparations are all very good, but we cannot hide in the shadows forever. As such, I propose we kill the King.'

He smiled at that thought. If things went well, he might get the chance to do so personally. The 'Good King Veran' represented everything he hated in the holier-than-thou would-be sovereigns that swarmed the lands of men.

'I do not mean immediately - but this should be our focus, for now. Something to unify our efforts, if you may,' he said. 'To explain further; the Cabal will benefit from chaos. I would think all of you agree to that. Thus, we will engineer a civil war and bring this land to ruin. I would begin by finding those who have ambitions for the throne among the nobility and convincing them of our support; not just one, but several, so we ensure the Throne will be squabbled over by a dozen petty lords at the King's death. Any rightful heirs can be used or killed. I expect some of you are capable of fabricating a 'rightful claim' to the throne for the rest of the rabble. We must see that no one lord becomes too powerful without our intention, of course. It is an ambitious goal, and risky, perhaps, but then... only men could think ambition a vice.'

He paused, gauging their reactions, but continued before they could speak; 'And in the end... we may install a puppet on the throne, or maintain a state of chaos until we are strong enough to seize power openly. Regardless, the chaos and civil war will make this land pliable and vulnerable - we will not have to worry about being found for quite a while, I should think.'

He expected objections simply based on his race or refined manners, but so be it. He had put it forth. If nothing else, the seed would take root within their minds. At the very least, they would see the need for an unifying goal above this unorganized squabbling.

---
Call another meeting of cabalists at the HQ.

[Nirur Torir]

Gerl Lightshade
[?,?]
Ah yes, combat magic. Truly the most important application of magic that you can think of. Nothing is more valuable than using magic in the midst of a combat situation in order to claim victory with ease.[...]

[Random public, painful, and pointless execution of a minion.]

[...]Still, you now know for a fact that you can use magic in a combat situation[...]

((My character's an idiot.))


"There are better ways to gain power than by starting a civil war, elf. Quite aside from the vast peasant deaths, general hunger, and damaged infrastructure, Verania's enemies would love the chance to eat their way through weakened borders. In the best case, we would end up control over a weak king who owns an ever-dwindling realm. More likely, we would be too weak to actually claim control - Groups who think they can support a puppet king's rise are everywhere." Gerl paused briefly for breath while glaring at Amon.

"It would be better to slowly bring various nobles under our control. If we can provide even flawed resurrections, we will have a unique service, which doubles as blackmail material. Add powerful mind magic onto that, for perfect blackmail, and we should have a sizable voice in the king's ear within a decade. From there it is a simple matter to permanently align the heir to our goals.

I say that our immediate goals then are to improve our knowledge of necromancy, acquire knowledge of mind magic, and begin investigating nobles."

[Shootandrun]

Maekar showed up to the meeting, after some consideration. He did not particularly like Amon, if only because he seemed to cause conflict between the Cabalists, but to ignore his summons would reduce the group's cohesion - which he found to be a remarkably distasteful thing to do. So he came, sat down, listened, and when no one else rose to spoke, he did.

"Ultimately, I do not see much profit in following your suggestion, Amon," he said, keeping his tone neutral. Politeness was in many ways one of the only things separating them from beasts. "On a few points I agree - we should try to set a goal for ourselves, and to gain strength as a group rather than as individuals. However, I do not think a war of succession is the way to do it - or any war whatsoever, but I will come to that. For your point specifically, I'd note that I know little and less of Veran, and of this country's politics; is he competent, or simply apt at making himself liked by the people? Is the line of succession small enough, or large enough, that a war could be sparked from it? Would such a war have enough sides that we might be of use should we offer one or more our support? These things all make such an endeavor as you propose uncertain, and we should learn more about them before going down that path."

He paused for a moment to let his words sink in.

"However, in general, I do not think we should strive to start a war. Hard times breed hard men, and the times have been kind for this kingdom, for a long period. Good men, just men, and men of honor rule this land. A civil war would have them replaced by generals and warriors, by the strongest and the most cunning. The royal army's purpose is now only to guard the borderlands, and I doubt they put much effort into that. The countryside is ripe for plunder, for it has not been raided in years. If we start a war, we will have an opportunity to rise, yes; but not for long. When it will end, this kingdom shall be ruled by fire and steel... And I would rather not try to control that.

Leave things as they are, I say, or if you must create chaos, do so in a way that will not strengthen the realm's armies. Disease kills the lowest of peasants and the greatest of warriors alike, raids on the border draw troops and attention away from the capital and towards land far... There are many other ways."

Another pause, and at the end of that one he changed his stance, smiling now.

"Of course, having said all of this, I do not find much interest in these affairs. Politics and imperial ambitions matter little and less for me. It is power I seek, and power I intend to find. Ruling a kingdom will grant us strength for perhaps a year, perhaps ten, but not more than our lifetimes; growing in magical might could grant us a place amongst the greatest men of this age. Our facilities as of now are piss poor, our library small in size and in covered scope, and we have no magical items to speak of. That is what I think we should focus on - acquire books of old lore, artifacts of power, trainers to grant us new spells and tricks. There we will find success."

[Deep Waters]

"Out of all wars, civil war is the least productive and the most annoying." Muirgen offers lazily. She drapes herself over a nearby chair, holding a half-eaten loaf of bread in one hand and gesticulating with the other as she continues, "Ruined countrysides, disrupted trade, paranoid nobles... worst of all, I can't imagine that some outside force won't be able to take advantage of the chaos much faster and more decisively than we could, making all the effort worthless. Besides, I happen to like Verania the way it is-- a beautiful land of knowledge, history, and riches, just ripe for the taking."

The warrior takes a bite of her bread, mouth still half-full as she continues to speak, "Nah, the best kind of war is always the kind you wage on others. Imperial ambitions promote trade, keeps the army busy in far away lands, and opens up some nice opportunities. Hells, if we help out the war effort we might even get a title or some land of our own; that'd fix up our resource problems right quick."

"That said..." Muirgen pauses, glancing at Amon and Gerl briefly. She swallows and takes a swig of her drink before continuing, "Maekar's right. We're supposed to be apprentices of dark magic, not a bunch of conniving courtiers. I don't think any of us joined the Cabal to rule something as petty as a kingdom."

"Besides, isn't Verania colonizing the Wild Borders right now? We could just find a way to get some land out there and reap the profits or something. It'd be the same basic reward for a lot less effort." Muirgen yawns, sounding rather uninterested.

[Azthor]

Maldarion folds the piece of parchment with the ward and stores it in a small backpack "Very well, the odds are reasonable; Darius and I will do our part while you fortify the entrance; neither of us are are proficient combatants, so once the action starts we will stick to supporting you from behind the lines".

He carefully erects a wall over the mausoleum's entrance, asking the soldiers to bring stones from the surroundings, to minimize the risk of structural damage, creating a single orifice in the wall the through which him and Darius slowly drain the mausoleum of breathable air, taking turns as to not exhaust themselves. Should the task have to be interrupted, he or Darius magically insert the removed section of the wall back into the orifice, completely sealing the entrance.

Once extraction becomes overly difficult, he moves behind the defensive line, waiting for a reaction from within the mausoleum. Should combat ensue, he then offers support from afar, trying to pick off those targets he deems most dangerous first.

Put the plan into action, as per above.

[Digital Hellhound]

'Oh, very well,' Amon said, listening to the giant's words. 'I can see your interest lies in your books and magic. I hope, for your sakes, they prove fruitful eventually, but I have no patience for that business. I will tend to the court alone. Finding men and women for us will be slow work without as powerful an incentive as the promise of a throne, but it should be enjoyable, at the least.'

He sighed. They simply did not understand - he thrived in anarchy, and so would they if they had the will for it. There would be no suspicious eyes on them in a time of civil war, no forces to marshal against them if the Cabal was revealed to the world. Well, the time for that could come later.

'I care not for any kingdom in the borderlands - I hope not to set foot so far from civilization at any point. Not that I care for any throne. Kings and queens will serve us, but I do not intend to be tied down to any piece of land or people. There is a legend among the High Kin - a dread figure, lost to myth, who all sovereigns and peoples of the world feared and bowed down to; who would be welcomed to any kingdom so they did not incur his wrath, who held to no petty laws or rules to bind him. Among my people, they call him the Black Shadow of Elbreth. Perhaps here it is different. But, I digress,' Amon said at length. 'I will see to the king and the nobility. I am sure you have matters to attend to; I have no intention of keeping you from them.'

---
Spend time at court, mingling with the nobility. Find out from the usual gossip if there are any nobility with less-than-wholesome reputations (murder, drunkenness, dabbling in black magic, anything goes), and any who oppose the King's rule. In addition, find out everything I can about the king.

[Shootandrun]

"I wish you luck in your endeavors, then, Amon. Should you find an opportunity that you think would benefit the Cabal as a whole, do inform us - if we agree, I do not doubt we could provide assistance. However, until then, we will leave this politicking to you."

The elf had taken it gracefully, at least. With that done and over with, Maekar turned around to face Muirgen, who had just returned.

"Well, then. Are you still up for training me, Muirgen?"

[Taricus]

Milos more or less ignored Amon's summoning, having had enough of the elf for the time being.

---

Continue training the troops

[Nirur Torir]

Study healing magic in the Cair's library. Try to gain legal access if it's restricted.

[Deep Waters]

"Of course, of course." Muirgen gestures vaguely in answer to the smith, before pushing herself up with a creak of her leathers and walking past Maekar with a wink, "The real question is whether you're up for being taught, Maekar."

Continue Maekar's combat training.

[Shootandrun]

"Always am, always have been," he replied. It was time to earn new bruises.

Resume the training with Muirgen. Try to make another sword for Milos.

[Terenos]

Act One, Part Four: Yet more studying!

-----
Gerl Lightshade
[?,?]
The Cair libraries are open to the public, fortunately. Unfortunately you're not allowed to access the magical sections of the library until you've proven yourself as an actual mage.
[4] The test doesnt take much time, and before long you're in amongst the magical tomes studying Healing magic. The tomes are obtuse and somewhat poorly categorized. Its going to take a bit of time to gain familiarity with healing magic.

-----
Maekar Stormhold, Muirgen Frostbrand,
[6,5,4]
An excellent few training sessions have instilled the basics of proper combat into Maekar stormhold. Still, hes nothing spectacular but hes well on the path now.

Whatever issue was there with the iron last attempt seems to have vanished. Your smithing expertise has crafted a long sword for Milos. You hand it to him without much pomp.

-----
Amon Morian
Its about time you put this noble appointment to work. You arrive at court and are immediately harangued and accosted by hangers on, lesser nobles and basically what amounts to the riff-raff of the nobility. They're just so excited to have an Ocean Elf of the Great Expanse here. Its going to be some time before you can actually approach anyone of any sway. Still, lesser nobles are what you're after for now.

[3] Discussing the less...savory members of the nobility is always a popular pasttime. One name is repeated fairly often, a Daergoth Vallinas who is reportedly a drunkard and a rabble-rouser. From the sounds of it he is exactly what you're looking for.

-----
Milos Daljulan
[1,1] Whatever blessing you had beforehand in training the troops seems to have evaporated. They are consistently making the most boneheaded mistakes. You are dead certain some of them have regressed slightly.


-----
William Ovendvhrall

Together with Darius you discuss things with the Captain of this regiment. After putting together a plan you put it into motion. It takes the soldiers time to round up enough material to blockade the entrance. Meantime you and Darius put your heads together to devise a means of slowly draining the vital force from the air within the tomb.

[5] Between the two of you, theres more than enough magical power to get the job done. Hours pass, then days. There is no response from within the mausoleum. But of course the undead don't need the air to live.

Eventually you're certain you've done all you can. Darius agrees. Whoever was within didnt respond to your assault. And you're fairly certain you didnt leave enough air for a living creature.
The captain is confused and needs to know what they should do next.

-----
Local Events.
Nothing of Note.
-----

[Shootandrun]

After working the sword to a satisfying degree and then handing it to the lizard, Maekar returned to the training room. He still had to craft some light armor for Milos before the Cabal's two prime fighters would be equipped, but that could wait awhile. For now, there was another kind of work to be done.

Continue training. Make some light armor for Milos.