Phase 1.2: Those Who Went Before

It may not be as exciting as infiltrating the home of a foreign political figure, but there is information to be gained domestically, too. Bloodstone was in Westerosi hands for a number of years, and many of its secrets may have already been discovered… but that was over a decade ago, and memories fade, and detailed records are few and far between. Regardless, knowledge is power and for the most skilled, most persistent, or luckiest of researchers, hidden gems will come to light.

There are people still in Westeros who know much and more of use, old tomes and scrolls to consult and military strategies to plot. An undertaking like this offers paths for various skill sets to contribute to the war effort.

[OOC: sign-up deadline 16th of December]

I'm interested, though need to make sure I'm free to do so.

I'll probably be doing this. I can't see Gwyn trying to sneak into an enemy household. Hehe.

Gwyneth Drakeson wrote:I'll probably be doing this. I can't see Gwyn trying to sneak into an enemy household. Hehe.

Genuinely shocked.

Since I won't be doing any sneaking around, I think this is where I participate!

Much as going to Myr might be fun, that is not something Theomore would consider a good idea.

Remaining behind it is.

Ok. I'm in.

Jorah will be in Kings Landing, though Trelane would have been useful in Myr

Ser Jorah Holt wrote:Jorah will be in Kings Landing, though Trelane would have been useful in Myr

I take it you two can't split up.

not on events like this. It's a case of either/or with a cohort on events like this

Davain will be here as well.

I have been talked into using my better judgement and will be here, not going to Myr.
It's probably safer for everyone involved, really.

Gonna stick to my skill set and try to be useful to...claiming Bloodstone for the 7K? Or for one of the factions?

[sign up]

Tests: Choose a path.

• The Path of Books – sift through stacks of books and collections of old documents.
o Status(reputation) TN 9 – Position has privilege, and privilege means access to private collections.
 +1 per DoS to Knowledge test
o Will(dedication) TN 9 – It is tedious work, with few gains and many frustrations.
 +1 per DoS to Knowledge test
o Knowledge(research) TN 9 – Separate, sift, and sort… then collate your findings.
 Rewards based on DoS

• The Path of People – seek out and interview survivors of the War of the Stepstones.
o Knowledge(streetwise) TN 9 – old soldiers are not always easy to find.
 +1 per DoS to Awareness test
o Will(dedication) TN 9 – It is tedious work, with few gains and many frustrations.
 +1 per DoS to Awareness test
o Awareness(empathy) TN 9 – You hear a lot of stories. Some of them may even be true.
 Rewards based on DoS
[Bound to the Bottle/Haunted triggers]

• The Path of Memory – You were there or know those who were. Maybe you saw something useful…
o Warfare(tactics/strategy) or Cunning (memory) TN 9 – You saw a lot or hear a lot of what transpired… but what is relevant?
 +1 per DoS to final test
o Will(dedication) TN 9 – Not everything you remember is something you want to remember, and many of the tales told are harrowing. Can you push through it?
 +1 per DoS to Cunning test
o Cunning(memory) or Warfare (strategy/tactics) TN 9 – Time passes. Memories fade. Hold on to what you can. [you may not use the same ability that you used in the first step]
 Rewards based on DoS
[+1B to all rolls in option 3 to those who fought on the Stepstones. Bound to the Bottle/Haunted triggers]

Rewards:
Highest two scores on final test gains +1 Glory. Please total these.
DoS rewards: via PM.

Gwyneth leaves the books to Daveth, opting instead to find the veterans herself. It is not always easy to find those who feel they've had enough...who seek to simply be lost to the world so that they cannot again be called upon. But tavern bartenders know them, and brothel madams, and landlords...oh yes, and many of those lot know who they can get a bit of coin from in exchange for a scrap of paper with a name on it, even if they know her by another name than her peers do.

Knowledge Streetwise for Those Who Went Before: 6d6k4 21
Extra test dice for Those Who Went, because I keep forgetting I have Connections now: 1d6 1 (total 25: 4 DoS)

Even with some of the work being done by others, it was long hours spend going over those letters, looking up those names...sorting out the good from the dross. And then once she'd winnowed it down to the ones that seemed most plausible, it was time spent traveling, for she wished to speak with them herself. That was a task she had no one able to undertake for her...nor would she wish to.

Will test for Those Who Came Before: 4d6 9 (1 DoS)

And then the interviews themselves. It was more painful than she was expecting. All the more harrowing to hear, knowing that her husband may be next thrown into that hell of war. Perhaps that very personal fear of hers came through though, and resonated in the old soldiers she spoke with because they did in the end tell her the stories that had haunted them. One by one, some more easily than others, they told her.

Empathy for Those Who Came Before at +4: 6d6k4+4 26 Corrected to 27, per posts later in this thread.

Baelon did not like to think about his childhood. There were too many traps, dead-ends in the labyrinth of yesteryear that would keep him enthralled in painful reverie. It was rarely constructive, often frustrating, and always painful. The loneliness, the few friendships he made  - with younger squires or older knights with families of their own - typically ending abruptly by sword or spear or axe. Not to mention the daily horrors - men dying like flies to fluxes, the stench of rot and decay... or the days on quarter-rations after the supply ships were sunk or captured... there were times when he truly wondered how he came out of it at all intact, mentally speaking. There were times when he wondered if he actually had.

Usually, Baelon set it aside, as if it had happened to someone else completely. As if he had come into this world a boy of 10, on Dragonstone, existing solely to serve and train and polish and train and sleep and train. Usually, but not today. Today he delved into the labyrinth, well stocked with a supply of fruits and cheeses, cured meats and breads. And alcohol. Plenty of that. He had taken a liking to two very different brews. One was from the summer isles, dark amber and all warmth and smooth sweetness, spices and citrus. The other from Lorath, a clear liquid infused with herbs and spices, and some sort of berry he had never heard of and tasted nothing like the berries he knew. In fact, it smelled like nothing more than one of the evergreens up north. It was cool and sharp on the tongue, however, utterly different from the amber one, but just as good.

Gwyn was off chasing down.... something. She hunted information the way that poachers hunt game - set snares, chase the prey, and and always catch before you get caught. At lest that was the impression Baelon got - he never really asked, in part because he was afraid to know, and in part because he was afraid to tell. He had instructed Ser Orys to work with the Bloodriders, take them out to sea and get them used to shooting from a surface that moved... well, moved differently from a horse, anyway. That meant he had the entire day to himself, to look over maps and what little scraps of description or images that could be found of Bloodstone and the other Stepstones, to try to remember something - anything useful. he had see a lot and heard a lot, first hand and stories. Surely there had to be something of use locked away in that labyrinth, and he would take his wife's lead, and set snares, chase the prey, and do his best to catch something useful before he got caught by his own memories.

---

I don't know if Baelon qualifies for the +1b or not, as he lived it, but not as a child, not a warrior. I will roll it separate and provide totals with and without.

1. Cunning(Memory): TWWB/Memory: Cunning: 2d6 7 1d6 1 TWWB/Memory Forgetful reroll: 1d6 2 With or without the bonus die, that's a 3 A brilliant start! Crit fail/0 DoS

2. Will(Dedication): TWWB/Dedication: 4d6k3 10 1d6 6; without bonus die 10, with bonus die 14, 1 DoS or 2 DoS respectively.

3. Warfare(Strategy): TWWB/Memory Strategy w/ No Rival: 7d6k5 17 1d6 1 nothing better than a 4? I can do better.
TWWB/Memory Strategy w/No Rival (Lucky reroll): 7d6k5 15 1d6 6 Orokos... ok, so that would be 15 without the bonus die or or 19 with.

Final result: 17+1 = 18 (2 DoS) if Baelon does not qualify for the bonus die, 19+2 = 21 (3 DoS) if he does.

Ereth memories come back from where he first came into the Stepstones ready to fight the good fight. He had good memories of the Stepstones when the campaign started, the camaraderie and how social standing doesn't mean as much when you are in the thick of it, because your life depends on that men at arms or that lowly smallfolk militia with barely any training. once the fighting begin everyone is the same, fighting to stay alive and if they fall they take you down with them. With good memories come the bad ones. many good men died, eating rats in bad sieges... something that gives him somehow a bad taste in his mouth like he could still taste it. The screams, the crying, and those that lost their minds in the midst of the carnage. A sellsword took his own life when on patrol Ereth and the other sellswords had to carry his body back, he couldn't take the pressure of being attacked at any moment, or traps. He remembered that one time lyseni mercenaries used children as shields, and once they were out of arrows distance they killed them anyway, the anger and frustration where still there, his fist clenched.

Ereth needed some fresh air, but somehow standing in the parapets of Bloodstone made his adrenaline come to him, his senses were sharpened, he felt cold, and some sweating. Took Ereth a moment to realize it he had the Battle Haze or something, a Myrish mercenary called it or was it that fat Tyroshi prisoner they interrogated. Ereth shrugged it did not matter what it was called, just that he had it. The questions Ereth had now was when did he grabbed a bottle and how long had he been drinking it now?

+1B to all rolls. Bound to the Bottle.

1. Cunning (Memory): 4d6k3 12
2. Will (Dedication): 5d6k3 13
+2 for final roll
3. Warfare (Strategy): 6d6k4+2 26 - 4 DoS

ooc: Do we roll for Bound to the Battle or it was a "qualifier" for the +1B?

TWWB - Status (Rep) TN9: 4d6k3+1 5.  Start as you will go on, I guess.
TWWB - Will (Ded) TN9: 6d6k4 15 2 DoS
TWWB Knowledge (Rea) +2 - TN9: 4d6+2 12 1 DoS

[Okay, Daveth's clearly too distracted thinking of his new wife to do any significant good here.]
TWWB - Mushroom's +1B to K(R) roll: 1d6 4 Swapping out a 1 gives +3, so 15 2 DoS

Daveth sits quietly, poring over books, happily losing himself in the search for knowledge, and only occasionally finding his mind drifting to thoughts of his wife.

1.2 cunning: 3d6k3 8 - no bonus
1.2 will: 4d6k3 14 +2
1.2 warfare: 6d6k5+2 15 what is my rolling like today    even using pious

bonus dice: 1d6 3 makes it 17

Luecian spent time trying to locate and talk to those who had fought on the Stepstones those years ago. He followed more false trails on his efforts than he cared to admit but he stuck with it. This was part of the new tasks given him and he was determined to do it well. So determined in fact that while he drank on occasion as it was rude not to if others were… he kept it in moderation. Soon his efforts paid off as he sorted fact from fiction and the useful from the useless words which were told to him.

Bound to the Bottle- TN 12 - TWWB: 3d6 10 +2 BOA=12 Pass

Streetwise TN 9 TWWB: 3d6 7 Fail, no bonus

Will(Dedication) TN 9 TWWB: 3d6 16 2 DoS +2 towards Awareness roll

Awareness(Empathy) TN 9 TWWB: 5d6k4 18 +2=20 3 DoS using bonus die from Mushroom event

Theomore had been on the Stepstones as a squire, but while he could remember things, there were others who had experienced more, and it were those that he sought out, veterans, knights that were at his current age back then, gray haired, getting too old and tired to fight, but not old enough for their minds to wander. Whatever Theomore could remember were things that any man returning from the old campaign could recount. He needed to find those who survived the mistakes that Prince Daemon's captains had made all those years ago, and he needed to make them relive those memories, preferably without so much wine as to make the accounts blurry.

Those who came before streetwise: 3d6 11 +1 to final roll
Those who came before dedication: 4d6k3 15 +2 to final roll
Those who came before empathy +1b: 6d6k4+3 22 3 DoS total

Gwyneth Drakeson wrote:Gwyneth leaves the books to Daveth, opting instead to find the veterans herself. It is not always easy to find those who feel they've had enough...who seek to simply be lost to the world so that they cannot again be called upon. But tavern bartenders know them, and brothel madams, and landlords...oh yes, and many of those lot know who they can get a bit of coin from in exchange for a scrap of paper with a name on it, even if they know her by another name than her peers do.

Knowledge Streetwise for Those Who Went Before: 6d6k4 21
Extra test dice for Those Who Went, because I keep forgetting I have Connections now: 1d6 1 (total 22: 3 DoS)

Even with some of the work being done by others, it was long hours spend going over those letters, looking up those names...sorting out the good from the dross. And then once she'd winnowed it down to the ones that seemed most plausible, it was time spent traveling, for she wished to speak with them herself. That was a task she had no one able to undertake for her...nor would she wish to.

Will test for Those Who Came Before: 4d6 9 (1 DoS)

And then the interviews themselves. It was more painful than she was expecting. All the more harrowing to hear, knowing that her husband may be next thrown into that hell of war. Perhaps that very personal fear of hers came through though, and resonated in the old soldiers she spoke with because they did in the end tell her the stories that had haunted them. One by one, some more easily than others, they told her.

Empathy for Those Who Came Before at +4: 6d6k4+4 26 4 DoS...could get 5 if I spend a DP. Hragh. Seems early to do that though! (^_^)

Your streetwise roll should be 25 because connections offers +1d and you had a 4 on your other roll

Path of Books - Status: 3d6 6
Path of Books - Will (Dedication): 6d6k4 12
Path of Books - Knowledge: 2d6 10 +1 = nothing

Books. She'd had enough of books. Within the library, working to help Daveth but later without his presence to aid, the librarians of King's Landing see her Status for what they believe it is - a label pasted on an upjumped tearaway. Her reserves of determination yield little in the way of attention span. What she separates, sifts, and sorts are merely records of Bloodstone's trade while it still belonged to the Seven Kingdoms and a few pedigrees. All boring, and nothing of significance or worth providing an advantage.

[Thought I was playing to my strengths, I guess not. Should have gone with Path of People.]

Having had to work on books and ledgers too often already in recent months, Kevan decided to seek those who had been on campaugn in the Stepstones before. He made it a point not only to visit knights and lords who fought in the war - although they were useful as well - but also to listen to the common men-at-arms. He spent countless days in the taverns of the capital listening to gruesome stories only a war can produce. Slowly a clearer picture of the campaign began to form in his mind, thanks to his education in warfare strategy and battle tactics.

 TWWB - Cunning: 3d6 12 1DoS
 TWWB - Will: 4d6k3 14 2DoS

 TWWB - Warfare w/ bonus die: 6d6k4+3 16
Not good enough!
 TWWB - Lucky Reroll: 6d6k4+3 22 + 2BotA = 4 Dos