Corco's Villa (IC)

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Did they let slip which statue?

Yes. You now have a specific block of ice that is "suspicious".

I'll attach a swarm to the three in the group. That makes:
-> Lion
-> Scarry
-> Porglin
-> Granary #1
-> Granary #2
-> Nodding Knight
-> Porglin's House
-> 5 Lodges
-> 8 Free

Done.

Well we arrived during the day, and it's night now, so I'd guess about 36 hours.

You're at just under 48 hours. The event will happen in the late afternoon. The 72 hours did not start when you arrived, and the days of the three locations you've been in are not synched.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Yes. You now have a specific block of ice that is "suspicious".

"I got an idea! We can tip off the Grand Order people that their ice vault's been compromised, by delivering a threat to them. Send them a letter stamped with my blood, saying that I replaced the suspicious ice block yesterday, and that I'll release the melder in a two days unless they meet some absurd demand. They'll check the ice block, see it's gone missing, and go into panic mode. What do you think?"

[the_matrix_walker]

"I think you are on the right track, but rather than your blood and trickery, why not lead them down the path toward the truth and implicate those who actually have the Melder? Though I would like to try and locate their prize and relieve them of it before a confrontation occurs."

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

"I think you are on the right track, but rather than your blood and trickery, why not lead them down the path toward the truth and implicate those who actually have the Melder?"

"Well, I'm just more playing on their psychology here. They already have deemed me a threat. Which is very fair. I make a crazy threat, they're probably inclined to at least put a little effort into investigating it. Heck, the blood would make them want to open the envelope even if it was closed. Might even make this stoneworker's conspiracy move things up faster or make a mistake. On the other hand, explaining something we don't have a full grasp on might be a tougher sell to get them serious about."

"But if you think we're better off handling this on our own, I can work with that."

[the_matrix_walker]

"I will defer to your judgement then, go ahead and leave your blood and breadcrumbs.

I would watch these conspirators a bit longer and see if I can track them until I can verify their leader or the prize... perhaps we can offer them a safer path forward to meet their goals if we find we cannot separate them from their advantage."

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

"I will defer to your judgement then, go ahead and leave your blood and breadcrumbs.

I would watch these conspirators a bit longer and see if I can track them until I can verify their leader or the prize..."

"I suppose we could wait a day or confirmation, whichever comes first. Though I am left wondering if assuming 'releasing the melder' is 'the key moment starting the carnage' is entirely correct. Like, if they release the melder, but if the carnage only really begins once the melder gets access to cold storage, the key moment might not be when they release the melder..."

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

"perhaps we can offer them a safer path forward to meet their goals if we find we cannot separate them from their advantage."

"Honestly if the destruction were more localized and less total, I'd have half a mind to let them get it out of their system. Given Uglin's popularity and lack of visible signs of being cracked down upon, I think it's fair to say that they've already rejected the safer path to their goals."



So, did we end up dropping the deduction system, or did it just get sidetracked by all the other things that have gone on?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

So, did we end up dropping the deduction system, or did it just get sidetracked by all the other things that have gone on?

Its just dropped to the background for a while. Things got moving pretty quickly.



Who: ... You've mostly got this in the bag. You have two groups that are guilty and have connections to the larger group, and you have them under 24 hour surveilance. You've got at least an additional +2 clues there, and probably +3. You've got this group of Orcs who think the city orcs are being ruled over by the others and feel like they need more respect. So you've got a total of +5, and two groups that could lead you to more of them. The only thing you are really missing here is the leader of the group and a membership roll.



What: You know a block of ice with a stone melder is missing and has been taken by the group. You've got another +2 there, I think. The only thing you're really missing is a good rundown of the stone-melder's tactics once it gets loose, and I'm not sure that's even part of the "what". Total is +4, but I figure this one is done.



Where: you have an additional +1 clue on where, for the tracking roll on the ice going out of the basement. A deduction can be made for that. The "where" you want is the location of the ice block the stone melder is in. This is very much still an active question.



When: +1 from Vassarious listening in on the meeting. You already have a strong prediction, but a few more details about what they will do when would be nice.


Why: This one is weird. I think you've mostly got the motivations down and this is a solved question.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Where: you have an additional +1 clue on where, for the tracking roll on the ice going out of the basement. A deduction can be made for that. The "where" you want is the location of the ice block the stone melder is in. This is very much still an active question.

So that's in addition to the one from earlier, right?

OK. Provided that V agrees with the plan to defer alerting the Knights until we have a lock on who the leader of the conspiracy is, I'll spend the next little while thinking about everything we've learned, and reading that Stonewyrk book. Maybe it has, "how to destroy rogue melders" or something in it.

[500] 22-08-30 18:41:32 BST
Who 16+5
-3d6 +21
- 1 - 1 - 6 + 21 = 13
[501] 22-08-30 18:42:33 BST
What IQ+4
-3d6 +20
- 6 - 5 - 1 + 20 = 8
[502] 22-08-30 18:43:50 BST - TGLS
Where IQ+3
-3d6 +19
- 4 - 4 - 5 + 19 = 6
[503] 22-08-30 18:45:08 BST - TGLS
When IQ+5
-3d6 +21
- 4 - 2 - 1 + 21 = 14
[504] 22-08-30 18:46:15 BST - TGLS
Research the Stonewyrk Book
3d6 <= 15
5 + 6 + 6 = 17 ... failure

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

So that's in addition to the one from earlier, right?

No, its the same as the one from earlier.

OK. Provided that V agrees with the plan to defer alerting the Knights until we have a lock on who the leader of the conspiracy is, I'll spend the next little while thinking about everything we've learned, and reading that Stonewyrk book. Maybe it has, "how to destroy rogue melders" or something in it.

Who: One of the granary orcs appears to be the second in command of the group. They expect the proper leader to show up soon.



What: This one is completed, I think


Where: No additional clues....


When: It seems they plan on unvieling the stone melder tonight... but it won't get free for another 44 hours or so... it must talk them into letting it loose, or figure out a way to escape.



Halcyone spends a lot of time trying to figure out how the stone melders work. In the end she has nothing to show for her work except mystic vocabulary she's not sure that she understands.

[TGLS]

"Right, so they're probably going to be ready to unveil the melder tonight. Do you want to our weapons ready so we can just roll in and get them, or do you have a different solution in mind?"