RQG 120 - Unlikely Allies

## Content Warnings

Kidnapping (adults & child, off screen); imprisonment

## Summary

Grizzop gets information, Wilde wakes up, and the Rome crew get acquainted with their new travel companion on the way to their destination.

## Synopsis

Grizzop is still in Damascus; he’s just put Wilde in an anti-magic box and is considering executing Barret. The rest of the party is in Rome, resting, having just met Ed, although none of them know him.

We begin with Grizzop, who’s signing Barret out of the temple of Artemis. The attendant asks him not to execute Barret in the city itself. He borrows a horse and cart from the temple, gags Barret, and tells him that he has until they reach the city limits to reconsider his position — if he still won’t help him then, Grizzop will dump his body in a ditch, and Barret will be utterly forgotten.

As Grizzop rides through the city, he hears people talking about Apophis’s glassing of the factory, which the mayor has spun in favour of the Meritocrats. The word on the street is that the river had dried up so Apophis came, struck the mountain, and fresh water sprung forth. People feel bad about what happened to the orcish town, but people will help them rebuild and see it as an opportunity for people to work together.

Grizzop takes Barret to a remote, scrubby hillside, and rides to the end of a rural track. He kicks Barret out of the cart, shoves him over to the precipice of a ravine, and takes his gag out. Barret calmly asks Grizzop to promise him that he won’t kill him if he gives him information that could save thousands. Grizzop promises not to kill him within the next six months if he gives up the information that is both correct and helpful. Barret offers to give the location of the Japanese manufacturing plant. To seal the deal, Grizzop spits on his hand and slaps it on Barret’s forehead. Grizzop gags Barret again, takes him back down to the temple, and signs him in again.

We jump to Rome, where Ed picks up his cloak from the dirt and comes over to Hamid, who asks him to come inside. As Ed unstealthily crawls down the hole into the basement, Sasha wakes up, comes over, and holds a dagger to his throat. Hamid introduces Ed to the party, but Sasha believes him to be a shapeshifter. Azu vaguely recognizes that Ed is a very important British guy, but she can’t quite place why. She attempts to Detect Evil, but as she reaches out for Aphrodite, the presence that she finds is something else, and she’s temporarily wracked with powerful grief, so much that Azu starts crying. This further convinces Sasha that Ed is suspicious.

   As the party continues to talk to Ed, Sasha steps back from him, confused: how could someone this stupid survive in Rome? Hamid counters by saying that Ed appears to be a cleric of Apollo. When asked why he’s in Rome, Ed replies that he’s very lost. He also recognizes Azu as a fellow paladin, and warns her not to do any divine magic. He’s worried that he “broke Apollo,” but Azu reassures him that he didn’t.

Ed explains that he’s a paladin of Apollo, in Rome because of his pilgrimage: paladins of Apollo have to go and see “Rome’s hubris,” meet the “Mars lot,” and do their “paladin-ing.” However, Ed somehow got through the Cult of Mars’ border control. He’s been here for a long time, surviving on dead monsters, and he’s hoping the party has a way out. Hamid tells Ed that he can get him out, but they need to “smite evil-doers” first.

Returning to Grizzop, who’s unbound Barret’s hands and allowed him to start writing. He gives him about four sides of paper, with a list of names and a couple of addresses that Grizzop doesn’t recognize. Grizzop tells Barret that if the information is correct, he’ll leave and come back in six months. Barret goes back to his “obscure maths” in the corner of his cell, and Grizzop tells the guard that they should keep Barret in anti-magic, because he might be a wizard.

Grizzop checks that Wilde’s still asleep, then sleeps for several hours, waking up in the morning. He checks on Wilde, who’s been asleep for about 20 hours. Grizzop wakes him up, and Wilde is significantly sharper after his sleep. Grizzop brings Wilde breakfast, informing him that a group of people are repeatedly casting spells on him, so he’ll have to wear anti-magic shackles for a while, which will unfortunately also prevent him from casting spells. Grizzop also hands Wilde the papers that Barret gave him. Wilde says that he’ll send someone else to deal with the illusions on the mountain, will see what he can do about the party being trapped in Rome. He asks for a spare paladin to escort him so he can chase after the appropriate people; meanwhile, Grizzop should go talk to the Cult of Hephaestus, and bring them a gift. As Grizzop leaves, Wilde makes a salacious joke about the sausage.

Back to Rome, where Azu, Sasha, and Einstein continue to rest as Hamid talks to Ed. Hamid fills Ed in about the mission, avoiding classified or dangerous information. Ed summarizes his journey. He did a pilgrimage, on which he met “this really cool guy called Tjelvar” and a weird guy called Bertie, whom Hamid recognizes as Sir Bertrand. At the edge of Rome, Ed thought he saw some evil, so he went in, but he kept seeing evil. However, space and time go weird in Rome, so he couldn’t find his way back. He’s been going from one evil to the next for some time, sometimes eating it. Hamid and Ed continue to talk; they get along well.

**BREAK**

We come back to Ed telling Hamid about how Bertie “looks at people weird” as the rest of the party starts waking up. Einstein thinks Ed is fantastic. Sasha asks Hamid to point in the right direction, then sneaks ahead after Hamid gives her back the Cloak of Elvenkind. Hamid knows, somehow, that their destination is half a day’s journey away, and working together, the party makes its way through the city.

In Damascus, Grizzop is visiting the temple of Hephaestus, with the gift of the magic bow from Newton’s study. The temple of Hephaestus appears to be just a warehouse, with no signage or anyone at a desk. Inside, the design is a spartan workshop, with each person at their own workspace. There’s a central corridor, with several doors leading off in different directions, some to rooms with bunks: this is a place to “live your work.” There are sounds of artisan crafting.

Grizzop has trouble getting the attention of an awkward cleric who’s working on a project, but who eventually leads Grizzop down to the end of the corridor to a semicircular room built up against the back wall of the warehouse. Behind a desk is a dwarf with a long beard and a nervous apprentice, who flees as soon as the dwarf allows him to. The dwarf has lots and lots of pockets, and tools as far as the eye can see, including in his beard; he introduces himself as Garten. Grizzop says he has questions about automata, and hands over his gift, which impresses Garten.

Grizzop asks if Garten can make the kill switch, and whether Garten can keep a secret — Grizzop will kill him if he tells another soul about this. Garten agrees. He recognizes what the kill switch is. Grizzop doesn’t tell Garten where he got it, only that it might save the world. Garten says that the kill switch is unfinished, and that he doesn’t know what all of it means. He’s not familiar with fluidics — Japan is better at that and “magitech” — and organics. He’ll make the bits that he can in about 24 hours, and not tell any of his apprentices.

In Rome, the party’s making significant progress. The type of building shifts from commercial to formal. Hamid notices that unlike cities under Meritocratic control, Rome isn’t so much divided up by function. Eventually, they reach the right building, a sprawling villa that appears to be in surprisingly better condition than the other buildings. There is a slope with what used to be gardens, some fountains, and a crumbled wall, which lead up to the central building.

Ed suggests that they yell so that the bad things will come to them, but Sasha, following Hamid’s suggestion, scouts around the building while the others hide. She sees monsters around the villa, but she can’t see any in or on it. It’s a big complex; to go stealthily around it would take half a day. She notices that although the front is intact, the back has been completely destroyed. She knows she could probably get into it from the back, by scrambling up, but it would probably be difficult for someone in plate armour.

Sasha reports back to the group. Einstein warns that he won’t use any spells unless they’re going to die. Azu, who saw all the hostages earlier, describes them to the group; Sasha recognizes Bi Ming Gusset among them. Hamid suggests that everyone but Einstein and Sasha go in the front and keep the kidnappers occupied by talking while Sasha, unseen, goes in around the back and frees the hostages. Sasha suggests that they use the mobile stones, and she give Hamid a signal once she has eyes on the hostages, at which point they’ll create a distraction while she gets the hostages out. Einstein warns that the stones may not work in Rome. Hamid says that if they don’t work, he’ll send up a flare. Ed lets the party know that he’s not so good at puzzles, and Hamid reassures him that it’ll probably be a fight.

Sasha asks that if the kidnappers capture her, the priority should be getting the hostages out, but Hamid insists that they’ll get everyone out. Einstein will stay back unless things go really wrong. Ed insists that before Sasha goes, they need to put their hands in and say their name on three. Hamid offers Sasha a handshake of good luck and she walks off.

## Quotes

**Alex**: "You reach out for your god. For a moment you think it might have worked, you know, it feels like there’s a presence there. Not the one that you were reaching for. Not a nice presence either, actually. You find yourself wracked with, of all things, grief, temporarily. Not aimed at anything specific, just, potent grief, like really powerful grief. Then the moment is gone."
**Helen**: "Azu starts crying."
**Hamid**: "Azu, are you okay?"
**Sasha**: "What, so, see he was really evil!"
**Ed**: "She could be allergic."
**Sasha**: "To what?"
**Ed**: "Me. Me. I’m allergic to dogs."
**Lydia**: "Sasha puts her knife down and just steps back, like, she has no skills to deal with this."
―Azu attempts to reach out to Aphrodite.

**Ed**: "I am so lost. I am so lost."
**Sasha**: "Azu, what did you sense? What did you sense that was so terrible about him that you burst out crying?"
**Azu**: "No th..it wasn’t, it wasn’t him. There’s something…"
**Ed**: "Oh, you a paladin?"
**Azu**: "Yes."
**Ed**: "Yeah,don’t do that, it’s not nice."
**Azu**: "Don’t do what?"
**Ed**: "Any of it. I think I broke Apollo."
**Sasha**: "I don’t follow."
**Azu**: "I think Rome is...it’s something to do with being here...it’s not. It’s not personal."
―The party tries to find out why Ed is in Rome.

"I ate a frog, Hamid!"
―**Ed**

**Grizzop**: "Hello! Do you want breakfast?"
**Wilde**: "Yes."
**Grizzop**: "I will go get you breakfast."
**Wilde**: "Brilliant. Thank you."
―Grizzop gets breakfast for Wilde.

"Right, so, we worked out, basically somebody, or a group of people probably, no prizes for guessing who, are repeatedly casting spells on you to try and kill you, I imagine, or just curse you into not being useful. So you’re gonna have to wear those for a while, and you’re a guy now. You’re not a wizard. You are clerical staff, and not in the fun divine sense. Okay?"
―**Grizzop recaps what they know about Wilde's situation.**

**Grizzop**: "Right, anyway, you’ll be safe here I’m gonna go and find the temple of Hephaestus."
**Wilde**: "Okay, I’m a bit more with it now. In terms of the illusions at the top of the mountain, are they actually causing any harm or are they just inconvenient at this stage?"
**Grizzop**: "No, they’re just mildly annoying."
**Wilde**: "I’ll send someone else to do it. And the rest are trapped in Rome."
**Grizzop**: "Yes. With Einstein."
**Wilde**: (*makes a pained noise*) "I am going to see what I can do, but I can’t do it from here."
**Grizzop**: "Okay, but, you need to be protected, obviously, because people are trying to curse you to death, from range."
**Wilde**: "Reckon you could spare a paladin?"
**Grizzop**: "I’ll ask the high priestess."
**Wilde**: "Okay, so, if you can arrange me for some kind of escort then what I can do is I can start chasing up my people whilst you head to the Hephaestus lot."
**Grizzop**: "Yes, I will go do that."
**Wilde**: "Take them a gift."
**Grizzop**: "Right. Eat breakfast, and I will."
―Wilde and Grizzop make plans.

**Wilde**: "Oh, Grizzop, Grizzop..."
**Grizzop**: "What?"
**Wilde**: "I’d love a bit of sausage."
**Bryn**: "He’s back, baby!"
―Wilde makes a pun again.

**Grizzop**: "Just so we know where we stand, on my honor as a paladin of Artemis, if you tell another soul about this I will kill you."
**Cleric**: "On my honor as a cleric of Hephaestus, yeah, alright."
―Grizzop gives the plans for the Simulacrum kill switch to Garten.

**Grizzop**: "By the way, can those apprentices keep a secret?"
**Cleric**: "Noo! That’s why they’re apprentices."
**Grizzop**: "Okay, on my honor as a paladin of Artemis, if one of them breathes a word I will kill them."
**Cleric**: "On my honor as a cleric of Hephaestus, do you really think I’m gonna tell them anything?"
―The plans for the Simulacrum kill switch need to be kept secret.

**Sasha**: "And if they end up capturing me, like, cause if I’m going in alone that is a possibility, get the hostages out first."
**Hamid**: "We’ll get all of you out, Sasha. We’re not leaving you behind."
―Sasha will scope out the building before others enter.

**Ed**: "Oh! This is important. I don’t know a lot, but I do know this."
**Alex**: "Puts his hand in and gives you the most puppyish looking like:"
**Ed**: "We definitely need to do the hand thing. Otherwise it’s not gonna work."
**Hamid**: "Okay, but quietly."
**Ed**: "Oh yeah, obviously."
**Azu**: "Yes, very quietly."
**Hamid**: "Okay, we’re a mercenary group, our name is the London and Other London Outstanding Mercenary Group, but for short…L.O.L.O.M.G"
―[add context]

## Dice rolls and Mechanics

* Azu makes a Knowledge (nobility) check of 10 to find out about Ed.
* Azu tries to detect evil on Ed but it fails.
* Azu makes a Sense Motive check on Ed and rolls a natural 1.
* Hamid makes a Sense Motive check on Ed of 11.
* The party make a Survival check to navigate: 20 (Azu), 8 (Hamid), 6 (Sasha)
* Sasha makes a Stealth check of 32 and a Perception check of 25 to look sneakily around the back of the villa.