Reign of the Witch Queen

bandits, petty kingdoms, or fanatics of their icy goddess there's usually something kicking off, giving the local administrators a headache, and keeping the various armies up there gainfully employed.

Generally you only hear
about this kind of thing as embellished tavern tales long after the fuss has died down. The situation now is different where even so far away down south in
one of the wilder regions of the empire you have caught word of the events that are occurring. A noble claiming one of the mostly forgotten royal bloodlines has crowned herself and has actually gained enough popular support allowing a substantial region to secede from the empire. As a number of formely empire-aligned armies have declared for her banner, and while mercenaries of all kinds of races are rushing to the lands looking for an opportunity for profit, loyalist forces are currently focused more on containment for now resulting in a
stand off.

While you're a long way away right now, so who knows what is
really going on up there, it's definitely odd to you that so far there's apparently been no more than a few minor skirmishes. It's almost as if the empire forces have instructions to stand off for now and wait. Perhaps they're waiting for one of the Voices to arrive to... 'manage' the situation, or perhaps they're waiting for agents who can sneak into castle and remove the threat at the source without the need for war which can get so awfully messy and chaotic, or who knows what else. For all you know they're planning to bring in a score of highly trained driders to easily scale the castle walls under cover of darkness, terrify the defenders, and haul away the traitors in ettersilk bags.

Then it's possible they're waiting for assistance of the dawning light. While rumours are not always to be trusted all of them mention that this queen has an impressive amount of both magic and elementalism at her well-bred finger tips. They're not exactly sure what she can do specifically, but that sounds
like a very specific form of threat that the church would have the most knowledge in how to counter even if she's forsaking the usual look to play at
being all regal. Hard to mix a pointy hat with a crown after all.

No wonder then that they're all calling her the witch-queen.

The thought of getting a collar around her stiff neck is a tantalizing one. No reason that the agents that abduct her from the safety of her heavily guarded castle can't be yours. Only way to have any chance to get there in time would be by sea and to sail into such potential danger is going to cost you a pretty penny. Then that's even if you can persuade some smuggler or pirate crew to get you there in the first place.

## 5 Slavers

### **Slaver #1: "Any Slaver to negotiate passage and then stay behind to ensure everyone else has a way to get back."**

* **Critical**: Connected (Con), Mind Reader (Min), Singer (Sin), Faith: The Laughing Trickster (F:Tr)
* **Success**: Logical (Lgl), Persuasive (Per), Tactful (Tac), Resilient (Res), Stubborn (Stb), Sea Elf
* **Failure**: Emotional (Eml), Greedy (Gre), Thug (Thu), Unruly (Unr)
* **Disaster**: Bimbo (Bim), Flying (Fly), Fleet (Flt), Fel Tainted (Fel), Monster (Mon), Sex Addict (Sex), Unhinged (Unh)
* **Catastrophic**: Ethereal (Eth)

### **Slaver #2:**

* **Critical**: Cunning (Cun), Stubborn (Stb), Human Northerner
* **Success**: Aggressive (Agg), Leader (Lea), Sneaky (Sne), Cooperative (Coo), Resilient (Res), Masterwork or better Armour (Oft:Arm)
* **Failure**: Debutante (Deb), Peaceful (Pea), Thug (Thu), Unruly (Unr), Loner (Lon), Weak (Wea)
* **Disaster**: Bimbo (Bim), Flying (Fly), Fleet (Flt), Fel Tainted (Fel), Monster (Mon), Sex Addict (Sex), Unhinged (Unh)
* **Catastrophic**: Ethereal (Eth)

### **Slaver #3:**

* **Critical**: Psionic (Psy), Beastmaster (Bea), Harpy
* **Success**:Perceptive (Pcp), Tracker (Tra), Trapper (Tpr), Sneaky (Sne), Cooperative (Coo), Resilient (Res)
* **Failure**: Clumsy (Clu), Thug (Thu), Unruly (Unr), Loner (Lon), Weak (Wea)
* **Disaster**: Bimbo (Bim), Flying (Fly), Fleet (Flt), Fel Tainted (Fel), Monster (Mon), Sex Addict (Sex), Unhinged (Unh)
* **Catastrophic**: Ethereal (Eth)

### **Slaver #4:**

* **Critical**: Healer (Hea), Sympathetic (Sym), Faith: The Goddess Shallya (F:Sh)
* **Success**: Peaceful (Pea), Friendly (Fnd), Sneaky (Sne), Folklorist (Flk), Cooperative (Coo), Resilient (Res)
* **Failure**: Sadist (Sdt), Thug (Thu), Unruly (Unr), Loner (Lon), Weak (Wea)
* **Disaster**: Bimbo (Bim), Flying (Fly), Fleet (Flt), Fel Tainted (Fel), Monster (Mon), Sex Addict (Sex), Unhinged (Unh)
* **Catastrophic**: Ethereal (Eth)

### **Slaver #5:**

* **Critical**: Heroic (Her), Honourable (Hon), Faith: The Frozen Queen (F:Fr)
* **Success**: Brutal (Bru), Strong (Str), Sneaky (Sne), Cooperative (Coo), Resilient (Res), Masterwork or better Armour (Oft:Arm)
* **Failure**: Peaceful (Pea), Thug (Thu), Unruly (Unr), Loner (Lon), Weak (Wea)
* **Disaster**: Bimbo (Bim), Flying (Fly), Fleet (Flt), Fel Tainted (Fel), Monster (Mon), Sex Addict (Sex), Unhinged (Unh)
* **Catastrophic**: Ethereal (Eth)

## Special

There are 3 different rolls for this assignment, with the first two giving additional rewards or punishments based on traits.

Roll 1: Negotiating with the Captain (Diplomacy)

* Critical Success: Refund all of the gold required and half of the supplies. Gain 375 Diplomacy Expertise
* Success: Gain some gold. Gain 250 Diplomacy Expertise.
* Failure: Unknown.
* Disaster: Unknown.

Roll 2: Evading the Queen's Guards (Marauding)

* Critical Success: Gain Gold and Supplies. Gain a new male slaver, from the human empire's army. Gain 450 Marauding Expertise.
* Success: Gain some gold. Gain 325 Marauding Expertise.
* Failure: Unknown.
* Disaster: Unknown.

Roll 3: Meeting the Witch Queen (Infiltration)

* See the sections below.

## Critical Outcome

### Default Reward

Gain the Unique Slave Agronia von Cale-Enkeyrie.

* She will have the second set of traits and the Aspect: Witch Queen trait.

Gain the Encampment Upgrade **Fall of the Witch-Queen**

* Receive better quality slavers from level-ups.

Gain 450 infiltration expertise.

## Success Outcome

### Default Reward

Gain the Unique Slave Agronia von Cale-Enkeyrie.

* She will have the first set of traits and **NOT** have an aspect.

Gain the Encampment Upgrade **Fall of the Witch-Queen**

* Receive better quality slavers from level-ups.

Gain 325 infiltration expertise.

Slavers #2-5 may gain 1 random trait from corruption.

## Failure Outcome

### Default Punishment

Unknown

###