Shortly after the Silverton assault, Ganeth returned to the West and filed the following report for Rognukena.
Here's the progress I've made toward establishing a base in Banzeel:(We also neutralized a demonic bloodsucking farastu-summoning tree that was going to try eating the Western army, wiped out some monsters headed for ambushes along the army's route, and uncovered some information about the people behind the weird monsters in the Banditlands and the attempts to introduce insanity into the West, so we haven't been completely slacking off...but more about that later. Oh, and we fended off the latest Shorin assassination attempt, but that's neither here nor there.)
- [info about the current situation there]
- captured and quested an informant/guide
The best plan we've come up with so far is to just walk into Banzeel, find a defensible-looking house, and rent it. With the revolutionaries and the Insanity Temple playing their games in town, if this is done quietly enough, there's a chance that a command post could be set up without the Imperials even noticing. Unfortunately, a pack of elves, a centaur, a unicorn, and possibly a Sun paladin are not what you'd call quiet (but at least the kensai won't attract attention -- we'd originally planned to drop off the four-legged in folk in Lifeblood, but that turned out to be an inviable option); I'm starting to think that a skilled negotiator (preferably one who speaks Eastern common and knows at least some of the local customs), an engineer (to pick a good house and work out any needed renovations), Xagye (general source of information and go-between), and some discreet muscle (for the trip out and general security) would have a much better chance of pulling this off than my party would.
(Two other reasons why a group of skilled humans has a better shot at this: The Shorin have a presence in Banzeel and would probably send trouble our way just to have a shot at our items, and Rakni might decide she's really pissed at us and start sending phase spiders to greet us wherever we go; neither are the sort of guests a construction site really needs.)
Of course, the question then becomes, if I'm proposing that some other group procure the Banzeel command post, what exactly do I propose that we do?
Based on the information we've gathered over the last month or so, it looks like we're actually heading into a three-sided war between the West, Marakeel, and a Chaotic group including the Insanity Temple, some renegade Ravens, insane kenku, and the ubiquitous karfu. (Some high elves, probably the Shorin [though at least one claims to be from the Barshen clan -- he's not specifically impersonating me, as far as we know], are also working with the Insanity Temple, though they're keeping a low profile.) This latter contingent seem to be the ones behind the insanity at the Belhor temple; they're probably also connected to the bizarre monsters coming out of the Banditlands and the mad lying kenku at Lord Rogash's keep, and there's a rumor that they intend to drive Lord Rogtymark insane somehow. At least a major part of this operation is headed by a former death priest and renegade Raven named Kharnzeel.
The insanity/karfu faction seems to be hoping to gain favor in the East by neutralizing the West before the war even begins. Some of the more traditional Marakeel factions aren't thrilled about this, since they want to defeat the West themselves in a high-profile Good vs Evil showdown, but they're probably not too unhappy about getting to prepare their forces while the Insanity Temple wears the West down a bit (as long as they're not successful enough to gain significant favor) -- except for the Death Temple, who's sent a team to try to kill Kharnzeel (though I don't think they're up to the challenge). In any case, these folks will probably be active both before and during the war and could potentially cause major problems (apart from spreading insanity and engineering bizarre monsters like flying fire-breathing sheep, they know where to find invisible implike raven scouts and giant 16 HD cold-breathing black birds with a 96" move), so my idea is that we try to either neutralize Kharnzeel or generally disrupt their operations.
Of course, to stop Kharnzeel, we have to find him. He seems to have planned to make the ruins of the Nirduk base his HQ, but he might have abandoned the idea after we took out his pet elementals and some of his apprentices. (We needed to use the pentagram for that business with the demonic tree.) Luckily, we've made the acquiantance of a high-level kenku thief who might be interested in tracking Kharnzeel down -- his brother has gone insane and become bound to Kharnzeel as a bodyguard, so if we can attempt a rescue as well as take out Kharnzeel (either by taking Kharnzeel alive or breaking the link between them -- Nomistrus has provided some useful thoughts on the latter possibility), this kenku may be able to dig around and provide a few useful leads. (And if we get the bodyguard, he should be able to tell us something useful about their operations in general.)
If this kenku contact doesn't pan out, a backup plan would be to escort the base-building team most of the way to Banzeel and then see if Xagye can dig around and come up with anything useful -- it might be good to escort them part of the way in any case, but I'd prefer not to split Xagye between two missions unless neither one requires much of her attention.
Or there might be some other mission you've come up with that needs doing. Since I'm working for you, it's your call: Base rental, karfu/Kharnzeel, or other.
-- Ganeth
P.S. I haven't had a chance to run this idea by the others yet -- most of the lucky sods are in Vlurshollow training right now -- so I suppose there's a chance they won't agree (they don't owe you a favor, after all), but I imagine Plan B would be more appealing than City Adventure with High Profile Humanoids and Equines. (Besides, they get lots of xp following me around. ;-)Several weeks later (presumably after some discussion among the rogs), Nukena sent the following response:
Ganeth,
Report received; have discussed situation with my advisors. Conclusions:And thus the stage was set for the next adventure.Lady Rognukena
- All of us agree that your team has performed well.
- The threat of interference from Rakni's spiders & high elves, as well as the current configuration of your party makes you less suitable for securing a base for the West in Banzeel.
Consequently, the Banzeel team will now be composed of:
- Lady Rogtubbins
- Tremere
- Xagye
- hand-picked support troops from Lord Rogtubbins' keep
- New mission options:
- Pursuing Kharnzeel:
Your report confirms reports of his involvement in the Western Keeplands. This mission has met with approval from the war council.
- Neutralizing monsters:
Large monsters like the cold-breathing bird, or insiduous threats like dopplegangers or invisible imps (karfu?) are difficult for our army to tackle. There are also rumors of stone giants being readied for use against our troops. Your team can neutralize such threats.
- Rallying help:
The role of demi-humans in this war has become more important given Banzeel's status. We would like the cooperation of demi-humans in the coming war: halflings, gnomes etc.
- Marakeel assault preparations:
Breeching the walls will be hard. Dwarven help would be greatly appreciated to supplement Lord Rognukena's troops.