View source for RPM:2 Sorcier Scum or Double Agent

{{Starring
|pc={{Ehsan}}, {{Hugo}}, {{Ildefons}}, {{Milady Rosalie}}, {{OneTusk}}
|npc=[[RPM:Face/Zephyrine|Zephyrine]], [[RPM:Face/Bluespeak|Bluespeak]], [[RPM:Face/Angry Heat Swamp Tree|Angry Heat Swamp Tree]]
|location=[[RPM:Places/Chirp (Village)|Chirp (Village)]], [[RPM:Places/Drumchapel (Hamlet)|Drumchapel (Hamlet)]], [[RPM:Places/Heat Swamp Sillage|Heat Swamp Sillage]], [[RPM:Places/Ancien Portal|Ancien Portal]]
|foe=Gremlins and Hay Golem; Heat Swamp Sillage; Arguing about what to do with Zephyrine
|date=01 Nov 2016
|prev=[[RPM:1 Escaped Sorcier Prisoner|1 Escaped Sorcier Prisoner]]
|next=[[RPM:3 Burned Agent|3 Burned Agent]]
}}

== Hilltop Farm battle ==
[[File:Gremlins.jpg|right|200px]]
{{Milady Rosalie}}: This village, while quaint, does little for me. The encroaching storm is not helping matters either. I feel it would be best if we make our way to the top of the hill and investigate before we are caught in a total downpour.

Everyone knows their roles pretty well, so much direction doesn't need to be given. As the others explored the house, I decided to stay near the barn. It didn't take too long for Hugo to give a little sign that they encountered someone in the house. This person, which I soon learned were a hoard of little green man-creatures, animated the hay in the barn.

Being the only one near the barn I did what I could to slow it down. My heart wasn't exactly in the fight as I'm trying to keep a clear head for encountering Zephyrine. I push a card around and yell at the dim-witted construct to keep it off balance. The fight ends quickly, though, when I pass a well crafted pitchfork to Ildefons in which he could affix his flaming mass of peet. The flame wasn't intense, but it did the job and ended our tussle.

{{OneTusk}}: I was technically correct- the superstitious villagers believed there to be a witch. There wasn't. Instead, there was an infestation of gremlins. I knocked the house down on them. Still, threat averted. The townsfolk would have likely lost many lives in the encounter.

{{Hugo}}: We ventured outside the hamlet to search for the 'witch' - I am skeptical that we will find anything.  Upon arriving at a farmstead I observed an old lady, quite frightened by our presence.  As an agent of the Pride, I decided to err on the side of caution and follow the encounter by the books - my second miscalculation of late.  OneTusk knocked down the house when the old woman turned out to be a horde of gremlins!  I dispatched the rest of the horde while my compatriots dealt with the Hay beast that was summoned.

{{Ildefons}}: There's a lit house, and barn. I scout ahead and get the lay of the land. The barn seems to be empty, but for a year's supply of hay. No one answers at the door. We spread out and One Tusk has door duty, with Rosalie watching from afar, Hugo checking the rear, and me staying nearer the barn, in case. We see a flash of candlelight in the house (and later, I'm told, noises of some sort). Moments later, a giant beast of hay bursts forth from the barn, set on smashing us into bits. Meanwhile, there's a little old lady in the house who turns -- in front of our eyes -- into a pile of wretched little grimelines. Through use of fire, and other, more destructive, tactics, we manage to end all of these creatures.

== Chirp's Sillage problem ==
[[File:Snakes from heat swamp.jpg|400px]]
{{Ehsan}}: Florint and myself are woken in the morning by Bluespeak to some commotion occurring in the forest near their home.  An aggressive Sillage has opened and is pouring out some kind of snake creatures that seem to be accosting their fighters. We agree to help, though really I'm not sure how much we will be able to. These tears between the planes tend to take care of themselves but for now we can at least attempt to keep the attackers at bay.

We arrive to the area to see the forest landscape shift into a muggy swamp. The heat does not bother me, but this humidity is strange and weighs on my chest. The Chirp fighters are busy disposing of the strange snake creatures while the large tree in the center of the Sillage seems to sink into the swamp. I climb up one of the trees to gain an advantageous position, but as I'm doing so Florint is over taken by the snakes. He struggles with them and I let loose one of his smoke bomb arrows in an attempt to confuse them off of him. It works, for the most part, but he is still wounded and I worry for his safety below.

For the next few minutes we dispatch of the snakes easily, but at some point these strange roots come out of the tear and grabbed some of the Chirp fighters as well as Florint, dragging all of them through the Sillage. I quickly climbed down the tree and followed after them. The dimension on the other side was even more intense than what cam through the portal into our world. I wade through the swamp to find some kind of corrupted tree that holds the warriors and Florint captive. We trade blows for a while before the thing speaks. I would say this surprises me but you never really know what to expect in these kinds of things. The corrupted tree attempts to explain its reasons for aggressions, but without knowing the full story it's impossible to know who acted first. It demands to keep all of the Chirp warriors along with Florints magical contraptions, while letting myself and Florint return to our world. I manage to negotiate to allow at least one of the Chirp warriors free as well. We return back to our world and all I can hope is that I did enough.

== Zephyrine reveals herself ==
[[File:Zephyrine.jpg|right|200px]]
{{Milady Rosalie}}: It seems like Zephyrine was not too far away from our carnage and decided to reveal herself. She gave an old codeword, "The dragon is watching," which was used by double agents. She looks a little too young to have been in the field that long, and I'm suspicious that she got the old code from a captured RPM member. Still, it's something we cannot risk in killing her either.

She makes no talk of her child when I bring it up. As this was the excuse of why she left, it leaves another possible lie on her palate.

Zephyrine informs us that we should check the barn. Inside is a lot of hay and some coins. The rest of the group feels that this is some sort of bribe, but the coins feel a bit odd to me. It's rare to find something so newly minted, and where they are from beings more questions to the forefront. There could be some sort of socio-economic move that will soon be underway from a nation or guild. The rest of the group are a bunch of laymen, so it's understandable that they won't come to this realization of a possible plot. I plan to bring these to a metallurgist and Maurice Lamon, a well respected trader that has dealings across many providence.

{{OneTusk}}: Zephyrine claims to be a spy working for the Revolution. I don't believe it, but there's a simple way to get to the bottom of it- bring her back and make her stand to account. I'm not a member of the Pride, but they are on the same page as me for this.

{{Hugo}}: We managed to track down Zephyrine, or rather we got close enough for her to feel it was in her best interest to reveal herself.  She claims to be a double agent - I am inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt.  It would be wise if we kept her capture quiet - agents within the Sorcier are not to be thrown away carelessly.

{{Ildefons}}: We haven't even finished catching our breath yet, and Zephryn comes out from no where, "You guys did a most excellent job. You have earned your reward. Search the barn." Zephryn claims to be a double-agent, using an ancient watch code that even the newsmen speak. In the barn, we find a pile of money (freshly minted coins from Eban) and a pile of notes that are instructions for building the hay beast that nearly broke our necks. She was trying to bribe us using the very same wares with which she purchased quartering from the witch. We are incorruptible. She is tied to the cannon for much of our trip back, our prisoner.

== Ancien Portal ==
[[File:Ancien Portal.jpg|right|150px]]
{{Milady Rosalie}}: On the way back to the city, we run into the petrified, towering ribs of a creature long forgotten. It was quite an impressive sight, and many others thought this as well. I thought it best to keep clear of the site due to hauling a prisoner. We want as minimal contact with others as possible. Her illusion magic could influence them and cause problems for us. Also, we want to bring her in under cover so her entrance back into the city is as secret as possible.

{{OneTusk}}: It's a joy to see my guild brothers at work.

{{Hugo}}: I wonder what creature fell here, I can't begin to imagine the size.  One day I might come back through and get a better look, for now it would be wise to get Zephyrine back without detection.

== Sneaking Zephyrine back into the City ==
{{Milady Rosalie}}: It is decided that we sneak her into the city by stuffing her into a trunk and carrying her to a local safehouse. There, we meet with Captain Hernaut to figure out what to do next. He isn't aware of any operatives and knows little of the coins. So we are stuck in a holding pattern until we can gather some more information. We vote on what to do with Zephyrine and decide it is best to put her back into prison until we can get things sorted out. If she is a double agent, we will arrange an escape for her. If she isn't, well, One Tusk may get his wish for a swift and brutal trial and interrogation.

{{Ehsan}}: Despite my protests, Zephyrine is stuffed into a trunk that One Tusk procured from the outskirts of the city. He carries her through the city and into a safehouse of the RPM. I open the chest to let her out but it appeared that the chest was empty. I let out a quick curse thinking she somehow escaped before I hear her giggling behind me. 

We send word to headquarters for Captain Hernaut to meet us at the safehouse and not long after he arrives. The Captain confirms with Rosalie that Zephyrine is not an agent of the Royal Pride, at least as far as he is aware. While this news does not surprise me, considering what Rosalie had said during our travels, I did hold out some hope that she was not the evil escaped Sorcier member that she was said to have been. We decide amongst us what to do with her and believe the prison to be the safest place for her for the time being. At least there they will keep her under watch and are now aware of her ticks so that she won't escape again.

{{OneTusk}}: There's no need to be gentle about this. Zephyrine goes in the trunk. We lock the trunk. I carry the trunk. We take her to the safehouse, where she can be interrogated. Then the trial, then the execution. If necessary. Perhaps she tells the truth- that would be an excellent outcome. It's just an extremely doubtful one. If she is a double agent, she knows the risks of the job. It's better to be overcautious here than let a potential counter-revolutionary run free.

{{Hugo}}: We need to get Zephyrine back into the city, rather than allow her to use her powers it is decided we stick her in a trunk.  Effective?  Yes.  Necessary?  No.  That said, she has caused me enough trouble and I am not willing to press the issue.  Her story doesn't hold up under continued scrutiny, and it is decided she will be held in secret until the matter can be sorted out.  While there is no love lost for the Sorcier, our treatment of her hasn't been the best.  Prisoners of her stature should be treated with much more courtesy - such brutal treatment is for the Sorcier; not us, we're better than that.

{{Ildefons}}: I don't understand why my colleagues insisted on trying to sneak her back into town, but they did. Fortunately, she was not released. Unfortunately, she is returning to the very same prison she escape. They vow they'll follow better procedures, but I imagine she'll once flee.


[[Category:Royal Pride of Musketeers]]
[[Category:RPM:Sessions|02]]