My Evil Plan to Save the World
Sep. 24th, 2005 08:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothHad another session of Lazar's Shadake game, in while I did, indeed, formulate an evil plan to save the world. Unfortunately, it was under the influence of drugs, so it might not actually work.
Luckily for Jardin, if perhaps not for Chochang, the escaped slaves were not there to attack after all -- instead, they were there to kidnap. Of course, they called it 'putting Chochang under arrest for crimes against Vlindar', and several of them waited with Jardin so that he and his friends could be brought to speak to their leader (Raj?) as well.
It took a while for Wayne and Perrel to return -- they'd made a deal with the old centaur's accountant fairly quickly, but he had to get one of his sons to go collect the money, and there was some distraction with a huge explosion in the middle of town (that they'd decided to stay out of).
The young centaur carried two huge swords, and told them that he was very *honorable* and didn't wish to be told anything that would make him have to execute them. So they told him nothing -- 'go to these people and collect the money for the items they already took possession of, then work with Balthazaar to see if you can sell any more' -- and sent Balthazaar with him for the sake of continuity. They couldn't all go, since he could only carry one, and showing him the riding mantas would be showing him more than he needed to know.
So Wayne and Perrel alone returned to Jardin, to find him guarded by a pair of insurgents. When the situation was explained, Wayne wanted assurances that they wouldn't be arrested as well. "You're already trying Chochang for crimes against a code of law different than the one she thought she was following, I'd rather not be subjected to the same thing." They refused to offer blanket immunity, but reassured him that they didn't know of anything they'd done that would break their laws, and didn't intend to pry. Which would have to be good enough.
"Raj can give you more assurances, he's our leader."
"It'll be a bit too late by then, if he decides not to," Wayne grumbled.
Although, actually, it wasn't -- Raj met them outside the camp. Underground, and in their hidden complex, but away from most of the other insurgents in his little headquarters group. And they didn't even have to ask! He was very enthusiastic about working with them.
Raj wanted them to help him overthrow centaur society. He thought that Lord Diechek -- the one who'd offered to buy Perrel and hire Wayne (almost certainly intending to keep him) -- was enough of a threat that, with the proper messages sent around, he could distract all the other centaurs long enough for the slaves to rise up and seize the armories in the various towns and villages, arming themselves. Once armed, of course they could stand up to the centaur armies, weakened by infighting! All he needed the party to do was to aid (and be enslaved by) Lord Diechek, so that he'd get overconfident enough to actually launch an attack. Oh, and come up with some sort of poison they could use to get rid of the cursed watchplants that snapped up anyone trying to fly around at night, or something.
While agreeing that it would be better for the Vlindar to be free -- even ignoring the 'you're all slaves' part, the centaurs did not practice anything resembling a benign rule -- the party was mixed on whether or not aiding in an uprising was in anyone's best interests. that is, Wayne was skeptical, and the others wanted to help.
"First of all," Wayne explained, "You have to actually get all the slaves to rise up and risk their lives."
"Oh," Raj replied, "They're all eager to join in whenever they see anything going on. None of them like their situation, and most have heard stories from their grandparents about how it was to be free."
"Second, you have to actually win against the centaurs -- it's not like Diechek's war is going to kill off the majority of their warriors, and you say that attacking without that distraction would certainly lead to defeat."
"The weapons will make all the difference! That and getting rid of the guard-plants."
"And third, after killing off all the educated members of society, you're going to put it under the control of people raised as slaves? It could be decades before there was anything here for us to trade with."
Raj did offer to pay the party for their help if they agreed to help him. Wayne asked him for possession of the library of unopened books Balthazaar had heard about, near the tower. Raj couldn't offer that, because unlike the impression Balthazaar had given (that it was some private centaur's estate of no great importance to the others) it was apparently one of the key sites that centaurs tended to go to war over, and would almost certainly be in the thick of the fighting if Lord Diechek went ahead with his plan. This also meant, of course, that Raj was well aware of its value, and wouldn't be willing to offer the entire library even if he could. He would send one of his agents to try to steal several books from the library, though.
In the end, the party told him that while they were inclined to help, they needed to consult with their superiors for permission to commit themselves to such a task. Could they have sky mantas? Well, those they didn't own, but they could ask the people who did for permission to let him borrow them. What about foraging for food, which was in short supply? That wouldn't be a problem -- they were going to have to bring at least one device to the nearby lord's estate to keep up their end of the bargain in any case, so they could bring an extra for the insurgents to use.
Raj agreed to let them go, telling them that sooner or later the revolution *would* succeed, and that they should consider that if they chose to throw in their lot with the centaurs. Chochang, however, would have to stand trialfor her crime -- not just the routine abuse of slaves that any centaur wold probably be guilty of, but viciously torturing a Vlindar to death over the course of several hours. "We don't quite have enough evidence to convict, but the courtroom has a magic of its own -- the guilty often find themselves unable to resist confessing."
They left it at that for the moment, although they planned to have an answer for Raj before the trial at any rate.
So they flew back to the ship on the skymantas, checked the messages from home -- which were bitchy about wanting daily status reports, so they told the people staying on the ship to take turns writing them -- verified that Roshan's condition had not improved, ate some very tasty waffles Rudy had gotten out of one of the machines, and wasted a bunch of time relaxing.
The next day Perrel and Wayne (as Jardin was supposed to be out delivering messages) headed to the city to find Balthazaar and talk to him about Raj's plan. Wayne had wanted to contact Jirae directly, as he thought they'd forbid them from getting involved, but Perrel and Jardin convinced him to go up the chain of command and ask Balthazaar first, who would certainly tell them not to contact Jirae, and probably *would* want to get involved. Stupid politics.
So, they contacted Balthazaar. This was not hard, as he was out in the common room at the inn, testing drinks. He thought the slaves' plan was interesting... and the slaves were much more open about magic, which would make them more comfortable to trade with, and would be in Jirae's debt if they helped with the revolution, which would also make them more comfortable to trade with. On the other hand, the centaurs had a functioning society with a currency, meaning that they could likely, in time, buy anything they wanted once they had the money to...
Wayne was still uncomfortable about helping Raj, though. "He kept saying that he wanted to put things 'back the way they were', and according to Klazko... that was 'the Vlindars enslaving the centaurs'. They were all charmed." From there, talk turned to the magical drinks the centaurs had, and whether Balthazaar had found any that they could enhance to actually charm them. He hadn't, but Perrel was intriguied, and bought a bottle of a random magical drink (he could tell which were, with his aura-sight) to test.
Wayne offered to test it ("The last time I took a swig of a strange drink, I woke up in bed with a strange girl..."), and felt very 'powerful' and 'confident' -- like everything was certain to go his way, and that he could achieve anything he set out to do.
"You know what we should do," he said, "We should charm the centaurs ourselves, instead of overthrowing the society. Once we were in control, we could implement reforms that would keep the Vlindars from revolting. That way we'd still have all the cities intact, and no one would have to die."
"What did that drink do to you?" Balthazaar asked, looking at him funny.
"It helped me see opportunities I hadn't recognized existed!"
So Balthazaar took a swig, and afterwards agreed that it sounded like a fine plan! All they needed was to find a suitable base that they could work into a charm. He headed back down to the bar to order a bunch of magical drinks and try them all!
last week | next week
Luckily for Jardin, if perhaps not for Chochang, the escaped slaves were not there to attack after all -- instead, they were there to kidnap. Of course, they called it 'putting Chochang under arrest for crimes against Vlindar', and several of them waited with Jardin so that he and his friends could be brought to speak to their leader (Raj?) as well.
It took a while for Wayne and Perrel to return -- they'd made a deal with the old centaur's accountant fairly quickly, but he had to get one of his sons to go collect the money, and there was some distraction with a huge explosion in the middle of town (that they'd decided to stay out of).
The young centaur carried two huge swords, and told them that he was very *honorable* and didn't wish to be told anything that would make him have to execute them. So they told him nothing -- 'go to these people and collect the money for the items they already took possession of, then work with Balthazaar to see if you can sell any more' -- and sent Balthazaar with him for the sake of continuity. They couldn't all go, since he could only carry one, and showing him the riding mantas would be showing him more than he needed to know.
So Wayne and Perrel alone returned to Jardin, to find him guarded by a pair of insurgents. When the situation was explained, Wayne wanted assurances that they wouldn't be arrested as well. "You're already trying Chochang for crimes against a code of law different than the one she thought she was following, I'd rather not be subjected to the same thing." They refused to offer blanket immunity, but reassured him that they didn't know of anything they'd done that would break their laws, and didn't intend to pry. Which would have to be good enough.
"Raj can give you more assurances, he's our leader."
"It'll be a bit too late by then, if he decides not to," Wayne grumbled.
Although, actually, it wasn't -- Raj met them outside the camp. Underground, and in their hidden complex, but away from most of the other insurgents in his little headquarters group. And they didn't even have to ask! He was very enthusiastic about working with them.
Raj wanted them to help him overthrow centaur society. He thought that Lord Diechek -- the one who'd offered to buy Perrel and hire Wayne (almost certainly intending to keep him) -- was enough of a threat that, with the proper messages sent around, he could distract all the other centaurs long enough for the slaves to rise up and seize the armories in the various towns and villages, arming themselves. Once armed, of course they could stand up to the centaur armies, weakened by infighting! All he needed the party to do was to aid (and be enslaved by) Lord Diechek, so that he'd get overconfident enough to actually launch an attack. Oh, and come up with some sort of poison they could use to get rid of the cursed watchplants that snapped up anyone trying to fly around at night, or something.
While agreeing that it would be better for the Vlindar to be free -- even ignoring the 'you're all slaves' part, the centaurs did not practice anything resembling a benign rule -- the party was mixed on whether or not aiding in an uprising was in anyone's best interests. that is, Wayne was skeptical, and the others wanted to help.
"First of all," Wayne explained, "You have to actually get all the slaves to rise up and risk their lives."
"Oh," Raj replied, "They're all eager to join in whenever they see anything going on. None of them like their situation, and most have heard stories from their grandparents about how it was to be free."
"Second, you have to actually win against the centaurs -- it's not like Diechek's war is going to kill off the majority of their warriors, and you say that attacking without that distraction would certainly lead to defeat."
"The weapons will make all the difference! That and getting rid of the guard-plants."
"And third, after killing off all the educated members of society, you're going to put it under the control of people raised as slaves? It could be decades before there was anything here for us to trade with."
Raj did offer to pay the party for their help if they agreed to help him. Wayne asked him for possession of the library of unopened books Balthazaar had heard about, near the tower. Raj couldn't offer that, because unlike the impression Balthazaar had given (that it was some private centaur's estate of no great importance to the others) it was apparently one of the key sites that centaurs tended to go to war over, and would almost certainly be in the thick of the fighting if Lord Diechek went ahead with his plan. This also meant, of course, that Raj was well aware of its value, and wouldn't be willing to offer the entire library even if he could. He would send one of his agents to try to steal several books from the library, though.
In the end, the party told him that while they were inclined to help, they needed to consult with their superiors for permission to commit themselves to such a task. Could they have sky mantas? Well, those they didn't own, but they could ask the people who did for permission to let him borrow them. What about foraging for food, which was in short supply? That wouldn't be a problem -- they were going to have to bring at least one device to the nearby lord's estate to keep up their end of the bargain in any case, so they could bring an extra for the insurgents to use.
Raj agreed to let them go, telling them that sooner or later the revolution *would* succeed, and that they should consider that if they chose to throw in their lot with the centaurs. Chochang, however, would have to stand trialfor her crime -- not just the routine abuse of slaves that any centaur wold probably be guilty of, but viciously torturing a Vlindar to death over the course of several hours. "We don't quite have enough evidence to convict, but the courtroom has a magic of its own -- the guilty often find themselves unable to resist confessing."
They left it at that for the moment, although they planned to have an answer for Raj before the trial at any rate.
So they flew back to the ship on the skymantas, checked the messages from home -- which were bitchy about wanting daily status reports, so they told the people staying on the ship to take turns writing them -- verified that Roshan's condition had not improved, ate some very tasty waffles Rudy had gotten out of one of the machines, and wasted a bunch of time relaxing.
The next day Perrel and Wayne (as Jardin was supposed to be out delivering messages) headed to the city to find Balthazaar and talk to him about Raj's plan. Wayne had wanted to contact Jirae directly, as he thought they'd forbid them from getting involved, but Perrel and Jardin convinced him to go up the chain of command and ask Balthazaar first, who would certainly tell them not to contact Jirae, and probably *would* want to get involved. Stupid politics.
So, they contacted Balthazaar. This was not hard, as he was out in the common room at the inn, testing drinks. He thought the slaves' plan was interesting... and the slaves were much more open about magic, which would make them more comfortable to trade with, and would be in Jirae's debt if they helped with the revolution, which would also make them more comfortable to trade with. On the other hand, the centaurs had a functioning society with a currency, meaning that they could likely, in time, buy anything they wanted once they had the money to...
Wayne was still uncomfortable about helping Raj, though. "He kept saying that he wanted to put things 'back the way they were', and according to Klazko... that was 'the Vlindars enslaving the centaurs'. They were all charmed." From there, talk turned to the magical drinks the centaurs had, and whether Balthazaar had found any that they could enhance to actually charm them. He hadn't, but Perrel was intriguied, and bought a bottle of a random magical drink (he could tell which were, with his aura-sight) to test.
Wayne offered to test it ("The last time I took a swig of a strange drink, I woke up in bed with a strange girl..."), and felt very 'powerful' and 'confident' -- like everything was certain to go his way, and that he could achieve anything he set out to do.
"You know what we should do," he said, "We should charm the centaurs ourselves, instead of overthrowing the society. Once we were in control, we could implement reforms that would keep the Vlindars from revolting. That way we'd still have all the cities intact, and no one would have to die."
"What did that drink do to you?" Balthazaar asked, looking at him funny.
"It helped me see opportunities I hadn't recognized existed!"
So Balthazaar took a swig, and afterwards agreed that it sounded like a fine plan! All they needed was to find a suitable base that they could work into a charm. He headed back down to the bar to order a bunch of magical drinks and try them all!
last week | next week
