Forums of the Coast

On the third day of your rest after destroying the wardstone and gaining your mythic powers, none other than Queen Galfrey, ruler of Mendev, and her army arrives at the town of Kenabres. Thousands of road weary and battle worn crusaders flood into the city, ready to at least have a roof over their head. The queen seeks an audience with you as soon as possible to discuss what happened with the wardstone.

Daveed wastes no time in answering her summons.

LIST OF CONTENTS:
viewtopic.php?f=138&p=22739#p22732 -- Marching Map & Advancement Order
viewtopic.php?f=138&t=1352&p=22756#p22756 -- Night encampment setup


Guessing the rest of group will follow. But before then, while there's all the commotion about the queen's army arriving, Epicette does a little gather info on the queen. She hasn't been very up-to-date on Mendevian politics...
(Diplo to gather info: 3+8 = 11)
(Apparently I hear all the wrong rumors <_<)

Well educated on the punctuality that nobility expects from people they summon, Cernandlon hurries to the designated location without delay.

When your group gathers for your audience, the queen greets you while sizing you up. "I've heard many rumors of what happened here." she says with an air of command. "I would hear like to hear what you have to say about your experience in the Gray Garrison." This last sentence has a more respectful tone to it, Cernandlon recognizes this as the way nobility ask questions.

Feel free to roll Sense Motive

(Sense Motive: 1d20+11= 28)

Daveed complies, giving a full account from the beginning of the attack, to the destruction of the Wardstone. Including the visions and the arrival of Areelu Vorlesh.

(Diplomacy: 12d0+18= 33)

Malorix lets Daveed do the talking, for now. (Sense motive: 13+10=23)

After Daveed sums up the Gray Garrison assault, Epicette takes this as an opportunity to present the queen with the Worldwound Troop Movement Documents they recovered.

The queen ponders your words for a moment, as if considering their implications.

“While there are some narrow-minded souls among the crusade who blame you for the destruction of the wardstone border, I do not begrudge you for what you did. Far from it. From the sound of it, you saved entire legions of crusaders from a most vile fate by preventing Vorlesh from transforming them, and the blast of energy gave us the time we needed to regroup and prepare for what will certainly come next. But you understand the implications of what you’ve done, I’m sure—the wardstones are gone, but Iomedae has seen fit that you will be their replacement. I can think of no other reason that would explain why their power would have settled in your bodies and souls and didn’t merely fade into the ether. In time, the demons will regroup and reorganize—we can trust their inherent chaos to make this period of regrouping longer than it otherwise would take, but we shouldn’t underestimate them. They’ll be back soon enough. Already I’ve had reports from along the front lines that small groups of demons are attacking fortifications and settlements along the southern border.But what intrigues me most is news from several reliable sources that as our fiendish enemies are starting to mass in the southern reaches along the Riftshadow within the Worldwound, they have left several of their northern lairs relatively unprotected. In particular, the fiend Aponavicius has taken the bulk of her army from Drezen, leaving it only moderately protected as she joins with the Storm King in Iz to, no doubt, plot greater attacks on larger targets like Nerosyan, Karcau, and beyond. The time is right to strike into their territory. Drezen was the first of our cities to fall after the First Crusade, and we lost more than our kin and our pride that day. We lost the Sword of Valor, a magical banner carried by the Inheritor herself during the Shining Crusade. If Drezen could be retaken—if the Sword of Valor could once again be held by the crusade... well, I trust I don’t need to explain how well that would affect morale. But with the imminent attacks along the border, I cannot spare many to lead an assault on Drezen. And even if I could, a large army attacking the city would only draw Aponavicius back to defend the place. The obvious tactic is to send in a group of capable heroes with a modest but well-trained army to strike now, while the proverbial iron is hot. And this is why I’ve sought you out. If you can retake Drezen and reclaim the Sword of Valor, not only will you silence the fools who would brand you traitors for destroying the wardstone, but more importantly, you would bolster the entire war effort with your heroism. And I fear we need all the bolstering we can get!"

She thanks you for the reports and gives them to one of her advisors for study.

Those of you who passed a 20 on the sense motive notice that her Heroic and Hopeful attitude is a little forced.

After the queen finishes, Galfrey notes that she would like for you to leave as soon as possible and opens the floor for you to all ask her some questions. He also notes that you will be presented with rewards for your service in a public ceremony later this evening.

"Do we have solid intelligence that the Sword of Valor is still present in Drezen?"

A few questions to be asked, one at a time:

"How likely to work do you really make of this?" Epicette sounds rather worried and clearly isn't brought in on the heroic propaganda when she asks this. In fact the queen (who will obviously have ranks in sense motive) gets the hint that Epicette wonders if they're actually being sent out on a suicidal distraction attack with the follow-up questions.
(Sense Motive 4+12=16 *stupid low rolls grumble*)

"Since they're demons, wouldn't our foes just teleport an army back in defense of the citadel and flank us?"

"Given the war's focus in the south, will there be any strategic importance in retaking Drezen? Or is this mostly a symbolic gesture?"

"What resources will we get for this operation? -- the army and its commanders."

"What do we know of our opponents' current defenses and its commander? Do we have any older maps of the Drezen fortress layout, given that it used to be one of our own?"


Lastly, if the queen can respond affirmatively to Daveed's question:
"Do we know where exactly inside Drezen the banner is located? Some details on exactly what it looks like would also help, and what we could do to verify that any banner we seize isn't just a fake planted there by the demons."

Answering Daveed:
“We know through divination spells that it is somewhere inside Citadel Drezen. At one point, it was held in a special vault, but our divinations have only revealed that the banner remains in the Citadel somewhere. Alas, the same wards that protect it against demons also hamper divination attempts—but we know it’s still in there, likely kept as a trophy.”


Answering Epicette:
"I'm not going to lie, this mission is risky. But the reward is worth it. The demons won’t expect it. In
fact, they might not even notice it, what with their attention focused on the southern borders. If you can secure Drezen quickly enough and find the Sword of Valor, it will do most of the work of keeping the place safe once you’ve reactivated it.”


“Their own nature will keep them from teleporting. Those left behind have been charged with protecting Drezen, and if they abandon that post, even to teleport away for help, they’ll likely be killed. No demon wants to be killed. That and their arrogance about their superiority over mortal life should be more than enough to keep them in Drezen until the very end. At that point, when you’ve broken their morale, they’ll teleport away in droves, which should give you several days to complete your mission.”

"The primary goal of this mission is to reclaim the Sword of Valor. Despite the name, it’s not a sword. It’s a battle standard—an artifact once used by Iomedae herself during the Shining Crusade. The church loaned the banner to the First Mendevian Crusade and allowed it to hang in Drezen, where it bolstered crusader morale and, perhaps more importantly, warded against demonic attacks, deceptions, and even teleportation. Having the ability to estalish a mobile safe zone will be of great help while moving our troops and restoring a barrier against the demonic forces."

“We’re sending three specialists with you. Aron Kir was a cleric of Shelyn here in Kenabres before the temple was destroyed—he can help with healing as needed, but he’s also quite knowledgeable about demons and their tactics. Sosiel Vaenic is an expert on siege tactics, traps, infiltration, scouting, and the like; he’s where you’ll be getting your map of the Citadel, incidentally. And lastly, there’s Nurah Dendiwhar. She’ll be supporting you with her bardic magic, but she’s also an expert on the region and knows more about Drezen than anyone in Kenabres at this point, I’ll wager. I’m also going to be sending an army of crusaders with you. There’s only a hundred of them, but they’re all devout paladins of Iomedae. The mongrel folk have also spoken highly of you and requested to go as well. They have mustered around 50 warriors. Mostly scout and archer types from the looks of it. It’s not a large army, but you’ll be able to move without attracting attention. Trust me, that’s an advantage when it comes to demonic foes. They hit hard, so it’s best not to give them the opportunity."

"We will have to look over the documents you just brought us to see if we can glean any information about it's present commander. As for it's defences and layout you will be better served conversing with Sosiel Vaenic and Nurah Dendiwhar."

"You will be provided with a picture of it, though any Detect Magic should make it painfuly obvious whether any given banner is a fake. It's hard to imbue artifacts, and if the demons had enough power to do so, they would use it to create an offensive weapon to help push the front lines, not a fake banner to leave behind with the underlings not important enough to bring to the fore."

*let me know if any questions are not adequately answered.

Epicette seemed satisfied with the responses.

Daveed is likewise pleased the answers, standing from his seat, and stating, "We are honored to accept this mission, your grace. We will depart as soon as our armies are prepared to do so."

Cernandlon is satisfied with the answers and orders.