Mysteries of the Floating Islands

[GoldenCityBird]

@SmilyCube112, @Florien:

The two of you, alongside the other guards, make your way down to the armoury (located within the barracks, so either statement is OK). Sure enough, there are helmets there, and a few of them seem wide-brimmed enough.

Avanyiss takes one, obviously, and find that it fits well enough.

The armoury is empty, save for you lot and all the weapons and armour.

[Florien]

...Excellent.

Avanyiss tries to look very official. Then she leans in and whispers to Magnus so that no one else can hear...

That audience was... weird. There's three possibilities here, and none of them lead anywhere that doesn't almost certainly involve blood spilled. You don't have a rebellion this far off the ground without at least vague policy and concrete, if essentially unattainable goals. To claim that it's "early days" and nothing's been figured out? No. I don't believe it for a moment. There are three options. One, that's not Burnetta. Burnetta's been replaced by someone else who doesn't fully understand the policy platform.

Option two, that is Burnetta, and she's hiding something from us. This is actually two different options. So four possibilities really. Two-First, she's hiding her intentions. She actually is worse than the current government, or intends to change very little. Otherwise, she could be clearer about what she intends to do, hiding that she's going to do good things makes no sense, even if we are spies or assassins. Two-Second, she's hiding her purpose. That one's strange and unlikely, but it's possible she's a form of controlled opposition to the king, where in principle she's against him, but in practice she's actively working with him to eliminate his enemies in convenient crossfire, and generally making a nuisance of herself so as to be a convenient force to rally against. Perhaps even to give the illusion of choice later.

Option three. That is Burnetta and she's hiding nothing. She really has no plans, nor policy objectives. That's VERY questionable, and means she's either a puppet for someone else, or she's not... ahh... anywhere near the right one to leave near government.

Our objective either way should be the same. Put on a helmet Magnus, you're also an inspector. We're going to try to talk to the ones who were acting "suspicious". Translator, General, Chancellor. They probably have their own objectives, but we're going to figure out their motives, whether they're really aiming for the top seat, and all the while, our goal is to figure out their policy platforms, preferably without them figuring out that we're essentially giving them a job interview.

I have a few plans for what to do, based on what happens with our... quote-unquote "interviews." But our primary plan that we should be thinking about is that we need to eliminate Burnetta somehow, preferably in a way that appears accidental or cannot be easily traced to us. Poison would work. In none of the options is Burnetta remotely trustworthy. Ideally we'll find evidence that gets rid of her somehow, or explains why she was so intent on hiding information, but we do have to be ready to get rid of her in a relatively subtle way.

Then Avanyiss resumes her looking extremely official, stops whispering, and asks the guards some things.

Alright, I think we'll need to start in the basement. It's probably fine, but the lowest levels are the most load-bearing ones, so if the structure needs attention, there's one of the primary places to look for it. Could one of you track down a map and the other be ready to help us go to the basement?

Meanwhile, 

>Inspect the armory room for any potential structural weaknesses, uniquely hot-burning metals (aluminum, iron rust, magnesium, the likes.) Then look vaguely disapproving and write something on the clipboard. In your native language of course, the guards don't need to read any notes being made.

[SmilyCube112]

Magnus decides it's best to co-operate and puts on a helmet, before proceeding to help Avanyiss. Again.

> Check the Armory for security flaws.

[GoldenCityBird]

@Florien: You roll a 3

The floor seems a little uneven, but otherwise, everything's up to check. Weapons secured sensibly, armour stored safely, and not a spot of rust... yet.

@SmilyCube112: You roll a 2

Something feels unsafe, but you're fairly certain it's just vibes.

[Florien]

Alright, excellent. Basementwards!

>Inspect the lowest levels of the fort. What's there to see, what rooms, what people, what structural flaws and things that might be capable causing an "unfortunate accident" to someone dragon-sized.

[GoldenCityBird]

@Florien: You roll a 2 

You investigate the jails at the lowest level of the fort. A lot of unsafe vibes, and a lot of dust, but nothing you can pick out at a glance.

@SmilyCube112: I'm just gonna have Avanyiss drag Magnus around for this. Can't have you left alone, really.

[SmilyCube112]

Sorry, got busy and couldn't put an interaction in. Shall we say that Magnus was just kept by Avanyiss' side that time?

[Florien]

Hm. Very unsafe, this place. The dust could catch fire. I don't care if you're dragons of the resistant to fire type, if this fort starts burning, the place will be very difficult to get around in.

Avanyiss writes something down on the clipboard.

And where do you keep the keys to the cells? Depending where, that might be a security issue. Oh, and this place is immediately adjacent to the entrance. Poor design unless you get a killbox. I need somewhere with multiple lines of sight and fire in that needs to be passed through on any route to the exit door.

Oh, and do you have any secret doors around here? That might be important. Their utility is overstated in many cases, but they can be useful if someone gets through the first door for surprise attacks.

>Check for secret doors after asking the guards, just to make sure.

[GoldenCityBird]

@Florien: You roll a 1

You find a torch that looks like it may be the handle to a secret door. That is, until it falls off its holder, landing on your clipboard. And also firing a spark at your face.

Through all this, you do manage to hear Briar say, "Not to my knowldge. And believe me, I'd know.

The other guard clears her throat. "The kill-box thing... that could use some elaboration. Sounds deadly. Like the sound of it. Might know a good place."

[Florien]

Ah, so a kill box. It's a defense architectural term.

Avanyiss writes something else down on her smoldering clipboard, with a hole burned through several pages, as if nothing happened.

So, the idea is, you have a room required to be passed through on the way to an important area which has several clear lines of sight, and lines of fire, and very little cover. Guards are posted at those lines of fire and armed to be able to exploit it. It works best with... ahh... firearms, but it can work with bows, crossbows, slings, spellcasters, if you want it to. That way, if anyone passes into that area who's a hostile, it's a very easy fight. It's also a mandatory stop on the route to whatever important thing you're defending.

Oh, also you should get someone to look at these torch sconces. They're improperly affixed to the wall. If there was oil on the floor, or a gas leak, or a dust cloud, or you had gundust somewhere around here, you'd have massive problems. Obviously I'd recommend switching to safer arcane lighting, but if that's not an option, these sconces need to be better attached to the wall. Next floor! How many floors are there anyway?

>Check out the next floor up for safety problems and potential "accidents"

[GoldenCityBird]

@Florien

Briar takes note at Avanyiss's final query. "Only three, but the second one is kinda split in two. One half's the treasury, one half's the barracks."

You take the stairs up to the treasury, which you haven't managed to investigated yet, and proceed to roll a 2

At least this maze of bureaucracy seems like it won't actively kill you. Emphasis on the maze bit, really.

[SmilyCube112]

Magnus, following Avanyiss to the Treasury, thinks about how this might be the most targeted part of the building, so decides to take a look himself into any possible security flaws.

> Search the Treasury for security flaws

[Florien]

Accounting security is very bad. First, you're not using fiat, which is... ahh... I suppose understandable, you're not the recognized legitimate government so you're confined to whatever they use, though deflationary pressure is going to become a problem very fast if you don't find a way to inject money faster than you drain it. More importantly, you've got too many forms for transfers. Errors and "errors" are almost certain to build up from form to form, and before you know it, ten percent off of every purchase goes directly into someone else's hoard.

Also, you say this fort is two floors, with the two upper ones not connected on the same level. That would be fine, but you've distanced the soldiers from the money. Ideally, you should have the soldiers in range of the treasury to defend in case of a raid, so that a raider couldn't break the door and block the stairs on one side, and plunder with impunity.

The thing you have to remember is stairs are a choke point. You want to be able to deploy your forces through as few choke points as possible while forcing your opponent through as many as possible. Now, two questions.

Do you have a diversity of currency in the treasury? This is a microstate-dense... ahh... world. So I suspect you might, but I need to know. And I need to know the total monetary content of your funds. If you can't produce one, you've got even bigger problems than I previously thought, and I'll have specific advice.

Second question, is there roof access? This place does have the advantage of being a relatively short fort, which means it probably won't fully cave in if you blow up part of the base, but I need to see your roof if there's a way up.

[GoldenCityBird]

@SmilyCube112: You roll a 4

Aha! You manage to find something quite damning - a water leakage! It's clearly been going for a short while, and has already corroded some of the stone in places.

----

Briar turns to Avanyiss. "We have currencies of pretty much every island, shall it be needed. We mostly barter in the fort, though. Goldscale doesn't have as much buying power when the rest of the Dragon Kingdom's just... gone. We probably have hundreds of thousands in cash, though.

"As for roof access, yeah, we have some. It's kept safe by the most experienced guards out of all of us - the ones who fought in actual wars. No way anyone can bombard it from above or climb up from below."

[SmilyCube112]

Magnus turns to the others and says "Guys, there's a water leak here.", while pointing to the leak in question. "It's corroded some of the stone away, so this part's weaker than the rest. I'd consider getting someone to look at that if I were you."

[Florien]

So your roof is defended, you think? You have the more skilled and better trained soldiers up there. Yes. Okay.

Pull your good soldiers off of there, you're putting them in far more danger than you need to. They'll be unable to effectively retaliate if caught in an artillery barrage. Put artillery specialists of whatever kind up there with artillery pieces of whatever kind you have. Good soldiers who aren't artillery specialists should be moved... somewhere else. If you have none of those, roof access is more trouble than it's worth, and it would be more effective to seal the roof access. An airship is a powerful weapon, and landing parties aren't their only tool to crack forts.

Very interesting. And don't worry about the water leak immediately, it's not rapidly breaking down anything, it can be fixed later. For now, I'd like to talk to some of the power players here besides your main leader. See what's going on there. They might know important security details.

>Track down one of the Chancellor, the General, or the Translator, whichever is more convenient.

[GoldenCityBird]

Avanyiss and Magnus explore the treasury floor, and, in almost no time at all, find the final of the three dragons in the fort - Chancellor Adora, somewhat smaller than the other dragons, but still pretty big. Her midnight blue scales were offset by a relatively pale civilian outfit.

When Avanyiss and Magnus find her, she seems to be finishing up a conversation:

"...and, of course, we wouldn't want another break-in. That should be enough of a reason."

[SmilyCube112]

Magnus just stays quiet, with internal awkwardness at what he just heard.

[Florien]

Avanyiss walks up, exuding as much confidence and supposed-to-be-here-ness as she can.

Ah, Chancellor! Greetings! Yes! I am Avanyiss, Avanye without. Female. I'm a defense consultant for this place for now. Now, I have some questions for higher ups here, you among them. Preferably, I'd like to ask them in private, but if you don't want to, that's fine. Oh, and this... ahhh... other person is Magnus, my... assistant.

[GoldenCityBird]

Adora turns to face the duo. She seems to be trying to hide a large amount of panic behind a smile. Trying. "Oh, uh, hello! Adora, chancellor of the Cliffside Treasury. You can ask me anything, really, I suppose. Might not know all the answers, but, well, nobody does know everything, in the end, right?"

[Florien]

Oh, maybe people can't know everything all at once, but some come close, yes? Anyway, you said something about a break in earlier to someone or other when we walked in? Is there an important security issue I should know about?

[SmilyCube112]

Magnus just thinks back to his earlier discovery of the water leakage. But, he's listening in case any important details come up.

[GoldenCityBird]

@Florien: You roll a 1

Adora flinches. "I... that was last year, or something... yeah, that's it." Her eye contact is going everywhere, and she's definitely not standing still. "Nothing to worry about, Avanyiss. Really. Anything else?"

[Florien]

Avanyiss speaks in as calm a tone as possible.

Alright, going to mark that down as a "yes definitely a security issue." Now, I don't think you're behind it, necessarily Not fully anyway, though I can see why someone might suspect you of... some things you're well positioned to do. But I think you know who actually is, responsible, yes? I also think you haven't... properly circulated what you know. Now, obviously, I bring no intention to report you without reason. Just explain everything to me as best you can, and we'll see which parts of my report don't need to reach whichever people, and what parts you do want to reach other people.

I'm not here to be your enemy. I'm just here to know things and figure out the best route forwards for your... ahhh... operation here. I have some questions of my own that I'll need you to answer, of course...

Essentially, tell me everything, and assume the only thing I know about what's going on here is exactly when you're lying or omitting something, and I can make sure everything turns out... well enough for everyone, and we don't end up with headless dragons, flayed, wings stripped for membrane, and hung from fort walls by hooks, bodies of infantry piked in fields in front, yes? Grim imagery perhaps, but a proper analyst and consultant can save a movement such a thing as a gruesome defeat and torturous death. Obviously, that only holds true if the analyst slash consultant knows everything important. So please, tell me everything, for your sake as much as mine.

Avanyiss gives a slightly awkward, excessively toothy smile, in an attempt to keep Adora off balance, and possibly unnerved.

Now, will you let me help you out of the situation you have found yourself to be experiencing?

[SmilyCube112]

Magnus gets a little unnerved by Avanyiss' smile, and just waits to see how Adora responds.