• Senate Rules
• Gala Missions
• Social Combat
• Persona Phase

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Handouts

Senate Rules

• Breastplates, ceremonial armor, and light armor may be worn inside the senate building, but no other armor is permitted for anyone except guards.
• Potions, scrolls, spell component pouches, and wands are permitted inside the senate building, and in fact, many senators are themselves spellcasters. However, spellcasting is not permitted within the building without written approval (often issued to entertainers).
• Only light and one-handed weapons are allowed inside the senate building; ranged weapons and two-handed weapons are not allowed inside the building. All weapons brought into the senate building must be peace-bound—secured in a sheath with a length of decorative cord. Drawing a peace-bound weapon requires a full-round action. Guards do not need to peace-bind their weapons.
• Animals are generally not permitted inside the senate building, excepting familiars and service animals. Animals larger than an average member of the senate guard are not permitted within the building under any circumstances.
• While guests are free to roam the senate building when invited, individual senators’ offices are off-limits and locked. No one but the senators and a single aide for each is permitted on the senate floor during a vote.

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Handouts

The Missions in the Senate

• Attaché (Leo): Completed Successfully
• Spy (Aurelia): Completed Successfully
• Politicking (Kenton): Completed Successfully
• Sabotage (Xavien): Completed Successfully
• Discovery (Corran): Completed Successfully
• Scandal (Ianthe): Completed Successfully

Handouts

Social Combat Cheat Sheet

• Social Combat Rounds are 15 minutes in length.
• You can execute one of the listed actions. Moving to a new area is a free action.
• Work the Room: each room has a three levels: Neutral, Favorable, Captivated. Working a room involves making a specific skill check vs. a DC. For every point over the DC, the room accumulates points towards the next level. There are story, mechanical, and experience benefits to working a room.
• Discovery Check: Learn inside (fluff and crunch) information on a targeted NPC. Each NPC is unique in the skills which will work, but these are given automatically. Success wil reveal which skills can be used to influence the NPC
• Learn Weakness: Use the skill listed for the NPC “Discovery” to discover an angle that will help influence the target, granting a +4 Insight Bonus on future attempts to Influence.
• Influence Check: Alter the attitude of an NPC. Each NPC has their own skills, DCs, and approaches which work particularly well, or particularly poorly. Diplomacy is always an option.
• Execute a mission: Any mission which requires action by a PC takes a social combat round.
• The status of the room will be posted in the Gameplay thread, and a total summary will be posted in the PLACES handout.
• The status of an NPC will be posted in the Gameplay thread, and a total summary will be posted in the DRAMATIS PERSONAE handout.

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A Note

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A Striking Man of Old Azlant

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In the compound beneath the senate, ancient things abound.

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But not all is at it seems. Somethings are tricks of the fey…

What in the World?

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A set of insectile legs emerges from this book, sharp teeth ring the tome’s edges, and a ribbon bookmark protrudes menacingly from its open pages.

Guttersnipes

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Roughl-ooking halflings from the streets of Oppara

A Note

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Mr. Smiles III

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An unnaturally lithe—bordering on fragile— albino man . His eyes are pupilless and pronounced, and glow a luminescent shade of yellow, though rare individuals possess blue-green eyes.

Persona Phase

• Choose one of two actions: Develop Persona or Conduct Operation
• Develop Persona: Spend time leaning into your role in Taldor’s future. Choose an activity in an effort to increase the facet of your choice. The higher your facet the more options you have in conducting operations. Succeed at the listed skill and your facet increases one rank. Activities for Developing Persona are on Slide 13.
• DC for Skills = 15 + 2*next level
• DC for Saves = 15 + next level
• Conduct Operation: Send your assigned agents out on a mission. Missions are like attack rolls (1 = auto-fail, 20 = autosuccess). Success grants boons for your activities during the adventure. Your roll is d20 + # of agents sent. Operations can be Persistent or Risky. Basic level operations (Facet 2+) are on Slide 14. Advanced level operations (Facet 6+) are on Slide 15.
• Persistent: begin the first time the PC succeeds at the DC 17 Operation check for that operation and continue until the PC calls back her agents. A PC can maintain only one type of persistent operation at a time, and she must send at least five agents; these agents are not available for other operations until the persistent operation ends. Persistent operations must generally be focused on one location
• Risky: If a PC fails a risky operation’s check by 5 or more, or if she rolls a natural 1 on the check, she loses all of the agents she sent on the mission.

Handouts

Facet Unlocks

• Each Facet Level provides additional benefits:
• Agents: Each time a PC increases her Facet Ranks in a facet, she rallies two additional agents to her cause. These agents represent people who flock to the PC for a variety of reasons, whether they are ardent admirers of the PC’s cause, members of the PC’s staff, or even people the PC has blackmailed into assisting her. Agents are generally much less capable than the PCs and not strong enough to accompany the PCs on adventures.
• Basic Operations: Basic operations are relatively safe and straightforward, requiring few agents to complete. See Slide 14.
• Skill Bonus (+2): A PC can sometimes leverage her persona to gain a bonus on a skill check. Once per persona phase, a PC can apply a skill bonus to a single check for one of the facets in which she has at least 3 Ranks. She can apply this bonus after rolling her skill check, but before the results are announced.
1. Charm = Bluff, Diplomacy
2. Genius = Knowledge (Any)
3. Heroism = Intimidate, Perform (Any)
• Admirers (Indifferent): Once per Persona Phase you can automatically boost an NPC's attitude from Indifferent to Friendly or Friendly to Helpful.
• Bonus Feat: ???
• Advanced Operations: Advanced operations can be far more complex and dangerous than basic operations. See Slide 15.
• Skill Bonus (+4): ???
• Admirers (Unfriendly): ???
• Friend in High Places: ???
• Master of Operations: ???

Handouts

Develop Your Persona

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• Arrange Secret Meeting (Charm or Subterfuge) You arrange a clandestine meeting between individuals who can’t or won’t speak openly. Associated Skills: Bluff (Charm); Disguise or Escape Artist (Subterfuge).
• Bask in Glory (Heroism) You make sure that everyone knows about your own personal achievements. Associated Skill: Perform.
• Demonstrate Might (Heroism) You show off your strength to impressed onlookers. Associated Skill: Strength-based skill check.
• Drive Legislation (Charm, Genius, or Sagacity) You take a prominent role in drafting or promoting legislation or another form of governmental policy. Associated Skill: Perform (Charm), Linguistics (Genius), or Sense Motive (Sagacity).
• Give Lecture (Genius or Sagacity) Whether you’re delivering an academic lecture or a religious sermon, you draw a crowd to listen as you share your expertise. Associated Skill: Knowledge check relevant to the lecture’s topic.
• Organize Party (Charm) You put together a popular social event that is the talk of the town. Associated Skill: Diplomacy.
• Organize Protest (Heroism or Sacrifice) You gather people to protest loathsome policies, either through rhetoric or doggedness. Associated Skill: Fortitude save (DC = 15 + desired Rank), or Diplomacy or Perform check.
• Perform Charitable Acts (Sacrifice) You spend your time or money tending to those most in need of aid. Associated Skill: Heal.
• Sabotage Opponent (Genius or Subterfuge) You cunningly set one of your opponents up for a fall, perhaps causing one of his shameful secrets to go public. Associated Skill: Knowledge (local or nobility), as appropriate to the opponent (Genius); Sleight of Hand or Stealth (Subterfuge).

Handouts

Basic Operations 1 of 2 (Facet 2+ Needed)

• Ask Around (Genius, Heroism): Your agents subtly ply your reputation to learn what needs fixing and win resources. With a successful DC 15 operation check, you gain either gain a lead on a possible mission or reroll one randomly available magic item in a town before the start of the next persona phase (your choice).
• Community Organization (Charm, Sacrifice): Your agents stir up hometown pride, encouraging citizens of Stachys to chip in. You attempt an operation check and generate a number of gold pieces equal to 10 × your check result in capital that can be spent only on town improvements.
• Filter Rumors (Sagacity): Under your direction, your agents are skilled at separating fact from fiction. Once before the next persona phase, after you or another PC receives the results of a Diplomacy check to gather information, you can ask the GM to roll a secret Operation check, using the number of agents you sent on this operation for its bonus. If the check results in a success, the GM tells you whether the information gathered is mostly true, has elements of truth, or is mostly false. If the check fails, the GM tells you that the information gathered is mostly true (regardless of its actual veracity). The Operation check DC is generally 15, but if someone is actively spreading false information, the DC increases to 10 + the CR of the rumormonger (maximum 20).
• Gather Information (Charm): Your agents listen to the local gossip and ask pointed questions. Once before the next persona phase, you can use the result of your Operation check in place of the normal Diplomacy check when gathering information. You don’t need to spend time to attempt this check, and there is no risk that you will be associated with your agents.
• Infiltration (Sagacity, Subterfuge): Agents inserted into a noble’s staff report back on that aristocrat’s attitude and habits. You can attempt an operation check in place of a skill check as part of a discovery check against the targeted noble.
• Last-Ditch Effort (Any Facet, Persistent): When you perform a risky operation while this persistent operation is in effect, you can gain a +2 bonus on the Operation check. If you do, you lose at least half of the agents you sent on the risky operation, even if it is successful. Beginning this operation requires a successful DC 17 Operation check.

Handouts

Basic Operations 2 of 2 (Facet 2+ Needed)

• Manufacturing (Any Facet): You can call on your agents’ practical expertise to manufacture items on your behalf, allowing you to use the result of your Operation check in place of a Craft skill check to create mundane items. You do not have to expend the time crafting, but your agents do, and you must still pay the raw materials cost for any items your agents manufacture.
• Provide Distraction (Heroism, Risky): Your agents may not be individually strong, but your example has inspired them, and they’d risk anything to help you, even in dangerous circumstances. At the beginning of combat near a populated area, roll an Operation check against a DC equal to 10 + the CR of the most challenging creature in the fight (maximum DC 25). On a success, each PC gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls or to Armor Class as if benefiting from the aid another action for the first round of combat.
• Recover Agents (Any Facet): If a risky operation goes awry, a PC may lose the agents she sent on the operation. A PC who has fewer than the maximum number of agents her Facet Ranks would allow—that is, fewer than twice her total number of Facet Ranks—can launch an operation to rescue lost agents (or recruit new ones, if that flavor is preferred). To do so, she must attempt a DC 10 Operation check, using the facet of her choice. On a failed check, she recovers one agent. On a successful check, she recovers two agents, plus one additional agent for every 5 by which the result exceeds the Operation check’s DC.
• Research (Genius): Under your direction, your agents scour libraries for relevant information. You can use the result of your Operation check in place of a single Research check. Your agents must spend the required time, but this research takes none of your time.
• Smuggle (Subterfuge, Risky): Your agents smuggle a relatively small or innocuous object (such as a dagger or evidence to be used for blackmail) into a hiding place on someone else’s property. The DC of the Operation check is equal to 10 + the CR of the captain or leader of any guards present.
• Tend Wounds (Sacrifice, Persistent): Your agents help you tend to the injured, including you. If you succeed at a DC 17 Operation check, you receive one of the following benefits for the duration of the operation: either everyone in the tended community gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves against disease, or you receive the benefits of long-term care whenever you rest for at least 8 hours in the area in which the operation is in effect.

Handouts

Advanced Operations (Facet 6+ Needed)

• Bad Advice (Genius or Sagacity, Risky): You place agents among a target’s advisors or messengers to feed him the information that will lead him to make wrong choices. At some point in this persona phase when your target must decide between two options, he must succeed at a Sense Motive check opposed by your Operation check result or choose the option you favor or that benefits you.
• Bolster Courage (Heroism, Persistent): You send your agents to tell tales of your bravery, bolstering your own courage. If you succeed at a DC 17 Operation check, you receive a +2 morale bonus on saves against fear.
• Guards (Sacrifice, Risky): You are accompanied by a guard who watches your back, and agents in the field listen carefully for any potential dangers. If an opponent tries to ambush or sneak up on you, that character’s Stealth check result must exceed both your Perception check result and the result of your Operation check to catch you unawares. On a failed Operation check, your enemies eliminate your guards before engaging you.
• Invention (Genius): Your agents help you create magic items and research spells. Select one spell or magic item. If you succeed at an Operation check, your agents find or create the chosen spell or item, and you can then purchase it for the standard cost. The DC of the Operation check is equal to 10 + caster level for a magic item, or 10 + twice the spell level for a spell.
• Poison (Subterfuge, Risky): Your agents slip a dose of poison or a potion (which you must pay for) into an NPC’s food as it is being prepared and delivered. Attempt an Operation check with a DC equal to the CR of the target NPC. On a success, your agents deliver the substance without detection. The NPC attempts Fortitude saves against the poison as normal.
• Rumormonger (Any Facet, Persistent): Your agents improve your cover by spreading false rumors, destroying evidence, and intimidating anyone who asks too many questions. If you succeed at a DC 17 Operation check, anyone trying to see through a disguise or false identity you’ve assumed takes a –2 penalty on Perception and Sense Motive skills checks to do so.
• Safe Haven (Heroism or Sacrifice): Your agents find you a quiet place to rest in safe anonymity, usually somewhere out of the way such as a barn or cavern. Anyone trying to locate you must first succeed at a Diplomacy or Survival check opposed by your Operation check.
• Sermonize (Sagacity, Persistent): Your agents spread your philosophical or religious beliefs. If you succeed at a DC 17 Operation check, you gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks against people who share your religion or philosophy, or who follow closely aligned practices, at the GM’s discretion.
• Spread Propaganda (Charm or Subterfuge, Persistent): Your agents spread propaganda on your behalf. If you succeed at a DC 17 Operation check, you gain a +2 bonus on Bluff and Disguise checks to either reinforce this same disinformation or deceive someone relying on it.
• They’re with Me (Charm or Subterfuge, Risky): You place agents inside an enemy’s forces. Once before your next persona phase, when you encounter a group of low-level, unnamed enemy agents, the total number of which can’t exceed the number of agents you sent on this operation, compare the result of your Operation check against a DC of 15 or a DC of 10 + the Sense Motive modifier of the agents’ commander (whichever is higher). If you succeed, this “enemy” force is instead composed of the agents you placed earlier, allowing you to avoid combat and potentially resupply or rest. You can’t use this operation to replace named NPCs.

Handouts

Social Combat Cheat Sheet

• Social Combat Rounds are 15 minutes in length.
• You can execute one of the listed actions.
• Influence: Make a Diplomacy (or other uncovered skill) to incrementally shift an NPC’s attitude towards Helpful. Rewards and boons may be unlocked at each threshold.
• Uncover Bias: Make a DC 20 Sense Motive check to uncover what things can help or hinder your approach towards this NPC. A single success here nets all of an NPC’s bias(es).
• Discover Strength: Each NPC has an approach that is going to be a hard sell. Pass a check versus the listed skills and DC to uncover the approaches that are secretly giving you a -4.
• Target Weakness: Each NPC has an approach that plays into their worldview. Pass a check versus the listed skills and DC to uncover the approaches that will give you a +4 to your checks.
• Discover Angle: Unlock one of the hidden skills that will work to gain influence over the NPC, the skills to Discover Strength, or a to Target Weakness. Use either Sense Motive or if they are a noble, Knowledge (Nobility). Note Knowledge (Nobility) grants an extra result for every 5 over the DC.
• In Search of Adventure: This action takes 8 hours, and replaces normal social rounds. Make a a Diplomacy (Gather Information), Sense Motive, or Profession (Spy) check. Success, for which the DC is variable depending on the location, can net you a lead on an adventure. There is no critical failure penalty
• The status of an NPC will be posted in the Gameplay thread, and a total summary will be posted in the DRAMATIS PERSONAE handout. You CAN go over the maximum. Each calendar week starting 7 days after the Tanager Jubilee, each NPC will lose 1 success. Eventually, they will drop down to their natural attitude.

Handouts

A Noble Breakfast

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Breakfast is spitchcock served in the garden; a large bowl of water filled with live eels is set before each guest, along with a miniature harpoon for them to spear their choice of fish. Once an eel is harpooned, servants split its belly and grill it beside the table. The head is left intact, mouth still gaping when the meal is placed before the diners, ready to be eaten.

Your Current Mission

Handouts

Win the Loyalty of the Nobility

• Visit Nobles
• Complete Events

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Win the Loyalty of the People

• Rebuild Stachys
• Complete Events

Stachys

Handouts

STATUS: Friendly

Loyalty Points: 45

Tracker

+1 Rescuing a local priest of Abadar�+2 Freeing Sotto from Halmash the worg�+1 Basic Civic purchased

+1 Basic Farms purchased

+1 Gold Canyon Bridge

+1 Mill

+1 Basic Pump House Repairs

+3 Advanced Civic

+1 Befriending Atratus

+1 catching the General

+3 Advanced Pump House

+2 Helping with Planting

+2 Defeating Giado Eta, Tax Collector

+1 Dismissing the case against Portimor

+3 Playing both sides of the Baron and the Nightswan

+12 ???

+4 Farms and a Statue

+3 freeing the Baron

+1 Resettling Jambis

+1 Lionsmane Rangers

???

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The scales on this twelve-foot-long water snake’s back appear to be nothing more than smooth river stones, a few of which glint with traces of gold.

Lovelorn

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Eight legs of shattered bone emerge from this sickly, pulsating heart, holding it aloft like a spider. Blood oozes from the glistening organ.

A Mysterious Note…

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A letter

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Well met, loyal friends. Word even in Cassomir is that your actions in Meratt have left a memorable impression on that stodgy old county; I can’t wait to see what else you may yet accomplish.

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I have met with various contacts and settled misunderstandings here in Cassomir, and I believe we have come to an agreement with Grand Duchess Tiberan. She is prepared to validate our seizure of the county but needs certain conditions to be fulfilled. First, you must obtain the original charter granting the Lotheed family stewardship of the land. It will be kept in the library, near my brother’s office on the second floor, and I believe Gul Gusairne would carry the only key (or more likely, hide it near his room, the weasel). Grand Duchess Tiberan also requires both Count Lotheed and his acting seneschal to abandon the property. She was nonspecific as to how.

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Unrelated to Duchess Tiberan’s needs, I have also learned my Great Uncle Panivar has established a teleportation circle to come and go at will from the royal apartments in the tower. Panivar is an extraordinarily gifted wizard and a man utterly without remorse, and I cannot stress how vital it is to destroy his access to the estate before word of this seizure reaches him in the south. Once you begin your attack, I doubt you will have more than a week before he returns.

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Good luck, agents. May Taldor endure!

Martella Lotheed

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1. Secure the Lotheeds’ charter from the archive.

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2. Kill or remove Sir Gul Gusairne.

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3. Kill or capture Count Lotheed.

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4. Destroy Panivar Lotheed’s teleportation circle in the royal apartments.

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Palace of Birdsong

Knowledge (Arcana) to ID

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With its feet planted firmly together, this marble statue of a female warrior holding a stone sword rises up to support the ceiling.

Knowledge (Religon) to ID

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This thing resembles a gray, emaciated child, with cobwebs and dust for clothes and a fox skull for a head.

Knowledge (Religon) to ID

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This monstrosity looks like a massive cockroach made from putrid hair. A humanoid face leers in place of an insectile head.

Leads in Yanmass

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• Chief Enumerator Palliettor wants to meet at the temple of Abadar.
• The Enumerator’s would be assassins got the job at a seedy tavern called the “Grand Uncle”
• A strangely popular restaurant called “The Savories”
• Rumor has it that the Earl’s lackeys are bad news
• Rumor has it, bandits are using Orvestikar Manor as a hideout.
• A wandering gnome priest named Findleby supposedly witnessed a bandit assault on a heavily fortified cavalry unit.
• A conspiracy theorist has gone missing, a woman named Caradinna Farkin. She may know something about strange dreams plaguing Yanmass
• Someone shady is hiding out in Hedge Hill

Scofflaw Hunter

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This heavy crossbow was given as a reward for saving Chief Enumerator Abrun Palliettor from would-be assassins. It is a +1 Lesser Designating Heavy Crossbow.

Cultist

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Cultist

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