TPW Summary: Act III, Scene v - Session 11

Act III: The Olden Days and the Next Generation

Scene v: The Grandmaster's Election

Present Party: Athena, Nytra, and Sylyeras.

Setting: The city of Jarna, capital of the kingdom of Saspar.

That night, after Sylyeras and Athena spoke to the corpses of the Selezi women, Nytra went on a secret mission, in favor of garnering more support for Pharius. She stayed out for the whole night, without sleep, ensuring that she got as much of that support as possible.

Meanwhile, Sylyeras and Athena sat together, writing a lullaby for Sylyeras's infant son. He sang it to him that night, through his Sending Stone wedding ring. Ariel, his wife, was happy to hear his voice and happy to know that, for the time being, he was safe.

The next morning, they'd see what they had to do and what the papers said about the election.

~~~~~

Pharius Veladorn
Drow War Mage
Odette's Father & Candidate
for Grandmaster
(Art by Shinyno on Tumblr)

Pharius and his girlfriend, Minnie, were staying with the party, for their own safety and to plan Pharius's campaign. They discussed a few things that would help get the ball rolling for what they needed to do next.

- The morning paper said that the last tournament between Pharius and Kellryn Sequestriel was cancelled due to the violent events that had previously occurred.

- The first stats, following early polling, were published. Pharius was, so far, in the lead, but the others weren't too far behind him.

- The next phase in the elections were interviews with the press. Pharius wanted the party to find out what the people wanted to hear. He said, "Admittedly, I haven't really... picked out any positions on any big political issues, at least not publicly. I want to know what people want."

- The party also wanted to investigate the newspaper - the Sasperian Star. The family who owned it was backing Ego LaFontaine, the cultist. They were concerned that the paper might be biased out of their favor. Pharius and Minnie couldn't come with them for that. If they showed up at the presshouse, it could lead people to think that they were the ones influencing the press.

Athena and Nytra opted to take the presshouse, in that case. Meanwhile, Sylyeras and Minnie would start looking more into the public opinions of the city. Pharius had a plan with some of his friends at the Premiere Academy, with setting up something he and Minnie referred to as a "hype crew." Afterwards, Athena and Sylyeras would hit the tavern scene well into the night.

At the presshouse, Nytra and Athena found the place in total disarray, but not in any apparent negative way. It was chaotic, just by virtue of it being a working day. Journalists and reporters were running to and fro. There were papers strewn everywhere, and two huge machines in the very back of the main room were churning and smoking. The players gathered that these were the actual "printing presses."

They decided that they would help out, and they were offered pay to do so, but they were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Athena signed with a fake name. Nytra gave her real one. They spent their time, cleaning and running errands for the reporters, listening in. Much of it was about the recent violent events and the elections. They eavesdropped on a short meeting between 8 reporters, who were all deciding who would interview the candidates. A halfling woman, young and the only woman in this group, offered to interview Pharius. She didn't seem like she was eager, but she was willing. Athena and Nytra didn't feel as though she was going to harm him.

As Athena was running around, getting coffee for these journalists, she was stopped by a half-orc boy, maybe six or seven years old. She realized that he was one of the newsies - the young boys who sold the papers on the streets. He asked her very politely for a croissant, and she got him one, along with some cocoa. She was also introduced to several other newsies, and made sure to take their orders too. Many of these children - all between the ages of six and eighteen - seemed to live here.

They spent their morning and afternoon here. The presshouse seemed to run like normal, with nothing too far out of the ordinary.

~~~~~

Sylyeras and Minnie spent their morning and afternoon visiting two different parts of the city: the west and east side. 

Horace Undersong
Celestial Warlock &
Candidate for Grandmaster
(Art by d-torres on
DeviantArt)

The west side of the city was largely populated by the poor, working class, or farmers just outside the city walls. They asked the people about their ideal candidates. They wanted someone down-to-earth, someone who actually listened and cared about the regular people more than the rich and magically inclined. Their favorite candidates appeared to be Horace Undersong, the halfling warlock, and Divia Vakume, the goliath echo knight fighter. Horace was a local, and his family owned a farm outside the city. Both of them were well-known, accomplished adventurers.

Divia Vakume
Goliath Echo Knight &
Candidate for Grandmaster
(Art by u/lalalyssh on Reddit)

The east side of the city was the academic area, where all of the major universities were located and where the majority of the students lived. When asked what they thought, many of them actually sang Pharius's praises. This wasn't a surprise because Pharius had just graduated from his master's program, and had been a teaching assistant at the Premiere Academy before that. The other candidate that the students seemed to like was Tide Graynil, the water genasi sorcerer. Although their reasons for liking him had more to do with his charisma and attractiveness than any policies that they could give. Most of the students who liked Tide were new students, and this was their first year voting. It seemed as though they were far more concerned with which candidate was more attractive.

Tide Graynil
Water Genasi Sorcerer
& Candidate for Grandmaster
(Art by madnessdemon on
DeviantArt)

When they all reconvened, Nytra decided to stay home for the night. After all, she'd been out for most of the night before. Instead, Sylyeras and Athena went on the town, and Athena got dressed to see if she could do some performances.

They went to an up-scale tavern first, that really seemed more like a restaurant than anything. Athena was able to secure the performance while Sylyeras got all the information.

Amarius Mallory
Tiefling College of Eloquence
Bard & Candidate for
Grandmaster
(Art by Ernesto Irawan)

It seemed that the rich had a preference for Amarius Mallory. His family had been around for a long time, and were distantly related to the family of a Chroma Conqueror: the Cassius House. After him, they liked Pharius, hoping that he would be as strong-willed as his father, who was a known war hero.

Arcana Isoldune and Ego LaFontaine were thrown around a few times. Sylyeras, however, quickly started a rumor that Ego had been involved in war crimes in Midtia, and that he'd only returned to his home in Saspar to escape. Thanks to a great deception roll, the patrons at this tavern grew concerned very quickly.

Arcana Isoldune
Warforged Clockwork Soul
Sorcerer & Candidate for
Grandmaster
(Art by @artofjoenni on
Twitter)

Their last stop was a tavern closer to the center of the city, whose patrons seemed to be adventurers. They too, it seemed preferred Divia Vakume. Many knew her personally as a strong and capable leader, especially in a fight. Arcana Isoldune's name was heard a few times, but mostly out of curiosity. The kingdom had never had a warforged leader before.

Sylyeras continued his spreading of rumors against Ego, and found this bar to be particularly receptive to his deception. By the end of the night, the bar was in uproar, chanting, "Fuck Ego!" (a chant started by Athena onstage)

With the feeling that they'd been successful, they returned to the house and reported back to Pharius (after rudely waking him past midnight) with some thoughts and a new plan.

They decided that Pharius needed to be seen more in public. The problem was that many people, especially the working class and adventurers, had no idea who he was or what he stood for. He was already very humble, which would help with the working class, and he had the connections he needed with the rich through his name. He just had to cultivate them.

Athena also added, "I had an idea about the newsies from the Sasperian Star. I'm wondering if we could use them. They're all over the city, they're the first ones to get the papers... they could work for us, almost like little spies. They'd probably do it for baked goods, cocoa, and a little bit of money."

"That's not a bad idea..." Pharius agreed. "I mean... after all, who looks twice at a newsie on a street corner once they've bought the paper?"

With this knowledge, everyone started to go to sleep, but not before Pharius checked in with Athena about Odette. Odette was currently hiding in Midtia with Finn and a friend of his: Confidence Milton. It wasn't safe for her in Saspar right now, with the cult running around.

"How... How are you today?" he asked her.

"Well... I was so busy tonight, I... didn't even get to say goodnight to her, if that's any indication."

"I did, for you," he told her. "I-I knew you were out, and I told her that you were working and so if she didn't get a call, it was okay. I told her you loved her, and that you'd talk to her tomorrow."

Athena was grateful for that much, and glad to know that her daughter was safe.

~~~~~

ART LINKS

https://shinyno.tumblr.com/post/168555192674/commission-for-stelera-of-their-dd-oc-cropped

https://www.deviantart.com/d-torres/art/Rayet-the-Blue-435076910

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/f6fs85/ocart_vori_runemaker_vupine_goliath_rune_knight/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

https://www.deviantart.com/madnessdemon/art/Tekehu-746314393

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/noe9E

https://twitter.com/artofjoenni