Into the Gray

Session Summary

After much debate about how to steal the paperwork, Elzira ends up successfully befriending Jorah. Then, during a drunken cooking lesson with Pharèl, we learn much more about the inner workings and Elzira manages to get into the shift rotation for a period over the following week. During a singular hour to himself on shift he is able to successfully swap out the desired paperwork with the fakes that Vilma provided for us.

Log

Pre-Session

Danni fills us in (between sessions):

6 AM to 2 PM (Jorah), 2 PM to 10 PM (Eleazar), and 10 PM to 6 AM (Shanta) are the shifts. The incoming wizard recasts alarm on the entrances at the time of the switch. you're told that Shanta is particularly serious about the job to the point of harassing employees that come in late because they needed to take care of something, Jorah seems the most lackadaisical. it seems except for Shanta that if you come in with a key the wizard on duty will not be notified but Danni notes that he expects there's some enchantment on the keys they use so you'd need to replicate that or steal one. The wizards can contact the city guard immediately and you'd expect around a 5 minute response time. it seems they pass around a magical eye device which according to Jorah "beeps whenever something magical is afoot." once inside the building you won't have too much to worry about much as long as you don't alert the wizard, but what will be important to know is that if you're trying to unlock anything inside and do so improperly, you will be hypnotized and the wizard will be immediately notified. while the person at the desk seems to think it's triggered magically, Danni is sure they have no idea what they are talking about, but unfortunately this just means you don't have information on how exactly the hypnotism mechanism is triggered.

Where is the wizard?

he mentions that it seems there's basically an office they more or less sit in that has a view down two of the interior hallways

Regarding a map:

he'll provide you an outline of how he's pretty sure everything is arranged based on what people have said (it doesn't seem too complicated but he mentions he could be off on some sightlines which could matter, but that's about what he expects could be weird) and which room he expects the type of paperwork you're looking for to be

Alarm has been cast a million times?

he says he's not an expert on magic but on observation it looks like they cast it something at least 3 times when they start a shift, he expects that they cast it 6 times total to cover the windows in the back as well as the back entrance, which he wouldn't be able to see casts for while out front

does danni know if the same magic on the cards is also on the keys for unlocking the goods? No.

Wash's plan so far is to disspell the alarm on a back door/ window and use invis to go into the room.

In advance, we can see that throughout the day six individuals who go through the back doing whatever work needs to be done.

10th of Fourtt (when we hash out our plans).

Session

It is time to steal the paperwork that Vilma wanted.

Elzira attempts to befrind Jorah to help us get access.

11th → Elzira tries to befriend/seduce Jorah. I go to wingman.

We learn that Jorah carries a Conqelian device that is something like a flashlight. It functionally detects magic, but it cannot be attuned with the same way one might with their own objects.

We sweet talk him a bit and pump up his ego. We learn he works a “soft” 6am and hard 2pm shift. I offer to send Elzira with pancakes.

12th → I send Elzira with pancakes. Jorah is so pleased with the pancakes.

He wants to get cooking lessons from me. Elzira pitches taking lessons together. Jorah asks to hang out the following evening.

He’s called to the back for something. He pulls out two keys. One to the door, one to presumably the cabinets in the back. He’s gone a few minutes before returning. “You know, the keys to this place, they give them a little enchantment, it lets the workers here pass through the magic I set up so people can’t break in.”

Elzira acts very impressed. Jorah shrugs it off as not too much. He gets a little ping in the membrane. They discuss the keys, it seems the cabinet keys are not enchanted.

They keep talking. Shanta sets it up so literally everything triggers the alarm.

13th → Cooking class!

We play really into his ego during the cooking class. Elzira does well, somehow Jorah does better!

Eleazar showed him “Defensive” spells which he picked up really fast. I ask a little bit about what he learned, as we travel a lot and it’s very dangerous.

He brags about not-super-exciting spells, but he is a reasonably accomplished mage.

He doesn’t understand why the wizards aren’t protecting the safes specifically - there’s something that hypnotizes people by casting the spell “Hypnosis.” The system casts the spell, the trigger isn’t even magical. It’s just a piece of iron. (Failed lockpick?)

Even Shanta agrees that it’s they aren’t personally responsible for managing that.

We try to figure out who is in charge. Gerrick runs stuff for the building.

He’s almost suspicious when Elzira offers to help on shift, but ultimately accepts the offer.

He’s interested but says Elzira needs to be able to pass muster so he doesn’t get in trouble. If Elzira meets all the people then he could take over for part of a lunch to give Jorah a break the following week.

Skip forward a week:

He’s hoping to get covered multiple days. It turns out there’s only like one other employee who he thinks he can get away with working while working.

Elzira will have a full hour to figure out how to nab the right papers.

The following week goes super well. Saturday the 20th of Fourtt, Elzira has the paperwork in hand.

Joy: “People would know, unless they didn’t…”