In the Wake of Monsters - an Advisor's Quest

"It's going to be like this the next eight years, isn't it?" Void asks rhetorically. "Once we drive off Tokara, Caligia is going to finish its civil war and the new king or queen is going to decide that what they need to unite the country is a war with an external enemy. Then someone will offend the river spirits and we'll lose all our shipping to angry water elementals. For an encore, maybe a barbarian horde will show up to finish us off!" He pauses after the tirade. "Ebuskun, how many troops can we pull off the southern front?"

"All of them."

"Are you sure about that? Aren't you worried about losing ground?"

"All of them. Reports say demon spiders are like earthquake - big and deadly, but not planning to get up and march into next country over. Pull back soldiers, continue extermination later." Ebuskun shrugs. "Maybe spiders even starve and eat each other for lack of humans. Besides, easier to muster warriors for defense of home than for spider hunt."

"I see." The Portlord strokes his chin thoughtfully. "I'll have some more questions about how the campaign is going afterwards. For the moment, though, there must be a trick I'm not seeing. Tokara doesn't have the force to challenge Silverport."

"Which is why they planned to attack when almost half our warriors were away." says Ebuskun slowly and clearly.

"Yes, I realize that." says Void snappishly. "But that means we still have half our soldiers here, plus potential mercenary bands and partisans, and recalling the spider campaign shouldn't take that long, should it? I looked at a map, it's less than a week of travel to what you've said is the front. We could hold out a week or two during a siege."

"An army cannot travel at the speed you can travel." Ebuskun is starting to sound frustrated.

"Besides, we don't have the fortifications to endure a proper siege." you add. "I mentioned before that the city walls are a mishmash of different types of construction. Some are just former mansion walls. Several of the gates are meant to stop caravans, not armies."

"Oh, well then, I yield." says the Portlord. "Good thing I have people to study the intricacies of walls for me. So we recall the expeditionary force, and then what? Perimeter around the city to protect our extramural farms and other communities, perhaps? Morning, any idea what other tricks Tokara might have prepared?"

The spymaster thinks for a moment. "I haven't heard anything concrete, but if I were in their position, I'd be getting allies. Crydor or the Bull League, perhaps." He names two states beyond Tokara. "If I were the Warmaster I'd definitely want enough soldiers to make sure I could take on Silverport's full strength. But they may have underestimated our strength or overestimated how badly the Abominations hurt us."

[Might you know something about this? Martial, rolled 25+9+5(Tokaran Tactics) = 39. A little.]

You think back to the years of your youth spent studying in the Stratocracy of Tokara and the bits and pieces of military doctrine you picked up there. An option occurs to you. "They're not going to march straight for us, if they come. They're going to want a closer, better supplied operating base to attack us from."

"Well, we'll have to plan for that. But until then - Ebuskun, can you summarize the spider campaign for those of us who weren't on it?"

"Full of too many spider demons." she says with a grimace.

"A little longer summary, please?"

"They are millions. We don't know where they are coming from, we cannot spy on them, we cannot negotiate. They don't use tactics or communication, but also don't retreat. Every step we advance finds new spiders. I wish Caligia would stop infighting and help us."

(That's what, five years Caligia has been in a civil war now?)

"Were there really horse-sized spiders?"

"No. Some man-sized, but even those were very rare."

"Thank you for the update. Recall the expedition, muster the full force of Silverport, and prepare to meet the Tokarans in battle." The Portlord claps his hands. "What's been going on in the rest of your spheres? I've heard the most preposterous rumors."

-

Blade offers his summary of politics in the city. "Clan Bridge has pivoted again, pulling back some of their support for Rain as well," you reflect on a possible reason for that, "but still providing enough support that Rain can pretend to be a big name. They're making louder than usual noises about your corruption, ambition, and venality, and expressing extreme displeasure about the recent purge of the palace staff. Clans Ascension and Wisdom remain firmly behind you, Gold is trying to have it both ways at once, and I think I'll defer to Marble and Three concerning some of those preposterous rumors."

Wisdom Shining Void looks at you expectantly.

"I have adjusted the examinations for office," you say calmly, "removing numerous members of the palace staff whom I found incompetent, and replacing them with applicants who could pass the new examinations to my satisfaction, under my personal supervision to ensure that no further incompetent examinees could slip past corrupt examinators. I focused my efforts on recruiting new applicants from Ascension, Bridge, Wisdom, Gold and Avalanche."

Void's lips turn up slightly as he catches your implication, but he says nothing and continues to stare. You are determined to give a proper report on your job, though, before you get into side business.

"This has been a relatively time-consuming task and is not a long-term solution. The adjusted examinations are a stopgap; I should consider setting aside a longer period of time to write completely new examinations. Also, in my spare time, I have been pursuing experimental metallurgy in the hope of creating starmetal. This led to a somewhat unusual incident where two gods, Director Shenji of the Celestial Office of Design, God of Transmutative Thaumaturgy, and Zara Metal-Mother, Southern God of Forges, were in dispute over who had jurisdiction over the method I was using. They asked whether I was doing thaumaturgy or not. When I stated that I was not currently using thaumaturgy, Zara Metal-Mother approved of the project, and granted me a blessing. I also mentioned afterwards that Eternal Light has been absent and Zara Metal-Mother stated she would investigate that matter."

Wolf Three snorts. "Unusual incident, he says! Dispute! I tell you, they were having it out like screeching fishwives in the Sun Temple!" She gesticulates wildly. "Wasn't there myself, but it would have been a sight to see. I did catch the end of the investigation, though: Eternal Light is getting removed for dereliction of duty. No replacement has been named yet, but gossip says it'll be an underling of Zara. Egg on the gods' faces, if you ask me."

"Dereliction of duty." repeats the Portlord. "Fascinating."

"Yes. Eternal Light's priests are trying to spin it as our soon-to-be-former patron god losing track of time in the mortal world while meditating, but I'm pretty sure there's worse underneath. Permission to look into it further?"

"Denied. Sounds foolish to poke your nose into if the problem is someone else's and going to be solved. Focus on the demon spiders and wood spirits so Ebuskun can resume her campaign more easily. And Marble - you think the walls are the most important thing?"

"I think the walls are the most urgent. The examinations are also important to handle if you want the staff to stay competent in the long term. Or I could focus on turning the loose estimate I have into a proper census."

Void thinks for a moment. "Walls it is. Hopefully we won't need them, but you've made it clear I can't keep ignoring them in good conscience. Oh, and good luck with the starmetal. It sounds like a fascinating project, if an unlikely one. But I've placed some long bets of my own in my time, and this one sounds like the reward makes it worthwhile."

---

Voting time. You have FIVE (5) actions over the next six months (one turn) due to needing to rest from recent overwork. One action may represent a month of solid work, or one day a week over the course of the turn - please don't poke the abstraction too hard. Overwork choices give you an extra action rather than consuming one, so you can go up to eight actions if you're an absolute workaholic. You may spend two actions on one choice to focus extra time and effort on it. Voting is by plan.

Do Your Job: The walls of Silverport are in a poor state after decades of incremental growth, patchwork ownership, weak central authority, changing administrators with changing priorities, the recent invasion of the Abominations, and other calamities. At least they're not falling apart.
[] Start work on a new set of outer walls a good distance beyond city limits, giving room for further growth and having a unified design from the ground up. (Will take at least two turns to complete)
[] Structurally reinforce the weakest points of the current outer walls. You need fortifications, not apartment sides.
[] Find the most vulnerable points of the current outer walls and post supplemental garrisons from the palace guard.
[] Find the most vulnerable points of the current outer walls and get the locally responsible owners to post larger garrisons of their own, but paid for by the palace.
[] Find the most vulnerable points of the current outer walls and make the locally responsible owners post larger and better garrisons as a civic duty.
[] Clear and widen roads and paths on the inside of the walls so soldiers can more easily get to points where they are needed.
[] Write in other approaches

Maintain Your Triumphs: You've made great strides, but much of it might go even better if you spare time to see to its upkeep, or might fall apart if you do not.
[] Work on the new set of examinations. (Will take multiple actions to complete, can be taken repeatedly during a single turn.)
[] Go and help out at your new forge. It'll surely go better with both your vision and your new understanding to assist.
[] The palace is still losing money, but less of it. Make it lose even less, so Clan Wisdom doesn't have to subsidize it. (costs one action per sub-option taken)
-[] Prioritize repairs, reconstruction and reutilization of palace-owned land so you can start charging rent on it again.
-[] The threats of audits you issued made some people implicitly admit they owed money by stalling. Make good on your threats, start auditing.
-[] Ask your relatives for more advice. You have no shortage of relatives and they have no shortage of opinions.
-[] Something else?
[] The palace still has ill-defined obligations that will make it keep losing money. Review them.
[] There's ongoing staff turnover even when you're not actively recruiting and replacing. Apply some oversight.

Self-improvement: Can attempt to raise one of your attributes. Difficulty increases as the base attribute rises. New skills are also listed here.
[] Practice. Take some time away from what you're doing to look at how you're doing it and whether there's a better approach.
[] Tutoring. Ask one of your fellow councillors for advice in their field of expertise.
[] Paid Tutoring. Hire a professional teacher, like the ones your clan used to pay for when you were younger.
[] Study Smithing. Zara has blessed you with a basic knowledge of this skill, but from what you understand, it'll still fade eventually if not exercised.

Miscellaneous:
[] Abuse your office to sabotage some target of your choice.
[] Abuse your office to shift your personal obligations onto the palace budget.
[] Maybe you could follow up on that provisional census again. (See previous turns for potential approaches.)
[] Pre-emptively de-fang Rain's complaints and prove the integrity of the palace by doing an internal audit.

Social actions: One of these can be taken for free each turn in your spare time. Each additional selection from this section will still cost an action. You do not need to socialize with your own clan - that happens automatically unless you choose to skimp on family obligations.
[] Get to know one of your fellow councillors. (choose which)
[] Spy on one of your fellow councillors. (choose which)
[] Socialize and build connections with one of the great clans of Silverport. (choose which)
[] Spend time with someone else. (choose whom)

Special actions:
[] Slow and Steady. Take your time to think and plan properly before you act. Other planned actions this turn get a bonus die to their rolls. Cannot be used if overworking.
[] Overwork: skimp on family obligations. You get an extra action this turn. May damage your social standing.
[] Overwork: skimp on religious obligations. You get an extra action this turn. May damage your social standing.
[] Overwork: skimp on food and sleep. You get an extra action this turn. Almost certain to result in poor health at present since you're already tired.