Unexpected Glory (A CK2-style Quest)

Corwyn and Port Helm have both been ravaged by the war, and while you can appreciate that your new Earldom might be considered a significant reward in the long run, at the moment it's a mess. Despite the hostile population and the looming future however, you've grown to like it, and you have a burning desire to see your new lands and people flourish. You throw yourself into the bittersweet work of rebuilding a broken land.

Try a Different Tact 80+ Needed
Your work begins in Port Helm, with an address to Dominic's 8th Regiment of the 4th Imperial Legion. These are men who have lived through significant hardships in a disappointing war, only to end up patrolling among a hostile conquered population. If you try and convince them not to respond in kind they'll just see you as taking the Y'Elim side in the matter.

[Roll: 64 + 42 = 106. Success]

So you don't do that. Instead, you tell them a story. It's about a boy who grows up despising the Imperial Legions. One who sees them marching through the streets in shining armor, but feels nothing but fear. Then, one day, his family is attacked by orcs. He's frightened and afraid, but the legion arrives in time to save him.

Then you introduce them to the boy, a young Y'Elim by the name of Markos. He's come to see the regiment as heroes, and yearns to join them as a squire.

Finding Markos was a stroke of luck you hadn't expected, but by introducing him to the Regiment you can already tell that Dominic's men will be viewing your subjects in a new light.

We're All Allies Now 60+ Needed
You then work to do the same thing from the other direction. Highlighting the various orc attacks every time news comes in. You put out advice to your subjects pushing them to be wary of the orcs, and otherwise attempt to direct their attention to this, ultimately minor threat.

[Roll: 54 + 42 = 96. Success]

…and it works. With the combination of the regiment's changed attitude and their prevalence in protecting your subjects from the orcs, you can tell that at least some of the people in Port Helm have started to calm down. It's not much, but it's a start.

Clear The Rubble 40+ Needed
Of course, it helps that you hire some of those idle hands to finally clear out the rubble from the siege four years prior.

[Roll: 95 + 32 = 127. Solid Success]

With the city no longer looking like a war zone, and their new lord taking visible steps to improve the situation, you can practically feel the city's residents reconsidering their opinion of you. Additionally, you now have the space should you wish to build anything in the city.

(Stewardship Options Unlocked)

Music and Lyrics: Your Heroic Rescue 60+ Needed
The shift in attitude towards you is something you and Leliana decide to help along with your new composition:


[Roll: 78 + 42 = 120. Solid Success.]

Reminding your subjects that you saved the life of their conquerer isn't likely to endear you to them, but in truth that was old news. What your song does manage to do is highlight your personal courage in a moment of great danger. It also conveniently poses the orcs as the villains, reinforcing your own efforts quite nicely.

And of course, the song travels beyond your realm alone, reinforcing your legend far and wide.

Trait: The Chivalrous Bard Enhanced! +2 Martial.

Recruit Contacts 40+ Needed
Even as you fight for the hearts and minds of your subjects in Port Helm, Esther works to establish a network of informants in the city.

[Roll: 48 + 38 = 86. Success]

She succeeds, partially due to her ability to blend in anywhere. Within a month, she begins to pass along various rumors and nuggets of information that help you get a feel for the state of the city.

Investigate Personally: Esther ???+ Needed
You use her information to fine tune your approach to various leaders of the community, but you try not to rely on it too much. Esther may have demonstrated skills worthy of a spymaster, but you're still not quite sure where she stands in her loyalties.

[Roll: 3 + 18 + 10(Cookie) = 31. Failure]

And unfortunately, despite your attempts to shore up this blind spot, you just can't seem to find any way to verify that Esther's motivations are benign. Even worse, during your bumbling attempts to suss out the truth of her past, you manage to arouse Esther's keen sense of suspicion yourself.

[Esther's Roll: 67 + 20 = 87. Solid Success]

See Interlude: She Knows

Train Informants 60+ Needed
But despite your continued uncertainty, you believe Esther is sincerely disappointed when she reports that she couldn't find anyone with the right skills to train as your informants.

[Roll: 9 + 38 = 47. Failure]

It takes a special combination of skill, loyalty, and wit to work as an informant, and while Esther remains confident that she can train some up for you, it looks like she will have to search a little longer for proper candidates.

Military Build Up 40+ Needed
Discouraging as these results are, you receive excellent news from Alvarez on the military buildup you had requested that quickly distracts you from the setbacks.

[Roll: 77 + 23 = 100. Solid Success]

Despite having to build your new forces from the ground up, Alvarez manages to make excellent progress in such a brief period. Buildings are located and purchased, arms and armor are secured, and he even manages to find several Knights who are interested in settling down to serve as instructors for your nascent army. It's truly incredible progress, and you begin to feel optimistic about your chances when Dominic's Regiment finally stands down in the spring of 853.

Mothballed 60+ Needed
Of course, even that success is blown out of the water by what Alvarez' men discover when the pull the captured ships out of storage.

[Roll: 99 + 71(Nat. Crit. Reroll) + 23 + 10(Naval Bonus) = 203. Overwhelming Success!]

The vessels Donovan had mothballed were captured during the fighting 4 years prior. Donovan's records mentioned a token effort at preserving the vessels, and also significant signs of battle damage.

None of which remains on the pristine, sleek vessels of war that Alvarez presents to you.

It appears that the ships were enchanted to maintain themselves, such that they automatically repair any damage suffered in battle or even taken in the regular course of their duties. Sara and Zenthalas are both impressed by this for separate reasons, but the upshot of the situation is that you now have 5 extremely well conditioned warships, which will eventually return to such a condition no matter how damaged they become, short of actually sinking.

Gain Naval Units: Y'Elim War Galley (Maintenance Enchantments) x5

Alvarez is naturally very pleased, and looks forward to searching out crews for the vessels as soon as possible.

Tax Slump 40+ Needed
Something that it appears likely you'll be needing soon, according to Helan.

[Roll: 8 + 32 = 40. Barest Possible Success]

It took him longer to audit the tax records than both of you were expecting, but in the end he does find what he believes to be the problem. In brief: Pirates.

The merchants of Port Helm have been complaining about pirates from the beginning of Donovan's tenure as steward, and with no actual navy to investigate with he had grown used to ignoring them, but Helan notices a trend of diminishing transactions in the tax records which would account for the majority of the difference. When he asked the merchants why their trade was falling off, he got an earful.

If you want your taxes to return to their ordinary rate, you'll need to do something about that.

(Martial Options Unlocked)

Tax Relief 40+ Needed
Helan's audit of the tax record is useful in another way, when you decide to give your farming population a tax break after all.

[Roll: 21 + 32 = 53. Success]

The farmers are a suspicious lot, and you feel like in better circumstances they would have held on to the tax money just in case you changed your mind. But this season, they're desperate, and Helan reports a noticeable increase in purchases of seeds that he expects will see your farmers crops coming out much larger.

Coordinate Extra Labor 60+ Needed
Something which is very much helped along by all the free labor you provide.

[Roll: 97 + 32 = 129. Solid Success]

Once the day laborers finish clearing out the rubble in Port Helm, you managed to direct most of them out to the fields of Corwyn where they pitched in for the planting season. With the combination of the extra labor and your tax relief, Helan expects Corwyn will see it's first surplus since the war began.

Signal Communications 60+ Needed
Of course, with all of those subjects of your out and about working the fields, it makes you worry about those raiding orcs you keep hearing about. So you convince Sara to put off her shipbuilding project in order to focus on protecting your people.

[Roll: 76 + 32 = 108. Success]

Her first idea is to enhance your ability to communicate across great distances. She throws together a code for the basic alphabet, then assigns a series of visual signals to the code using a pole and various flags. With a small investment you soon have these "semaphore" stations of hers dotting the landscape, manned by small teams who can pass messages along as far as the eye can see.

Communicators 40+ Needed
Zenthalas, seeing the emphasis Sara places on the semaphore as a force multiplier, decides to enchant multiple pairs of armbands that allow for direct verbal communication across the entire fief.

[Roll: 27 + 27 = 54. Success]

You're not sure if she was trying to show off, or not. Regardless, you give them to Dominic as a loan to enable his patrols to cover more ground.

Inefficient Patrols 40+ Needed
Of course, with the introduction of new signaling stations as well as the communication armbands, Dominic's regiment needs new patrol routes in order to account for their increased powers of communication.

[Roll: 45 + 32 = 77. Success]

And rather than leave Dominic to stumble through it all, Sara just throws together a new pattern for the patrols herself while she's setting up the Semaphore stations. The overall effect is a massive boost to the size of the area the Regiment protects.

While you still hear about an outlying farm or two apparently being raided by the orcs, you are fortunate in that Dominic's men were never too far away and managed to respond in force quickly. By the end of the season, the amount of orcish raiding parties in Corwyn appears to have fallen to zero, although it's difficult to be certain without a dedicated search.

Building a Rapport ???+ Needed
Whatever the case may be, your clear concern for your subjects, and willingness to apply her suggestions does a lot to remove Sara's reservations about you.

[Roll: 39 + 23 = 62. Success]

Something that you quietly help along by making an effort to include her in your decision making process. She quite plainly detests the Empire, even still. But you've noticed that she's less inclined to hold you accountable for its actions or history, and may even have come to enjoy your company somewhat.

(Research Options Unlocked)

Meditation ???+ Needed
Unfortunately, your efforts to understand Zenthalas don't seem to make nearly as much progress. In the midst of all the work you've taken on you manage to find some time to join her in the grove as requested.

[Roll: 11 + 27 = 38. Failure]

…but you still have no idea why you're there, and Zenthalas doesn't give you any hint what she's trying to accomplish either. It's pleasant enough, you suppose, but you can't quite shake the feeling that there's more productive things you could be doing.


Diplomatic Communications
Things like managing your correspondence with Lord Edmond, who you've managed to strike up an ongoing exchange with thanks to your warm response to his letter. He's too circumspect to write anything politically damning in his letters, but you can tell that he's not very fond of the man Emperor Magnus appointed as the ruler of Fort Cedre. You haven't found the time to look into the Tournament of Kings yet, but you suspect that you've found yourself at least one potential ally in the greater political game.


Personal Communications
Your sister is all gratitude, of course, for your gift. A little money to you is a large amount to her. Although your mother seems worried about your safety in Port Helm, you suspect that the relatively larger sum you sent her has assuaged some of her concerns. After all, if you're well enough off to be sending money home, then things must not be all that bad.



Status:
Corwyn: War-torn, recovering.
Port Helm: Bitter, bustling.
Ministers: Hard at work.
Treasury: Half-empty, diminishing
Army: Borrowed. Gathering resources.
Navy: New ships, no crew.