Industrialization Quest

You are Harold Bismarck, and as you examine yourself in a small mirror in the tailor's shop, you feel eminently satisfied. Dark grey pants and long socks that should be comfortable to walk around in. A long tunic in a nice green color, with darker fabric sewn along the edges, and loose sleeves with a pattern of blue stripes. A light vest with a square of cloth in a vaguely-floral pattern that is more to add another layer of color than to keep you warm adds to the look, as does a leather belt to hold your coin-pouch on. The tunic has an inner pocket where your other coin pouch rests, the one on your belt holding only enough to conveniently buy pastries and so on.

The final piece in the ensemble is a lovely puffy hat. Soft and colorful fabric backed up with a bit of leather and wire, the rounded garment holds its shape and gives off the vague impression of a crown without being so close as to be insulting. The small brim doesn't protect you from the sun, but it's a hat worn for style, not work. Your shoes detract from the ensemble a bit. For all that they're perfectly fine leather shoes, the same ones you were wearing when you went to Nesiwald, they are getting a little bit worn. You put out a few coppers to have them mended and cleaned and polished, and that helps.

Overall, it's both comfortable and eye-catching, if you say so yourself! Yes, you feel rather sharp in your new outfit, much as your 'friends' from court might sniff at you for wearing merchant's clothing. Your situation is entirely different now, and you must flourish by adapting. Your time in the city of Ganz is well underway. If you are going to put your new sand-casting method into practice, you need attractive patterns to cast with. And that means hiring craftsmen and artists from the city to create art.



[Rolled: 67 + Stewardship = Three options.]

Luckily, you remember to ask some of your new friends down by the metalworking block what the requirements for a good casting are. Timothy Greens warns you away from 'fiddly bits', but a pewtersmith takes the time to sketch out examples of features that are good and bad for casting after you bribe him with a nice, cool beer fetched in from one of the street vendors.

And then you're off through the city. You trace a path from the Cat to the Bride to the River (which is not, actually, near the river Zal, for some reason), seeking out wood-carvers and artists. For all that the city is largely low-skilled laborers in terms of population, there are enough skilled artisans that several are free to talk about your strange requirements for carvings attached to flat boards.

The man who introduces himself only as 'scruffy' is at least fifty years old and half-blind, but his workshop is full of his work, and the artful designs speak for themselves. A hand-sized bear with a Lumerian symbol across its flank stands out among quite a few animal carvings. A scarred woman wielding an oversized sword - you recognize a common depiction of the folk hero Ambrussa. Carvings of doves in various poses and a few different designs of shield-and-hammers that are recognizable divine symbols for Shallya and Ordnil, as well as cows and many other carvings that Scruffy claims are holy symbols for uncommon gods - you only recognize ten or so.

"Nawt goona finish much fine art quickly. But I ken saw some of my work in half and careful-like glue them on a big board, that'll get ya some 'fing like what you're talkin aboot."

You haggle on the price a bit, but can't wear him down further than 3 Profit for a selected series of statuettes and holy symbols. Apparently Scruffy is thinking about retiring and wants to secure a last nest-egg of income first.

The cost is a little eye-watering, but they seem like high-quality work, they're available almost immediately, and if your casting process works well enough that they just need a little polishing, the ratio of production cost to sale price will be quite favorable indeed, even if you sell the products at relatively rock-bottom prices to shift them quickly.

You find three other woodcarvers who are free at the moment and seem competent enough, too. One is willing to make you a quick series of holy symbols fairly cheaply if you give him a few days to do it, and one who is willing to attempt a series of fancy forks and spoons, bowls, pots, mugs and goblets and cups for the same price in the next few days, but makes no guarantees about the final quality and wants payment up front.

Scruffy's patterns are available immediately. The other two will take one turn to complete (you will have eight days left in Ganz when you get them). Block vote like so, choosing however many you wish to buy in your vote.

To order all:
[][Patterns]
-[] Scruffy's high quality statuettes and holy symbols for 3 Profit.
-[] Simple holy symbols for 1 Profit.
-[] Dishware attempt for 1 Profit.

To order only one:
[][Patterns]
-[] Dishware attempt for 1 Profit.

Pick any combination. You can also pick -[] None.



Your next bit of business, tracking down a courier office, is as ordinary as could be. The office is in the tower called the Runner, a tall spire of white chevrons, and you idly wonder if the courier office picked the tower because of its name, or if the name was acquired because it was a courier office.

In your new outfit, you blend right in with everyone else doing business in the busy office. Couriers run in and out as long lines are arrayed in front of the two desks taking packages and arranging contracts. The place is incredibly busy as folk ask after deliveries from distant family members, soldiers send off packets of pay or packages of purchases for safe keeping, merchants pound the desks in complaint at this or that, letters are sorted and distributed as couriers run in and out, each jealously guarding their own packet until a seal or marking is confirmed so they can be paid properly.

You bear witness to two arguments about holding fees, some very loud haggling, and a woman breaking down into sobs when a serious-faced man takes her aside to return a uniform, helmet, and sword. A dead husband, or perhaps a son, then. You politely ignore her after sending a few sympathetic glances in that direction, feeling awkward and unsure of what to do - just like everyone else here.

A man bows at the collected crowd after she's been ushered into a back room. "Apologies for the wait, good sirs. We are somewhat busier than usual due to the army activity. If it pleases you, we can take down your names so that you might retire to the cafe next door, the brewery opposite our premises, or other parts of the city without losing your place instead of waiting here, for I fear the wait will be significant."

...It still takes all day, but nursing a beer and bread in a relatively quiet cafe down the street gives you some time to mull over the rapidly spreading rumor that the Eastern Army is facing food issues. The rumor goes that there are a great many rats and other vermin infesting the improvised food stockpiles, as well as a troubling amount of bad grain and rotten vegetables. Who the rumors blame for this eventuality varies depending on the teller, but enough people are talking about it that you are a little bit worried.

Regardless, at the end of the day, you spent a scant few copper coins to send a jingling box full of silver to your family's estates, with the proviso that you will be paid back in full for the declared value of your cargo if the delivery ends up lost. It's a weight off your mind to have sent money in to your family in a way that is secure and assured.

You originally earmarked 3 Profit for this but with your recent windfall of the excellent iron sales perhaps you want to increase that...

[][Family] Send 3 Profit, as planned.
[][Family] Send 5 Profit, enough to be a considerable step towards proving yourself to your father again.
[][Family] Send 10 Profit, a large amount that will make a noticeable difference to your family's treasury.



Finding Genevieve Casinet is a bit trickier than you expected. She had mentioned in passing that her office was in Ganz, but there are a surprising number of government offices in the city, and they're not all centralized in one place. The receptionist at the large structure that is the Taxation Office sends you across town to the Office of Grain Supply... But apparently Grain Supply's remit begins only when the grain enters a government owned granary. A little bit of swearing and a few more questions have you heading to another building that is also the Taxation Office - apparently they have two, the office having outgrown its original structure some time ago. Your harried explanation of your position as Steward of Nesiwald seeking a copy of the old royal contract garners you some sympathetic looks.

"Miss Casinet mentioned you, mister steward. But I'm going to have to send you running again... She's at the Crown Archives, across town, on some kind of business."

You grimace at the idea of yet another walk across the city. "Ah. I see. Could you give me directions, perhaps?"

"Oh, we don't mind helping you out. Our work isn't any harder than usual right now, just a few special cases to deal with. I'm just glad the army got its own paymasters office a few years ago... What was I...? Ah, yes, directions."

The absentminded man provides them, and so you head out again. The Crown Archives is apparently several large rooms in the basement of Castle Ganz, a fortress a mile's walk downriver from the city proper. It's certainly an impressive-looking fortification - the river has been dug out into a moat that surrounds an impressively tall outer wall made of solid-looking stone with angular towers rising up from each corner, as well as the characteristic snaggletooth protrusions at the top of the wall that let men with bows fire down at anyone impudent enough to attack the fortification with relative safety.

If the design is similar to your family's own castle, this outer wall surrounds a large amount of empty space. Gardens, herb patches, mustering grounds, practice fields, servants' quarters, storehouses, and more can be placed inside the outer wall, with the keep - the tallest and most defensible structure, the final fortification - at the center of everything. You don't even get past the front gate, where two bored-looking halberdiers stand guard, glaring suspiciously at you.

"Ho, stranger, no entry to Castle Ganz without proper authority. State your business!"

"I'm told the Crown Archives rest in Castle Ganz. I'm seeking a document-"

"Then you have a permit of some kind to seek this document?"

"-Er, not as such, I know someone who is in there now-"

"No entry to the Crown Archives without permission."

You clear your throat, trying not to be exasperated at being interrupted. "Could you perhaps pass a message in to Genevieve Casinet - she's a tax collector who visited the Rostwald region a month ago-"

"If you're expecting someone you'll just have to wait out here for them."

The halberdier's friend looks thoughtful. "We did have a tax lady come in earlier, didn't we Carl? You said she was pretty."

The first guard glares at his companion. "Oh, stuff it. You're not going to get me again."

"So, she is inside? Of course, you have to stay at your post, but could you pass on a note when she comes out?"

"Ah, you see, our post demands that we focus exclusively on watching out for trouble, as that is what we are being paid for."

You roll your eyes. "Perhaps a copper each will assist your memory."

The pair glance at each other. One nods, the other shrugs. "Deal. What's your name, anyway, lad?"

"Harold." You very deliberately leave off the 'Bismarck' part of it, and to your relief the guard doesn't press.

You scribble out a note asking after her health, the old contracts you're seeking, the name of the inn you're staying at, and your intent to come by the Taxation Office the next morning, and asking if she would like to spend some time together, and leave it with the guards.

The rest of the day you devote to general gossip-mongering. The biggest story on everyone's tongues is, of course, the fighting with the three countries to the east - Romanga, Polecniz, and Navarond. You hear tales of the dangerous knights of Polecniz, as mighty as a knight of Veschwar, with silver lances and strong warhorses that make them a terror to fellow horsemen. The devious foresters and hunters of Navarond, who can move through the woods in utter silence and wield strong bows whose arrows can pierce wooden shields at three hundred paces. The unbreakable spirit of Romangan foot-soldiers, who will refuse to rout or break, even laughing as they bleed out their life's blood on the field of battle.

Probably most of it is bullshit, to be honest. Rumors are like that. Though you have little to no insight on martial matters, from what you can tell things are going surprisingly well for Veschwar's forces. Or at least, everyone is saying so. Apparently about half of the Eastern Army, including most of the cavalry, is already out fighting, and most of the other half is here at Ganz, gathering food and supplies, and planning. As to the preparations in the camp outside - there is apparently some issue with vermin and rot, meaning that merchants fetching in grain from other parts of the country have the chance to make even more coin.

The vast stream of militia volunteering for duty are making the food issue even worse - it seems there are too many young men eager to fight for Veschwar. Which is probably a good problem to have, you think? Surely more soldiers is better in most cases. Well, a sudden influx of country farmers and hunters and herdsmen into the city proper comes with the news that the officers of the army are administering punishing tests of endurance and martial skill, and turning away any militiamen who fail, bidding them to return to their homes and farms - without pay, which causes a fair amount of grumbling and disappointment.

You also hear an uproarious scandal only barely blocked out by the talk about the war. Duke Magnus Heilstadt has apparently murdered his wife over suspicions of infidelity! He tried to make it look like an accident, but wounds inflicted by a sword and an armored boot are apparently quite distinctive. You would have a lot of ideas about what to do with that information if you were still at court, maneuvering your own family's prospects - certainly the Heilstadts should fall in the list of possible marriage prospects - but you see little point to knowing this scandalous bit of information as things stand now.



That evening the innkeeper hands you a note on clean parchment.

"'Parently it's from an attractive lady, you lucky dog. Wouldn't have read it even if I could read."

He winks and levels a slightly lecherous grin at you. You shrug, trying to not blush, and retreat to read the note.

To Harold the Steward,
I have found the contracts in question for the village of Nesiwald and it shan't be much trouble to allow you to copy them. Just come by the office tomorrow. As to the notion of spending time together, as you seem to not be an idiot and otherwise meet my initial standards, that would be an agreeable respite from the usual work. Again, find me tomorrow.

P.S. Given your current position unless you indicate otherwise I will attempt to always refer to you as 'Harold' or 'Steward', as a courtesy.

Ah. Of course she would know your... Situation, if she has records on you and your position as Steward. You are suddenly anxious to know what she thinks about it, and are in a bad mood for the rest of the evening. After that acceptance, you have to wonder to yourself... Do you seek an outing with a friend tomorrow, or a romantic date? Do you see a possible romance with Genevieve Casinet?

Social interlude in the middle of the city interlude!

[][Date?] Yes! I'm smitten. A kiss from her would be would be a great delight.
[][Date?] It's a date, but let's see how it goes before jumping headlong into soliloquy.
[][Date?] Perhaps in the future, but for now it's best if we are just friends.
[][Date?] We are friends and always will be. Romance with Genevieve is not for me.

And where are you going?

[][Activity] Write-In. A quiet cafe? A walk around the city? Reading in her study? Getting drunk and arguing about math?

I'm going to give a whole update to social time with Genevieve. Please decide the tone on a scale of friends to pursuing romance, and gimmie ideas for interesting things the two nerds might do together!

You currently have a (very) small fortune at 27 Profit, with 4 owed to the smith upon your return to Nesiwald.