Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
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- pathfinder open voting
Not sure what you mean by hexes and schrats, but alps and Genies of all kinds certainly
I recently did some gaming with battle brothers so I was thinking of those adversaries you wouldn't want to meet when you formed your company that doesn't have the Battle Brothers name but does have a similar build up of a small number of companions among other things.
Vote closed. Looks like we are finding out more about the enemies before allies.
Arc 12 Post 26: Of Lords and Land
Of Lords and Land
Thirty Eight Day of Elnu-eza (Elnu Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
Ikomi-Alega, the seat of Ikomi in the tongue of these lands, is you find one of the more famous and infamous ports in all the islands. It is said that it was upon the very spot the Mariner first set his foot on the Island of Korman, last of the Sunset islands that he saw in his life, for it was upon this island that he met his end. Some say it was by treachery, that his men had grown weary of all the seeking, never finding, that in their hearts they yearned for walls of stone and fields of wheat and Sorghum, others claim that he was struck down by a strange ailment that drove him mad with visions of doom and despair and that in their struggle to get him to a healer one of his crew-mates and boon companions struck him about the head so sent him into the embrace of Ikomi, so it is that alone of all the temples to the Goddess on the Islands the Mourning Hall of Ikomi-Alega is dedicated not to her power as the lady of the seas, but Judge of the Dead.
Such is the tale that Inge tells you, as her ill fated master told her, but you hear from the folk of Lirman that instead that face of the Goddess was beought from the east, a foreign and lugubrious sort of worship that did not much please the Anwa and so it was abandoned in the time of Unke, from that day forth marking the sailors of Ikomi-Alega as ironically more concerned with the gleam of gold than the voice of the Goddess. Whatever the case you can expect to find many strong ships in harbor there, not just from Korman, but also Surman of which Isele was born, for it is fair landing place and well supplied without being under the eye of the king.
"How many ships?" Antonio asks at once, but alas there is little in the way of solid numbers, it depends on the turn of the tide and the breath of the wind and the fickle fortunes of trading and of raiding, it depends on the tax in the capital and how much the captains might want a market near at hand as opposed the the eye of king Obari far off. No less than three and no more than nine so long as there are no royal ships in port also. It would be hard to take, but quite the prize to claim it... and mayhap some of the raiders may be amenable to turning their cloaks, as Esha is quick to point out.
"A hard sell, the Houses barely trust each other to share the plunder of Noromo, still less would they trust strangers," Antonio cautions.
Still the plunder, you sigh recalling many a night under the distant stars of Egypt listening to lords already carving up fortunes none of them ended up claiming in the end. At least the Anwa have the decency to actually be pirates.
By contrast Ejnla is a simpler place, they are whalers there... which is to say mad by the measure of most other Anwa sailors, admirably so but still mad. Odds are no one would want to set ashore there and it would be hard to take the village from the landward side as there is a narrow tongue of land where a small company can hold off many, still if you could sway the mistress of Ejnla to your side you could not ask for bolder allies.
"One should not feed one's hand to the lion in the hopes that it will not bite," Zaia warns darkly, but it is clear Antonio at least is considering what you are... be the whalers ever so bold they are no more dangerous than a dragon and the show of courage might sway them.
Of Orinyiya and its hated master you find only a little more walking about and listening to drinking tales and that of dubious worth, apparently Bnegu has a habit of breeding wolves to which he feeds the fingers of his captives and to sway their kin into paying random, and sometimes other choice bits as well. Though if what you learn of Orinyiya is sparse than Emiua is as a barren desert, no one knows much about folk who choose to live far from the sea, the which is thought strange and almost shameful among the Anwa.
"They drink the blood of men like mead there and they wear it like feathers in their cap you hear," a cantankerous old salt who was your last call that evening proclaims and you are about ready to call his tab closed and the day's excursions done when Esha suddenly speaks up: "Caps red as blood, are these folk you speak of short and wry with beards split down the middle, but with no rings or other markings on them?"
"Aye... terrible, terrible you see..."
"Redcaps, sprites of spite and violence, not the locals at all, if they are about a lot of blood has been shed on those hills," the sorceress says uneasily.
On the morrow you sail to Korman. Due to the fractious nature of the company as well as the relatively short journey, if you want to argue for a particular plan you aught to start to sway those folk as soon as you are on the open sea. What approach do you support?
[] All out attack on the capital, surprise shall be your shield and boldness your blade
[] Travel to the sympathetic villages to hopefully claim a part of the island unopposed and force Obari to come to you
[] Try to sway the still loyal lords, no man is king whose vassals are against him
[] Write in
OOC: Welp, this one flowed pretty well for an exposition heavy update, hope you guys enjoy.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I would be fine with avoiding Emuina entirely. If the place is that lousy with Redcaps, we can't expect to get much help from the locals and there would probably end up being a lot of unnecessary combat with the little fuckers.
An all out attack on the capital doesn't seem like the right course of action, IMO. If there is any place the Daemons are strong, that will be it. Throwing ourselves at their prepared defenses is wasteful and counterproductive, especially when there are better routes we can take into the capital from the landward direction, if we choose to attack the city at all.
Forcing Daemon!Obari to come to us could work, but it risks allowing him to gather a much larger force to bring against us. If we can sway some or all of the lords that are nominally loyal to Aina's family rather than directly sworn to Obari, we could then maybe pivot and gain the support of the sympathetic villages before forcing a confrontation.
[X] Try to sway the still loyal lords, no man is king whose vassals are against him
An all out attack on the capital doesn't seem like the right course of action, IMO. If there is any place the Daemons are strong, that will be it. Throwing ourselves at their prepared defenses is wasteful and counterproductive, especially when there are better routes we can take into the capital from the landward direction, if we choose to attack the city at all.
Forcing Daemon!Obari to come to us could work, but it risks allowing him to gather a much larger force to bring against us. If we can sway some or all of the lords that are nominally loyal to Aina's family rather than directly sworn to Obari, we could then maybe pivot and gain the support of the sympathetic villages before forcing a confrontation.
[X] Try to sway the still loyal lords, no man is king whose vassals are against him
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Try to sway the still loyal lords, no man is king whose vassals are against him
Peoples and Places: The Readman's War Part Three
The Redman's War Part Three
-From the Notes of Zaia of Alexandria
The War of Unke the Red was like no war before or since in the history of the islands, not because he was the most brutal of the warlords, nor because he was the most skilled at war, though the King of Korman in those days was famed for both, not it was for his dreadful diligence in the task of war. Where before he had been a warrior's warrior and a king more upon the deck than in the hall of judgement when given his great charge the Redman went about it with the dreadful certainty of a riptide... and it was in those days that he met his Shadow. It is common in the tales of the Anwa for men to have a moniker by which they are known more than by the name of their clan or of their sire, yet rare indeed is it to hear of one who had a take name and not a given one, but one such is Unke's shadow, a figure known more by they were not than by what they are, as a shadow is known only in the place the light does not reach.
Now it came to be many times over the course of his conquests that the King would face odds too heavy in his disfavor, a siege he could not carry, or a fleet broken by a storm and it was in those days that men first came to realize that where misfortune came to his plan swift thereafter the time would turn in a by seeming marvel and miracle.
The accounts are as many as they are gruesome, here two brothers who had shared power for a score years suddenly turning upon each other while alone in a boat giving offerings, there a lord aged and white of beard but still hale fallen suddenly into his dotage... but it was at the Feast of Ashes when the Empire of Utomno that is no more came with great Fleet and fury into the port of Korman to complain for the loss of one of their daughter cities in what is now the land of Agber, that the shadow was revealed in full for on that day was treachery twice planned, once by the men of the south who came with hidden blades in guise of body servants and eunuchs and once by Unke King of Korman loosed his fel left hand.
What went on that night none know to say even in legend and tale, but on the morn that followed Unke proclaimed the treachery of the southerners over the bloody bodies and and tumbled head of the envoy and his folk. Then did he take up their great ship for his own flag-bearer and said 'thus I am avenged and thus the man of the south lies at my feat in death as he refused to do in life.'
By the marks on their hewed necks, fine as a surgeon's cuts they were known and thus at last the shadow came into the light
Here there is warning spoken against many things, some against the sneak-killer and the brewer of poisons, some against the breaking of truce, some against waging war to the knife, but in the most common telling there is only this: Ware for the Red-handed one is fallen, but his shadow they never found.
OOC: And done, I decided to wrap this up now and give you guys more time to make the vote since it is strategically relevant.
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- Location
- Germany
[X] Travel to the sympathetic vilages to hopefully claim a part of the island unopposed and force Obari to come to you
Having a secure base on Korman would propably make it easier to negotiate with the still-loyal lords.
After all while a queen in exile is easily ignored, a queen on the island and with an army can't be dismissed, particularly if we manage some kind of early victory against the first attempt to dislodge us, which the daemons will inevitably have to try.
Having a secure base on Korman would propably make it easier to negotiate with the still-loyal lords.
After all while a queen in exile is easily ignored, a queen on the island and with an army can't be dismissed, particularly if we manage some kind of early victory against the first attempt to dislodge us, which the daemons will inevitably have to try.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Shit. Was the current royal line established by a Daemon puppet?
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Try to sway the still loyal lords, no man is king whose vassals are against him
@DragonParadox , did Antonio managed to conduct any trade deals?
@DragonParadox , did Antonio managed to conduct any trade deals?
He has not tried yet, no sense going to war with your holds filled with cargo. That will be for when you come back
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
But he had some cargo from Orinilu? Or am I mistaken?
Oh sure, no sense going this far without cargo.
Good night guys, see you tomorrow with landfall and what you might find there.
Vote Closed. Let's see about those lords.
Arc 12 Post 27: A Whispered Passage
A Whispered Passage
Thirty Seventh Day of Elnu-eza (Elnu Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
Grander were the ships and more beautiful the banners of the fleet that set off for the Holy Land, yet you think, your pray, that on this day, 'neath clear blue skies of southern spring, your cause is more just. You hope and pray that of all the company that has been gathered here in Lirman men seek more than plunder and glory, but you do more than pray also in the days to come.
Seeking out the company of the king and the clan lords, either when they are in common company or each together you argue that the first call on the ships aught to be one last attempt to sway the lords sill loyal to Obari, or to the husk that has been made of him at least, to turn instead to the side of honor and the gods of their fathers. At first the king will not hear of it, for he wishes to make an end of this swiftly, not just for glory, but so that he might return to his own lands which he had to leave in the hands of a steward he does not trust near as much as he would Ohun. Though the priest has soothed his master's worries enough to cast off anchor with promises that he would keep a constant stream of messages in the air and no thing of note should be done without Ansefu's say so still the young king is nervous and tries not to show it.
This is the first time he has been away from his home since he had ascended the throne, a necessary journey , not just for the sake of his neighbors caught in the grip of darkness, but for himself that he be tested in the forge of war and quenched in blood. As many warriors before him he shows the eagerness to come to grips with the foe, to cut the head from the snake.
A saying common across two worlds, and on both of them untrue, you think, though you do not so bluntly say. Men are not scales of some great beast to fall dead if only the head would be cut, they have each of them a mind and a reason to fight, should an assault in the heart of Obari's power succeed than hard shall be the price of it. What then aught you do, proclaim victory and leave Aina the lady of a broken land amidst lords who think her kinslayer, or instead remain and seek to judge the internal tribulations of another island by what might of arms remains to Lirman? Many of the lords, their thoughts set to plunder have little care for such matters, but eventually you bring Ohun himself around to seeing this, that there would be only chaos, only strife and the evil seed would yet grow in that accursed soil.
***
First Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
It helps of course that the Marcella is the largest ship of the fleet by a wide margin and the most comfortable, so when the time comes to gather in counsel it is always upon her decks and not that of any other. What the ship itself might think of all the comings and goings across her deck you do not know for she has grow quiet of late, less strange quirks of fortune or other signs of her spirit. Thankfully the weather remains fair through the eight days of the journey, with only rains and middling winds, easily ridden out by the longboats of the Anwa.
"We must win the peace and not just the war," the king says at last, your own thoughts twice whispered in the ear, though he says them more finely.
Glancing towards Aina you see her frown in worry and wonder why. You had not thought to seek her counsel because it only seemed good sense to secure the lords aid before a march on the capital... perhaps you had misjudged.
Esha takes the task of finding out what weighs on the heart of the princess with aplomb, as one of the few other women of high standing on the fleet she finds it easy enough to seek Aina out and as one of the few magicians she is valued enough to seek counsel of, Thus you find out that what Aina fears is that King Ansefu should try to trade off her hand in marriage to one of the Clan lords of Korman. Alas that she is wise in her worries.
According to Antonio there is a rumor all about the fleet that she is to be wed to Negu of Orinyiya if he consents to turn his spears on Obari and perhaps to sway other lords in it. Inge confirms that Ohun had send birds towards the village and now you are left at a quandary. Should you interfere? Have you the standing? Is it even right to do so when the battle is not against men but Anjo-oru and their ilk?
[] Try to sway the king away from pushing Aina into marriage to get allies against Obari
[] Say nothing, it is not your place
[] Write in
OOC: Well that worked a little too well... Then again you guys are not obligated to do anything about this if you do not want to, that is what the vote is about.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Unsurprising.
And of course the king goes for the most brutal, violent possible choice, never mind that such a man is prime Daemonbait.
I would almost be tempted to cut these people loose and let the Daemons have them if they're so stupid as to point an asshole like Negu on the throne of Korman.
[X] Try to sway the king away from pushing Aina into marriage to get allies against Obari
-[X] "Such a marriage might gain you the spears of Negu's men for the duration of the battle, but what then? You would place a man known for cruelty and violence, who even those who among your people who trade in both see as brutal and excessive, upon the throne of the largest islands of the Anwari. Even if you can win the war, you certainly won't secure the peace you hope to attain."
--[X] "Without a doubt, Aina must find a husband if she is to continue her line. Whoever she weds should bring stability to the Anwari rather than strife, or do you wish to fight another war within a handspan of years?"
-[X] If implying it doesn't get the message through to the king, then outright state the fear that someone like Negu is ripe for corruption, Daemonic or otherwise. Such men can be tolerated and managed when they have relatively little influence beyond their own band of cutthroats, but give them even a taste of real power and they'll always want more. It is all too easy to imagine him attempting to become another Redman, seeking to forcibly unite the Anwari on a ride of blood and death.
--[X] There is also the fact that the man has likely made many enemies both among the Anwari and other nearby seafaring peoples. The Anwari don't have the best reputation among sea traders and travelers, and placing Negu in such a position of power will only make that worse.
And of course the king goes for the most brutal, violent possible choice, never mind that such a man is prime Daemonbait.
I would almost be tempted to cut these people loose and let the Daemons have them if they're so stupid as to point an asshole like Negu on the throne of Korman.
[X] Try to sway the king away from pushing Aina into marriage to get allies against Obari
-[X] "Such a marriage might gain you the spears of Negu's men for the duration of the battle, but what then? You would place a man known for cruelty and violence, who even those who among your people who trade in both see as brutal and excessive, upon the throne of the largest islands of the Anwari. Even if you can win the war, you certainly won't secure the peace you hope to attain."
--[X] "Without a doubt, Aina must find a husband if she is to continue her line. Whoever she weds should bring stability to the Anwari rather than strife, or do you wish to fight another war within a handspan of years?"
-[X] If implying it doesn't get the message through to the king, then outright state the fear that someone like Negu is ripe for corruption, Daemonic or otherwise. Such men can be tolerated and managed when they have relatively little influence beyond their own band of cutthroats, but give them even a taste of real power and they'll always want more. It is all too easy to imagine him attempting to become another Redman, seeking to forcibly unite the Anwari on a ride of blood and death.
--[X] There is also the fact that the man has likely made many enemies both among the Anwari and other nearby seafaring peoples. The Anwari don't have the best reputation among sea traders and travelers, and placing Negu in such a position of power will only make that worse.
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Keep in mind he is also the most capable warrior and known to be the least close to Obari of the loyalists, there are reasons for it. As for him being daemon bait, well you just spent some time arguing about how the lords are potential allies.
- Location
- Germany
Use our new knowledge of history.
Call that asshole a worthy heir of the Redman, if gets a throne.
That implies wars of conquest against Lirman without directly saying it.