yeah Mannu probably doesn't care about the pirates *ultimately* but you still need to convince him to get away with taking action that could be *interpreted* as aggressive towards him
as for being even vaguely legit? sorry, that's a complete non-starter, not possible in the slightest (there aren't nearly enough targets, at least when it comes to Macedonia as a whole? we could possibly limit *ourselves* to acceptable targets (and this is sort of good diplomatically), but other people would be hurt regardless and) we can't really limit our options much more than we're doing already (don't go after dragons directy ) without risking pissing all of our people off+weakening ourselves significantly. probably best to adopt a perspective of "raiding's nothing personal and happens by default, sorry"
the raids are likely to be an issue when trying to forge alliances and getting alternate income streams may lower the need for raiding, but at the same time it's a big part of Macedon's culture/keeps everyone (including the victims?)'s skills sharp? so i'm sort of against "selling out" and stopping them (though at the same time, i don't approve of robbing people to the extent they can't survive, so this might be a bit hypocritical)
maybe when we're forging alliances and the like we can cite a need to stay undercover as an reason for continuing raids? that seems like a strong excuse to try and maintain relations...
I'm more imagining ourselves as mainly focusing our raids on pirates and people we want dead, but im also thinking of having our raiding eventually phased out mostly in favor of Travants strategy of being guns for hire, like as long as we get a certain tally of violence it shouldnt be an issue where its done. My idea is mainly just to make is seem a bit more above board with the whole merc thing. Ideally we'd eventually get merc work outside of Archenea so we can just be guns for hire far away from anyone who can complain the Macedon is backing X group. We can't abolish it anytime soon but if aggressive raiding is a thing then I'd rather manage and burn down our foreign relations. With the Blume contract and Mannu we have two seasons worth of violence we can doll out. Our problem with finding poltically acceptable targets is likely not going to be a huge issue.
For future merc plans deploying within Valentia's upcoming civil war and gra's potential one are also likely good picks(and you wonder why im not too fused about the idea of one happening) and city work seems simple enough to do once we have branched out as well. There's enough warfare going on that Macedons raiding addiction will be well fed methinks.
Wait I wonder could we recruit Lionan Arion canon bethothed from thracia if we get Arion she's cool, and if she's a city ruler like in a canon it would promote our influence dramaticly.
I'm not sure what you're saying here. You have 800 EXP. I do my best to keep the EXP tracker up to date. Are you suggesting that I might have miscounted? I am grateful when errors are corrected, but, in the future, please don't muse "Hmm, what if the numbers clearly stated here are wrong," unless you have some evidence that the numbers are, in fact, wrong. It causes needless confusion.
No. The point of EXP is that it allows you to shore up the odds on your favorite projects, not avoid failure entirely. I let you be more vague during the gala because, during a conversation, even I don't always know how it'll go until I write it.
Very kind of you to include a backup plan for if this doesn't work out, i'll be applying that now.
Yes. One for delivering the letter, one for thievery, and one for remaining undetected. And, to answer your follow-up, I suppose you can apply EXP to those rolls as well.
Now, that's an interesting question. Does the automatic failure occur before these bonuses lift the numbers out of the danger zone? Thinking of the opposite case: a nat 100 exists to allow for improbable successes, moments of perfection, underdogs succeeding against all odds. A nat 100 is a success, no matter what - accounting, again, for certain reasonable constraints. To return to the example from the rules, if you try to attack Medeus with a spork and roll 100, you will not slay him, but maybe the spork will stick him in the eye and he'll be incapacitated by pain for a bit, allowing you and your allies to flee or steal his dragonstone or something. As a corollary, a natural one is a failure against all odds, a special occurence, a representation of the fact that sometimes things just go wrong. While doing the dishes, I drop a glass and it shatters, despite the fact that I have done the dishes hundreds of times in my life.
So, after consideration: If the dice come up 01, than that's a critical failure, sorry. Any EXP applied to that roll will be refunded and the Ambitious trait will apply to the next lowest roll.
So, after consideration: If the dice come up 01, than that's a critical failure, sorry. Any EXP applied to that roll will be refunded and the Ambitious trait will apply to the next lowest roll.
That's reasonable and understandable! Thanks for the clarification, and thank you for the mercy of the EXP being refunded + Ambitious applying to another roll.
Yes. One for delivering the letter, one for thievery, and one for remaining undetected. And, to answer your follow-up, I suppose you can apply EXP to those rolls as well.
on one hand I should be fearful and horrified, because we probably chose the coincidentally worst time to have her do this
on the other hand I wanna be delighted and mirthful, because we probably chose the coincidentally funniest time to have her do this
morbidly curious about those DCs, morbidly curious if this means dice were rolled and she failed evading detection, morbidly curious overall
thankfully I can say for anyone who may worry:
Other Factions The Lord isn't the only character with influence on this world. The other powers of Archanea (and beyond) also get to take turns. Their actions will be chosen by me, secretly, while you guys are making your plans.
Turns are simultaneous, which means that I will not change your rivals' actions in response to your plans. The results of their actions, and other relevant news, will be presented in the final update of the turn.
whatever may be going wrong, or right, is not in response to our plans having been made! or in anticipation either I take it!
(I'm guessing the whole nature of the actions chosen are a mix of "this advances the metaplot" and "this is what they would choose in-character" and weighing one way or another as appropriate)
it'd be funny if she failed the delivery roll, but succeeded in theft and evasion.
"hey everytime I tried to find her she was either not at her set office hours, not at her place.. I haven't had a target evade me like this in a while, my bad"
[X] Plan Proficient Pegastym
-[X] Diplomacy: Scout for Talent
-[X] Martial: Shape up! (Minerva)
-[X] Stewardship: Expand the Holm docks (Whitewing Sisters)
-[X] Intrigue: Most Wanted Woman (Matthis)
-[X] Learning: Pulling open a gate (Frost)
-[X] Occult: It's Not Just A Rock (Zanza)
-[X] (Michalis) Deploy to a Paralogue
-- [X] Fane of Raman
-[X] (Michalis) Break bread with…
--[X] Saias
-[X] (Michalis) Spend time with your Wyvern
-[X] (Michalis) Preside over court
-[X] (Minerva) Lend a Helping hand
--[X] Shape up!
-[X] (Mathis) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Most Wanted Woman
-[X] (Whitewing Sisters) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Expand the Holm docks
-[X] (Whitewing Sisters) (Palla) Do Some Weaving
-[X] (Frost) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Pulling open a gate
-[X] (Zanza) Lend a Helping Hand
--[X] It's Not Just a Rock
-[X] (Saias) Deploy to a Paralogue
--[X] The Fane of Raman
-[X] Hire Samus for a task
--[X] Khadein Fetch Quest: Carry a letter from Saias to Fjalar assuring her that he's safe for now, then return with Fjalar's reply and, if possible, some of Saias's magical foci, all while avoiding Gharnef's attention.
Diplomacy: Scout for Talent
Difficulty 50
64+23=85; Success
It takes a little more effort to get people outside of Macedon interested in joining the Aerie, but not much. The continent is full of wanderers and the recently displaced. Even as your own people are occupied with the harvest, you meet with several interesting visitors from outside the island.
---
"Ta-daah! It's me, Phina, the roving dancer!" A young woman, Phina is dressed in an outfit of colorful scarves and tassels, none of which outshine her long pink hair. "I'm out from Port Warren, where I performed with the Golden Keese – heard of us? No? That's okay. I'll just demonstrate my skills right now!"
"Your dancing is quite skillful," you admit, "but is it worthwhile to keep you on retainer permanently, rather than as a guest for a few nights?"
"Oh, you don't understand the power of dance, your majesty. I'm a motivating force! I keep up morale! Why, all your knights'll work twice as hard when I'm around! Plus, I've got allure! People love me! They'll love you, by extension!" She punctuates all this with sweeps and swoops of her ribbons. "A word of warning, though: I can't really fight. If you take me to a battlefield, I'll need a gallant protector. Like sweet Navarre here…oh, where is he? Navarre, Navarre, stop brooding in the corner!"
The gazes of your court turn to the corner where she's pointing. A long-haired man in a red tunic reluctantly straightens up. "I am Navarre, your majesty. I am not sweet."
"This is the Scarlet Swordsman," Phina expounds, her voice shifting into a narrator's timbre. "His blade is so fast it cannot be seen. He saved my life, and swore to see me safely to a new home!"
"Phina, stop," he says.
"But good marketing is so important to getting clients! I'm trying to help you! And you've got to admit that the red suits you well, much better than that purple thing you were wearing when we met."
"Are you looking for a job, too?" you ask, unable to stop your eyes from crinkling with amusement.
"Not a permanent one," he tells you. "I am a blade for hire. I move from battlefield to battlefield. Unless you have one in mind, my current plan is to head back to the Holy Kingdom before winter sets in. There's plenty of low-level conflict in Deil and Samsooth. That'll keep me fed for a few seasons."
[Navarre, Scarlet Swordsman, unlocked as a Mercenary!]
---
The man before you wears a scholar's robes, once-fine, now patched and dusty from travel. His long red hair is gathered in a ragged tail. The only well-maintained parts of him are the glass monocle screwed to his eye, and the spell tome at his side. He bows: "Your majesty. I am Etzel, a wandering spell-slinger."
You tilt your head wonderingly. "I remember you. You were at the Pales Gala this summer. We never spoke, so I cannot say if you received an invitation or snuck your way in, but either way I know that you are not as ordinary as you claim to be."
He twists his mouth a little. "You have a good memory, my lord. Very well. I was sent to the Gala as a representative of the Academy of Khadein. I do not intend to go back there until Gharnef's terror is ended."
"A popular opinion, these days. Are Gharnef and his lackeys searching for you right now?"
Etzel shakes his head. "If that man hated me, he would have had me killed outright. If he really cared about events at the Gala, he would have sent one of his loyalists. If he even remembers I exist, he is probably relieved that I'm gone. You won't need to worry about the rage of Khadein if you take me in." You motion for him to continue. "Whatever ranks I held are meaningless now, but you should know that I was a full professor in the Faculty of Magic, and I have taught many students."
"I'm not seeking to open a school," you reply bluntly. "What can you cast?"
"The magic of darkness, cold, entropy, and silence." He looks off to the side a little. "Yes, I can attack people. I can curse people. I also know the basics of healing. I am a researcher. I do not simply copy spells from those more skilled; I make my own."
"You don't seem enthusiastic about the prospect of using your skills against others. I must wonder why you decided to become a dark mage in the first place," you comment.
"I must wonder why dark magic has always had such a reputation," Etzel mutters, but not too quietly for you to hear. "Ah, I won't lie – I have no taste for bloodshed. But I knew in coming here that that is what any employer would like to hire me for, in this dark era. So I will fight, if necessary. After all, if you would have me do something that weighs upon my conscience too heavily, I could leave, yes? That is the law of Macedon."
---
One day, while you are at Holm to check on the progress of the docks, a voice sounds from an alley as you pass: "Hey boss! Heard you were looking for cool folks to join your gang?"
You do not startle, but it's a near thing. The voice is coming from a blue-haired boy, eighteen at the most, leaning casually against a wall. "Who are you and – no, I do not have a gang. I am a king. I have a court."
"Cool beans. The name's Rickard! I'm a thief!"
"Not a very successful one, if you go around announcing that everywhere."
"Nah, boss, I'm just trying to start off on the right foot. I mean, I could call myself an 'Unorthodox Acquisitions Specialist' all City-like, but Sister Lena said you like it when people are straight with you."
"You know Lena?"
Rickard grins, straightening a bit. He rolls a gold coin back and forth across his knuckles, then flicks it into the air and catches it adeptly. You can see that it's stamped with Adrah's face – this came from the Archanean treasury. "Is her recommendation enough for you? Some things she said made me think you've got a lack of properly sneaky folks in Macedon. I'm the apprentice of the great Julian – he's such a wonderful thief that no one's ever heard of him – and I can plug that gap. What do you say, boss?"
[Choose one new Hero]
[ ] Phina, the chattersome dancer who livens up any scene
[ ] Etzel, the sorrowful scholar who's reluctant to use his talents for war
[ ] Rickard, the rapscallion thief that you just can't help but like
Dracoknights are a stubborn, fiercely independent bunch – the exemplars of Macedon, you suppose. Free of even gravity, with the power to fly away from any unhappiness and tear apart any enemy; who can command them?
Well, you can. You and Minerva. The Aerie's dracoknights are not idiots, nor are they antisocial, and they respect both strength and comradery. A little spirit of competition doesn't hurt either, so you organize competitions with the Whitewings, and after one particularly interesting game of aerial capture-the-flag involving two separate mid-air collisions, even the most stubborn dragoons are forced to admit that they could use a bit of maneuver training. And to brush up on their hand signals, gods, this is basic stuff. Embarrassing!
Minerva sets a routine of training similar to what she did at the beginning of the year with the Whitewings, while you make discreet inquiries and evaluations. You're searching for a commander, one who will be to the dragoons what Palla is to the Whitewings; someone you can delegate to, basically. There are a few veterans you could promote, but there's someone you've had your eye on ever since he distinguished himself in the summer raiding season. Arion is both brave and talented, and you want to weaken his father by poaching him. Oh, there's nothing personal between you and Travant – but he presented himself at Iote's succession council, and you don't think his mind has changed since. He's got the right qualities to make it as king, too, a mix of veterancy, reputation, and cleverness. So, nothing personal, but you're always sort of waiting for the day you have to kill him.
Arion would probably object, but hm, you are getting well-practiced at holding hostages, if it comes to that. At any rate, Arion knows how to fight the Aurelians, and that's the enemy in front of you. You note a few backup candidates for if Arion says no or suddenly gets declared a traitor and send him a message.
It is a lot of work, all for a harbor that doesn't even produce much fish after the Ocean-Stealing Aliens came by. A good deal of the silver you budgeted for this project goes to shipping in food for all the workers. But the thought of opening up trade and travel to people who can't fly is a sparkling lure, weaving visions of wealth and modernity. Now, you're not a fool. You know that Macedon's isolation is also a protection, that the other kingdoms will never truly respect your nation of freedmen, that the monsters from the City would crush you all under the treads of progress if ever you caught their eye. You're not jumping in with both feet. One port, five piers, and a twentieth of all imports tithed to the king. Plus docking fees, but those will go to the town of Holm to pay for the maintenance of the docks. The management of all this, you leave in the hands of the newly-elected Harbor Mistress, a woman with large dark eyes named Larabel.
[Lost 14 Goods. Gain 2 Goods per season, except in Wyrmstym.]
[Many, many new actions unlocked! Trading actions increase their potential profits!]
Intrigue: Most Wanted Woman
Difficulty 45-10=35
22+5(Ambitious)+17+6+10(EXP)=60; Success
Matthis is obviously a bit apprehensive about snooping into the background of a dragon, but you remind him of the price of failure and he pulls himself together enough to do a passable job. Really, it just involved taking a flight to the mainland and asking for some gossip. You refuse to praise him overmuch for that.
O most noble and fearsome King,
I have a report to make! I hope it satisfies you and I beg your mercy if it doesn't!
It's a very sad story, but it's also scandalous gossip, so people are willing to talk about it once they get a little drunk. Apparently Victor Velthomer was something of a hero in the so-called Holy Kingdom. People say he was the first human fire mage. He wandered into the desert after landing, ate some strange fruit while dying of thirst, and travelled into the Dreamlands where a beautiful fire goddess gave him her power. He sounds kind of like an idiot to me, but I guess if you do something stupid and survive, you get to be a hero. Then the White Sage Gotoh found him and nursed him back to health and taught him to use magic. Then he went on a bunch of adventures, helped Adrah found the kingdom, convinced Gotoh and Adrah to work together to build the Academy of Khadein…he did a lot of stuff. But he was also a shitty person.
Everyone I talked to agreed that he could not restrain himself around women. He wouldn't take no for an answer, especially when he was drunk. And he was drunk a lot of the time. He had a lot of women living with him. He might have hit his wife and children? I'm not sure. But he got away with everything because he was the king's friend.
His wife was a woman named Sigyn, who he met in the early days of colonization. I heard that they met when he was lost in a forest and she guided him back to his camp, but that might be people getting mixed up with the desert story. Or maybe he made the same mistake twice and got bailed out by a beautiful woman both times. He seems like an unfairly lucky person. When I asked what Sigyn looked like, two guys agreed that her eyes were purple, and then they got into a brawl over whether her hair was silver or lavender (they were both quite drunk). Let's compromise and say very pale lavender.
To continue with the story, it seems that eventually Sigyn got fed up with her husband and decided to pay him back. She was friends with Herzog Kurth, another important noble, and they started seeing each other romantically. When she got pregnant, Victor found out somehow. He declared that Sigyn and Kurth were evil traitors who made his life unbearable and killed himself. The story goes that he did it right in front of Sigyn, and she didn't try to stop him, she just turned and walked out of the house and no one ever saw her again.
Kurth seemed to really love Sigyn. He searched for her, but all he found was a little village where she'd stopped to give birth and then left the baby with the midwife. That was Deirdre, who's taking care of Princess Maria now. Her half-brother Arvis is the child of Victor and Sigyn, and the new Herzog of Deil. People say that Victor was fun when he was sober and scary when he was drunk, but Arvis never touches alcohol and is scary all the time.
It's a really sad story. I think these people are all a little messed up because of it.
So, in regards to the original question you wanted to investigate…given Sigyn's description, and the fact that one of the first things she said to me was "Did Kurth send you?" and then "When our kinds dwell together, it only results in tragedy," I think they're probably the same person.
I might be wrong, though. I'm wrong a lot.
With humble sincerity,
Matthis
[Sigyn, the wife of Victor Velthomer and the mother of Arvis and Deirdre, is definitely the same person as Princess Sigyn, niece of Prince Medeus and Princess of the Earth Dragon Tribe. You will get the option to point this out to Saias and/or Arvis during the Paralogue.]
Learning: Pulling Open a Gate
Difficulty 60, Cost 1 Tech
66+12+17+10(EXP)=105; Success
[Continued in "Bridge Between Earth and Sky"]
Occult: It's not just a rock
Difficulty 25/85+10=35/95
64+7+20+15(Dragonkind Visionary)=106; Success
When you handed the Firestone off to Zanza, you're not sure what you expected them to do with it. Gaze into it like a seer, or meditate under the moon, or something. Instead, you return to your apartments one evening to find Zanza and their wyvern nursing bites at your dining table, while outside, you can hear Leonidas and Lucrecia raising absolute hell.
"Zanza – what the--?" you stammer, unable to even know where to begin delivering castigation.
"Oh, it's you?" the unexpected guest says, with a look of mild surprise on their face, still pale and pinched from pain. "Is your sister here? I'm pretty sure she's the only one who can make Leonidas give the Firestone back now."
Minerva, who is in fact right behind you, lets out a quiet curse and stomps outdoors to check on the wyverns. Meanwhile, you sit down at the table. The violet dragoon is seated in Minerva's usual chair, holding a wad of fabric up to a sluggishly-bleeding slash in their wyvern's side. You think it might be one of Maria's skirts, and your indignation surges again. "Zanza, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"Treating the injuries we got in the process of fulfilling your royal commands, o king. I'm not mad, though. It was just a territory thing. They weren't trying to kill us."
"Zanza. What are you doing here, specifically?"
"Um, taking shelter from the angry wyverns? They can't fit through the vestibule." They wave at the second entrance, which was built to fit humans only but apparently a very skinny and flexible wyvern can make do.
You stand up. "Zanza, my patience has limits. Explain things clearly or your injuries are about to get much worse." At around the same time, Minerva re-enters, holding a dark red gem.
"Why was my wyvern chewing on this?"
Zanza's head snaps around, totally ignoring your threat. "Oh, that's not uncommon! My theory is – but this is just a theory – that wyverns can only relate to the world in a few simple ways because they've lost the capability for anything more. Your wyvern recognized that the dragonstone was important somehow, but, unable to understand why, he thought perhaps it might be food."
There is a pause as you and Minerva parse that. "This is a…dragonstone?" she asks.
You complain, "When I told you to investigate the stone, I thought you would gaze at it under moonlight or something, not venture into wyvern dens!"
"I did! I did do that first thing! That's how I figured out it was a vessel of draconic power! Specifically, fire dragon power! This is one of the stones that the manaketes use to adopt their true forms!" Zanza is almost bouncing with excitement, pain almost forgotten in the joy of expounding on their research. "However, as I am not a dragon – unfortunately," they say with a furrowed brow, "I could not figure out how to tap that power in any way. So I decided to do some experiments."
Minerva, grabbing the first aid supplies that Zanza entirely overlooked, sits down next to your guests to give them a more thorough treatment (and to rescue the clothing that they used as bandages). "You wouldn't have gotten bitten like this if you'd used your own wyvern."
Zanza sniffs. "Does Lægjarn here look like a descendant of the fire dragons to you? Really, the connection's not obscure, and my experiments confirmed it. Only red wyverns showed any interest, and not all the reds, either." They grin. "Yes, that's right, Princess, your boy's special. Or rather, your bond is. It's that strong bond between rider and wyvern that makes something change. Just a bit." Their gaze is focused and intense, trying to paint a picture they yet only know in parts. "The dragons who became wyverns lost something. Not just their power, obviously. The power's right here," they pat the Firestone, "and yet that wasn't enough." They pat spiny Lægjarn in turn. "They lost something of the mind and the spirit. And yet…it's so frustrating, the fuzzy picture the implants give us! You're dracoknights, you must know what I mean!"
"Sometimes I don't know how much Leonidas understands," your sister admits. "Are you saying – are you saying that bonding with a rider can make them wiser?"
You steeple your fingers. "Zanza, are you saying that there might be a way to grant them the power of a true dragon?"
The dracoknight grins up at you, one eye gleaming. "Isn't it exciting? The power of a true dragon, returned to the forsaken children. I've always wondered why such magnificent creatures had to disappear from this planet. What scared them so much, that they sealed away their power into these stones? You'll be inspecting their work at the Fane of Raman, won't you, my king?" Wonder of wonders, Zanza is actually referring to you formally. "Please, you must keep your eyes open for more of these stones. And, it goes without saying, the other pieces of their legendary story."
[Trait revealed! Dragonkind Visionary: You saw magnificence, strength, beauty, and freedom – something that once was, and now exists only in dreams. You have a mission: to realize that potential once more. +15 to researching dragonkind. +15 to incrementing the Dragoon trait counter]
[Zanza's Likes revealed: dragons, myths and legends]
[Regalia updated! This Firestone could be used by any manakete of the Fire Dragon Tribe to assume a draconic form.]
[If, somehow, you could restore the mind and spirit of a wyvern…]
Palla: Do some weaving
04
"Hey, um, Sis?" calls a timid voice.
"Est?" Palla whirls around. "Oh, Est, you're back!" She leans in to hug her baby sister (fifteen now, but still!) With finely honed senses, she knows to ask, "Est, what's wrong? Did something happen when you went to Gra?"
"No, nothing happened, I mean, uh…" Est winces, and then launches into the bad news: "Okay, so they didn't have any of the sheep yarn. Any at all. Because the sheep, um, they haven't had their haircuts yet."
Palla blinks. "Oh. Are they still too young?"
"So, um, actually sheep shaving season in in Flostym. Because during the cold season they, you know, they need their heavy coats. To stay warm."
Palla nods. "I see. Yes, that seems rather obvious in hindsight. I should have thought of that."
"But I can go back and get you some sheep fur when it's ready! We just need to wait two seasons."
Palla smiles her motherly smile, the one that reassures her sisters, no matter what Palla herself feels. "It's perfectly all right, Est. Why, these docks are taking up all of my time. I don't think I would have been able to use that yarn anyway."
[Palla does no weaving. She is a little disappointed.]
Michalis: Break Bread with Saias & Spend Time with Lucrecia
[Continued in "Paralogue: The Fane of Raman"]
Michalis: Preside Over Court
[Continued in "Newcomers"]
Samus: Khadein Fetch Quest
Summoning the bounty hunter with your stolen communicator is an ordeal in itself: not only do you need to dip into your store of precious batteries to give the thing power, not only do you need to flit about the mountaintops to find a place where whatever witchcraft it uses to talk to other machines can function, not only do you need to type your entire message on buttons tinier than a fingernail, but when you're finally ready to submit the message, you are informed that you need to 'make an account' first. How are you supposed to make an accounting of yourself to a machine? What does this even mean?
(You step away for a day, lest you hurl the precious artifact off a mountain. The combined efforts of you, Frost, and Saias are eventually able to prevail).
Samus Aran himself communicates clearly and professionally, to your relief. He types in short, clipped sentences (perhaps he finds this input method as onerous as you do). He takes all the information you offer about the job, asks a few clarifying questions, and arrives on the agreed-upon day. His sleek orange ship lands on one of the Aerie's platforms with only a whisper of wind. He emerges, clad entirely in concealing orange power armor, takes the letter and a few maps from Saias, and departs, exchanging only a few words.
He is a little more verbose on the return: "Some of this is yours originally, but not all of it," he tells Saias, dropping a sack of stolen staves at his feet. "It turns out that the dark mage Gharnef was passing your possessions out to his own favorites. Thus, I had to break into secure storage…" He pauses. "And, also, your contact asked me to make something of a fuss. It should be in the letter. Here." He holds out a thin scroll.
"How much of a fuss?" Saias asks, apprehensively.
"I blew up a few walls. Safer than assaulting the main entrance; that was guarded. Then I grabbed whatever looked like a staff and got out quickly." It is impossible to read his face; only a suggestion of long-lashed eyes are visible through that blue-tinted visor. His voice, too, is distorted to a weird chirp by the suit. Frankly, Saias isn't even sure that this is a human, nor a man.
"Did anyone die?" he clarifies.
"I don't think so. Your healers are pretty good." He pauses again. "Sage Fjalar also set a small building on fire as a distraction. She was planning to flee the city at the same time. I'm not sure what the results of that were."
"All right," Saias says grimly. He specifically cautioned her against acting out in a way that would make Gharnef try to make use of his hostage. If Fjalar is no longer in Khadein, then he supposes Gharnef has no one to threaten, although there is every possibility that the Dark Pontifex will still go after him out of spite. If that ends up being the case, I had better make good use of these staves, then. Both to prove his worth to the Macedonians, that they might be moved to protect him, and to defend himself.
As the bounty hunter takes his leave, Saias quickly sorts through the bag of loot. There is his old tome, praise the Lord, and his Sleep staff. His Fortify is missing, but he'd never mentioned being able to cast that to his captors, so he would make do with this simple cleric's Heal. His Warp is missing, too, but the bag has an elaborately decorated Rewarp, a spell he's barely ever seen used, so difficult it is. There is another staff with the markings of movement magic, and he thinks this might be a Rescue, no, an Entrap, a spell to draw enemies closer to the caster. The final staff is in an unfamiliar, archaic style. Its shaft of smooth dark wood, capped in gold, has been varnished by many hands. Its topper is a crystal, surrounded by a graceful band of metal on which unfamiliar characters are inscribed. Two scarlet lengths of cloth are attached to the topper by loose rings; they must clink and wave gaily when the staff is in use. When he clutches it, he feels a low ebb of power, like a flask part-way full.
Saias stares at it. He is silent often – in contemplation, or observation, or because he is simply listening to others. His words, when he speaks, are always thought-out, well-chosen. It is not often that they simply fall from his lips. "Is this the real Aum? Adonai, what the hell is going on?"
[Lost 2 Tech. Samus would not be opposed to working together again sometime.]
[Gained Light, Sleep, Heal, Rewarp and Entrap. Saias can use Light, Sleep, and Heal right away. He will have to study Rewarp and Entrap using his personal actions.]
[Aum, the Staff of the Light of Creation, has been added to your kingdom's Regalia. Gharnef is very, very angry.]
Random Event Roll: 88
[Continued in "Newcomers"]
Harvest Time!
Farms and Herds produce 35 Food
Mushroom Agroforestry produces 16 Food
Aerie's Mushroom Farm produces 4 Food
Total Harvest: 55 Food
It…it's enough, isn't it? It's going to be enough? It's going to be enough. Your people are going to be eating dried mushrooms for months, but they'll survive. As long as your calculations from last Wyrmstym haven't fallen out of date…
Yay we got Arion curious about his stats.
Dragonstone and docks where a success.
This has been Gharnefs no good very bad last two turns karma for his lucky rolls early.
We made out like bandits we can buy a warp spell if we want one but entrap and rescue are nuts, as is having sleep online Saias 776 is a go! To top if off we got the Aum staff so if something kill Michalis he will get resurrected!
Mekkah put it best dancer are self generating second copy of a unit etzell your cool, you copied Canas's sick monicle ...but the dancer is way too practical.
[X] Phina, the chattersome dancer who livens up any scene
Edit lets send Samus to thabes next.
"But good marketing is so important to getting clients! I'm trying to help you! And you've got to admit that the red suits you well, much better than that purple thing you were wearing when we met."
lmfaooooo
yeah this was enjoyable enough. she's probably a Diplomacy + Stewardship Hero, and presently those are our ""lacking"" stats due to the fact that our best diplomacy units are often best put onto other actions entirely.
[X] Phina, the chattersome dancer who livens up any scene
"oh no what if we should've put EXP on Samus"
..oh, so it was the funnier route.
love that she got a crit on the theft roll and all-else was presumably success rolls.
A shame that after all the EXP investment we didnt get any crits, and a shame that I dont think any of the EXP investment actually changed the tier of actions. Also a shame that Matthis didnt get a crit, but he also didnt get a failure, and that Ambition proc'd.. but even without ambition or the EXP or even the intrigue bonus, this roll would've hit the success threshhold, huh.
had the dice rolled the same this would have passed:
base tier infiltrate the heretics
legitimate businessman
what it would have failed:
everything else 8c
but, in an alternate timeline the dice would've rolled differently, and we likely would've had Zanza deployed.
a shame this action didn't land us Bantu, BUT it does tell us that it belongs to someone + confirms what the dragon trait advancement is progressing towards >83c
sorry about any confusion earlier by the way, randomly got the idea in the head that something could have been wrong so wanted to mention it just in case, did not expect or want to cause a whole confusion
as for the update, hyped to see how things went out
iirc aside from just regular hope for nationals to succeed there's three "gambits" we're hoping to pull off (Saias errand, getting matthis a crit and Arion's recruitment)
first off, looks like out of Macedonia recruitment succeeded, and pretty well at that. looks like it's actually to the extent that some boosts could probably have made it a crit(matthis+5 exp?), but no point thinking that's a missed opportunity since we should get a new hero either way and they don't need to be crazy strong to solve our manpower issues
Shape up! also succeeded with a *lot* of leeway but that's not necessarily a waste or anything. the politics side of wanting Arion to secure our reign is interesting too?
wtf (in a good way) on stew, though. could have been close wow. that said, for a while i thought the DC was still 75 which might have been the cause for some of my shock, so whoops? see below for that (it's still a really nice success, three separate benefits looks like!) glad i invested exp fully there, two less and it wouldn't have suceeded (and also that the whitewings were on it, seeing as how their extra stew was required for success, and last +2 Exp could have given wouldn't be enough to cap it. if it was matthis we wouldn't have even gotten a bare failure, absolutely breathing a sigh of relief here.
as for the rest of the nationals, unfortunately no crit on intrigue so that scheme's fallen through, but they all still succeeded which is what matters. we've even got a very lucky roll to hit occult's second tier, nice! looks like our dragon research is probably going pretty well, especially if we can leverage info on Sigyn somehow.
as for the personals category, will have to see interludes and such for all of them so fingers crossed for those, but what we can see looks absolutely wild.
if Fjalar's doing a runner that's probably good news for us, very low chance of being coerced into more stuff/Saias being relevant as a hostage, sort of seems like they were the one behind the robbery too so might divert attention to her! Gharnef must be *pissed*, i can't wait to see how they react in rival reports >:)
all in all, successful update! no dice on matthis's achivement but that's not the end of the world, and the Samus/Saias errand went *very* well (sadly got spoiled of this by seeing a comment before reading the update, but still good news. the fact that we have a variety is nice tactically, especially since it means Saias isn't lugging around the single crazy Aum, which would be bad for staying low profile xD looks like we've got 3/5 and alternatives to warp, so the only thing missing is silence? and probs no need for that, sleep should probably do similar things? not sure exactly what each do, but i'm sure Saias can heal and provide assistance in combat now so not worried, and i doubt revealing we have some regular staves to the rest of the investigation party will expose us as behind that whole incident)
~~~
hm, if we're getting 2 goods a non-winter turn (assuming the end of this one's included) and still have some to potentially go from overseeing court/other personals/the Fane, we might be close enough to next turn be able to spring a martial on the Aerie's defences (good since it's not out of the country/we didn't really have anything laid out?) or getting armor for ourselves (Minerva has some, it's only fair. good proof against assasinations and boost to effectiveness in combat, too!)
can't bet on it but would be sweet if it works out
regarding revealing Sigyn's backgrount to Arvis and the rest, having an opportunity for this is good, though i'm not sure what the cost/benefits would be for doing so, so we might want to hold judgement for now?
regarding the vote, it's hard to say. i'd have liked to see what Arion's stats are and see what stats we need filled/someone someone able to substitute for our workhorses on, but without that i guess it'd be someone who works as a generalist, so i want to say the dancer? we've got magic specialists, so a diplomacy hero that works when we're busy doing stuff out with the whitewings may be good? though we possibly need someone for intrigue too (depends on if zanza would be taking more occult actions. i want to say no because we have Saias/Frost, but she does have that trait so maybe?)
We made out like bandits we can buy a warp spell if we want one but entrap and rescue are nuts, as is having sleep online Saias 776 is a go! To top if off we got the Aum staff so if something kill Michalis he will get resurrected!
do note
1: we probably didn't get material goods (our goods are actually at 0 now, could have sworn we had more, maybe some were taken by Samus?),
2: we have rewarp/entrap and just learning them's probs easier/more worthwhile than buying a new one (sort of different, but could be used for similar effect? worst case entrap to get an enemy to you to be attacked by an ally nearby instead of sending them out, or use both rewarp and entrap to pull an ally to where you just rewarped to),
3: that the Aum staff needs someone capable of using it first (and maybe for it to be charged?) plus there's situations where people might *want* Michalis dead and prevent it, or be unable to satisfy some conditional limitations of revival (access to them/the staff? lack of competing magical shenanigans?)
Okey so...I don't think this refers to the Great Bridge of Myrddin from three Houses, and my little research didn't give anythign worthwile, so might be more about humans and wyverns connections then...interesting.
It is a lot of work, all for a harbor that doesn't even produce much fish after the Ocean-Stealing Aliens came by. A good deal of the silver you budgeted for this project goes to shipping in food for all the workers. But the thought of opening up trade and travel to people who can't fly is a sparkling lure, weaving visions of wealth and modernity. Now, you're not a fool. You know that Macedon's isolation is also a protection, that the other kingdoms will never truly respect your nation of freedmen, that the monsters from the City would crush you all under the treads of progress if ever you caught their eye. You're not jumping in with both feet. One port, five piers, and a twentieth of all imports tithed to the king. Plus docking fees, but those will go to the town of Holm to pay for the maintenance of the docks. The management of all this, you leave in the hands of the newly-elected Harbor Mistress, a woman with large dark eyes named Larabel.
[Lost 14 Goods. Gain 2 Goods per season, except in Wyrmstym.]
[Many, many new actions unlocked! Trading actions increase their potential profits!]
Aimee (Japanese: ララベル Larabel), known as Larabel in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and in the North American version of Shadow Dragon, is a recurring non-playable character who runs various shops throughout the series. In most games, she is simply a shop vendor with no relevance to the plot...
love this explanation about wyverns and manakettes, and makes sense, wonder if we can help make our dragon fully regain conscience and maybe gain an human form? question for later
I mean, Aimee is from the first shadow dragon game, just that her japanese game is Larabel
this is from the link i posted
Aimee (Japanese: ララベル Larabel), known as Larabel in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and in the North American version of Shadow Dragon, is a recurring non-playable character who runs various shops throughout the series. In most games, she is simply a shop vendor with no relevance to the plot. In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, she is a member of a traveling merchant convoy who allies themselves with Crimea in the Mad King's War.
sorry about any confusion earlier by the way, randomly got the idea in the head that something could have been wrong so wanted to mention it just in case, did not expect or want to cause a whole confusion
as for the update, hyped to see how things went out
iirc aside from just regular hope for nationals to succeed there's three "gambits" we're hoping to pull off (Saias errand, getting matthis a crit and Arion's recruitment)
first off, looks like out of Macedonia recruitment succeeded, and pretty well at that. looks like it's actually to the extent that some boosts could probably have made it a crit(matthis+5 exp?), but no point thinking that's a missed opportunity since we should get a new hero either way and they don't need to be crazy strong to solve our manpower issues
Shape up! also succeeded with a *lot* of leeway but that's not necessarily a waste or anything. the politics side of wanting Arion to secure our reign is interesting too?
wtf (in a good way) on stew, though. could have been close wow. that said, for a while i thought the DC was still 75 which might have been the cause for some of my shock, so whoops? see below for that (it's still a really nice success, three separate benefits looks like!) glad i invested exp fully there, two less and it wouldn't have suceeded (and also that the whitewings were on it, seeing as how their extra stew was required for success, and last +2 Exp could have given wouldn't be enough to cap it. if it was matthis we wouldn't have even gotten a bare failure, absolutely breathing a sigh of relief here.
as for the rest of the nationals, unfortunately no crit on intrigue so that scheme's fallen through, but they all still succeeded which is what matters. we've even got a very lucky roll to hit occult's second tier, nice! looks like our dragon research is probably going pretty well, especially if we can leverage info on Sigyn somehow.
as for the personals category, will have to see interludes and such for all of them so fingers crossed for those, but what we can see looks absolutely wild.
if Fjalar's doing a runner that's probably good news for us, very low chance of being coerced into more stuff/Saias being relevant as a hostage, sort of seems like they were the one behind the robbery too so might divert attention to her! Gharnef must be *pissed*, i can't wait to see how they react in rival reports >:)
all in all, successful update! no dice on matthis's achivement but that's not the end of the world, and the Samus/Saias errand went *very* well (sadly got spoiled of this by seeing a comment before reading the update, but still good news. the fact that we have a variety is nice tactically, especially since it means Saias isn't lugging around the single crazy Aum, which would be bad for staying low profile xD looks like we've got 3/5 and alternatives to warp, so the only thing missing is silence? and probs no need for that, sleep should probably do similar things? not sure exactly what each do, but i'm sure Saias can heal and provide assistance in combat now so not worried, and i doubt revealing we have some regular staves to the rest of the investigation party will expose us as behind that whole incident)
~~~
hm, if we're getting 2 goods a non-winter turn (assuming the end of this one's included) and still have some to potentially go from overseeing court/other personals/the Fane, we might be close enough to next turn be able to spring a martial on the Aerie's defences (good since it's not out of the country/we didn't really have anything laid out?) or getting armor for ourselves (Minerva has some, it's only fair. good proof against assasinations and boost to effectiveness in combat, too!)
can't bet on it but would be sweet if it works out
regarding revealing Sigyn's backgrount to Arvis and the rest, having an opportunity for this is good, though i'm not sure what the cost/benefits would be for doing so, so we might want to hold judgement for now?
regarding the vote, it's hard to say. i'd have liked to see what Arion's stats are and see what stats we need filled/someone someone able to substitute for our workhorses on, but without that i guess it'd be someone who works as a generalist, so i want to say the dancer? we've got magic specialists, so a diplomacy hero that works when we're busy doing stuff out with the whitewings may be good? though we possibly need someone for intrigue too (depends on if zanza would be taking more occult actions. i want to say no because we have Saias/Frost, but she does have that trait so maybe?)
do note we probably didn't get material goods (our goods are actually at 0 now, could have sworn we had more, maybe that was taken by samus?), we have rewarp which means just learning that's probs more worthwhile than buying a new one, and that the Aum staff needs someone capable of using it first (and maybe for it to be charged?) plus there's situations where people might *want* michalis dead and prevent it, or be unable to satisfy some conditional limitations of revival (access to them/the staff? lack of competing magical shenanigans?)
Arion if my read of the source material is on point is a martial diplomacy hero.
Buffing our defenses seems feasible yeah.
Warp is still good and the Aum staff actually has one but only in fe1,fe 3 book 1(because Maria sucks i suppose) and book 2 sort of but in the remakes its fully gone.
Within fe1 and fe3 book 1 its at a dohlr shrine but it should be not impossible to smuggle someone to the location if its still like that.
..yes, agreed. We should have 2 Goods as a result of 16-14.. I'm wondering what has happened in our paralogues (do we have to trade with Gomer in the last paralogue?)
edit: ah, Newcomers. that is probably the random event roll.
now we've had time to take in all the rolls i've got a few things to mention. first off, want to say how the scene of everyone trying to figure out how to use a communicator was actually really funny? i guess it's the cultural differences, and the way people are adjacent to modern tech but haven't necessarily seen it themselves? well except for frost, he has no excuse other than being old
next, people might want to look at Saias's sheet, their traits have been updated to show what he can do with those staves
(also note the ones he can't immediately use are listed on our state of the kingdom post. the Aum staff in particular is listed as needing a suitable user. guess it's real bad timing Maria just left at the end of last turn, huh?)
for upcoming strategy, people seem pretty set on that dancer which i don't have a strong objection to? i don't know tons of fire emblem strategy so can't weigh in on their utility (and you all may want to prepare for them to be possibly less helpful in a different format) but increasing soldier morale is a compelling argument
in terms of viable heroes for each stat, as a quick reference our options for each stat are generally as follows
martial: minerva 40(+15 on dragons), probably arion, whitewings (24), some others but they'd be wasted here
diplomacy: whitewings 26+5 sometimes, probably Arion, matthis (10/negative trait), some others but they'd be wasted here
stew Saias 19, whitewings 18, matthis 15(/negative trait) frost 11
intrigue: zanza 17
learning: saias 27, frost 17
occult: saias (big time)34+, Zanza 20(35 on dragons)frost 17
(good heroes for paralogues have a range of these+ideally work well in a team)
might not have gotten everything and this will vary a bit based on traits (especially with frost), but definitely seems like our main priorities are diplomacy/intrigue (since we'll probably often want to take the whitewings on paralogues. intrigue is dodgy, but probably fine so long as we don't want to move zanza onto paralogues/learning/occult rolls? but with frost and Saias we shouldn't have to do that so long as they're available
all that said though, i'm not sure if a thief's the most relevant for what our needs are either, so not in
maybe fingers crossed for Phinia being able to handle some low-DC intrigue actions as a backup if needed? (diplomacy/intrigue isn't the weirdest combo, right? both are ultimately social intelligence so it makes sense for them to have decent scores there?)
in regards to future stuff, buying food hopefully isn't needed, but we'll have to see. there may be more people but enough for 5 food to not cover would be a *lot* so unless there's a mass of refugees we should be fine? maybe the docks led to many arriving? would definitely be an example of potential consequences there (fingers crossed Michalis is worrying over nothing when he mentioned issues here, isolationism isn't really an option either)
and as an aside, just realised according to turn 4's start those smugglers we have are working with Talys, actually? wild, we probably could benefit when it comes to cooperation with them by networking with both, potentially?
maybe if things still stay open at some point we can do a turn with talys diplo+smuggler intrigue? might even be able to appeal to dohlr somehow by getting them out of their hair too, though could be best to keep them on the down low/be a less relevant synergy compared to other parts of it.
also worth noting we may be due to be harassed by Gharnef/Medeus for something random soon, so may be good to keep sudden curveballs in mind. hopefully wanting a full war is a way away...
Warp is still good and the Aum staff actually has one but only in fe1,fe 3 book 1(because Maria sucks i suppose) and book 2 sort of but in the remakes its fully gone.
Within fe1 and fe3 book 1 its at a dohlr shrine but it should be not impossible to smuggle someone to the location if its still like that.
not sure what you're responding to here, i was just bringing up possible issues that would interfere with use of the staff/prevent us from using it, not that it doesn't appear in games or anything? has one what?
the cost could have automatically been subtracted to finance something there yeah, though that's a pretty high roll so hopefully we don't have much to worry about, or it's positive?
though whatever the case is, if we used the last of our goods to solve it that at least means we won't need to spend *tech* on more goods, so it's far better if we have bought stuff automatically than us still having to buy stuff but having no more goods
Here's something interesting I recently found out: Navarre's iconic Scarlet Swordsman look only dates from FE11. In the original '90s games, he was actually wearing violet-blue:
On the contrary. Samus rolled a natural 100 on looting and then rolled so badly on stealth that I wrote that she was going loud on purpose as a distraction. And then she still got away without a scratch. Gharnef is very, very angry.
..yes, agreed. We should have 2 Goods as a result of 16-14.. I'm wondering what has happened in our paralogues (do we have to trade with Gomer in the last paralogue?)
On the contrary. Samus rolled a natural 100 on looting and then rolled so badly on stealth that I wrote that she was going loud on purpose as a distraction. And then she still got away without a scratch. Gharnef is very, very angry.
oh.
so. guess that means gharnef's turn 5 is probably gonna involve Intrigue: Find Out What The Fuck Happened... oh dear. probably was gonna to begin with, but, eek.
Cool, cool. Phina's character sheet is now up. You may have to wait a while for the rest. "Bridge between earth and sky" is shaping up to be a long chapter and I will be busy this weekend.
So dancer 30 diplo and rerolls on paralogues that completely nuts and the the rest of the sheet might as well not exist...but she still has better stewardship then Mathis.
Phina has a good card for a paralogue, I suppose it will be an option to take her to the Gra with Michalis, it could be a good idea, although I still like my idea of taking the Whitewing Sisters because if the war succession factor becomes more military it is better to have more troops.
