Hoards, Hubris and Heroics

[X] "Emelda was too wounded and the matter was too urgent to wait." You don't like leaving matters half-finished. An expedition without the report is only half the task. You like to complete the whole task. It's more elegant that way.
 
[X] "Emelda was too wounded and the matter was too urgent to wait." You don't like leaving matters half-finished. An expedition without the report is only half the task. You like to complete the whole task. It's more elegant that way.
 
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Scheduled vote count started by ORE on Aug 20, 2024 at 5:58 PM, finished with 11 posts and 10 votes.

  • [X] "Emelda was too wounded and the matter was too urgent to wait." You don't like leaving matters half-finished. An expedition without the report is only half the task. You like to complete the whole task. It's more elegant that way.
    [X] "I'm incorrigibly curious." Oh sure you don't really care about the city or its people per se, but you've enjoyed the process of investigating more than you've enjoyed anything for a while. You still have much you don't know, hopefully you can spend more time outside of swamps, but you want to follow the clues.
    [X] "Honestly I'm just horrifically bored." It's generally not your way to admit any kind of weakness but the Archon seems to have a certain amount of the information anyways- perhaps equivocation would be unwise. Besides maybe he will have a suggestion for something more interesting you could do-something that involves far less swamps.
 
Chapter 1.6 In which royalty to be revealed to be just as prone to family quarrels as anyone else
"Emelda was too wounded, and the matter was too urgent to wait." It's a short answer, but you've decided it's best to stick to the point. You've rarely had to deal with nobility in this manner before and while you're hardly overawed, deference hardly comes naturally to you. Sticking purely to fact seems best to avoid any offense. Hopefully, kings like facts, though if it's not facts they want, probably not. The Archon Militant stares at you silently for a moment before responding. Obviously, he's struggling to read you. Ultimately he responds dryly, "Or at least you believe that the matter is urgent, having been told as such." He gestures into the air, "very well then speak, but my time is very valuable- do not squander it."

So, you begin your account of recent events. Considering the demeanor of your audience you try to speak with a brisk pace and keep details to only what is needed. Your combat with the "Giant Orc" prompts several probing questions about how large the "giant" actually was.

"The average orc is much shorter than the height of the average man. A bigger orc is bigger but even a head and a half taller than a normal orc is far from a giant." With this comment he motions for you to continue. Your account of the journey deeper in the swamp earns at first an amused smile- you do not get much sympathy for your deep swamp hatred- which then turns into a grimace as you describe what follows. The hand he has gripping his sword is white with tension. "So, upon discovering that the claims of my cousin were all but unfounded, you resolved to give chase across the entire morass, where you found the home settlement of the local tribe, assaulted, and provoked it, and then- realizing that there were only four of you and an entire settlement of orcs you ran. I commend you on your belated good sense, but now you come to warn me of a crisis? Do you have hornets in your country, mistress elf? Because here we know that if we do not wish to be stung, we do not go hitting them with stones. I do not blame you of course, how could you have known better, but I am hardly pleased to hear that having run out of subordinates to get killed with her selfish nonsense she has settled for almost killing some elves and who knows how many of my subjects may die if this provokes a retaliatory raid."

Cousin? Selfish? This is hardly the response that you expected given the information you had. Is your traveling companion nobility? This is briefly interesting before you realize that she has no money and the city of Banngard is poor. The dawning realization you have stumbled into some sort of family squabble is …unpleasant. You don't exactly know how to proceed in such a situation, it's not like you have ever had such a thing. Finding yourself unable to hide your confusion you decide that in this circumstance it is acceptable for you to admit that you do not know everything. "You have lost me, Archon Militant. I fear I am missing context, but my short association has hardly given me the impression that Emelda Broadaxe is a selfish person."

He laughs, but it has no mirth in it. "Oh, did she not tell you? Yes she is my cousin. I am Humar Broadaxe, the Archon Militant. But don't get caught up in some dream of a princess incognito. In this city the Archon Militant has risen through the ranks just like anyone else. I have served my time on patrol and on the wall and as a junior officer to come to command this entire city. The fact that she never led more than a patrol before being dismissed is because she was never able to get over this peculiar sort of selfish selflessness. One of the strange things about leadership is that you lose ownership of yourself. She is willing to spend her life, but her life doesn't belong to her, it belongs to the city. Her belief that if things that happened to her squad are not being responded to her satisfaction is if her squad is the only that exists- that is selfishness." As he speaks he grows increasingly animated and agitated.

"Look at this mosaic." He says, pointing at an artwork that you have been barely paying attention to until now. "This was installed by my predecessors in the days after the Grand Dukes vanished. The Archon Militant of the time saw the hole left and saw it his duty to save the duchy, to bind its cities together. That's his blood that stains the stones. His successors have never had it cleaned. It is a reminder. Our duty is to defend the pass, the city. Not the Dutchy, not the world and not the people. The people make up the city, just as do its buildings but they are not the city. Emelda thinks we should serve the people. I hope that her "service" has not killed more than were lost in skirmishes in ten years as commander." At this point Humar snaps his fingers and gestures at some of his guards.




One hands you a hefty bag of presumably gold while another brings Humar what seems to be a war helm. "Take the money and bring it back to my cousin or spend it on yourself- I don't really care. But take it and go. It seems I might have a siege I have to prepare for, because at least one person named Broadaxe has to think before they act." You are rapidly ushered out to the calm streets of the inner ring of the city, leaving the sound of furious activity behind you. The bag of gold is cold and heavy in your hand, just the way that you like it. The sun shines brightly in a sky that is blue, clear, and beautiful. You ponder your next steps.



[ ] You may as well return to the Fat Bear, related what happened and ……share the reward. The thought pains you but you are playing the part of a hero. You are starting to regret this decision.

[ ] You have a giant pile of gold and are in the nicest, most fancy part of the city. After that long horrible ordeal with the swamp you deserve a treat. No several treats. Really you always deserve such things but especially right now and fortunately you have the money to go get such things instead of taking them by force like you normally would.

[ ] You've grown increasingly bored with this whole thing, and a siege sounds awful. You were told you may as well leave so why not! There's got to be more interesting cities out there.
 
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@ORE you forgot the threadmark, btw.

[X] You may as well return to the Fat Bear, related what happened and ……share the reward. The thought pains you but you are playing the part of a hero. You are starting to regret this decision.
 
[X] You may as well return to the Fat Bear, related what happened and ……share the reward. The thought pains you but you are playing the part of a hero. You are starting to regret this decision.
 
[X] You have a giant pile of gold and are in the nicest, most fancy part of the city. After that long horrible ordeal with the swamp you deserve a treat. No several treats. Really you always deserve such things but especially right now and fortunately you have the money to go get such things instead of taking them by force like you normally would.

Sharing isn't dragon
 
[X] You may as well return to the Fat Bear, related what happened and ……share the reward. The thought pains you but you are playing the part of a hero. You are starting to regret this decision.

It seems we stumbled into some family politics. That's gonna be messy, but hey, gold's gold.

As an aside, the mosiac image is broken for me. When I try to open it, the tab says the site can't be reached for some reason! :(
 
Honestly a siege sounds like fun. The more orcs there are the more potential damage we can do.
[X] You may as well return to the Fat Bear, related what happened and ……share the reward. The thought pains you but you are playing the part of a hero. You are starting to regret this decision.
 
[X] You have a giant pile of gold and are in the nicest, most fancy part of the city. After that long horrible ordeal with the swamp you deserve a treat. No several treats. Really you always deserve such things but especially right now and fortunately you have the money to go get such things instead of taking them by force like you normally would.

Better to stock up beforehand.
 
[X] You have a giant pile of gold and are in the nicest, most fancy part of the city. After that long horrible ordeal with the swamp you deserve a treat. No several treats. Really you always deserve such things but especially right now and fortunately you have the money to go get such things instead of taking them by force like you normally would.

I'm open to character development on the whole "sharing" issue but one adventure into the story seems a little early for that.
 
Regardless of what we do with the gold, I'd like to stick around. I like the narrative that we've grown rather fond of old Emma Bigsword, and that we'd like to see this thing through to the end - or some approximation of it at least. With all that said...

[X] You have a giant pile of gold and are in the nicest, most fancy part of the city. After that long horrible ordeal with the swamp you deserve a treat. No several treats. Really you always deserve such things but especially right now and fortunately you have the money to go get such things instead of taking them by force like you normally would.

We're sticking around, so she can hardly get annoyed. And if she does, that sounds rather funny given how much trouble she's gotten us all into.
 
[X] You may as well return to the Fat Bear, related what happened and ……share the reward. The thought pains you but you are playing the part of a hero. You are starting to regret this decision.
 
[X] You may as well return to the Fat Bear, related what happened and ……share the reward. The thought pains you but you are playing the part of a hero. You are starting to regret this decision.

It seems we stumbled into some family politics. That's gonna be messy, but hey, gold's gold.

As an aside, the mosiac image is broken for me. When I try to open it, the tab says the site can't be reached for some reason! :(
Does it work now?
 


That's very strange because it works perfectly well to me

Does this work?
I still get the same message when I try to open it. The site can't be reached. Might be a problem with my internet provider maybe? They might not like the website hosting the image for one reason or another.
 
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[X] You may as well return to the Fat Bear, related what happened and ……share the reward. The thought pains you but you are playing the part of a hero. You are starting to regret this decision.
 
[X] You have a giant pile of gold and are in the nicest, most fancy part of the city. After that long horrible ordeal with the swamp you deserve a treat. No several treats. Really you always deserve such things but especially right now and fortunately you have the money to go get such things instead of taking them by force like you normally would.
 
[X] You have a giant pile of gold and are in the nicest, most fancy part of the city. After that long horrible ordeal with the swamp you deserve a treat. No several treats. Really you always deserve such things but especially right now and fortunately you have the money to go get such things instead of taking them by force like you normally
 
[X] You may as well return to the Fat Bear, related what happened and ……share the reward. The thought pains you but you are playing the part of a hero. You are starting to regret this decision.
 
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