The ring of gold will be ready to march on Firenze by the end of summer Tiepolo tells you. it seems so far away but the days start to fly by, a dread in your chest. What if the assassins are working with Savonarola and that's why he's been so powerful? What if he truly does have the power of some demon that lets him control the people? What if so many different possible things, your mind starts to burn from trying to think of a solution to every possible solution, so you bury yourself in your work and try to prepare Ravenna so it can survive without you for however long this takes.
---
[Training: Martial,37+10+14=61]
Your Mobs starting to resemble a proper organized force more and more. These almost soldiers are starting to gain the strength and constitution to put up a half decent fight, at least according to Kostas. The only issues now are equipping them, some still have pitchforks in place of spears and woodsmen axes instead of battle axes, and getting them to fight cohesively and together. Their training under Kostas made them respectable individual combatants, but that means nothing in the face of organized warfare.
For now it will have to do however, as they are going to be responsible for the defense of Ravenna while you are gone. You just hope they won't need to be used.
---
[Recruitment: Stewardship, 80+15=95]
You almost decide to send some men out to put up wanted posters for a steward, if none were coming willingly perhaps a bounty hunter could bring one in. But these poor ideas were soon made irrelevant by a knocking at your doors. You rise from your chair and head to the door, and standing behind them is a young man, about your age, in romani clothing and jewelry. Dark curling hair reaches down to his shoulders with the beginnings of a beard, and you notice a nervous energy about him that he quickly tries to stifle when he sees you.
"Ah good, the lord Borgia himself, I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with some assistant of yours." "And you are, good sir?" you ask, hand sliding towards your dagger just in case. "I am Django Argov, and I've heard you are in need of a steward, and given the fact you haven't kicked my family out of Ravenna I doubt you're hateful enough to reject ones services just because they're a touch different. If I am correct then let me tell you about my skills. My family have been the deal makers and overseers for our camps or businesses whenever wed settle for a time.
I've been taught by three generations the arts of both making a deal and overseeing and fulfilling the needs of communities. I've also been taught some of the arts of banking by our fellow undesirables from the ruins district, so I believe id serve excellently as your steward, if you haven't been able to find one just yet that is." He says with a smirk that tells you he knows you haven't found a steward.
"It is true that the city of Ravenna does still require the services of a steward, but I wonder why you would offer yourself. From what I know, which admittedly isn't much, your people don't take jobs like this. They prefer quick jobs they can leave at a moments notice when their caravans need to travel, so what's different here?"
"Quite simply a desire to no longer travel. We've been able to establish a small secure community, despite some of our less pleasant neighbors, and I don't want us to give it up to go to some new city that despises us as much as the last, blaming everything from grey skies to stillbirths to the plague on us and our "gypsy magics". I figure that working for the lord of these lands is a good step to keeping things this way.
And besides, you don't exactly have many choices, you haven't had a steward since you came here, and soon you're going to be off to war with those mercenaries you hired. You don't have time to look for a better option than the one right in front of you." well he's certainly arrogant, but he isn't wrong. You need a steward for while your gone, and your other advisors shouldn't be split in their duties.
You gather yourself before saying "I'm not so desperate as you might think, but you are somewhat correct. However, while you are my steward you duty is not only to me but all of Romagna, not just your Romani, is that understood?" "Clear as could be my lord, happy to be working for you.".
Gained one steward, Django Argov
Martial 8
Diplomacy 12
Stewardship 20
Intrigue 14
Learning 10
---
[Development: Stewardship, 96+15+11=122]
Well it seems that Elena pulled off some kind of magic. You asked if she had any ideas on how to bring some jewelers to Ravenna, and her response was to grumble and say she'll see what she can do. Not 3 weeks later two famed jewelers arrived. Not only famed for their skill but their rivalry with each other. Of course it seems neither had known the other would arrive, and began to argue and bicker the moment they laid eyes on each other. You were worried they would both leave, even moreso when Elena started to egg them on, wanting to know which was better.
Somehow this resulted in them racing off in a huff to opposite sides of the city to each get rubys and metal to create works to put the other to shame. You ask Farnese how she managed to do that, even more how she got the two of them here. Her only response was that the Farnese family has connections all over, and nothing more.
Gained famed jewelers, 30fl/turn
---
[Investigation: Intrigue, 82+15+20=117]
Given the look on Sophias face you can only imagine she was successful with her task. When you ask her what she had found she asked you to thank her in advance. After a brief bit of arguing for her to just tell you already you concede and give her the thanks she wanted. And after hearing what she found it seems it was earned.
She had found that Lord Estes nephew had purchased a set of regalia once worn by the former kings of Lombardy, a rare and one would assume priceless artifact, but apparently when you spend someone else's money anything is for sale. Of course now it never reached Ferrara, having been taken by a group of mysterious thieves in the night.
Instead of any grand regalia you receive a letter, sealed with a familiar eye, stating simply that you now had allies and access to the information of the Cento Occhi.
---
The day has finally arrived and you feel a weight in you. Lead seems to fill your bones, not wanting you to get on your horse and ride to Firenze, but you resolve yourself. After this your task from your father will be done and even more so Florence will be yours, and the Borgia will control almost all of central Italy. It can and will be done.
You meet up with Tiepolo early in the morning, and you see that his forces have completely disassembled their tents already, ready to march. "Excited to march out Borgia? There's nothing quite like it, the first steps as an army marches off to war, like the drums of war are with you, inspiring you to victory!" "Excited is certainly one word for it Captain Tiepolo, were ready to march so lets get a move on"
"Ha ha, ready and eager are we, ill give out to signal its time to go soon, but for now lets get to the places of honor, shall we?" you're about to ask what he means before he grabs you by the shoulder and leads you to what had caught your attention so your first time seeing this army, the war elephants. Oh god he's going to make you ride this monster.
Rope ladders are lowered down and he rushes up it, and you see little choice but to follow up after. On top of the elephants are a type of armored carriage where the riders control the elephant from, as well as holsters for arquebuses making this into a living mobile firing tower. Once you are on top Tiepolo reaches for and blows an ivory horn, the signal that its time to march.
The army starts to move as one and you feel the lurch as the elephant moves, your footing unstable and only kept upright by Tiepolos hand. All of this seems to be of great fun for him, while it feels like you would have been thrown to the ground and broken your neck by this beast if it weren't for his help. Eventually you just sit down in the basket and hope you survive the trip.
---
The next few days are much the same, though you insist on riding just a horse the rest of the way. Tiepolo tries to show off one of the exotic soldiers or weapons he has collected and tell you about their history, their use, and nearly all of it flies over your head. Eventually he runs out of soldiers so he starts to tell the stories of his greatest battles, clearly in love with the sound of his own voice and spreading his legends.
Eventually the stories stop, as you've finally reached your destination. There were no patrols or guards of any kind on the way here through the stolen lands, where they could be you have no idea. But before you now are the walls of Firenze, once the pearl of the Medicis, now the hollowed husk of Savonarolas Zealotry. The gates are closed, likely barred and you can't see any of the priests forces.
Tiepolo lacks his usual extravagance, staring at the city like a starving man looks towards an animal, seeing nothing but prey. He commands his forces to approach quickly but quietly, no battle cries or defiant screams, and tells you to ride alongside him in the middle of the army. "It would seem this devil is one of sloth, not sending his forces to meet us in battle, or perhaps I am more terrifying than this demon and they fled before our might, huh Borgia?" he asks, but there is no true mirth there, seemingly not trusting this easy approach.
The army approaches quickly and just as the front rows start to reach the gates they open, and with that opening men with guns rise on the battlements, aiming into the crowds of soldiers. Out from the gates comes Fully armed and armored troops, full plate and massive swords and axes in their hands. These men surround a single figure in dark ash stained robes, Savonarola himself. A harsh, unpleasant face is all you can see, the rest hidden by robes, all but his hands in which he holds a golden orb.
A bolt of lightning seems to rip through you mind at its sight, your sixth sense flairs awake and the whispers become a cacophony, you see the presence circling the priest, staring at the orb but you're the only one who sees him. over the screams of the voices you can hear the priest start to speak.
"Take not a single step further you sinners! This land is protected by the will of god, and you shall never overcome his will. Remove yourselves, and that son of that treacherous and satan cavorting Borgia Wretch, and you shall be spared this day. Should you fight against gods will you shall be forced into a harsh but deserved penance." He says with zealous belief. The man truly believes his word.
"I am afraid we have thrown away gods grace long ago priest, and I imagine you've done the same. For us it would be a far greater sin to now break our contract than to slay some devil possessed priest! Men, You know what to do, let us slay a demon!" he says and you hear the eruption of mortars and cannons from behind you, striking the battlements as they start to fire and men begin to charge. But then the priest raises the orb to the heavens and golden light erupts across the nascent battlefield and everything changes.
The men leading the charge, Tiepolos most heavily armed infantry and cavalry, including those damn elephants, screech in pain, before turning around, golden light filling their eyes, and they charge into their own comrades. Rumors of Savonarolas ability to control man were known but you doubt anyone expected it to happen this quickly, and the battle turns bloody soon. The gunmen on the walls continue to fire into the wild melee, the cavalry carving lines into the forces, the elephants charging directly towards you and the captain.
The two of you start to ride away but the elephants don't need to worry about moving around allies. Just before one is on top of the two of you you hear the fire of a cannon and the eruption of flesh, a direct hit on the elephant. Unfortunately its too close, and the last thing you see is its grey husk falling on the two of you.
[War: Martial, 1+10+30+20= Critical failure+]
---
You hear the muffled sounds of battle around you, and you can barely feel yourself being pulled out from under the dead beast. The pulling soon stops and you start to hear a blurred yelling, then a sharp crack across your face. Clarity returns to the world and you see Tiepolo kneeled over you. "Good, you're a fighter Borgia, keep fighting and stay alive. Stay here behind the elephant and you shouldn't be hurt, I need to go kill that fucking devil, if anyone comes near you use that dagger!" he yells, pressing your dagger into your hands before rising and charging towards the priest.
You crawl your way to the edge of the corpse, your body screaming and telling you to stay still and never move again, and look out. Battle rages all around Ring of Gold forces butchering each other, the priest walking through, screaming some sermon of some kind at all those around him, the orb in his hand. You see Tiepolo rushing his way over there, quickly dispatching anyone who tries to stop him with his shortsword. He almost makes his way to the priest, nearly catching him by surprise, but the priest is able to stop him with feet to spare.
You see Tiepolo fight against it, taking a few steps more, the priest just out of his reach, before the orb is raised again, and Tiepolo stabs his shortsword into his own neck. "He had the right idea but not the power to see it through." You hear the presence and he steps into your vision. "We, however, have that power. And we truly must thank you, despite once again nearly killing us you have brought us right to the object we've seeked. Now, we don't need you anymore, so be a good mortal and sleep."
With that your body starts to rise without your command, the world blacking out around you as you struggle to fight it off. Your body starts to charge at the priest, ignoring any attempts to stop you, letting wounds build up so it can reach the priest all the faster. He notices your bodies approach far sooner than Tiepolos, and tries to use the orb, but somehow it has no effect, and it puts fear and disbelief into Savonarola. He starts to step, then run, back to the gates of the city.
His men, having joined the melees, are not there to stop your body and he is chased into the city with your body slowly but surely catching up. Eventually he arrives in the citys square, surrounded by his devotees, where he tries using the apple again. He raises it to the sky but before he can use it your own hand grasps the apple and once again it erupts with light. You see out of the corner of your eyes as something must have gone wrong as you see the citizens start to tear into each other with a feral madness, ripping each other to pieces with tooth and nail.
"Sinful beast, how dare you defy the will of god?! You satanic monster, god will save me, and punis-" his words are cut off, your dagger stabbing into his throat, just as you are finally forced from your own body, swallowed by a deep, unknowable darkness.
---
The first thing you feel is the cold damp stone beneath you, smooth and slick. The second the warmth of a fire. The third what sounds like the noise of a city. You roll over onto your back and look up to see what you think is a starry night sky, but looking closer seems to be the ceiling of a cave, countless glinting stones resembling stars. You work your way to your feet and the first thing you notice is your left hand. Where once it had held that orb it now seems burned with its golden light, light seeming to trail in lines across your palm. The next where exactly you are.
Looking around you are on a large platform with a bonfire at its center high above the bottom of the cave with a grand stairway leading down and a series of gates blocking the way up, seeming to trap you here. You make your way to the stairway, expecting your body to protest but all pain seems to be gone. You make your way to the edge of the platform and look down and are shocked by what you see below. A city of cold stone in this massive cavern, filled with pale light and pale figures rushing about. At the bottom of the stairway you can see a large building, somewhere inbetween a temple and palace. And finally you recognize the sounds of the city even clearer. These are the whispers, the cacophony that has haunted your sixth sense for as long as you can remember.
What do you do?
[] Panic
[] you cant be here, you have to escape, try to get those gates open
[] someone in that temple has to be able to fix this
[] the presence, it took your place, this must be where its from, demand it let you out
[] Write in
[3/3 for Possession]
---
Right now it's the presences turn in your body, you don't know whats going on in the real world
