Expectations management: I strongly doubt that I'll be able to finish writing before morning tomorrow, but I might be able to make it if we roll these quickly and I'm particularly productive.
Roll me 8d100s.
Martial
Calling All Heroes
DC: 10. Roll: 22 + 5.0 + 3 (The Star of Oskaria)
Cost: 0 Budget.
Diplomacy
The Remaining Nobles
DC: 25 - 5 (The Star of Oskaria) = 20. Roll: 20 + 2
Gain: 10 Budget (The Star of Oskaria)
Diplomacy
The Great Church
DC: 20 - 15 (The Star of Oskaria) = 5. Roll: 20 + 2.
Cost: 0 Budget.
Intrigue
Questions and Answers
DC: 10. Roll: 22 + 2
Cost: 0 Budget.
[Free action] N/A/ Have Ophelia take care of herself in order to prevent her burning out(?) Blazing red eyes reject this path, and pick Stride Forth instead. She will neither tire nor falter, for she is Oskaria's chosen and she will not dishonor the mantle. Privately, you wonder whether she can tell the difference anymore - or whether it even matters to her.
Martial
Stride Forth
DC: 28. Roll: 22 + 5.0 + 3 (The Star of Oskaria)
Piety
The Blessings of Oskaria
DC: 20. Roll: 25 + 1.4 = 26.4
"Great spirit of Oskaria," you say, treading carefully around the spirit wearing Ophelia's skin, "it would beneficial for your mission - "
"If you were blessed, correct?" she smoothly finishes, stride unbreaking and light frown of disgust perfectly maintained.
She sharply snaps her fingers, and immediately you feel a power, a drive, and a solidity fill your every pace and trail behind you like the tail of a comet.
"Thank you, great spirit," you bow.
Ophelia-Oskaria turns her head back to you with one eyebrow raised. Even though you know intellectually she is only an average height for human women, she still towers large over you like the great White Mountains. "I do not recall you acting this deferential to any save the King, Agueda. What has changed?"
Everything about you, you suppress. "Nothing at all," you lie.
Ophelia-Oskaria closes her eyes and nods sharply.
Ophelia does not move sharply or suddenly around people she fears or respects, you quietly think. And despite the confidence you've tried to instill...you know that she feared many.
Ophelia-Oskaria fears none.
You worry that she respects none.
+2 to all stats. (Star of Oskaria).
Martial
Calling All Heroes
DC: 10. Roll: 22 + 5.0 + 3 (The Star of Oskaria) + 2 (The Blessings of Oskaria) + 1.5 = 33.5
You witness true power on display.
Ophelia-Oskaria need merely touch her hand to her scabbard and speak above a whisper for an army to raise their banner and follow her.
She need only tap a soldier lightly on the shoulder before their eyes glitter as bright as twin suns. Gone are the telltale signs of hunger, despair, and deprivation - under her banner every soldier stands taller than than a great oak. Behind her their thousand boots would follow her across the whole of the world against even the Calamity Armors themselves.
Great hordes descend upon her to merely touch the Maiden of Light, to see her, and she obliges.
Ophelia-Oskaria's permanent frown comes the closest it ever does to smiling.
Diplomacy
The Remaining Nobles
DC: 25 - 5 (The Star of Oskaria) - 5 (Blessings of Oskaria) - 5 (Fuck Those Guys in Particular) = 10. Roll: 20 + 2 + 2 (Blessings of Oskaria) + 0.1 = 24.1
It is truly a heady thing to merely knock upon a Duke's temporary residence and be immediately ushered in.
You know it's the power you casually exude, though you notice out of the corners of your many eyes the servants and lords alike drawing a tiny protective circle with their fingers.
You are blunt, ashen in the unwashed soot, and a Colonist besides.
But with the Star overhead, the Blessing of Oskaria, and their antipathy for their...misguided fellows, they gladly tell you which direction they headed off in.
With the Shi Anh in port blocking off their retreat, they could only hope to sneak up the river Bythnia and through the White Hills in order to meet up with their fellow conspirators, as far as they know.
You archly ask them what they know about the conspiracy, seeing as they already know so much.
Many decide that nothing can be divined from silence.
Some push their luck and tell you that they were so low-ranking that only their lords were invited - and thus when their lords ordered to come with them to discuss such matters, they had seen the light of the Star and chosen to disregard the dishonorable request. Surprisingly, a few even said, it looked like a significant number of the nobles that had left north were similarly nervous - the Star was such a strong sign of divine provenance after the trials of the previous year that nobody dared say Oskaria was the problem.
Very useful.
So was their parting gifts.
Gain: 10 Budget.
Intrigue
Questions and Answers
DC: 10. Roll: 22 + 2 + 2 (Blessings of Oskaria) + 8.3 = 34.3
You need do nothing with your network of porters and servants and stablehands besides confirm what the resentful remaining nobles had said, and through a thousand whispers you get enough repeated rumors to lead you to believe you're hearing the truth. Interestingly, however, they also mentioned rumors about the bandits in the hills - supposedly there was a bunch of brigands shaking down the hated noble tax collectors and returning the money to the people nearby, and the caravans were extra well-armed because of it.
Worryingly, though, you're hearing the same consistent rumors about how all of Merridge is aflame - but. You have a priority, and you're going to track them down.
Diplomacy
The Great Church
DC: 20 - 15 (The Star of Oskaria) = 5. Roll: 20 + 2 + 2 (Blessings of Oskaria) + 0.9 = 24.9
If there is any party more desperate than the people to see the Maiden of Light herself, it is the clergy.
Which is why you immensely disappoint them when you show up.
You know that they badly wanted to speak with Ophelia-Oskaria. However, in her stead, Agueda the Just, Blessed of Oskaria will have to do, you bow. It is just a little too aggressive to be self-depreciating and just a little too deferential to be mocking, exactly as you intended it. While you feel that some of them have been disappointed that the envoy is not as tall as they imagined, you see the respectful fear that all of them occasionally glance towards the heavens - they want to hear what lessons they should take away from the Star and the communiques of the Divine Gathering.
For while they have heard the message that the Star of Oskaria is a sign of promised prosperity in exchange for good deeds in the Crusade, they want to clarify - what should be done? What is the interpretation to promulgate? They were hoping for precisely Ophelia to hear from the voice of Oskaria herself - which you interrupt.
Are they seriously rejecting an envoy of Justice?
This shames them into a thousand prayers of forgiveness, but you have neither the time nor the inclination to witness all thousand prayers from the clergy.
No, you'd like to remind them that this is merely a sign of two things:
One: The faith in the contract between Oskaria and the people has been maintained, no matter the trials and the tribulations. The very Divine Gathering itself has confirmed it, and the light of the Star of Oskaria is the first signal for the rewards to the faithful. Feel free to promulgate this as widely as possible.
Two: You would like direct, written and spoken, authorization to go investigate cases of dogmatic...deviance.
With the look of hope and gratitude that overtakes the clergy at the first statement, the time it takes for the clergy to decide on the second request can be measured in a matter of heartbeats.
You now possess the Bishop of Cille's authorization to investigate faith-related affairs.
Haggling with Tekla about the budget is a spirited but completely traditional haggling. He says that he needs a large budget in order to procure the magical reagants, you say that it's a port city. With just a few more components, he says, he can definitely get it to work this time, and you roll your eyes and tell him that you don't want him to tinker with them, you want him just to fix them up. He exaggerates exasperation, you exaggerate exasperation, and you send him with the budget you had all this time with only minimal grumbling.
Which is why it's mildly surprising to find out that he comes back, reagents in hand, without spending a single piece - though with the blessing hanging over all of you, it wasn't hard to figure out why.
You must conduct your work clandestinely - or at least, away from Ophelia-Oskaria's eyes, at least until you have something to show her. You and Cormag thus descend into the depths of Cille's law and inheritance section, simultaneously the most filled and the least reliable section of their library. After all, whoever compiles the law together would vastly prefer a version of the law that benefits them personally encoded into the law books - even if that means the law contradicts itself, that is merely an opportunity to bring a bribed judge in to resolve the case.
But that does not mean you are helpless.
Merely that you have many options.
So you and Cormag attempt to replicate the Five Eyes of Mortal Divinity with six eyes between the two of you, and storm through law book after law book to find the evidence you need.
Or more specifically, the cases you will need to bring. After all, it is a hallmark of your shattered justice system that a peasant can be convicted upon sufficient suspicion and put to death, whereas a noble requires ever more rigged court cases before they suffer even the slightest economic penalty.
But that does not mean justice for the nobles is impossible.
Merely more involved.
So if you want to take down the Regent to the Crown, the Minister of State, the aging human Duke Corneille Coburn, you must bring the Sejm to commit to removing him from his post. To do that, at a minimum you must find some cause for your lack of confidence in the Regent. Preferably multiple, strong enough to prove to the Sejm as a whole a reason for stripping the Regent of his rank.
There are three broad methods you can think of: dereliction of his duties to his peers, to his faith, and to his vassals.
To prove the dereliction of his duties to his peers, you must demonstrate sabotage of the functioning of the Ministry of State in direct contravention of either Sejm or orders of the King, places where he did not act when he was ordered to act, where he acted when he was ordered to not act, or when he acted directly against what he was ordered to accomplish. Finding evidence of this would likely be very difficult - you would need access to previous orders to the Minister of State from the Sejm or the King, and at a minimum testimony of his subordinates or his direct letters and statements. However, should you be able to prove this with evidence, it would be the strongest direct argument to remove him - for if the case was proven, Duke Corneille Coburn will have proven untrustworthy in a lesser position than Regent of the King.
To prove the dereliction of his duties to the faith, you would need to bring spiritual testimony into the court. The likely spirits you would need to convince of the Minister's impiety would be Oskaria, his ancestral spirits, and the spirits of the land. The mere fact of bringing testimony would also likely involve convincing the upper echelons of the church, some of whom were likely to be his relatives - but with the Star of Oskaria hanging overhead, perhaps less difficult than it sounded. Bringing this case to conclusion would likely result in a close vote of no confidence in the Regent. In theory, the King was also one of the chief priests, and if the Regent could not be trusted with the spiritual affairs of his own household, he cannot be trusted with the spiritual affairs of an entire nation. In practice, many could argue King Julius' early reign was an example of a King growing into the role, which his allies might make before the Sejm.
Lastly to prove the dereliction of his duties to his vassals, you must persuade his vassals that the duty has been neglected. You suspect that the easiest method to do so is financial - prove that he has exceeded the bounds of his contracts with his vassals, by either undervaluing their services, by extracting services beyond the bounds of his contract, or worst of all, by promising land he promised to one vassal to another. Possibly himself. To find the evidence would be the simplest - and yet, also the least likely to result in the Duke's dismissal. That said, if the case was proved and the Duke dismissed, he would find the fall from grace so very, very long.
Proving two out of the three before the Sejm would likely smear his name so badly that the Coburn would find few allies willing to stick with him. Proving three out of the three to the satisfaction of the Sejm would be such a surefire conviction that you might as well hand him a shovel to dig his own grave.
That said, the other legal threat staring you down was the Duke's illegal dissolution of the Finance Ministry - one that you could respond in two ways.
Either by bending the knee in private and carrying on in public, or publicly rejecting his authority. Bending the knee in private would likely buy you several months of uninterrupted time to do as you wish and would require no resources on your part, while publicly rejecting the authority of the Regent would be very messy and would definitely require you to bring at a minimum two pieces of evidence: the law that states live orders of the King supersede the decisions of Ministers when the King is not yet dead, and proof that the order was written before the death of the King. In any case, communication lag buys you a little bit of time - three months, most likely, at the outermost.
On the other hand, privately acceding and then carrying on would almost certainly damage your reputation and cause greater legal troubles down the line because you very much did accede, while simply publicly repudiating the illegal order would give you a much stronger legal case when the debate went public.
The difficulty then would be to cement the position of the Finance Ministry after the Regent's first attempt was blocked - to do so, you would need to appeal to the Sejm. Fortunately for you, Duke Coburn's illegal attempt was a huge blunder - it would make him out to be a tyrant seizing power just as he loses the ability to block legislature from coming to the floor. For the sole purpose of reducing Duke Coburn's power, you suspected you could actually push for a greater expansion of the Finance Ministry's power.
The best part was, so long as you started proceedings to extend the warrant of the Finance Ministry all the tools other corrupt nobles used to maintain the position of their useless third sons would kick in on the Finance Ministry's side, allowing them to continue functioning while debate about their continued functioning was on the agenda. You didn't need to win the case immediately - just to start it.
Martial
Stride Forth
DC: 28. Roll: 22 + 5.0 + 3 (The Star of Oskaria) + 2 (Blessings of Oskaria) + 0.5
Random Event Roll: 70
At last, the time comes to set out.
Immediately, Ophelia-Oskaria dismisses nine out of the ten soldiers who had promised to follow her - the hastily assembled army came with neither logistics train nor significant cavalry, so the force would have to be drastically kept down in order to maintain the high pace Ophelia-Oskaria demanded. The looks of disappointment move even you - but the Maiden of Light's expression does not move, for she cannot be moved.
Yet this decision proves to be prudent, for the remaining army moves as swiftly as a coursing river. The march begins and dawn and ends at dusk, and yet none of the soldiers appear to flag willingly - they march with their heads held high and their feet placed one in front of another, as they march up the domesticated Bythnia into the Antiguan region. The warm summer days are filled with the laughter and song of a marching army, while the nights are filled with prayer sessions to the Star.
Shockingly, as Ophelia-Oskaria leads her patchwork army through, granaries are opened for village feasts, as all sing praise to the Divine Compact and the King who brought such prosperity and rich harvests after the terrible year. It is a joyous romp, as her many relatives in the region come to celebrate their cousin's great triumphs.
Quietly, you note how much more farming land is brought under cultivation. You note how you're fairly certain there are more mills than reported. You note the quality of the iron plows used on the various estates. You would have to consult the Finance Ministry's records to be sure, but even accounting for the fraud you detected when you arrived in Cille, you're certain someone is systematically undercounting everything in Antigua, and you would have had no idea if you had not been coming up from Cille.
But life has a way of surprising you all.
Specifically, when you come across a wrecked caravan towed off the side of the road. The stench of death lingers in the air, lightly packed loam indicating where bodies of horse and human alike had likely been buried. Much of the fabric was torn away, but you note three things:
The caravan itself was well-crafted. The wagon had a sigil of some minor baron delicately carved into it. Finally, the wagon also had a roughly carved asymmetrical snowflake pattern - which you realize is actually three crossed swords.
Was this the work of the rumored hill bandits?
Nonrecurring Revenue: 10 Budget.
Salaries and Wages Expense: 5 Budget.
Army Expenses: 3 Budget.
Net Profit: 2 Budget.
Remaining Budget: 202.
Your army, small as it may be, is an arrow loosed in flight. It may temporarily slow down for a few days, but should it ever come to a stop it will likely fall apart. And yet while it is on the march, few will be able to match it.
You may spend as much money as you have available.
You have three [Free] Action that may be spent in any category.
You can cooperate with your teammates to add +3 Base Stat to an action you are cooperating on.
Martial (Choose 1) {Ophelia-Oskaria Action}
[] [Martial] Give Chase
Disregard the looted caravan. Continue pursuit of the others, who the townsfolk say are just ahead. DC: 10. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Martial] Search for Bandits
If the bandits ransacked this caravan, they may have answers, and punishing bandits is simply a good thing to do. DC: 25. Cost: 0 Budget. Will greatly increase Bandit Meeting DC.
Diplomacy (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Diplomacy] Contacting Vivien
You're close enough that if you push it, you may be able to loop into the capital for a quick chat with Vivien. Long enough to tell her to continue the Ministry, continue the fight. DC: 10. Cost: 0 Budget. (Will replace all other Agueda Actions with others as appropriate.)
[] [Diplomacy] The Antiguan Priests
You're pretty sure that this region is one of the Duke's territory. If you want to get started on knowing what his priests think of him, you ought to meet them. DC: 15. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Diplomacy] Thevenet
You do not like him. His smug aura mocks you. However, the man has shown a clear predilection for having too many connections and a keen sense for when to jump ship. Perhaps you can convince him to find evidence. DC: 20. Cost: 10 Budget.
[] [Diplomacy] Bandit Meeting
You may be able to manage a meeting with bandits, and the three sword insignia gives you reason to believe that you have some common ground - but that requires that you find them. Requires success on either Search for Bandits or Message to the Bandits. DC: ??. Cost: ?? Budget.
Intrigue (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Intrigue] Raiding the Estate
There's a noble estate nearby. Raiding it for correspondence may help, but you're not quite sure whose it is. You really ought to go get a map and check. DC: 20. Gain: ?? (Infiltration...will probably autosucceed. Roll will determine if estate helps the investigation.)
[] [Intrigue] Rumors of the Bandits
If there's anything you can count on a rumor mill to do, it's to spread wild amounts of rumors, only some of them true. However, those rumors might be able to help you locate these elusive bandits. DC: 20. Gain: ?? Possibility of boosting Search for Bandits.
[] [Intrigue] Message to the Bandits
You might have some common ground, and certainly arranging a meeting place couldn't hurt - either to actually meet or as an ambush. DC: 20. Gain: ?? Possibility of meeting the bandits.
Learning (Choose 1) {Tekla Action}
[] [Learning] Ink Dating
Tekla has some techniques to look into how old ink has been bound to paper - and if you can find that the missive was written and stamped prior to the King's death, you can repudiate the validity of the missive. DC: 25. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Learning] Apothecaries
You have the chance to pick up a few potions along the way to boost your abilities further, so should you desire. DC: 15. Cost: 1-3 Budget.
Stewardship (Choose 1) {Ophelia-Oskaria Action}
[] [Stewardship] Infrastructure Survey
You've got some lingering suspicions about the reported land usage and manufacturing capabilities here. Time to properly survey the area and see if your suspicions are confirmed. DC: 22. Cost: 0 Budget. Will boost Search for Bandits.
[] [Stewardship] Reading Vassal Contracts
Vassalage contracts are personal things, but to any serious event there are witnesses and documentation who can provide details about them. Let alone the direct vassals of no less a figure than a Duke. Time to get your hands on some. DC: 15. Cost: 0 Budget.
Piety (Choose 1) {Ophelia-Oskaria Action}
[] [Piety] The City Spirits of Antigua
You want to ask the spirits of the city how they've been doing - remembering of course, to pay your respects first. DC: 20. Cost: 4 Budget.
[] [Piety] The Country Spirits of Antigua
Similarly, you have a few questions for the vast spirits of the country at large about the Duke's conduct - especially if any Beasts of Autumn are still lurking in the wilderness. DC: 22. Cost: 6 Budget.
[] [Piety] The Ancestral Spirits
You know that there are a few households that have notable collections of ancestral spirits lying around. Perhaps you can ask them how well the shrines are maintained. DC: 24. Cost: 4 Budget.
Hey, can you tell us what the hell is going on north of the White Mountains? I've been hearing all sorts of crazy shit's been going down.
Crazy's right. The Brumyivans, Alanyivans, and Rusmysians are all getting into a giant clusterfuck, from what I heard. Merridge itself is half on fire, if you can believe it.
Wild.
Ugh, if only I was young again. I hear everybody that got in on the Transulinian trade routes are busy getting crazy rich on the Kataltin trade corridor.
Nah, you really don't want to go over there. The colonists are scuttling around again, and I heard that there was a Dragon army on the way.
Seriously dude? Like the last dragon army that got killed?
Well, yeah, that didn't count. Besides, they're really just coming back for round two anyways, and they're definitely getting the help of those filthy shiteaters.
Iiif you say so.
That wedding was delightful, wasn't it?
Oh yes, it was quite the feast. Did you notice how the two families seemed to act?
Relations that close can only mean bad things for their enemies near them, which is good for us Antiguans, eh?
Piety
The Country Spirits of Antigua
DC: 22. Roll: 24 + 2 (Blessings of Oskaria) + 9.6 = 35.6.
Random Event Roll: 10
Revival of the Beasts of Autumn
Before Agueda had left to personally visit Vivien, he asked you to pay attention to the size of the economy. Pay attention to the number of granaries, of the size and production of the mills, and the number of buildings you could see. He had every faith in you, and Oskaria itself was providing backup.
[Trade: Commerce: 50 + 100 = 150. Required: 80 (Lowered by Circulation of Coin)]
That does not mean it was a difficult task.
The evidence stares you in the face no matter where you look.
The roads are paths in dirt, but the mere fact that they are wide and completely free of vegetation everywhere you look tells you that a vast amount of traffic must pass through the same areas, so much so that the roads do not grow back. Many lead off the main paths between villages - towards fortifications and castles you were fairly certain had been recently constructed. Despite the traffic however, you notice a conspicuous lack of shrines and temples, at least, for the solidity of the paths.
The granaries in the villages that you have seen along the way are tall and numerous, with few mills for the amount of land. Yet each mill has positively massive inputs and outputs, which screams wrongness, for even small mill-scale grindstones require vasts amount of labor energy. The size of the wheels implied by the amount of wheat being carted in is completely incongruous with the amount of workers you see coming in and out of the secretive mills, which suggests a different power source - and yet the winds are weak and many mills are away from the river.
Turning your eye away from the centers of civilization reveals only more alarming notes: the forests stop abruptly, immediately overtaken by farmland. The people seem to be cutting down the old-growth forests and simply paving over the land with more farmland, with scant evidence for the sacred groves and shrines to nature that should be there to appease the great spirits of nature. Even the rivers are brown and muddied where they should be clear and drinkable, and the river spirits are the absolute last spirits that any people can afford to offend.
Yet the lord of these lands has seen fit to do so.
It does not escape your attention that you have also seen a proliferation of stone fortifications and bulwarks appear all over the landscape, the sorts of building projects that could be completed relatively shortly and yet would massively hinder any attacking army...from either Etrella or from deeper in Oskaria. Worse, if your suspicion about why all these forts are made of such small stone is true, they must have quite literally mandated Oskarians rip up their own roads in order to build these fortifications.
Damning, if you could find the proof in words or testimony on whose orders this was.
Especially because in the middle of correcting the lack of nature shrines, the spirits of nature send you a message in their typically blunt and powerful manner - by sending you a great elk and expecting you to follow.
You made to follow, and many of your followers also tried.
The elk simply glanced at them, and many halted in their steps, looking between you and the great elk.
You nod towards the elk, and shake your head at your followers, placing one hand on the hilt of your sword.
"I will not be harmed," you promise.
They shakily accept as you stride after the great elk, leading you through the borders of the devastation.
Great oaks stumps jut out of the ground, where the lumbering was not quite complete. The great elk takes you close enough to see the great oaks, close enough to see that the number of rings is almost beyond your ability to quickly count. There must have been at least two hundred, enough to suggest it had outlasted not only King Julius but also all the Wyvern Wars - and it was unceremoniously chopped down, along with many of its brethren.
You knew the people who were supposed to live here. They should be your second-cousins twice-removed - they'd never do something like this, not without honoring the sacrifice.
What had happened here?
The elk plods on, gracefully stepping around all the beasts of the forest, scrabbling for purchase in the denuded forest. Even here, you see the light you exude marks you as an intruder - birdsong stops, the chattering of squirrels ceases, and the forest stills as you follow the great beast into the green. As you progress, however, you hear the sounds of the forest return, the forest shaking and moving again with the steps of the woodland animals and the flight of birds.
At last you come upon a peaceful spring, flowering in the midst of summer. Despite your foreign presence, the wild animals go on about their lives just as normal - some birds are even so bold as to perch upon your shoulder. Golden sunlight suffuses the cool clearing, illuminating the crystal-clear headwaters for a river that eventually becomes the muddy Bythnia. The smell is fresher than you can remember, and the birds are so joyous you can almost hear the catch of a song. Yet you know that this place too will become mere meat and lumber and firewood for the hungry people at the bottom of the river.
But the elk has wanted you to see something else, and leads you away from the clearing down the river. You come down by the river, witnessing where the forest gives way to the logging camps, cutting down swathes of forest without the shrines for nature. They're staffed almost entirely by the short greenskins your parents had told you stories about - casually violating the forest all around them.
Except a memory of Agueda brings you up short.
These greenskins...did they belong to this place? Did they know about the right rituals, or were they forced here?
You take your hand off your sword and choose to look at the elk meaningfully.
The elk huffs and postures angrily at them, threatening to charge once, twice, and only angrily calling off the third charge when it saw that you would not follow. Disappointment emanates from its form, but you do not acknowledge the disappointment.
Angrily, and yet still possessed of the grace that allows the elk to step between root and creatures of the undergrowth, the elk storms down the river, past where the river becomes muddy from debris and corpses swept into the river. There you see something: black hateful curses congealing in the river upon the corpses and washing onto the muddy banks. Upon the banks the curses gather and layer, mud and debris of the forest blending together over the carcasses left to rot. You do not recognize the form at first, but as the layers of hate and curses and evil gather, it becomes clear:
You are staring at a Beast of Autumn.
The elk turns and glares at you. All around you, the forest seems to quiet and dim, dark treetops concealing where the Beasts of Autumn might yet emerge from their slumber. The elk huffs angrily, once, twice, and the third time it takes one step with all the force of an unstoppable mass.
A shard of the Aurora cleaves through the air by your hand.
The two of you square off against each other. You take one step right, the elk takes one step left. Calculating eyes meets cunning eyes as the elk gauges whether to attempt killing you to sate the hatred coursing through the countryside, while you gauge whether you could kill enough to clear a pathway to civilization. The silence remains as the two of you take careful steps, never once taking your eyes off each other. As you rotate, you sweep through the forest in your peripheral vision, gauging your chances of being able to steer your way out of the unknown forest. Across from you, the elk gauges whether it can survive your might.
The two of you reach the same conclusion. You sheathe your sword as the elk angrily huffs and walks in a different direction. One you're fairly certain leads you back to the rest of the group.
Night falls, and yet it falls uneventfully, your trip through the dark forest lit by the high and mighty Star of Oskaria still burning bright.
Your followers had apparently waited all day and much of the night for you - when you return, you are met with raucous cheering. Behind you, the elk blends into the forest as if it had never been.
But you have received the message:
Correct the sins conducted against nature, or the Beasts of Autumn will be unleashed as nature's furious vengeance.
Diplomacy
Contacting Vivien
DC: 10. Roll: 20 + 2 (Blessings of Oskaria) + 8.2 = 30.2
You reach Vivien's estate midway through the month. Her family lives in a great manor, which means that in theory, there are many places she could be, in practice, she's only likely to be in one wing of the house. Likely one of the lower floors to reduce the amount of walking a noble has to do, and likely towards the rear of the manor, facing the gardens.
Also likely to be the only one in her family burning the midnight oil at ground level.
Okay, maybe one of three.
You'll never admit you guessed wrong twice.
It doesn't actually count if no one ever saw you.
Regardless, Vivien is in her room, hunched over a desk with ink and quill. When you knock on the window, she almost physically jumps in the air, before angrily stalking over to the window as you cling to the side. She slams the window grates hard - ooh, internal double-sided bronze hinges, very fancy - mere hairs in front of your face. The wind blows your hairs back and buffets your eyes - likely a petty retaliation for knocking on her window in the dead of night.
"Well that was almost bad," you helpfully remark.
"Agueda, I'm really not in the mood for this," she tersely says. "Why are you even here, anyway? You have literally no reason to show up, now that I'm not even the Finance Minister anymore," she bites off. "Though it really wasn't like I could make you listen anyway..."
"May I come inside first? It's a little...drafty out here," you say, gesturing at the window.
"Your sense of humor is untouched, unfortunately," Vivien drily notes. "Very well," she says, pinching her nose. "You may as well come in."
"Got it, boss," you casually respond.
"I'm not your boss," Vivien tiredly replies. "I thought Finance Minister was my first big chance I got, but no, it's back to being a prize horse when it benefits the head of house, I guess."
She glanced over at an open chest, and from this distance you can tell it's her paperwork from the Finance Ministry.
"I really should get around to getting rid of those," she wistfully says.
"No, you're still my boss, and the case is still on," you retort.
"Oh?" Vivien says, turning towards you. Her gaze is full of hunger. "How? I received the official, regent-stamped letter practically the day after the royal messengers proclaimed the king dead - the regent didn't even care enough to send the message with royal priority," she says, voice quavering. "So how are you so confident?"
[] "I have proof that the order is illegitimate."
-[] What proof do you have?
[] "Just trust me."
bunch of stuff unwritten because it's five and I want to sleep - will probably write the rest over today and tomorrow maybe
anyway, it's time to finally fulfill the promise of the original post and start being Ace Accountant
[X] Given the speed by which this order was supposedly sent, you strongly suspect that it was in fact written before the King's death, which would make it illegal. Tekla has ways to date ink, so you're currently having him look into that. No, you don't have any strong evidence yet but you do have an avenue of attack. On your way here, you passed through Antigua, one of the Duke's own territories. What you saw there has you convinced that you can get the Sejm to strip the Regent of his rank for dereliction of his duties. You just need enough time and freedom to actually collect the evidence.
Vivien sits up straighter and straighter as you go on, the gleam in your eyes reflecting in hers.
"You're confident? You're sure you can do it?" Vivien asks, posture telling you that all you need to do is say yes.
"Have I disappointed you yet, Minister?" you reply, oozing your natural confidence.
"You have not, Agueda," Vivien primly says. "I can buy you three to six months before the Ministry's dissolution must be challenged. It will be mildly distasteful, but I suppose it's past time I stood up for my own Ministry," she laughs. "For both of our sakes, I sincerely hope that Ser Tekla is every bit as good as you have made him out to be."
You remember that beautiful light of the Aurora.
"He's better," you nod.
"He had better be," Vivien smirks.
Suddenly, she blinks, and leans in. The easy laughter slid off her face with the urgency of critical information.
"That said, you had best hurry with your collection of evidence. The office of the Sejm's Court Recordskeeper is likely to transition soon, after the first few attempts at electing a new King inevitably fail. I am not entirely privy to who the Regent plans on replacing the current Recordkeeper with, but the current top candidate is a dwarf with a slate of Grudges the size of a horse - submitting new evidence into the Sejm's records for the trial is best done before next spring [7 months away]. If you find any evidence after that time, you'll need to negotiate with the Regent's new Recordskeeper to bring it into the Sejm, and everybody knows how bad dwarves get about their Grudges."
"Got it," you decisively nod. "Then, to justice," you say, offering your hand.
Vivien's hand claps against your own. "To justice."
Learning
Ink Dating
DC: 25. Roll: 23 + 2 (Blessings of Oskaria) + 9.3 = 34.3
And there it is!
Proof that everything on the missive was dated prior to the King's official passing of responsibilities!
The ink, the letter, the stamp itself!
The missive was stamped no later than the end of winter, seven months ago.
A flawless work of investigative alchemy, if you do say so yourself.
Intrigue
Message to the Bandits
DC: 20. Roll: 19 + 2 + 2 (Blessings of Oskaria) + 6.9 = 29.9.
"I wasn't going to," Tekla replies. The forests are lush green, the color of summer, and Tekla feels like adding to the mood by whistling a few tunes with his hands in his pockets. Idly, he notes that the trees seem to be unhealthier somehow - if he had to guess, it was all the gunk that must have been dumped into the streams. If Kerrie wanted privacy, than Tekla would just have to indulge by looking away. The fact that he was whistling a tawdry tavern song about two ladies meeting in a bar had absolutely nothing to do with recent events.
Kerrie's tugging on his trousers, but he's sure it's not that important.
"My, my," a woman rasps out of nowhere. "What a pretty tune."
Tekla abruptly stops whistling in favor of shrieking loudly.
Kerrie simply reintroduces her palm to her face.
The cowled woman pays their antics no mind. Her face is hidden by a shrouding mist, just thick enough to hide all the details of the face without obscuring the expressions. Her cowl - or shawl, more properly, seems to at once be worn and yet pristine, while the staff she leans on in is suspiciously shaped like a musket. In fact...Tekla thinks he can smell the traces of gunpowder in the air. Without a doubt, this is the bandit contact that Kerrie described.
"Hel-lo, young adventurers! It's a pleasure to meet you!" she cackles. "You've come quite the ways to ask a favor of little old me," she conspiratorially says.
Tekla smiles and mentally ticks another box. Her voice is wrong for an old woman - it's too...smooth. Underneath the accent, it's too young.
"Well met, oracle! I had hoped to ask you for some information," Tekla smoothly says.
"Mmm, information you seek, eh?" she maintains. "I see, I see," she says, and her gloved hands come up to stroke her chin. "What kind of information?"
"Information on some misdeeds of the Duke ruling over this land," Tekla says. "We know that the lord has been giving out impious and unjust orders, and we want to find proof."
"As it so happens," she smiles, "I happen to have some with me, right here."
"Oh? How fortuitous," Tekla replies.
The woman holds up a finger. "Surely, however, you understand that I cannot part with something so valuable to just any adventurer's word. If you want it, well," she leers, "I'm going to have to ask for compensation."
"Ah, but we are not just any group of adventurers," Tekla retorts. "We're operating on the orders of the late King to root out the Duke's evil."
The woman stills. "Come now, that's a ridiculous claim. The King never authorized anything like that," she says.
"Oh, he did," Tekla says. "Tell me, does a meeting one and a half years ago, just after Tara Valois' adoption ring a bell to you?"
She pauses a second too long. "I-I wouldn't know," she lies.
Oh, but she does. If you can prove that she would know about the meeting, you can gain the [Duke's Unjust Orders] for free. Otherwise, you'll have to pay 50 Budget or a sufficiently valuable item to obtain it.
Hint: She has already been introduced in the quest before. All you have to do is...put it all together.
[] Write-in your proof.
[] Just pay the money and be done with it. It's a wild guess, anyway.
"Truly? You know, I've never heard of normal bandits carving the King's symbol on the wagons they rob. Claiming to serve the King even after his death, you must have been really loyal to him when he was still alive, a true pillar of support. In fact, I'm pretty certain that my boss told one of your.... associates that Oskaria's neighbors were planning to carve this nation up. The King ordered my boss to investigate this further, and we've discovered that some of Oskaria's own nobles are planning to betray our country. Our investigation has brought us here, to the Duke's lands, and I'm pretty certain that the proof you have will be a major help to us. Would you really demand compensation from a fellow servant of the late King for this?"
You hit the important parts with this vote, so I'm altering it to be better for you.
"You're not fooling anyone, Renault of the King's Pillars," Tekla says, cutting words parting the veil. "I ask you on behalf of the Royal Finance Ministry: please give us the documents."
The woman is silent for a few moments, and then straightens. Her hands come up, stick nearly weightlessly twirling itself up until it rests on her shoulders. Her veil falls backwards with her other hand, revealing a distinctly unimpressed face.
"I did say that fear and cheap tricks alone would not occlude my identify forever, I suppose," she declares, backed in the certainty of a gaze that sees through all. Everything is laid bare, the bonds of loyalty, the sins and habits of the self, and indivisible portions of matter and soul alike. It is at once familiar and foreign to Tekla and Kerrie. A instant shared glance has Tekla shift forward and Kerrie shift backwards. "You are correct. I am Ludivine Renault, Pillar of the King, for all that that matters. If I had to guess, taxman, you are the bandits who graced this region, oh, right around the event you spoke of?"
"Bandits?" Tekla asks, taken aback. "When did that - "
"Oh, but of course. I suppose even now that spider keeps secrets from you," she casually shrugs. Tekla tries casually glancing back at Kerrie's placid expression and finds nothing. Did Kerrie know what Renault was talking about?
"Yes," Renault answers. "Yes, I know what you were asking, no I cannot read minds, yes I can see the future," she rattles. "Only visions and possibilities, much like how just because you can see does not mean you know all about your own surroundings. Know that I say this, taxman, because I can see how the future rotates with each action I take."
"The money, then?" Kerrie skeptically asks.
Renault shrugs, unfazed. "I cannot see everything. I could not see whether you were a good group to gamble on before - now I can."
"That...still doesn't explain the bandit comment, esteemed Pillar," Tekla carefully says, aware that he is the least informed member of the group.
"Oh, it's quite simple," she coldly laughs. "What is the difference between a bandit and a taxman, tax collector?"
"They're nothing alike," Tekla says. "The taxman has the right and obligation to collect dues on behalf of a higher authority, and the bandit seeks only their own personal gain."
"Quoth the big bandit to the small bandit," Renault mockingly shrugs, before her gaze sharpened. "But you are correct about one thing: the great difference between a tax collector and a bandit is higher authority."
Kerrie narrows her eyes. "Are you saying that they've already rejected royal authority?"
"And now you reach the crux of it," Renault nods. "What royal authority? Does that even make coherent sense, when we live in a time without royalty?"
The three of them stare each other down, as if their reflections would show the future.
"I don't know. I cannot comprehend that," Renault finally admits, sighing. "All I know is that we have veered towards the path that punishes the greatest crime in Oskarian history," she says, gaze unfocused, "and have perhaps set the stage for something. Something even the future is terrified of."
Tekla's eyes widen. "You don't mean - ?"
"If I knew, I'd act like it," Renault grimaces. "But I don't, and I find the current situation unacceptable, so all that's left is a wild gamble."
The three stand there quietly, Kerrie now the one who understands the least. Tekla's mind can only come back to the Calamity Frames. The grove mourns the future unknown.
"Your faith is not misplaced," Tekla finally nods.
"I hope so."
Give Chase
DC: 10. Roll: 22 + 5.0 (Tax Cut) + 3 (Star of Oskaria) + 2 (Blessings of Oskaria) + 3.8 = 35.8
Agueda returns to an crusading army. Hot fury wafts off the marching army, fed by the blazing inferno of Ophelia-Oskaria's towering rage. It shakes the land with the fury of the zealous. Revelation grips the army, as they see the cause of the Beasts of Autumn.
The cause is simple. It is exactly what the old guard has always warned.
There are those who do not obey the old rituals. There are those who would callously disregard them for their own gain.
The spirits have retaliated with the Beasts of Autumn.
So then there is only one thing to do.
Right it.
All they need is a target.
Salaries and Wages Expense: 5 Budget
Army Expenses: 3 Budget
Net Loss: 8 Budget
Remaining Budget: 194
You now understand part of the situation.
For a while, the rate of Antigua's industrial expansion has bothered you. While one rich adventurer could help start the process, that was simply not enough to explain the continuing stock market boom - especially since the boom continued after the adventurer left. The explanation you've deduced now is simple: economic growth fueled by reckless exploitation of ducal lands, pumped into fueling growth of ducal allies, which went right back into the ducal coffers by conquest and an informal gifting economy which the King naturally was not allowed to tax - as per the special clarifying orders Renault has provided you. The introduction of the stock market was just other Antiguan nobles hitching a ride onto the duke's economic engine.
Of course, the only way the Duke was able to manage this was with two important methods: First, the reckless exploitation of ducal lands, and second, the recruitment of unrecognized colonists to do the dirty resource extraction.
But what gave the Duke the confidence to pull this off?!
The realization is a crushing weight.
Who do you blame for impiety? The obviously untrustworthy Colonists who recklessly cut away the forest and strip mine the earth, or the unimpeachable nobility who could crush you with an errant thought?
Who did you blame, when all you heard was that the greenskins were doing it?
And once you did, and you had your weapons in hand...
You look upon the fury of the army, and shrink in terror.
You may spend as much money as you have available.
You have three [Free] Action that may be spent in any category.
You can cooperate with your teammates to add +3 Base Stat to an action you are cooperating on.
You have six more months to register evidence before you have to start tangling with the new Registrar of Evidence.
Martial (Choose 1) {Ophelia-Oskaria Action}
[] [Martial] Knock Knock
Your army is looking for a target. If you point them in the direction of some of the lower level nobles, you might be able to get them to...pay more attention, when you speak. DC: 10. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Martial] Beast Hunt
The Beasts of Autumn are going active soon, and you know where some of them are. You may be able to hit some of them in advance. DC: 30. Cost: 0 Budget.
Killing the Beasts of Autumn is an autosuccess. Avoiding the army finding out about the greenskins is the higher DC. Due to the emphasis of Tactics, Tax Cut, Star of Oskaria, and Tools of the Trade will not apply.
[] [Martial] Threat In Being
For now, just have the army loiter around Antigua. You don't actually need it to hit something, and caution is probably the best policy. Maybe the cool fall weather will help them cool off. Cannot be taken with either Knock Knock or Beast Hunt. DC: 20. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Martial] Force Reduction
The army is too much of a pressure kettle. You need to wind it down. Mutaully exclusive with all other options. DC: 25 (Ophelia-Oskaria will not agree, and you will need to substitute someone else). Cost: 4 Budget.
Diplomacy (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Diplomacy] Registering Renault
Finding Ludivine Renault as a potential witness is an unbelievable coup for you - especially if you can confirm what she knows about the case and what she can testify about. Exclusive with Recruiting Renault. DC: 10. Cost: 2 Budget.
[] [Diplomacy] Recruiting Renault
On the one hand, Renault has not been successful on her own. Has she considered joining forces? She would be able to open up a few doors for you. Exclusive with Registering Renault. DC: 15. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Diplomacy] Questioning Barons
Okay, there's a limited number of people that could potentially be involved as the patsies for the Duke. You can begin by interrogating the lower barons - especially since at stake is the literal Beasts of Autumn. DC: 20. Cost: 4 Budget.
[] [Diplomacy] The Counts
You do know who in theory reports directly to the acting Regent for the territories where the fuel must be coming from. On the other hand, those people are Counts and possessed of their own infuriating pride. You'll need to arrange meetings to arrange meetings to talk to them. DC: 15. Cost: 4 Budget.
[] [Diplomacy] Thevenet
The slippery bastard would know something, and is certainly mercenary enough to take your coin. Any port in a storm, right? DC: 10. Cost: 20 Budget.
Intrigue (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Intrigue]Labor Camp Infiltration
You need to find the agents the acting Regent is using as cutouts to control the unrecognized Colonists - and you need to find the connection and prove it. DC: 25. Cost: 1 Budget.
[] [Intrigue] False Flags
You need to get the army to smash against some other target than the obvious Colonist targets. You have to make them target someone else, blame someone else. Preferably someone you're mostly certain is guilty. It will be a mess at best, but better than a pointless massacre. DC: 24. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Intrigue] Reconnecting Networks
You had an old network a few years ago here - you may have need of it again. DC: 20. Cost: 1 Budget.
Learning (Choose 1) {Tekla Action}
[] [Learning] Containers
It will cost you a significant amount to commission custom spirit containers - and custom they are - but it is also the only way you'll ever get any spirits to be able to testify. DC: 20. Cost: 50 Budget.
[] [Learning] Apothecaries
You have the chance to pick up a few potions along the way to boost your abilities further, so should you desire.DC: 15. Cost: 1-3 Budget.
Stewardship (Choose 1) {Ophelia-Oskaria Action}
[] [Stewardship] Registration of Letter Evidence
You have some legally obtained evidence. Well, it'll be legal after your expert touch is applied. You just need to register it. DC: 10. Cost: 2 Budget.
[] [Stewardship] The Migrant Paths
If all these greenskins, by Ophelia's wording, are coming from elsewhere, there are only a limited number of ways to even bring them in - especially if you need to dodge normal business as well. Find the path, and you may be able to lay an ambush for the Colonist traffickers. DC: 25. Cost: 0 Budget.
Piety (Choose 1) {Ophelia-Oskaria Action}
[] [Piety] Appeasing The Country Spirits of Antigua
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SOMEONE DO SOMETHING ANYTHING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA DC: 25. Cost: 10 Budget.
{Succeeding here starts you on the process, not resolving the issue in one shot - success or failure, the nature spirits are still boiling with anger} [] [Piety] Shifting the Blast Zone
You know what you're in the mood for? Directing some divine justice to where it's richly deserved. At least, in sort of the general direction? DC: 25. Cost: 10 Budget.
[] [Piety] Spiritual Testimony
Requires Containers. This is...an unfathomably large crime to be committed. If you can get spiritual attestation, the impact would be...hard to overstate. DC: 30. Cost: 2 Budget.
The pitch was simple, and could be handled by anybody. It should only be a task for an afternoon, if that.
"Hm. What do you plan to do about the Beasts of Autumn?"
"Burn them out, of course."
"I see. Well, then, I'm afraid I'll have to be observant just a little bit longer," she replied.
Between instants, she slipped out of sight, and all you can do is gnash your teeth. You can't be wasting your time tracking her down when you have so much else to do.
Showing back up in the province and stringing along the old contacts mostly gets you your network of low-ranking servants and merchants chatting casually about you about the weather and the "weather" again. Of note, not that you could possibly miss their presence, is that the nobles have simply chosen to stay home. If there was ever a nascent movement for Antigua to cleave away of Oskaria, the promise of Transylvanian riches and fear of the mighty Oskarian army seems to have made secession a much less desirable goal - especially with the Star and the Divine Gathering coming down as hard as possible in favor of Oskarian unity.
Of course, now the double agents are undoubtedly telling their masters that you're here, but you also have an army on your side - you doubt that they'll be trying anything too overt, and this time you have an army to help watch for the covert things.
It is done. Through incredible expense, you have your soul jars, remade for spirits should you manage to convince the spirits to get in to testify.
You're honestly dreading that more than you are hurting at the sheer expense of creating the jar.
Stewardship
Registration of Letter Evidence
DC: 10. Roll: 24 + 2 + 2 + 0.8 = 28.8
The registration, on the other hand, is actually as simple as sending a bright young person with money enough for the trip, and telling them to present the packages in order. The person does manage to come back in time to report that it has been successfully handed off to the registrar and summarily entered into the docket as trivial evidence about a minor dispute in the countryside - perfect to avoid notice from the higherups.
Piety
Appeasing the Country Spirits of Antigua
DC: 25. Roll: 24 + 2 + 7.1 = 33.1
Random Event Roll: 35
The discussion about what to do about the Beasts of Autumn was simplified through the overawing might of Oskaria's Star overhead. You knew where the Beasts of Autumn are located, and you can strike there first to dispel them before things truly get going in earnest. That was simple enough. The difficult part was in coordinating the motion of the army - Oskaria did not care very much whether or not they were in the way. After all, these people weren't of Oskaria - but you cared. Ophelia cared. And so Ophelia-Oskaria made the concession in favor of her embodied half.
It would be a difficult campaign, all the moreso because of the twin restrictions of the haphazardness of the army and attempting to avoid the forced labor campaigns. It would be one that would need all of you to cooperate heavily and then luck atop that.
And for the better part of the month, in between scouting the paths that must have been traced through the countryside as these forced laborers were brought into the country while off the main roads, regularly praying to the spirits and erecting sacred shrines where you went, while shouting to the uncaring wilderness that the true culprits will be brought to justice, so please stay your hand oh great spirits, you miraculously succeed. Time and again you realize that if only one person in your group had turned their head or the greenskins had decided to wonder what the great trampling and howls of the beasts of Autumn were, everything would have gone wrong.
One day, you are not lucky. The path is too developed, and the men softly with the underlying anger of long frustration of the endless marching, of the endless refusals to follow paths, demand to follow the path to the town that must be there. You cannot keep them under control - they simply march off without care.
They find one of the labor camps, erected in a hurry.
They do not find shrines.
They arrive at a conclusion.
The first labor camp becomes a pyre of innocents, offered up by an army furious in their just righteousness to the equally furious spirits of the forests. You can feel more than you see the rumor spread, and from there smoke plume after smoke plume fills the horizons. Not even Ophelia in all her brilliant glory can stop her army from lunging ahead to join in the bloodbath. Systematically stripped of weapons, all the greenskins can do is die. Begging, cursing, what difference does it make in the end.
It is the sight of a child cursing Ophelia with their last breath that dims her light for the first time in months.
Cost of Goods Sold: 50 Budget.
Spiritual Expense: 20 Budget.
Salaries and Wages Expense: 4 Budget.
Army Expense: 3 Budget.
Other Expense: 3 Budget.
Net Loss: 80 Budget.
Remaining Budget: 114
Rumor spreads faster than the wind. With the rumor beats the angry march of peasants convinced that the reason for their misfortunes has been identified - the damned greenskins, the damned horned ones, the damned Colonists in general. The Oskarian land is watered with blood, the spirits give a great gust of satisfaction, and you get the distinct feeling that only your proximity to the flickering Maiden of Light is keeping you and yours alive - especially since the army is now in a downright mutiny, breaking off from your command to go find more Colonists.
What they'll do, well.
You may spend as much money as you have available.
You have three [Free] Action that may be spent in any category.
You can cooperate with your teammates to add +3 Base Stat to an action you are cooperating on.
You have five more months to register evidence before you have to start tangling with the new Registrar of Evidence.
Ophelia-Oskaria is wavering. Ophelia and Oskaria are coming to a clash, as Oskaria sees nothing wrong with the bloodshed. Ophelia does.
Martial (Choose 1) {Ophelia-Oskaria? Action}
[] [Martial] Company Hires
You don't feel safe right now - perhaps hiring a band of professional mercenaries is in your best interests right now. DC: 20. Costs: 4 Budget.
[] [Martial] Drumming Up Support
You know who else isn't feeling very safe right now - the community leaders watching all these bands of outside peasants roaming through their country looking for something to burn. It will be tricky, but Ophelia might be able to coordinate them. Of course, they've all heard the rumors too...DC: 22. Cost: 0 Budget.
Diplomacy (Choose 1) {Tekla Action}
[] [Diplomacy] Requesting Barony Meetings
Well, you've gone and removed the threat of the Beasts of Autumn, and you have no armies to control. With those two factors gone, even the Barons might only deign to give you the time of day - after you've sufficiently feted their egos, of course. DC: 20. Cost: 4 Budget. Will require second Action.
[] [Diplomacy] The Merchant Elite
On the other hand, the merchant guild may be more amenable to listening to you - well, more strictly, how much you're willing to pay for them to talk with you. DC: 25. Cost: 10 Budget.
[] [Diplomacy] The Cooperatives
You can go find the cooperatives to see if you cannot rouse an ally - but you suspect the call of purging the Beasts of Autumn is too great a clarion call. DC: 20. Costs: 0 Budget.
Intrigue (Choose 1) {Kerrie/Agueda Action}
[] [Intrigue] Direct Action
Screw it, you'll obtain the evidence through direct investigation. Even if you have no real clues besides general location. Surely if you raid enough baronies someone is going to know something. DC: 20. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Intrigue] Whispers
The fact that your network is so compromised actually makes it perfect for the purpose of discreetly notifying the nobility about why they're about to see their tax revenues collapse - which should make them very willing to hear you out, provided they trust you. DC: 10. Cost: 0 Budget.
Learning (Choose 1) {Tekla Action}
[] [Learning] Special Tooling
Tekla says he's noticed something, and might be able to scrounge a tool to figure it out with the assorted scraps, some money, and time. DC: 25. Cost: 4 Budget.
[] [Learning] Illusive Gear
You need something to better hide your party members, now that anti-Colonist sentiment is so riled up. DC: 15. Cost: 2 Budget.
Stewardship (Choose 1) {Ophelia-Oskaria? Action}
[] [Stewardship] Calculating Net Losses
While this whole disaster is partly your fault, you will actually be able to use this in court presentation - specifically, by comparing volume of industry supplied before...well, before and after. DC: 25. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Stewardship] Documenting Conditions
Well, you'll probably have to do some jumping through hoops, but you can record the state of the settlements - admittedly after they've been burned down - and point out how illegal the settlements are. DC: 15. Cost: 0 Budget.
Piety (Choose 1) {Ophelia-Oskaria? Action}
[] [Piety] Requesting Spiritual Testimony
Well, honestly, you could ask this of anyone by this point, but you would hate to waste having all the expense of the soul container go to waste. Perhaps getting one of these spirits to testify would be worth it. DC: 35. Cost: 10 Budget.
[] [Piety] Reaffirming Oskarian Blessings
Tensions between Ophelia and Oskaria - frankly, between Oskaria and your party in general - have risked the blessings of Oskaria you currently wield. Maybe you can fix that. DC: 20. Cost: 4 Budget.
[] [Piety] At the Edges
Requires Special Tooling. Will use Tekla Piety of 16. Tekla's saying that he's picking up on something - and wants permission to spend time investigating. DC:???. Cost: 2 Budget.
