- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This wouldn't have been a foreign sponsor. It would have just been someone using their clout to let us keep a seat on the delegation to the Shi Anh traders.
I'm a High Fantasy Tax Collector, So What? A CKII Tax Collector Quest
- Thread starter hYGP
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
-
- Tags
- death ck2 quest all proceeds go to real spiders are we revolutionaries or reactionaries today criminal justice discussion makes the gm fuzzy don't count your boats before they sail granary management if i lose my meows get me likes to replace them justice spider knock knock it's the finance ministry meows for discussion while supplies last taxation taxes this is not an empire quest
This wouldn't have been a foreign sponsor. It would have just been someone using their clout to let us keep a seat on the delegation to the Shi Anh traders.
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Doesn't the 'delegation' refer to the Shi Anh?
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
No, at least not in this case. There are two delegations, the Shi Anh one and the Oskarian one. We currently have a place on the latter that we were on the verge of losing, but won't now due to our noble sponsor thanks to Random's choice. The delegation sponsor would have just been to secure our position on the delegation while the local church sponsor would have been more general in nature, at least from what I can tell.
Not that I disapprove of your choice or anything since the crit choices were all the ones that I would have chosen.
CASE: THE WEB OF TREASON MONTH 16
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Martial
Who's Who
DC: 20. Roll: 17 + 2 + 4.6 + 0.6 = 24.2
Stewardship
Appraisals
DC: Scaling Low. Roll: 24 + 4.6 + 1.4 + 3 + 9.7 = 42.7.
Piety
The Spirits Aboard the Ship
DC: 24. Roll: 23 + 2 + 2 + 3.6 = 30.6
Random Event Roll: 83
The Five Eyes of Mortal Divinity
The gap between the greatest work of mortals and the least of the divinities is at once both smaller than the preachings of the central Church, and larger than the imagination of those who reject the Firmament.
Yet the two are simultaneously correct in their incorrectness.
Because the Unitarians are correct that mortals can exceed the abilities of the least divinities, and the Church is correct that the heights of divine skill cannot be achieved by mortals alone.
Personally, you suspect the Libertines are most likely correct - but then again, you are busy proving their theories correct.
For those who lay eyes upon the Appraiser, the Judge of Value, and the Weigher of the Scales know that they have witnessed divinity - a specific Justice.
With four eyes of flesh and one of glass, the Appraiser accepts the offerings of Oskaria'sCounts and Dukes , the prayers of the merchants , and the stipulations of the spirits . The negotiations are at once so simple that a mere child could understand it and so complicated only divinity would be capable of comprehending their complexities .
So here it is that Agueda the Just steps in, and dispenses his verdicts.
Evidence is discovered through Agueda's access to the Celestial Librarian's Associate with pious words and the grand library of the University with mystic sight. Information is processed through the mind that spins ten thousand thoughts across one thousand instants. Judgement is made by the assessor's Justice, and so it is done once and a thousand times more. The shadow of high Justice looms behind the Agueda's Five Eyes, and the image of Agueda's Five Eyes becomes the depiction of Justice on high.
So it is witnessed by all present, and heard by all those who listen to the everpresent swirl of rumors, that a spirit of fair bargains has arrived in Cille - one spider with five eyes.
Intrigue
Some Long Delayed Questions
DC: 27. Roll: 22 + 2 + 9.9 = 33.9
I Have Come to Repent
Among all the Dukes and Counts in attendance is one Duke Cecille - and thus, the Duke's most trusted retainer Sigrun from that one lovely stroll in the Royal Garden a year and change ago. Arranging a meeting is a simple matter - an inquiry to follow up on a previous conversation, privately.
That makes the second, much larger cloaked figure accompanying Sigrun to your meeting place quite the rude surprise. The figure's face is cloaked in a darkness you suspect is magical, draped over a human frame - or at least, close enough. The cloak is battered and old, and yet you can tell it does not quite fit, for where the original wearer must have been tall and stout, the person it is wrapped around is only tall.
You narrow your eyes at Sigrun, who only helplessly shrugs. The robed figure slowly and ponderously raises old and wrinkled hands up to the cowl and pulls it back. The darkness hides into the folds of the cowl, the light revealing a human man's face marred by time, framed by hair whitened by age.
"I apologize for surprising you," the man began, "but there are certain messages that must be personally delivered. No intermediary could display my sincerity as Duke Cecille properly," he sighs.
You tilt your head in surprise as the Duke plunges ahead with his rehearsed lines.
"I swear this to you, that here and now I will speak the truth, only the truth, and all the truth," he weightily intoned. "By the spirits of Cecille and mighty Justice, may they bind me with the mantle of dishonor and distrust should I forswear this oath."
The air itself grew heavy in acknowledgement of the power of those words, as Sigrun quietly steps back from the meeting.
He falls silent, gaze sinking as he ponders his next words - and though he must have chosen his speech well in advance, the contents and the weight still must have given him pause.
"I see now that I was foolish," he begins. "I am thankful that I was watched by so many spirits, since with hindsight I see that they sent down many signals that I was steering my house and my loyalties wrongly. I must especially thank the Maiden in Light for correcting my mistaken belief that the honor of those who seek to induce others commit treachery for their own gain would be worth anything less than the air they used to promise riches with. I owe a debt of gratitude, which I hope you will bear forward to the Maiden in Light," he says, the words naturally filling the space they were always meant to fill.
"Consider it done," you nod.
"Thank you," he sighs. "Though on behalf of my errant nephew, I owe you another apology for unbecoming behavior," he says without confidence.
"Then I hope you will convey my forgiveness," you lie.
"That is gracious of you, Agueda of the Colonies," he heavily says, as you cock your head. "Yes, I am aware of the investigation you were sent to conduct, and thus I wish to testify under oath: that as per my oaths to the king, my name shall defend this land given by service and by divine blessings, and the body politic as a whole to me. My name shall do so to the ends of earth and heaven, and should any of my name prove untrue to this oath they shall be immediately excised from it," he venomously spits. "Cecille shall be a stalwart and trustworthy name for the Crown, Agueda. Have full confidence in that."
Diplomacy
An Invitation
DC: 28. Roll: 20 + 3 + 2 + 0.3 = 25.3
Unfortunately, your invitation to relocate falls upon suspiciously deaf ears - for some reason, protocol must be observed first here rather than in any of the steps along the way, according to the lackey that Xin Jin has now sent you. Irritating, but you believe this is mostly a matter of looking to secure some final advantages before moving onward to the capital - or potentially simply leaving, once the initial rights are established in Cille.
Diplomacy
The Church
DC: 22. Roll: 20 + 2 + 9.8 = 31.8.
Besim Rosenberg Must Not Interfere
The higher-up church delegation is quite surprised to see you - and you likewise. It is exceedingly unpleasant to have to be in the same room - and you very suddenly realize that the man had very intentionally chosen his lemon perfume to irritate you at all times, just in case. It curdles in your gut, and the look of disgust taking over his rounded features pleases you greatly.
"Who let...it speak for the Church?" Besim says, to the looks of shock of the local priesthood. "Surely his presence is an embarrassment to our country and our spirits during these...delicate negotiations," he continues on, blissfully unaware of his other delegation members growing dismay as the local clergy whisper to them on the side.
"Justice," you retort. "If this Bishop's ability to communicate with the spirits has degraded this far, I strongly suggest that he be removed before he embarrasses the Church further during these delicate negotiations," you retort. "After all," you singsong, gesturing to his other delegation members, "he can't even do the bare minimum due diligence of opening his ears. Naturally, I leave the decision in your capable hands."
Besim Rosenberg is quickly and quietly pulled aside after that, and every day you don't see his ugly mug, the sun seems to shine a little bit brighter.
Intrigue
Networking Opportunities
DC: 20. Roll: 22 + 2 + 2.0 = 26.0.
It's only been a year since you last did some proper intelligence work, and yet you feel like you've lost your edge somewhat. On the other hand, the network you have produced has told you that some of the Etrellan nobility have decided to swing by Cille and coincidentally meet with some nobles with some very large bodyguard complements in secret, so you can't be all that out of practice. In fact, they've even give you your choice of targets to investigate, since some of them happen to be maidservants who you strongly suspect are already agents for another aiming to spread damaging information as widely as possible.
How fortunate for you. How unfortunate for the Duke Euryelis and his social club of Counts.
Learning
Potions For Sale
DC: Scaling. Roll: 23 + 5.8 + 8.2 = 37.0
"I can't believe you sold it for that much on so little," Tekla remarks. "And all it took was a little lying?"
"No, I told the truth," you absolutely truthfully say. "I specifically said that we made these potions after receiving enlightenment from the Orient, which is completely true. We had an enlightening conversation, and then we made them. Quite simple, no?"
"We could've made them beforehand though - we didn't learn anything about potionmaking from the Shi Anh, though," Tekla drily replies.
"Who needs to tell the Duke's courtiers that? Besides, their reputation is riding on the line too - they can't afford to be the ones who failed to obtain a 'treasure of the Orient' for their houses, and we just happen to have a...special relationship. By the point it reaches their hands and goes on to the Duke, our reputation becomes a matter of their reputation, and so any price becomes justified. Simple enough, eh?"
"I suppose," Tekla said, corking the conversation with another set of potions for distribution.
The plume of smoke on the horizon alerts you to the fact that something has gone badly wrong. In the midst of mild April on the southern coast, the conditions aren't right for a scentless fire in the warehouse district. With every one of your quickened steps you spin out another possibility, the vast majority a frayed line leading to an gap too far to support the weight of the future. The traitorous salty breeze seems to be blowing the wrong way past your hairs pressed flat by your speed. The rooftops seem to fill up with adventurers sprinting towards the smoke, but none move as swiftly as you do.
Even as you move as swiftly as possible, however, you're scanning the skyline out of habit. So when the shingles "coincidentally" shine in the twilight gleam, you're already bracing for the slipperiness of the oil slicked tiles and watching out for the hands looking to finish the job.
Then you think for a second, even as you twirl around a shadowed figure attempting to deniably delay you.
You don't know how long the fire has been burning. You don't even know whether your warehouse has even been affected yet. If you can reach your warehouse and reach the Wintercore Wand, quenching the fire would be a trivial matter - but that is a large if to be sacrificing your one possible lead.
[] Quench
Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
[] Chase
Give up on the flammable, delicate, and exposed items - though there may be a chance to salvage some items if you're lucky. If. Only the Box of Frames is guaranteed to survive. All other items will be rolled.
Who's Who
DC: 20. Roll: 17 + 2 + 4.6 + 0.6 = 24.2
Stewardship
Appraisals
DC: Scaling Low. Roll: 24 + 4.6 + 1.4 + 3 + 9.7 = 42.7.
Piety
The Spirits Aboard the Ship
DC: 24. Roll: 23 + 2 + 2 + 3.6 = 30.6
Random Event Roll: 83
The Five Eyes of Mortal Divinity
The gap between the greatest work of mortals and the least of the divinities is at once both smaller than the preachings of the central Church, and larger than the imagination of those who reject the Firmament.
Yet the two are simultaneously correct in their incorrectness.
Because the Unitarians are correct that mortals can exceed the abilities of the least divinities, and the Church is correct that the heights of divine skill cannot be achieved by mortals alone.
Personally, you suspect the Libertines are most likely correct - but then again, you are busy proving their theories correct.
For those who lay eyes upon the Appraiser, the Judge of Value, and the Weigher of the Scales know that they have witnessed divinity - a specific Justice.
With four eyes of flesh and one of glass, the Appraiser accepts the offerings of Oskaria's
So here it is that Agueda the Just steps in, and dispenses his verdicts.
Evidence is discovered through Agueda's access to the Celestial Librarian's Associate with pious words and the grand library of the University with mystic sight. Information is processed through the mind that spins ten thousand thoughts across one thousand instants. Judgement is made by the assessor's Justice, and so it is done once and a thousand times more. The shadow of high Justice looms behind the Agueda's Five Eyes, and the image of Agueda's Five Eyes becomes the depiction of Justice on high.
So it is witnessed by all present, and heard by all those who listen to the everpresent swirl of rumors, that a spirit of fair bargains has arrived in Cille - one spider with five eyes.
Intrigue
Some Long Delayed Questions
DC: 27. Roll: 22 + 2 + 9.9 = 33.9
I Have Come to Repent
Among all the Dukes and Counts in attendance is one Duke Cecille - and thus, the Duke's most trusted retainer Sigrun from that one lovely stroll in the Royal Garden a year and change ago. Arranging a meeting is a simple matter - an inquiry to follow up on a previous conversation, privately.
That makes the second, much larger cloaked figure accompanying Sigrun to your meeting place quite the rude surprise. The figure's face is cloaked in a darkness you suspect is magical, draped over a human frame - or at least, close enough. The cloak is battered and old, and yet you can tell it does not quite fit, for where the original wearer must have been tall and stout, the person it is wrapped around is only tall.
You narrow your eyes at Sigrun, who only helplessly shrugs. The robed figure slowly and ponderously raises old and wrinkled hands up to the cowl and pulls it back. The darkness hides into the folds of the cowl, the light revealing a human man's face marred by time, framed by hair whitened by age.
"I apologize for surprising you," the man began, "but there are certain messages that must be personally delivered. No intermediary could display my sincerity as Duke Cecille properly," he sighs.
You tilt your head in surprise as the Duke plunges ahead with his rehearsed lines.
"I swear this to you, that here and now I will speak the truth, only the truth, and all the truth," he weightily intoned. "By the spirits of Cecille and mighty Justice, may they bind me with the mantle of dishonor and distrust should I forswear this oath."
The air itself grew heavy in acknowledgement of the power of those words, as Sigrun quietly steps back from the meeting.
He falls silent, gaze sinking as he ponders his next words - and though he must have chosen his speech well in advance, the contents and the weight still must have given him pause.
"I see now that I was foolish," he begins. "I am thankful that I was watched by so many spirits, since with hindsight I see that they sent down many signals that I was steering my house and my loyalties wrongly. I must especially thank the Maiden in Light for correcting my mistaken belief that the honor of those who seek to induce others commit treachery for their own gain would be worth anything less than the air they used to promise riches with. I owe a debt of gratitude, which I hope you will bear forward to the Maiden in Light," he says, the words naturally filling the space they were always meant to fill.
"Consider it done," you nod.
"Thank you," he sighs. "Though on behalf of my errant nephew, I owe you another apology for unbecoming behavior," he says without confidence.
"Then I hope you will convey my forgiveness," you lie.
"That is gracious of you, Agueda of the Colonies," he heavily says, as you cock your head. "Yes, I am aware of the investigation you were sent to conduct, and thus I wish to testify under oath: that as per my oaths to the king, my name shall defend this land given by service and by divine blessings, and the body politic as a whole to me. My name shall do so to the ends of earth and heaven, and should any of my name prove untrue to this oath they shall be immediately excised from it," he venomously spits. "Cecille shall be a stalwart and trustworthy name for the Crown, Agueda. Have full confidence in that."
Diplomacy
An Invitation
DC: 28. Roll: 20 + 3 + 2 + 0.3 = 25.3
Unfortunately, your invitation to relocate falls upon suspiciously deaf ears - for some reason, protocol must be observed first here rather than in any of the steps along the way, according to the lackey that Xin Jin has now sent you. Irritating, but you believe this is mostly a matter of looking to secure some final advantages before moving onward to the capital - or potentially simply leaving, once the initial rights are established in Cille.
Diplomacy
The Church
DC: 22. Roll: 20 + 2 + 9.8 = 31.8.
Besim Rosenberg Must Not Interfere
The higher-up church delegation is quite surprised to see you - and you likewise. It is exceedingly unpleasant to have to be in the same room - and you very suddenly realize that the man had very intentionally chosen his lemon perfume to irritate you at all times, just in case. It curdles in your gut, and the look of disgust taking over his rounded features pleases you greatly.
"Who let...it speak for the Church?" Besim says, to the looks of shock of the local priesthood. "Surely his presence is an embarrassment to our country and our spirits during these...delicate negotiations," he continues on, blissfully unaware of his other delegation members growing dismay as the local clergy whisper to them on the side.
"Justice," you retort. "If this Bishop's ability to communicate with the spirits has degraded this far, I strongly suggest that he be removed before he embarrasses the Church further during these delicate negotiations," you retort. "After all," you singsong, gesturing to his other delegation members, "he can't even do the bare minimum due diligence of opening his ears. Naturally, I leave the decision in your capable hands."
Besim Rosenberg is quickly and quietly pulled aside after that, and every day you don't see his ugly mug, the sun seems to shine a little bit brighter.
Intrigue
Networking Opportunities
DC: 20. Roll: 22 + 2 + 2.0 = 26.0.
It's only been a year since you last did some proper intelligence work, and yet you feel like you've lost your edge somewhat. On the other hand, the network you have produced has told you that some of the Etrellan nobility have decided to swing by Cille and coincidentally meet with some nobles with some very large bodyguard complements in secret, so you can't be all that out of practice. In fact, they've even give you your choice of targets to investigate, since some of them happen to be maidservants who you strongly suspect are already agents for another aiming to spread damaging information as widely as possible.
How fortunate for you. How unfortunate for the Duke Euryelis and his social club of Counts.
Learning
Potions For Sale
DC: Scaling. Roll: 23 + 5.8 + 8.2 = 37.0
"I can't believe you sold it for that much on so little," Tekla remarks. "And all it took was a little lying?"
"No, I told the truth," you absolutely truthfully say. "I specifically said that we made these potions after receiving enlightenment from the Orient, which is completely true. We had an enlightening conversation, and then we made them. Quite simple, no?"
"We could've made them beforehand though - we didn't learn anything about potionmaking from the Shi Anh, though," Tekla drily replies.
"Who needs to tell the Duke's courtiers that? Besides, their reputation is riding on the line too - they can't afford to be the ones who failed to obtain a 'treasure of the Orient' for their houses, and we just happen to have a...special relationship. By the point it reaches their hands and goes on to the Duke, our reputation becomes a matter of their reputation, and so any price becomes justified. Simple enough, eh?"
"I suppose," Tekla said, corking the conversation with another set of potions for distribution.
The plume of smoke on the horizon alerts you to the fact that something has gone badly wrong. In the midst of mild April on the southern coast, the conditions aren't right for a scentless fire in the warehouse district. With every one of your quickened steps you spin out another possibility, the vast majority a frayed line leading to an gap too far to support the weight of the future. The traitorous salty breeze seems to be blowing the wrong way past your hairs pressed flat by your speed. The rooftops seem to fill up with adventurers sprinting towards the smoke, but none move as swiftly as you do.
Even as you move as swiftly as possible, however, you're scanning the skyline out of habit. So when the shingles "coincidentally" shine in the twilight gleam, you're already bracing for the slipperiness of the oil slicked tiles and watching out for the hands looking to finish the job.
Then you think for a second, even as you twirl around a shadowed figure attempting to deniably delay you.
You don't know how long the fire has been burning. You don't even know whether your warehouse has even been affected yet. If you can reach your warehouse and reach the Wintercore Wand, quenching the fire would be a trivial matter - but that is a large if to be sacrificing your one possible lead.
[] Quench
Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
[] Chase
Give up on the flammable, delicate, and exposed items - though there may be a chance to salvage some items if you're lucky. If. Only the Box of Frames is guaranteed to survive. All other items will be rolled.
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Quench Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
We worked so hard for it all. Finding suspects can come later.
We worked so hard for it all. Finding suspects can come later.
This is quite the issue here....
Saves our items, and limits the fire damage, and if we are really lucky, we might find a lead among the wreckage
Chases the saboteur at the cost of ignoring the fire, meaning we are likely to lose a good portion of our stuff, but if we catch him/her, we get a lead.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
Only if we roll above an unknown DC though. Keep that in mind.
- Location
- USA
[x] Chase
[X] Quench Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
Any halfway decent plotter would have the arsonist hired through a cutout.
Any halfway decent plotter would have the arsonist hired through a cutout.
- Location
- New York
[X] Quench Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
- Location
- The state of Paranoia
[X] Quench Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
- Location
- Pittsburgh PA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Quench Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
[X] Quench Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
A single lead now isn't worth the additional losses our items will take.
A single lead now isn't worth the additional losses our items will take.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Quench
[X] Quench
-[X] Use a Major Boon
-[X] Use a Major Boon
Last edited:
Can we spend anything to bias the rolls?
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
This would be exactly the kind of thing that a Major or Minor Boon would help you out with, isn't it?
Attaching a Major Boon will add +30 to all rolls this update. Attaching a Minor Boon will add +10 to all rolls this update. You may not pick both, and you may not spend more than one of either. Voting will, at a minimum, be extended to .
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Quench Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
-[X] Use a Major Boon
Changing my vote.
-[X] Use a Major Boon
Changing my vote.
[X] Quench Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
-[X] Use a Major Boon
-[X] Use a Major Boon
- Location
- Pittsburgh PA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Quench Gamble on being able to make it back to the warehouse and being able to use the Wintercore Wand to put out the fire before it damages too many of your items. Roll above ?? to successfully quench the fire.
-[X] Use a Major Boon
-[X] Use a Major Boon