Mind Your Manor(s)

[HousePet]

We should tour the Estate sometime and find out what loot we got from our debtors forfeiting their collateral.

 

[Swordude]

Alright, gonna call it here.

Question for those here, would you prefer voting to go until I'm ready to write next post or for a certain amount of time post update? We're not exactly 'A Sword Without A Hilt' here so I'm not super concerned I just want to know.

 

[HousePet]

Unless you are inexplicably doing more than one update per day, I don't really mind.

 

[perfectgeneral]

I'm seeing the votes as an opinon survey than direct democracy. As long as an idea of direction and strength of feeling comes across, the rule in the breech hardly matters.

 

[Swordude]

Spoiler: "Winning Results"

[X]Plan Invest but get more stats
-[X]The whole lot (-25 Wealth, +10 Wealth per turn for the mines, ??? )
-[X] I've been everywhere man: Gain +2 Stronk and +2 Smarts. Of travel You've a'had your share, man. ++Poetic
-[X]Debt Consolidation
-[X] Personal Studies (Costs nothing but time at current levels)
--[X] Travel toughens the body, best not let that go to waist (haha). DC Hardish.
-[X]Get the Laborium cleaned up and properly dispose of any contaminants (Expensive)
--[X]Get Vivian to do it

No ear at the bar wasn't listening to the discussion of the two dwarven brothers after the forman's outcry and there was little movement as the dwarf from the Duke's castle tipped back his stein to finish his drink.

Only when his beer was gone to the last drop and the foam wiped from his mustachio did the dwarf reach into his pouch and dropped a thick folder of papers nearly an inch thick top of the table with a dull fwap.

"His Grace, Duke Hector Emperoza de Richards Osvaldio Inigo Cavilrestora VII, wishes the miners and workers of the Adamant mines to be both as safe and as productive as possible. To this end he has set aside a rather considerable sum to be dispensed as needed in order to implement everything on that list. His Grace eagerly awaits the response from the miner's guild and looks forward to hearing of your future progress.

The dwarf pulls a quill from his bag and hands it to the Gur'nzek.

"You'll just need to sign on the dotted lines."

Majordomo Bestwin doesn't manage to make it back until far into the night, and arrives stuffed full of booze, food and information from the enthusiastic miners.

The Mines will begin upgrading immediately. Each Upgrade takes increasing time to arrive and be implemented. The mines will now permanently produce +1 wealth per turn for the next 10 turns.

Bestwin has received a lot of information about the Cavilrestora countryside
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You, Hector Emperoza de Richards Osvaldio Inigo Cavilrestora VII, sign off the payment forms with a flourish, the burst of energy going forth when you realize that was the final monthly form.

Mine Profit: 13 Wealth
Flax Mills Profit: 2 Wealth
Monthly Expenses: -9(Castile Maintenance(3), Staff Pay(3), Retainer Pay(3))
Mine Payment: -25 Wealth
Total Wealth: 7

With a disdainful eye you glance though the office yet again.

It isn't that it's a bad office. More… plain. And you find yourself stuck in it yet again going through the paperwork your erstwhile siblings have somehow managed to stick you with.

You sigh, no use cursing the dead. No matter how much you'd like to and they deserve it. You have better things to do; like tackling the rather larger sum of money you owe. It's a mess, has little backing or support and you presume that more than a single person would be happy to sell the debt for a pittance.

Savvy Roll: Lending one's Consol-idation. DC 35: 1d100+10(Savvy)-10(???): 37+0 = 37 (Bare Success!)

That's the idea anyway. It seems though that you might be a victim of your own success, as word has gotten out that you spent quite the fortune on investing in the mines and that means that surely the family has lots of money hidden away and besides when have you ever heard of a Duke defaulting on a debt?

So, it seems that you might have made your debt an actual solid commodity. Oops.

Still, you at least manage to get some local players to play Horst(1). Just perhaps, not as many as you would have liked. And with that you rise from your stool (Note, purchase a full sized chair as soon as funds are available. The stool isn't much better than the rather undersized chair you had used previously.) and makes haste towards the courtyard, the weather has changed towards the warm and you intend on enjoying it before it turns again to the hot!

Debt is now consolidated 20% decreasing it to 141 Wealth
DC for next consolidation has been raised.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You wipe the sweat from your brow as you swing your ironwood cudgel in the proscribed kata once again. It had been some time since you were last able to free the time to train, but now that you have you must admit that you missed it. It was a constant ritual whilst you traveled, something you could perform no matter the locale or peoples you surround yourself with.

The method you used called for the accompaniment of music, or at least a drum but that was something you lacked usually so you needed to make due as you could. Your solution was a rhythmic mnemonic you sang to yourself to both keep a steady beat and to categorize your travels.

You may be saying so yourself, but you found it rather catchy and would often find yourself singing along to it, or at least muttering it during your long stretches of travel on empty roads.

You'd been singing it to yourself, immersing yourself deeper into the training when you came to a sudden stop, having forgotten the next verse. It was only when you heard an impact on the ground next to you that you realized you had company. It seems that the Company of the Six had joined you in your routine.

...as had your Guard Captain. Who was the one currently lying on the ground. He noticed your gaze and quickly stood up and gave a quick salute.

"Sorry Sirah, wasn't expecting you to stop like that so suddenly. We were making good time keeping up until then and the disjoint was jarring. Can't say I've heard that cadence before, It seems to work quite well though."

There's a chorus of nods at that. You're a tad nervous, not expecting to be performing in front of an audience. But you swallow the embarrassment and move to continue, this time allowing your voice to boom out louder.

Now, how did the next verse go again? Was it 'Crossed the deserts bare, man' or the listing of dwarven highland cities...

Trait Gained:

I've been everywhere man

Gain +2 Stronk and +2 Smarts. Of travel You've a'had your share, man. (++Poetic )

Stronk Roll: Gainsing Ground DC 45: 1d100+14(Stronk): 99+14 = 113 (Great Success!)

Stronk +4 from training!

The Company of the Six and Remial both gain slight improvements as well due to the impromptu training session.
Remial Stronk +2
Guard Quality +5
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You are Vivian. Assist Former Assistant to Her Grace Bianca Ines Teresa Cavilrestora. You have a last name, but the current seated Duke is the only one other than your lady who has been able to pronounce it. Actually come to think of it, the current Duke Hector actually knew what it signified too, something your lady never mentioned if she knew. That wasn't all that common outside of the Drow Isles and their direct trading partners.

Name musings aside, Duke Hector has assigned you to finally deal with the aftermath of the laborium's… exit. As the only remaining staff member it falls to you to separate the wheat from the chaff from the magically tainted assassin vines.

Perhaps now would be a bad time to mention that you mostly only took notes and filed reports?

Still, you suppose it's not much worse than the problems that the Duke himself has had to deal with since he's been instated. You plan on doing your best, and perhaps one day you might find yourself at the head of such a group?

You suppose that's a plan for the future, you're quite young afterall, only 117(2). It will take time for you to grow into such a role.

State of the Lab: 1d100-20(Years without a ruler): 33-20 = 13 (Ashes and Dust)

In the meantime you begin directing some of the spare staff and hired porters to begin clearing the obvious debris and damaged materials. Some you will be able to salvage, some you will be able to scavenge into makeshift material, but it seems like most of it is for the birds. The only things you note of worth are the remaining reinforced walls, floor and the twisted remains of the bunkers.

Most of the laborers are directed to prising the runed stone blocks from the walls and the same for the stone tiles from the floor while the general servants are instructed to group everything else according to whether its final destination is a firepit, a gravel pit or a refuse pile.

SHAZAM roll: What did you Resi-do? DC 25: 1d100+9(Vivian's SHAZAM): 36+9 = 45 (Success!)

It's around then that you notice something… not amazing. One of the laborers was about to interrupt a completed magic circle you hadn't noticed under a pile of other garbage. It was only by the narrowest margin that you were able to stop them from breaking the circle in the most violent way, which considering the worker in question is a human may have ended poorly for everyone but him.

Thankfully, you delivered your warning in time and called off any further reclamation of the flooring until future notice so hopefully that won't be happening again. Not seeing much else to do with your time you begin to go over the circle, stopping whenever another section of floor is cleared enough for your inspection.

SHAZAM roll: Circular Arguments DC 20/40/80: 1d100+9(Vivian's Shazam): 26+9 = 35 (Minimum Success!)

Well. You think as you begin to square your stacks of notes off. It's a Circle alright. A full-on one, not just a decoration and you can tell it's at least been activated but more than that you can't say. Though it doesn't look like a usual Wizard's circle. You can see runes for Categorization(3) but that's about as much as you recognize. Of course you'd be the first to say you're no expert in any field, perhaps just an initiate Wizard if anything so who knows.

Still, it doesn't seem to be harming anything as far as you can see, and you'd going to need to reference some of your surviving notes and the few remaining books the Castile has, but the light in the area has become horrendous why is…

Oh. The sun is going down.

That would explain why all the other works left.

Perhaps this is a project for another day. Still, the Laborium has been cleaned as much as it can be. So there's that.

-2d6 Wealth: 8

+Reinforced construction materials

The Laborium has been cleaned, cleared and most-importantly: remains unblown up.
You'll need to begin construction anew to make use of it though as it's been stripped to the floors, but unless you use the materials it'll at least be discounted.

An action has been added to further investigate the remaining circle.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Current Wealth: -1 (There's some workers with IOUs, they're getting 2 wealth next time you've got money)
Current Debt: 141
Current Rumors: You've heard very little from the city and the castle but as soon as Bestwin wakes up from his night-long bender he passes on the sentiments and situation of the countryside. (75) (14) (45)

Information gathered:
State of the Countryside: 75
State of the Peasantry: 65
Peasantry Morale: 45+25(Mines Bonus)
Peasantry Loyalty: 48+12(Mines Bonus)
Current Infrastructure: 4
Maximum Infrastructure: 7
(Mines+Upgrades, Mills, Burgeoning Logging)
Mines: 60+50(Mine Upgrades once all upgrades are implemented)
Mills: 13
Logging: -20
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please vote by plan. Remember Hector has 2 actions and each retainer can perform 1 action. Vivian will be taking a -10 'Overworked' penalty to all rolls unless unused. Choices with 2 sets of '[]' take both actions.

Spoiler: "Actions"

Hector Only:
[] Debt Consolidation (Begin to make it easier to pay the debt owed) DC Tough.
[] Free Funds to pay the debt (Work to free some liquid capital so you can pay at least some of the debt back.) DC Challenging.
[] Read your mother's journal DC Medium
[] Investigate the box. DC ???
[] Just open the box, by any means. DC Meh
[] Expedite the arrival of the mining upgrades. Throwing money at the problem seems to be working so far.
[][] Expedite the arrival of the mining upgrades. Perhaps you can send someone with the Six to ensure everything is according to plan? (Begin Adventure)
[][] Expedite the arrival of the mining upgrades. Hiring some of those random adventurers that always seem to be about. (Begin Adventure)
[] Tour the Estate
-[] The Estate Itself At this point you've seen most of it
-[] The Libraries
-[] The Commons
-[] The Vaults
-[] The Woods
-[] The Laborium's Former Location
[] Tour the City
-[] The Markets
-[] The Industrial Area
-[] The Slums
-[] The Living Quarters
-[] The Temple District
-[] Wander
[] Focus your efforts. (Pick a choice from the 'Rule Others' above, you gain a re-roll to the choice unless the result is a Critical Failure)
-[] Pick What?
[] Meet With Someone (Meeting With a specific persona such as Retainers or other notables has a variety effect, it could affect stats, loyalty, possessions, reveal traits or do nothing but let the GM worldbuild.)
-[] Who With and about what?

Rule Others:
[] Personal Studies (Costs nothing but time at current levels)
-[] The gains call to you. Time to answer them. DC Hardish.
-[] Stepping lightly never really helped you before, but maybe it will now? DC Hardish.
-[] So. Many. New. Books. DC Meh.
-[] Between your father's notes on how to do it and your Greater brother's notes on how not to do it you might learn to savvy. DC Meh.
-[] Press the flesh, schmooze with some movers and/or shakers here in Garland. DC Hardish.
-[] For some reason you have a desire to read the dry journal of your mother again. DC Meh-ish.
[] Make Arrangements (If failed most of the wealth is retained)
-[] Arrange for repairs to the Castile. -1d6 Wealth for +1d20 to Castile State. DC Meh. (New Stone has arrived)
-[] Arrange for repairs to the Castile. Used the stone reclaimed from the Laborium for +1d20+3 to Castile State. DC Meh.
-[] Arrange for rebuilding the Laborium -3d6 2d6 wealth if reserved stone is used. DC Meh.
-[] Hire additional servants. -1d6 wealth for +1d20 to Staff State. DC Meh.
-[] Arrange for Staff Amenities. -1d6 wealth for +1d10 to Staff Loyalty and Morale. DC Meh.
-[] Hire. Some. Godsdamn. Guards. -1d6 wealth for +1d20 to Guard State. DC ??? (Resolve The current issues with hiring first.)
--[] Castile Guards
--[] City Guards
-[] Guard Training Maneuvers -1d6 Wealth for +10 to Guard Quality. DC ???
-[] Find retainers. -1d6+2 wealth to find worthy people to hire on with random stat focus, -1d8+2 if a specific stat is desired. DC ???
--[] Somebody Stronk
--[] Somebody Sneeki
--[] Somebody Smart
--[] Somebody Savvy
--[] Somebody with some SHAZAM
[] Investiage the large Circle in the remains of the Laborium. DC Hardish.
[] Examine the unknown staff... and for the God's Sake get it cleaned.
[] Look into the possibility of a shadow enemy (or perhaps even enemies!) Savvy/Sneeki DC Hard
[] Make plans for new windmills. (Spent Wealth to Build Grain Mills)
[] What's this I hear about logging? DC Meh.
[] Make plans for flax mill un-conversion (Nope. No back-ups)
[] Do Nothing

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)A sport, it involves a group of players with broad wooden blades trying to get a hardened leather ball past another group of players who have narrow wooden staves and into a set of dangling hoops guarded by a single player with a large shield. After a set time or set points scored the two sides would switch. Hector was always chosen as the 'Final Guard' much to his opponent's despair.
(2) Drow and elves both age extremely quickly physically in their youth, but then slow down around the age of 16. Both races age mentally much slower and the average elf or drow under 100 acts much like a human would from ages 16 to 20. Dwarves are of course sensible all the time, or so they say.
(3) A Law of Magic under the banner of Knowledge. It states that Magic will flow easier along repeated lines and concepts.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Hope everyone has a decent end of November holiday type season. As usual, feel free to ask me questions or whatever.

 

[Swordude]

Magik for Dummies:

Knowledge: (Users called Wizards)

• Law of Cognition: Understand Begets Power, aka the more you understand a process the better it works
• Law of Calibration: If It can be repeated, it works better subsequently.
• Law of Categorization: Magic Likes Patterns, also part of Flow.

Accumulation: (Users called Magnus or Mage)

• Law of Contagion: What Once Touched Always Touches, aka exposure breeds Consolidation
• Law of Consolidation: Like attracts Like, also part of Flow.
• Law of Compatibility: Balanced Scales Turn Easiest, aka Balanced elements make better magic

Invocation: (Users called Invokers)

• Law of Complicity: It's easier to affect the willing
• Law of Conciseness: Shorter effects work better, also part of Flow.
• Law of Competency: If it looks like it should work, it's more likely that it will.

Perversity: (Users called Chance-Dancers, Dancers, or Idiots)

• Law of Caution: Elimination of Risk is Elimination of Magic (High Risk = High Reward), also part of Flow.
• Law of Conflagration: If it goes in the fire it stays in the fire (Destruction cannot be undone, only re-done)
• Law of Consternation: If It can Go Wrong It Will, and if you call it on this you make it worse.

The following is added in a different hand, and the bottom of the page is slightly charred.

• (Unofficial) Law of Sapiens: Humans Invoke the Law of Consternation. Damnit Murphy!

 

[HousePet]

Well spending money seems out of the question.
I'd be up for some touring.
Could be worth sending Bestwin to check out that Logging thing.

 

[ALanos]

[X] City Tours and hope for an income
-[X] Tour the City
--[X] The Markets
-[X] Personal Studies (Costs nothing but time at current levels)
--[X] Between your father's notes on how to do it and your Greater brother's notes on how not to do it you might learn to savvy. DC Meh.
-[X] What's this I hear about logging? DC Meh.
--[X] Get Bestwin to do it.

 

[Thule]

[X] City Tours and hope for an income

 

[Blacksheep]

[X] City Tours and hope for an income

 

[TheShadowOfZama]

[X] City Tours and hope for an income

 

[R Besque]

[X] City Tours and hope for an income

Wow, this is super fun to read! I adore the Greater and Lesser sibling system (poor sisters! about half of them preserving the family honor), and the lighthearted tone of the story (the trait names are hilarious). The plan making confuses me, so I'm glad the actions are limited.

 

[Solarstream]

[X] City Tours and hope for an income

 

[perfectgeneral]

[X] Knuckle Down (and hope for an income)
-[X] Focus your efforts.
-[X] Personal Studies (Costs nothing but time at current levels)
--[X] Between your father's notes on how to do it and your Greater brother's notes on how not to do it you might learn to savvy. DC Meh-5.
-[X] What's this I hear about logging? DC Meh.
--[X] Get Bestwin to do it.

Seems legit and awaits funding in a responsible manner. Overheads will be -11? Our balance will be slow to move.

 

[Swordude]

I managed to continue to occupy space and progress though time enough to mark the achievement this week for the 27th time and celebrated with a Covid-safe celebration so I've been busy. Expect update Thurs or Fri.

 

[Swordude]

Spoiler: Winning Results

[X] City Tours and hope for an income
-[X] Tour the City
--[X] The Markets
-[X] Personal Studies (Costs nothing but time at current levels)
--[X] Between your father's notes on how to do it and your Greater brother's notes on how not to do it you might learn to savvy. DC Meh.
-[X] What's this I hear about logging? DC Meh.
--[X] Get Bestwin to do it.

Previous Wealth: -1
Mine Profit: 14 Wealth
'Flax' Mills Profit: 2 Wealth
Monthly Expenses: -9(Castile Maintenance(3), Staff Pay(3), Retainer Pay(3))
IOU Repayment: -2
Total Wealth: 5

You, Hector Emperoza de Richards Osvaldio Inigo Cavilrestora VII, shake your head ponderously as you go through the receipts, purchase orders and other such bureaucratic minutiae which details you rather meager available funds. 'Easy come, easy go.' as the Gnomes of Zurich say(1). You sign off on the last of the parchment which ensures that the workers you hired get their pay plus a bonus for inconvienience. Let not one say the Cavilrestora family doesn't pay their debts!

...You give the final envelope on your desk a glance from where it lurks as ominously as an envelope can. At least, you hope no one will say the Cavilrestora family doesn't pay what they owe. You desperately, fervently hope.

You push yourself back from the desk and stand stretching and rolling your shoulders as you do so when a thought strikes you. You'd recently uncovered some of your departed Father's writings on his time spent ruling, you were curious if he had ever encountered anything close to your current predicament. The only issue is that while your Father was quite the prolific writer, he had entire sagas-worth of material for every conceivable situation he had encountered; He had journals on what he had done, what he in perfect retrospect would do, what a foolish, boorish ruler would do(2), and even would spent great reams of parchments creating hypothetical changes to the scenarios or inventing new scenarios wholesale. However, for all of your Father's quantity of writing he severely lacked in quality of writing. He, just wasn't terribly good at conveying a point. The journals you had previously read were be filled with wandering tangents, unrelated enumerations, references to other missing journals or works and a damnable refusal to use modern Curvase(3).

Still, you figured you owed it to your father and your people to use every resource to better yourself! Even if it meant moderate-to-severe difficulty!

Savvy Roll: Prose and Cons DC 40: 1d100+10(Savvy)+5(What Not To Do Journals): 49+15 = 64 (Success!)

It's like pulling teeth, but as what happens whilst pulling teeth: enough effort does produce teeth. Err. Results.

You even found some specific reference which could prove useful to refer to in the future: 10.2-4A: Construction of bureaucratic infrastructure following a non-martial collapse(Sub-Sec: Bloodline), 1D-39C: Monetary Attacks and Other Market Aggressions and even 2X: On the re-consolidation of dispersed funding.

On the subject of that last one you turn back unconsciously at the envelope you had previously spent several hours successfully ignoring the existence of. You supposed you might as well take get it over with...

...

Any minute now.

...

Any second and you'll walk over to the desk, open the envelope and deal with the information within like a grown man and wise ruler.

...

Perhaps at tour around the city will give you the courage to deal with that final letter? Yes, that's a capital idea! It's just what the medicae ordered! Some fresh air and good walk to get the blood pumping, why you'll practically be a new man on your return, you do owe your people the best after all!

While none of your staff would ever say they saw you outright retreat from a piece of paperwork before, they will say you seem very excited to tour a city you were born and grew up in. Very excited indeed.

+2 To Savvy
Savvy Training DC increased
New Action Available regarding your father's writings
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It doesn't take long for you to make the walk down the cliffs from the Castile into Garland, you've long become used to treks which were both longer and over far more difficult terrain. The swamps of south-eastern Filkus come to mind. You let out a shudder at the thought of needing to trudge through the waist-deep, parasite-infested turgid waters again. And you had it easy, it was only waist-deep for you. The things you did for the sake of knowledge and learning.

Regardless, you arrive in the City of Garland with nary a puff about you, and begin the process of re-acquainting yourself with the city of your childhood. It's a tad of the odd side if you were to be honest. The streets remain the same, and some of the buildings you recognize, but you were gone for the better part of a decade and a half. The city has moved and changed without any regard for you, shops you remember moving, closing, expanding and shrinking. Here you saw a soap shop which you preferred the scents of having been replaced by what smells like a laundry-house for tanners. There you see what used to be a shop which was fire-bombed into cinders for harboring diabolists has been built up again into a clothing shop which based on the displays you noticed as you pass by all but worships a glossy silken fabric you fail to put name to.

You wander, aimlessly for the most part, and listen to the crowds of people -your people- going about their lives. Perhaps you overhear something of interest?

Sneeki Roll: Monger Those Rumors DC 15/30/60/90: 1d100-5(Sneeki)-10(IALH): 39-15 = 24 (Minimal Success)

Well, you don't so much learn anything in specific as much as you begin to get a general feeling for the city's peoples.

And gossip. You hear a lot of gossip. Mostly about people you've never met and probably never will meet.

Spoiler: City Information

State of the City: ???
State of the Citizens: 78
Citizen Morale: 99
Citizen Loyalty: ???
Current Experts: ???
Maximum Experts: ???
(Expert ??? and a little medicine / Master ???)

The foremost thing which strikes you is that the city seems to be in good cheer. Great cheer in fact. The market is bustling with the buzz of happy people. You overhear spirited arguments throughout the marketplace you find yourself in, of people telling jokes and stories, you hear the laugher as children run rampart through the crowds playing games the adult mind could never begin to understand. You hear your own name quite often, usually accompanied by pointing and hands covering mouths but frustratingly you are never in a position to hear what they are saying. You suppose it's part of being as... distinctive as you are: It's quite difficult to remain inconspicuous in any fashion.

??? Roll: 1d100: 3 (Not good: Violence and general mayhem ensue)

The happy feeling of the market dies a terribly awkward death however when the shriek of a woman rings out and a ruckus emerges from the ally created by the semi-permanent stalls erected. You're in position better than most in the crowd to see what is going on and even you are only barely able to make out the shapes of several beings in cloaks and drawn steel making their ways from a stall where your best guess places the screaming. The glimpse you saw was that of the suspiciously dressed laden down with something and making their way at speed.

It's unlucky however that they seem to be making their way towards you.

Unlucky for them that is!

What action do you take to restore order in your city? (You best guess puts their numbers at 4, perhaps more but not many more and wielding short blades of some type.)
[]You've your walking stick with you. It's a simple thing but what you consider a walking stick is still five feet of solid ironwood. (Stronk-based, combat, personal danger, personal glory)
[]These ruffians seem singularly focused on escape at speed. Perhaps you can use that? (Smarts-based, all or nothing, no personal involvement)
[]You've quite the set of lungs on you. If anyone can notify the authorities over this din, it'd be you. (Savvy-based, may still result in personal combat)
[]It's a stretch, but perhaps you can follow them as they leave? (Sneeki-Based, failure might result in losing them or personal combat)
[]You've quite the set of lungs on you. Perhaps you can talk (read: yell) some sense into them? (Suave-based, degrees of success, could still result in personal combat)
[]Have you perhaps come up with something different? (Write-in)
Also, don't you have a guard for this? (You retroactively brought Remial with you. He helps as is appropriate but counts as being deployed this turn.)
-[]Yes
-[]No

Unlocked Garland Market Actions. Well. You will as soon as this gets resolved.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Smarts Roll: See the Forest For the Trees DC 15/30/45: 1d100+9(Bestwin's Smarts): 5+9: 14 (Bare Failure!)

You are Majordomo Bestwin Rusevault, Majordomo to the newly-restored Cavilrestora family, custodian of these fine lands for years and Not-Maker-Of-Things-Worse.

You are also lost as H'Ark(4).

When your lord instructed you to determine the exact nature of the logging you had previously reported in (Or at least, that he said you reported in. You... don't remember a whole lot of that night, or the following week for that matter. On the other hand, you'd still abide that you made the correct choice since the miner's broke open an entire cask of Redbelly Brew in the celebration) you were sure it would be a simple enough prospect. Go in to the location, interview those present, figure out their issue(s) and create some short-hand solutions to discuss with Lord Hector.

The trouble seems to have begun with step one. You seem to have vastly either underestimated the distance you needed to travel though the woods and that of the navigability of the woods themselves or vastly overestimated the quality of the instructions you had that had been drunkenly scrawled on a bar napkin.

Either or.

Well, you have your axe, a stash of pest-proof dwarven hardtack(5), a few skins of alcohol and enough firewood to light up the countryside. You'll do fine in the mean time. And you're certain your lord will send someone for you eventually.

Bestwin spends the best part of the month camped out several hundred feet from the Castille property line getting roaring drunk and setting fires until one of the Six went investigating what the Dwarvish singing and mysterious lights in the forest were about. While he never made proper contact with anyone remotely connected to the logging (or anyone at all) he does have quite a bit to say about the quality of the tree in the area and his best guesses on how and where one might set up shop to profit from them.

+5 to Logging
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An envelope is inevitably opened. A sum is inevitable revealed. A new fact of life is now established. Beginning next month the debt will begin accruing interest at a somewhat uneven compounding rate.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Current Wealth: 5
Current Debt: 141
Current Rumors: You've heard a few things about the city. (93) (5) (55)

Information Gathered:

Spoiler: City Information

State of the City: ???
State of the Citizens: 78
Citizen Morale: 99
Citizen Loyalty: ???
Current Experts: ???
Maximum Experts: ???
(Expert ??? and a little medicine / Master ???)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please vote by plan. Remember Hector has 2 actions and each retainer can perform 1 action. Bestwin will be taking a -10 'Overworked' penalty to all rolls unless unused. Choices with 2 sets of '[]' take both actions.

Spoiler: "Actions"

Hector Only:
[] Debt Consolidation (Begin to make it easier to pay the debt owed) DC Tough.
[] Free Funds to pay the debt (Work to free some liquid capital so you can pay at least some of the debt back.) DC Challenging.
[] Read your mother's journal DC Medium
[] Investigate the box. DC ???
[] Just open the box, by any means. DC Meh
[] Perhaps some time spent consolidating your Father's writing may prove useful DC Scaling
[] Expedite the arrival of the mining upgrades. Throwing money at the problem seems to be working so far.
[][] Expedite the arrival of the mining upgrades. Perhaps you can send someone with the Six to ensure everything is according to plan? (Begin Adventure)
[][] Expedite the arrival of the mining upgrades. Hiring some of those random adventurers that always seem to be about. (Begin Adventure)
[] Tour the Estate
-[] The Estate Itself At this point you've seen most of it
-[] The Libraries
-[] The Commons
-[] The Vaults
-[] The Woods
-[] The Laborium's Former Location
[] Tour the City
-[] The Markets
-[] The Industrial Area
-[] The Slums
-[] The Living Quarters
-[] The Temple District
-[] Wander
[] Focus your efforts. (Pick a choice from the 'Rule Others' above, you gain a re-roll to the choice unless the result is a Critical Failure )
-[] Pick What?
[] Meet With Someone (Meeting With a specific persona such as Retainers or other notables has a variety effect, it could affect stats, loyalty, possessions, reveal traits or do nothing but let the GM worldbuild.)
-[] Who With and about what?

Rule Others:
[] Personal Studies (Costs nothing but time at current levels)
-[] The gains call to you. Time to answer them. DC Hardish.
-[] Stepping lightly never really helped you before, but maybe it will now? DC Hardish.
-[] So. Many. New. Books. DC Meh.
-[] Between your father's notes on how to do it and your Greater brother's notes on how not to do it you might learn to savvy. DC Hardish.
-[] Press the flesh, schmooze with some movers and/or shakers here in Garland. DC Hardish.
-[] For some reason you have a desire to read the dry journal of your mother again. DC Meh-ish.
[] Make Arrangements (If failed most of the wealth is retained)
-[] Arrange for repairs to the Castile. -1d6 Wealth for +1d20 to Castile State. DC Meh. (New Stone has arrived)
-[] Arrange for repairs to the Castile. Used the stone reclaimed from the Laborium for +1d20+3 to Castile State. DC Meh.
-[] Arrange for rebuilding the Laborium -3d6 2d6 wealth if reserved stone is used. DC Meh.
-[] Hire additional servants. -1d6 wealth for +1d20 to Staff State. DC Meh.
-[] Arrange for Staff Amenities. -1d6 wealth for +1d10 to Staff Loyalty and Morale. DC Meh.
-[] Hire. Some. Godsdamn. Guards. -1d6 wealth for +1d20 to Guard State. DC ??? (Resolve The current issues with hiring first.)
--[] Castile Guards
--[] City Guards
-[] Guard Training Maneuvers -1d6 Wealth for +10 to Guard Quality. DC ???
-[] Find retainers. -1d6+2 wealth to find worthy people to hire on with random stat focus, -1d8+2 if a specific stat is desired. DC ???
--[] Somebody Stronk
--[] Somebody Sneeki
--[] Somebody Smart
--[] Somebody Savvy
--[] Somebody with some SHAZAM
[] Investigate the large Circle in the remains of the Laborium. DC Hardish.
[] Examine the unknown staff... and for the God's Sake get it cleaned.
[] Look into the possibility of a shadow enemy (or perhaps even enemies!) Savvy/Sneeki DC Hard
[] Make plans for new windmills. (Spent Wealth to Build Grain Mills)
[] Ok, what's actually this I hear about logging? DC Meh-5.
[] Make plans for flax mill un-conversion (Nope. No back-ups)
[]Go Shopping in the Market District (Garland is a large enough city that barring a few exceptions nearly everything (legal) you might want is available.
-[]For what? (Write In) (Specific equipment might allow Hector or his retainers to perform actions they otherwise couldn't or situationally enhance their stats or unlock other actions)
[] Do Nothing. DC Impossible

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lore Mentions:
(1). At least that's what they tell you it means. Zurichian is notoriously hard to learn and the gnomes don't teach it lightly. Or cheaply. Though to be fair they don't to anything cheaply.
(2). Here you require some effort to put from your head the thought that the journals of your Greater Siblings read line-for-line like these sections. Like, as perfect text-book cases of don't do this.
(3). What a less formally educated person would refer to as Common, or Trade-Tongue. Your Father is writing in the equivalent of Latin that he learned in boarding school, i.e. a dead language.
(4). Lit. 'The fullness of one with slag in place of brains.'
(5). A redundancy.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Sunday is a kind of Friday right? But srsly, I had trouble making this one actually interesting. And then I accidently two and a half k on it. Whatever, hope you enjoy. As always, just @ me if you have questions or whatever.
Bounty of 5 if you can identify the stealth pun I used in the market section.

 

[carterhall]

[X] Plan Shore Up Weaknesses
-[X]You've your walking stick with you. It's a simple thing but what you consider a walking stick is still five feet of solid ironwood. (Stronk-based, combat, personal danger, personal glory)

-[X] Make Arrangements (If failed most of the wealth is retained)
--[X] Arrange for repairs to the Castile. -1d6 Wealth for +1d20 to Castile State. DC Meh. (New Stone has arrived)
-[X] Find retainers. -1d6+2 wealth to find worthy people to hire on with random stat focus, -1d8+2 if a specific stat is desired. DC ???
--[X] Somebody Sneeki

Majordomo Bestwin Rusevault
[X] Rest & recover

Famulus Vivian Aza'Sult'vhall
[X] Investigate the large Circle in the remains of the Laborium. DC Hardish.


I'm enjoying the shenanigans the characters get into just trying to do normal things.

 

[HousePet]

Bestwin! Why? *facepalm*

Well we could have Remial help Stronk the ruffians into order, or attempt the Smarts option.
I don't really understand the Savvy option, as Remial is the Town Guard.
Suave option with Remial backup could be funny and successful.
An entertaining Write-in would be good too.

As for Plan:
We do not have the funds to repair or hire anyone, without making the Debt situation worse.
Double double down on the Logging and send Hector to Tour the Woods and find out what is up with the Logging?
Perhaps Vivian could look into the Staff, or check the Markets for a Beginner's Guide to doing Magic (other than note taking and filing).

Also: Satin.

 

[Thule]

[X] Lord's Duty and Help

 

[ALanos]

[X] Lord's Duty and Help
-[X]You've your walking stick with you. It's a simple thing but what you consider a walking stick is still five feet of solid ironwood. (Stronk-based, combat, personal danger, personal glory)
--[X]Yes
-[X] Perhaps some time spent consolidating your Father's writing may prove useful DC Scaling
-[X] Focus your efforts. (Pick a choice from the 'Rule Others' above, you gain +5 to the choice)
--[X] Ok, what's actually this I hear about logging? DC Meh-5.
-[X] Ok, what's actually this I hear about logging? DC Meh-5.
--[X] Send Vivian
Need money to actually afford anything and maybe there are magical goods that can be harvested in the woods I hope so.

 

[TheShadowOfZama]

[X] Lord's Duty and Help

Haha Bestwin got lost in the woods, but at least we learned the trees look good. That's a start.

 

[Blacksheep]

[X] Lord's Duty and Help

 

[Solarstream]

[X] Lord's Duty and Help

 

[perfectgeneral]

Market Pun?

Drawn steel can be both a steel wire made by drawing a rod of steel through a series of smaller and smaller holes AND a steel blade drawn from a scabbard.

Run rampart seems more of a typo/autocorrupt for run rampant as there is no rampart in the market area.

[X] Lord's Duty and Help

"I don't really understand the Savvy option, as Remial is the Town Guard."
"You avoid the Savvy optional saving throw against ridicule by spotting that."

 

[Swordude]

I've lost everything I've wrote twice now. Not going to lie, I'm pretty pissed at that. I'll try and get something out soon, but man, motivation got super sapped.