Thought about this. Going to do non-retroactive increase to +7 per action (same +10 cap) to represent Tristan's growing practice at doing these basic enchants. That seems awkward now, but with a little more practice he'll jump up to +10 per action.
Did eating the best and first hypnofruit and than having another dryad help it pass trough our system, without malicious effects, change us in any way?
My intuition says no, yet my greed for power and mutations says yes.
More along the lines of one of the rag tag ships that you see pirates using sometimes since it wasn't properly repaired. He'll probably need a new one entirely for how bad it is.
Huh, didn't think there were many of those places around. I wonder what serves as the core, the source that keeps the magic churning. Will these places wither and die once it runs out? Or is it like magma, in that our planet is full of it, but it only comes to the surface through a few volcanos?
An eventual expedition to the center is becoming to look more attractive as the years go by.
The Overgrowth is the only "hotspot" in Revaria (for a certain value of in, given it's used as a border), but there are others in other countries, or at sea.
You have no way of knowing what fuels them. It's unknown (at least broadly, who knows what secrets are hidden away by random groups) why magic collapsed around most of the world. That society imploded with the collapse of its primary energy source makes pre-fall knowledge difficult to come by.
An expedition could let you learn a lot about the Overgrowth's source, but it would be incredibly lethal.
I love the style. Surprise Hugs is my favorite euphemism for stealth assassinations.
Alas, she left out the difficulty on her own file. Are we meant to discover it through trial and error? I am all for spending an enchantment action just to improve our hugging rates, but who would we test it on? Would be rather awkward with Leo, and Olivia would lose on purpose.
Why is there no dossier on ourselves! I feel underappreciated.
...Frankly, I think we may want to do some opportunistic raiding to keep the orcs on their toes and make them split attention between raiding and defending. We might be able to use some of Nicola's ships to make a landing in their lands.
I was under an impression that our outposts are about three hundreds kilometers apart or so. A couple weeks travel through a dense forest. The climate should not be that drastically different with distances like these.
Of course, we have no idea how far north their lands stretch or where their reinforcements are coming from.
Well they're actually closer than that, I was imagining it only takes a few days to pass through the Overgrowth. The climates at your outposts are virtually identical, but the Orc lands extend far into the North. So their supply and reinforcement sources are considerably colder. Keep in mind that Revaria's capital sees a lot of snow each winter. The only reason you normally get rain is that you're right on the ocean, which acts to moderate your climate a ton.
I found the entry pretty clever because if you can stealth-hug a person, you can do pretty much anything else as well, so it works perfectly fine as a personal security detail.
For completeness' sake, of course! Also, it would be nice to receive an estimate of our skills and capabilities as seen through the eyes of Master Hugger.
Tristan has been shown as both underselling and overselling himself on different occasions, and being wildly off the mark when it comes to self-analysis.
On an unrelated note, I like the idea that at least two of the siblings got their posts thanks to being a living reincarnation of a deadly sin, Lust and Wrath specifically. It's a shame it is not a theme with the rest of the family, that would be pretty cool.
The Overgrowth is the only "hotspot" in Revaria (for a certain value of in, given it's used as a border), but there are others in other countries, or at sea.
You have no way of knowing what fuels them. It's unknown (at least broadly, who knows what secrets are hidden away by random groups) why magic collapsed around most of the world. That society imploded with the collapse of its primary energy source makes pre-fall knowledge difficult to come by.
Thought about this. Going to do non-retroactive increase to +7 per action (same +10 cap) to represent Tristan's growing practice at doing these basic enchants. That seems awkward now, but with a little more practice he'll jump up to +10 per action.
I do like that you're actually thinking about this sort of thing. Increasing Nerissa's growth to increase what she can do for you was something I indicated as possible, but I had been hoping for players to come up with ideas rather than have to give default options. This sort of route is one of the harder ways to do things though, so you'll probably only be rewarded with +1 and that because of wanting to reward such thinking. I kind of figured players would catch on to the idea Mina thoughtfully provided when she first came by.
The problem is that her growth never felt like something that would be significant during our timeframe, she literary started introducing herself be saying how she would be young long after we are dust and she liver in the Overgrownth were sticks become saplings in the literal blink of an eye.
And we are to somehow think there is fertilizer in this Dukedom that will make a significant diference compared to those two scales just because she likes the taste ? Where would we even get something like that ? My first tought would be the center but that doesn't help much right now.
So since our pottioner is to busy to try his hand at this how much does our heralist thinks it would cost to stuff that girl with as much of the best plant food she can take ?
I found the entry pretty clever because if you can stealth-hug a person, you can do pretty much anything else as well, so it works perfectly fine as a personal security detail.
For completeness' sake, of course! Also, it would be nice to receive an estimate of our skills and capabilities as seen through the eyes of Master Hugger.
Tristan has been shown as both underselling and overselling himself on different occasions, and being wildly off the mark when it comes to self-analysis.
On an unrelated note, I like the idea that at least two of the siblings got their posts thanks to being a living reincarnation of a deadly sin, Lust and Wrath specifically. It's a shame it is not a theme with the rest of the family, that would be pretty cool.
Tristan Revaria Current Assignment: Gardening and keeping mean old gophers out.
Favorite Things: Pretty girls! He should ask Edgar for pointers, Having a family! Already has a daughter picked out so just needs to decide on a wife.
Difficulty of Surprise Hugs: Surprise!
Direct Combat Skill: Has held a sword before
Adorable younger brother who clearly misses his family! He's had Kaleb, Nicola and his Best Older Sister visit! Now we just needs to find a way to have Adolphine and Edgar stop by! Maybe Edgar can give him pointers on pretty girls!?
I know the philosophical conundrum of Theseus ship. It relies on every part being replaced. His ship is in that state because it wasn't getting that degree of proper repairs though.
I found the entry pretty clever because if you can stealth-hug a person, you can do pretty much anything else as well, so it works perfectly fine as a personal security detail.
For completeness' sake, of course! Also, it would be nice to receive an estimate of our skills and capabilities as seen through the eyes of Master Hugger.
Tristan has been shown as both underselling and overselling himself on different occasions, and being wildly off the mark when it comes to self-analysis.
Tristan being terrible at self-analysis is pretty intentional.
Alternative entry for Tristan from Mina, pick which you like from this or Megrisvernin's version.
Tristan Revaria
Current Assignment: Gardening and Keeping Mean Orcs Away! He tries his best!
Favorite Things: Pretty girls, magic, comfortable living
Difficulty of Surprise Hugs: Extremely huggable, clearly wants them.
Direct Combat Skill: Knows how to swing a sword, mostly
Adorable younger brother who tried to be a hermit enchanter before being thrown out into the deep end. Has thrived thanks to careful assistance from his loving family. Fell in love with his maid, how scandalous! Adopted a cute child from the forest but then put them to work! His little girl is actually a more productive member of society than him, how sad. He's willing to eat anything, which has already bit him back once. Maybe he should ask his beautiful older sister for seasonings, she could supply some of the ones Nicola likes so much.
On an unrelated note, I like the idea that at least two of the siblings got their posts thanks to being a living reincarnation of a deadly sin, Lust and Wrath specifically. It's a shame it is not a theme with the rest of the family, that would be pretty cool.
They aren't. Even the two you're thinking of weren't meant to be incarnations of sins. They're meant to be bad people, but people nonetheless. As your father put it if he could combine you all together he'd be able to get all the traits of a good ruler, but several monsters worth of bad ones.
I gave that at the beginning because I thought it would probably be simpler work to enhance a construction crews tools than a combat unit's armor and weapons. I'm not sure whether I agree with past me's thoughts there, but I'd probably still do +10 on a construction crew now for consistency.
The problem is that her growth never felt like something that would be significant during our timeframe, she literary started introducing herself be saying how she would be young long after we are dust and she liver in the Overgrownth were sticks become saplings in the literal blink of an eye.
And we are to somehow think there is fertilizer in this Dukedom that will make a significant diference compared to those two scales just because she likes the taste ? Where would we even get something like that ? My first tought would be the center but that doesn't help much right now.
So since our pottioner is to busy to try his hand at this how much does our heralist thinks it would cost to stuff that girl with as much of the best plant food she can take ?
Well as I've addressed before her comment about aging was little girl boasting, not accurate. Though she'll have a lifespan of over a thousand years, most of that is concentrated at the peak.
Well now that you've keyed on the idea. It was essentially that you could use mundane agricultural knowledge to give her growth a boost. Fertilizer, irrigation, etc. It was basically a quick and easy +1, not something that would give her too tremendous a boost, but the lowest hanging option.
Tristan Revaria
Current Assignment: Gardening and Keeping Mean Orcs Away! He tries his best!
Favorite Things: Pretty girls, magic, comfortable living
Difficulty of Surprise Hugs: Extremely huggable, clearly wants them.
Direct Combat Skill: Knows how to swing a sword, mostly
Adorable younger brother who tried to be a hermit enchanter before being thrown out into the deep end. Has thrived thanks to careful assistance from his loving family. Fell in love with his maid, how scandalous. Adopted a cute child from the forest but then put them to work! His little girl is actually a more productive member of society than him, how sad. He's willing to eat anything, which has already bit him back once. Maybe he should ask his beautiful older sister for seasonings, she could supply some of the ones Nicola likes so much.
It serves as a great summary of the quest so far.
Though I worry about his huggability.
Clearly the Orcs aren't the most affectionate creatures, but their leader could finally decide that this awkwardness needs to end, and nothing solves interpersonal issues like a good, strong bear hug.
Of course it'll be a while till that happens, since Tristian is more of a shy nerdy girl who thinks she's not that pretty, and orcs are the jocks who are too busy chasing after loose skirts in Revaria, but I am sure they'll come around eventually. Especially when Tristian builds up his confidence and stop hiding from them.
Well now that you've keyed on the idea. It was essentially that you could use mundane agricultural knowledge to give her growth a boost. Fertilizer, irrigation, etc. It was basically a quick and easy +1, not something that would give her too tremendous a boost, but the lowest hanging option.
Would there be a cost to that and if so can we use the assistant to gather the materials or do we need to spend a personal to gather and the same or a second to give them to nerissa?
Well as I've addressed before her comment about aging was little girl boasting, not accurate. Though she'll have a lifespan of over a thousand years, most of that is concentrated at the peak.
Well now that you've keyed on the idea. It was essentially that you could use mundane agricultural knowledge to give her growth a boost. Fertilizer, irrigation, etc. It was basically a quick and easy +1, not something that would give her too tremendous a boost, but the lowest hanging option.
True, tough even if 90% is spent as an adult that still leaves a hundred years just to grow up and again the overgrowth makes mundane agriculture fell completely superfluos.
Tough since that felling is aparently wrong could we apply the same principles to the rest of her grove and get more slots be effectively reducing her load ?
It serves as a great summary of the quest so far.
Though I worry about his huggability.
Clearly the Orcs aren't the most affectionate creatures, but their leader could finally decide that this awkwardness needs to end, and nothing solves interpersonal issues like a good, strong bear hug.
Of course it'll be a while till that happens, since Tristian is more of a shy nerdy girl who thinks she's not that pretty, and orcs are the jocks who are too busy chasing after loose skirts in Revaria, but I am sure they'll come around eventually. Especially when Tristian builds up his confidence and stop hiding from them.
I haven't caught up fully yet so some of these suggestions may be out of date:
Enchanted item and/or paint for patrols to mark trees by leaving bright colorful dots. Preferably an enchanted item that changes the color of the bark
hire a gardener/landscaper. The forest seems ripe for tree shaping, deliberately manipulating the growth of trees while they are young and flexible in order to achieve desired shapes.
enchanted items that shift the shape of a tree without actually hurting it,
feed volunteers vegetation from inside the forest to see if they get the strength/size/health boost
scatter seeds for fruits, nuts, vegetables and berries throughout the area near the camp. Agriculture may not be supported due to the trees, but foraging should be.
Would there be a cost to that and if so can we use the assistant to gather the materials or do we need to spend a personal to gather and the same or a second to give them to nerissa?
True, tough even if 90% is spent as an adult that still leaves a hundred years just to grow up and again the overgrowth makes mundane agriculture fell completely superfluos.
Tough since that felling is aparently wrong could we apply the same principles to the rest of her grove and get more slots be effectively reducing her load ?
So basically I said in the past that over a reasonable time span in the quest (which you're reasonably approaching) she's likely to gain +1 slot just from growing up. Agricultural bits like fertilizer and irrigation work would speed up gaining that slot. Though honestly at this point you're closing in on it just from time anyway. That would take a construction slot to build some irrigation work, and buy some fertilizers at maybe 100 cost, and it would just accelerate getting the slot you were slated for essentially. At this point it would probably give you another slot in a year or so (halving growth time, would have been more significant earlier).
You could also hire a force of farmers though and implement more mundane farming measures over her whole territory though to reduce the amount of effort she has to spend per crop. For instance they could use (extremely killed) woodchips to cover the surface to retard other plants growing so that she has to spend less effort doing that. While she can do almost anything mundane farmers can do, having farmers do the things they can frees up her finite capacity for other things. Which serves your purposes well enough. Hiring a ton of farmers is something you can do though. For now going to say you're looking at something like a recruitment costing 100 denier upkeep and 4 housing (2 units of farmers, plus they bring family with them) for getting 1 extra dryad grove capacity that way.
I'd also note that you're going to start suffering issues from protracted lack of females. Since you're definitely partway to fortified town instead of mere military outpost now.
Okay, so we need to get those Farmer's ASAP. If only because having them by the time we come under siege means we can use the new slot to grow food. We also need more Camp Followers ASAP to solve the 'lack of women' problem...
Sorry. No plan. Barely had any free time this past week.
No vote on the plan either, since I am not sure about the deployment and the lack of levi training. Which leaves me with the contact vote.
[X][Contact] Adolphine
-[X] Since you are thinking of recruting both Civil and Siege Engineer ask her if she can help you find higly qualified ones, perhaps even at a cheaper price if you are lucky. Also since she manages a port town ask if she would be able to find you some experienced shipwright to suplement you current ones.
...you know, I think the demands for contacts should be relaxed a little. Otherwise they'd have to be in the plan votes to pass, because very few people vote for them. They don't cost us anything, and the lack of votes are more indicative of 'I have no horse in this race and will go with whatever the others decide' attitude than of objecting to the contact.
[X][Contact] Adolphine
-[X] Since you are thinking of recruting both Civil and Siege Engineer ask her if she can help you find higly qualified ones, perhaps even at a cheaper price if you are lucky. Also since she manages a port town ask if she would be able to find you some experienced shipwright to suplement you current ones.
[X][Contact] Adolphine
-[X] Since you are thinking of recruting both Civil and Siege Engineer ask her if she can help you find higly qualified ones, perhaps even at a cheaper price if you are lucky. Also since she manages a port town ask if she would be able to find you some experienced shipwright to suplement you current ones.
[X] Plan Training ground and engagements
-[X][Construction] Build a training ground for your personnel. Some targets, some dummies, and obstacle course, and a big area set aside to practice on. Grants a bonus to training. (1 action, 50 denier, 2 space) 62+2
-[X][Construction] Expand the moat around the new walls. There's very little cost involved, but it will be an enormous amount of labor. (2/6 actions, increases cost of further expansion) 6+2-5 = 3
-[X][Construction] Expand the moat around the new walls. There's very little cost involved, but it will be an enormous amount of labor. (2/6 actions, increases cost of further expansion) 2nd time 14+2-5 = 11
Assembling a training ground is simple enough. There's a field of archery targets for your hunters and spinning wooden practice dummies for your melee forces. The obstacle course is constructed of bits of waste wood sticking out of the ground, suspended swinging weights, a rope bridge, and a climbing wall. Trying it yourself it's actually fairly tough with purposefully irregular footing along the whole route, a half-decent simulation of the gnarled roots within the forest though. You also designate a field to just stay empty for drilling in, though that part isn't currently relevant with how much space your base currently has open, it will become so if you start to fill it in.
The difficulties you've come to expect at your outpost come instead from those digging the moat, particularly the digging part. You're hampered by attacks from the burrowing animals that you'd mostly ignored in recent years. The magic that stabilized surface construction doesn't help when you actively dig down, and their tunnels seem to have proliferated in the time since then. Your hunters and levies spend much of their guard duty killing the creatures as they burst out of disturbed warrens. Each advancement of the digging is probed carefully in advance further slowing the process. You've made scarcely any headway this season as a result.
(Training Ground built +10 to training train up to 2 units of any type at once, moat +1 progress [pity effect], -2 for provision costs this season.)
-[X][Hunters 1] Scout to reduce chance of enemies slipping by. 30 +3+10-5-15 = 23
-[X][Skirmishers] Scout to reduce chance of enemies slipping by. 10+25+10+5-15 = 35
-[X][Footmen 1] Patrol, reduce chance of enemies slipping by. 80+58+10+10-15 = 143
--[X] Olivia Helps 42+5+5 = 52
-[X][Levy 2] Patrol, reduce chance of enemies slipping by. 19 +10+5+10+10-15 = 39
Sending out over half your forces including Olivia and Leo to once again challenge the orcs in the forest felt risky. You didn't quite know whether it was the best choice. You could hardly leave the orcs to do whatever they wanted uncontested though, that would surely make things worse later for you. Still you expected devastating casualties for daring to try this. Worse still even the earliest reports said the forest was being rather difficult this summer. Carnivores of various sorts both flora and fauna were out in force.
The tension only seemed to build as the days went by marked by numerous minor skirmishes across the forest with neither side committing to a pitched battle. The battles between your lighter units tended to go in the orcs favor, while those your footmen arrived to slanted to yours. That wasn't a winning combination for you though since your lighter forces made up the bulk of your committed soldiers. The contested space did impede the raiding operations by the orcs though with only their wolf riders managing to bypass your lines at all. It didn't all go the orcs way though, even if the casualty figures seemed to be against you, as Olivia had managed to take the orc leader by surprise at one point and wound him rather severely. He managed to escape, but you expect he won't be able to do much next season.
As the summer turns to fall you're interrupted in your delicate work on the skirmisher boots by Leo sending a runner asking for a meeting, though with little urgency to it. You're not so oblivious to have failed to notice the shouts marking the return of one of the patrol groups from the forest, so you assume it's news of yet another disaster. That seems to be the standard after all. Still you need to know, so you clear your table, and Olivia busies herself with making tea.
Leo arrives in short order, presumably after however long it took to interview the survivors. That Julia follows him in is something of a surprise though, generally she could only attend your little gatherings when they were well after an attack. She has impressed you a bit with her competence as a healer, given she entered it for dubious reasons. Then again she was picked by your father, so you shouldn't really be surprised.
"There weren't any wounded?" you ask as everyone but Olivia takes their seats. You're kind of worried that meant everyone injured didn't even escape the forest. It has been rather aggressive this summer.
"Nothing physical. Though some of them are a bit shaken, an unusual combination," she notes. She's long since ceased to make excuses for hanging around your little discussions of strategy, despite there not being a strict reason for her presence.
Leo's about to begin when a few flute notes interrupt him. Florian enters with a flute, though you can't imagine why he's come since he's mostly been content to ignore everyone else's existence.
"Why are you even here?" you ask annoyed.
He plays a few notes on the flute. "Well it occurred to me that personage as important as myself should keep track of the events in the area." His words made a certain sense, but the flute repeating the previous series of notes lent a certain absurdity to it.
"Fine whatever," you say dismissively. "What's the latest disaster Leo?"
"There isn't one, at least for us," he says with a small grin as Olivia pours tea for each of your guests.
"I find that somewhat hard to believe… what do you mean for us?"
"Well the men just returning reported they heard orcs screaming in pain and when they investigated they came upon an entire unit of infantry stuck fast in a patch of sticky plants that were burning their flesh. Nasty business, but it's helpful to us." He slurps a bit of tea loudly.
You've long since given up on chastising him for such, mostly because he does it to annoy you.
"The orcs were rather soundly trapped, and couldn't free themselves. The men observed for some time as they tried, before having the archers mercy kill them. They weren't willing to risk closing in and getting caught in the trap themselves. The skirmishers are professional scouts, and they didn't like the looks of it. The entire orc unit getting trapped in the patch was odd, since they'd expect only the leading edge to get caught. Meant they couldn't really be sure where the edge was," he concludes.
Florian preempts any reply from you with the same chord on his flute. "Fascinating, I hadn't heard of any plants like that found here." It was a question you were thinking actually, but you weren't going to say that.
"It's new to us as well. The men haven't run into anything quite like that, a few dangerous plants yes, but nothing to threaten a whole unit. The orcs were a bit too close to the inner Overgrowth though, probably to avoid our patrols. It's way more dangerous, why we don't send anyone there," Leo explains.
"I suppose I should prepare something to deal with acid burns then. Always tricky to neutralize it without doing more damage than the acid," Julia comments professionally. "I wouldn't want to dig into your supply of it, but the Saint's Blood might be one of the few things to stabilize someone with extensive burns."
The increasingly annoying notes play. You note from the annoyed look on Julia's face he's irritating her as well. Leo is somehow unperturbed. "Please tell me they brought some samples back," Florian hoped. "Something to analyze would perhaps let me prepare something to help counter the acid. That and you never know when a new ingredient leads you to a novel potion." He nods sagely to himself.
You feel a sudden impulse to deny his request out of hand, but you reign in yourself. Given his skillset it is a reasonable request. The difficulty is-
"None of the men were foolhardy enough to approach the plants," Leo added in. "How they would capture a sample is another thing entirely. We still don't know how the plants ensnared so many orcs. With the losses we took I must strenuously advise against trying to obtain a sample unless someone else has any ideas. It's unfortunate but the first of ours to fall victim to the trap we fish out is liable to be the source of your sample Florien."
"It's really too bad, I imagine Nerissa would quite like a sample to play with as well," Olivia comments from where she sat next to you. She was clearly a bit nervous still around the others, but Julia offers her an encouraging smile. It's nice that Olivia is getting along with Nerissa again.
The same never sufficiently cursed chord plays again. "I don't suppose that means you're volunteering to retrieve a sample? I've heard something about you being able to lessen your weight? Perhaps the low mass of lithe woman as yourself, especially reduced, would be unlikely to even trigger it in the plants to attack. And even if not, I'm sure with your strength it would be a simple matter to pull free of such a trap," Florian interjects opportunistically.
You hadn't realized that knowledge of that ability was so widespread. A glance at Olivia shows the back of her dress moving a little, presumably her wings twitching. You've noticed that happens when she's nervous, though she's changed to a new uniform that hides it better. Julia had it specially made for her as a gift it seems.
"Let's table that for now, we can't even be sure we could find it again, and I don't want her to feel pressured into it," you say as a somewhat diplomatic reply. "What's this mean for us Leo?"
"Well it's a really good stroke of luck really. I've been estimating orc losses this season and they've been winning quite heavily until now. Other than Olivia's excellent blow against their commander at least." He nods in her direction and she blushes at the attention, her dress shifting again. "We'd have been in a pretty bad condition next season. With them losing this many men though things tilt in our favor a bit more. We still can't really go on the offensive, but they aren't likely to push much next season. Considering the mess the builders have made of the moat, we really needed it I think."
"Anything else before I adjourn the meeting?" With a collective shake of heads by those attending you announce the session closed eager to end it before you throttle the potioneer. Julia attracts the attention of Florian as they leave, and you overhear her saying something to him.
"-ter show of your status to have someone else announce you Florien. It's a bit plebian to do it yourself-"
You're not sure what Julia's angle is exactly, but if it gets Florien to stop playing that dratted flute you don't really care.
[][Sundew] Send Olivia out to try to get a sample
[][Sundew] Wait until a soldier gets trapped to try to get a sample while cutting them free (could be never)
[][Sundew] Something else (write-in)
-[X][Hunters 2] Guard
--[X] The base and sawmill .9*(14+2-5+10+10) = 28
-[X][Levy 1] Guard
--[X] The base and sawmill 25+10-15+10+10 = 40
-[X][Footmen 2] Guard
--[X] The docks 70+35+5+10 = 120
-[X][Captain] Command troops, raising morale and effectiveness
Your guards took a few injuries fending off the tunnelers and the occasional probe by wolves testing for weakness. A few years ago those would have been fatal enough just from infection, but with a fully qualified healer around it's only a minor inconvenience.
Your footmen at the docks report no further troubles from the water.
-[X][Personal] You could produce some basic enchanted gear for one of your units. Sharper blades and harder armor are staples for a reason. (100 Denier in needed materials)
--[X] Construction Workers 30
--[X] Skirmishers 65
You spend your time this season enchanting. Mostly gathering magic as usual. You're getting a lot faster at it these days. Practice makes perfect they say, though really you'd never much liked the need for so much work in getting to the perfect part.
Improved tools for your construction workers are apparently desperately needed given how much they've been falling behind lately. Sharper and sturdier tools are simple enough and can make a big difference given how fast their tools wear down normally. Not so much breaking you're given to understand, but in constant need of sharpening. Comparatively spear points are used far less often than tool heads and so don't need nearly as much sharpening.
Your skirmishers are the next on your list, they have a disproportionate amount of utility for your forces due to their professional level of scouting. You start with improving their armor as you have in the past. You get a little more adventurous for the next part and work a bit of magic to spread out the force of their steps, leaving less obvious trails in the woods and reducing the sound of their footsteps some. Avoiding the notice of the wildlife or orcs might be as important as being able to run faster away from it. A little harder than you'd normally do for such things, but it should make them just incrementally harder to detect.
(Construction actions now have +4 from enchantment and skirmishers gain +8)
-[X][Assistant] Look for additional experienced shipwrights 6-20 = -14
-[X][Purchase] Fill warehouse with supplies (200 denier) (subject to change)
There simply aren't any shipwrights to be found it seems. Or at least none willing to move to your location. Your own shipwrights have apparently found out about your ongoing inquiries into hiring replacements for them as well and rather upset about it. You suppose they probably have friends amongst the other crews that were contacted who then informed them in turn. They now want a bonus just to stay at all in a situation that not only is dangerous to life and limb but apparently lacks job security on top of that.
At least laying in more siege stores doesn't have any complications.
[][Shipwrights] Pay bonus 100 Denier (one time)
[][Shipwrights] Let them leave
(Automatic recruitment +10% hunters)
-[X][Contact] Adolphine
--[X] Since you are thinking of recruiting both Civil and Siege Engineer ask her if she can help you find highly qualified ones, perhaps even at a cheaper price if you are lucky. Also since she manages a port town ask if she would be able to find you some experienced shipwright to supplement your current ones.
Adolphine's replies are in a flourishing calligraphy that's as much art as writing, though knowing her it took no longer than your own handwriting. She wishes you well, but can provide little aid. As far as she knows all the siege engineers in the duchy have been drawn to the front. At best she might scrounge up an apprentice, or perhaps a civil engineer willing to branch out. She can probably spare one of her own cadre of engineers for you, but asking for highly qualified ones at a cheap price simply isn't reasonable. Those that are good command good prices. She can at least help you avoid those that are unfit though.
While her city has most of the dockyards in the duchy, she doesn't think it worthwhile to encourage any of the workers there to move to your outpost. That would be little different than transferring money to you after all. Why would she?
[][Adolphine] Hire Civil Engineer without additional action, opens new construction actions, offers +15 bonus to all construction projects from qualified oversight.
[][Adolphine] Hire an apprentice Siege Engineer without additional action, opens ability to construct siege engines and +5 to military construction.
[][Adolphine] No thanks
Your horse trainer finally arrived at the start of this season. Training a pegasus that could simply fly away was an entirely new experience for him, but he was enjoying the challenge. He'll need at least another season, but hopes to have your pegasus ready to ride come winter.
War Results
While Setan was still unable to reopen a new front, they instead landed their troops in a Revarian port and marched south to the main front. Combined with Kaleb's forces and the rest of the duchy's troops not besieged they began a strong offensive. Sabotage of supplies, stolen battle plans, and assassinated sentries presaged their advance.
Rather than relieving all the castles dotting the front again, they instead turned towards a more ambitious goal, pushing a spike straight through Tedora's lines and heading for the heart of their territory. Leo comments that such a salient couldn't possibly be held for long because of the logistical issues, but that isn't their goal. The mere threat of such a march, and the burning of everything in their path is too much to ignore. The blow to morale of a nation rises dramatically as an army moves into its valuable core, not to mention the infrastructure being destroyed by Kaleb putting everything to the torch. It destroys the perception that Tedora is 'winning' the war.
They're stopped halfway to the kingdom's capital. But by then they've already inflicted significant damage and begun a well-organized withdraw. They take minimal casualties while inflicting a grievous blow to the enemy's morale, and a lesser but still significant one to their infrastructure.
Given such success you're surprised no third nation has piled on the clearly weakened country. Perhaps the scorched earth tactics have soured perceptions of your own duchy though.
Plans for Fall: (Base costs shown, decrease 5% for port)
You have 3 construction actions. (Space 18/48) (0 units of bricks available)
[][Construction] Build an inn so you don't have to house guests in inadequate housing. Granted it won't exactly be profitable right now, but maybe as you get more people passing through it will be better? (1 action, 200 denier, 1 space)
[][Construction] Expand the moat around the new walls. There's very little cost involved, but it will be an enormous amount of labor. (3/6 actions, increases cost of further expansion)
[][Construction] Reinforce the new walls with earthen berms, another huge labor cost. (6 actions)
[][Construction] Build a larger amount of housing so that you won't run out for a while. Increases housing capacity. 400 denier, 2 spaces
[][Construction] You don't need a steady supply of bricks for your current operation. But you do have a number of things you could use them for. Produce a unit of bricks.
[][Construction] To keep your rabbits trapped will require bricks it seems. A brick lined rabbit pit could improve your output though. Maybe enough to sell furs as well. (Requires 1 unit of bricks, +50 denier in food, opens tanner, uses 1 space.)
[][Construction] Warehouse: You might need more storage capacity. (1000 supply capacity) 100 Denier, 1 space
[][Construction] Large Warehouse: A larger sturdier warehouse made of brick could have some advantages in being more difficult to burn down. (4000 supply capacity) 200 Denier, 2 brick, 2 space, 3 actions
You can do 2x 1d100 or 1d100 +25
[][Personal] Being blind to the world around you is proving really irritating, you suppose you should find out at least the publicly available information about the neighboring nations.
[][Personal] You could produce some basic enchanted gear for one of your units. Sharper blades and harder armor are staples for a reason. (100 Denier in needed materials)
-[] Specify a unit.
[][Personal] Have Leo give you a bit of training. However much you hate it, being better at fighting will help a lot if something is trying to eat you. (Must be taken with appropriate Captain action)
[][Personal] Recruit one Specialist unit (Enchanter, Elite, Healer, Potioneer, Civil Engineer, SIege Engineer) These units need special persuasion or negotiation so can't be hired in bulk. (Note this will involve traveling to them)
[][Personal] Investigate what's happened with your siblings.
[][Personal] Spend time with Nerissa
-[] Plant more Saints Blood
-[] You wonder what other fruit she could produce
-[] Could she make a custom designed plant?
[][Personal] Spend time with someone in your camp
-[] Who?
[][Personal] Write-in
(1 Hunter unit available)
[][Hunters] Hunt for food, reduce upkeep by 50
[][Hunters] Scout to reduce chance of enemies slipping by.
[][Hunters] Scout the orc side of the border to see what forces and structures they have, maybe do some opportunistic raiding too.
[][Hunters] Explore the forest, collect flora and fauna samples.
[][Hunters] Train
[][Skirmishers] Scout to reduce chance of enemies slipping by.
[][Skirmishers] Scout the orc side of the border to see what forces and structures they have, maybe do some opportunistic raiding too.
[][Skirmishers] Explore the forest, collect flora and fauna samples.
(2 footmen units available)
[][Footmen] Patrol, reduce chance of enemies slipping by.
[][Footmen] Train with the captain (must be taken with captain action)
[][Footmen] Guard
-[] The base and sawmill
-[] The docks
(2 levy units available)
[][Levy] Patrol, reduce chance of enemies slipping by.
[][Levy] Train with the captain (must be taken with captain action)
[][Levy] Guard
-[] The base and sawmill
-[] The docks
[][Captain] Command troops, raising morale and effectiveness
[][Captain] Train units (Any two, must be taken with appropriate actions)
[][Captain] Train you (must be taken with appropriate action)
[][Captain] Train Olivia
Optional:
[][Assistant] Recruitment? Specify what kind, full military units at 3x cost multiplier and possibly unavailable, peasant grade at 2x (no longer guaranteed success)
[][Assistant] Recruit Specialist: Specify what kind.
[][Purchase] Unit of bricks (250 denier)
[][Purchase] Fill warehouse with supplies (800/1000)
-[] How much?
[][Contact] Any one you know
85 starting -1509 upkeep this turn +0.95*(-50 construction -200 enchantment -200 siege stores) +23 forge refund +2 provisions +600 season payment +400 sawmill +200 Wood Workshop +300 charcoal +400 herb sales +350 drydocks = 423
Upkeep next turn: (1598-160 forges-50 rabbits)-5%: (100 you +100 leo +50 assistant +200 sawmills + 200 construction crews+195 footmen +70 skirmishers +78 hunters +85 levy +50 herbalist +100 woodworkers+50 harvesters+150 charcoal burner +80 forge +40 Nerissa +50 docks +100 drydock +50 Horse trainer)
Income next turn: 600 base stipend + 400 Sawmill profit +200 Wood Workshop +300 charcoal and tar +400 herb sales +350 drydocks
Now producing 3 units of SB potions, not paid, just noting this for my record keeping
AN: Added brickmakers and farmers to the recruitment sheet. Nearly forgot the horse trainer, added in last second. Adolphine's forwarded engineers would need to be paid by you.
