Turn 31
1454
Survey
The court is gathered. Thodrek is speaking with some young man, the matter of payment for armor, a maille hauberk. Telathyne went with, Merovée, and did not see fit to tell you she would until she was gone; her quarters have lain untouched since, fine silken sheets and tomes that would melt the eyes out of your skull if you tried to read them— possibly literally.
Meanwhile, this merchant of stinking cheeses— of course, a cheese merchant— is lodging complaint for stolen goods, as if you can force the Greenskins to return what they stole. Annick is tending to Phillipine in your quarters. Her master, the old Albion man, is there, too, but the child is still too young, according to him, to begin training.
Rose is with you, at least, hidden in the shadows, white cloak and staff gripped in her palm. The Prophetess regards the room regally, and seems as much a fixture as the arches and the hanging banners with your heraldry. It is a day of absolute normalcy— insomuch as you have normal days, of late, what with your war against the undead; though, fortunately, you have removed that cult from your land at least.
Unfortunately, normalcy is a fragile thing at the best of times. A commotion at the entrance between the Household Knights and a peasant, and soon enough he enters. Wearing a maille hauberk, and with a kettle helm on him, he is clearly a soldier, though the heraldry he bares tells of one of the lesser knights— Sir Anatole, a small Knight of the Realm with only just a Manor and a Village scarcely enough to sustain him.
The man is sore wounded, gross cuts on his cheek and three of his fingers missing and by the looks of it, crudely; further, he has a bag with a smell you will never forget so long as you live.
"Sire! Sire! Goblins!"
"Calm yourself, soldier! Explain." There is a sinking feeling, in your chest.
We was making our rounds when we were attacked by 'em! Gutted Phil, Georges, everybody! They hauled away Sir Morgan! But they just gave me these, and told me...told me to tell you…"
"Tell me what?"
"Tell you that until you gave him a real fight, he was going to do this...again and again."
"And who is...he?"
"King Pasten, sir. At least, that's what they called him! He...he told me I had to give you this…"
One of your men grabs the bag, though you
know, you know without knowing exactly what is inside it.
In calm hands, you take the bag. Trusting in the Lady, you open it.
There are people who ask, why you hate the Greenskins. Or at least, why you hate them
so much. Why you spend so much gold and blood, hunting them. Why you risked your life so much, before rulership was thrust on you.
This bag is the only answer you need.
You rise, shaking, and gently hand the bag over. Consolations must be made. You do not know what it is, to lose a child— and not peacefully, either, nor swiftly.
But the very thought, of any of this, happening to your children?
It fills you with the kind of rage that you have never known. Not ever. It is not a good rage. It is not a clean rage.
But it is yours, for its worth. Your heart weeps for your fellow knight, even as many ladies faint and many sirs gasp when they realize.
"...Scribe." One of the Manheim refugees perks up and takes up his quill. "I want this taken as far as it can be: From this moment on, all Knights of Montfort; all soldiers of Montfort; any warriors of Montfort; who return with Goblin heads shall be rewarded with the most generous of bounties. Any who return bearing the heads of Goblins from the tribe that killed this poor soul? Will receive weapons or armor from my personal armorer. And whosoever might return with the head of this...barbarous King? Will receive a treasure the likes of which have never been matched."
(POLITICAL CRISIS, WOO BOYS)
(Gain Trait Wroth)
Martial: The king demands peace, and there is wisdom in that— peace is, as generality, a better thing than war. But there are some peaces that cannot be accepted; some wars that must be fought. Better a just war, though it be terrible, than an unjust peace.
(Pick 1, JUST A WORD OF WARNING ONE OF THEM SHOULD PROBABLY BE, YOU KNOW, GOBLIN STUFF)
Grey Mountain Watch: The Gris Musketeers have had it easy so far, simply trying to return to normalcy.
No longer.
You will set them to the task of protecting your mountain villages in the forts you established, and in training the militias in the basics of the sword-fighting techniques they know. It should make them even more useful against the greenskins, and keep your people more safe. It will also allow them to gain veterancy.
-LOCKED FOR TWO MORE YEARS-
We Have A Chance, Pt 2. To Kill Kings: The king is wise. Just. Noble. Ever has it been so.
The King is not, however, always right. This is the best, first, most legitimate ray of hope your people have had in centuries, if not Millenia. This is the weakest the greenskins have ever been, the strongest you have stood. The most vulnerable, the most separated, the most torng against each other. The Plain Goblins hate the Night Goblins hate the Forest Goblins all hate the Orcs; and the Plain Orcs hate the Savage Orcs hate the Black Orcs hate the Iron Orcs, who all hate the goblins. The Goblins coronate the first kings of their foul kind for the first time in centuries, who themselves war against each other and orc; and the Orcs flock to their warbosses, who battle it out without the shamans to divinate the will of their savage gods for them.
You will not, could not, would not, waste this chance. You will ask the king for forgiveness one day— but not today. Today, as Gilles and the Companions once did so long ago in their Seventh Great Battle, you will lead your men into the pits that hold your foe, and break the Night Goblin Tribes of Montfort once and for all.
But first, you have to find them. And that means asking their inhabitants.
The king's order...has not been rescinded.
But Sir Anatole will not care. He will have vengeance for his son; and with him, he will drag Baron Graeme, the boy's grandfather; who with him might drag Baron Belrose; and from him, all the rest— and if all of your barons are dragged into a war, suffice to say, so are you. Some other thing can be found to appease him, if you do not wish it— but it might be wiser simply to bite the bullet.
Cost: 4,000 Gold, 4 Years
Chance Of Success: 50%, (20% to not anger the King), 50% Sir Anatole Manages to Start anyway with your vassals
Reward: Launch Campaign of the Night Goblin King, whence you will find the hidey holes of the Goblins and put them to rout.
More Wolf-Riders: In the decades since you first captured and tamed the wolves of the goblins, their number have grown massively; eight great packs run through your lands, all led by the Lady-Blessed Grail Wolves. Feasting on monsters, devouring greenskins and their beasts, and helping make sure the Wyvern population stays suitably low, they have been a boon under-sung.
Now, in the most recent efforts against the Greenskin, the Wolves were bane to the diseased monsters, feasting on the hobgoblins with fiery fury and killing many khans outright. You would like more wolf-riders in your forces, and you will have them.
Cost: 100 Gold
Reward: Ten Units of Wolf-Riders in Army
Burn!: The fae-fyre is ready and can be mass produced. Capable of melting through solid steel and the key to Fae-Forging, it would be a potent weapon for your forces; particularly your Trebuchets, which can be loaded with glass globules filled with the stuff that will then rain fiery death down upon your foes.
Cost: 500 Gold, 2 Years
Reward: Fay-Fyre available
Follow The Leader: Gntilla's horde were devastating; the damage still hasn't been fully repaired, years on, and it's likely not to be for some time still. A large part of that was simply that the Hobgoblins, vicious, cruel and stupid as they were, did have one advantage: mounted archers. They could harass your men, kill from afar, and slaughter unpunished.
You'd like to get in on that, and Lancelot agrees.
There are two ways you can go about this— either teaching Yeomen to shoot, or training Villeins to ride. In either case, it will likely be difficult but worth it.
Cost: 500 Gold, 5 Years
Chance Of Success: 35%
Reward: Mounted Archers
Fay-Steel Supplies- Nobles: Fay-Steel is
fantastic. Capable of punching through stone, weighing less than the normal metal, and easily-worked enough for fine details, it is a potent improvement upon any mundane materials, aside perhaps from Silverine. Certainly, as far as armor goes it cannot be questioned.
Unfortunately, you both new and untested, and politically tied, might have issues convincing the nobles to transition, for their pride is great and your name, not so grand as your father's.
Cost: 1,500 Gold, 3 Turns
Chance of Success: 40%
Fay-Steel- Peasants: Fay-Steel is
fantastic. Capable of punching through stone, weighing less than the normal metal, and easily-worked enough for fine details, it is a potent improvement upon any mundane materials, aside perhaps from Silverine. Certainly, as far as armor goes it cannot be questioned.
Fortunately, the peasants are won't complain. They probably, after all, like living. Unfortunately, It will be much more expensive— you would, after all, be outfitting 70,000 people in it, compared to the 5,000 knights who would need it. It will be a recurring cost for your soldiers, too.
Cost: 3,000, Cost of upkeep for Soldiers triples
Reward: Men-At-Arms, Yeomen, Villeins and Bowmen armored and armed with Fay-Steel where it is an improvement
Sword-Fighting: The musketeers wield single handed small blades, much akin to those your militia and men-at-arms wield and will fight against often. While they will never be the equal of the musketeers, perhaps having them teach your soldiers the basics would be useful?
Cost: 500 Gold, 2 Years
Reward: Musketeers teach Men-At-Arms basics of Swordfighting
What Have You Been Doing?: Actually, now that you think about it, you are a bit suspicious of what, exactly, the Gris Guard have been doing lately, since their battle with Rose to take the scar. Perhaps a call to account is in order?
Cost: 100 Gold
Reward: Knowledge
Mollifying in Blood: You cannot undo what happened to Sir Calixte; but, you might, perhaps, avenge it and in doing soothe his wrath a little. You are not ready to face the Night Goblins in their own mountains, as much as you would like it— and you would— but while anger has blinded you to non-violence for time, it has not blinded you to a different violence.
But the wrath of a father is terrible thing…
Cost: 1000 Gold
Chance of Success: 20%
Reward: Sir Anatole does not murder-fuck you into starting the Goblin Wars, (Either way) dead Greenskins
Raising Hippogryphs: You have been patient. You have been so patient. But no longer. Time to train, time to grow, but you will have your hippogryph riders, and they will join you in battle. Though they will not equal the Royal Hippogryph Knights, they will still be terrible in the extreme.
Cost: 1500 Gold, 3 Years
Reward: Begin gaining units of Hippogryph Knights, 1 Unit=four knights, Can maintain ten units, +1 A turn)
Disperse the Undead: One of the potential weak points of any Necromancer's force— you would know more than most— is their reliance on raising their armies; or perhaps, more specifically, their reliance on sorcerers to summon said army from the dead. More than one Vampiric Force in Mousillon was broken because some Knight's Errant managed to kill the weakest Sorcerer, and so deny them reinforcement.
Obviously, you can expect the students of Arkhan the Black to be both more terrible and more subtle than random slaves to Vampires— but the fundamentals are there; you just have to use them.
Cost: 2500 Gold
Chance Of Success: 25%
Reward: Campaign against Necromancers of Arkhan the Black, much reducing size of army
Diplomacy: Your hate is at a boil! You could spit thunder, and split the steel with your hands! Every ounce of you is filled with hate— and that has made you slightly less charming than before, but only slightly. Perhaps, more importantly, it has put you onto a thought you had hoped to avoid entirely— but one which races at you with a fervour.
(Pick 2)
We Are Experts: The Orcs have risen up in bloody numbers in the kingdom, but for one place— your lands. Unlike you, however, those lands do not know how to put down the the greenskins quite so efficaciously— how to shatter them, break them, burn them. Send your Household Knights— they will learn, then.
Cost: 300 Gold
Chance Of Success: 40%
Reward: Spread Montfortian techniques for fighting Greenskins
Scratch My Back: It is an old trick in Estalia and TIlea to gain a title of nobility by sending a letter to a receptive noble with an amount of gold to persuade them to respond to you with the wished for title, e.g. Signor or Sir. While you are far outside of Estalia, you are still a Duke and as such your word when responding would mean something. It's a bit underhanded, but Morgyan does know a fellow or two who would make use of this service and would pay handsomely.
Cost: Free
Reward: 1d250 Gold
King's Sleep Gifts: The most noble of all holidays, when Bretonnia celebrates Gilles Le Breton and mourns his premature slumber. On this day, family give gifts to each other, spend time together, and mourn his loss by the ritual burning of a greenskin figurine. Perhaps sending gifts will make people like you more? It couldn't hurt to check.
Cost: 75 Gold
Reward: Slight increase to noble opinion
Mingling Blood- Parravon: Duke Louis, though he has little love for you, has even less love for Beastmen; his is a practical sort of detestation, the kind that can work with those he hates, so long as it it for his own benefit.
Whatever, you lost track of your train of thought at some point.
The point is, there are a disgustingly large number of Orcs and beastmen corrupting the lands of Parravon, many of them coming from the former Massif Orcal. While you do not feel particularly guilty about it— by all reports, the number of attacks by them is far lower with them as a motley crew than it is a total mass— you should probably still help them deal with that problem.
As such, you will convince Knights Errant to go and render aid to those Knights of the Realm seeking to put down the Beastmen. If a few of them should happen to meet some blushing maidens, so much the better.
Cost: 400 Gold
Chance Of Success: 40%
Reward: Improve Parravon Opinion, Kill Beastmen and Orcs
Mingling Blood- The Empire: There are orcs pouring over the border and attacking Imperial territory, though in your defense they are more fleeing the Dark Elves than they are running from the Massif.
Still, Uter has picked up a few of his adopted duchy's quirks, and among them is your raging, firestorm hatred for all things both sapient and green. If you can kill greenskin and even more securely festoon good relations between the Empire and Bretonnia, well that's just icing on the cake, isn't it?
...Even if Rose does shake her head at you in disapproval.
Cost: 500 Gold
Chance Of Success:50%
Reward: Improved Relations with the Empire
Wyvern-Scale Diplomacy— Bastonne: The kin of the Uniter and one of your neighbors, Bastonne never did fall into the habit of undermining its men at arms and other soldiers, as should, perhaps, be expected of the descendants of Giles. It is likely that at least a few will want to buy, if not the pre-worked stuff, the raw materials to craft their own wyvern armor.
Cost: 500 Gold
Chance Of Success: 65%
Reward: Begin selling Wyvern armor or material to Bastonne
Wyvern-Scale Diplomacy— Parravon: Yeah, they're not exactly the nicest bunch around. But you know what? They are still Knights, with all the honor, and the duties, that entails. That includes the duty to arm, armor, and train their soldiers to defend their homes, all stupid jokes aside. There are, almost certainly, Barons who will want to arm their soldiers in goodly armor— the real problem lies in convincing them to buy from Montfort.
Cost: 550
Chance Of Success: 40%
Reward: Begin Selling Wyvern gear to Parravon
Wyvern-Scale Diplomacy— Athel Loren: The elves of Athel Loren, cold and alien as they are, strange and aloof as they might act, do still… probably...need armor. And what could be better for those who cannot wield cold steel than the strong, sinuous leather and tough scales of a wyvern? Of course, there is the slight problem of all of Sir Uter's pride and whether or not it can fit in the same forest as all those elves, but you're pretty sure that it won't end disastrously, at least.
Cost: 300 Gold
Chance of Success: 30%
Reward: Begin selling Wyvern leather to the Wood Elves, establish contact
The Grail's Fury- Tilea: One Grail Knight, acting alone, can turn the tide of a battle. A single one of their blade has routed entire Waaaaaghs, and the fury of but one can blunt the charge of a hundred Orcs. And right now, fifty of these living saints live in Montfort, inside the Grail Monasteries Aldric and your father helped recapture and purify. Of course, you probably can't convince all fifty of them to go, but at least one or two should be possible.
Tilea's cities will be exposed and vulnerable, to an extent. Mercenaries are likely to be employed to attack each-other instead of to deal with bandits, miscreants, and so on. They will attack the country-side, pillaging and robbing and taking. Grail Knights would not abide that, but convincing them to go could be...difficult.
Cost: 100 Gold
Chance Of Success:40% (Grail Knights are a stubborn people themselves)
Reward: Grail Knights travel to Tilea to aid the Alliance
We Honor You: The Grail Knights are already the greatest human warrior. In human steel. And often with plain weapons. You'd like to change that.
You're going to give the Grail Knights of Bretonnia Enheralded, fay steel weapons and armor. Any of them that ask for it will receive it, and you will actively search them out, too. Starting with yourself and your neighbors, then going outwards.
Cost: 3000 Gold, 5 Years
Reward: All Grail Knights Receive Magical Armor and Weapons
Fay Alliance: The Fay of the Court Invulnerable gave your father the gift of Enheralding. That suggests they may, perhaps, wish to ally with you. Certainly in some sense you already are, but having the aid of the mountains themselves against the Greenskins would be undeniable— fissures opening in the ground to consume them, armies teleporting to attack, golem warriors battling with you, all of those and more might come if you can but convince them to make oaths with you, and vice versa. First, though, you will need knowledge.
Cost: Free
Chance of Success: 100% (Note: Roll is somewhat for determining difficulty)
Reward: See what you would need to do make an Alliance with the Court of Fay Invulnerable
Bath-House- Quenelles: The Duke of Quenelles has heard tell of your fine bath-house and wishes to have one in his city, as well, for to help reduce the filth. You can send one of Nimue's students there and have them build it, and earn some good will in the process, as well as some gold.
Cost: 750, 3 Years
Reward: Improvement to Quenelles Opinion, One time payment of 1000 Gold upon completion
Bath-Houses, Bastonne: While the worst has passed, Bastonne still bears the scars of the Cataclysm. Filth chokes the land, and it must be fought. Bohemond's sister, Alix, has sent men to you asking, in the name of Bohemond. It can be done.
Cost: 750 Gold, 3 years
Reward: Improvement to Bastonne opinion, one-time payment of 1000 Gold upon completion
Weeping And Sorrow: Hundreds of thousands of men are dead, slaughtered on the fields of Norsca— a fighting retreat, whence they saved who they could. Still, of the hundred-thousand who remained there, against the Norscans, a further fifth died on those icy fields, and many who returned were wounded and maimed— the suffering will be horrendous, and undeserved. You will not allow this.
Cost: 6,000 Gold, 3 Years
Reward: Send giant aid package to Reikland and the Empire, massive bonus to opinion
Elven Treaties: The Duke of Parravon has spent an age attempting to make treaty, alliance, and common cause with the Elves of Athel Loren. His work has been functional, but slow, so very slow; and so he has, begrudgingly, asked for aid in coded messages to the rest of the Dukes.
No doubt many will send knights, and no doubt many of those knights will fail. Instead of simple sending them off to the slaughter, it might, perhaps, make sense to study first. But then, the rewards of an alliance with the Wood Elves might well be...incalculable.
Cost: 500 Gold, 5 Years
Chance Of Success: 40%
Reward: Alliance Options with Asrai
Edict Of Bel-Hathor: The Asur have banned all non-elves from Ulthuan but for the single port of Lothern. You know, though, that there are treasures untold there, monsters to be fought and beasts to be faced. Further, it might help the elves, to, to see others besides Elves.
Petition the Phoenix King, and see if it might not be undone.
Cost: 100 Gold, 3 Years
Chance Of Success: 80% Thanks to High Asur Opinion of You, Unlocks Further Options
Orcs Need to Die: Right now, the Dwarfs, the Elves, and the Arabyans are all killing Greenskins— by the bushel. Their places of power are threatened— the Asrai have cast down the Bloody Spear Goblins blocking Mad Dog Pass on their way into the Darklands, the Asur have prepare to siege the Iron Rock, the Dwarfs carve a bloody path to Ekrund, and the Arabyans and Badlanders are, surely, doing something productive as well. The King will not care if, say, you ship rations, or weapons, or armor to these peoples as they cast down the Greenskins.
And so that is what you are going to do. While none of them will take everything, all of them will take something. In doing so you will allow them to stand, more terribly, against the Orcs.
Cost: 5,000 Gold
Reward: Supply Wood Elves, Dwarfs, High Elves, and Humans in the Badlands
Envoys: Your Household Knights are your general ambassadors, acting as your will and emissary in foreign lands. However, they are somewhat lacking in particular training— by which you mean, they have none at all except their general education.
This is, perhaps, not the best state of affairs. Fortunately, there are none better than you to teach, and a Trobadours' school to teach in.
Cost: 800 Gold, 2 Years
Reward: Bonus to Diplomacy
Wines of the Empire— Stirland: The Empire does make wines. They are not very good, but they do make them.
Notably in Stirland— it may or may not have had something to do with your sister being betrothed their Graf. It would not too difficult to establish a trade in wine in your province, and so earn some money on tariffs; further, it would improve their opinion of you. It would also make your father happy, so that's a plus.
Cost: 500 Gold
Chance of Success: 100%
Reward: Wine Trade Between Stirland and Montfort
Wines of the Empire— Averland: The Empire does make wines. They are not very good, but they do make them.
Particularly in Averland, home of the Leitdorfs. Though a particular breed of crazy, you are told that the Knights who married Marienburgers have picked up a taste for Grenzstadter White, a popular drink in Marienburg. It's shameful, but it is far from so shameful that you would not be willing to collect tax on it.
Cost: 500 Gold, 2 Years
Chance Of Success: 75%
Reward: Wine Trade between Montfort and Averland
Wines of the Empire— Wissenland: The Empire does make wines. They are not very good, but they do make them.
They make wine in Nuln and Solland. It is kind of awful, marred as it is with the blood of Griffons, but they produce it in great barrels. That said, the frictions between your people during the Marienburg campaign might make this...difficult.
Cost: 500 Gold, 3 Years
Chance Of Success: 30%
Reward: Access to Wissenland Wine
Wines of the Empire— Reikland: The Empire does make wines. They are not very good, but they do make them.
Reikland wines are actually almost acceptable? You would universally choose proper Southern stock over them, but you would not be offended if a friend bought it for you, which is more than can be said for most of the Empire's wine.
That said, the land is in turmoil, and might be difficult to negotiate with, what with the Ulricans pouring out in search of their next great battle and the sheer loss of life in Norsca.
Cost: 500 Gold, 2 Years
Chance Of Success: 50%
Reward: Wines of Reikland
Match-Maker: Your knights are not very impressed with you right now. They dislike your use of Ballista, your infringing on their lands in your campaign, your calling their sons to war.
That is not a great state of affairs. There are several ways, recorded in long history books, to deal with such a problem. Your mother is in one of them, but you would rather not do the same. There is an easier alternative: Namely, a great many young sons and daughters of Montfort search for marriages! You just so happen to have connections in the courts of the mighty human nations of the Old World, and the Empire as well.
If nothing else, it would be hard to hate the man who introduced you to your spouse.
Cost: 3000 Gold
Reward: Major Increase in Noble opinion as you make a great many matches in noble-marriages and etc.
Gisoreux: The land of your mother, and your grandfather, and of your cousins. It is a place of vipers and venom, as many families assert themselves in their efforts to climb to the top of the heap. Even if the highest prize of Dukedom itself is out of reach— and it might well not be— in the chaos of Grandfather's death there will be much positioning, enough to make the vultures of Reikland seem positively earnest.
Naturally, there are those asking you to get involved. They believe you can play the peacemaker, and you can, to be fair. But it will be a constant drain on your time in this department, ensuring there are no border disputes that escalate to civil war.
Cost: 3000 Gold, 5 Years
Reward: Maintain peace in Gisoreux,???
The Hunt— No Danger: Who doesn't like hunting, really? Nobles like it, peasants like it, freemen like it— universal approval! Admittedly, for very different reasons, but they are reasons you are okay with.
So, why not host a hunt? Not a very dangerous one, really, but not all that impressive, either. Mostly the few game animals that live in Montfort, of which there are not many.
Cost: 250 Gold
Reward: Minor Increase in Opinion
The Hunt— Minor Danger: Who doesn't like hunting, really? Nobles like it, peasants like it, freemen like it— universal approval! Admittedly, for very different reasons, but they are reasons you are okay with.
This would mostly still be the minor game that live in Montfort! However, you would also send a few expeditions out looking for boar. Beyond being impressive, dangerous beasts, they are also good pelts to have in the cold, cold mountains nights— but, they are far from the most dangerous things in Montfort's mountains.
Cost: 1,500 Gold
Chance of Success: 75%
Reward: Hunt, moderate increase in Opinion
The Hunt— Moderate Danger: Who doesn't like hunting, really? Nobles like it, peasants like it, freemen like it— universal approval! Admittedly, for very different reasons, but they are reasons you are okay with.
This time, you will be hunting specifically dangerous beasts. Boars that have gored peasants, bears that have assaulted town militias, that sort of thing. Not
that dangerous, but it would ruin the mood somewhat if someone left maimed. On the other hand, the glory earned in impressive hunts such as these is the sort of thing that makes a man feel good enough to be generous.
Cost: 2,000 Gold
Chance Of Success:50%
Reward:Hunt, Major Increase in Opinion
Hunt— The Most Dangerous Game Of All: Who doesn't like hunting, really? Nobles like it, peasants like it, freemen like it— universal approval! Admittedly, for very different reasons, but they are reasons you are okay with.
No, you are not hunting
people.
You're hunting greenskins. Your bands of hunters against small bands of greenskins specifically infesting the lands of your subjects, not your own lands.
That should really just about say it all, honestly.
Cost: 2,500
Chance Of Success: 25%
Reward: Extreme Increase in Opinion
An Extreme Option: You have
six— count them,
six— children. That is six potential marriage alliances, bringing with them them soldiers in a war you must fight.
But!
But you did say, and you did hope, and did everything but swear, that you would let your children make the choice you did not, the most basic one: Of who to marry, and make a life with. While you are happy, that is luck, perhaps; and as your father says of Écosse, "That, this once, something horrible did not happen does not change that this is a horrible idea." Further, if there is anything the Elves and their Civil War— their Kin Strife— can teach you, it is that hate can ruin more than anything else.
On the other hand? There is something to be said, for having the aid of six families that would otherwise look on you as the dirt itself.
Cost: 500 Gold (To prove Wealth), your Soul (Metaphorically)
Reward: Make Betrothals between
all of your children (That you have access to) and various noble Familie from Across the Old World/Bretonnia
A Less Extreme Option: Yes, it is true that you will need many, many soldiers to smoke out the Goblins. However, there is a better way than selling your children like meat on the market. Better by a long shot.
There is another traditional Bretonnian way to form alliances— squiring. By sending your children to— and teaching the children of— other nobles, you gain their support. Louis still must be taught, and you could take on two students.
Cost: 500 Gold
Reward: Choose Sir for Louis, Squires, Gain Alliances
A Matter of Kin: Family supports family— and your family is a strong family indeed. A Marquis in Écosse, a Duchess of Carcassonne, the Grafin of Stirland, the Duke of Montagneterre and of Gisoreux,
Bohemond of Bastonne— all of these people, they are your family, or so close that they might as well be.
Though it is a small thing that incurs your wrath— in a world as entrenched with horrors as yours— surely some of your family, your allies, can conjure up something to aid you in the battle to come.
Cost: 1000 Gold
Chance Of Success: Varies, rolled for each ally and family member
Reward: Support from allies, family
Call Up Your Vassals: Your vassals have had an easy past few decades, all told. The Barons, at least. Your father's growth of his personal levy made everything easy for them.
No longer.
They will not deny you.
Cost: 1000 Gold
Chance Of Success: 60%
Reward: Call up Barons for military duty and Levy
Returning the Body: Lamorte deserves to return home. There is, however, one slight problem. It will be immediately obvious to everyone what you are trying to do. No caravan will be safe, no baggage train protected; They
will be attacked on the way back to Aquitaine by the servants of the undead. All will not be well. But if they make it back, never will the body be ripped from Aquitaine again.
Cost: 8,000 Gold
Chance Of Success: 10% (Note: If failed, body either lost or reclaimed by Arkhan)
Reward: Body of Lamorte returned to Aquitaine
Stewardship: Unlike the last time the Greenskins made mouth-noises, half your realm is not on fire. But, much the same charge is in the air.
(Pick 1)
Minor Holdings: You obtained a large number of minor fiefs in your training of your men— usually, a small manor and the dozen houses and a blacksmith, overrun by greenskins. Good practice for fighting in dark, enclosed spaces. Generally, a Knight Errant would claim them but, well, since more often than not it was just you and a handful of peasants doing the deed, you now have a number of very lands, all split off from each other. You can't keep them all to your chest, you're busy enough just with the contiguous Montfort, so clearly it's time to distribute the wealth about.
First thing's first, it would be smart to see whether, among the nobility, there are any claimants to such lands. Then...well, you can worry about the rest later.
-Locked for 3 more turns-
Taxes: Oh boy, corruption! Or typos. Either way, people often do not put the whole of their owed taxes together. Send Sir Yvain to double check, and make sure that all is as it should be, instead of all screwed up.
Cost:Free
Reward: 1d250 Gold
Nouvelle Vie- Transit: Sir Yvain has scouted out the city for several options. He sees much potential for coinage in your port, even if it is river bound.
The Strigany travel throughout the whole of your land; their caravans reach areas as notable as Métropole and its forty-thousand souls to the hamlet of Snow's Fall, population one-hundred. Yvain would like to offer payment to the Strigany in return for, essentially, ferrying merchants and their goods between your lands. Everyone would win— nobles would get access to rarer materials, and could establish trading connections; Strigany make money just for doing what they do; and the merchants would get money from your more...ah,
isolated vassals, who would either from desperation or ignorance pay top dollar for certain amenities.
And, of course, you'd get to skim from the top in the form of taxes.
Cost: 800 Gold, 3 Years
Reward: New transit system for mercantile endeavors, gold
Nouvelle Vie— The Expeditionary Quarters: Sir Yvain has scouted out the city for several options. He sees much potential for coinage in your port, even if it is river bound.
It is a feature in many Old World Cities— Couronne, Parravon, Marienburg, Altdorf and more alike have it. Its names range from "the Adventurer's Parts" to the "Home of Heroes"; but whatever it is called unofficially, the official name is The Expeditionary Quarters: where those planning on charging out into the great unknown can buy good, solid steel, find men, and anything else an adventurer might need.
Of course, the Nouvelle Vie is not nearly large as any of those cities; but it does have access to the Grismerie, and several blacksmiths work there; if nothing else, it is likely to be where foreign dignitaries arrive in Montfort.
Cost: 1,500 Gold, 5 Years
Reward: Money, Small chance each year of foreign trading expedition from unexplored areas coming to trade with you
Nouvelle Vie- Imperial Quarter: The Empire sends many traders and merchants, now, but they could send more if certain… provisions were put in place. A quarter proper, for their long-term habitation, for instance, would be helpful. It would certainly expand the tax base— and Lady above do you feel… nasty about having to say that.
Cost: 750 Gold, 2 years
Reward: Establish Imperial Quarter
Enlarge the Mine: The new iron-mine is a relatively small affair, employing less than a hundred hands to rip the iron from the stone. You can definitely make it bigger, and thus reap more of a profit.
Cost: 100 Gold
Reward: More gold
Valuable Metals: You already have a gold mine, yes, but that's a single vein pounding out raw coinage. You'd expect there to be, somewhere in the duchy, there to be some other veins of other valuable metals. Set some prospectors out to find it.
Cost: 200 Gold
Chance Of Success: 90%
Reward: Valuable metal of some sort discovered.
Herd— The Most Cheese: Your current herd of goats is used for cheese and milk. It's pretty good, all things equal— better than starving, certainly. You can always use more food for your people, and pound per pound cheese is probably the best way to do that— though probably not the most delicious. After this point, the amount of goats you'll be capable of sustaining very-long-term (aka for cheese production) will hit its max; if you want to expand the herds more, it would have to be for meat or wool.
Cost: 100 Gold
Reward: Utilize third herd of goats as extra cheese maker
Herd— More wool: The herd of goats you have is currently used for milk and cheese, helping take the ease off of imports, but not by enough. Right now you have enough goats to make a third herd, for more cheese, wool, or meat.
The wool is shaggy, thick, and warm. It makes very effective coats and cloaks, that hold the warmth as though their grasp was steel. Of course, you can't exactly eat wool if, say, orcs come and burn your stores to the ground, meaning you'll have to continue importing food. On the other hand, the wool sells for far more than either meat or cheese does, and that gold can be turned for nobler purpose.
Cost:50 Gold
Reward: Money, wool
Herd— More Meat: The herd of goats you have is currently used for milk and cheese, helping take the ease off of imports, but not by enough. Right now you have enough goats to make a second herd, for more cheese, wool, or meat.
Meat sounds nice. It goes for a fair penny, helps feed your men, and you can use the meat as bait for hunting orcs. All in all, a sound investment.
(Cannot be taken with other Herd options)
Cost: 100 Gold
Reward: Meat produced, more coin, more food
Trade Post-Marienburg: You can buy and sell anything in Marienburg.
It's part of why your father hates it.
However, that make it a prime spot for commerce. Which is good, according to Yvain. Because you really, really need money in your coffers. To help pay for repairs, and so on and so forth. Right now, only a few Freedmen send pack and such. Small scale. But why not something bigger? A permanent trade post? Fay steel and other minor goods in return for whatever the many expeditions launched out of Marienburg?
It feels a little...dirty, but better dirty than your people suffer.
Cost: 1000 Gold, 3 Years
Reward: Trading Post in Marienburg, foreign goods flow to you and vice versa
Tharravil: According to legend, there is a city made entirely of purest gold. Not in Lustria, death-land that it is; nor in the Southlands, so far away; nor even in Naggaroth, under jealous command of Witch-King.
No, the Golden City of Tharravil supposedly lies in Bretonnia. Montfort. Over the largest vein of purest gold in all the land. Everything from silverware, to buildings, to roads, all made of the stuff. You dismissed it as a fairy tale. Myth, tall-tales told around the fire. Certainly, you have never received a cart of pure gold.
But Lady Nimue thinks that her expedition in Mousillon so long ago found a map to it. A wierd map, but a map.
And now she believes she's found the key.
Certainly would solve your money problems, if it were true.
Cost: 1000 Gold, 2 Years
Chance Of Success: 50% (Note: Locked until successful if chosen— Nimue can be very persuasive)
Reward: Golden city of Tharravil, Massive amounts of Gold and economic recovery
Bath-Houses- Outlying Villages: Now that your people have experience building a functional bath-house, it is likely they could do the same elsewhere. They will not be as nice as the one found in Montfort, but it will still be an improvement on their hygiene, one much needed at that— a blow to Nurgle, then. Not being so sick so often should do good for your people.
Cost: 1,000 Gold, 3 Years
Reward: Bath-Houses spread throughout Montfort
Expand the Fleet: Now that you are expanding Nouvelle Vie, Yvain believes it would be worthwhile to expand the fleet. Not just with more Couteau, but with a new freighter proper, as well. A small one, only perhaps 20 feet, but it would both carry far more— double the tonnage of your existing craft— and have proper armament outside its guard, consisting of a single catapult— which might not sound like much, but would absolutely ruin a great many people's days.
Cost: 1000 Gold, 3 Years
Reward: +10 Couteau, 1 Freighter, expansion in trade
Save the Food: Now more powerful than before, Rose believes it would be possible for her to use the heraldry of the Court Reborn to keep the food in your granaries preserved for far longer, making you yet more independent.
Cost: 400 Gold, 3 turns
Reward: More income
A New Port: There was a certain note of betrayal in your father's voice as he told you of Charles' rise up. Despite the greatness of his feat— a Marquis, before twenty— to see your brother aiding a man your father plainly did not trust hurt him dearly.
You are somewhat more conflicted, but he is your brother. And he requests your aid. Not in war, but a loan to help him build up his new town, Chaudburg, into the port he believes it can be. Architects, stone-workers, and etc. could be sent to help, should be sent to help really, for he is your brother.
Cost: 500 Gold, 5 years
Reward: Trade Link between Ecosse and Montfort
Mountain Farms- Step 1: You have the Sun-Stones now. With that, you can make even the darkest, deepest pits into perfectly fine farms—
if there's soil available. While you are no expert in farming, it does strike you that there are several ways this can be done, including, possibly, magic, though of course all of them are likely to be time consuming in the extreme.
Still, this brings you one step closer to food independence.
Cost: 2,000 Gold, 6 Years
Chance Of Success: 30%
Reward:Mountain Farms
Revitalize Farming: Nimue has seen your new technologies— the fine steel plows, and the impressive pipework that flows water from the castle out— and has had an idea.
In a giant book, perhaps three-hundred pages thick— and they are
large pages— she has lain out a program to revitalize the farming methods of your land, so that they bring in much, much more food. Steel plows breaking rocky soil, fed with pipes from the Grismerie, would produce yields perhaps double, or even triple, what is produced now.
There is only one problem: Baron Rambert, who owns the land, has died in battle, a minor skirmish with the Skaven— and his son is far less eager to work with you. You will have to convince him to let you do this.
Cost: 3,000 Gold, 5 Years
Chance Of Success: 35%
Reward: Massively improve farming efforts
Working the Earth: While more massive expansions will be difficult, simply giving hoes to your farmers to work the land should be simple, and increase yields well.
Cost: 500 Gold, 3 Turns
Reward: Expand farming income
Passing It Along: The Palais des Fleurs is a great place, of joy and wonder. It will pass to one of your sons, when they come of age. Deciding who, exactly— clearly, not Merovee— is somewhat important, considering the wealth tied up in the palace. You might as well do much the same for the Valmont Estate, while you're at it.
Cost: 500 Gold
Reward: Choose who to pass the Palais des Fleurs and the Valmont Estate to
Selling Eggs: Hippogryphs are neat. Not so neat that you'll give up your Destriers, but neat. Contracts must be negotiated, oaths made, duels fought— but you can begin selling these awesome beasts, though to avoid meddling with the growth of your aerial corps you will need to be slow and cautious in selling. On the other hand, you know there are people interested, ranging from the Tileans, to the Estalians, to the Samurai of Nippon— who are apparently...intrigued, by the statues in the chapel you had built as a wedding gift.
Cost: 2000 Gold, 5 Turns
Chance Of Success: 60%
Reward: Begin selling Hippogryphs/Eggs to interested parties
Piety: Rose has returned from her trip rescuing the new Baron of Westerlands. She has a new scar, as well as a new staff, much bigger than her last. It seems she has become, then, that which evil fears most: a Prophetess of the Lady. Young, for that, but not entirely without Precedent.
(Pick 1)
Ready for War: The Tomb Kings stir. The servants of Nagash seek Bretonnians, for what and why you neither know nor care. In such times, it would be wise to ask the damsels for wisdom in facing the Undead Kings— before they can ravage the lands.
-LOCKED FOR 1 MORE TURN-
The Holy Spots: There are shrines and temples and chapels dotting the mountains of Montfort. While it would be remiss to use them for temporal gain at the expense of their spiritual weight, it would hardly be wrong to make mention of them in conversation, to draw others' attention to them, would it?
Cost: Free
Reward: 1d250 Gold
Churches And Chapels: The Lady's houses of worship are generally small, humble things, to keep the connection between Her and Her Servants clear and close, unlike the ostentatious and downright tacky Cathedrals that Sigmarites are so fond of. That said, building a grand place for Her Knights to worship her is a very good use of money.
Cost: 300 Gold, 6 Years
Chance Of Success: 100%
Reward: Build a Monument to the Lady
Shrine Of Saint René: The first man to ever map all of the parts of the Grismerie as a continuous whole— its tributaries, streams, and deltas alike, as well as the main body— Saint René is not particularly popular among your mostly land-bound Dukedom. However, now that you have a port, it seems only prudent to have someone watching your sailors.
Cost: 300 Gold, 2 Years
Reward: Shrine of Saint Rene
A Prophetess Would be Lovely: An army of Orcs marches through Bretonnia, growing stronger every day; and in their teeming number, they will no doubt have many shamans, both goblin and orcish. It would be wise, very wise, to see whether or not one of the Prophetesses of the Lady, her most potent agents, might desire to live within Castle Montfort. Even with Rose newly ascended, it would be nice to have an extra for to guide you.
Cost: 500 Gold
Chance Of Success: 30%
Reward: Prophetess of the Lady moves to Castle Montfort
The Clerics: You begged for aid, and they came. The Clerics of Bretonnia, taught by the Green Knight, trained to wield magic, just in deed, they are an army unstoppable. One of them could turn aside an army of orcs.
They have been mobile these last years, killing and maiming and destroying Greenskin and Skaven. But finally a few a starting to peel away from the pack, away from the rest and setting down roots. Perhaps you could try and entice one? By, say, building a giant chapel, or something?
Cost: 1500 Gold
Chance Of Success: 50%
Reward: Giant Chapel, Cleric of the Lady (Note: Can be taken until successful)
Miracles: Bertrand can calm any animal he sees, or that sees him. Stories of a Duke's daughter that can turn away Beastmen with but a little effort, and her will. Of a boy in Lyonesse who can lift twelve oxen at high noon and struggle with a door at midnight. Is there a true to those claims? Are there more in Bretonnia like this, these miracles makers, born of the Lady's grace? It deserves thought.
Cost: 500 Gold, 3 Years
Chance of Success: ???
Reward: A census of Blessed People in Bretonnia
Magic Sharing: The Wizards of the Empire have long desired for to learn, at least a bit, from the Damsels. The Fay Enchantress has given her assent— and her protection— to any who might take them up on that offer, but few have, for there is little love lost in Bretonnia for Wizards— that is to say, men who wield the powers of magic. Only in Montfort would it have a chance, but your Father's only aid in such matters was Rose, who would patently have refused.
Now, though, there are three Damsels who might be convinced. An exchange of knowledge could benefit you both?
Cost: 500 Gold, 5 Years
Chance Of Success: 40%
Reward: Damsels teach and learn at the Wizard's College in Altdorf
Salvage: While the Imperials were driven back by the Norscans, in their attack they reclaimed much plunder ripped in blood from the Old World. While, no doubt, much of it belonged to the Empire, it would be far from impossible that among them were artifacts of the Lady. You could ask, though of course it might be...impolitic.
Cost: 500 Gold
Chance Of Success: 45%
Reward: Artifacts of Bretonnian Saints Reclaimed
The Wild Warriors: There are many worshipers of Taal in Montfort— despite its mountainous nature, Ulric never did gain quite so much power as you would expect. They wander the wild paths in twos and threes, patrol the fens and glades, march the mountains in search of Greenskins, and other such feats.
That said, they do all practically worship your wife? Perhaps she could forge them into something?
Cost: 500 Gold, 5 Years
Reward: ??? (Special Unit, maybe?)
Écossias Corrections: The Great Mistake, as your father might call it, appears to have become...well, not permanent— nothing really is— but indefinite. A storm of perfect coincidences, excellent luck, and divine intervention, has combined such that a sociopath with delusions of grandeur has grabbed power...and unlike the ten-millions other times it's happened, has stumbled onto the revolutionary strategy of "Being unhorrible" as the sustainable way forward, the only one that will not earn divine retribution. It's unromantic, unchivalric, ignoble— but it's life, for better or for worse.
That said, you will be damned if you allow such a man to be the sole voice of the Lady on the Island. Send some missionaries and knights, to build chapels and shrines and speak the true voice of the Lady.
Cost: 1000 Gold, 4 Years
Chance Of Success:50%
Reward: Send Missionaries, build chapels, etc.
The Enchantress' Words: The Fay Enchantress and a number of Damsels has spent the past few years combing through the personal writings of the First Fay, and now feels ready to begin distributing what she can. Texts deciphering the mysteries of your faith, Polemics describing the idiocy of an ever divided Empire, Theological notions— your faith is more personal than the Empire's, it's true, but it is not less intellectual for it.
Acquire copies for your library.
Cost: 5000 Gold
Reward: Cool shit from The First Fay's Library (As far as Theological Notions Go)
Learning:Perhaps not the most useful thing, when you could be driving Greenskins from your shores.
(Pick 1)
Understanding the Journal: The Fay Enchantress has, essentially, translated the most basic parts of the Journal into easy enough steps for you to take against Arkhan, and his evil. However, as you said, it is a basic translation. More earnestly studying the book might give you an edge over your opponent, the traitor.
-LOCKED FOR 2 MORE TURNS-
Elven Wisdom: The dwarfs in your Province are an isolationist bunch, who have never made many ties with your people, preferring instead their own; your four personal guests, meanwhile, are a skald, a conservative, a thane and his not-conservative-but-hyperfocused aunt; you will be learning nothing from them. However, Telathyn, Lore-Master that she is, is not so isolated; further, her house feels it owes you a debt of some import, for both returning their ancestral sword and saving their heir, Prince Alan's, life. Honor-bound, they would be willing— with consent of Phoenix King— to teach the smiths of your land how to forge armor and weapons in the Asur way.
Cost: 500 gold, 5 Years
Chance of Success: 50% (Note: For losing Noble Opinion, Smiths will learn either way)
Reward: Smiths learn to construct Asur style armor to the level of a journeyman elven smith
Expeditions: There are plenty of broken ruins in Bretonnia, particularly in Montfort. There are likely valuable of archaeological significance within them, items that would fetch a pretty penny if given to the Museum in Altdorf.
Cost:Free
Reward: 1d250 Gold
That's Some Bull: Within the Massif Orcal, massive bulls, easily larger than your warhorses, reside. Foul tempered, stubborn, and vicious if startled— but they do not tolerate the fell monsters that blanket the mountain, either. It is, perhaps, for this reason that one of your knights, Sir Gabriel, has asked your permission and support in rounding up a few Knights Errant, and trying to capture, then tame, a few of the beasts to act as noble mounts.
Cost: 800 Gold, 4 Years
Chance of Success:50%
Reward: Access to Dire Bulls as Steed Option
Examine These: A variety of Hobgoblin treasures were captured; of particular interest— according to Rose at least— was the Panoply of Gtilla, layered with many blessings. She would like to take a peek at it, and see what— if anything— she can learn from the foul things of it.
Cost: 150 Gold
Chance Of Success: 60%
Reward: Magical Knowledge,???
Saint Josephine of Rhya: It is said that, within the deepest gulches of Montfort, a small but potent shrine to Saint Josephine exists. A Venerated Soul, she is patron of families and healing, holy to Rhya; it is likely, if that shrine exists, that it might be reclaimed. Given how many knights died in Estalia, healing and families will be necessary to recover your numbers.
Cost: 500 Gold, 3 Turns
Reward: Claim relics of Saint Josephine
Chariots: Your problem with your father's actions in constructing the Ballista is not, the whispered words of certain Noble ladies aside, out of some inane hate of archery or innovation. It is that he ignored the spirit of the law in order to make his life easier.
To prove it, you will do something he never thought of: you are going to stick your men on chariots.
Kind of.
Wagons, more, really. Pulled by lower horses and filled with archers, they will run the field firing and withdrawing, charing on occasion. Not the equal, of course, to your knights but it should still be a pain in the ass.
That said, it is… somewhat a complicated matter. Not that you can't make a wagon, but making a wagon that won't break apart on your rocky terrain and such could prove difficult. The elves might be capable of helping, but Tiranoc is far from Ellyrion, and holds little debt to you beyond the general good will.
Cost: 2,000 Gold, 4 Years
Chance Of Success: 40%
Reward: Develop Bretonnian Chariots
Shallyan Mercy: There are ancient records of a long since lost plant that the Shallyans who went with Gilles took into battle with them. As it burned in their braziers— in
purple, note— fire, it healed the men instantly. Not all wounds, but many, and very noticeably.
The plant has been considered lost, dying with the last of the ancient order, but Nimue believes, having seen reports and made copies of texts in the Mousillon Library— that she has narrowed down a few suspects. It might be wise, then, to give her funds.
Cost: 1,000 Gold, 3 Years
Chance Of Success: 50%
Reward: Can recruit Field Healers of Shallya
Surgeons Guild: The Surgeon's Guild of the Empire are often hungry for patrons— they thirst for gold, knowledge, and support. A young art, it is...gruesome, to behold. However, so was seeing your father's flesh knit back to wellness by magic, or the healing of your own split hand— perhaps there simply is no pretty way to heal?
While they are not as useful as Damsels and other, more developed arts, you would be a fool to ignore the potential for good. To sweeten the pot, if you establish an outpost of their guild in Montfort, the Surgeons will send one of the masters of their craft, one James Adamson of Albion.
Cost: 500 Gold, 3 Years
Reward: Establish Surgeon's Guild In Montfort
Knowledge Natural: The home of the First Enchantress has been found in Montfort. Ancient texts, dating back to the time of Elven Colonization in the Old World, have been found inside. They speak of things you have less than no understanding of— but, then, you are not a scholar.
Cost: 3000 Gold, 4 Years
Chance Of Success: 50%
Reward: Read and Copy ancient, lost texts of the Fay Enchantress
Intrigue: You are a better sneak than your father, and your wife is better than you both. Wise and clever, she has been the doom of a thousand souls.
(Pick 2)
Pelts And Furs: There is always a need for skins and furs and pelts in Bretonnia, always a need for warm clothing in the cold mountains. It would put a pretty penny in your pocket to get a few, certainly. Who knows? Some great beast might be slain.
Cost: Free
Reward: 1d250 Gold
De-Vampification: There is little— if any— doubt in your mind that there are Vampires, at least a few, within Montfort; the Lady has shown you so, and she does not lie. Send your huntsmen, your soldiers, your watchmen, to drive them out; to put them to the Sword; to break them from your lands, as one bursts a tick.
Cost: 2000 Gold, 3 Years
Chance Of Success: 45%
Reward: Drive out the Vampires from Montfort
The Stirring Dead— Crown of Sorcery: You were right. The beast Arkhan does seek, in his madness, to resurrect Nagash, the Arch-Necromancer— and aiding him in his madness, Arnulf Todbringer. A distant cousin of the Todbringer, the venomous little worm seeks to cast down Sigmar's work— and he will sacrifice everyone to do it.
But there are things even the Nehekarans must respect— the dread King Settra is one of them; if he found, for even a moment, that the Prime Traitor worked again, his wrath would know no ends; and the Black would face a war that would shake the dead. The Mighty Lion of the Infinite Desert must be accounted for.
And so, before the Arch-Necromancer would be truly reborn, the traitor seeks some measure of insurance. Enter the Sorcerer's Crown: one of Nagash's relics, a great amount of his dark power burns in it. The plan, it seems, would be to resurrect Lamort, place the crown on his head, and turn the resulting monster— who already once defeated Settra— against the king, and so remove the biggest threat from the board in one fell swoop.
Instead, you are going to take the crown, to keep it in safety. Ideally, to destroy it, one day— if it can be destroyed.
Cost: 1000 Gold, 3 Years
Chance Of Success: 40%
Reward: Capture the Crown of Sorcery
The Stirring Dead— Black Grail: You were right. The beast Arkhan does seek, in his madness, to resurrect Nagash, the Arch-Necromancer— and aiding him in his madness, Arnulf Todbringer. A distant cousin of the Todbringer, the venomous little worm seeks to cast down Sigmar's work— and he will sacrifice everyone to do it.
But there are things even the Nehekarans must respect— the dread King Settra is one of them; if he found, for even a moment, that the Prime Traitor worked again, his wrath would know no ends; and the Black would face a war that would shake the dead. The Mighty Lion of the Infinite Desert must be accounted for.
There is another method, however, by which the Traitor and the Black might seek to resurrect the dead hero. The False Grail corrupted many knights, only after it finished hollowing out Maldred the Mad Duke. A thing of bleak power, its charnel waters might resurrect even the longest dead of corpses, and imbue them with an unholy strength. It must not be used on Sir Lamorte, and so you shall send men to find it.
Cost: 500 Gold, 2 Years
Chance Of Success: 50%
Reward: Claim the False Grail
The Stirring Dead— A Trap: It might help, to have one of the traitor's men in your dungeons, to force him to speak truth.
Cost: 3,000 Gold
Chance Of Success: 30%
Reward: Capture an informant
Personal: There are murmurs in the court. It is a curious thing, that you have not marked the passing of your grandfather. If you did it now, it would be easily dismissed— but waiting more would be...questionable.
(Pick 2)
Out Among The People: Go out to country and the fields and the villages, and right wrongs. Battle injustices. Bring unjust lords to heel, aid just lords, and slay terrible beasts that threaten your people.
Cost: Free
Reward: 1d125 Gold
Some Personal Slaying: Go out, find some monsters or orcs, and kill them. It's not particularly difficult.
Cost: 50 Gold
Chance Of Success: 100%
Reward: Dead Monsters/Orcs/Whatever, prestige, potentially loot
Adventure Time!: An elf, a dwarf, a knight and two halflings walk into a bar.
That's not a joke, that's your life. You'd like to propose and adventure to the Fellowship, something daring and fantastic— and hopefully with a better ending than your reclamaition of the Palais des Fleurs.
Cost: 50 Gold
Chance Of Success: 100%
Reward: Go on an adventure! Meet exciting people, kill new things, acquire glory and get loot!
Go Be Diplomatic: You have a keen sense of people. In a great many ways, you are a charismatic. It is time to parlay that in one way or another.
Cost: 50 Gold
Chance of Success: 100%
Reward: Unique Options, Improvements to both foreign and domestic opinion
Read the Journal: "And so I, Alcadizzar, do decree that this Northland belong to my kin, now and for the rest of days."
You have the journal of a madman waiting in your study.
It should be fun.
Cost: Free
Reward: Read the Nehekaran Journal, determine more of the current threat
A New Steed: Your fine steed, Blaze, was killed by that Sorcerer. You've made due either by walking or with one of the loaner horses from the stable, but it's starting to chafe.
No longer. But you will not acquire just any old horse— you will acquire a right proper Couronne Warhorse! A grand Destrier, huge and imposing and terrible.
Or perhaps something even greater?
Cost: 1500 Gold
Chance Of Success: 25% (If failed, receive regular reward)
Reward: Gain Best Stallion from the Ducal Stables of Couronne (AKA Horse-Tank), ???
Prestige Actions: Savior of the Old World, foe to the Dark Elves, Destroyer of the Beastmen, reclaimer of the Palais des Fleurs. Your deeds are many, and to be much respected; you are respected throughout Bretonnia, even despite your youth.
(Pick 1)
Les Hommes D'Honor: Abuse is frequent, its marks hidden, its victims silenced by brute force. Well no longer. You will send emissaries, a rotating group of three men— a Knight, a Freeman, and a Peasant, to examine these lands— and if they be found wanting, their lords cruel, their wills vile— then these men will tell you, that you might bring them to task.
-LOCKED FOR 1 MORE TURN-
The Beacons Are Lit: The Greenskins attack, ever and always. Unsubtle, they raid, assault, rave and slaughter. Your villages are constantly under attack— less than when you were a boy, but still word comes of three attacks a week.
Enough is enough. Stationing your forces in forts and so on, you will have great braziers made in every village, so that you or your men can ride out and sally to the defense.
-LOCKED FOR 1 MORE TURN-
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It's, uh, two, so maybe don't be surprised if I don't post the Survey Monkey link soon.
