notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
I was pretty much expecting it to take a decade, at a bare minimum. Two years is incredibly short for a Quest.
Warhammer Fantasy: Honor is all, Chivalry is all (Bretonnia CK2)
- Thread starter Voikirium
- Start date
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, I was rolling.
You guys just rolled really well. Consistently.
(By which I mean Philip has left a blood-soaked, chivalry loaded path of carnage in his wake)
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Like, just to give some perspective:
Philip fought against nine lords, both with and sans reinforcements. He directly killed six. Two Chaos Champions, one very confused Tomb King, one Skaven, one Master Necromancer, and the Vampire who went all Conan on him. By himself.
What I expected Mousillon to be like for Philip:
What it actually turned out to be:
Also, I added in Philip's Grail Knight Trait. Before anyone asks, yes it subsumed the space that used to go to Bretonnian Knight.
Philip fought against nine lords, both with and sans reinforcements. He directly killed six. Two Chaos Champions, one very confused Tomb King, one Skaven, one Master Necromancer, and the Vampire who went all Conan on him. By himself.
What I expected Mousillon to be like for Philip:
What it actually turned out to be:
Also, I added in Philip's Grail Knight Trait. Before anyone asks, yes it subsumed the space that used to go to Bretonnian Knight.
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
HE GOT CAPTURED TWICE AND LOST AN EYE!Like, just to give some perspective:
Philip fought against nine lords, both with and sans reinforcements. He directly killed six. Two Chaos Champions, one very confused Tomb King, one Skaven, one Master Necromancer, and the Vampire who went all Conan on him. By himself.
What I expected Mousillon to be like for Philip:
What it actually turned out to be:
Also, I added in Philip's Grail Knight Trait. Before anyone asks, yes it subsumed the space that used to go to Bretonnian Knight.
Derek58
Rocket Punch is Best Punch
- Location
- Getter Valhalla
Just a flesh wound
King Arthur
The Once and Future King
Omake, 1 stanza from a poem for Sir Philip
While dragged on a muddy clearing, while thinking, stabbed, chained and bleeding
Upon many a just and righteous story of chivalric legend
While my eye shut, nearly dying, suddenly there came a cracking,
Just like this knight, breaking, tearing, tearing chains stop its function.
"Will not be broken" I whispered, "I will not stop my function-
Die Lenore before I fall."
...........................................................................................................
This could have been better, but I had to try and match The Raven's metre and rhyme scheme as much as possible, and that was not easy. If anyone wants to try and finish or improve this that would be super cool.
Last edited:
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yes, I know. I was, after all, the one who wrote it.
Still, I was thinking he would end up losing a few of his fingers, at least.
King Arthur
The Once and Future King
So, I'm not expecting you to change this, just thought I'd point out what the Scarred trait for CK2 does.
It gives 1.2 prestige a year, which is a lot considering our prestige is currently only 50, which is a lot lower then I thought it would be.
Again, not expecting you to change this, that's a lot of prestige for something as minor as being scarred, I just thought it was interesting to see how a trait can differ in the video game. It would be ridicoulous to copy the game's mechanics exactly anyway, sometimes it's for the best to ignore it and/or adjust it, it can be more then a little weird at times after all.
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
Can we have an action to regrow the eye? Damsels can bring people back to life, so it should be possible.
Meh. Skaven lords suck. Even a fully kitted out assassin lord is at a disadvantage against a knight lord.
Meh, wizards don't do well if you actually live to reach them.
This however? This is the sort of thing named lords brag about.
We might yet come to rival the Iron Bull of Ostland.
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Regrowing it is impossible because of Vampiric Magic Bullshit Hax.
Replacing it is not, however.
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
Eh, the two quests are very different. Torroar's a much tougher QM, and he makes us work a lot more for our Prestige.
- Location
- West Michigan
The Lady didn't fix it when she fixed the Vampiric Magic Poison and arrow wounds? That's lame.
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Regrowing lost organs is a bit more difficult than just sewing up old wounds and purging the system, yes.
Especially when Malefic Vampire Bullshit is worming its way in the socket, flipping the bird at most healing efforts.
- Location
- Australia
Is the Grail not powerful enough to at least neutralise Malefic Vampire Bullshit? I mean you did say that one of the effects is purging the system.
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Grail neutralized the Malefic Vampire Bullshit, and entirely removed the affects it was still having on most of your body.
It's just actually regenerating an eye is always a bit much, never mind when it was ritually cast into the fire by a coven of necromancers in order to raise an army.
- Location
- West Michigan
I don't want to open the entire can of worms, but if we go to the Chaos Wastes, is there a chance of finding a 40K cybernetic eye lying around somewhere?
(Only asking because I know you could find meltas and chainswords and other shit up there in the old RP editions.)
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
As I said earlier, there are easier ways to replace your eye.
Vote is called, update will be up today.
KnightDisciple
Brotherhood. Unity. Peace.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
Pretty sure there's no real set time period regarding how long a Grail Quest takes. Could be anywhere between a couple of months to several years, you're basically being led around by visions and dreams that are the only real map you have to find wherever The Lady needs you to go to be judged worthy.
Turn 16 Results
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Turn 16
1439
You sit in silence as your kids rest on beds to either side of you. An obsidian blade is held in your hand, glinting in the little moonlight that streaks in.
Finally, you hear the breath that tells you they sleep. Rising like a shadow, you pull open the door before slipping out, soundless as a wraith.
A little girl's voice cracks the night with an "Aldric", and you grip your dagger tighter.
You swore, once, you'd see Titania dead on the floor, before you. With each passing day, you hope it grows to be tomorrow that it happens.
You walk through the dark halls, the only light the scarred silver of the moonlight. Shafts of silver glory rain down on you like a storm, giving some slight glow. Your boots echo through the halls, a silent tip-tap as you stride the marble and stone. Idly you run your fingers over stone.
Yann the Younger, madwoman, Vampire, and possible instigator of this entire damned crusade.
Titania, Lady of the Shadows. Genocidal, magical, and holds a grudge like a dwarf.
Idly, you realize you came to the balcony, where a view of almost the entire duchy and its mountains unfolds like a book before you. A chilly wind flows over you like the stream, and for a moment you just let the chill breeze cleanse you of fear…
Until the acrid scent of smoke hits your nostrils. Your face screws up into a deadly grimace as you realize that you see smoke pouring out of some village.
If it's not one thing, it's another. The forests are lost to you— the Court of Shadows holds them, and the roads that might split through them. Most will not dare enter the woods until this problem is put down, and those foolish enough to try are never heard from again.
(Trade Income Reduced by a fourth until Court of Shadows is removed)
Martial: You are not a warrior, not truly. The nearest you have come to a sword fight is betraying your friends; the closest you have come to battle slipping in and slitting the foe's throat. In your ideal world, you would never, ever, have to fight.
Fortunately for everyone, your husband did leave behind many, many, many ideas for you.
Refounding the Order: The old home of the Musketeers is found; the texts are located; people are available. Refounding the order will not finish until you are a man old and gray, perhaps, but starting that work is very possible. Very, very possible.
- Blades are forged of fitting steel, weapons crafted in pit foundries. Keen-edged blades, each is tested by having to poke through the thin iron of stolen orc armor, to see exactly how strong they are; also crafted deep in those fire pits is suits of armor, leather and steel meshed together to form strong protection.
You also finally choose a man to lead this new group…
Warhounds: The Massif Mastiff is already a dog suited to going to war— the Orgen of the mountain have marched with them for generations. They're too slow to follow the grand steeds of your knights— but they can follow the draught horses of your yeomen perfectly well. They'd represent a goodly improvement to your ability to harass a foe.
- Soon enough you will be fighting in the woods, trying to retake every glade and forest from the clenching hands of the Shadow Lady. Admittedly, against her true agents— the foul spirits that march in tune to her call— gleaming fang and bloody claw will do little; but against her mortal pasties, the cults in her name? They will be gift from above, driving them out in a barking fury, striking at them all wrath and ruin.
Reward: Yeomen gain Warhound companions, Bonus to damage done, +10 Gold in upkeep for Yeomen
Tilean Turmoil: Your neighbors to the south. If the Empire is perfidious, the Tileans are absolutely Orcish, though with gold instead of martial ability. Disunited and mercenary. However, they do have quite a bit of gold to spend, and love wine. With your expansive blacksmith network and the growing threat of war in Tilea, here is definitely a market for some of your goods.
Needed:1 Rolled:83
- Titania controls much. She has your forests, and through that she can choke out much of your ability to travel.
She does not, however, control your river, and so you mount up one of the Couteau, riding down the river until you reach safe harbor. From there it is a slow, slow journey by carriage to your destination, a neutral town named Zela.
There, Tilean merchants representing both the League and the Alliance examine your wares, and find them perfectly suitable; they are also particularly interested in the Silverine, as both believe the other might be employing mages.
In either case, an intriguing offer is made.
Reward: Snippet, Potential deals
Estalia: Ah, Estalia! The only other human nation that has not been consumed by that most ignoble of substances, blackpowder; while their armies are not free of it, sadly, their nobles disdain the stuff, preferring, instead, to use good, solid steel. Currently disunited, yes, but still more trustworthy and honorable than the Tileans. Following the Crusades, there has always been something of a camaraderie between your two people; perhaps you could build on it? Given the war brewing in Estalia, they will almost certainly desire some of the weapons you produce.
Now, you know that they want— Trebuchets. Expensive, but doable.
Needed:1 Rolled: 73
- They want trebuchets, they got trebuchets. Ten of them, crafted of the finest hardwood that you had stockpiled before this whole damned fiasco, make their way, slowly but surely, to the south. In return, small Estalian trading vessels bearing steel make their way to your duchy. It's not a gigantic amount— but it is enough of the good steel to, at least, entice people into coming.
Reward: +200 Gold from Trade
Stewardship: Kylian and his poison tongue do not return. Instead, Sir Yvain, who has long acted as the steward for the Knights Unbound, has presented several ideas to you, the blond taking time to settle into his position over the year. As you suspected, Yvain has settled into his position nicely, and has presented many ideas to you. Also, your herd of goats has finally expanded enough for you to partition a new herd for a different purpose— or expand the herd you already have making cheese.
Oh Hey, I Can Finally Use This: You've got… a lot of wyvern parts. Just a disgusting amount. Seriously, you can not overstate how many random wyvern bones and wyvern skins and whatever else even now sits as trophies in your Dukedom. You've used them as art, proudly displaying their skulls and their skins as marks of the greatness of your men.
You've always sworn that, if you had the time, you'd make use of them by turning them into leather armor and etc. your men can use— but enough experts for that to be anything but a curiosity would be very, very expensive, and you've always needed the armor for other, better things.
Well, now you've got tons of Dark Elf money you can spend guilt free on stuff.
Build the workshops, and they will come.
- Where everyone else loses their minds in fear, or slows down out of rational caution, the dwarfs simply shrug their shoulders, and keep working on carving out the pits.
Grismerie- Fishing Operations: Your people aren't stupid, obnoxious jokes from the Empire aside. If there's a way to get food, they will use it. However, most families will only catch enough to feed themselves, with whatever little is left often either being used as more bait or going towards the village pantry. However, you have a source of labor— petty criminals, certainly, if nothing else— who would likely consider just being told to go move into a new village and fish, with the results to be sent back to be distributed, a rather minor sentence, all things considered. That's even ignoring all the beggars and wastrels who'd probably like to stop living on the streets.
- As your husband suspected, there are many people who would gladly spend all day fishing if it meant leaving behind utter squalor. Soon enough carts bearing the preserved remains of fish are making their way up stream, bering yet more food to feed your people— and thus freeing up more coin from taxes for things besides ensuring there's enough food. Hell, you're pretty sure that within the next decade— presuming Titania doesn't literally ruin everything, which is not something you are so presumptuous to expect, but hopefully— you might not even have to import food.
On a different note, with so much trade and food flowing through it, the Nouvelle Vie has expanded substantially enough to be capable of supporting some more industry and other, miscellaneous odds and ends.
Reward: Freed more gold from taxes, +50 gold from Hunting, more options
Piety: Damsel Rose's office is a tidy library-cumme-workshop, where fay designs are sketched out in mad detail and half-scribbled plans for ways to destroy guns. Out of respect for the recently deceased, and to so she has time to prepare the blade she needs until you "Find your balls" — her words, precisely— she has mostly left her list of suggestions the same as what it was under Sir Aldric, though there is one thing she added.
Daughter's Wisdom: The Daughters of Rhya are a small sect of the Cult of Rhya, comprised solely of women who have given birth. Their duties are two-fold. First, they act as midwives, healers, and counsellors for mothers and the pregnant. They also advise young women in matters relating to their marriage itself— how to deal with abusive or difficult husbands, for instance. Sir Aldric's own wife was a member of the cult, once, and as such he has nothing but praise for them and their work, and has suggested making overtures of allowing them to settle in Montfort to help young women.
Needed:20 Rolled:51
- Trundling, rolling carts bearing the sacred images of Rhya, midwives, and herbs trundle in, headed for Montfort. Grail Knights meet them, escort them, and when the fay try and attack them, Grail Knights swiftly put down the attackers.
River God: One of your rafts was sunk in the deeper parts of the Grismerie. All crew members escaped— it's probably a good thing you made sure they could all swim— but it set you to thinking: is there a god of the Grismerie?
It is, after all, one of the biggest rivers in Bretonnia. Its waters flow through more miles than any you can name off the top of your head— though admittedly, that doesn't say much.
In any case, it couldn't hurt to check.
Needed:20 Rolled:70
- The tomes Aldric marked before his murder don't speak of a god, per se; but one figure, Sir Riquiard, already famed as a shining example of Knighthood, comes up again and again.
Learning: Once competitors, now friends, you and Nimue have taken up much of Philip's efforts while he...indisposed. She, his former steward, writes the letters that must be written; while you handle the rest of the actual duty of rulership. Just after taking the reins of Regency is probably not the right time to try and introduce even a tenth of what was found in the Library— though even without introducing it, you can use it to make many of your husband's ideas easier.
The College of Troubadours: To be a Troubadour is to be repository, knight, and storyteller in one. It is a noble calling, to remember all the grand stories that have come before and to use them to steel the spines of wavering souls, to strengthen the hearts of those falling, to embolden those fearful. But they are a rare breed, and rarer by the hour. If you would not see them fall, then something must be done, and you are just the man to do it.
- Great towers are hewn of the rock of the base of Mount Froid, one of the greatest peaks in Montfort. Chilling winds have already given the black stone a frigid outer layer of frost, as workmen toil to bring it to fruition.
This Is Probably A Bad Idea: There is a...strange, unlikely, fearsome thought within your head, a story Nimue reminded you of, now that you have wolves and facilities:
During the Errantry war against the Greenskin and Hellspawn, to give insult to their Khornate foe Sir Têtu and his band of knights found a small group of wolves, and decided they were going to turn the vile creatures to the use of the light and that they would ride them.
The Lady, being in mischievous spirits against the Foe herself and feeling somewhat impressed, blessed the knights, who in time broke the wolves to the use of saddle and Rider.
While Sir Têtu is long dead and he never did leave instructions, you could see if one of your knights could pull it off, maybe? Certainly, there is no shortage of volunteers.
Needed:20 Rolled:95
- There is a certain...kindred, between you and the lupine. You are both creatures of the dark; you have both been saved from damnation; and you both bite when prodded.
So perhaps that is why, when you are there to calm them, the creatures do not bite, howl, roar or complain, but instead work with the men. It is not perfect, much work still must be done, but you think it can now, at least, actually be done.
Intrigue: It's always nice to work with professionals. Geoffroi might be paranoid, but there's no-one you'd trust more to keep down the Skaven. And while Ezekiel might be low-born, he does have a virtue many nobles ought consider gaining at some point— the virtue of keeping his mouth shut and listening.
Who Did She Send?: You know Titania— she is too much of a shrinking coward to come close to her vorpal blade when an enemy wields it, never mind when that enemy is you. She will send one of her agent— Krom the Unworthy, Fil the Night, or some other jackass, and try and kill you. The good news is, these jackasses are far, far too scared of what you can do to brazenly attack, most of the time. Bad news is, they are very, very good at hiding.
Needed:40 Rolled:60
- Good news: it is not Apollyon, the flaming shadow, that leads her forces, for if it was all Montfort would be cloaked in darkness choking and foul; nor is it Fefnir, whose jaws encircle the world, for not a droplet of his venom do you find on the bodies of her victims; nor Seth, death of the Desert, for the fang marks and claw wounds left...aren't— they are sword and club, arrow and bow.
Bad news: She did send Gerard, mostly human man who can blend in, gain intelligence, and go to ground when he knows he is hunted.
It seems it will be a game of cat and mouse, then.
Reward: Learned who leads Titania's forces
A Warning: Yann the Murderer walks again in dread Mousillon, most likely seeking to kill either your husband, your son, or both, in some ploy to draw out Geoffroi and take revenge. The good news is, once a spy is know, they lose much of their power.
- A missive is written to the forces in Mousillon, warning them to be on watch for Yann and her particularly mad ways.
This was a very good idea, as not a month later they try to kill your son.
Keyword there is try, as many of the Imperials both know very well what a vampire looks and acts like and are fond of your son after he saved many of their lives pulling them from the rubble of the castle.
You're not sure what a few thousand men trying to kill the same target at the same looks like; but you do know the results: two very dead vampires, scattered to the winds.
Coincidentally, the woman who stroked the flames of Alejandro's court has disappeared. Wonder what brought that on.
Personal: You were not meant to be the power on the throne, alone. You've got this...strange habit of scaring people. Crazy, right? It's almost like pale skin, glowing green eyes, and raven hair make people think you're a vampire, or something.
Freeing Nikolai: Crushed sprig of holly, draft of fine mulled wines, and chalk. You've got most of the ingredients you need to free the winter spirit, and you'd be willing to bet that, in her paranoia, Titania has at least one or two spirits whose blood can act as the stabilizer watching over him.
Looks like you're going to Tilea.
Needed: 30 Rolled: 23+20=43
- While you're in Tilea, you get shit done.
Reward: Snippet
Sabotage: The fae are not a normal army. They have no supply lines, no need of food or drink, and no fear. They will keep coming and coming until, and unless, you break them, utterly, and make them run back to the dark seams of the Earth, where are all other things slimy and terrible reside in writhing terror.
That said, there are still things you can do. Not as much as you might normally, for the spirits that have fled will one day return— but slaying the beasts under the Court of Shadow's control, finding their mortal agents and putting them down, and otherwise destroying their shields before they can attack? Useful.
Your watchmen should prove a great help, too.
Needed:25 Rolled: 51+10=61
- Tripwires, knives, fires and nooses. Cloaked men stabbing each other in the alleyways; glades aflame as cultists are trapped in their hidey-holes. Incidental arrows in the streets, your own men left to bleed out in the sun's harsh, judging rays.
You feel seventeen again, really.
Whatever the case, you earn your appellations and then some. Your knife is a constant whisper through the dark, splitting jerkins, sabotaging carts, putting down malignant summoned spirits and generally just being a pain to anyone who believes they can walk around, trying to burn down everything your family's built, and not take a blade to the gullet.
Your men get work done, too; they hunt down patsies, assassins, and worse, and bring them to the light of day to face proper trial then execution.
It's not a fun time to be one of the mortal patsies of Titania, that's for sure.
Reward: Secured Montfort from any potential fifth Column, sabotaged Court of Shadow Efforts, reclaimed small slivers of the forests
--
I'm gonna try and get the snippet up tonight, but no promises.
1439
You sit in silence as your kids rest on beds to either side of you. An obsidian blade is held in your hand, glinting in the little moonlight that streaks in.
Finally, you hear the breath that tells you they sleep. Rising like a shadow, you pull open the door before slipping out, soundless as a wraith.
A little girl's voice cracks the night with an "Aldric", and you grip your dagger tighter.
You swore, once, you'd see Titania dead on the floor, before you. With each passing day, you hope it grows to be tomorrow that it happens.
You walk through the dark halls, the only light the scarred silver of the moonlight. Shafts of silver glory rain down on you like a storm, giving some slight glow. Your boots echo through the halls, a silent tip-tap as you stride the marble and stone. Idly you run your fingers over stone.
Yann the Younger, madwoman, Vampire, and possible instigator of this entire damned crusade.
Titania, Lady of the Shadows. Genocidal, magical, and holds a grudge like a dwarf.
Idly, you realize you came to the balcony, where a view of almost the entire duchy and its mountains unfolds like a book before you. A chilly wind flows over you like the stream, and for a moment you just let the chill breeze cleanse you of fear…
Until the acrid scent of smoke hits your nostrils. Your face screws up into a deadly grimace as you realize that you see smoke pouring out of some village.
If it's not one thing, it's another. The forests are lost to you— the Court of Shadows holds them, and the roads that might split through them. Most will not dare enter the woods until this problem is put down, and those foolish enough to try are never heard from again.
(Trade Income Reduced by a fourth until Court of Shadows is removed)
Martial: You are not a warrior, not truly. The nearest you have come to a sword fight is betraying your friends; the closest you have come to battle slipping in and slitting the foe's throat. In your ideal world, you would never, ever, have to fight.
Fortunately for everyone, your husband did leave behind many, many, many ideas for you.
Refounding the Order: The old home of the Musketeers is found; the texts are located; people are available. Refounding the order will not finish until you are a man old and gray, perhaps, but starting that work is very possible. Very, very possible.
- Blades are forged of fitting steel, weapons crafted in pit foundries. Keen-edged blades, each is tested by having to poke through the thin iron of stolen orc armor, to see exactly how strong they are; also crafted deep in those fire pits is suits of armor, leather and steel meshed together to form strong protection.
You also finally choose a man to lead this new group…
Warhounds: The Massif Mastiff is already a dog suited to going to war— the Orgen of the mountain have marched with them for generations. They're too slow to follow the grand steeds of your knights— but they can follow the draught horses of your yeomen perfectly well. They'd represent a goodly improvement to your ability to harass a foe.
- Soon enough you will be fighting in the woods, trying to retake every glade and forest from the clenching hands of the Shadow Lady. Admittedly, against her true agents— the foul spirits that march in tune to her call— gleaming fang and bloody claw will do little; but against her mortal pasties, the cults in her name? They will be gift from above, driving them out in a barking fury, striking at them all wrath and ruin.
Reward: Yeomen gain Warhound companions, Bonus to damage done, +10 Gold in upkeep for Yeomen
Tilean Turmoil: Your neighbors to the south. If the Empire is perfidious, the Tileans are absolutely Orcish, though with gold instead of martial ability. Disunited and mercenary. However, they do have quite a bit of gold to spend, and love wine. With your expansive blacksmith network and the growing threat of war in Tilea, here is definitely a market for some of your goods.
Needed:1 Rolled:83
- Titania controls much. She has your forests, and through that she can choke out much of your ability to travel.
She does not, however, control your river, and so you mount up one of the Couteau, riding down the river until you reach safe harbor. From there it is a slow, slow journey by carriage to your destination, a neutral town named Zela.
There, Tilean merchants representing both the League and the Alliance examine your wares, and find them perfectly suitable; they are also particularly interested in the Silverine, as both believe the other might be employing mages.
In either case, an intriguing offer is made.
Reward: Snippet, Potential deals
Estalia: Ah, Estalia! The only other human nation that has not been consumed by that most ignoble of substances, blackpowder; while their armies are not free of it, sadly, their nobles disdain the stuff, preferring, instead, to use good, solid steel. Currently disunited, yes, but still more trustworthy and honorable than the Tileans. Following the Crusades, there has always been something of a camaraderie between your two people; perhaps you could build on it? Given the war brewing in Estalia, they will almost certainly desire some of the weapons you produce.
Now, you know that they want— Trebuchets. Expensive, but doable.
Needed:1 Rolled: 73
- They want trebuchets, they got trebuchets. Ten of them, crafted of the finest hardwood that you had stockpiled before this whole damned fiasco, make their way, slowly but surely, to the south. In return, small Estalian trading vessels bearing steel make their way to your duchy. It's not a gigantic amount— but it is enough of the good steel to, at least, entice people into coming.
Reward: +200 Gold from Trade
Stewardship: Kylian and his poison tongue do not return. Instead, Sir Yvain, who has long acted as the steward for the Knights Unbound, has presented several ideas to you, the blond taking time to settle into his position over the year. As you suspected, Yvain has settled into his position nicely, and has presented many ideas to you. Also, your herd of goats has finally expanded enough for you to partition a new herd for a different purpose— or expand the herd you already have making cheese.
Oh Hey, I Can Finally Use This: You've got… a lot of wyvern parts. Just a disgusting amount. Seriously, you can not overstate how many random wyvern bones and wyvern skins and whatever else even now sits as trophies in your Dukedom. You've used them as art, proudly displaying their skulls and their skins as marks of the greatness of your men.
You've always sworn that, if you had the time, you'd make use of them by turning them into leather armor and etc. your men can use— but enough experts for that to be anything but a curiosity would be very, very expensive, and you've always needed the armor for other, better things.
Well, now you've got tons of Dark Elf money you can spend guilt free on stuff.
Build the workshops, and they will come.
- Where everyone else loses their minds in fear, or slows down out of rational caution, the dwarfs simply shrug their shoulders, and keep working on carving out the pits.
Grismerie- Fishing Operations: Your people aren't stupid, obnoxious jokes from the Empire aside. If there's a way to get food, they will use it. However, most families will only catch enough to feed themselves, with whatever little is left often either being used as more bait or going towards the village pantry. However, you have a source of labor— petty criminals, certainly, if nothing else— who would likely consider just being told to go move into a new village and fish, with the results to be sent back to be distributed, a rather minor sentence, all things considered. That's even ignoring all the beggars and wastrels who'd probably like to stop living on the streets.
- As your husband suspected, there are many people who would gladly spend all day fishing if it meant leaving behind utter squalor. Soon enough carts bearing the preserved remains of fish are making their way up stream, bering yet more food to feed your people— and thus freeing up more coin from taxes for things besides ensuring there's enough food. Hell, you're pretty sure that within the next decade— presuming Titania doesn't literally ruin everything, which is not something you are so presumptuous to expect, but hopefully— you might not even have to import food.
On a different note, with so much trade and food flowing through it, the Nouvelle Vie has expanded substantially enough to be capable of supporting some more industry and other, miscellaneous odds and ends.
Reward: Freed more gold from taxes, +50 gold from Hunting, more options
Piety: Damsel Rose's office is a tidy library-cumme-workshop, where fay designs are sketched out in mad detail and half-scribbled plans for ways to destroy guns. Out of respect for the recently deceased, and to so she has time to prepare the blade she needs until you "Find your balls" — her words, precisely— she has mostly left her list of suggestions the same as what it was under Sir Aldric, though there is one thing she added.
Daughter's Wisdom: The Daughters of Rhya are a small sect of the Cult of Rhya, comprised solely of women who have given birth. Their duties are two-fold. First, they act as midwives, healers, and counsellors for mothers and the pregnant. They also advise young women in matters relating to their marriage itself— how to deal with abusive or difficult husbands, for instance. Sir Aldric's own wife was a member of the cult, once, and as such he has nothing but praise for them and their work, and has suggested making overtures of allowing them to settle in Montfort to help young women.
Needed:20 Rolled:51
- Trundling, rolling carts bearing the sacred images of Rhya, midwives, and herbs trundle in, headed for Montfort. Grail Knights meet them, escort them, and when the fay try and attack them, Grail Knights swiftly put down the attackers.
River God: One of your rafts was sunk in the deeper parts of the Grismerie. All crew members escaped— it's probably a good thing you made sure they could all swim— but it set you to thinking: is there a god of the Grismerie?
It is, after all, one of the biggest rivers in Bretonnia. Its waters flow through more miles than any you can name off the top of your head— though admittedly, that doesn't say much.
In any case, it couldn't hurt to check.
Needed:20 Rolled:70
- The tomes Aldric marked before his murder don't speak of a god, per se; but one figure, Sir Riquiard, already famed as a shining example of Knighthood, comes up again and again.
Learning: Once competitors, now friends, you and Nimue have taken up much of Philip's efforts while he...indisposed. She, his former steward, writes the letters that must be written; while you handle the rest of the actual duty of rulership. Just after taking the reins of Regency is probably not the right time to try and introduce even a tenth of what was found in the Library— though even without introducing it, you can use it to make many of your husband's ideas easier.
The College of Troubadours: To be a Troubadour is to be repository, knight, and storyteller in one. It is a noble calling, to remember all the grand stories that have come before and to use them to steel the spines of wavering souls, to strengthen the hearts of those falling, to embolden those fearful. But they are a rare breed, and rarer by the hour. If you would not see them fall, then something must be done, and you are just the man to do it.
- Great towers are hewn of the rock of the base of Mount Froid, one of the greatest peaks in Montfort. Chilling winds have already given the black stone a frigid outer layer of frost, as workmen toil to bring it to fruition.
This Is Probably A Bad Idea: There is a...strange, unlikely, fearsome thought within your head, a story Nimue reminded you of, now that you have wolves and facilities:
During the Errantry war against the Greenskin and Hellspawn, to give insult to their Khornate foe Sir Têtu and his band of knights found a small group of wolves, and decided they were going to turn the vile creatures to the use of the light and that they would ride them.
The Lady, being in mischievous spirits against the Foe herself and feeling somewhat impressed, blessed the knights, who in time broke the wolves to the use of saddle and Rider.
While Sir Têtu is long dead and he never did leave instructions, you could see if one of your knights could pull it off, maybe? Certainly, there is no shortage of volunteers.
Needed:20 Rolled:95
- There is a certain...kindred, between you and the lupine. You are both creatures of the dark; you have both been saved from damnation; and you both bite when prodded.
So perhaps that is why, when you are there to calm them, the creatures do not bite, howl, roar or complain, but instead work with the men. It is not perfect, much work still must be done, but you think it can now, at least, actually be done.
Intrigue: It's always nice to work with professionals. Geoffroi might be paranoid, but there's no-one you'd trust more to keep down the Skaven. And while Ezekiel might be low-born, he does have a virtue many nobles ought consider gaining at some point— the virtue of keeping his mouth shut and listening.
Who Did She Send?: You know Titania— she is too much of a shrinking coward to come close to her vorpal blade when an enemy wields it, never mind when that enemy is you. She will send one of her agent— Krom the Unworthy, Fil the Night, or some other jackass, and try and kill you. The good news is, these jackasses are far, far too scared of what you can do to brazenly attack, most of the time. Bad news is, they are very, very good at hiding.
Needed:40 Rolled:60
- Good news: it is not Apollyon, the flaming shadow, that leads her forces, for if it was all Montfort would be cloaked in darkness choking and foul; nor is it Fefnir, whose jaws encircle the world, for not a droplet of his venom do you find on the bodies of her victims; nor Seth, death of the Desert, for the fang marks and claw wounds left...aren't— they are sword and club, arrow and bow.
Bad news: She did send Gerard, mostly human man who can blend in, gain intelligence, and go to ground when he knows he is hunted.
It seems it will be a game of cat and mouse, then.
Reward: Learned who leads Titania's forces
A Warning: Yann the Murderer walks again in dread Mousillon, most likely seeking to kill either your husband, your son, or both, in some ploy to draw out Geoffroi and take revenge. The good news is, once a spy is know, they lose much of their power.
- A missive is written to the forces in Mousillon, warning them to be on watch for Yann and her particularly mad ways.
This was a very good idea, as not a month later they try to kill your son.
Keyword there is try, as many of the Imperials both know very well what a vampire looks and acts like and are fond of your son after he saved many of their lives pulling them from the rubble of the castle.
You're not sure what a few thousand men trying to kill the same target at the same looks like; but you do know the results: two very dead vampires, scattered to the winds.
Coincidentally, the woman who stroked the flames of Alejandro's court has disappeared. Wonder what brought that on.
Personal: You were not meant to be the power on the throne, alone. You've got this...strange habit of scaring people. Crazy, right? It's almost like pale skin, glowing green eyes, and raven hair make people think you're a vampire, or something.
Freeing Nikolai: Crushed sprig of holly, draft of fine mulled wines, and chalk. You've got most of the ingredients you need to free the winter spirit, and you'd be willing to bet that, in her paranoia, Titania has at least one or two spirits whose blood can act as the stabilizer watching over him.
Looks like you're going to Tilea.
Needed: 30 Rolled: 23+20=43
- While you're in Tilea, you get shit done.
Reward: Snippet
Sabotage: The fae are not a normal army. They have no supply lines, no need of food or drink, and no fear. They will keep coming and coming until, and unless, you break them, utterly, and make them run back to the dark seams of the Earth, where are all other things slimy and terrible reside in writhing terror.
That said, there are still things you can do. Not as much as you might normally, for the spirits that have fled will one day return— but slaying the beasts under the Court of Shadow's control, finding their mortal agents and putting them down, and otherwise destroying their shields before they can attack? Useful.
Your watchmen should prove a great help, too.
Needed:25 Rolled: 51+10=61
- Tripwires, knives, fires and nooses. Cloaked men stabbing each other in the alleyways; glades aflame as cultists are trapped in their hidey-holes. Incidental arrows in the streets, your own men left to bleed out in the sun's harsh, judging rays.
You feel seventeen again, really.
Whatever the case, you earn your appellations and then some. Your knife is a constant whisper through the dark, splitting jerkins, sabotaging carts, putting down malignant summoned spirits and generally just being a pain to anyone who believes they can walk around, trying to burn down everything your family's built, and not take a blade to the gullet.
Your men get work done, too; they hunt down patsies, assassins, and worse, and bring them to the light of day to face proper trial then execution.
It's not a fun time to be one of the mortal patsies of Titania, that's for sure.
Reward: Secured Montfort from any potential fifth Column, sabotaged Court of Shadow Efforts, reclaimed small slivers of the forests
--
I'm gonna try and get the snippet up tonight, but no promises.
For those who're interested, our character sheet has been updated with our new status and the bonuses from becoming a Grail Knight are impressive.
Also a question, are the numbers in parenthesis in the Opinions section the opinions of Morgyan?
*Sees the update get posted as he's typing*
Alright, no failures this turn and a few good successes. Good thing the DD got put on freeing Nikolai too because otherwise that probably would've been bad (to put it mildly).
Also a question, are the numbers in parenthesis in the Opinions section the opinions of Morgyan?
*Sees the update get posted as he's typing*
Alright, no failures this turn and a few good successes. Good thing the DD got put on freeing Nikolai too because otherwise that probably would've been bad (to put it mildly).