1. Determine a good target for the guards charging illegal tolls in the bridge and have a large ambush prepared to get them with their hands dirty. They are to be detained and brought before me, if possible.
2. Have a spy pass for a small merchant and petition Baron Brendal regarding the creation of a central market. Hand him a document endorsing the motion, signed by me. Also have two spies accompany him, disguised as mercenary guards.
[1+1] Your men initially pick a series of large, expensive vessels looking to make some money to the west, but the guards make no effort to take tolls because those ships have their own protection. [4] Your men manage to do this without being noticed by the guards, so they take another attempt. [2+1] Another run of barges pass without success until at last one of the guards attempts to extort a toll from a small barger. [4] Your men spring their trap and arrest him, serving as witnesses. Unfortunately you were only able to catch the one guard performing the act, but he is bound and brought before you.
[6+1] One of your spies poses as a Ralkarian trader looking to secure a new position in town. Unfortunately he does a little too well in his disguise and attracts the attention of several other traders who themselves work to oppose what they see as being a foreign invasion of their trade. [1+1-1] The merchant attempts to petition the Baron directly, but the various local merchants opposing him block access by arranging their own 'appointments' to clash and prevent him even seeing the Baron in the first place. [2-1+1] The spy is forced to send a written petition instead, with your document attached. The document disappears and he fails to hear from the Baron - unfortunately, it disappears without proof that the Baron was responsible. You may need to attack this problem from another angle.
Dine with the Countess again. Remain a little charming. Try to explain to her (without making any promises) that it would not look good if a prince had only one wife, and that a marriage so soon after the death of a family member was a sacrilege.
If she understands, try and convince her to marry Richard in autumn, after giving some time to Richard to let him marry a few other women - only to avoid social and political complications, of course, and with no love involved for these other women - only for the alliances, of course.
[6] Once again, you find you actually can't control how charming you are and throughout dinner the Countess spends the whole time staring lovingly into your eyes rather than listening to what you have to say. [5-1] Your words about monogamy do break through her thoughts, though, and she seems to seriously consider them. "Yes," she agrees, "it would be un-befitting of your station." [2-1] Unfortunately, your comment about her father's death actually incenses her.
"How dare-" she starts, then catches herself. She daintily dabs her neck with a napkin. "Forgive me, Highness, I forget my place. Yet kindly do not tell me how to mourn my own father." The Countess' eyes darken slightly. "He was not a man easily mourned."
[5-2] She seems crestfallen by your proposal of a later marriage - especially the implication that another wife would be your first. You suspect your clumsy manoeuvering of the discussion thus far has not helped. Even so, the wisdom of your words strikes true. She looks down at the dessert on her plate, untouched as she listened to your final words. You cannot see her eyes clearly when she speaks.
"You... you are right, of course. Forgive my presumptions, Highness. My - my station would not permit it. I will wait for you, Richard. Highness. Do forgive me, my prince. I'm afraid I - I'm afraid I can't quite manage dessert. I've got a lot to stomach already."
The Countess makes the perfunctory etiquette to leave the table, then departs immediately. You think you can hear her start to cry as the door closes.
Task Successfully Completed!" I heard someone needed help, so I obliged.
Trent was slightly annoyed the woman had not told him her name, but if she wished to keep her secrets she was allowed, the gods knew he had his own and so did every man that walked this earth. Nodding he spoke up, "Then lets get a move on, we need to head for the Haegar border right away, once there we'll make our way across and head for the fortress located on the other side. Our first task before going to hunt the troll will be to scout out that fortress, and get rough estimates for men stationed, fortification strength, nearby villages, preparations for war, etc. The once that is done we get on to the fun part of hunting a troll, so let the Hunt begin."
Follow above order up to going to the Haegar fortress, with utmost stealth of course.
You detour around Northwatch as per your earlier design, taking the armoured woman and rangers with you. [1] You attempt to set up camp in the marshes, but you are unable to find any solid ground upon which to do so. As evening starts to fall the endless fog of the fens starts to fall away, only to reveal lights in the distance. [4] It appears to be a small party of hunters. Fortunately, they have not yet seen your party. [3] Less fortunately you think they might be Haegars, though not an actual warband. You will probably need to pass them somehow to reach Adderkeep safely.
"I think that is a fine list of accomplishments. A King can use all the help he can get...
Hows this for a test. As you can see, I've recently suffered some wounds while out hunting...as have many of my hunters. There is a certain fever which afflicts some of those who were cut by the Worgs claws. One of my guards lays dying of this fever now. If you can heal her...or at least ease her passing...or do anything more than wring your hands, like my current Physicians have done, you will be my advisor. Does this sound fair to you?"
"Now that you have informed me of her plight, I cannot in good conscience refuse to heal her. Show me to the wounded, and I will begin work at once."
Upon arriving at the sickbed, Kninh confers with the physicians present, inquiring as to the nature of the illness. He then requests some common herbs, some strong alcohol, and a sample of powdered worg-claw. Or a whole worg-claw, in which case he will grind it to powder himself.
You are brought to the woman in question, who is in a dire state. You can see where someone has roughly stitched shut the long, jagged wounds where the worg slashed her, but they fester and ooze. [4] The physicians seem to agree that it is a common fever brought about by the worg's strike, which a less wounded woman might well survive, [5] and they have already made some of the appropriate prayers and cleaned away the mud from the wounds. They appear to be slightly more competent than the king gives them credit, but they lack the knowledge you have. [Pre-treatment will grant a +1 to your check to heal.]
[3+1] The herbs are brought, along with some applejack. The recent hunt has left worg claws rather more common, and the woman herself has one as a trophy. You are now ready to begin.
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Topic: You are King III: Spring 938 AAL (Read 133536 times)