At the feast...
Richard checks if there are any ladies of higher rank than Edgar's sister who are interested in him. If there are, he offers them to dance; if there aren't, he asks Eleanor to dance with him.
[4] William of Normark's two sisters Greta and Eloise both approach you and take turns with you to dance. [3,3] Neither of them are particularly graceful dancers, [4,6] but they are able to hold a conversation on your level - in fact, you find that Eloise is something of an intellectual superior to yourself. [4, 3] The conversation passes over matters of state, wherein Greta reveals something more of an awareness of statecraft than Eloise, and to war [1, 1] wherein both prove to have an utter lack of understanding of tactics and a foolish belief that shouting can replace command. [5,2] Greta seems very taken with you at the end of the dance, though Eloise is distinctly cool.
"...And you're sure that you found a book with the title "Bloskfechten" in one of those... "pawn shops", Storm*?"
"O-of course m-m-m..." Theor sighed, while slowly riding through the streets of Stormsteads. Besides dealing with the grey death and crazy, burgeoning rumors about a new prophet, Theor spent his time with searching for old, forgotten tomes, written by sword-masters from long forgotten decades, where gods still walked in mortal lands and magic were everywhere. He thought it would be a good idea to polish his swordmanships a little bit... Not only for him, but also for his page. A remarkable young man, like an unpolished diamond. But now, he sticked with a rather fat boy (usually working in Theors kitchen), a bastard from a priest. The stuttering was unbearable, but the kiddo had a strange talent to finding things... That's why the Blackshield told him to look after fighting manuals in Stormstead.
Search for instruction books for sword-fighting
Every Adran needs a name. But what to do with bastards? Those just get the surname Storm.
[2] Most of the treatises you find you have already read and the rest are re-hashings of earlier manuals. [1] Combined with your frustration at his suffering, your anger at the present failure actually scares the fat bastard child away for a while. [5] You decide to deal with this frustration by going for a drink at one of the inns in the better part of Stormstead and by sheer chance you meet [3] the Duc de Arborvent's weapons master. Apparently his liege's temporary relocation to Stormstead following problems at home has given the weapons master a chance to get away from drilling his men.
[1] The weapons master himself is only a mediocre fighter at best, worse than yourself; his position is something of a sinecure. [3+1] He trained with a far more skilled duelist; an expert in her craft. You ply him with a few drinks and he tells you that his tutor [6] was none other than the king's own left hand, the Bravo captain. You ask him if she could train someone to her own level; the weapons master shakes his head. He reckons you could learn a lot if you could beat her in a no-holds-barred duel - to yield or to the death, but you would have to wager something important on such a yielding duel - honour, money or land. [3] Someone must have trained her, though. Perhaps if you could find out what sort of sword master that was, they could train you directly.
The Pact. Once his home, Harald now dreaded the place somehow. He returned anyway against his own instincts. All this pressure needed a vent and soon his remaining guards found a new sparring partner in the yard...
Harald furiously trains his Sword-fighting Skills. Buying books and hiring Trainers everything really what would allow him to master that skill.
You aren't an accomplished duellist yourself, so you send out for one of the expert trainers of the realm; [6] and soon enough swordsmen flock in. The very best approaches you personally - Lady Aquila de Braganca, an Altanic swordswoman of some fame. Hearing of your call, she arrives with her own retinue of servants and informs you of her fee:
25 crowns per season. Fuelled by determination, you agree to pay at least her first season's wages.
[41153 = 10-20-20+20+0, but training adds +50. 40/100 training points.]
You are not a trained duellist; your father trained you to rally men and fight in a unit, to inspire soldiers when everything seems lost, not to win honour duels. This is for the best; Lady Aquila can only train you to competency, not expertise. She proves a harsh tutor, to the point where you honestly think about having her thrown in the dungeons for her impudence. She well deserves her reputation, though, and saves you from developing bad form and sloppy defences by constantly cutting you with her long or short blade when you slip (her manner of fighting actually reminds you very much of the Bravos).
You still have a long way to go, but you are further along than you would have expected. If you work hard and are willing to keep paying Lady Aquila you might be able to hold your own in a duel by the end of the year.
Find out the general opinion of the Messiah within the castle. Also find out if there is a community of Haegar within the city.
[5+1] The Messiah has carried on his reverence of Bohromu and with the exception of simple clothes and plain food and water abstains from all wealth and creature comforts. This has inspired a powerful devotion amongst not only the peasants beyond the castle but the servants and many of the guards inside. [6] The noble courtiers have taken up his message with a perhaps frightening zeal. They have caught upon one line in particuar; the Adrans should rule the world. Many have sent home to their levies to instruct them to start drilling 'just in case', and there is a growing expectation that war might come within the year - an expectation that might turn inward if not fulfilled by their liege. [3+1] Although the scholars and administrators of the castle retain their scepticism, some have asked Jitpau at length about his work as a Grand Reader and they too have a growing respect for the prophet founded upon his background as a learned man.
[1] There are officially no Haegar inside the city. In fact, Haegar and those of Haegar birth or lineage are actively discouraged from coming anywhere near the capital. Haegar do not openly walk the streets and the few that might get caught in daylight are spat upon by purer Adranic citizens. [3] You investigate and find little more than a handful of Haegar working as poor labourers, often cleaning streets or taking away filth in dunny wagons at night.
As you journey back from the slums to your lodgings in the city you pass an elderly man in simple, worn black robes, sat on some steps by the square. He is eating some gruel with a couple of lumps of meat in it from a plain wooden bowl, and he smiles at you. [?] Something about him makes you stop, and smile back.
Count Osir meets Jitpau during one of his mealtimes, via serendipity.There was a look of surprise on Ril's features, before he blinked, once, only once, and took the scrolls to slip away into his vest, making a mental note to buy a set of fine bags to store them in.
He gave a bow to Edgard.
"Thank you for the opportunity to serve our kingdom and king in such a way, Saer."
He then turned and made to head out.
Order several guards on horseback from the Emanhild residence, along with his horse, Buttercup, heading to the market to purchase two, one darker and one lighter, bags, he stores the scrolls in one and his clothes in the other, then he listens to rumors from the route to and from Donnerstein.
[2] The route to Donnerstein is shut down to travellers without official passes; the recent resurging of the war has cut off all trade. [1] You do find about a dozen soldiers marching along the route, many of whom are wounded. You try to ask them about the happenings in the country, but they flatly ignore you and continue marching on toward the south of Windheath. You suppose they must be deserters.
Proceed to Donnerstein?
"She was never my wife, she was my mother!"
pop up, loosing an arrow at him, jump over my cover and charge him whilst he is taunting me, use feinting and every move at my disposal, as well as my agility and size compared to the Haegar. If things go badly, fall back outside, as the Rangers would be able to assisy
"Spirits, I may not survive this fight, so if I fall, take me to live in the wilds..."
[3 vs 1] Something about what you say catches the Haegar chief by surprise and he hesitates. You hurl yourself up from the table and fire the crossbow, dropping it and drawing your borrowed sword. [6+1 vs 2-1] The crossbow bolt thuds straight into Ulfric's stomach and he yells out in pain; blood starts spurting from the wound!
[Ulfric Stormvale: 1/3hp, +1 Weapon, +1 Armour, +2 Skill]
[Bandits: 6/6hp, +1 Bows, +1 Armour, +1 Numbers]
[Karas Sirenna: 3/3hp, +1 Weapon, +1 Armour, +1 Skill]
[1+1] You leap over the table, but your foot catches and you stumble. [4-1 vs 2+1] You hit the ground and roll, an arrow slicing across your left arm in the process, [6+1] but you leap back into position, right into the path of Ulfric's - no, your mother's - sword. [1 vs 3+2] You try to duck back, but the sharp tip of the blade slashes you across the forehead; blood streams into your eyes.
[2+1] You regain your footing and pull back from Ulfric, but remain out of cover against the arrows. [4 vs 3+1] You hurl yourself forward, another arrow sticking into your leather jerkin and stopping just short of your skin. [1+1] You crash just in front of Ulfric, who stabs down, [6 vs 3+2] just as you roll out of the way. The rapier blade stabs harmlessly into hard earth and you reach up and grab the crossbow bolt embedded in his gut. You twist and pull, and blood gushes out of the wound. As Ulfric bellows in agony you slash out with your borrowed sword and cut away his hand at the wrist, freeing the rapier. He collapses to the ground, you spring back up and draw the blade from the earth, ready to wreak a little vengeance.
[2+1] You rush up to one of the bandits, though the others take shots at you anyway, [6 vs 5+1] narrowly missing both you and their ally, [3+2 vs 2] who you impale through the lungs in a far more familiar motion than the longsword strokes you used before. [4+1] You close against two more of the bandits, rolling past them in an impressive display of agility. [3 vs 1] The arrows their allies meant to fire go straight into one of the human shields in front of you, [4+1 vs 1] and you finish the other with a quick stroke from behind.
[1 vs 2] An arrow strikes you in the leg, and you decide it might be time to run. Two of the bowmen block the tent entrance, so you grab your crossbow and run straight for them, [4+2 vs 1] clubbing one unconscious with the crossbow butte and stabbing the other through the ear as you pass. [5 vs 5] A final parting shot from inside the tent glances off your armour, leaving a deep cut where the arrowhead deflected.
Outside the tent, [6] bodies are strewn everywhere, including those of two of the rangers, [2] and the camp is still on fire. Only [4] three bandits are left, but there are locked in melee combat with the remaining ranger, whose bow lies broken some distance behind him. [5 vs 2] The ranger lashes out with his shortsword, disembowelling one of the bandits as you run over, [5+1...] striking at another [vs 6] who spins around and blocks it. [4+1 vs 1] The ranger pushes past the other bandit and stabs the one engaged with you, [4+1 vs 4] as you impale the one behind him in turn.
The sole remaining bandit (who suddenly looks very familiar), drops his bow and puts up his hands in surrender. You usher him into the care of the surviving ranger and drag yourself into the dining tent, resting for a moment on a bench by Ulfric's dying form. To your surprise, the old Haegar still has a little life left in him. He turns his head so he can see you and speaks in a fading voice, marred by the blood spilling from his mouth.
"Sirenna," he gasps. "Your mother, my wife. She... she killed our son."
With a burst of unexpected energy, the Haegar grabs your foot with his remaining hand. You try to kick it away, but he has a death grip.
"Find... find the sword master." The Haegar's eyes lose their focus entirely and his hand loosens. You have to struggle to make out his last words.
"Find your father."
You cleaned away the blood from your body and do your best to treat your wounds with the ranger's help, [2] but removing the arrow is done inexpertly and you are forced to sear the wound shut with fire to prevent the gush of blood that follows. The leg is weak and you will suffer if you attempt any feats of agility within the next couple of weeks. Even when it has healed, you will carry a deep scar where the arrow was pulled.
The bandit, who you recognise as being the one who kept taunting you, sits waiting in another tent. The ranger tied him up with some rope found nearby. The bandit shrugs slightly as you enter.
"I surrender. This band of the Black Arrows is no more, so if you let me go I'll just cross the border and go into hiding. Our loot is yours, but most of it you aren't going to be able to carry. Ulfric had a stash of [5] jewellery and coinage for himself, though. I reckon maybe worth twenty, twenty-five crowns. If you let me live and release me I'll tell you where he buried it. To show you can trust me, I'll tell you something else, too.
"You're after Ban Yi Soong, right? Well, he's [1] the leader of another band of the Black Arrows, [2] aboard his ship. We had a deal with them, they brought in goods and we smuggled it to his lodgings at Adderkeep to go across the border. [3] Someone hit Adderkeep a few days ago, set half the camp on fire. I think rangers, like your boy here. Soong got spooked, headed back to the ship. [1] He took everything with him, including his two bloodhounds. They can sniff a man out at a hundred paces, [1] and I heard they're worg crosses at that. [6] I'll tell you exactly where the cove his ship moors at is once you release me, but it's a small cove and they'll have lookouts posted. [1] They're pretty edgy, too. They'll shoot on sight if they're not expecting a delivery - which they aren't.
"And that's it. That's what I can offer you. Now, will you let me go?"You won a battle with an Expert swordsman through dirty fighting!
You have gained 10 points of training towards Swordsmanship. These count as 'trained' points. [0/100 + 10/100 total]
You have yet to train Swordsmanship this season, but may do so once you return to civilisation.((From here))
He examined the land, searching for any higher ground or open areas, both being easily visible from those below or from other far-off areas, in case of an ambush or attack angles.
He waited until nightfall, keeping the usual animal carcass fare in a watched location to see if they would disappear. If any drakes were spotted, no attack would be made. Watching patiently, for the moment.
Renart would also order his men to post lit torches along the camp perimeter, along with guards made of burlap sacks and 'armed' -- training dummies, in short, covered with the blood of the dead animals. The archers would keep a second watch on the 'perimeter', along with the vassals of the lords, just in case.
Appraise the situation if all paths of exit from the area are blocked.
Units: 1 Cavalry, 1 Infantry, 1 Ambush Archers[3] You find a single, slight rise of relatively solid ground surrounded by thick marsh. It is enough to retain the tactical advantage of your cavalry, but not the advantage you would get from charging down a hill or on an open plain. You are still worryingly susceptible to ambush. You will need to decide whether to keep Trent's rangers on the rise for defense or let them lurk in the marshes for ambush. [4] The rise is just high enough that they will get the advantage of their hill training, and on the rise they can be screened by the infantry to prevent attack, but the drakes will need to attack the hill for them to work to their full effect. In the marshes the archers can spring out of hiding and work effectively on both attack and defense.
Either way, you set up your camp on the rise. [4] There are two 'bridges' of relatively solid ground for you to make an escape from if need be.
[?] A few of Trent's rangers take up positions in hiding around the animal carcasses and lie in wait. No drakes are spotted, [?] but neither are the rangers attacked. [!] One of the rangers alerts you quickly and silently when a pair of cold drakes lurch [5] from a concealed hiding spot beneath the marshwater and seize two of the dummy guards, dragging them silently back into the fen.
How do you proceed?
"Very well mi'liege. I leave tomorrow at dawn."
Ursa starts heading towards the land of the dragons...
You head off on your quest, [1] to find that the retinue of guards and guides starts to diminish the closer you get to the border until one night only a trio of guardsmen and a Haegar tracker are left. Quite rightly, they believe your quest is suicide of the highest order. Nevertheless, you head on past Northwatch where you stop for supplies; the Marquis is out drake hunting, to hear the rumour. You have the opportunity to stop and assist him if you wish.
Whether you do or do not, you continue on through the marshes, taking a circuitous route around Adderkeep [6] where you find yourself surprisingly unhassled by bandits, despite the rumours of lawlessness in this place. You actually stumble upon an abandoned camp, looted of anything of worth, where bodies have started to rot or sink into the mud. If you wish, you may try to bury or otherwise take care of them. Either way, you head on to find that Haegar hunting parties have taken the place of said bandits, [3] but you scrape past them although the route takes you closer to Adderkeep. You spot the keep from the distance, which is still charred in places from some distant fire. [5] Fortunately, nobody spots you and you are able to journey on for quite some distance before you come across anyone else.
When you do [6] you spot a small quartet of travellers in a camp, all of whom look distinctly Adranic. They spot you, as well.
Tikath and Trent: You spot a woman in blue plated armour and mail travelling toward you some distance away in the sparsely wooded region you have camped in, flanked by three armed guards and a tracker. You have still to decide whether to head to the mountains or the marshes for troll-hunting (an answer from either will be acceptable).
The king frowned regally.
"So, This is the master Thief who so eluded the castle guard and Bravos, one and all?" He asked a bit sarcastically.
[5+1] The suspect starts gabbling an unlikely story about how he scaled the walls, but you cut him off with a gesture. Instead you focus on the Bravos in the room. The ensuing silence grows leaden with anticipation. The door opens, and all eyes turn to it as a valet ushers in Sir Talinth. He realises something is amiss upon entry and remains silent himself, trying to appraise the situation. The silence continues to deepen until one of the Bravos cannot suppress an urge to swallow. You ask him if perhaps he has something to say.
[3+1 vs 2] The young Bravo hesitates, then nods. Another Bravo shoots a look at him, then realises what he has done and snaps his head dead forward, face blank. The first Bravo speaks up.
"No, my liege. It... [?] It was me, sire. I stole from the tables, sire, and whatever else I could find and sold them for money so I could spend it on drink and wenches. I cannot say where the stolen items are now, sire, I just sold them to travelling peddlars, but when you strip and banish me I only pray that my belongings can go some way toward the cost if not the dishonour. I have parents, and siblings, sire. I pray only that they do not suffer for my misdeeds, save living with the shame I place upon them."
The Bravo unhooks the dual scabbards from his belt and kneels, laying them at your feet. He remains knelt, awaiting your judgement.
- Duc Edgar appears to have secured the marriage of his two sisters with the royal brothers. Although nothing official has happened yet, it will probably take place soon enough.
- Something has happened between the Duchess of Spirituaser (who received interest from the prince but danced with the king during the feast) and Edgar, leading to the former challenging the latter to a duel, before they were interrupted by their liege who pointed out that they were breaking the king's peace. The dealings between the three were private, but it seems the Duchess has ruined her chances with the king.
- [5] The Prince is apparently looking for wives. Although he has already two potential brides, he seems to be trying to secure four marriages before the end of the year. Perhaps, with the help of your many skills, you could make a friend out of him?
In the guise of the Fool, Fust juggled and moved about the feasting hall. It was a strange disguise, to be so blatant and visible, but nevertheless easy to be ignored if not noticed. He listened, and here and there even asked a joking question or two, probing for information.
The Fool gathers information about powerful, eligible brides at the feast.
Author
Topic: You are King III: Spring 938 AAL (Read 132592 times)