Actually, wait, those suggestions were a bit off. Misread.
Would probably lead to the deaths of some rangers, in fact. I just re-read and apparently the countryside is
full of bandits. Rangers alone won't be enough, I think. I suggest that we mobilise our levies for this one month, and they can follow behind and support our rangers, as the rangers scour the countryside, collect the unclaimed livestock and grain, meet bands of refugees and bandits, and gather information on neighbors.
If they meet armed refugees, disarm them and escort them to our lands to await swearing fealty to us, else wipe them out with the levies and loot their baggage. We can plant crops in April, but this month we should lash out hard at the inexperienced bandit groups before they organise, while scavenging before everyone else has picked the countryside clean. This is a big task, so Finn on the levies, and Oswald on the Rangers. We take the other retainers to Curbiston.
To clarify: Gerv, are you referring to the safety of sending others there, or of sending Stone there?
Sending Stone. Anything could be happening in that city. But that's also where we can have the greatest impact.
I concur with everything, and if there is anyone still alive in there we should go so we can either a)establish our control over the city, or b)help Arthur regain total control.
It hard for plague to kill absolutely every person... but who knows what happened on the human drama level. I honestly would be glad to see Arthur alive--I liked that kid--but it seems unlikely. Either way, yeah, rapidly restoring control is vital. We need to secure everything that is lootable. While GWG is right that it sounds a little hypocritical, we do have to protect all the loot right now. In a disaster, food is the main currency; and if we don't have it, then who knows what ruffian will collect it all and establish himself as a bandit lord supporting an army of human locust raiding and eating their way across the kingdom.