Let's establish a convention from now on, to make things a little easier when doing summaries; post definite actions at the bottom of your post in bold, i.e. anything that might need a roll to determine.
For the purposes of this post, I am assuming that Alexis, Herr Gamel and the Commander begin focusing on their tasks.
Herr Gamel: (Overland Travel: 5+1-1) You accompany Alexis and about twenty of the Blades, travelling light and in the guise of foresters. You move quickly and despite the size of the group you are able to keep to less travelled paths and concealed bluffs and troughs, making it to the foothills Herald's Home undetected by anyone save perhaps the odd goat. (Local Knowledge: 1+1) You are pretty certain you know the way to the largest village of the Hillfolk and confidently set out towards it. Unfortunately, your knowledge is based on maps some forty years out of date and when you arrive at what you thought was the capital you find only ruins.
Oh, and a few angry hill raiders who were using the ruins as a base. Whoops.
Alexis: (Combat: 6+1) The raiders are thoroughly shocked when what they assumed was a bunch of itinerant peasants turn out to all be extremely well armed. They don't stand a chance against the Blades, and within thirty seconds all dozen of them are dead. Unfortunately, this also means that you have nobody to interrogate. You quietly curse your thoroughness.
The raiders, at least, did have some loot. After a thorough search of the ruins you find a small cache of jewellery, enough wealth for one minor bribe. (Weather: 3) It starts raining pretty heavily and soon the ground becomes slick with mud, making further travel difficult.
Gamel, at your insistence, tries to continue on to the hillmen capital by picking a more or less random direction. (1+1-2) It doesn't work, and within an hour you are all hopelessly lost. The storm picks up and your party becomes separated; about half the blades are lost in the storm. (Later, they return to the palace rather than trying to seek you out and risk further losses.) (1+1-1) You try to find shelter, but the downpour becomes a torrent and soon thunder rumbles across the skies. The rain is so thick you can barely see five feet in front of you. Before you know it, only you and Gamel are still together.
(2+1) Two days later, the pair of you arrive in the guise of travel-stained and extremely irritable foresters at a random hill village, (2) a no-name cluster of huts around a stream. (5) Gamel manages to pass the pair of you off as hunters by trying to sell some pelts from the food you hunted in the last few days, limiting the attention you draw.
You get to work feeling your way around, (Spymastery: 2+1-1) but the village is too small to make any particularly useful contacts. You do find a little information out, though. For one thing, there is no hillfolk capital as such. The hillfolk are divided into six loose clans, the most prominent of which are the Alvings. Pretending to be seeking a better market for your furs you get very rough directions to the main Alving town, Alfjord. With the directions it takes the pair of you about three days to reach the town.
What do you do from there?
Commander Raeric: The military of Meridia is in a terrible state. You spend a few days going over your predecessor's records and are appalled by what you discover.
It appears that the Meridian army is a Small, Strictly Levy-Based (aside from the Blades, wardens and token palace guard, who number less than fifty together), Minimally Equipped, Undisciplined, Militia Force which only engages in Annual Training.
The only good news is that it is Cheap as Free to maintain, since service is based on feudal obligation rather than pay. Assuming they turn up. You aren't entirely sure about the state of Meridia's finances, but you suspect that this was all that Pelagius could actually afford.
If you want to bring Meridia's army up to scratch, you'll need to implement some very serious reforms.
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Topic: You are a Lord II (Read 33932 times)