Act I, Part Thirteen: And many words were spent
Gustav[Chance roll: 75] Oscia brought back quite a few useless plants (weeds, mostly), but she did manage to identify and correctly uproot [3] a few useful specimens of three different species. You have a few plants that will grow to form small bushes, whose leaves are used to quell fevers; some climbing weed which need trees for support (you plant them against the wall) whose vines, when ground down, make a balm which prevents infections, and a few bushes that produce fruits all year round whose juice is a mild analgesic, numbing pain in those eating enough of them and also eliminating the capacity to taste. The identifying and planting consumes two afternoons, for a lot of the specimens brought back are completely wrong - it's almost like the ranger picked them at random.
You then head over to see Aurion, who is busying himself teaching a few soldiers their letters at the moment. Once he is free, you ask him about the dangers of the spells cast upon the villages. He tells you that two of the three ritual circles have been dispelled by your efforts, but that the third one - which was around the village occupied by the villagers who were captured this year - is still present and will in all likelihood fire off again next year in spring, teleporting them once more. The hamlet is as such safe to live in only if someone is sent to break the circle within the year.
[2] He is reluctant to tell you much about the magic that was used by the cabal. He is willing to confirm that the mages were indeed sorcerers, heretics capable of channeling the Arcane directly through their own bodies. He also states that they were too incompetent to have spent much time researching the subject, and too weak to have an inane capacity strong enough to manifest by itself; as such, he is almost certain that they were trained by a third party. You can glean nothing else from him.
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Friedrich[6] Yet more people come to the Castle for healing when they learn that a paladin is willing to aid them for free. Unsupervised and at about half their usual numbers, the guards are having trouble giving much time to interrogate any one visitor;
the Castle's security against infiltration is lessened because of the influx of strangers.[6] Your efforts are generally successful when it comes to healing those who come around, and you make a lot of progress towards becoming a reliable healer using natural skills only, rather than the Smith's aid. The peasants are pleased with you and speak highly of the Order as they leave, but you notice that they talk more about your charitable virtues than your military prowess. Though the people's appreciation of the Inquisition will increase, it will be difficult do cause fear in the hearts of your enemies if the Inquisition is treated as a group working for charity.
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DavianYou enter the inn, where you're welcomed by two middle-aged dwarves, the place's owners. [2] They don't have much to talk about when it comes to news from the duchy - [5] apparently most of the travelers they get from these parts come not from the duchy itself, but from lands further up north. They claim that "the War" in the north is worsening, and upon being asked to clarify they explain that power struggles between the noble houses of the archduchy that borders the kingdom have lead to a bloody civil war there. A large influx of refugees have been fleeing that land and settling in Theram. Between their thick accents and the inn's mixed look of old and new, you guess easily that they themselves are either refugees or not far off; upon being asked, they confirm that deduction, and inform you that the majority of the archduchy's population is composed of dwarves.
You leave them behind after leaving a generous tip for the information, and you cross into the duchy's side of the border. The pastures do not become suddenly greener and the folk are not fairer, but you do note that the region seems more prosperous - there are more farms, for one thing, and they're larger. Where in the earldom lonely riders patrolled the roads, they come in groups of five and ten here, armed to the teeth but very polite once they learn of your identity.
You reach the town of Redhall after a long few days of travel, and note that it is indeed much larger than Hadvard. Perhaps twice its size, the town is surrounded by large stone walls, around which you can see homes - a telltale sign of recent urban growth. The city's architecture seems to employ mostly wood, but you can still see quite a few stone buildings here and there. The Duke's castle, in the town center, stands tall and proud - perhaps a third of Castle Altburg's size, it is nonetheless the first large fortification that you've seen in the kingdom which isn't falling into disrepair. However, at the time of your arrival, you are weary - and so you merely rest.
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FaranYou give Arkran your designs, and he looks them over while the work teams for the shrine rest. [6] He's satisfied with your work, but manages to expand on it a bit - by doubling the design along the same axis, he estimates that more power could be pulled from the crank, enough that it could be used within the castle from the river's flow alone, despite the river's relatively lazy speed. He does note, however, that this construction would require a large quantity of metals - building it from the Inquisition's supplies would empty all the copper and iron you have in storage.
You then embark on your journey to visit the so-called Runic Knight. Even on horseback, the travel takes a long time, and you are weary by the time you arrive at the shores of the lake which contains the island upon which the Knight can be found. You manage to borrow a fisherman's boat, but you don't have the energy to leave for the place right away.
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OsciaYou return to the woods with the intent of mapping the area. There isn't much to map; you easily get the forest's limits down (not that any map of the region couldn't provide you with that) and start to note the location of hunters' trails and points of interests - you don't find any. [1] You don't notice anything else of note.
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Geldryn[Discussion has taken place over IRC, in character, at the player's request for details. Warning: Politics ahead]
You meet with the Earl, Sigmund Karhold, in his halls, where you give him an explanation of the various issues that the Inquisition has discovered within his domain. He informs you that he can identify the location of one of the leyline nodes you found on a map in the priest's library; the one situated in the mountains is placed near the center of a large pass, the only one through which armies can cross during the winter. The location has been heavily contested in the past, and is considered to be a sinkhole of manpower by anyone trying to hold it.
At your request, he then gives you an extensive report on the political situation of the realm. Two years ago, the heir to the Earldom of Desmond died of a fall from horseback while he was hunting. Two weeks later, his father was shot in the eye by an unidentified archer. The successive deaths of the heir apparent and the lord meant that the Earldom was inherited by one Thenec Sandos. He was heavily suspected to have been involved in the deaths of the two, but nothing could ever be pinned on him; at the time, he was campaigning with Sigmund himself.
A few months later, the Earl of Sandos died himself of a heart attack, at the age of 29, before he could father any children. Thenec inherited a second earldom, once more after a mysterious death and unlikely succession. Now owner of two earldoms, he was the second most powerful lord of the realm. He forged an alliance of convenience with the Earl of Kand, who promised to swear vassalage under him if he supported him when he attacked an old enemy across the border. The two requested that Sandos be made into a duke, so that he could accept Kand as a vassal and press his claim. The King agreed, but the Duke Wilhelm Theram,
the most powerful lord of the realm, protested against it, claiming that treachery had obviously been involved in Sandos' inheriting of the two earldoms.
According to Karhold, the Duke Theram is the de facto ruler of the realm, keeping the King as a figurehead. If the King caves to pressures from Sandos and Kand and makes Sandos into a duke, Theram will march on the capital to put a new ruler on the throne and invalidate the claim, thus sparking a civil war. If the status quo is maintained, Sandos and Kand will eventually lose their patience, call their banners, and go up in rebellion. As such, the realm is at an impasse, and whatever happens, if the situation does not change, there will be a civil war.
When you return to the Castle, Geldryn, you resume your efforts to crack the code. [3+3] The code is at 34% progress towards being cracked.
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Turn's events: [1+1] Once more, there's a hold up in production and the work teams are stuck waiting around the shrine for materials to arrive - nothing gets done in a few days.
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Topic: Inquisition - IC thread (Read 6830 times)