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[3man75]

Have Vest go to the Mayors town since it's closer. Tell him his job is to visit a tavern to get a feel for the local populations needs as well as knowledge on how the Mayors acting. If my hunch is correct they most likely see him as their true "ruler" than us and he may be averse to swear fealty to us. But lets have Vest confirm what's going on. Following that He's to go to Sir Madagor's land and do the same.

If these two are both seem like Lords trying to extract their own authority then we should treat them as rivals. AKA take them both out and replace them with our own people...in time of course.

More immediately we'll need to impress people.

Lets get our household guard and Barferhars Garrison to run some drills with us. We can't teach them how to soldier but showing them we know how to fight (Showing brute animal strenght) may get them to respect us more.

GM what is a Barrister?

Have the Steward tell us WHO and WHAT is being supplied to the Fort. Where do we get our armour, weapons, and food from? Where do Caravans of merchants go to?

[Mlamlah]

GM what is a Barrister?

A legal expert and professional, sort of halfway between a lawyer and a court judge.

[monk12]

Well, we might want to inspect our holdings more closely, especially that watchtower and the general state of our "keep". We also need to make sure that our local military force' loyality stands with us. Not to forget that gaining over our populace and so-called vassals is also important, but we might want to see about them later on.

RP-Choice

Interrogate our Prisoner
There might be a good reason for his deed, albeit we really can't just admonish such conduct in any reasonable, non-violent way.
Not sure if we even can hand out anything but a death penalty, but talking, we can only do as long as he is alive.

Turn Choice / Discussion

Let our guards mingle with the local soldiers - Under Balpher if needed by the game mechanics
Have them put on a few joint drills, not only to gauge the local's capabilities, but also for basic comradery. Afterwards, they are sure to mingle over their meals, which should give us an influx of information that our advisors won't speak aloud.

Have Vest gather information in the local tavern/s
Sure enough, the commoners will only know hearsay and rumours about local politics and events, but hey, that is still better than what our advisors give us.

Have Aldagor give us the run-down of the local laws and customs
Have Desan give us the run-down of our taxes and other forms of income

+1, assuming "Local Tavern" is at Bleak-haven, the village where we have our personal manor. Hopefully we will get a better idea of the relationship between Mayor Veera, Sir Magador, and our local garrison. Sending him out to their locations would take some time and incur some risk without knowing more of the lay of the land (Is the Mayor working with the bandits? Is the knight setting up his own little kingdom? Were either of them involved in the death of the previous governor?)

-1 passing sentence on the prisoner until we interrogate them. The fact he's not already dead means something is strange about the situation, and I'd like to know what faction the assassin is aligned with before we decide on his disposition.

Ever read the Art of War? If you answer no then your point is made clear...

Sun Tsu is about warfare, and as thus your point is valid - Still, Andres point is about authority and loyality. Of which we got not much.

We simply can't just show up, make life hell for our soldiers, and then expect them to serve us willingly. We need their trust and loyalty first, then, we can initiate changes to their morale and effeciency. Seeing how their leader is a lard-ass, quite possibly by changing him out. But all of these plans, are not ones we should do on such a short notice.

Actually, since "Leading by example" is one of the key points in Art of War, and can instill some form of admiration / respect / loyalty, How about we hold ourselves - with our bodyguards - to some sort of daily training regiment? This would fit very well with our own interest of duells, and also affect our standing with the normal soldiers positively.

It also allows our bodyguards to shame them, and us to shame our lard-commander-in-chief. If, after all, even their liege holds himself to strict training, how could they refuse such? But alas, first we would need to establish a bit of a track record, but it ought to work come spring. After that, we got three seasons to toughen them up in relative comfort.
No, really - winter is the worst time to will a change to morale.

+1 to this immediately. We are both fit and healthy, so we shouldn't be at risk of shaming ourselves in the process. I see no reason to wait; first impressions are important, so we need to show we will hold the soldiers to some kind of standard, even if we can't properly equip them for normal duties yet. A fitness regimen isn't too outrageous as far as military activities go.

Sun Tzu thought of military matters in a very idealistic manner; While almost always inheretly right, our current circumstances do not allow us to move accordingly to such idealistic ideas.

Fact is, "our" soldiers, are more likely than not a somewhat rotten bunch, not surprising seeing their Commander. I think a good number of them would even run straight-off to the bandit camps, if they were forced to do any military work on an "Art of War" standard.

We need to cure the current circumstances, and what it will need most, is some time, so that our desired changes can take root. As humans are animals of habit, if we disturb their current ones too greatly, they will just rebel - openly, or just in spirit; both we do not want.

Actually, Do take a look at our soldiers equipment and living circumstances.
Should they be undesireable or meagre, making them "better", can easily turn them over to us. If we can afford to do so, that is.
Even in the danger of repeating myself, I will stress that gaining over "our" military to "our" side, is our most important task. For that matter, displacing Balpher before we have "weakened" his standing by presenting the soldiers with a "better" commander, will have a reverse effect. Unless Balpher is extremely incompetent, and has gained the ire of his troops.

And +1 again. We can only expect our soldiers to do a job as well as we enable them to do it. Men will mutiny before they voluntarily freeze to death, and that's what they'll do if they are asked to stand in the wind and weather on a watchtower with no fire for warmth. The fact we can't have fire in the towers without risking the entire Keep burning down is pretty bad.

GM what is a Barrister?

Basically a lawyer/public defender sort of person. His basic job in a scenario like ours is to know the law, be a reference for all parties involved, and do the relevant paperwork, while our job is to serve as a judge.

EDIT: GM NINJA

[3man75]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well, we might want to inspect our holdings more closely, especially that watchtower and the general state of our "keep". We also need to make sure that our local military force' loyality stands with us. Not to forget that gaining over our populace and so-called vassals is also important, but we might want to see about them later on.

RP-Choice

Interrogate our Prisoner
There might be a good reason for his deed, albeit we really can't just admonish such conduct in any reasonable, non-violent way.
Not sure if we even can hand out anything but a death penalty, but talking, we can only do as long as he is alive.

Turn Choice / Discussion

Let our guards mingle with the local soldiers - Under Balpher if needed by the game mechanics
Have them put on a few joint drills, not only to gauge the local's capabilities, but also for basic comradery. Afterwards, they are sure to mingle over their meals, which should give us an influx of information that our advisors won't speak aloud.

Have Vest gather information in the local tavern/s
Sure enough, the commoners will only know hearsay and rumours about local politics and events, but hey, that is still better than what our advisors give us.

Have Aldagor give us the run-down of the local laws and customs
Have Desan give us the run-down of our taxes and other forms of income

+1, assuming "Local Tavern" is at Bleak-haven, the village where we have our personal manor. Hopefully we will get a better idea of the relationship between Mayor Veera, Sir Magador, and our local garrison. Sending him out to their locations would take some time and incur some risk without knowing more of the lay of the land (Is the Mayor working with the bandits? Is the knight setting up his own little kingdom? Were either of them involved in the death of the previous governor?)

-1 passing sentence on the prisoner until we interrogate them. The fact he's not already dead means something is strange about the situation, and I'd like to know what faction the assassin is aligned with before we decide on his disposition.

Ever read the Art of War? If you answer no then your point is made clear...

Sun Tsu is about warfare, and as thus your point is valid - Still, Andres point is about authority and loyality. Of which we got not much.

We simply can't just show up, make life hell for our soldiers, and then expect them to serve us willingly. We need their trust and loyalty first, then, we can initiate changes to their morale and effeciency. Seeing how their leader is a lard-ass, quite possibly by changing him out. But all of these plans, are not ones we should do on such a short notice.

Actually, since "Leading by example" is one of the key points in Art of War, and can instill some form of admiration / respect / loyalty, How about we hold ourselves - with our bodyguards - to some sort of daily training regiment? This would fit very well with our own interest of duells, and also affect our standing with the normal soldiers positively.

It also allows our bodyguards to shame them, and us to shame our lard-commander-in-chief. If, after all, even their liege holds himself to strict training, how could they refuse such? But alas, first we would need to establish a bit of a track record, but it ought to work come spring. After that, we got three seasons to toughen them up in relative comfort.
No, really - winter is the worst time to will a change to morale.

+1 to this immediately. We are both fit and healthy, so we shouldn't be at risk of shaming ourselves in the process. I see no reason to wait; first impressions are important, so we need to show we will hold the soldiers to some kind of standard, even if we can't properly equip them for normal duties yet. A fitness regimen isn't too outrageous as far as military activities go.

Sun Tzu thought of military matters in a very idealistic manner; While almost always inheretly right, our current circumstances do not allow us to move accordingly to such idealistic ideas.

Fact is, "our" soldiers, are more likely than not a somewhat rotten bunch, not surprising seeing their Commander. I think a good number of them would even run straight-off to the bandit camps, if they were forced to do any military work on an "Art of War" standard.

We need to cure the current circumstances, and what it will need most, is some time, so that our desired changes can take root. As humans are animals of habit, if we disturb their current ones too greatly, they will just rebel - openly, or just in spirit; both we do not want.

Actually, Do take a look at our soldiers equipment and living circumstances.
Should they be undesireable or meagre, making them "better", can easily turn them over to us. If we can afford to do so, that is.
Even in the danger of repeating myself, I will stress that gaining over "our" military to "our" side, is our most important task. For that matter, displacing Balpher before we have "weakened" his standing by presenting the soldiers with a "better" commander, will have a reverse effect. Unless Balpher is extremely incompetent, and has gained the ire of his troops.

And +1 again. We can only expect our soldiers to do a job as well as we enable them to do it. Men will mutiny before they voluntarily freeze to death, and that's what they'll do if they are asked to stand in the wind and weather on a watchtower with no fire for warmth. The fact we can't have fire in the towers without risking the entire Keep burning down is pretty bad.

GM what is a Barrister?

Basically a lawyer/public defender sort of person. His basic job in a scenario like ours is to know the law, be a reference for all parties involved, and do the relevant paperwork, while our job is to serve as a judge.

EDIT: GM NINJA

Warning everything in the above I agree with monk12. Vest should be sent out to gather intel on the mayor and knight but perhaps not just yet. Lets fix up our own holding first and learn about our own population.

[Detoxicated]

Indeed you are right escaped lurker. I did not wish to act immediately like this as it IS most important to fortify our position here in Bonewatch.
Maybe I din't make it clear enough, I just wish to take the road where we are like the heavens for our soldiers, in a way that we provide them a good living as well as good leadership, while in return we can be hell for them when they disobey. I must say it again, while the land is raging with big bands of bandits (hehe), we can be sure that some groups of them could be much richer and more powerful than us. So to prevent corruption within our ranks, we have to be attentive and use every tool to make them obey us. A small garrison of 50 well equipped, healthy, well trained, obedient soldiers can probably take thrice the manpower if they are bandits or peasants so to speak.

[3man75]

Indeed you are right escaped lurker. I did not wish to act immediately like this as it IS most important to fortify our position here in Bonewatch.
Maybe I din't make it clear enough, I just wish to take the road where we are like the heavens for our soldiers, in a way that we provide them a good living as well as good leadership, while in return we can be hell for them when they disobey. I must say it again, while the land is raging with big bands of bandits (hehe), we can be sure that some groups of them could be much richer and more powerful than us. So to prevent corruption within our ranks, we have to be attentive and use every tool to make them obey us. A small garrison of 50 well equipped, healthy, well trained, obedient soldiers can probably take thrice the manpower if they are bandits or peasants so to speak.

Detox has a point in this. To me it feels a bit like being the Colombian Cops vs. Pablo Escobar and his Cartel Empire. The Difference being we are literally on our own. That said we havent dealt with bandits or assasins or anything bad (yet) so we can relax.

Oh and unlike the cops in that part of the world the military won't be of help either since their either on the payroll or scared. Oh and we have no credibility which we must build.

[Mlamlah]

3821, the last winter month of the year.

Governor Adeeb Wasirri

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

20 years old
Health and Physical Abilities
Fit
Healthy

Social Skills
Practiced in  Court Manners
Rogueish Charm

Practical Skills
Competent Swordsman
Competent Tumbler
Mediocre Rider
Novice Sneak

Agents and Councillors
Aldagor (Barrister): Unoccupied
Balpher (Garrison Commander): Unoccupied
Desan (steward): Unoccupied:

Allies
-Vest (Friend, Duelist, former smuggler)

Vassals
Mayor Veera: Unknown relationship
Sir Madagor: Unknown relationship

Assets
-A well bred riding horse.
-An ageing riding horse.
-A Duelling Saber
-Several sets of fine gentleman's clothing.
-Twenty Wasirri Gaurdsmen

Wealth:
-A heavy bag of gold crowns.
-A chest of somewhat questionable silver crowns.

Bonewatch

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Infrastructure
-Tiny Stone Keep on a hilltop.
-Empty stables
-Barracks with crowded quarters.
-Poorly stocked and kept armoury.
-Rickety wooden outer palisade.
-patchy overgrown "dirt" roads
-Mostly Unmanned rickety wooden watchtowers.
-a handful of wooden homes within the walls.

Supplies
-Six months worth of poor quality grain.

Population
-Undisciplined, poorly equipped, poorly trained garrison of ninety men.
-A half dozen personal servants.
-Various farmers and their families in the surrounding area.

You spend a few days settling in, and begin to attend to your affairs. You send Vest on a ride out to BleakHaven, to learn more about the temperament of your subjects, and gather information from less evasive sources. He readily agrees that this is a good idea, and leaves almost immediately.

With Aldagor you meet to discuss matters of local law and custom. He tells you little that you do not know, mostly the King's law is the only official code of conduct. Though the late governor apparently enacted several stern measures regarding things like trade and travel, with penalties for the sale of bad goods or for unauthorized exit from the province to be met with stiff penalties, including indentured servitude or public humiliation, at the governor's discretion. Shortly before his death he also stiffened the penalties for espionage upon agents of the crown, adding public execution by bloodletting to the list of potential punishments. In more civilised courts such penalties would be considered barbaric, but you suppose the frontier is a very different sort of place from what you are used to.

With Desan you discuss taxes and matters of supply. He explains that your direct lowborn subjects tend to pay taxes in the form of grain, beer, labor and military service. Your vassals however, tend to pay in coin and a share of the meager trade goods that they produce, mostly metal and refined lumber. Over the last decade however, the taxes paid to the governor have dwindled considerably, with farmers giving grain cut with wild seed and increasingly weak beer, and Sir Madagor failing to respond to the last request for tax-coin at all. The craftsmen in the local area are mostly unskilled, forcing anything of quality to be imported, either from the other provincial towns in the case of basic craftsmanship, or from the kingdom proper in the case of anything actually well made. Even decent food often has to be imported, as very little in the way of foodstuffs besides grain and a few tough vegetables are produced by the provincial towns, and the last round of disease left the peasantry reeling, causing food shortages that are only just being recovered from. Overall, the economy you have inherited is delicate and weak, capable of supporting very little of note.

Information gained from your councillors you begin to see to other matters yourself. Firstly you look over the garrison, the barracks and the armoury. The barracks is cramped, with too many beds too close together, and little space for day to day living beyond what's available in a very rudimentary kitchen. As you look over their living space the men complain loudly about the lack of variety in the food, which apparently consists almost entirely of bread and porridge. You also notice after careful observation that despite the cramped furnishings the barracks doesn't seem as overcrowded as you had first thought, with many of the beds seeming bare and entirely unused. The armoury is in rather bad shape, not only is it in rather poor stock, with nary a scrap of mail or a proper halberd in sight, but the equipment that is unclaimed is spotted with rust and left poorly organized or cared for, one dagger even lying discarded in the dirt. The fletching on what few arrows are being stored is poor even to your untrained eyes, and moths seem to have gotten into some of the linen padding. When you've made what inventory you can you fetch your gaurdsmen, determined to set a better example for the garrison than they've ever before gotten.

You spar with your personal guards for a large portion of the next few days, and off-duty soldiers form a habit of watching you do so. While they don't have the panache of professional swordsmen, your guards are worthy opponents, each having some degree of formal training of their own. They are very competent fighters, though their style has been made rough and inelegant by the rigours of a more military lifestyle than your own. The skill of yourself and your own personal guards does not seem entirely lost on the garrison, whose competence, from what you've seen, pales in comparison.

...

Settled in, and a little context gathered, you decide to speak with the prisoner, so that you may decide what to do with him. He's been kept in the dungeon underneath the keep, which is just as cramped and tiny as the rest of the structure, with only a few dark cells. Aldagor tells you that he's named Arin, a common man born and raised in BleakHaven, without a trade or respectable profession. The governor had been speaking privately with him when they began to argue loudly, and the man stabbed him to death with a sliver of steel he had hid on his person.

You are led to the door of his cell, Aldagor and a few of your gaurds in tow, one of which helpfully slides the slat covering a barred viewing portal set in the door. You spy a man leaning on the wall of the cell, rising onto his feet, his hand shielding his eyes from the light. His hair is long, matted and filthy, and he is thin from hunger, his knuckles skinned and raw. He scowls at you as his eyes adjust to the light. "Here i was hoping that was dinner. Come to haul me to the swinging tree then?"

[adwarf]

"Perhaps, perhaps not. What comes after this depends entirely on how cooperative you are with me, and whether I can tell what your saying holds at least a semblance of the truth in it. Guards leave us for a minute, make sure no one comes down here until I'm done.

... Alright, now why don't you start by explaining why you killed the last governor of this area? Where you hired by someone else, did you dislike his laws?"

Wait for the guards to leave, and then ask the man to explain why he killed the previous governor.

[monk12]

It sounds like the previous governor was involved in some highly dubious activities. Hopefully we can find out what he was up to.

"I am given to understand the previous governor preferred to bleed his criminals, but that is neither here nor there. I am Adeeb Wasirri, the new governor of Dhum-Blud, and I am quite keen to learn how a man such as yourself finds himself with a knife in a nobleman."

I think if he does know something about the previous governor's misdeeds and he cooperates we can find a way to reduce his sentence to, say, indentured servitude if he's useful, or exile if he's not.

[High tyrol]

"Perhaps, perhaps not. What comes after this depends entirely on how cooperative you are with me, and whether I can tell what your saying holds at least a semblance of the truth in it. Guards leave us for a minute, make sure no one comes down here until I'm done.

... Alright, now why don't you start by explaining why you killed the last governor of this area? Where you hired by someone else, did you dislike his laws?"

Wait for the guards to leave, and then ask the man to explain why he killed the previous governor.

1+

[3man75]

"Perhaps, perhaps not. What comes after this depends entirely on how cooperative you are with me, and whether I can tell what your saying holds at least a semblance of the truth in it. Guards leave us for a minute, make sure no one comes down here until I'm done.

... Alright, now why don't you start by explaining why you killed the last governor of this area? Where you hired by someone else, did you dislike his laws?"

Wait for the guards to leave, and then ask the man to explain why he killed the previous governor.

1+

MAS UNO!!

((+1 in spanish))

[Andres]

The guardsmen are to be retrained so they are competent in both combat and gate-opening duties. They are also to keep their barracks clean and orderly. Have some of the spare beds cleared out and see about increasing the variety of the guardsmens' meals.

Inform the mayor and the knight of our existence, visiting them in their homes and getting to know them.

Find out if any of our farmers have been getting better crops on average than their neighbours.

[Detoxicated]

The guardsmen are to be retrained so they are competent in both combat and gate-opening duties. They are also to keep their barracks clean and orderly. Have some of the spare beds cleared out and see about increasing the variety of the guardsmens' meals.

Inform the mayor and the knight of our existence, visiting them in their homes and getting to know them.

Find out if any of our farmers have been getting better crops on average than their neighbours.

+1

"Perhaps, perhaps not. What comes after this depends entirely on how cooperative you are with me, and whether I can tell what your saying holds at least a semblance of the truth in it. Guards leave us for a minute, make sure no one comes down here until I'm done.

... Alright, now why don't you start by explaining why you killed the last governor of this area? Where you hired by someone else, did you dislike his laws?"

Wait for the guards to leave, and then ask the man to explain why he killed the previous governor.

1+

MAS UNO!!

((+1 in spanish))

+1
We have good wood and we have metal, lets make arrows and train our men in the use of them. I think while fortifying our bond with our men we should also try to get an exact map of the ccastle so we can see how we ccan improve it in a strategically intelligent way. The bandits will eventually try to force us out if we go bold, so therefore we must be prepared to defend our castle.

[Mlamlah]

You have Aldagor and your guards move out of earshot, while still being close enough that you could call them if you needed. When you are sure that they have moved a safe distance away you begin to question the prisoner.

"Alright, now why don't you start by explaining why you killed the last governor of this area? Where you hired by someone else, did you dislike his laws?"

Arin leans against the wall wearily, and spends a long moment in silence, staring at the wall and grinding his teeth. After a moment of thought he let's out an intentionally irreverant spit, though his mouth is apparently too dry for it to be much more than a gesture. "Fuck it, i don't feel like having the knife put to me today. I was his hired man, his high fuckhead Walder paid me to do his legbreaking for him. There were others too, but he was such a bastard to us that they all left. I was the last one to stick around, but damned if i know why. He was a total bastard, anyone with buttons for eyes could see that, and not the smart kind of bastard who could get away with it. " Weakly the prisoner sinks to the ground, tired out by his brief tirade. Once, twice he punches the wall in futility before continuing , in a tired tiny voice. "He strung up a girl i used to be sweet on for selling bad eggs to his kitchens."

GM NOTE

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'll take into account any suggestions relevant to the next "turn" that occur during roleplay sections.

[Andres]

Ok, so what I think we can do here is let him off with a maiming assuming he starts working for us. We should probably change some of those laws as well.

Is slavery legal?