3821, the fourth month of the year, and the second month of spring.
Adeeb Wasirri, Lord Governor of Dhum-Blud
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
Novice Field Commander
Personal Possessions.
A well bred riding horse. (Mare.)
An aging riding horse. (Stallion.)
A Fine Duelling Saber.
Several Sets of gentleman's clothes.
Walders old clothing and perfumes. (The former is gaudy and a little big, and the latter is a little too strong.)
Councilors, Vassals, Allies and Agents.
Formal Councillors
Aldagor. Barrister, Elderly noble courtier.
Balpher. Garrison Commander, noble courtier.
Desan. Steward, young noble courtier.
Elerik. Junior Garrison Commander,Low-born Wasirri Guardsman.
Agents
Vest. Friend, Lowborn duellist and former smuggler.
Eduard. Lowborn Courtier.
Adventuring Trio.
Vassals
Mayor Veera
Sir Madagor
Holdings.
Bonewatch
-Tiny Stone Keep on a hilltop.
--Sparse Furnishings
--Well Stocked Larder (Decent quality, including wine, salt pork, local spices and the other imported goods)
--Small dungeon under the castle. 12 cells.
-Stables (11/25)
-Barracks (Sufficient space and bedding to hold a little over a hundred men.)
-Armoury (Stocked with Spears, swords and bows of mediocre quality. Stocked with Quilted armour and padding of poor quality. Stocked with plenty of poor quality arrows.)
-Rickety wooden outer palisade.
-patchy overgrown "dirt" roads.
-Mostly Unmanned rickety wooden watchtowers.
-a handful of wooden homes within the walls.
-A well with plenty of fresh water.
-A few nearby farming families.
Bleak-Haven
-Village
--The Wretched Mut A seedy Tavern
--A well maintained Windmill
--A small shrine to the local patron spirit
--A few scattered homes.
--A few poor craftsmen.
-Your Manor
--A few Fine furnishings.
-Overgrown Patchy "Dirt" Roads
-An interconnected farming community in the local area.
Military
-Bonewatch Garrison. (53 soldiers of passable discipline and limited combat training, but decent morale. Armed with bows, spears and short-swords of varying quality. Girded in quilted linen armor, steel caps, and the occasional breastplate. Wearing the King's colours.)
-Unnamed Fortified Watchtower Garrison (20 soldiers of good discipline, wearing the King's colours.)
-Household Gaurd. (19 Skilled Fighters trained in urban and close-quarters combat. Armed with arming-swords, bucklers and longknives. Girded in Quilted Doublets, steel breastplate,open-faced helms, greaves and bracers, all of good quality. Loyal to your family and wearing your family colors.)
-Bleakhaven Community Watch. (A group of locals that fluctuates in number, protecting, keeping watch on and patrolling the town and outer farms.)
-Bleakhaven Garrison. (6 soldiers, functionally identical to Bonewatch Garrison)
Assets
-A heavy bag of gold "Crowns" (7/8)
-A chest half full of Silver "Crowns" (Many clipped and restamped.)
-Nine Light Riding Horses (local breed, frisky and quick, but also small and unsuited to long hard travel)
-4 Rickety Wooden Carts
-6 Months worth of poor quality local grain. (at current consumption)
-4 Months worth of Imported Food-Stuffs (at current consumption, includes beans, pickled vegetables, salt, butter and wheat flour all of decent quality)
There's quite a bit that needs doing in the month to come, and so you find yourself delegating a great many tasks. Vest you send out to track and learn what he can of the group currently hiding out in the wilderness. He promises to handle the matter with his usual discretion, taking his horse and some supplies before quietly leaving. The adventurers are sent out too, after being given what supplies they could comfortably carry and a pair of silver coins, which should be enough to ensure that they can spend at least several weeks in the field without trouble.
Soon afterwards you summon your council, to attend to a few different matters all at once. You call Nomegar to the council-room as well, and ask him what he knows of the magic-users in your lands. He attests that he has only lived in Dhum-Blud for a few years, and that most of the magic-users he has encountered are hedge-mages, like him. Hedge Mages, being either those who limit the dangers of their magic -either intentionally or not- by channelling it in extremely limited ways. The local hedge mages on your lands are probably mostly herbalist healers, priests of local spirits, or generalists with little efficacy. He has encountered a few exceptions to this rule however, though those skilled individuals he knows of are currently in Mayor Veera's service, or dangerous sorcerers. He suggests that if you want both safety and power you might employ a wizard. Once Nomegar leaves, your own councillors offer their opinions on the matter. Desan states that wizards are extremely expensive to employ, both because they often demand high wages, and because the materials and workshops necessary for their work are also extremely expensive. Aldagor suggests that you could find other specialists if you desire competent spellcasters, sending for them from the homeland. Balpher mentions that he's heard of a few hermits in the wilderness who might be suitable, though they could be anything from charlatans to sorcerers.
You tell your councillors to prepare for the trials of your current prisoners, the three deserters, and the man who murdered your predecessor. Aldagor states that given the low birth of all of those facing the King's justice that trials would more or less be a formality, but you are intent on establishing your legitimacy as the administrator of these lands. You also make arrangements to switch ten men between the Bone-Watch and watchtower garrisons, seeking to train your least competent soldiers while also putting more able bodied troops at your immediate disposal. Balpher seems to disagree with this plan, but if all goes well you don't expect he will be a problem for you much longer.
Once the council is done with, you pull your elderly Barrister aside and explain to him that you would like him to administer the town of Bleakhaven for a time. You require men of his experience, especially as you plan on making big claims in reclaiming provincial territory. Once you ask him wether he has any heirs, the implication becomes quite clear. He responds smoothly that he serves at your pleasure, and he does indeed have relatives that he might name as heirs, with your blessing. He has a nephew serving in a count's court, and a cousin who once lectured in a university. Hesitantly, he also mentions he has an illegitimate son, a landless hedge knight that he could name as his heir, if you chose, or leave him in the dark if you preferred not. He dismisses himself soon therafter, explaining that he has preparations to make for the upcoming trials, afterwhich he will depart to administer Bleak-Haven from your manor, if you will it.
...
Except for laying that groundwork, you mostly spend your days as you have been. Between the combined efforts of you and your garrison commanders the troops seem to be steadily improving in both skill and discipline, and trading out ten of your worst soldiers for ten of your best certainly helped. You don't have an eye for military minutia as of yet, but the garrison is certainly much more prompt in attending to their duties at the keep and the outer palisade, and their combat abilities as individuals are improving. As for how they might fare on the battlefield, you are not sure. In addition, your time with the men has granted you what you cannot help but feel is a stronger air of authority among them, and a greater confidence in giving them orders. Eduard has mastered the very basics of courtly politeness, though he has a great deal to learn. You fear that without other skilled courtiers however, that it will take him a great deal of time to progress further. Still, Eduard seems to have grown to like you, and you feel that a little bit of your flair for the dramatic has rubbed off on him.
After Alricks looks through the Governors notes on your behalf, he quite immediately begins drawing connections between seemingly unrelated documents, putting together various details you had overlooked entirely. With his findings you are quite certain you could track down those that Walder had dealings with, including what would seem to be his chief smuggler, as you have enough hints to put together their secret routes. Disturbingly, there seems to be an implication that Walder may have been supplying bandits with weapons directly. The scribe seems quite smug about his own success, though not disrespectfully so.
Vest returns nearly two weeks after you had sent him out, covered in road dust and a little scuffed. It took him a little longer to track down the group than he would have hoped, something he seems a little embarrassed about. He shadowed them from a while, and determined that they are a group who started fleeing the plague during the winter. Apparently it's still effecting some of the satellite settlements around the province. This group apparently used to be much larger, but have been whittled down by cold and starvation. They are led and protected mostly by the efforts of a single warrior, who has kept them alive until now, though doing so through brutal methods, having originally burned down the town they fled from to try to contain the plague. He found this out because he found someone who had been abandoned by the group due to injury. He brought the young woman to a healer to have her broken leg treated, but is not confident she will survive anyway.
You recieve a message from your adventurers, along with the maps they have made so far. It would seem that they have been moderately successful, though the letter mentions that they received trouble courtesy of some bandit foragers. They assure you all is well, and that they should have no reason to suspect your involvement. They do not believe there are any bandit lairs within three days ride of either Bleakhaven or Bonewatch, at least not anything significant. They plan to continue the search.
...
The preparations for the trials are laid, witnesses have been called, nooses tied in preparation. How will you proceed? Either Aldagor or yourself could preside over any or all cases, speaking with Royal Authority.
Gonna try to be quick about this, but i didn't feel right about blowing past it. Role-play section go.
Author
Topic: Delegation: A fief management suggestion Game (Read 25405 times)