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[Cnidaros]

TURNTURNTURN
You ask about Axel's cousin. "She's a great beauty, I told you. Had six offers for her hand already, but she's refused all of them. She plays the harp, races horses, knows her sums - basically everything you could ask for! Trust me, my liege, this is a good match for you."

Hmm. Do you accept the marriage proposal?

A) Accept
B) Decline

You also ask Axel about the recent happenings in his demesne. He frowns, "You know that Count Vray? His lands border mine on the east, across the Findell Forest. I'm sure some of his folks have been crossing the border and hunting in my lands, but my woodsmen haven't been able to catch any of them yet. I've sent him a letter demanding an end to the poaching, but he's ignored it. Would you mind telling him to sod off my lands?"

A) Right, I'll pen a letter with my seal and ask him to end this nonsense
B) Let's ride out to his seat of Madgeton and confront him in person!
C) I'm sorry, but I can't do anything without some solid proof

[TricMagic]

A: Accept

[Haspen]

AC

[Rockeater]

AC
I assume we can't polity decline and see our other options.

[Prophet]

AA

[mightymushroom]

A C

[ZBridges]

AB

[Cnidaros]

TURNTURNTURN
You agree to marry Axel's cousin. He looks surprised, then overjoyed. "Thank you, my liege! You won't regret this! Her name's Mircella, by the way." It takes a while more for the negotiations to be hashed out, but in the end plans are drawn up to have you two wed in one week from now, at your seat of Tyneset.

8

You also politely explain that you can't confront Count Vray over his trespassing without some solid proof, both citing feudal norms that prevent you from doing so while at the same time assuring Baron Axel that you're not dismissing his suspicions. He accepts your explanation graciously, and promises to contact you should any further developments occur.

Having spent most of the day in the marriage negotiations, you stay the night in Tronbury before setting out for Tyneset in the morning. The day's journey back is uneventful, but just as you're riding through Tyneton, you see a party of your surveyors also making their way back to the castle.

"Milord, we rode for Merclefield, but the Baron Reece said we didn't have rights to survey his lands and peoples when we told him of our purpose!"

"Same at Belvik-hund, the dwarves let us survey the outlying human hamlets well enough, but refused us entry into the dwarf-hold when we said we were surveyors."

What will you do?

A) Write a Strongly Worded Letter to both your vassals, explaining that the surveyors have your authority and the rights to go wherever they please
B) Write a letter to Baron Reece, ride out to explain to Dumedin Throvis in person
C) Write a letter to Dumedin Throvis, ride out to explain to Baron Reece in person
D) Go back to your castle, you'll think of a way to deal with this in the morning

[ZBridges]

B

[King Zultan]

B

[Rockeater]

B I assume dwarves have different traditions and rights tide to them, so this will be something that will take meeting in person, and if you want us to meet you early you should give more to our treasury.

[mightymushroom]

B

[TricMagic]

I would say C, due to him being human and our vassal. But B also works. The dwarves are at least sensible and less likely to lie hopefully. Maybe they already have one or can handle it in house?

[Cnidaros]

TURNTURNTURN

6

You write a Strongly Worded Letter to Baron Reece on the spot, explaining how you totally have the right to survey his lands, you're his liege lord after all. Then it's another long two days of riding, pausing only to sleep in some tiny village, before you reach the dwarf-hold of Belvik-hund.

It's a rather strange place. The entrance to the dwarf-hold is set atop one of the many hills in the area - it's a squat, unremarkable building of grey stone, only two stories tall and far smaller than a castle. It is ringed by a series of shorter grey columns, slightly taller than a man. Further down, a moat has been cut to encircle the foot of the hill, apparently diverted from a nearby brook. The human part of this settlement is a small market town spread over a large crescent along the outer side of the moat.

You and your guards ride across the only bridge crossing the moat. It doesn't seem like a drawbridge, but probably can be destroyed in some way should this place be sieged. As you dismount, a group of dwarves appear. The one at their head is a shade shorter than the rest, with a plain golden circlet on his brow and a reddish-brown beard long enough to wrap around his waist. He introduces himself as Dumedin Throvis, and invites you into a small office upstairs to talk.

5

At once, you launch into an explanation of your new Tax Bureau and how the survey of lands is intended to help you - help both you and him, really - to collect taxes more efficiently, knowing what is owed. He listens, nodding in all the right places, but when you reach the end of your speech and ask him to let the surveyors into Belvik-hund proper, he shakes his head.

"There is no need. We dwarves know the value of proper book-keeping. There is not a single coin, cup or cat in the entire hold that is not in our ledgers. Your surveyors are welcome to examine the other villages in the area, of course, but they are not needed here. I assure you, the dwarves of Belvik-hund are paying every last drugar of tax you are entitled to, if you are worried about that."

How do you respond?

A) Convince him that the surveyors could be a useful back-up to his own bookkeepers
B) Ask to examine these ledgers he is speaking of
C) Tell him that you need the surveyors to see what he has with their own eyes

Or will you accept his word and change the topic?

D) Try and convince him to let the new Tax Bureau collect his taxes
E) Ask him more about the dwarf-hold of Belvik-hund
F) Ask him about his family and court
G) Finish the meeting and head back home

[Glass]

B. Not that we don't believe him, but if their book-keeping is as well-kept as they claim, it would be an excellent opportunity for us to improve our tax bureau with their techniques.