Accept Offer: 2
Decline Offer: 4
You attempt to politely decline the Bleachedkin's offer...
Skill = 5
Roll = 1
Specializes in Dealing with the Sentient Undead: -1
You rolled a nat 1 on a check you could not fail! Crit Success!
The logic you offer is irrefutable. The rhetoric you employ would make Matriarch Mire proud. As much as you need money, openly affiliating with the Bleachedkin would likely cost you almost all of your other significant allies. As useful as a cabal of vampires might be, the Bleachedkin simply lack the resources and numbers to protect New Mahallo from invading Orc Bloods or foreigners.
Vivian bows low after hearing you out. "I will bring your answer and your reasoning to my masters. You clearly share our interest in ensuring yourself a long and stable reign, and have the wisdom to see this ambition through. I imagine those above me will seek to find a more quiet way of rendering aid unto you."
Several days later, Vivian simply tells you that her masters have found a way to address your money issues for the time being.
That evening Nails pulls you aside. "Amazing news, Sire. This morning, I received intelligence regarding a possible Thieves Guild safehouse in town that we missed in the initial purge. My men checked it out, and found a storeroom full of gold! About as much as your mother could collect in taxes over three years before the blockade began! My men will transport it discretely to your treasury over the next few days."
---
When Mathias and Horton the Elder return to town, you welcome them back to your council. But not everyone is so accommodating. For the first time since childhood you witness your half-brother Anders' legendary temper, as he launches into a passionate fire-and-brimstone sermon on the sin of cowardice. Never one to hold back when annoyed, your court mage singles out the De'Villes who fled. He goes especially hard on Mathias, who is himself an Imperial Cleric, questioning both the man's devotion to Agusta and place in the afterlife. Horton is exempt from the tirade, as your brother explicitly calls him 'less of a man' than his son, who choose to stay and execute the duties of the office of Marshal, even in the face of grave danger.
Anders finishes his speech. His two victims can only hang their heads in silent shame. Bishop Guthrey and Princess Beatrix rise to offer applause. To your surprise, so does Horton the Younger. Nails offers polite applause, but remains reclined in his chair with a huge shit eating grin on his face; Like his children, your spymaster takes great pleasure in seeing others belittled and abused. Kane and Kaylee, standing with the audience and free from the protocol of actual council meeting, do a poor job of suppressing their snorting laughter.
---
You ask Marion and her family if commuting from the temple is possible. Having made the journey several times, you know on foot you can go from the Grand Temple to The Molar in about fifteen minutes, twenty if the streets are busy.
Jasper shakes his head at your proposal. "Temple Education takes place over a very structured 11 hour day. After that, Druids are expected to socialize and network with their peers. Said peers could easily come to resent your Queen if she choose to retreat to the palace every night rather than sleep in the temple barracks."
As you don't give your wife orders one way or another, After a few days of waffling she decides to hire a twenty-something druid named Loe, who comes highly recommended as an expert in seeing and directly interacting with spirits, to serve as her tutor.
Two days later, a seemingly inconspicuous wild parrot drops a note in your lap. From Halia. The note warns that Loe is one of Korrag's spies, driven to treachery by his envy toward his much more powerful and successful elder sister Noelani. Like his sister, Loe is also a fairly infamous womanizer whom Halia thinks may not be above taking a pass at your wife if he thinks she might be receptive.
Aside from the possible threat of cuckoldry, Halia advises that Loe is mostly harmless for now. The Molar is already under heavy surveillance by the Orc's spirits, and putting a druid in their service in the building wouldn't make the situation any worse for you. In the future, he may potentially aid in some scheme to assassinate or recruit your wife, But Halia promises that you will be warned if such a plan is in the works.
Do you take any action on this matter?---
You advise Anne to give her parents time to accept Alan's recovery, adding that as much as you want to believe he is cured, he might be using his sister as a ploy to get out of his restraints.
After some consideration, she agrees that this is a wise course of action.
---
Queen Mother Anne has given birth to the latest of your siblings, a girl whom she names Beatrix after the woman who held her seat on the council over the course of the pregnancy. Your brother Anders oversaw the birth, and nobody aside from him and Phillip were permitted into the Queen Mother's chambers while she was in labor; If there were any complications or threats to your mother's health, Anders will have taken care of them quickly, proficiently, and discretely. After a few days, Anne the Elder is back to full health.
The recovery of the Queen Mother leaves you with a few choices to make. The first involves your mother's health directly. Anders confides in you that Anne and Phillip intend to continue magically extending the latter's childbearing years until either your wife or mother provides another male heir to keep the realm out of Prince Alan's hands in case of unexpected succession. Anders, however, would rather they give up, noting that tending to a magically induced high-risk pregnancy is both time consuming and stressful for him. Furthermore, he is confident that he has enough standing with the priests of the realm to keep the crown off of Prince Alan's head even if you were to drop dead tomorrow.
He asks if you would be willing to command or persuade Anne and Phillip to call it quits on procreation.Next is the matter of your council. Jasper and Clarence tell you that as Marion is an orphan raised in their care, they could easily tell a white lie to move your wife's birthday up a few months so that she may claim her place at your side in politics a bit early. In the opposite direction of things, Marion tells you that she is willing to forgo the title of Lady of the Court and focus on her druidic studies for now; She can't promise that she will be comfortable on the sidelines for the duration of your mother's natural life, but notes she could spend well over a decade as a full time student.
As for Anne the Elder, having run New Mahallo for most of your life, your mother is more than capable of serving as Steward or Chancellor. Fireing a De'Ville to give her such an office, especially so soon after implicitly forgiving their cowardice by allowing them to return, could prove tricky. In theory, Mathias is meerly acting Chancellor and can be fired at will, but Nails' position is also, in theory, a temporary one, and Mathias would likely expect Nails be removed from the council and he be given his old job back should you pick a new chief diplomat.
How do you want to set up your council?---
You receive another interesting letter from Halia. The spy network has learned that Archdruid Tamar plans to soon announce his retirement, as he feels it has come time to negotiate a formal tax code with the Throne of New Mahallo, to decide what goes to your treasury and what funds the Grand Temple, and as he is your great uncle he cannot not partake in such negotiations himself without facing a conflict of interest. Korrag has authorized the murder of his three most likely successors, in hopes of landing one of his agents the top job, as well as about of dozen other innocent druids, to make the killings appear more random and less an attempt to influence the succession of Tamar's office.
Halia doesn't think she can stop the plan entirely, or even expose specific details to you, without outing herself as a double agent. What she could do is anonymously warn a victim of your choosing at the last minute. Should said Druid heed the warning, and the others die, you would effectively get to pick the next Archdruid. The note then gives you brief dossiers on the three likely probable successors that you may choose to save.
You are already familiar with Noelani, whom you briefly considered marrying. She is the undisputed most powerful of the bunch, both in terms of magic and politics. If you want the office of the Archdruid to be strong, she is the obvious choice. Her sexual orientation is unlikely to be an issue for your Mahallo subjects; An unmarried druid is free to sleep with whomever the spirits compel her too. Imperial Hardliners who disapprove of any sort of sex outside of marriage may frown on her. Some overzealous clerics even expressly condemn Lesbians in particular, as a handful of Agusta's many spouses were women, and replicating Agusta's deeds is the most unforgiveable sin of the Imperial Faith.
Martin is a better theologian than he is a caster. An ethnic Imperial, Martin's family converted to the Mahallo faith when he was 10 and had already undergone some training to become an Imperial Cleric. The man's life work is fostering reconciliation, tolerance, and understanding between the two religions of your land. The note also informs you that Martin is one of your half-brother Anders few friends, so saving him could mean something to your court mage.
Hilo hails from one of the raider clans, and is a great specialist in the druidic combat arts. Halia suggests that if you want the Archdruid in your pocket, Hilo is your man. Apparently Hilo was a wild criminal deviant in his youth, responsible for a handful of assaults and murders that were covered up by his powerful parents but uncovered by Korrag's spies. Your double agent can easily provide you with enough blackmail material to make Hilo your bitch for life should he obtain the office of Archdruid.
Do you plan to stop this slaughter of the druids? If so, how? If not, do you try and save a preferred candidate?
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Topic: (SG) Petty Kingdom of New Mahallo: Reign of King Arawn (Read 20866 times)