Dice for that monkey.
The game is on. Malcolm gets to pick rolls, of course.
[4+6] Malcolm opts to roll. You have no choice but to follow, rolling a 6. Anything other than a 1 will lose you the game. Malcolm, biting his lip, rolls again. He bursts into laughter at whatever his roll was. You steel yourself and roll. You stare in dull shock at the dice. Malcolm's grin widens at your expression.
"Calling it," he says, lifting his cup from the table. A six, a two, a five and a three. Sixteen.
"Read 'em and weep," says Malcolm, reaching for the purse on the table. You put your hand on the purse and lift your cup slightly so he can see your dice. A four, two sixes. "Don't even think you can kid me, sunshine, you need all four-"
You remove the cup, revealing the last die.
One.
Twenty minutes later, you and your two companions emerge from the townhouse with a purse full of silver (
1 Ducat's worth), a monkey in a gilded cage and an extreme sense of satisfaction. Booyah.
Also, the city is on fire.
Get our loot on.
Nobody can stop you, so you loot
8 Ducats from the city of Preston. Of course, this does come directly out of next year's Tax Income and the people aren't terrible happy about it. But you know what? Screw them, what can they do about it? You would have looted the remains of the Treasury too, if Black hadn't gotten to the fort first.
You've looted an awful lot, and are pretty rich from it. Sure that'll damage the city's economy a bit, but who cares? Not like you're going to be ruling it.
Incidentally, a messenger from Grandmaster Black's camp arrives and invites you to meet with him. Apparently he has some important news for Terenos.
Rumour, News and Messengers
[3] News does eventually reach Trubaldsome about his brother's death, but it comes directly from the looser tongued members of the newly arrived Crown Infantry. So much for keeping a secret. [1] Speaking of keeping secrets, it proves utterly impossible to move a regiment of longbowmen without anyone noticing. Word spreads quickly that you were headed south with your men without telling anyone, but not necessarily your exact location. Not that this is too hard to guess, as the rumour of Leuki's death is spreading quickly. [3] Your messenger, at least, makes it to Aulon in time to summon him but by this time it's pretty clear where he takes his regiment off to.
You arrive after a few weeks' travel (Trubaldsome about a week ahead of Aulon, two weeks ahead of anyone who might be in pursuit) at the edge of Miring. Your home city is in many places a smouldering wreck, though you are heartened by the intact state of the port - the source of Miring's wealth. Nevertheless, patrols flying the banners of Elbreth are very common indeed on the streets. It looks like the Crown troops have been actively suppressing the populace.
Take control of Fort Preston.
Bring Noble prisoners to the dungeons. Inform them they will have the opportunity to swear allegiance to King Erik and if they do they will be able to keep their lands and titles.
You seize control of the fort easily enough and can use it as a base to stabilise the city from. You also seize the remains of the Treasury, all
2 Ducats of it - Philip must have spent most of it on the war effort.
[6] Virtually all of the noble prisoners are willing to swear allegiance now that all heirs to the Prestoner throne are dead. This presents something of a problem, in fact, as many of the counts of Preston are still alive (some are quite close to death, but well enough to swear in time to pass their patrimony on to their heirs). If you allow all of them to live, this will not provide much land at all for Erik's supporters in the war to take.
The 1 Regiment-large Palace Guard Regiment is to Aid Marquess Kain in apprehending the traitors in Sheepstead.
Begin a recruiting campaign in the Province of Elbreth, try to raise two regiments (despite the lack of manpower) to Defend the Realm. Make it clear that they will not be pulled away from home for long, but that they will also be able to fight alongside the King.
[1+1] Despite the aid of the regiment (or perhaps because of their very overt presence), less than a third of the traitors are captured and dealt with. The rest catch wind of events quickly and all flee their posts and the country.
You cannot raise men that are not fit to fight. Nevertheless, there is some opportunity. Many young squires and pages that serve in the Palace are willing to fight for their King if he will adopt them as his
personal guard (the King thus far has not recruited one) and no doubt the inhabitants of the petitioner's village will rise up to aid him if he leads them.
Manning attempts to rehash what happened in the battle and writes down some of the things that worked for him.
(basically, continue work on the swordplay study)
[4] You spend time with your crew and work on revising your stance and slashing technique. After a few weeks of this whilst the city is being pacified, you feel you have improved greatly. [60 Swordplay points.]
Read over the newly acquired histories and send a letter to Miring that is to be opened by Morosin's human envoy
The histories are... in depth. You would be better pressed to using them as a reference should you ever have any questions about Elbreth's history (+2 bonus to history-related checks regarding Elbreth). There are all manner of details, from the expeditions of the early knightly orders to the secession of Elbreth from the once much-larger kingdom of Miring, or even the decline in relations with the Archbishopric of Suul over the last three generations (the permission of which is still technically required to crown a new king).
If it comes to a fight then we fight but if not we pack up and leave town... We do that if there's a fight too.
"Please this man threatened me with his crossbow as unordered upa drink I don't know what ot into him" Sir Joesph pleads "Do you people hate nobility I am a knight not a simple man to be coerced!"
[2] Your rather ineffectual combination of pleading and boasting makes you no friends and doesn't avoid a fight. The good news is that the two palace guardsmen are unarmoured if not unarmed. They do have the back-up of chair-wielding patrons, though, who make up numbers against your full guard complement rather well.
[2] The man who slipped out to warn the guard starts shouting as soon as he gets out of the tavern. Given the distance from the palace, you reckon you have...
5 exchanges before the guard arrive en masse.
Sir Joseph: +1 Weapon, +1 Armour, +1 Guard. 6/6hp.
Patrons: +1 Weapon, +1 Numbers. 6/6hp
[2+3 vs 1+2] Your guards form a ring around you whilst the patrons rush you with broken bottles and chairs. It's an undignified mess, but you hold your ground and the men beat unconscious a number of the patrons with their truncheons and sword-butts. [Patrons 5hp]
[6+3 vs 3+2] You and your guards start to move away from the bar, forcing an exit whilst holding the line against the rabble. So far they've been able to avoid resorting to fully lethal force. [Patrons 4hp]
[4+3 vs 2+2] You get quite close to the exit, and the two properly armed guards are blocked from you by the mass of patrons, most of whom are turning to flee by now. [Patrons 3hp]
[6+3 vs 5+2] You get to the door and are ready to leave as the last few patrons break and run for the back door. Just the two palace guards now. [Patrons 2hp, Numbers advantage lost.]
[1+3 vs 5+1] Your luck runs out as the knights advance with their swords, much less concerned about keeping a low profile than your rather conscientious men. One of them undercuts one of your guards, slashing his sword through the man's leg. [Joseph 5hp]
It is about this time that the palace guard can be seen at the end of the street. It looks like they sent a full regiment, to boot. Will you try and fight off the entire regiment, or risk trying an escape? If you hold the tavern entrance, it might give you a slight advantage defending, but if you fail to flee you'll be facing them on even ground.
Capture the Carrack using the anchor hook method:
They were in a faster ship and facing a much larger one. Instead of running (against the current, because the larger ship would cut the waves that were slowing them) they used the current to give them speed. Used lines to find the depth they were at, timed the descent of the anchors then set up them up for use. Charged the ship that was chasing them, and dropped the anchors for timing to slam into the -side- of the other ship instead of the bow. Hurray for neigh-suicidal tactics.))
You have your oarsmen build up speed, approaching the cargo carrack
Yalasan and bracing yourself for a frankly (and beautifully) insane manoeuvre. Just as you pass ramming speed, you notice another sail moving in. You start cursing your luck when it becomes apparent that they are moving into position to assist the raid! Well, you can always fight looting rights out with them afterwards...
Tactics: The high speed of the sloop helps, but trying to capture any ship is a painful enough trick if your crew aren't trained to respond well to advanced manoeuvres. [Req 5-1, Roll 5] But what can you say? The Bright One is with you today, the wind hits your sails in just the right way to bring you into position. You charge the carrack at near full speed, drop anchors and slam hard into the side of their ship. The
Nalia shudders from the impact, but insane as it was the trick worked. You are now in a perfect position to take the
Yalasan intact, provided you can win the ship-board fight.
Pirates: 1 Oar-banked Raider, 1 Warship (3 Str on attack)
Merchants: 1 Cargo Carrack (3 Str)
Skirmish: [3+3 vs 2+3] -
Close Victory (Pirate warship lost, Merchant carrack captured.)
The fight is close. Insanely close, as pirates from both sides swing onto the
Yalasan and engage in a fierce melee with the merchant guardsmen. The fighting only lasts some five minutes, but in the process the
Yalasan was able to drive into the side of the warship, causing enough hull damage to doom it. Many of the pirates were slain, but there are enough numbers left to man the two surviving ships.
The battle could not have been won - or at least not won cleanly, without the aid of the newcomers. On the other hand, their captain is now alone with only a handful of men on the captured ship whilst Captain a'Valti is still backed up by his full crew. On the first hand again, the captured sailors manning the
Yalasan will probably follow whoever ends up giving them orders - or walk the plank, most like. This is a negotiation that will have to take place carefully... or extremely violently.
Regardless of the outcome, no slaves can be taken because the impressive
Yalasan needs both gangs of Sailors to crew it. The absurdly spacious cargo bays on the other hand (the
Yalasan is a Heavy Ship with the Cargo Bay upgrade) yield not one but two tonnes of assorted Luxuries; dresses, silver jewellery, fine glassware and the like. Probably it would fetch 3 Ducats in Miring or Preston right now. Probably more in Suul or one of the Storm Coast ports.
Organise a wholesale purchase of luxuries for the Storm Coast (2 ducats, unless otherwise stated) and set for a trading run with "grain" shipment on the voyage back(pay back the credit when at home). Leave Marvin in charge of the premises.
Since you needed the extra space, you found that the cargo carrack
Yalasan was offering to take the two tonnes of Luxuries you had prepared for just an extra ducat on top of what you'd already spent. [4] Fortunately, as you would later realise, you figured that for that much you might as well hire a second available ship. The two hired ships set sail for the Storm Coast, eventually making port at Vasir a few weeks later. [2] As you later hear to your great frustration, a recent influx of cheap silverware has dropped the price of much of your haul to little more than its value in Miring. You do get
3 Ducats back, which after the cost of the additional ship hire still leaves you 1 Ducat in debt to the Guild.
Still, your traders follow your instructions and look at the trade prices; [6] A recent cessation of border skirmishes with a rival state has left weapon stocks impressively cheap - a mere 1 Ducat per shipment. You buy out both shipments since you have the credit and the ships are hired for the return journey, making sure to purchase enough grain to keep the offending items covered. [5] On the trip back the ships make excellent time, evading any pirates and moving quickly enough to out-pace any competitors who might have the same idea. [2+1] The market here is still lucrative, promising at least 2.5 Ducats/shipment if you can get them past customs, [1+1] who despite their heavy distraction keeping the populace down do know enough to sift a long pole through what look like bins of grain. [4] The official in question isn't as bothered about the security of the city as he is about his own pocket, though, and lets you off with a 1 Ducat "fine". After paying him off, you sell the arms to your contacts in the city.
You are now
1 Ducat in pocket!
Author
Topic: You are King! (Spring 315a) (Read 188820 times)