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[Iituem]

Send a letter to Kain.

Get near the dungeons and watch the guards. Try to learn their schedule.

Untie the rope from it's place. Regardless of whether this happens, strangle the next person to come into the room with it (If they're Mirish or in Trubaldsome's employ)

Lightningblade's letter has reached Kain.

[3] Lightningblade, you watch the guard shifts for about a day.  They change every four hours, presumably to keep the guardsmen fresh and attentive.  Usually one set does not leave before the other arrives, but this is still the least attentive point of their schedule - given that the rest of it mostly involves standing still and watching for intruders.  There are guards on the main castle entrance and both service entrances - four on the main entrance, two on each service entrance.

[2] Your loitering does not go unnoticed, but fortunately it seems the guardsman who approaches you is not too suspicious and merely thinks you are some kind of street performer pretending to be a statue.  He asks you to leave before he charges you with vagrancy and tells you he'll be keeping an eye on you.

Taric, you untie the rope and decide you prefer murder to suicide.  You lie in wait for well over a day, [3] when the door is unlocked.  It looks like the Mirish dungeon is about as well designed as the Elbrethan one - no such thing as catflaps to push food through.  Instead, a servant enters with a bowl of gruel and a mug of dirty water.

[1+1 vs 1] Your leap out of hiding with the rope is clumsy, but fortunately the attendant is not paying much attention either.  You get the drop on him.  [2+2 vs 2] You bring the rope over his head and drag him into the corner of the room, strangling him as he kicks ineffectually at the floor.  [3] You manage to deflect the bowl and mug as they fall with your foot, lessening the noise they make when they hit the floor.

The servant finally ceases to struggle and you keep the rope around his neck a little longer to be absolutely sure.  You let go of the body and search it for anything you might be able to use.  [4-1] The servant certainly is no warrior, but he happens to have a small knife in his belt along with the key for your cell.  You take it in lieu of your rope (which you tie around your waist just in case).

[3?]  The guards do not seem to have heard you, or noticed the servant's delay.  The corridor beyond your cell is lined with similar dull doors, with one door at either end.  What will you do?

After meeting with myself the crew explains the situation that at large, annoyed i'll have a copy of the marque made and kept with that ship.

Buy a load of luxury goods and send it with the ship to Suul to unload both the flax and the luxury

Find out who is flagging me down, and why.

The spotter sees semaphore signals from the other ship.  He says they belong to the "Knights of St John", an order of crusader-pirates operating out of Suul.  They are demanding you allow them to board you and surrender any valuables you have, after which they will let you continue on your way.

Given you have no valuables, the crew is concerned what will happen should you surrender and they find this out.

"Ah hello Mr.[REDACTED]. I'll cut straight to the chase. I'm a bit short on money right now but I need engineers...I'll pay you one ducat now and one ducat later, after the castle is completed. Sound good?"

[4-1]  The engineer agrees, on the provision that you sign a contract stating your debt that will be valid in a court of law in Elbreth.  If this is the case, he will be made available to you in Summer.

"Your offer is a good one, Night Trader was it? Of course you can sleep here, you have already taken mead and meat with me so you fall under guest right. You will be provided a sleeping chamber in my longhouse and not some tent like the Thralls sleep in. But first you have to answer me some questions...why are you injured? And secondly where are the cattle and the slaves going? Not that i really care what happens to them, i just like to know what i am up to, so that i can fulfill specifics. If you want them for offerings to any gods or something or for arena fights or for whatever i can easier find what you would prefer."

provide the Night Trader with a sleeping place.

As it turns out, your pre-existing arrangement with King Erik already counts as a trade route with Elbreth, although not many merchants travel it.  You nevertheless have free access to Wool, Iron, Poor Lumber and Fish, all of which has extended the Trade Potential of both Weyland provinces to 5.

The Night Trader answers your questions.  He seems to pause and think before each statement he makes, [3] although you get the impression that he is telling the truth each time.

"My name is Robert, Jarl.  I was involved in a battle in Preston.  The cattle and slaves will be headed north, where my customers are.  Slaves will be used for manual labour.  Cattle will be used for food, also labour."

When your raiders return with the captured slaves, Robert offers 3 ducats for them.  (Future slaving will follow the new Raiding/Slaving rules.)

Refuse the SCTG's offer
Raise the shipping tax to a standard 10%
Make the tax on local industry only 10%, hopefully attracting more business and raising the public morale
Allow limited trade of arms and slaves, but at a 25% tax
Construct a Light Warship
Post copies of the aforementioned poster around the city and surrounding towns

You refuse the SCTG's offer.  They thank you for your time and remind you that the offer will remain open should you reconsider, then leave.  Taxes are adjusted accordingly for the province.  The regulations on illegal goods are relaxed and taxes on those goods increased accordingly.

A new light warship, the Forerunner, has been constructed in Port Sleen.

Inspect the patient...Read up on the symptoms, and prey to Oritziem for guidance. Don't give a diagnosis or reccomend any cure.

[2-1]  You don't have the slightest idea what the disease is, let alone the cure.  There are dozens of possible diseases sharing the same symptoms.  Drua might have a better idea, but you are frankly just stumped.

Renting a horse from the local stable, she details out the plans to head into the Republic of Groaning and head to the capital of Groan, where she'd do her best to find a crafter skilled in the art of alchemy, someone who could forge gemstones or do the complex plating procedure that would allow her to study the process.

You mount your newly bought mare and head off to the city of Groaning.  The journey takes about four days by horse.

Explore the town of Groaning.

Groan's port is small for a Storm Coast state, surprisingly so.  Only a handful of ships can dock at any one time, which leads the port to be rather crowded.  Commercial industry seems to be equally restricted, but soon enough you discover why - there is no Storm Coast Guildhall in the port.  Groaning is one of the few Storm Coast states that refuses to do business with the Guild, instead operating off independent traders.  You notice the tell-tale flag of a St John privateer in port - Groaning's independence is the only reason they can dock so close to the Guild's centre in Vasir.  If you sail near the Mirish Coast you might wish to fly Suulian colours to avoid piracy.

The city of Groaning itself, in stark contrast to the rather small and semi-developed port of Acre, is a bustling city.  Two storey buildings are common, the streets are packed with foot traffic, carts and ponies and there is an everpresent background hubub of thousands of people clamouring and labouring.  In the same district as the palace, the massive and imposing Clothworkers' Guildhall speaks of the importance of the local cloth and weaving trade - the port and local markets are full of bolts of cloth and tailored clothing of local and Vasirian flaxen linen, of Elbrethan woollens and even of exotic Oriental silk.

There is a fair amount of variation in the port; beyond the locally produced grain, pork, flax and cloth you can find distant wines and metals for sale, but not as much as one might find in Vasir or Suul, and certainly not as much as Miring had available in its heyday.  Groaning clearly suffers in its trade relations from its lack of association with the Guild.

Groaning might not be as prosperous as Vasir, but what it lacks in trading might it makes up for in the acres and acres of open fields beyond the city walls.  Much of the land is converted over to flax production, with Aching producing most of the grain and pork to feed the teeming masses of Groan and Acre, but there is much land to be had and all of it fertile.  Groaning does not maintain much of a standing army, beyond the city guard and watch, but it can clearly draw upon massive reserves of manpower should war arise.  One would expect local barons managing much of this land, but it appears that the elective government does not support a system of vassalage - private armies of any kind are outlawed, though bodyguards appear to be permitted.


There is a fairly healthy service sector of professionals, part of which includes the small jewellers' district.  Drua, you make inquiries in the area [1] but not only do you fail to find anyone skilled in the techniques you mention, you attract some unwanted attention because of the illegality of the processes involved.  [2] The local private guards escort you out of the district and ask you in polite but definite terms not to come back.  It seems you will not get much of this sort of help here.

Worse for Hanja, the vast swathes of open land also mean that local grain is freely available, as are all other staples (-2 staple base demand), with local grain fetching only [3] 0.4d/tonne.  On the other hand, exporting grain or livestock from Aching (where the staple base is -5) will always be profitable.

Groaning, Aching

Leave for the tavern to stay until morning (and wait for the letter) and send for my cargo ships to head towards Suul. Leave for Sheepstead afterwards, with or without the letter.

[1] Although the local region is normally flushed with piracy, it appears the pirates are busy elsewhere.  This does little to save your cargo ships from a storm that blows in from the east, threatening to drag your ships into the depths.  [4][3] Fortunately, the captains have skilled navigators and capable crew.  They are delayed by the storm, but your ships arrive intact.

Local Lumber and Clam prices are [5] 1.3d/tonne and [2] 0.3d/tonne.

You arrive in Sheepstead in short order quite late at night, checking in at the cheapest inn you can find that still offers decent service, [6] the Stretched Stocking, in preparation for heading on to the castle in the morning.

Make way to library and begin teaching Kain about anatomy.

Mahtan spends time teaching Kain about the basics of anatomy, letting him look through the sketches made of Gunther's corpse.  [6] The lessons are successful, though perhaps a little too full of information for Kain to grasp all at once.  He will need to engage in some practical work to get a better idea.

1.  Obtain and dissect a relatively fresh human corpse, taking care to examine each part thoroughly.
2.  Using the parts, or else crafted substitutes, reconstruct the body from the disparate parts to really hammer home that you have the order worked out.

[adwarf]

"Well either way we may end up dead, so let them aboard, and if they want to kill us then we give them a fight they were looking for. Otherwise just let them take what they want since I already have plans to earn us a large sum of money." said Reanrd as his men gathered around him, and asked what they should do.

Do as they say, but if they go hostile kill them.

[Shootandrun]

The guards were well disciplined and there was always soldiers watching the entrances. Jarod thought a moment about simply attacking a service entrance, but he feared he might find barracks behind these doors. The main entrance was out of question. So, no frontal attack. He had other ideas, of course, but the frontal attack was his favorite. Before doing anything else, though, he had to get ready for a few things. Getting out of the dungeon with Taric was good, but after that he still had to bring the knight to Elbreth.

First of all, transport. Everybody in Miring could recognize Sir Taric. That was a problem. Jarod knew exactly what to do about that.

Buy a carriage and the horses guiding it. It must be impossible to see inside the carriage.

[King_of_the_weasels]

((I'm going to rely on Kain to acquire his own specimen, hopefully it is a criminal and not some poor sod))

Wait until a specimen is produced, then supervise dissection.

In the mean time go to bed, it's like 6 in the morning... you don't have to roll this..

[Ardas]

A short sleep of few hours was sufficient to calm down Hans after his travel, although not enough to keep him from yawning in the morning, as he wrote another letter with instructions to his captains. Vasir, as usual, had an insatiable appetite for all things big and small, and Suulian clams woud do, as the fishermen there boasted big catch andthe price was at all time low. This was good news, although how much more could he count on good luck in his trade was hard to say. If he planned to open his own guild, he needed some sort of almanach. Something that would give him the edge over other traders by storing all info on trade routes, winds and suitable sales at given seasons. But that had to wait, until at least hew could find a knowledgable scribe and an experienced sailor.

Meanwhile, a meeting with the king had to be prepared. Hans checked that his clothes were all clean, all sots and dirt removed and his face clean.
While walking towards the royal seat in the city, he couldn ot help but to notice, that for a royal capital, Elbreth and Sheepstead were not that impressive, as compared to Suul or Vasir. The city lacked public buildings, open squares and paved boulevards. While the was certain amout of activity on the streets and the buildings looked solid and clean, built in their local style, Hans could not help that the place felt very isolated form he world, almost rustic.

The royal seat was not that impressive either, bearing marks of fire and still under reconstruction. "For a powerful monarch, he seriously could use an architect or a lord mayor" he uttered to himself.

Request an audience with the king Erik. send an instruction to my ships to load clams in Suul and sail To Vasir.

[Taricus]

Head straight down the hallway through the door. Look for a guard I can get the drop on to take his armour, weapons and life.

[ibot66]

Norm relaxed a bit. Life was good. Then, all at once, he got up. Something was distracting his mood. Sir Taric had not yet gotten all he deserved. He went to the castle.
Station troops around the dungeons entrance. Meet with Trubaldsome.

[filiusenox]

Meeting with Engineer
Grudgingly agree but make the contact vague.

Arrest a murderer or rapist and execute them, bring them in for dissection.

[Ghazkull]

Buy a carriage and the horses guiding it. It must be impossible to see inside the carriage.

[2] you search quite a while for a proper carriage and you are in fact successfull as you find a carriage owner who is driving around nobles for money. For the outrageous sum of 1 ducat [?] he promises to drive you ,and any "cargo" you wish to take with you, anywhere you want. As you protest he tells you that with less payment he can only buy cheap wine and with cheap wine he tends to lose control over his tongue.

Station troops around the dungeons entrance. Meet with Trubaldsome.

[1] your newly won followers look at you incredulous. One of them, a burly smith eyes you sceptically. " Oi, why should we sit around an already guarded dungeon when we could do far more useful work for the Gods? I can't see why sitting the should please them...

Head straight down the hallway through the door. Look for a guard I can get the drop on to take his armour, weapons and life.

As you open the door [2] you are confronted with 2 guards. [4] luckily they are distracted with some manner of boardgame. [3] the only other thing in the room is the shoddy padded armor of one of the men, which had been carelessly thrown over a stool behind one of the guards...

[Taricus]

Slaughter them, take the armour (And whatever else they have that might be useful) and one of the corpses (I'll need a proper weapon, and these guys are perfect for that ) then continue onwards to the throne room!

[Shootandrun]

Jarod had a dark smile. One ducat for a transport was not going to happen. With that sum, he could buy an unit of infantry and simply storm the dungeon.

"I have another idea. I could kill and drive the carriage myself without having to pay anybody, and drop your body in the sea without any one noticing... But I feel merciful today. Here's my offer: eventually, I might come to you with my 'cargo', and you will bring me where I tell you to go. Once we are there, I will pay you half a ducat, which is still much more than what you deserve. Do you accept?"

His hand was at the hilt of his sword.

'Discuss' about the price.

((Can I know where we are in the city? I won't be able to kill him in the middle of a street full of people.))

[evilcherry]

x.x.315a, Groaning

We anchored the ship at the harbour. The place is small. So small, that we don't even bother to get in queue to get to the waterfront, but keep our ship at some distance, and drop our paddle-boat to access land. It is tiresome especially for the rowers, but it is still better than waiting meaninglessly.

But then this is just a minor problem. We had done this for many times, especially when there was no harbour at all, or it is just too hazardous to come to the waterfront. The larger problem is that there is a very well-kept ship, flying the flags of the order of St John. Privateers. While they don't usually prey on independent shipping, they might resort to looting them when their harvest is poor.

It does not look like the area is safe for shipping. We better conduct our business quick and move on.

x.x.315a, Acre

We got ourselves off boat. Our first mate was on the ship, as usual, with a few men to take care of "anything else".

This harbour, which the locals know it as "Acre", is otherwise nondescript. The people suggested us to go to Groaning proper, which sports a more assorted compliment of goods, included silken cloth. Silk? was that the material from the east that the light gave to the eastern peoples as a gift, could fetch its weight in silver, and shines in the light, that the priests of the light wears? And yet, it is so far from the east. There must be somewhere else that this silk comes from.

We stopped by the Groaning Clothworkers' Guild office in this harbour, which is a very fine piece of architecture by itself. A stone facade rose in front of us, spanning two and a half stories. Entering the arch in the middle, which is enough for all but the largest carts to go through, leads us into the main trading hall, which is as tall as the building. Silken draping hung half the way from the domed ceiling. Different booths and traders congregate around the perimeter of the hall doing various trades. Beside cloth-traders, there are also money-changers, guards looking for work, and travelling merchants like us. We haggled around the sellers and bought a boatload of cloth.

It turned out the idea of taking a few ducats on board is inspired. This area has no guild office for us to conduct banking here. This means we cannot cash in our bills and have to use our own gold. The general hate of the Storm Coast Trading Guild among the populace is obvious. When people suggested us to visit the main Clothworkers' guild, in Groaning proper, they described that was an architectural marvel, to show off their wealth and as a mockery to Vasir, to quote them directly, "the den of bloodsuckers". Apparently the people hate just hate Vasirians.

We arranged a few carriages to bring our goods to the waterfront; tomorrow will be actually bringing them on board. I also got ourselves a Suulian flag, which we would hoist once we get to open waters. If we showed that we are heading towards Suul, they have one less reason to attack us. But then they would be watching; we will have to go to Suul.

Finds where silk in Groaning is generally from.
Buy Cloth and put it on-board.
Hoist a Suulian flag, Full speed to Suul.

Spoiler: Hanja (click to show/hide)

10d guild credit (0.6d expended)
-4d in debts
Light Ship "Fronen" - Empty - Groaning - 5 moves

[Ghazkull]

'Discuss' about the price.

[6] you are in the barn where the carriage is situated, it's a quiet place, perfect for a pair of lovers to be alone...or to dispose of certain unwanted people. The barn itself is dark and only lit by a small oil lantern on a nearby crate.

[5] your threats prove quite successfull the man is intimidated and agrees to your offer...

((OOC: BOOORING...i hoped for a duel, but instead i roll a 5 here... ))
_________________________________________________________________________

Slaughter them, take the armour (And whatever else they have that might be useful) and one of the corpses (I'll need a proper weapon, and these guys are perfect for that ) then continue onwards to the throne room!

you decide to sneak up on these guys as they are still concentrated on the game.

"NO! this can't be! How can it be even humanly possible that you roll 4 times a 6 in a row?"

[2 vs. 3-2]

"Well, i'm like the Black Shadow, anyway my Assassin takes out your Council of Nobles."

"Ah screw y-argh..."

although the Wooden Floor squeaked horribly as you snuck behind one of the guards they still seemed not to notice you.

[4 vs. 1-2]

You slice the throat of the first Guard in such a quick manner that he couldn't even react.

[5] "Sonofa--" before the second guard manages to stand up you grab his dead comrade and throw him over the table into the face of Guard number two.

[2 vs. 3] but before you manage to stumble around the table the second Guard shoves his dead comrade off into your direction and stands up.

[6 vs. 1] fast as a lightning you snatch the dead guard and make yourself ready.

You have the weapon advantage due to the farther reach if you flail the body around (Weapon advantage +1), however the Guard wears [4] a studded leather armor (Armor Advantage +1)

[3+1 vs. 1+1] you use the complete confusion with which the guard eyes you to use his comrade as a macabre flail of flesh and bones and hit him straight in the face, breaking his nose. [Guard Hp 2/3]

[6+1 vs 1+1] bleeeding out of his nose the eyes widened in terror the guard stumbles backwards while you (due to your reputation propably with grim satisfaction) use the corpse to beat your poor  opponent to death. When you are finally finished nothing more than a bleeding broken and still whimpering bundle is lying before you. You quickly end him with your knife. Then you proceed to free him of his clothes and worldly possessions, leaving the useless sword instead dragging your morbid flail at the foot behind you.

[3] your not exactly sure where the throne room is situated from here on and so you decide to randomly open doors.

[5] ending strangely only two rooms further in the Throne Room of Miring. While wondering which sane Architect would place the  dungeons only two rooms from the throne room you realize that it is [3] completely empty, except for a single servant who is trying to remove blood stains from the arras. He hasn't spotted you yet but he will be either a) terrified by your appereance  or b) really pissed off because the mangled body you are dragging with you is ruining the carpet you are standing on...

[micelus]

This wasn't good, Locanil had no idea what the patient had...This was never his field of study; true he knew some herbs and their properties, but only a select portion. Locanil guessed it would good to explain to the League that he did not have the knowledge to name the disease.

He would not be able to access the histories for now, so Locanil guessed it would be best to question the people about their occupations, religion, culture, and traditions.
Action- Explain to the League that I don't have enough expertise to name and cure the disease and then leave the building. Go ask the people of the city about their occupations, religion, culture and traditions.

[Taricus]

Kill the servant in holy fury, and wield his corpse as well! Then head to Trubaldsome's quarters!