Feudal Quest

I edited my post earlier on to have Jaroslaw train archers and the rangers to patrol, so i think that the only two posted options currently are either for Jaroslaw to train archers or to recruit them, and the rangers to recuperate or to patrol the roads.

I am personally fine with either, though i am a bit wary of hiring more archers (but not wary enough to hate the plan).

Anyone has a better, more solid idea on what to do with our troops?

Mmmmh.

ShaperV: how many archers can Jaroslaw train at once? can he train multiple units as well as the one?

My worry there is, as i have Dominic already doing some really heavy full projects, i am worried that one as involved as finding a merchant trainer might make one of the project be short on time.

 

Think ahead.

Setting precedents of summary execution is a fuckterrible idea; it allows for the possibility of people getting railroaded.
Remember what happened to Dita's parents?
They got a trial because nobility; no guarantee of that for others.
Just look at what almost happened to Katiana.

You may well be maneuvering against Grandfather before too long, on behalf of your cousin.
Or maybe even Katiana.
Making sure that he can't pull this maneuver on your retainers because of precedents you set is simply good sense.
And there's the ancillary reason of making sure that your peasantry don't suddenly get it into their heads that "possible witch"= kill immediately.

In this case you're going in with soldiers, a priestess of Inovia, two Chosen, AND Kat's protective wards.
Don't tell me it's too dangerous to give her a summary trial before execution.

 

Remember we have 40 hours worth of minor actions, looking at your list, you have probably 5 hours or so of minor actions scheduled.

Also ShaperV said earlier that the best way to train units was to recruit your full complement, then start training.

Even without that, looking at the precedent of the spearmen seems to make it pretty clear he can train all the archers.

 

It is. If she resists arrest, kill her.

 

True, but i feel the projects i want are big enough that i want to have some buffer. Also, if we get a seneschal coming, he should have quite a bit of Merchant skill. If we have enough time, though, i don't really mind Traian learning Merchant at all.

True enough. I am still not sure there are a lot of archers left we can enlist this year given the warning we got about that, but i guess it could be worth it to make a last round.

 

He can train all of them at once. At your current level of organization an NPC can generally train up to 60 men of the same type.

(Once you get a bigger military you'll have the option to create larger permanent units with their own staff and leaders, which will affect training. But that won't be relevant until you have a few hundred men, which is probably at least a year away.)

 

@ThomasFoolery: Ok then, with this confirmation i guess i agree with getting a last round of archer recruits (i doubt we can get more than the one given the warning we got).

 

I disagree.
And make it clear I disagree.
If she resists, and it proves impossible to capture her?
Kill her.
If it's at all possible, take her alive and try her, then kill her.
Deliberate considered measures is always preferable to precipitate action, and death is entirely too final.

EDIT
And I will also point out that given how long she's had to work here, you have no idea if you can kill her without killing civilians anyway.
A witch binding her life with that of someone else, or enchanting injuries to transfer to scapegoats, is quite doable.
Or accomplices.
I want a trial, and Dita to take a close look, before we do anything.

We'll just have to disagree.

 

I've updated my vote.

 

I figured this situation would fall under Dominic knows best.

Aka he's smart enough to choose the best, or more likely the least damning choice

 

That's what i figured too- the rules explanations in the first few posts underlined the fact that while voting can show a clear majority Dominic still get his final say so on how to implement stuff a lot of time, and i am totally ok with that, especially on cases like right now. I really liked that, at least in the planning stage, the discussion on what to do would have more weight than 'votes', i am hoping ShaperV still intends to do that.

 

I finally read this quest. I guess I participate from now on.

 

Obviously you don't want to just ask the Chosen that, but you can discuss similar topics to see what you hear. The result is not exactly what you expected.

Apparently the Chosen operate under a pretty severe divine injunction against getting involved in human politics. They've got some leeway to act in self-defense or stop dark wizards who happen to be noble, but aside from that there's not much they can do about nobles persecuting them. Now that they know about Dita they'd probably be inclined to help her escape if she ever needs to flee, but that's as far as they can go.

 

June Orders

Dominic adopts the following orders for the month:

Dominic
[X] Visit Pisch with Aunt Garvilla to finalize Chesna's debut in Capital and hash out future marriage
[X] Teach Dita in Swordmanship, use the time together to get closer to her.
[X] Adventure: The Cleansing of Corzu

Dita
[X] Train: Swordsmanship (with Dominic)
[X] Adventure: The Cleansing of Corzu

Sir Bialis
[X] Train Unit (Skill) on Spearmen

Jaroslaw
[X] Recruit Troops: Archers

Katiana Nevyana
[X] Adventure: The Cleansing of Corzu
[X] Construct Granery (Time permitting - you suspect she can get two projects done.)

Traian
[X] Train: Merchant

Men at arms
[X] 7 accompany Dominic, 8 Garrison Corzu keep

Archers
[X] 10 accompany Dominic, 10 Garrison Corzu Keep

Spearmen
[X] Train Skill

Rangers
[X] Recover from injuries

Minor Actions
[X] Pass Chesna 100 SP to acquire Kat's goods from Baron Timis
[X] Equip the Chosen properly
[X] Write a letter to our father accepting his offer for a seneschal.
[X] In Eztergrom find a reputable book merchant and establish that you are interested in purchasing books on Roman engineering and armies, along with books on India and the Middle East.
[X] Procure the services of a suitable candidate to teach Traian Merchant for a fair price.
[X] If any free time remains spend it getting to know Kat better

The adventure will start with handling Atalaya, then move on to the haunts. The military side finishes up the recruiting you plan to do and gets your forces ready to go after the beastmen next turn.

 

That's rather interesting. It basically means that the state can do whatever it wants in terms of priestess AND Chosen.

 

The key thing is, do the nobility know that?
Because if they don't, bluff remains a viable strategy.

And even if they do know that, gods have been known to change their mind.

 

You're also basing that buff (if they don't know but I'm pretty sure if they have the church in their pocket they would) or gamble off the chance the deities will change their minds.

How often have they done that?

 

They don't have to take direct action.
Your house drops in priority for supernatural defense against things going bump in the night, say.
Or all your heirs die out, or your court enemies start doing very well...
And the direct action option remains on the table.

This is an age of superstition.
The burden of proof for supernatural intervention is not particularly high.

 

And how are these things going to happen? I don't see us doing those kinds of things to our family, and if grandfather decides that the risks are worth whatever he's planning, the bluff won't work.

 

Back up.
Whoever said we were doing it?
Or that we even had the power to do so?

I was proposing a method of defence for Inovia's Chosen that didn't involve the goddess taking a direct hand and smiting the fuck out of whoever was bothering her people.
For all we know, they'd been doing it before they all got murderized by demons.

Yes, bluffs can be called.
Doesn't stop people from making them.
And when you're talking about the agents of a deity?
It might not be a bluff.

Magic is real here, as are divine agents.
Note that Gramps, if indeed he was involved, used the priests of another god as proxies, instead of simply sending assassins..
That suggests more than moderate caution.

 

But the question remains: who is going to cause all those things? Cause if the deities start directly messing around with the mortal planes, it is literally an escalation of wars between deities and whatever they fight against.

And using agents of other churches also means that he knows exactly how far his actions can go as we can easily guess that he asked.

 

The Cleansing of Corzu Pt 1

Katiana carefully finishes painting the last of the strange geometric designs on Dita’s face, and sits back with a smile. “There. That will hide you from scrying for a few days, and keep Atalaya from noticing when you head for Tamasi. The warding part should protect you from curses too, but don’t count on that too much. I’m a lot weaker than I should be without my grimoire, so she might be able to break my protection if you give her time to work at it.”

Emma chuckles darkly. “Never give a caster time to think. Isn’t that one of the rules, Inga?”

Inga simply nods. She’s perched in the window of Kat’s workshop, carefully sharpening the broadsword you scrounged up for her. It would normally be a two-handed weapon for someone her size, but like Emma she seems unnaturally strong.

“A sensible rule,” you say. “Alright, so that’s five of us who won’t be easy targets for whatever magic she tries. I‘m going to bring eighteen or so men along as well, but they’re mostly for crowd control. How do you girls feel about taking on this demon?”

Emma shrugs. “Demons can be nasty. Any idea what kind?”

“I haven’t gotten a good look at it,” Dita admits. “Just it’s aura, through the walls of Avilla’s house.”

“Sloppy of her not to have wards against that,” Kat comments. “Or maybe she doesn’t know how to do that.”

“Maybe. Anyway, in raw power I’d say it’s about as strong as Emma. I’m not very good at identifying types of magic, but it felt hot and hungry. Kind of disgusting, like rotting meat.”

“Plague?” Inga wonders.

“Putrescence,” Katiana says. “I’ve seen enough of her spells up close to have a feel for them. Expect curses of withering and decay. She knows some necromancy too, so I wouldn’t be too surprised by zombies or bound spirits.”

“Zombies? That’s nothing,” Emma boasts. “You should have seen the crazy shit the vampire mages came up with. One time they built these giant golems out of bones, with like six arms each. They’d shoot out these bone spikes on chains, like giant fishing hooks, then reel you in and bite your head off. I had to steal one of their giant hammers to smash them all.”

“You got caught by the third one, and it bit off your leg,” Inga chides. “You should be more careful.”

Emma scoffs. “Hey, like you have room to talk. You’re the one who jumped down the armored lizard-thing’s throat ‘cause it was less armored on the inside.”

“You two are nuts,” Dita complains.

Inga shrugs, and turns back to you. “We can handle the demon.”

You nod. “Alright, then. I’ll handle Atalaya. Kat, do what you can to interfere with any magic she tries. Dita, you hang back and light everything up. If your magic is all holy that should weaken our enemies, and give you good light for archery if it’s needed. Kat, how long will she need to summon this demon?”

“If it’s her mentor? A few minutes, if it decides to show up. But if it thinks this is a lost cause it might not bother.”

“That’s why Emma doesn't have the anti-scrying wards,” you point out. “Once we’re in position you show up and start poking around town. Make it obvious you’re going to find her, and she’ll have to call her mentor up and beg for help. We’ll make our move at:

[ ] “The witching hour. She’ll probably be working magic then anyway, and it’s the easiest time to summon a demon if it isn’t already there.”
[ ] “A half hour before dawn. That way if she tries to run we’ll have daylight to track her down.”
[ ] “High noon. Black magic is weaker during the day, so that should minimize our risk.”

“Remember everyone, our priority here is:”
[ ] “Kill Atalaya and the demon. We want to do maximum damage to the forces of evil here.”
[ ] “Kill Atalaya. With her dead we can easily clean up any leftover problems.
[ ] “Kill the demon, but capture Atalaya. We need to hold a proper trial.”

 

Re: The Cleansing of Corzu Pt 1

[X] “The witching hour. She’ll probably be working magic then anyway, and it’s the easiest time to summon a demon if it isn’t already there.”

“Remember everyone, our priority here is:”
[X] “Kill Atalaya and the demon. We want to do maximum damage to the forces of evil here.”

Basically, i choose the witching hour because it's probably the time where Atalaya will be most sure of her power and will go all-out on the attack, and as such will have the less chance of running. Moreoever, it's the time where the Demon has the most chance of answering her summon.

I really want to kill the demon, because it pretty much says "she is a witch", so we don't really need a trial. Moreoever, i REALLY don't think it's a good idea to kill the witch and not the demon, as it might want revenge later on. Same is true for the opposite, of course.

This fight will probably be much harder than at any other times, but we have some heavy duty power backing us up right now, and both Dita and ourself should have some skill against tainted magic, given she has Holy and we have Fire.

Likewise, the chosen probably can see in the dark like Dita, and we can use some fire magic to help us for this, so we won't have visibility issues either.

 

[X] “A half hour before dawn. That way if she tries to run we’ll have daylight to track her down.”
[X] “Kill Atalaya and the demon. We want to do maximum damage to the forces of evil here.”

I want her dead. No exceptions. I just hope we're strong enough to kill the demon too. I really wish we trained up Force Sorcery just to crush the demon's insides, if it's possible. If not then force slam it to a wall repeatedly. Oh and force choke Atalaya easily.

 

[X] “The witching hour. She’ll probably be working magic then anyway, and it’s the easiest time to summon a demon if it isn’t already there.”
[X] “Kill Atalaya and the demon. We want to do maximum damage to the forces of evil here.”

 

[X] “The witching hour. She’ll probably be working magic then anyway, and it’s the easiest time to summon a demon if it isn’t already there.”
[X] “A half hour before dawn. That way if she tries to run we’ll have daylight to track her down.”
[X] “Kill Atalaya and the demon. We want to do maximum damage to the forces of evil here.”

Hard mode is go. We should prepare mentally for the death toll.

I really want to try to organize the Chosen and their Priestesses, and to try to create an organized religion of Inovia. A futile whim you might say~

 

[X] “The witching hour. She’ll probably be working magic then anyway, and it’s the easiest time to summon a demon if it isn’t already there.”
[X] “Kill Atalaya and the demon. We want to do maximum damage to the forces of evil here.”

 

[X] “The witching hour. She’ll probably be working magic then anyway, and it’s the easiest time to summon a demon if it isn’t already there.”
[X] “Kill Atalaya and the demon. We want to do maximum damage to the forces of evil here.”

 

There seems to have been an outbreak of the foolish rashness that gets people killed.

You want to engage a witch and her demon.
At night.
When she is working magic.
In her place of power, at the fullness of her power.
When she has the best chance to confuse you and your party, to bring in reinforcements, or to escape.
When you neither have a good idea of her strength, how many resources she has on hand, or the strength of her teacher/patron.

That's a recipe for a disaster if I ever heard one.

PLAN
[X] “A half hour before dawn. That way if she tries to run we’ll have daylight to track her down.”
[X] “Kill the demon, but capture Atalaya. We need to hold a proper trial.”

 

[X] “A half hour before dawn. That way if she tries to run we’ll have daylight to track her down.”
[X] “Kill Atalaya and the demon. We want to do maximum damage to the forces of evil here.”