Feudal Quest

Mmmh. I was thinking back to what was said about Tavi and Dita, and it seems like when Kat will shield Dita from detection (so that she isn't constantly targeted by demons) she must make sure that her Holy Sorcery still has effects on Tavi. It's quite possible that Dita having more powerful Holy Sorcery might directly influence Tavi, given how the whole spiritual connection was supposed to work.

I think this should be a subject worth bringing to Dita, maybe in a minor action this turn: that while Holy Sorcery will attract demon it might also counter the corrupting influences of the rituals imposed on Tavi. Of course, if Kat can shield Dita while also leaving that spiritual influence of Dita on Tavi powerful it's all to the good. Still worth talking to Dita about, though.

EDIT:
Yet another Minor action would be sending a letter to our parents, telling them about us choosing Zarana. Better they learn of our incoming marriage from us and not Gavrilla.

 

We probably should start focusing her more towards stealth and sorcery if we even want her to SURVIVE the attempt into India and return, as it doesn't seem likely that she can 'purify' Tavi on the spot without alerting all the rakshasa there.

It really seems like a huge quest for her... one that should probably take an entire year to both reach India and get a chance to study the lay of land so that she's not required to hastily make decisions that would likely lead to her death. This actually forces a deadline for us to get her ready as I'd rather there be another deity towards creation rather than destruction.

 

This definitely gets my support.

Edit:

*goes completely rework the military sheet* *grumble*
Besides, the hell happened to the equipment 2 the men at arms had? I hope didn't just lose 250SP worth of stuff...

Edit2: My sheet sums up to 85 SP/turn, you only got 79SP listed. Did I screw up my formulas?
And what about the Seneschal's upkeep+stats?

 

It's averaged out.

It's a good thing that Dita would be stupidly good at stealth once she gets some light magic and woodcraft to a good level (though i guess there is an actual Stealth ability that Zarana's people could teach).

There is a reason we have been given that timetable, really.

We went greedy greed too, what with trying to do both the Epic Quest of the regency succession (timeline being 5-10 years) and the Dita one. It's going to be really hard to balance them both out, hence why i went for the adventurer in kingdom thing, as if we want to have any hope whatsoever at helping Dita we need both us and her to be epic tier by then.

So, i thought i would share my thoughts on how Dita's power works. I was kinda hoping to have a direct confirmation on this when Dominic analysed her last turn, but it makes sense he only got vague terms:

[THEORY]
Dita, like the Chosen, is powered by magic that makes her overall more able and gifts her with some unique skills. I also believe that, like Chosen, that power give her a boost in stats. Either 2 Body, 1 Soul like the boost the Chosen have at first, or 1 Body, 1 Soul (because Dita is naturally someone with a decent training regimen and not a lazy ass like most women in this setting).

Dita is apparently, however, the one that powers that boost, and i believe it's derived from Holy Sorcery (the same way that Swordmanship is derived from Body). For ease of use, let's call that boost the Empower ability. If i am correct, this means that training Holy Sorcery to 3/4 means you can also train Empower to 3/4, hence giving a (total assumption) boost to body and soul of 3/4.

tl;dr Dita works on Angel physics and the more Holy Sorcery she has the more she can train her Angelness, which gives her boosts to stats and Faerie gifts. It's also possible she needs both Light and Holy Sorcery, given the Inovia angels are called Lightbringers.

[/THEORY]

 

What's your plan if your theory is wrong?

 

Yeah, better move that equipment to the rangers then...

 

I don't have a plan if my theory is right anyway, i just like trying to figure out how it works, so i am not sure i understand your question.

 

The way you talked made it seem that you were counting on your theory being true to succeed.

 

Well, we KNOW taht Dita isn't fully human (and likely closer to fey/angelic), so it wouldn't surprise me if she works on "Angel Physics".

I wouldn't really bet on getting more Holy Sorc=More Boosts though. I mean, sure there's probably some way to boost stats, but still..

Ummm. I just thought of something. Wouldn't Dita's innate magical defenses be completely useless against Tavi (like the Chosen would be to someone they trust)?

 

This possibility is why there has been talk of the coming-of-age ritual corrupting Dita yeah, though that was before we actually knew what was going to happen. It's still a possibility though, especially if Dita doesn't improve her purification abilities with more robust wards like Kat uses.

 

Dominic
[X] Examine Beastman corpses using Flesh sorcery for further applications.
[X] Train Fire Sorcery technique: Flammenwerfer (on Beastmen's Corpses)
[X]Adventure: Old Man of the mountain

Minor Actions
[X] Reply to Boris accepting his suggestion, and in turn suggest Ezti as a marriage possibility, and that he meet her while he's in Corzu.
[X] Read book on Roman roads.
[X] Send letter to parents, inform them that you intend to court the Balzar girl.
[X] Send letter to Gavrilla. Inform her that the Balzar girl is your preference for wife.
[X] Send letter to Baron Rogatica. Tell him that beastmen were sighted heading west towards the Lim, possibly onto his lands.
[X] Send letter to Ezti with a plan to avoid some of the large tariffs on river trade by making purchases through Dominic. Ask for any information Ezti has on a smuggling ring on the river, too.
[X] Ask Kat what a proper if small temple to Thoth would cost / take to build
[X] Get a cost estimate for what a simple wood and earth fort with a barracks would cost to build
[X] Send letters to both Lala and Chesna, asking about Chesna's debut.
[X] Bring up the subject to Kat about White Witches and Thoth: do they have any? or is the spiritual guide preventing this somehow?
[X] Talk to Kat about Spiritual guides and Seekers.


Dita
[X] Train Holy Sorcery Spell: Imbue Holy attribute to your Sword/Arrows
[X]Adventure: Old Man of the mountain

Dita's Minor Actions
[X] Remove any taint Dominic contracts from his interaction with the beastmen corpses.
[X] Assist Kat with removing taint while she works.

Bialis
[X] Become Captain: focus on training, though you should try and get at least one of the Corzu Foot to patrol every month.

Jaroslaw
[X] Escort Traian//Lead 1st Corzu Foot.

Traian
[X] Adventure?: Improve Corzu's Roads (Part I).
-[X] Find suitable paths to the hamlets that are unconnected with Jaroslaw's help.
-[X] Use Merchant and Engineering knowledge to calculate appropriate road sizes and positions, for further improvement.
-[X] Organise labour tax from hamlets and villages to clear enough vegetation for such roads.
[X] see if and where a tavern for merchants passing through would be appropriate.
Tell Traian that once the roads are in good repair, or that he no longer needs to supervise them, he will become our full-time treasurer.

Katiana
[X] Magical Construction: Repair the Keep.
[X]Adventure: Old Man of the Moutain.


Dragos
[X] Become our Seneschal, with a focus on clearing the grounds for now.

 

That's... literally not a concern.

Wanna bet Dita's thoughts on it is somewhere around "Oh, it's no problem since I'll save her before that happens"? Cause you know she's going to try to save Tavi, and it's likely that if we don't support her in some way, she's not going to be ALIVE to have that happen to her. (Unless they decided to capture her and corrupt her anyways, but they wouldn't need to have a direct connection between Tavi and Dita to do that)

And I mean if Dita meets Tavi face to face in combat or something. Cause they will meet, and it's very likely that Tavi will be trying to stop Dita or even kill her when they meet.

 

There had been talk of convincing Dita not to go and save Tavi- this is basically saying "Dita can't afford to do nothing".

Oh, that one is probably not a real concern unless Dita try to do that alone. It -might- help us convince her to have people helping her do this, but it's not like she can't call up a dozen Chosen anyway for this.

 

I thought there were only three Chosen?

 

I do believe that she can't afford to do nothing - nor should we as we actually have a chance to help decide what facet a deity will be for the longest time. And I don't think Dita would forgive us if we prevent her from helping someone she considers a dear friend.

I dunno man. Having an outright war between Chosen and rakshasa might not be the thing that's going to happen... (Somehow, I doubt they're going to go on a crusade against the entirety of the Indian pantheon)

And if she's going to do that, she's not going to train Stealth. She's going to be training combat skills to be in the thick of things.

 

Dita says her current (very tentative) plan for rescuing Tavi is to buy up woodscraft (used for outdoor stealth), get some good detection wards for herself and a couple of Chosen from Katiana, and try to sneak in and get her out quietly. She's convinced Tavi will be happy to go with her, and once they're safely away then they can worry about flipping her magic back from evil to good. Dita is currently assuming only herself and Chosen will be able to actually go on the mission just because anyone else would need a huge travel speed buff to keep up.

Two things to note about the most popular set of turn orders:

1) Traian already had to find all the hamlets (with help from your rangers) when he did tax collection, so he knows where they are now. He'll want a couple of rangers for his escort party just to be sure, but he doesn't need Jaroslaw for that.

2) The Old Man of the Mountain lives in northern Pischia, and you don't have exact details on where he lives. Between travel time and investigation time it's probably going to eat a couple of weeks, so if Kat goes with you that's going to delay her construction project. I'm only letting Dominic do it in one project because he can get in a little work on his research while traveling.

 

Mmmh, and the best travel speed buffs are certainly in Force, though it's unknown if they can work for multiple people.

Thanks for the notice.
This frees up Jaroslaw for either training or patrolling (Bialis will decide). As for Old Man of the moutain, i am in a "Whatever Dominic decides is best between more fire training (woodscraft for Dita), Doing it without Kat, or doing it with Kat and let it delay her construction project" mood. I'd personally go for either not going or going with Kat, but i can see the attraction of trying to be greedy and do both at once (it sets bad habits for Dominic though).

EDIT: Ok, delaying the construction in order to do the adventure now it is, then.

Dominic
[X] Examine Beastman corpses using Flesh sorcery for further applications.
[X] Train Fire Sorcery technique: Flammenwerfer (on Beastmen's Corpses)
[X]Adventure: Old Man of the mountain

Minor Actions
[X] Reply to Boris accepting his suggestion, and in turn suggest Ezti as a marriage possibility, and that he meet her while he's in Corzu.
[X] Read book on Roman roads.
[X] Send letter to parents, inform them that you intend to court the Balzar girl.
[X] Send letter to Gavrilla. Inform her that the Balzar girl is your preference for wife.
[X] Send letter to Baron Rogatica. Tell him that beastmen were sighted heading west towards the Lim, possibly onto his lands.
[X] Send letter to Ezti with a plan to avoid some of the large tariffs on river trade by making purchases through Dominic. Ask for any information Ezti has on a smuggling ring on the river, too.
[X] Ask Kat what a proper if small temple to Thoth would cost / take to build
[X] Get a cost estimate for what a simple wood and earth fort with a barracks would cost to build
[X] Send letters to both Lala and Chesna, asking about Chesna's debut.
[X] Bring up the subject to Kat about White Witches and Thoth: do they have any? or is the spiritual guide preventing this somehow?
[X] Talk to Kat about Spiritual guides and Seekers.
[X] Ask Dita and Kat (if Dita agrees Kat can know) whether the spiritual connection between Tavi and Dita could be strengthened as Dita's holy Sorcery increases, and whether it's possible for the incoming wards to hide Dita not damp Dita's influence on Tavi.


Dita
[X] Train Holy Sorcery Spell: Imbue Holy attribute to your Sword/Arrows
[X]Adventure: Old Man of the mountain

Dita's Minor Actions
[X] Remove any taint Dominic contracts from his interaction with the beastmen corpses.
[X] Assist Kat with removing taint while she works.

Bialis
[X] Become Captain: focus on training, though you should try and get at least one of the Corzu Foot to patrol every month.

Jaroslaw
[X] Second Bialis.

Traian
[X] Adventure?: Improve Corzu's Roads (Part I).
-[X] Find suitable paths to the hamlets that are unconnected with Rangers' help.
-[X] Use Merchant and Engineering knowledge to calculate appropriate road sizes and positions, for further improvement.
-[X] Organise labour tax from hamlets and villages to clear enough vegetation for such roads.
[X] see if and where a tavern for merchants passing through would be appropriate.
Tell Traian that once the roads are in good repair, or that he no longer needs to supervise them, he will become our full-time treasurer.

Katiana
[X]Adventure: Old Man of the Moutain.


Dragos
[X] Become our Seneschal, with a focus on clearing the grounds for now.

 

Kat needs to go on the adventure if we want to benefit properly, As I think there may be a decent chance he's got a spare wizard's rod we could buy off him or at least something that may speed up the creation of one. In addition to other benefits having a wizard with us when meeting him confers. Anyway here's a compromise plan, I still didn't put in fire research since 17s explanation did nothing to convince me that would have any major near term benefits, but dropped investigating smugglers since everyone was against it. Also went with the holy imbuing secondary project since everyone else wanted it, even though I think pushing woodcraft to 2 is a better goal at the moment. Finally added in more of the minor actions people wanted.

Major actions
Dominic
1) Adventure: The Old Man of the Mountain
2) Examine the Beastmen corpses
3) Research flesh magic: Improved senses

Dita
1) Adventure: The Old Man of the Mountain
2) Study holy magic application - weapon imbuing

Kat
1) Adventure: The Old Man of the Mountain
A) Adventure: The Old Man of the Mountain

Sir Bialis
1) Promotion to Captain (prioritize training/escorts for now)
Traian
1)Promotion to Treasurer (If he has time survey roads )
Jaroslaw
1) Assist Bialis with training
Dragos
1) Promotion to Seneschal (Funds for as much as he can get done, but don't fill the cellars until they're repaired)

Minor Actions
1) Procure backup blade
2) Ask Kat how difficult it would be to ward Dita from broadcasting to demons
3) Reply to Boris accepting his proposal, Mention Ezti
4) Get a cost estimate for what a simple wood and earth fort with a barracks would cost to build
5) Have Traian read the book on Roman roads. Peruse the other tomes for anything of interest
6) Send letters to our aunt and our parents, Indicating a preference for Zarana
7)Send letter to Baron Rogatica. Tell him that beastmen were sighted heading west towards the Lim, possibly onto his lands.
8 ) Send letter to Ezti with a plan to avoid some of the large tariffs on river trade by making purchases through Dominic. Ask for any information Ezti has on a smuggling ring on the river, too.
9 ) Ask Kat what a proper if small temple to Thoth would cost / take to build
10) Send letters to both Lala and Chesna, asking about Chesna's debut.
11) Bring up the subject to Kat about White Witches and Thoth: do they have any? or is the spiritual guide preventing this somehow?
12) Talk to Kat about Spiritual guides and Seekers.

 

I'll note that there's a big problem with this plan: the assumption that Tavi will willingly go with them. Perhaps Dominic should gently point out that, even if she wants to be rescued now, there's no guarantee that she'll want to be rescued or converted to the Light by the time they reach her. If she's been transformed back into a creature of darkness, her personality might be warping as well. Especially without the mental connection to Dita to help centre her.

And even if she hasn't been mentally affected to such a degree, who knows what powers her relatives possess. If they possess some sort of Geas-like ability, Tavi may very well be unable to leave of her own violation.

And finally, the possibility they're aware of the bond, and the chance that Dita and one or more Chosen will come for Tavi, and are preparing accordingly.

Of course, Dominic would have to phrase it in such a way as to ensure that it doesn't off as him trying to convince Dita not to go, or that he thinks Tavi is evil.

 

This is a hastily-made plan by someone who is just coming into her abilities, it will surely change as both her and us are growing into our abilities. I am not sure criticizing the plan before we can prove we have a better one is a good idea.

OTOH, this just means we have to begin our super-horse fleshcrafting program before we need to rescue Tavi. Or our "Learn high-speed flight with Force and learn how to apply it on others (enchanted brooms? magic carpet?). Etc etc.

 

She's on a time limit for how long she can train. She has to be aware of all possibilities so she train for them.

 

Orders for August, Year 1

Orders for August, Year 1​

Dominic
[X] Research: Examine beastman corpses for flesh sorcery research info
[X] Research: Fire Sorcery technique (flame projection)
[X] Adventure: Old Man of the mountain

Dita
[X] Research: Holy Sorcery technique (Imbue Holy attribute to your Sword/Arrows)
[X] Adventure: Old Man of the mountain

Bialis
[X] Promote to captain. Conduct minimal patrols, but focus mostly on training the troops.

Jaroslaw
[X] Assist Bialis with training & leadership.

Traian
[X] Construction Project: Improve Corzu's Roads (will promote to Treasurer when complete)
-[X] Construct simple dirt roads to all the hamlets using labor tax
-[X] Scout out suitable locations for roadside inns between settlements

Katiana
[X] Adventure: Old Man of the Moutain.
[X] Note: Start working on keep repair after returning from adventure

Dragos
[X] Appoint as Seneschal. Authorize clear grounds project.

Minor Actions
[X] Reply to Boris accepting his suggestion, and in turn suggest Ezti as a marriage possibility, and that he meet her while he's in Corzu.
[X] Read book on Roman roads.
[X] Send letter to parents, inform them that you intend to court the Balzar girl.
[X] Send letter to Gavrilla. Inform her that the Balzar girl is your preference for wife.
[X] Send letter to Baron Rogatica. Tell him that beastmen were sighted heading west towards the Lim, possibly onto his lands.
[X] Send letter to Ezti with a plan to avoid some of the large tariffs on river trade by making purchases through Dominic. Ask for any information Ezti has on a smuggling ring on the river, too.
[X] Send letters to both Lala and Chesna, asking about Chesna's debut.
[X] Get a cost estimate for what a simple wood and earth fort with a barracks would cost to build

Note: Some questions that were listed as minor actions will be addressed in the next Q&A post.

 

That could run anywhere from a few dozen SP (for a shrine room in the new keep) to several hundred SP (for a nice chapel building in the nearby hamlet). Katiana will helpfully point out that such temples are often combined with libraries and/or magical workshops, and suggests that this could be a good use for that 'Tower Loft' expansion of the keep renovation project that she suggested a couple of months ago. If you did that the minimum additional cost of the shrine itself would only be around 20 SP.

Take a look at the 'Witch' section in the Lore post. If evil witches sell their bodies and souls to demons for power, it's probably possible to do something similar with other kinds of supernatural being.

But Thoth doesn't hand out power like that. Instead he expects followers who want arcane power to become wizards, using a deep understanding of magic to build their own power instead of having it given to them. Bargaining with supernatural beings is often a part of this, but the difference is a witch serves her mentor while a wizard deals with elementals and spirits as an equal.

Interestingly, Katiana's spirit guide can serve as a source of training in pretty much any academic or arcane field. But the catch is he won't just provide specific answers - if Kat wants to learn some obscure fact about metallurgy she has to start with Metals 101 and methodically study the field until she becomes an expert in it. (In game mechanics, this just means she's always treated as having average-quality training material for any academic skill or wizardry specialty.)

Yes to both, and Katiana could also research other ways to strengthen their connection. But properly warding Dita without interfering with any of her abilities is going to be a very complex job, probably requiring 2-3 actions from Katiana and 1-2 from Dita.

 

Anyone else thinking it might be worthwhile to become a priest of Thoth? Of course, it would depend on the requirements, and the probable reactions of the other nobles/the Khersian church.

 

Not unless we're really powerful and not if our Grandfather is still head of our family.

 

Given that a Priestess of Thoth wants to marry us it shouldnt be that tough

@ShaperV part of the questioning how much to build a temple Thoth was in part a way to indicate to Kat we.are serious about accepting her offer.

 

:/. Uhh...

Hmm. At what point do we ask if Kat has a problem with us marrying the Balzar girl first & then her second?

Basically if she's still interested to be our second wife if we marry her?

 

Kats already told us she's happy to do so.

 

I got that she was happy with the general idea. Should we ask her if she's okay with this wife in particular? I got the feeling she did seem to like her but I don't always interpret things like that correctly.

 

Can't hurt I guess amd means she can't complain we didn't inform her of our choice so she can give input.