Feudal Quest

[BFldyq]

If Baron Kiscun dies while Ezti is married her husband inherits the barony. If Rogatica then dies without heirs you have a mess, because it isn't clear who his nearest male relative would be. So in that case Ezti's claim to both Rogatica and Kiscun would be about as good as anyone else's, and in reality the issue would be settled by force of arms.

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And if Baron Kiscun is still alive, but Baron Rogatica dies? Would the Barony of Rogatica go to Baron Kiscun?

 

[ShaperV]

And if Baron Kiscun is still alive, but Baron Rogatica dies? Would the Barony of Rogatica go to Baron Kiscun?

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No. In theory it should revert to Baron Rogatica's nearest male relative, but he doesn't have one who's closely enough related to be unambiguously the correct choice. Ezti could advance a claim as the old Baron's wife, but the lack of children would mean that again she wouldn't have clear precedence. Now if they had a child she'd preemptively be the heir's regent, effectively allowing her to retain legal control of the fief, and she could then retain it even if the child later died.

 

[Arkeus]

She can try this anywhere along the riverbank, since there's only one spirit for the whole stretch of river. But spirits tend not to pay much attention to mortal affairs, and since it's harvest season there are hundreds of boats on the river right now. Odds of the river spirit being able to point out the correct one aren't good.

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Wait wait, only one spirit for the whole river? Does this mean it's a "the spirit IS the river" kind of thing? Because if that's the case, there is a possibility that Kat could use some meta-magic once the spirit is summoned to make the spirit the origin point of the locator charm for Ezti, and as such "locate if Ezti is anywhere two miles around the river". Of course, it might not even help if she already is more than two miles past Eztergom by then, but depending on how fast we could set up such a locator charm, it might be worth a try.

Another thing to make sure beforehand is how much taint Kat would get from that- if she would be in immediate danger of going insane, we'd need Dita around for this, hence no tracking in the woods.

Speaking of Evil Magic, True Faith and all that, when Dominic gets to Igal he should totally be able to detect if there is any kind of evil magic himsel, given his own access to Regency Magic.


Anyway, here are rough thoughts for Dominic (Also to share with Boris) on, if there has been a kidnapping, what route would mean for the possible responsible parties:

*Going by the boat route would mean that even if Rogatica is ultimately responsible (not sure at all) he is probably trying to use patsies there, either the smugglers (as they already use such routes) or even The Hand in Piscia (which may or may not involve Nikkolai being aware). It would also be circuitous enough that both Piscia and Corzu could have grieviances for the kdinapping (if there is such) to have happened in their lands. Might also shame us for not being able to stop it.

*Going by our main road on horses mean that Rogatica wants to rush things, and believe that by forcing the matter before anyone can react it doesn't matter how obvious he is. This means that we would probably have to use brute force to get Ezti back.

*Going by the woods most likely means that whoever took her is trying to hide his (or her) hand, and political pressure as well as a quick rescue could work.

Of course, it's still totally possible there has been no kidnapping here, hence why Dominic probably has to go to Igal himself (hopefully with bors), investigate, etc.

 

[BFldyq]

...I we may need a hint for this one.

 

[fitzgerald]

At this point I'm tempted to do the following

[] Dominics best guess

 

[BFldyq]

Hmm, can we order that all ships are too stop, and await boarding and inspection? Or request the river spirit to hold them? That would allow us to discard the possibility that she's on a boat.

The rangers, I think, should be divide into 3 teams: 1 that goes to Igal and starts searching there, 1 that goes directly south and searches there, and one that goes directly to the border with Rogatica and searches there.

Meanwhile, if Boris and his men are willing, we go to Nikolai and see if he knows anything about what happened to Ezti, the Hand being in "his" fief, and whether or not Pavel authorized the Hand being there. If the first is a confirmation, or the last is a negative, we in lock him up, and then go to the Hands training grounds to see if they know anything.

At this point I'm tempted to do the following

[] Dominics best guess

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So true. Especially since there's things that Dominic would be aware of, but we wouldn't be, that'd make his choices better informed then we could ever be.

Of course, there's also biases and false assumptions we wouldn't have, so it's still a crapshoot.

 

[Adyen]

Been a while since I posted and this is not exactly relevant to the current situation, but I noticed something in the last posts...

There is a constant state of ware between the gods of Light and Darkness (ostensibly good and evil, but depending on your personal morals you might not agree). Dominic's worlds is on the edge of falling to darkness, which is why magic is so corrupting. The gods are basically using humanity as janissaries to try to turn back the tide, which seems to be working - a few hundred years ago most of Europe was overrun by monsters, but they've been pushed back in a long series of crusades.

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Doesn't this mean that, if Dita's quest is actually successful, there would be another Deity of Light, further tipping the scales and help loosen the corruption? Shouldn't we be able to get the church's help in this kind of situation? Cause this is like, Epic Quest material - if it's true.

 

[BFldyq]

Been a while since I posted and this is not exactly relevant to the current situation, but I noticed something in the last posts...

Doesn't this mean that, if Dita's quest is actually successful, there would be another Deity of Light, further tipping the scales and help loosen the corruption? Shouldn't we be able to get the church's help in this kind of situation? Cause this is like, Epic Quest material - if it's true.

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That's something I've been wondering as well, but this current problem made me forget. But I do think your making an inaccurate assumption. From what we know, Kali has both a "light" and "dark" aspect, as apparently does her husband. My guess is that she and her husband are technically neutral, belonging and supporting both sides. Kali's high priestess following the path of Light instead of Darkness doesn't mean she herself is changed, just how she's worshipped.

Still, depending on what effects of the High Priestess being a creature of Light would have on Tavi's country, people and her race as whole, it may very well be a big win.

 

[Adyen]

That's something I've been wondering as well, but this current problem made me forget. But I do think your making an inaccurate assumption. From what we know, Kali has both a "light" and "dark" aspect, as apparently does her husband. My guess is that she and her husband are technically neutral, belonging and supporting both sides. Kali's high priestess following the path of Light instead of Darkness doesn't mean she herself is changed, just how she's worshipped.

Still, depending on what effects of the High Priestess being a creature of Light would have on Tavi's country, people and her race as whole, it may very well be a big win.

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Actually, I'm pretty sure Dita does say that if Tavi is of Light when she becomes 18, then Kali will be change to her 'Light' aspect for the duration of how long Tavi is alive.

Let me find the quote when Tavi was explaining it.

Nope. You're right. She has both aspects and Tavi will only be able to affect which aspect is worshiped.

Still, we might be able to garner some support from the local deities either way.

 

[BFldyq]

Actually, I'm pretty sure Dita does say that if Tavi is of Light when she becomes 18, then Kali will be change to her 'Light' aspect for the duration of how long Tavi is alive.

Let me find the quote when Tavi was explaining it.

Nope. You're right. She has both aspects and Tavi will only be able to affect which aspect is worshiped.

Still, we might be able to garner some support from the local deities either way.

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Like I said, it would depend on what effect it would have. Would it convert the land and the people who live their from Darkness to Light? If so, that's a giant coup, and would likely gain their support. Or does Tavi have to personally convert everything to the Light? In that case, if there's no way to replace her, the gods would want her died, so as to weaken the Darkness.

And if it's somewhere between those, who knows what the gods will want.

 

[ShaperV]

Since we have a lack of proposed actions here, I'll post some options:

[ ] Plan Boris
- Let Boris take charge of the situation so he can get all the credit for any rescue

[ ] Plan Careful Response
- Take a force to Igal to find out what's going on
- Send Dita to scout the route from Igal to Rogatica in case this is a kidnapping plot
- Put all your troops on alert

[ ] Plan Frantic Worry
- Send Dita to scout the route from Igal to Rogatica in case this is a kidnapping plot
- Send Jaroslaw and the rangers south to give Dita backup
- Send Kat with an escort to Tamasi to talk to the spirit of the Sava
- Ask Boris to take his band to Igal and find out what's happening there
- Wait for news, and plan to use Dita as a messenger

[ ] Plan Territorial Integrity
- Take a strong force to Igal and fing out why foreign troops are harassing your citizens instead of sending you a messenger
- Ezti will probably be back from wherever she went, so you can give her a lecture about borders and respect

Obviously no plan is the best response to every way the situation could be interpreted, but that will often be the case when an event strikes out of the blue. You'll learn more as events unfold, but for now you just have to make a guess and go on.

 

[BFldyq]

Before we vote, I've got to ask: if we vote wrong with this, are we completely sunk, or is there the possibility of recovery?

 

[Arkeus]

Since we have a lack of proposed actions here, I'll post some options:

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Ah, i thought i was being clearer that my plan was:
-Take a force to Igal (including Kat? depends on exactly what she can do with that locator spell) to find out what's going on, ask Boris if he wants to come along.
-Send Dita to scout the route from Igal to Rogatica in case this is a kidnapping plot (How long would her getting a stealth ward would take before leaving?)
- Send Jaroslaw and the rangers south to give Dita backup
-Put all your troops on alert.

Still, i am glad that things have clearer options, especially as i particularly like 'Plan Boris', and am somewhat hoping someone can convince me to vote for it.

Obviously no plan is the best response to every way the situation could be interpreted, but that will often be the case when an event strikes out of the blue. You'll learn more as events unfold, but for now you just have to make a guess and go on.

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Yeah- for example plan frantic worry switch out the ability to talk to the Kiscun people (diplomacy) in Igal for greater maneuvrability and response time. Plan Boris is awesome and Boris is awesome, so no need to comment there .

I have also taken out Jaroslaw helping out Dita from my plan, because, well, we probably have greater need of him than Dita currently. Unless she happens to chance upon Ezti and doesn't obey our order to report back. Must make sure she knows to report back.

 

[BFldyq]

You now, this events makes me extremely aware of the long response time due to a lack of modern technology. I don't think we'll be able to compensate for our lack of fast travel capability, at least without some high-end Magic, but communication, at least within our fief, might be more easy to fix.

I'm thinking like a stone or set of stones placed with the villages/hamlets, which if used by someone who knows the correct procedure, will automatically make Dominic aware of what the users says. Even better, if we can somehow send messages back.

Of course, the best set-up would be a network, in which people can use the stones to send messages to any other stone, with Dominic being aware of messages being sent(without it being distracting). But I don't think that's likely.

Alternatively, the stones allow Dominic to see everything within a distance of them, allowing him to monitor everything going on with their range, as an invisible watcher. But that's getting greedy, me-thinks, and I think Dominic might get distracted by looking at the pretty girls.

 

[Arkeus]

Snip

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Alternatively, we begin making birds that are just intelligent enough to be able to fly to the right people and carry messages, we improve our horses for faster traveling time, etc. All of this is Flesh 3, which shouldn't take so long.

We don't need high-end instant-message magic (though with the right speciality Kat could probably be able to do it right now) in order to greatly increase our response time. Things will just become faster and faster for our personal response time as we improve our Force magic, too.

 

[BFldyq]

Birds still have delay time, though. And can be intercepted by other birds/bats/arrows/magic.

And better horses was part of my "high-end Magic" statement.

Though honestly, the system would show it's true worth in allowing the user to administer fiefs remotely. Have fiefs on opposite ends of the Kingdom? Not a problem!

But it's probably just a fantasy. *sighs*

 

[Arkeus]

Birds still have delay time, though.

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Delay is much shorter (like, we would have received this message over a day ago) and it has the advantage of people thinking 'wow he has awesome trained animals' and not 'burn the witch'.

And better horses was part of my "high-end Magic" statement.

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Ah, well there is confirmation that it would take only 1-2 training session once we reach Flesh 3, so i was thinking that 'high-end magic' would be things like a teleportation/portal network.

Or, you know, gryphons.

 

[BFldyq]

Ah, well there is confirmation that it would take only 1-2 training session once we reach Flesh 3, so i was thinking that 'high-end magic' would be things like a teleportation/portal network.

Or, you know, gryphons.

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High-end by Borjeria's standards. Should have been clearer on that.

 

[Ghost]

[X] Plan Careful Response
- Take a force to Igal to find out what's going on
- Send Dita to scout the route from Igal to Rogatica in case this is a kidnapping plot
- Put all your troops on alert

 

[Deathwings]

[X] Plan Careful Response
- Take a force to Igal to find out what's going on
- Send Dita to scout the route from Igal to Rogatica in case this is a kidnapping plot
- Put all your troops on alert

 

[Jack Trade]

[X] Plan Careful Response
- Take a force to Igal to find out what's going on
- Send Dita to scout the route from Igal to Rogatica in case this is a kidnapping plot
- Put all your troops on alert

 

[staplesdex2]

[X] Plan Careful Response
- Take a force to Igal to find out what's going on
- Send Dita to scout the route from Igal to Rogatica in case this is a kidnapping plot
- Put all your troops on alert

 

[ShaperV]

Before we vote, I've got to ask: if we vote wrong with this, are we completely sunk, or is there the possibility of recovery?

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This isn't a sudden-death kind of game. A bad choice might end up costing you an advantage or making an enemy, but it isn't going to end your career. Even if you make a whole series of mistakes and horribly screw things up in Corzu you'll still be alive, and can eventually try to redeem yourself.

The only exception to that would be if you have a major disaster on a combat-oriented adventure, and manage to get yourself killed. But I generally try to give enough hints to make it obvious when you're in that kind of situation.

 

[BFldyq]

This isn't a sudden-death kind of game. A bad choice might end up costing you an advantage or making an enemy, but it isn't going to end your career. Even if you make a whole series of mistakes and horribly screw things up in Corzu you'll still be alive, and can eventually try to redeem yourself.

The only exception to that would be if you have a major disaster on a combat-oriented adventure, and manage to get yourself killed. But I generally try to give enough hints to make it obvious when you're in that kind of situation.

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Sorry. I was asking about this event.

Edit: to clarify further, if we choose wrong right at the very start, will the event be unwinnable(aka find and recover Ezti)?

 

[drake_azathoth]

[X] Plan Boris
- Let Boris take charge of the situation so he can get all the credit for any rescue

The guy has is basically 'CREED!' and we want to set him up with Ezti anyway. Let's see what he suggests.

 

[fitzgerald]

[X] Plan careful response

 

[ShaperV]

You now, this events makes me extremely aware of the long response time due to a lack of modern technology. I don't think we'll be able to compensate for our lack of fast travel capability, at least without some high-end Magic, but communication, at least within our fief, might be more easy to fix.

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You should generally assume that magic that fundamentally changes the way the setting works is either going to be very difficult or have severe limitations. The benefits of instant communication are so huge that if there was a simple way to do it with mid-tier spells someone would have done and conquered Europe already.

So while there are lots of ways you could improve your ability to communciate with your people, you'd probably be better off looking for incremental improvements (like Arkeus' enhanced messenger ideas) rather than the magical equivalent of a telephone.

Sorry. I was asking about this event.

Edit: to clarify further, if we choose wrong right at the very start, will the event be unwinnable(aka find and recover Ezti)?

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I'm not going to give you information about the situation that Dominic doesn't have.

But I will say that my GMing style tends towards realism rather than narrative causality, so you will sometimes have events where the best you can do is limit your losses. There will also be times when the event is won or lost before it begins - for example, in this case the fact that you haven't gotten around to worrying about a messenger system yet means you didn't get word of this event until well after the fact, which may well mean any response you mount now is too late.

Of course, if it does turn out that Rogatica has kidnapped Ezti you can always try to find a way to rescue her...

 

[BFldyq]

But I will say that my GMing style tends towards realism rather than narrative causality, so you will sometimes have events where the best you can do is limit your losses. There will also be times when the event is won or lost before it begins - for example, in this case the fact that you haven't gotten around to worrying about a messenger system yet means you didn't get word of this event until well after the fact, which may well mean any response you mount now is too late.

Of course, if it does turn out that Rogatica has kidnapped Ezti you can always try to find a way to rescue her...

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That's pretty much what I was asking. Were you going with a realistic "sometimes, shit happens" deal, or were going with a forgiving "you'll get a chance, no matter what" deal.

 

[LeoAbogos]

[X] Plan careful response

As tempting as it is to let Boris loose, I'm wary of what his plan of action might be. He isn't invested in the local politics like we are and isn't privy to all of our schemes and half-schemes so his priorities are likely to not quite coincide with ours. Maybe that causes problems, maybe it doesn't. It's easier to hand things over to him later for a relationship boost with Ezti than it is to backtrack on things he sets into motion.

It isn't that I doubt his ability, it's likely that his plan could be more effective than Dominic's. However, if mistakes are made, iwould rather they were Dominic's than his family's. Our land, our mistakes to make.

 

[Walkir]

[X] Plan Careful Response
- Take a force to Igal to find out what's going on
- Send Dita to scout the route from Igal to Rogatica in case this is a kidnapping plot
- Put all your troops on alert