Brevoy Southern Reclamation Project - BS RP (Kingmaker) (Inactive)

Game Master fnord72

"I'm afraid I am no great rider of horses either. And, if it's time you're worried about, I'd rather pay my coin to my traveling companions to compensate them for the slow travel than to a stable to rent or buy a horse."

Then, after quick nod to Kyri, who he still wasn't exactly sure she was saying, he continued.

"And if we travel at my pace, then there should be no quarrel with the good lady traveling on foot at the head of the company if she wishes."

For instance, knowledge:local usually involves bar diving over tavern hopping to find the information, which takes time.

Which begs a question. How does Knowledge: local differ from a Diplomacy check to Gather information in your game? If they both do essentially the same thing (which your description of a Knowledge: local implies) It would be nice to know so I am not essentially wasting a skill point by having points in both. Or are you folding the Gather Information check into Knowledge: local rather than Diplomacy (which would make putting a skill point into both fairly necessary if you are going for a person who 'keeps his ear to the street' as it were).

I suspect this (& several of my previous ones) is the kind of question Aedon was meaning when he said he had some he didn't want to clutter up the Gameplay thread with.

Seeing neither of the pedestrian party members felt the need to ride, Rufus nods. "It seems my question is answered then, we will make better time the sooner we are off." At which point, with a brace of guttural clicking sounds seemingly directed at his animals, Rufus turns & begins following the trade road West.
As the distance between him & his animals and the other party members grows noticeable Rufus stops, seemingly remembering something. Returning to the others, he says "Kari, Salvator, as you are already walking come here." If they do he directs his horse & hound to sniff them thoroughly. "This one answers to Boon, and the big wee lump of muscle & fat is called Twinkle. But mostly she just comes to sugar or maple crust. Boon, friends." He says, directing the two in introducing themselves to the hound so he knows them. "Twinkle, friends." As he does likewise with the horse.
"I'll introduce the rest of you lot when we rest at noon." Rufus says, turning once more onto the road, Twinkle & Boon following.

"Walk or ride, it is of no matter to me, but the day is fine and I intend to be enjoying a cup of mulled wine and a warm meal in Nivakta's Crossing before nightfall. Come brave companions let us be off, lest our competition get a leg up on us."

Gizsmith trots off on his pony after Rufus, leading his mule behind him, confident that his companions will be along shortly, or will at least catch up in Nivakta's Crossing.

"May like, ser, but yer beard woul' testify different," Kari says to Lyster, and glances at the other males in party. "Save fer the mage wi' hair o' fire, yers is the most impressive set o' whiskers here. Ain't the chin hairs of a boy."

Kari crouches and allows Boon to sniff at her hand, but otherwise remains perfectly still while he takes her scent. Of course she knew that if she wished to change it and evade the creature a simple spell would suffice, and she would not have to harm the dog in any way.

After watching Rufus and Gizsmith trot away, Kari gets a stricken look on her face. She rises and hoists the bag of provisions on her shoulder. "Beggin' yer pardon, ser, but if ye can spare the weight, I cannae skulk with this lot weighing at me, neither," she says. "I be glad to pay ye what is worth in transport," she continues, and spares a nervous glance over her shoulder, "but should like trot ahead les' mah position be negatory."

Gizsmith reigns up at Kari's call.

Ahh, how thoughtless of me. The mule's barely laden at all, there's plenty of room. Just mind the clothes and keep the load even, can't have the poor animal going in circles. You too Salvator, if you wish."

"Thank you, Giz...Gizsmith, right?" Salvator was a bit uncertain, and there was an obvious pause as Salvator thought back and recalled the name. He tied his sack opposite Kari's*.

*presuming you do, of course.

Rufus, was there anything in particular you were trolling for as to information last evening? My apologies as well, I tend to forget that gasther information was rolled into diplomacy instead of K:local.

Your charter reads:

Be it known that the bearer of this charter has been charged bt the Swordlords of Restov, acting upon the greater good and authority vested within them by the office of the Prince of the Dragonscale Throne, has granted the right of exploration and travel within the wilderness region known as the Greenbelt. Exploration should be limited to an area no further than the thirty-six miles east and west sixty miles south of Oleg's Trading Post. The carrier of this charter should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry remains, as always, execution by sword or rope. So wir\tnessed on this 24th day of Calistril, under watchful eye of the Lordship of Restov and authority granted by His Highness Noleski Surtova, current Prince of the Dragonscale Throne.

"Much obliged, cap'n," Kari replies and grins, and together with Salvator, hangs her belongings from the back of the mule. She sneaks glances at their quiet companion as they work, curious how one who displayed so little opinion got mixed into their group.

Sighing, Kari shrugs and dips down to stretch her leg and arm muscles, frowning at the creaks the new leather armor gives. "Helvetes forbanna," she grumbles in Giant. If the leathers gave her skulking away...

After a quick stretch, Kari trots in front of the group at a hustle to keep an appropriate distance for ranging ahead. She does not expect much trouble on a road, save for opportunists, but she prefers to be among the first to assess a threat.

I noticed that the Kingmaker Player's Guide uses a hex map for us to chart where we are. Are we going to be using it? I'd like to print it out and mark our journeys if we are. As well, is there a place we can find the town building rules or any rules in that genre if they're going to be used?

Lyster seems taken aback for a moment. He rubs his beard then laughs. "Aye, it is a mighty fine bushel of whiskers I imagine."

Still chuckling he follows the group on Everswift.

Everswift can still carry things if anyone needs it as well.

@ DM Fnord: I was still trying to find out how many separate charters have been issued. If possible, I would also like to find out who received the other charters & where they were directed to start.
Assuming we survive ours, it might be good to establish communications with the other charter bearers.

So, the charter is to explore & document the area South of Oleg's to a distance of about four to six days travel on foot, and a day & a half of foot travel to the East & West of Oleg's.

We are also responsible for reducing/eliminating banditry in the area. We are reminded that unrepentant banditry is punishable by death; which could either be a hint that Noleski Surtova, his representative, or the Swordlords want(s) us to kill the bandits outright; or a loophole we can use if we decide we want to try to reduce/eliminate banditry via means other than wholesale slaughter. Which means Rufus is not in as bad a mood as I indicated earlier. He wasn't looking forward to being some-kind of hired killer for either Surtova or the Swordlords.

@Lytser: DM Fnord mentioned the Book of the River Kingdoms, I suspect that will have the rules you are asking about. He also mentioned wanting one of us to keep track of our exploration, so if you are volunteering good on ya!

Rufus has the right of it, I will be using the book of the river kingdoms, with a few edits/expansions, which we can discuss for those more inclined to enjoy a hopefully lively discussion on what would be somewhat more realistic. And I will tailor the kingdom building details to a consensus of the players.
[ooc]As for the total number of charters handed out, let's say 24. To the best of your attempts to figure it out, the charters covered:
-just the greenbelt,
-all of the area between Pitax and the coast to the east.
-about six days travel south across the southern border of Brevoy.
-most of the river kingdoms northern territories.
-doesn't matter, it's all a trick by Surtova to kill off rabble-rousers and get the noble families to stick their necks out.

You have also learned that there is a figure known as the Stag Lord that is stylizing himself as something of a bandit nobleman and is organizing the people of the Greenbelt, mostly bandits, but also trappers, some ranchers, etc.

As to who the other charter recipients were, let me make some random rolls for names... Nobody notable, in fact, upon further reflection of what you haven't heard, and knowing your own abilities, it does appear that there are not any recipients that have any great experience with exploration, anti-banditry, etc. A few sword scions that have fallen out of favor, some minor nobles sons that are 'extra's, a couple of people that had wandered into Restov and were just not settling down.

The trip out of Restov is uneventful, surprisingly, there wasn't any fanfare upon your departure from Restov. The road is maintained, not well, but passable in most seasons. you can see that the ground has been fortified with gravel to improve the solidity of the roadway. It is obvious that this road does see quite a bit of travel from the well-worn ruts from many a wagon. It is not until about 10 AM that you come across your first travelers, a couple of wagons loaded with produce and chickens. You learn that they are delivering the load from Nivakta's Crossing. the driver isn't interested in more than a passing word as he started just before day break and wishes to get to Restov by early afternoon.

Over the course of the next several hours you pass similar traffic heading to Restov. Trudging through the mud is tiring and will quickly sap your strength, trying to find solid footing at the very edge of the road works, for a while. Off the road, the grassland is deceptive and not as solid as it appears. The snow melt has softened the ground considerably.

It has been a couple of hours since lunch and the road has turned to mud from the warming weather and melting snow.

1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19

Salvator draws his blade, holding it low to the side of his leg, and points at the *see DM's spoiler*. Speaking low to his companions, he asks, "See that?"

How far away are we from the something?

Nevertheless, will we be charting our journey by using the Hex Grid and designing the city's with the City Grid in the Kingmaker's Player Guide? As for the rules in the Book of the River Kingdoms, I don't know which ones you mean.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Lyster spends the journey atop Everswift, occasionally trying to make small conversation with the rest of the group and with any passerby who happens to cross their path. He specifically asks questions as to the weather ahead, any sightings or news of bandits and the like.

Noticing the bundle in the copse of trees, he halts the group and swiftly points it out.

"Halt friends. There's something in those trees up ahead. I can't quite tell what it is... a bundle of some sort... definitely man-made. Shall we investigate?"

If no one else ventures first, Lyster will investigate.

1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

"Aye, I see it..." he trails off.

Aedon reaches behind his back and deliberately pulls a light crossbow from his saddle into his lap. Keeping his eyes on the bundle, "I'll cover."

If possible, Aedon would like to make another Perception check 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14 to look for anything else in the woods - thinking ambush...probably not seeing it with that roll though...

For expedient's sake, I will be keeping with the city grid design since it assumes that a buidling of a specific type takes up an entire grid because it also contains housing and other supplemental businesses like small grocery stands, general stores, etc.
I don't like the idea of 125 square miles in a medieval setting can only support one farm. The biggest variance I have considered was splitting each hex into 7 smaller hexes and otherwise keeping the rules the same. Not something that really needs to be handled at this point in time, and we can move this to the discussion thread.

The copse is about 50' from the edge of the road, and you are about 40' from the closest point on the road, a bit over 60' from you.

Kari Perception 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 *sigh* of course the self-professed scout sees nothing...

Kari halts at Lyster's word, and glances back at the party. Not a melee combatant in the least, she draws her bow, and keeps her eyes mobile for possible threats from without. Among her band such an impressive collection of animals would have been a cause for a rude feast.

Assuming Aedon ready to fire at the sign of danger, I'll approach the bundle

"I'll see what it is... just give me a sec..."

Lyster approaches on Everswift to within 25 ft of the copse and the bundle, draws his spear move action and waves his hand in a simple gesture.

A rushing downpour of water materializes over the bundle and falls down straight upon it.

Create Water

I'll see if it reacts. That is 16 lb. of water just dumped on the bundle.

Salvator approaches as well, but stays 5 ft behind and to the right of Lyster.

Everswift happily goes offroad and nips at the grasses. the ground is soft and you can hear the sucking of Everswift's hooves as they are pulled from the mud.

Lyster's sudden downpour splashes and flows off the bundle. Some leaves and twigs are washed off showing what looks like a small collapsed tent.

@Lyster: the Book of the River Kingdoms is a 3PP by John Brazer Enterprises. I think it mainly compiles all the Kingdom Rules from Kingmaker & adds a few Kingdom/Leadership feats, spells, and magic items.

Perception 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

At sight of the object & Salvator's response, Rufus quickly begins stringing/drawing his bow. As Lyster begins the incantation of his spell, Rufus takes several steps to his right so as to provide effective cover for Salvator.

Hunh... that's pretty cool. Are you ok with the players reading through the book?

"It looks like a tent!" Lyster calls out to the group. "I'll go ahead and get a good look through it."

Lyster approaches the tent, dismounting from Everswift and searches through the tent, hoping that the rest of the group have his back with crossbow and bow.

Perception 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

Gizsmith watches the scene unfold with interest, but takes no action other than drawing out his short bow.

At Lyster's call, Rufus begins dividing his attention between continuing to cover Lyster & Salvator and scanning the surrounding countryside for signs of recent violence or hasty departure.

Perception 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15, minus whatever modifiers for trying to do two things at once.

Lyster pulls at the edge of the tent.

Under the tent is a half frozen corpse of a human male. He appears to be in his early 20's, and quite dead. The inside of the tent has a significant amount of blood on the fabric.

don't have rolls for Lyster yet, so need a perception check for your searching, and health or survival if you want to try and figure out the cause of death.

Lyster looks through the tent and also will attempt to identify cause of death.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14
Heal: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

The man is dressed in poorly tanned leather buckskins. Sans the blood, the tent looks new. While searching the makeshift camp, you don't see any other belongings.

Your initial search of the body doesn't reveal any wounds, as you pull the tent from the body the head drops and rolls at a decidedly unnatural angle, indicating a broken neck.

Aedon fidgits in his saddle as he watches Lyster and Salvator investigate their discovery. His eyes wander side to side, watching the treeline for any hint of movement.

His voice cracks as he begins speaking, but strengthens quickly, "So Gizsmith, what do you think we should call ourselves?"

No Sense Motive necessary to notice that Aedon is becoming nervous.

Gizsmith notices Aedon's nervousness, but makes no comment of it.

The name itself matters little, but should be grand. It must inspire hope to the masses and strike fear into the hearts of our enemies. Fellowship of the Golden Dawn, would suffice, Companions of the Stalwart Blade could serve, even The Dragonscale Six has a pleasant ring to it. Something that sticks in the mind.

"Aye, sticks in the mind like a bone in the throat," Kari comments wryly. "Les' I miss mah guess, mass and enemy 'like ain't none too learn-ed," she drawls. "Call us 'Them Lads' more true ta color."

"You my dear,"Gizsmith says with deep disappointment, "have so sense for the dramatic." He harrumphs loudly. "'Them Lads' indeed."

"I've experienced 'drama.' Mostly it's pissing your breaks & praying that you survive with all your bits still attached." Rufus snarled under his breath as he scanned about them for signs of possible assailants.
"Lyster, have you determined what killed him? Was it exposure or attack?

"Broken neck... and I doubt accidental."

Lyster will pull the corpse out onto the side of the road and lay him out respectfully.

"Anyone have a spade or shovel? If not I'm afraid we'll need to cremate the poor fellow. Prefer to not have wild animals eating the dead and departed."

Lyster then proceeds to properly take care of the body unless stopped by anyone, either by digging him deep or by cremation.

"The tent, though obviously rather dirty and messy, still seems useable and new."

"Aye, ah've a spade," Kari volunteers. "Not like ta be friendly work, wi' the frost," she says and sighs. Then glances about nervously. "Like it were the villain's intent slow the competition," she continues, her voice almost a hiss, and curiously devoid of cant.

Lyster, how apparent to the untrained eye is it that you are a priest of Pharasma? Right now as far as I can recall the only one of us who has done anything that might show them to be anything other than simple fighters & scouts is Gizsmith.
"Strip the body & check for possessions, papers or keepsakes first. Best to know if he was one of us & if anyone will miss him." Not that that is likely if he is one of us.
"Kari, lend me the spade, I've dug field graves before & likely can make faster work of it than you. I don't like us out in the open like this & would sooner we were finished with this as quickly as decently possible."

The stripping commences...

The body has some minor scratching on the forearms, otherwise there are are no visible injuries other than the broken neck. The young man had a typical aversion to routine bathing and was unfamiliar with personal hygiene. One fine leather boot is half pulled up his left foot, close examination shows that it is several sizes too small, his other foot is uncovered.

His deer-skins are of such poor quality and make, not to mention lack of care, that you are glad it isn't warmer out.

No papers, insignia, coin, or anything else is located on the body. The only other item is the blood splattered tent, of which one pole is broken, and the other is missing. It appears that the tent was only partially setup before collapsing.

There is a wagon off in the distance, it appears to be coming from Restov and is pulled by at least two horses. At this distance you are unable to make out further detail.

No gear other than the tent? Either his assailant(s) took it all when they fled, or there never was any; which implies this may have been intended to be found. Or possibly that we were intended to be discovered finding it.
"Take this & cover him." Rufus says, releasing the clasp binding the winter blanket around himself. "If it looks as though we are administering a decent burial there is a slightly better chance they won't take us for bandits."
Rufus returns to digging.

"Any idea how long he's been dead?" Aedon asks as he continues to watch the tree line.

"And given what we know, he was either killed in the tent or placed there, correct?" Aedon looks toward Kari. "Do you think the murderers might have left some sign indicating where they came from, or in which direction they departed?"

Salvator, slightly out of his element, turned from the corpse, facing the upcoming wagon.

Grisly work already, and we've not even reached the first waypoint. Building a kingdom won't be easy.

I figure I could make the Diplomacy check if we need one with these folks, unless someone else wishes to.

Lyster, how apparent to the untrained eye is it that you are a priest of Pharasma? Right now as far as I can recall the only one of us who has done anything that might show them to be anything other than simple fighters & scouts is Gizsmith.

"Strip the body & check for possessions, papers or keepsakes first. Best to know if he was one of us & if anyone will miss him." Not that that is likely if he is one of us.
"Kari, lend me the spade, I've dug field graves before & likely can make faster work of it than you. I don't like us out in the open like this & would sooner we were finished with this as quickly as decently possible."

I'm a faithful but it won't show very much. I don't own a holy symbol or anything.

Kari nods at Aedon's suggestion. "Keep the bows trained, if ye will," she says as she begins searching the area for track.

Kari Survival 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22 assumes we still roll checks for active skills.

Gizsmith watches the approaching wagon with some interest, glad he isn't the one trying to scrap out a grave in the half-frozen ground.

"What I would be wondering is, if he died from from a broken neck, who's blood is painted on that tent."

The wagon rolls up and a grizzled older man sits on the bench with the reins leading to two aged mules. A young boy around 8 years of age sits next to him. The wagon has a couple of barrels in the back, and one scrawny dog that starts barking as the wagon pulls up.

"Whoa, whoa. Howdy strangers, you must be some of those new fangled, explories of the king." The old man spits a wad of tobacco juice to the side of the wagon, "whatcha' got there?"

"Why yes my good man, we are indeed the king's men. I am Gizsmith Glitterbyte, gentleman adventurer."
He punctuates this with his usual cast of prestidigitation and shower of confetti.

"We have come across the scene of a murder most foul. Perhaps you have heard of trouble in the area? Anything you know might know could be of vital importance to our cause."

Diplomancy:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

The dog barks at the spray of confetti and starts running in circles in the bed of the wagon. The boy giggles with delight and claps his hands while the old man harrumphs at the showy display.

"Trouble? There's always trouble. It's either cold weather, or wet weather, or bandits, or tax collectors, or young whippersnappers thinking they's gonna save us." The old man leans over and looks down at the blanket covered figure, [/b]"mighty fine blanked to waste on the dead, lift that up and let me get a gander at the feller."[/b]

"Nope, never seen 'im." Another gob of tobacco juice goes flying into the mud.

Aedon glances away from Kari searching the area around the tent to look at the man and boy, "We will only be a few more minutes sir, perhaps you would like to accompany us until we reach safe lodgings? As you say, there is always trouble..."

Diplomacy 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

"Unless they have another shovel & You are proposing to get down & assist me Aedon, it will take me at least another hour to dig this deep enough that no predators will reach."
Only a few more minutes? It was obvious he had never seen battle before. It begins to look as though he has never seen a grave dug before either. Particularly not in half-frozen ground!
"That said good nunkle, there is greater safety to be had in numbers. Do you travel to or from your cot?" Rufus says, looking up at the older driver for the first time.
Perception 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11, to take a good look at him.
Sense Motive 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22, to get a feel for him.
Diplomacy 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20, to see if I can convince him to answer my question.

Aedon gives Rufus a puzzled look, "Of course I was planning to help dig," he turns back toward the woods to watch Kari, "... once Kari has returned or another takes my place covering her."

"well, I don't know... I have plenty of work to do on the farm and the day ain' gettin' younger." The old guy looks the party over, he seems at ease and just as he appears, a farmer returning from market.

The young boy tugs on the sleeve of his jacket, "Please pa, 'member what the priest said about the karmal, you do a good deed to get candy."

Chuckling the old man smiles down at his son, "close nuff, close nuff Alber'. My bones be gettin' too ol' for this work. There's another shovel in back, times wasting."

After the body is buried, the old man offers a ride on his wagon. It's a rough ride as only the bench up front has springs to spare a rider from feeling every jostle and bump in the road. Later that afternoon the village of Nivakta's Crossing. Aptly named for a low stone and wood bridge that spans a wide river. Smoke rises from the chimney's of several buildings, the roofs visible over a simple wooden palisade that surrounds the town. The wall looks like it would do well against wild animals but not much against a concerted attack. The village looks to contain a couple dozen buildings arranged haphazardly along the sides of the road you are traveling. Across the river to the south, you can see that the bridge terminates in a fortified gate structure with twin towers.

The wagon stops a few hundred feet from the simple gate in the wall. A worn wagon path leads north over a rise in the prairie land. "This is my stop, y'all just head on in, Nel's Mercantile has rooms t' rent."

Aedon attempts a bit of "magic" Sleight of Hand 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16 and gives the boy a gold piece as a farewell token.

Nodding to the older man, Aedon turns his mount and rides toward town to find Nel's Mercantile.