Apologies,. Was injured at work and am recovering from a swinging load/pinned under heavy load and crushing incident. Luckily it wasn't a direct hit, but I have nine broken ribs and a fractured shoulder and rotor cuff.
Still able to post just one handed for now ha!
So I am still here!
Whoa, I feel your pain. On my side, I'm fully recovered since more than a month and am ready whenever our GM has finished vermin hunting...
"If what you say is right, then there should not be any another attack. To be safe, I'll still insist to have a curfew on tonight. In the mean time, maybe Xarafine and I can check on the beast to see if there are signs of illness or tampering of it."
Then turning to Jack, he adds: "Do you think it is possible that the mother only attacked because we were on her territory and she had a cub?"
Coming back from his meeting the the march priest (Thanks Xarafine for the bot), Finnabar appraises the situation and asks a few questions of his own to Jack and Bein.
"That was quick work finding the lair", he says "but don't you think there is a male somewhere doing the hunting for them? And if it was only for feeding themselves, why would they have left bodies on the scene and not brought all of them back?"
Thanks for the well wishes. I'm feeling good enough to walk unaided in the house and should be able to resume work in a few weeks. But I'm not going back on the saddle for a little longer than that.
I apologize for having disappeared from the boards for the last month without notice. About a month ago, I got run over by a car while cycling back home from work. The result was not pretty and I was very lucky to have worn a helmet. I’m just out of hospital after surgery and recovery but if things go well, I will come out of it without any long term issues.
As I do not have a 3G phone, I was unable to warn you of my absence until I got discharged from the hospital. I hope I have not disrupted too much the game and I am ready to resume playing whenever it is fit.
"If I come with you, he will try to leverage me against you. He knows that I will have an obligation to the furthering of the faith and expect that I use our kinship to pressure you to acquiesce. Are you certain that is what you wish? If you go alone, you can tell him the truth, that I presented an argument for the new Shrine, and in weighing the circumstances, you found that it could not be the immediate priority."
"Once again your wisdom is enlightening. The gods have really blessed me with your presence.", replies Finnabar, bowing low to Xarafine.
Taking his leave, he makes his way downtown, waving off the guards that were ready to escort him. Once there, he walks towards the Inn, greeting every one with a nod as if unaware of the surprised looks of the people when they see his limp.
Eventually reaching the Inn, he opens the door and asks to be directed to Teacher Saerin.
Xarafine bows and excuses herself from Lord Finnabar's office. She decides to use the time to catch-up on all the goings on in the hold. She makes polite inquiries about the status of provisions and equipment, as well as the general health and well-being of the inhabitants.
Back in play. Sorry for the delay.
Having finnished to look at the March accounts, Finnabar seeks Xarafine again as he resolves to go and discuss with the new high priest.
"Cousin, thanks for your heads up with Teacher Saerin. I think I have to go and discuss that with him, now that all the other pressing issues have been taken care of. Do you want to come with me?"
Xarafine spends a couple hours resting in her room, then changes into fresh robes, and goes to find Finnabar.
"Lord Finnabar, I thought it important you know that Teacher Saerin is most anxious to see a proper Shrine built. He is concerned that the people will turn to fanciful notions and beliefs if they do not have a physical, foundational point of reference for their faith in the Nine."
Meanwhile, in the fort, Xarafine finds Finnabar seated with Oleg, studying the March ledgers and discussing the near future.
"Please, be seated Teacher, while I consider your proposal.", offers Finnabar, crunching a few numbers on a sand-table. "I understand clearly the issue teacher Saerin is raising, especially with us being far away from the so called 'civilization' and in a region where the ancient elves used to live. He is afraid people will turn to the worshiping of the animal headed elven gods we discovered.", he adds as a mean to gain time while he ponders the exact turn of words to use. "I'll be direct with you. Right now, the safety of our people and the stability of the March is my top issue and for that we need to rebuild the fort into a really defensible structure. That will eat up our starting funds more than I'd like. The rest will go into clearing up Highbridge and establishing the Kaldmine to build up a reliable source of revenues. Then we'll have to wait for the first silver shipments to be sold to afford building other structures like a shrine. That said, I will put up the shrine on the top of our list of priorities together with granaries to store up food for the next winter."
Claiming Hex 38 1 BP
Road on Hex 38 3 BP (hills) (free bridge)
Farm on Hex 38 4 BP (hills) -2 consumption
Mine on Hex 37 3 BP (1/2 cost since already existing) +2 Economy, +1 BP each turn since 1BP would have to go to the Kalds.
Castle 27 BP Economy +2, Loyalty +2, Stability +2, Unrest –4; Fame +1
Total: 38 BP
46BP - 38BP = 8BP remaining.
No need to build a road on hex 37 (which would cost 6BP!) because the 'road' improvement represents a road network linking all areas (hence the requirement for bridges). You can assume that a simple dirt track is included in the mine's price).
Just want to check this is right before moving forward?
As a player, I am fine with skipping the Shrine this turn. Just so y'all know, Xarafine will put up an argument (at least token resistance) in the presence of Teacher Saerin.
Xarafine's devout, but she's also practical. No point in having a large Shrine in a country that cannot be properly defended.
This is fine, Finn can play the bad cop :) Anyway, he is the herald of a Battle God and a nice fortified castle is a very good shrine for him.
The problem as I see it is that the Shrine costs 8 BP. The rate for BP is not 1000 GP/BP but 4000 GP (the 1000 GP is an exception to the rule which does not apply to us). So paying for it will leave us with only 1 BP.
If we succed our economy roll and generate revenues, it will be all fine. (DC will be 23 and econnomy will be 15 (with Volpe)+2 Castle+1 or 2 from the mine, depending of how we share it with the Kalds) so that will be 18 or 19 vs DC23 which is very likely to succeed but can still fail. If we fail, we don't get any revenues except at all and any event forcing us to pay for something will lead us into unrest issues.
I would for the first rounds prefer a more conservative approach and only build the shrine next season.
So let's say we claim 38 with road and farm building and then without claiming it, we build road and mine on hex 37 (Kald land).
You can do both these and claim another hex if you want. - for the whole table: Improvement edicts, you can double any numbers (since we're going by seasons and I want your kingdom to grow at a reasonable pace).
Therefore, since your kingdom size is 1, you can make....
* up to 2 new settlements.
* up to 2 new buildings
* up to 4 terrain improvements
* up to 2 new hex claims
The problem with that is the BP cost. We can't really afford to buy the castle and another building this turn. I.e. from what I have modelized, BP expense will quickly be an issue.
Let's see for us:
Claiming Hex 38 1 BP
Road on Hex 38 1 BP
Farm on Hex 38 2 BP -2 consumption
Mine on Hex 37 6 BP +2 Economy, +2 BP each turn
Castle cost 27 BP Economy +2, Loyalty +2, Stability +2, Unrest –4;
Total: 37 BP
Which will leave us with only 9 BP before the economy check.
In reply to Aranea, Finnabar smiles: "You did good. It is normal that people need time to adjust themselves to this new land. Now for the two main point you are bringing to me, Bein and Jack are already gone to follow up with the killing and we will take care of it. And Teacher Xarafine has gone to see the new priest. From what you say, the teacher, yourself and myself will need to work on him to get him to fit. But I'm sure with the three of us, we'll be up to the task."
"But I'm weary from the road and have some news for you then for Oleg. Let us get something to drink and we will talk", he adds, leading the young diplomat to the main room of the fort where he picks up two glasses of wine.
Offering one to Aranea with a smile, he adds: "We have been exploring a lot and found good resources," he says, "detailing the two mines (gold and silver) they found. We also encountered the Scootscale tribe of Kalds and discussed a treaty with them. The teacher and myself will explain you what exactly we agreed and you will need to draft an announcement to all explaining it clearly. I'm also counting on you to learn Kald as soon as possible. You may need to go there for that. If you do, please take with you a small patrol for your security."
For the next building, I suggest we work on the castle, because it will remove the initial unrest and it will also give good stat bonuses. for hexes to claim, I would go with hex 31 and 24 (gold mine).
You can only claim hexes that adjoin your kingdom. I think you've only claimed hex 45 (stag watch) so far. In order to claim 31 you first need to claim either 38 or 39. - Did you already claim on of these and i forgot to note it down?
Nope, you're correct, I just went ahead one turn. We need to claim 38 first.
So let's say we claim 38 with road and farm building and then without claiming it, we build road and mine on hex 37 (Kald land).
For the next building, I suggest we work on the castle, because it will remove the initial unrest and it will also give good stat bonuses. for hexes to claim, I would go with hex 31 and 24 (gold mine).
Answering to all, Finnabar nods, happy to see every one so eager to participate in this new adventure: "Please take your timefor all your duties. This is crucial for our people. I'll go and see Aranea and get her report."
Then, ruffling the young Minara's hair, he adds to her. "I'm happy to see you enjoy yourself here. And more so that you are eager to learn new things. Keep doing that."
First taking the time to thank Narthropple and his wife, Finnabar insists that they will always be welcome in Stagwatch should they need time to rest and recover between their expeditions.
Then, he replies to Jack and Xarafine proposal:
"I agree with you Jack, the immediate threat is the Pterans. The lizard men are further away and not in the places where we plan to expand first. However it may be wise to settle advanced scout to warn Stagwatch of their movements."
"So our next move should be first to go back to Stagwatch via hex 39. Then I propose we go and deal with the Pterans first, going there through hexes 40, 41 and 33 because the new village there may know more about the Pterans behavior and motivations."
Were they headed toward or away from the temple? Jack is trying to figure out if -- a) they are coming from the temple, where are they going, or b) if they are going TOWARD the temple, where were they coming from?
They both came from, and left, from the direction of the Stag Temple.
They can sell you complete maps of 44, 52, 53, and 54 (those are the only hexes they have surveyed thoroughly). (at 1500GP ea.)
And to confirm, you're willing to swap information on all of the 5 locations? Do you want to buy information on any more? (at 500GP ea.)
Nope on the selling of maps, because if there is anything in we'll have to go anyways. And we'll swap the informations on the 5 locations.
Were they headed toward or away from the temple? Jack is trying to figure out if -- a) they are coming from the temple, where are they going, or b) if they are going TOWARD the temple, where were they coming from?
52, 53 makes sense. Maybe S of that as well as you suggest, but as I think of it also how about 40 or 47 (especially if we end up tracking back toward the pterans?
Let's go half way. We can do 51, 52, 53 and 54 to have information on potential threats and 47. I would not ask for 40 as we can explore it when we decide to pay the Pterans a visit.
Laughing at the gnome's wit, Finnabar listen closely to Jack concern and nods at his question. "This information is critical to us, master Narthropple, as is any knowledge you may have of dangers or creatures that could endanger our colons. And I would clearly be grateful to anyone who could warn us about those, so that we can deal with them before anything happens."
Hands on his knees, Finnabar gets his break back. Looking at the ruined wagon, he quicky dismisses the idea of getting it on the other side of the river.
"Thanks, every one, that was a great effort.", he says to his companions before cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling to the assembled gnomes on the other side of the river: "This wagon is not going anywhere. Can you ford the river nearby and join us?"
"Belan's axe, it's stuck. We need to pull harder, there's a mass of debris coming downstream", says Finnabar grunting as he put his size and mass behind the rope.
"Bein, can you get Arundel to pull with us?"
Now that the horses are out of the way, the ogre sized Finnabar bunches his muscles and heaves on the rope attached to the wagon to try to bring it back to shore.
As he finishes casting his spell, Finnabar grows to double his size. Waiting for the horses to be taken out of the way, he prays again, this time asking for Belem to grant him strength enough to pull the cart out.
MA to finish casting Enlarge person, then SA to cast guidance
Still holding the rope, Finnabar dismounts and calls to the idle gnomes: "Come on, help me get this cart to safety"
Waiting for Bein and Jack to finish unharnessing the ponies, he lifts his voice in counterpoint to Xarafine's
Starts casting enlarge person on himself (casting time is one round, it will be finished next round)
At your words the gathered gnomes look nervously at each other and a couple begin working their way cautiously into the deep swollen river. Quickly, however, the water reaches their shoulders and they both lose their footing, saved only by the quick actions of several of their friends who link hands to grab them....
*The gnomes are too short to be able to get to the wagon and horses in the swollen river.*
... ROUND 3
Sorry, I had missed they were on the other side of the river
Finnabar reaches the bank of the river and without dismounting, takes out a rope and grappling hook from his saddlebag. Using his position atop his horse, he throws it to Jack and Bein so that they can hook it to the ponies' harness or draw bar.
Hy, I'm somewhat lost, from your general map, Hex39 is not forested and there is no river in it. The forested hex with the Skunk would be Hex 46. That sits fine with me as we want to explore this one as well at some point.
Finnabar honors the Kald feast, blessing the food as it comes (and being sure to purify it so as no one is poisoned by food turned bad). He also spends some time talking to Mikmek, checking the Kald has recovered from his ordeal.
Then, the next morning, he proposes to his companions to take their leave of the kalds and finish their planned exploration.
I would say we're done with the Kalds for now. We need to send someone experienced with mining to have a look at the mine and see if it's worth it.
From our earlier plans we had one more hex to explore (Hex 44). I would suggest we do it as fast as possible and go back to Stagwatch to let our people know about the treaty and find an experienced miner if there is any. If not we'll have to recruit one.
Finnabar nods at the wisdom of his advisers. "I'll follow your advice both for the open and voluntary training and the festival to mark the establishment of the treaty between the Kalds and the Marchers. It will also be a good time to remind the terms to all."
Turning back to Chief Scootscale, he sets out to seal the treaty: "I understand your issues, Chief Scootscale and do not want to force your younglings to leave your tribe for a too long period. However, I reiterate my proposition that any Kald that want to come and learn our language, our ways or some of our trades will be welcome. My counselor also proposed that we plan for a festival each year to celebrate this treaty. this will be a good occasion to share food, stories and keep our people happy."
"On the territory and access, we should ask the Kalds to return us our livestock if they have wandered away. We will mark with stones the territory borders."
"On the trade part, what if we were to find/dig another place for them to live? The lair under the tree could be a proposal."
"On the exchange of knowledge, we could propose to have some of the young Kalds learn new trades as well like mining, farming so that they can better provide for their tribe. We will also have some of our kids learn their language and customs"
"On the law and justice, what I'm proposing is that whenever something happens on the Kald territory and done by a human, the sentence is passed by Chief Scootscale but any punition above a fine will have to be agreed by both Scootscale and Finnabar. The execution of the sentence will then be carried in the March."
diplomacy with Xarafine aid another:1d20 + 10 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 10 + 3 = 30
Suggesting we relocate them so we can produce the mine is almost an insult. We could teach them how to mine i think and the chieftan seems interested. That's all I have.
This was not meant to be insulting. Finnabar figured the Kalds didn't know anything about mining (which is ). Reguarding rehousing, it was proposed at a compensation but Finn has nothing against having the Kalds still live on the mining site. The "new location" choice was intended to be the Kalds' choice.
We could change the trade paragraph by
Trade: The Thorn March will trade with the Scootscale tribe food and manufactured items against furs, game and fish. In return, if the old mine the Kalds live in is productive, Chief Scootscale will agree to have a crew of selected humans reopen the mine. Voluntary Kalds who want to participate into the mining operations will be treated as part of the crew with all the benefits. The Thorn March will sell the silver and share the benefits with the Kalds: a third for the miners (be them human or Kalds), a third for the Kalds and a third for the March. If the mine is
productive, the march will build replacement housing for the Kalds if they want it on any location of their choice on their territory, included on the miing site if they chose so.
