>>2259403
>>A challenge, perhaps? Your dear brother, Ralph de Rennes, is only a boy of fourteen. Perhaps see if he has learned well enough to go for a squire?

>>2259403
>A challenge, perhaps? Your dear brother, Ralph de Rennes, is only a boy of fourteen. Perhaps see if he has learned well enough to go for a squire?

>>2259403
>>A challenge, perhaps? Your dear brother, Ralph de Rennes, is only a boy of fourteen. Perhaps see if he has learned well enough to go for a squire?

>>2259403
>>Never! You are not a poet, nor a priest, and you will have your quarry slaughtered. If they were strong enough, they would take it themselves.

>>2259403
>A challenge, perhaps? Your dear brother, Ralph de Rennes, is only a boy of fourteen. Perhaps see if he has learned well enough to go for a squire?

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Ralph is a lad of fourteen, last-born son of your father, the product of a dalliance with your wet-nurse when you were still too small to ride. Your older brothers, Theobald and Geoffrey, are years older than you, and were old enough to disdain the little bastard boy when he was brought into the household, but you were still young enough to get along with the little, fiery haired boy. After all, who knows the plight of a third-born son, without an inheritance, more than a bastard?

He was the squire of your youthful adventures, and has always borne a deep, simple love for you, and as you turn to him his deep, hazel brown eyes go wide, and he spurs on the old Palfrey your father bought him when your step mother, Judith, forced his bastards out of the house. He is a thick set lad, even so young, with a mane of red-gold hair and an innocent demeanour, and as he rises into a gallop he shouts back to you, in your native Breton;

"Saints bless you, Brother!"

You give the boy a few moments head start, and leisurely spur on your horse behind him, more watching his form, checking to see how quickly he could shift on the horse, how easily he could maneuver around the trees. You'd taught him to ride, and you smile to see him replicate the tricks and shifts you taught him. Soon, you are both catching up close behind the fleeing hart, and just as you smile, seeing Ralph raise up a javelin, another figure bursts out from the brush, appareled in full mail, only a few feet beyond your horse's heads, spearing the hart with a lance.

You are taken by confusion, digging your legs into your steed's side to steady her from bucking, and hearing Ralph fall in a muddied heap from the back of his own spooked palfrey. The knight before you cannot help but stifle a laugh at the sight of the boy sprawled in the mud, and stabs again at the fatally wounded hart, dispatching it. Your eyes flash, and you feel your hand clench on the reigns.

>Call out to the braggart, and demand what sort of huntsman is so meek as to steal the quarry of another?
>Greet the man as a stranger, ask his name before insulting him.
>Dismount, help Ralph up and reign in his horse before he catches a hoof to the head. Ignore the braggart knight.

Ask any questions on https://twitter.com/Leo_III?lang=en

>>2259551
>>Call out to the braggart, and demand what sort of huntsman is so meek as to steal the quarry of another?
Rude

>>2259551
>Call out to the braggart, and demand what sort of huntsman is so meek as to steal the quarry of another?

ass

>>2259551
>Dismount, help Ralph up and reign in his horse before he catches a hoof to the head. Ignore the braggart knight.

You look over the knight, noting a short beard and oiled blond hair emerging from the confines of his helmet. He looks older than you, but his horse is old, and his equipment looks worn. When you catch him still snickering at Ralph's expense you grit your teeth. Your father would not take such dishonour, and nor will you. Anger flares in you for a moment, and you speak, in a heavily accented french, your hand falling to the sword at your belt.

"What braggart man are you? A huntsman who catches already downed prey, too artless to strike his own? And one to laugh over a toppled page?"

His snicker quickly turns to anger, and his bearded face contorts, his honour threatened by such an insult. His own heavy hand falls to his hilt, and he speaks back, with a thick English accent to his own french. The English are ever more common in the courts of France now, with the pious, pro-norman Edward on the throne. Whether you prefer them to the Norsemen that came before you are still not sure, though from the prevalence of these men at the court of your father's liege, Ralph de Gael, they seem far more inclined to drink and bragging than even the raiders.

"What are you, squire, to speak so to your betters?"

>At such an insult, you'd be within your right to duel the brigand, if you felt like it, but such duels can be dangerous, and you never know the skill of strange huntsmen. If he laid you low, he could ransom you back, and you can never know if your father would be able to pay. Such embarrassment would not serve you well, but to lay out an older knight would be proof of your prowess.

>Challenge him
>Demand an apology
>Write in

>>2259607
>Demand an apology

>>2259607
>Demand an apology

>>2259607
>>Challenge him

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>>2259663
If you're anything, it's smart. You'll not risk your life or your honour on a flight of fancy, at least not without making sure its necessary first. You breathe deeply, and speak again, decisively, and with a soldier's power behind your voice, rising to your full height in your saddle as Ralph clambers back into his own. You trot forward to just beyond arm's reach from the Englishman, and he looks at you with a sprtoing derision in his eyes, as if you were ruining a fine day's sport.

"I am no squire, but Sir Roderick de Rennes, knighted before de Gael himself, and a man of his household. Apologize for the insult you have done me, and for that you have done my squire, and we'll have done with this"

He looks you over as you say this. You are a young man, with thick, black hair and features half broad, half pointed. Your nose and cheek bones are sharply defined, but when smiling you have a look of openness and joviality about you. Your mother was always proud of you as the beauty of her children, and as you've grown to be a man you've remained handsome, with broad shoulders, a squared jaw and a confident bearing. The Englishman nods, almost severely, and adopts a more serious expression. His own face is broad, along with the rest of his squat, bearded form.

He dismounts, and walks towards you, thick boots trudging through hoof-churned forest-mud, and you dismount to meet him. You did not expect anything less, in truth. He may be an Englishman, but he has the look of a knight about him, however impoverished, and it is not proper that true knights should come to blows on a day of celebration, scrambling in the mud like errant boys. He pulls of his thick leather gloves, and you remove your own doe-skin pair, and you shake hands.

Almost as soon as you do, his face lights up with a smile, and he claps you on the shoulder, as if an old friend. His face looks much the better for the smile, his broad face much better suited to it than sneering. and now you see him closer you realise more the poverty of his equipment. Nearly all of it is old, worn and rusted. You realise, even, that he likely didn't have a sword in fit enough state for a proper duel, and you take pity on the man, smiling yourself.

"Sorry, fellow-warrior, It was an offense of me to do it. I am Aedward, Wigodson, Perhaps I can satisfy your honour with a drink, and we may share this doe?"


>It is past noon, now, and the heat of the day grows worse, even under the canopy, and especially in maille.

>Take the Englishman up on his offer, and head back to the camp, where the women wait for their husbands and sons to bring back their quarry?
>Politely decline the young man, but leave him as a friend, and go off to look for your own quarry before heading back.
>Call on him for the duel. You'll likely vanquish him easily, and even if he has nothing himself, someone will be willing to pay.

>>2259704
>Take the Englishman up on his offer, and head back to the camp, where the women wait for their husbands and sons to bring back their quarry?

>>2259704
>>Take the Englishman up on his offer, and head back to the camp, where the women wait for their husbands and sons to bring back their quarry?

>>2259704
>>Take the Englishman up on his offer, and head back to the camp, where the women wait for their husbands and sons to bring back their quarry?

What year is it ?

>>2259730
1062. Edward the Confessor is King of England, William the Bastard is Duke of Normandy, Konan II is duke of Brittany.

>>2259736
Four more years intill the invasion of England. ALso Mazerkit hasnt happened yet. That is going to be a shocker for sure.

>>2259704
>Take the Englishman up on his offer, and head back to the camp, where the women wait for their husbands and sons to bring back their quarry?

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You break into a broad smile and clap your own hand onto the Englishman's shoulder, calling Ralph over the bow his head and smile his own broad, naive smile, the wounds of a moment ago forgotten.

"That sounds a fine offer."

You clamber up onto your horse and nod to Aedward to lead the way, prompting him to trot off back toards camp. You shout back for Ralph to gather up the doe and bring her along to roast at camp. It is a short ride, and you chatter with the squat Englishman. You learn he is from a little bridge town in the south, a bastard of the lord there, who came to Britanny to win some glory in the court of Konan II, who seems to be preparing for war with the bastard duke in Normandy.

This has been the topic of courtly gossip for months, of course. The normans and Bretons have been fighting over boundaries for as long as the Normans have held their duchy, but the two dukes, Konan and William have only added fuel to the fire of the dispute, with William having aided Konan's usurper uncle a few years ago, and Konan having bribed and intrigued with William's other neighbours to resist the ambitious duke. It seems almost certain, you and Aedward now agree, in the course of a good natured conversation, that war will break out soon.

The camp bustles with knights and squires of all sort, along with courtiers and a good number of young maidens. It is the premier event of the summer progress, settled a short ride from the Duke's retreat at Dinan, in a clearing in the ancient forest of the Broceliande. The summer has grown hot, but despite that the nobility of Brittany are out in force. Dozens of maidens and knights have set up their camps, and servants bustle. Your own lodgings are modest, among the tents of Ralph de Gael, your liege, but it seems that Aedward's are yet moreso. A simple white tent, only enough for a soldier, a short way from the clearing by a spring. No servants wander this camp, and Aedward bids you sit down as he retrieves a cask of wine from the tent, and cracks it open for the two of you to share.

You are not one to refuse such an offer, and the delightful cool wine is invigorating, and soon enough the sun is going down in the sky, and you have come to talk openly. There will be a feast later in the evening, but for now you have plenty of time to pursue your own interests, or simply to chatter with Aedward

>Ask Aedward about the proceedings (He is a permanent member of the duke's court, and so knows more of the people here. Specify a subject)
>Ask if Aedward would enjoy a sparring match?
>Help to teach Ralph how to skin a doe?
>Go back to Ralph de Gael (Your liege)'s camp
>Something else (Write in)

>>2259802
>>Help to teach Ralph how to skin a doe?

>>2259802
>Help to teach Ralph how to skin a doe?

>>2259802
>Ask if Aedward would enjoy a sparring match?

>>2259802
>>Ask if Aedward would enjoy a sparring match?

Tie break folks?

>>2259802
>>Ask if Aedward would enjoy a sparring match?

>>2259802
>Help to teach Ralph how to skin a doe?

>>2259899
>>2259896

That's not overwhelmingly helpful, gents!

>>2259902
Roll for it.

>People dont want to do bonding time with our little brother

Heathens all of you.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

1 - Ralph
2- Aedward

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After you have time to talk and enjoy your drink, Ralph has arrived with the doe strung over his horse's saddle. It is a beautiful creature, with soft, ivory white fur, lithe and elegant. He has some difficulty getting the creature down, and you smile to him, as he innocently struggles with the creature. You rise, and ask if Aedward can hand you a skinning knife. He hands you a small blade, and you draw your own, helping Ralph to place the doe down onto a raised patch of stone. He is strong, certainly, but inelegant, gangly as youths tend to be. You hand him a knife, and he looks up at you, uncertainly.

"Father's wife says it's not proper for me to touch the quarry of a trueborn. Are you sure, Brother?"

You put an arm around his shoulder and nod, kindly to him, weak to his inelegant manner. You make the first cut along the pelt on the stomach, and set to work. He lacks skill, but he enthusiastically follows your instructions, listening with evident concentration and trying his very best to follow your instructions. He flinches back when you begin to separate pelt from flesh, but he forces himself on, eager not to disappoint you.

Once you have split the pelt from the flesh, he, glaring with concentration ties it over a rack to be scraped clean. He looks to you, having finished the task without allowing the pelt to be soiled, and a grin splits his young, broad face as he sees you nod. Next, though, comes the hard task. Your father went through this with you as a boy, and now he must too. You hand him your sword, and nod at the flayed muscle of the doe's neck. He will have to deal with such things as a squire, and worse as a knight. He looks to you, hesitantly, but does as he must, bringing the too-heavy sword down and severing the neck in two hacks. You see the unease in the boy's eyes, and so do not have him cut open the thing's belly.

You see yourself as a boy in the hazel-dark eyes of your brother, and you nod to him warmly, pulling him into a soldierly embrace. He smiles once more, and sets about scraping the hide, as the sun fades further. The hide will make fine gloves next year, or perhaps a mantle for the boy. He may not be elegantly skilled, you'd trust him to watch your camp, and you'd trust him to bear your name, if he was your son. You ruffle his great red mane, before setting off back towards the center of the camp, which bustles now with pages and serving girls of all stripes, and even with huntsmen just returned from the wood, mail glistening with blood. You hear of a boar hunt, and look forward to hearing of it at dinner.

>Where do you head?
>To your camp to switch into evening attire, you intend to mix with the courtiers and maidens this evening
>Straight to the feasting ground, you'll be among the other huntsmen, mercenaries and servants tonight

>>2260043
>To your camp to switch into evening attire, you intend to mix with the courtiers and maidens this evening

>>2260043
>To your camp to switch into evening attire, you intend to mix with the courtiers and maidens this evening

Maybe there is a pretty black haired German girl with a fire burning behind a cold mask

>>2260043
>To your camp to switch into evening attire, you intend to mix with the courtiers and maidens this evening

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You are fortunate enough, and in the favour of your lord enough to have been lodged in a tent large enough to stand up in, with your possessions held in a trunk at the foot of your bed. Two servants accompany you, Will and Aed, who keep your equipment in order and usually act as your aides in day to day matters. The two have prepared your evening clothing for you, along with a cistern of water. Your undershirt is a fine garment of soft linen, and it fits elegantly with a surcoat of rich red with blacks and bright greens patterned into the fabric. Along with heavy boots for the summer mud, and a decent hose.

Once properly dressed, you wash your face in the cistern, and have Aed, a body-servant to a maiden a few years before his employment with you, and have him comb your hair, a skill that sits beneath a highborn such as yourself. He shaves you neatly, and does not speak but to acknowledge an order. A tall man, thin, with wispy light haired, Aed speaks Breton, English, and many of the dialects of Northern France, but only seldom does he ever utter a word in any, preferring, it seems, to administer the affairs of your wardrobe, and you are fairly certain of his loyalty.

William is a valet, rather than a body-servant, a man who carries your device on a tabard and announces you when needed. He handles your accounts, and deals with the provision of supplies to what household you may hold. He is a squat, simple man, and you don't think he has it in him to betray you. Once shaved, combed, cleaned and freshly dressed, you have Aed sprinkle rose-water over your surcoat, and put on the ring granted by Ralph de Gael, a simple band of gold, before rising to your feet, dismissing the servants for the night, and setting out towards the feast.

When you arrive, the feast is just beginning. Five long tables sit in a courtyard between the tents, the mud covered by a layer of straw. At the head of the tables sit the Duke, Konan II, a broad, solid figure of a man in the Breton style, along with his sister, Hawise, and his closest courtiers, including your lord, the boisterous young mercenary Ralph de Gael. In the middle reaches of the tables, young knights sit talking, while maidens sit sequestered in their own sections, with only a few of the more boisterous women wandering among the men. At the lowest reaches of the table, squires, lesser knights and impoverished maidens wander.

>Where will you sit?
>Among the squires, friends of your boyhood, looking for an amusement for the night.
>Among the Knights, aiming to talk of the coming war, and to make acquaintances among the retinue of Konan II
>Near your lord, Ralph de Gael, to hear what talk is made at the head of the table.
>Something else? (Write in, looking for anyone in particular, aiming to do anything in particular)

>>2260341
>Near your lord, Ralph de Gael, to hear what talk is made at the head of the table.

>>2260341
>Near your lord, Ralph de Gael, to hear what talk is made at the head of the table.

Always cool to see new historical quests without fantasy elements.

>>2260341
>Near your lord, Ralph de Gael, to hear what talk is made at the head of the table.

>>2260393
Wait. Is it really you ?

>>2260341
>Something else? (Write in, looking for anyone in particular, aiming to do anything in particular)

Find a cute maid

>>2260397
>Wait. Is it really you ?
I don't remember my old trip but yeah, its me.

>>2260416
I have missed you so much!

How are you holding up ?

>>2260393
Big fan lad.

>>2260363
>>2260397
>>2260357

We'll be sitting up with de Gael, the Duke and the other Breton Counts/Household Knights. We will not be expected to speak a great deal, but de Gael is a charming man, and a good lord.

I'll try and get a post up before going to sleep.

>>2260422
I've been writing books. The first one was trash but this next one has legs. Hoping to get it picked up. Otherwise ok.

Let's not turn this into a reunion thread though. I'm pretty keen for this quest.

>>2260426
Thanks, I'm really looking forward to seeing where this quest goes.

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You enter the crowd easily enough, and you wave past a few of your fellows with pleasantries. You smile and greet a squire, grasping hold of a tankard of rich ale, a particular specialty of the Duke's brewers. You drink down a sterling gulp of the rich substance, and sigh as you move up the table, coming to sit alongside de Gael himself. The young nobleman is only a few years your senior, but his higher upbringing is clear, along with his wealth. De Gael is a mercenary captain, leading a complement of Breton noblemen that you joined only a year ago. Your father was a castellan for de Gael, and so you have known the man on and off for years.

He is a lithe figure, with sharp features and oiled black hair in neat style. Dressed in similar finery to your own, but of much higher quality, embroidered with gemstones and golden thread. He nods, cordially, to you, and bids you sit. He talks jovially with another man across the table, a great bearded hulk of a man who you quickly gather is Geoffrey von Zeeland, a Flemish mercenary captain who fought with de Gael's company in the war against the Breton usurper. He speaks with a thick accent, but you strike up a conversation with him, and aid de Gael's storytelling flair in recounting war stories. Gradually, the two captains move to matters of businesses, while a counterpart, a german knight in Zeeland's company, who has played much the same role as your own in the conversation thus far, moves to talk with you.

You talk pleasantly about the hunting of the day, before the arrival of more prominent notables. The counts of Rennes, Finistere and Penthieve and their retinues sit between you mercenaries and the duke, displaying typical snobbery, but you sit politely and listen as these great men begin to talk of coming war. William's action in supporting Rivallon of Dol brought untold disorder to the Duchy, and now as he sits growing his influence over his own Barons the Duke cannot afford to allow this state of affairs. Speculation rules among the retinues, and even de Gael does not seem to know, until a message from Konan rushes down the tables, in whispered rumour from maid to maid.

You overhear one such passing, as a pale-skinned norman maid-servant leans into the ear of a fellow, and speaks in a soft voice.

"The Duke will march in the spring, I hear, on Mortain"

>How do you react to this news?
>Excited for the oncoming combat
>Eager for the chance for advancement and wealth
>Concerned for the peasants of the land
>Concerned for the souls of the soldiers
>Ambivalent. You will be paid, either way.
>Write in

Thats it for the night folks, have a look on twitter for me in future

https://twitter.com/Leo_III

>>2260572
>Eager for the chance for advancement and wealth

Any adventure is a chance for a minor son to prove his worth. Nobody advances their fortunes by sitting at home or fretting nervously over potential ill fortune.

>>2260572
>>Ambivalent. You will be paid, either way.

>>2260572
>>Eager for the chance for advancement and wealth

>>2260572
>Eager for the chance for advancement and wealth

>>2260572
>Excited for the oncoming combat

>>2260572
>Eager for the chance for advancement and wealth

>>2260572
>>Eager for the chance for advancement and wealth

Proceedings will resume in an hour or so.

>>2260572
>>Eager for the chance for advancement and wealth

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You smile broadly, and grow into increasingly good spirits as the night progresses, and this news becomes more and more certain. You were a squire during Rivallon's rebellion, but in the years since your knighting, there has been no opportunity to really wet your blade in a proper war. You served alongside de Gael in a few skirmishes in southern Normandy two summers ago, but otherwise you've done little but hunt runaway peasants. Your eyes light up, as do many of your brothers in de Gael's company at the prospect of battle, but more than that, for what battle can bring.

For now, you have only a handful of marks to yourself, and a bag of silver shillings concealed in a compartment in your travelling chest, and at peace you have no prospects. You will inherit nothing from your father but what he has given you already, and if you do not find a way to provision yourself as an independent man, you will quickly find yourself unable to pay for your servants, or to maintain your equipment, a dishonour you could not bear. Further than that, you are a man in the flower of youth, with perhaps fourty years ahead of you, and ambition shines in your eyes. You dream of lands, titles, maidens and glory, and all of that must come through war.

Through War, you may capture a knights of greater wealth, and ransom them. You may win favours and notice from greater men, from the Counts, Dukes and Kings of the world. At war, you may win for yourself all that is good in life, and so you are more than ready to follow de Gael into this conflict. Your sword aches for combat, and already, as you gulp down rich beer, you dream of a holding of your own.

You are a Breton, through and through, but you have been cut free from your father's house, and you must make your own way. As a mercenary, you know you will serve many lords in your time, but a sudden idea flares agt the back of your mind. De Gael may be bribed by the Normans to turn-coat from Konan II. You would be bound to follow him.

>How do you feel about this possibility?
>It is un fortunate that we may, one day, be forced to fight against Breton kin
>It is of no matter, you are a warrior, and you will fight for yourself and your lord.
>Write in

>>2261825
>>It is unfortunate that we may, one day, be forced to fight against Breton kin but you are a warrior, and you will fight for yourself and your lord.

>>2261825
>It is of no matter, you are a warrior, and you will fight for yourself and your lord.

>>2261825
>It is of no matter, you are a warrior, and you will fight for yourself and your lord.
if we are lucky, we will get to kill our older brothers and inherit

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>>2261828
>>2261830

De Gael is a noble man, a good man, and a good friend. He has been good to you, and you will serve him as he orders you, against Breton or Norman, or whatever else comes. You are a soldier, and such is your duty, and besides, so long as you make no quarrel with family, there is no sin in it. You will fight for whoever pays your lord best, and will win renown, wealth and glory by his side. The conversation among your fellow Knights has devolved into intermittent chatter. Taken by the moment, you call a passing page over, and have him set down a few tankards of breton ale on the table before you. The food has not yet arrived, and across the feast a hundred conversations are running back and forth. Even Konan and the counts look to be making merry.

You raise a tankard, and speak, loud enough to be heard by your fellow-soldiers and those of Zeeland, and speak, your voice all the richer for the drink.

"Friends, a toast to our good fortunes, and to the captains that bring them!"

A rousing cheer goes up, and a friend claps a hand on your shoulder, Sir Alan, a tall, black haired man who was knighted alongside you. The others make similar toasts, and down the rich froth of their drinks. Sir Alan shifts aside another knight and sits beside you, smiling through his thick beard.

"Well said Roderic! How was the day's hunt?"

You talk, joking with one another of a mutual companion, Sir Guillame de Beaulheme, who failed to find his quarry, and graqdually conversation turns, as the first food arrives, bowls of a rich broth, and small loaves of rich bread, towards more base matters. Alan, a notorious womanizer, has clearly caught sight of some of the finer maidens on offer.

"So Roderic, what else do you hunt for tonight? A fine hart would adorn you well, I should say!"

He lets out a rumble of rich laughter at this, and claps you again on the shoulder. While all the nobility of Brittany, and many counties aside, are dressed in their greatest finery, for this example of martial splendour the women of court are in their finest dress. Fine linen fills the upper reaches of the tables, in the tight, corseted fashion common among Breton women. Pale, elegant and graceful, so finely bound, you can perhaps appreciate the poetic drivel trobadours seem intent on spewing.

Lower down the tables, even the impoverished women, some of them even from peasant stock, are dressed in their best. They are not so pristine, nor so pale, with a few of them marked by the rich tan of Provencal stock, and they wander among the squires and knights, mostly staying near their relatives, but with a few wandering freely, talking and laughing in their own fashion. Many beauties wander, less tightly strung than their highborn sisters, and you find your eyes meeting with a few of the more ambitious ladies, eager to take a favored knight's eye.

>The question is, will you pursue anyone, and if so, who?

> It is a common thing for knights to engage in such dalliances with lower class maidens, hence the prevalence of bastards, and the church has not yet cracked down on such things. There is always the risk of a bastard son cropping up, but such things are common enough.

>The Provencal serving girl who keeps blushing when you catch her eye?
>The lesser maid, in a green linen gown, with rich red hair and a boisterous gait
>Perhaps that noblewoman, a bastard daughter, caparisoned in a rich gown of red and gold, who you think you see casting a glance in your direction.
>None of them; you've no need of such company. Love is for braggarts and poets.
>None of them; you're a man of piety.
>Sadly, none of them; you're here to learn more of the coming war, not to engage in drunken dalliances.

>>2261858
>>Sadly, none of them; you're here to learn more of the coming war, not to engage in drunken dalliances.

>>2261858
>Perhaps that noblewoman, a bastard daughter, caparisoned in a rich gown of red and gold, who you think you see casting a glance in your direction.
Maybe she knows some rumors that make for good pillow talk

>>2261858
>Sadly, none of them; you're here to learn more of the coming war, not to engage in drunken dalliances.

>>2261858
>Perhaps that noblewoman, a bastard daughter, caparisoned in a rich gown of red and gold, who you think you see casting a glance in your direction.

>>2261858
>Perhaps that noblewoman, a bastard daughter, caparisoned in a rich gown of red and gold, who you think you see casting a glance in your direction.

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>>2261877
>>2261860
You look over the hall, but sight, and wave the lecherous Alan off. As much as you would perhaps enjoy such affairs, now is not the time, and instead it would be best to learn more of the oncoming campaign, if one is likely to occur. As the other knights in your company depart to mingle, you remain sat with a dedicated core of de Gael's life-guard, around the man himself, listening as he talks with the other mercenary captains, all scarred, older men, who have clearly more than earned their spurs, and who speak in Breton, Norman, Flemish and even German accents. These men speak seriously to one another of the mercenaries trade, talking over the fees they are charging the duke for their services, how many marks for each complement and such-like. They talk of the need to recruit more men, after the bloody battles of the earlier rebellion, and of wars in distant lands. de Gael is a well known traveller, and he fits well with these other men. Soon, the conversation drifts to other wars, and other prospects.

There are concerns about Sweyn Ethrithson, King of the Danes, and about Harald, called Hardrada, the King of Norway. Both men claim rights to the throne of England, held by Edward, a pious man of English stock, who has ingrated himself with the Normans. Indeed, you have heard of cousins and relatives being hired by this English king to hold offices of state on his behalf, as sheriffs and castellans across the great, fertile country of England. There are worries over the Vexin, the contested land between Normandy and the French Crown-lands, and the region is embroiled in skirmishes already. The Beaulehmes rule over their increasingly marginal county, and there are worries that William of Normandy will try to force his dominion onto them. Instability and war seem a hair's breadth away. In any other circle of the feast, men would worry over this, but among the mercenaries, such news is wonderful. Conflict spanning all across the land means lords will need new troops, and that barons will need to be replaced.

cont.

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You hear, through rumour from a fellow knight of de Gael's retinue that your lord is considering making an offer to William of Normandy over the winter, and that he aims to provoke a bidding war between William and Konan for his services. With any luck, he will win a much higher commission, and you will make more in wages in the next few years, perhaps enough to acquire a proper courser. With any luck, you may be able to equip Ralph properly to go for a squire, too. You are in good spirits then, as you talk of the wars of the Welsh, the Flemish and the French over succulent cuts of roasted boar and slices of rich pigeon pie, and allow yourself to chatter with your fellows as the evening progresses. You even spot Ralph sat at the squires table, talking with a few others of his age near the bottom of the table, occasionally bursting into peals of laughter, as he is wont to do. As the evening grows colder, many begin to leave the feast, with squires and servants departing as honey cakes are brought out, with pitchers of mead. Only the noblemen, knights and counts remain now, with most of the women having departed. Now is the time to talk to your lord, if you have anything to ask him, or to find Aedward or look for anyone else.

>What do you do?
>Return to bed early, have William make sure Ralph makes his way back to camp.
>Grab a pitcher and head back to Aedward's camp. Stay up late with the Englishman and split the roasted doe.
>Attempt to talk to your lord, de Gael, (About what?)
>Something else? (Write in)

>>2261894
Sorry lads, got in a bit too late. I'll try to post when I'm writing from now on.

>>2261900
>Sorry lads, got in a bit too late. I'll try to post when I'm writing from now on.
np

>>2261900
>Grab a pitcher and head back to Aedward's camp. Stay up late with the Englishman and split the roasted doe.

>>2261900
>>Grab a pitcher and head back to Aedward's camp. Stay up late with the Englishman and split the roasted doe.

>>2261900
>Grab a pitcher and head back to Aedward's camp. Stay up late with the Englishman and split the roasted doe.

>>2261902
>>2261903
>>2261904

Writing boys. Bros before Barons.

Oh, any specific topics of conversation, do you want to ask him anything?

>>2261919
Just general conversation. Hear if he has any stories to tell.

>>2261919
His opinions on the political situation in England

Is Harald Hardrada back in Norway ?

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>>2261902
>>2261904
>>2261903

You've heard all you need. You call for a page to find you a basket, and have the lad carry a pitcher of mead, as well as some sweet cakes and what's left of the boar out towards Aedward's camp, to surprise him with some decent food along with the doe. You would like to talk more with the cheerful Englishman, and to split the fine vension you both managed to win. His camp-fire has been reduced to embers, and labour over it for a while, waiting for his return from the feast. Soon enough, you've got the fire going enough to keep off the wind's chill, though the summer air in the forest remains comfortable. The smell of the feast, of salt, spice and roasted meat still fills the air, repulsing, for the moment, the scent of oak-sap. You look over his camp, and observe all the more keenly just how poorly Aedward must be doing. Only a bedroll and a few bags hold all his possessions, and his tent is barely better than a brigand's. He must be a bastard, or perhaps a less fortunate third-born. You can sympathise, but the last time you slept in such accommodation was as a squire. He doesn't even have a servant, and you almost think of calling Aed to clean up for him, but you think better of it when you spot him lumbering back from the feast, his face bright with a grin, carrying the pungent smells of honey and ale.

"Roderic! Just the man, I was just now thinking we'd best split that hart. S'blood, I could do with some proper meat, Breton spices don't agree with me"

You both quickly fall into a half drunken conversation, talking of the days affairs, and of the news of war. As an Englishman, he somewhat stumblingly expresses, he isn't sure about which side to join up with, if either. His king, and his father Wigod, are loyal to their Norman allies, and it wouldn't look good to fight them, but Konan has always shown a healthy disdain for the English. He is clearly eager for the fight, and he takes great pride in the only piece of properly maintained equipment he seems to possess, a long hated axe. He is only two years your senior, but, because of the traditions of the English, he is no knight, but simply a Ceorl, a freeman. He tries for a moment to explain the differences between knights, huscarls and ceorls, but quickly passes this on when you reveal the pitcher of mead, which the two of you share, taking turns to spin the gutted doe over the cook-fire. The two of you get along well, laughing over a story of the fat count of Pentheive, and speculating openly about the oncoming war.

You ask him about his homeland, as you saw through a chop of venison, and he looks wistful for a moment, describing the flow of the river through his home in the south of the island. He describes his father, Wigod, as a great lord in the service of Edward, and reveals his status as an illegitimate cild, born to a milk-maid, hence his poverty. It seems his father expelled him from the house when he married a Norman woman, and this leads him on to describe his personal dislike of that people, and his disappointment with Edward's rule. He bemoans, half-drunk, how the king so loves the Normans as to forget his own people, and how these normans forget the rights of the ceorls and deign to insult him, a son of a lord. He would be glad to fight them personally, but is limited by his father's disapproval. He tells stories of arrogant sherrifs, and adventures through the countryside, but late in the evening he asks what you yourself think of these Normans.

>What do you think of the Normans?
>They are fine foes and fine paymasters. You are ambivalent.
>You admire them, at least in their homeland, for their ambition and the strength of their arms
>You disdain them, rude and ignorant of tradition, seeking power for power's sake.

>>2261941
>You admire them, at least in their homeland, for their ambition and the strength of their arms

>>2261941
>You admire them, at least in their homeland, for their ambition and the strength of their arms

>>2261941
>>They are fine foes and fine paymasters. You are ambivalent.

>>2261942
>>2261944

Looks like we'll be going for this one gents. Convenient, given the name of the quest.

>>2261950
I take it we will partake in the Conquest of England. A bit of a shame. Was hoping to go to Sicily.

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You have come to admire the Normans. Your profession, searching for wealth and glory in combat, is their lifestyle, the one driving force of their lives. All the activities of a wandering warrior are the daily duties of the warlike Normans, and you have come to respect them. No other people you know have their ambition, nor their constant strength. Strength enough to hold onto their fiefdom for more than a century, despite the efforts of every one of their neighbours. They have repulsed the counts of Anjou, the Crown, the vikings, even the Flemings and their long time rivals, your kin, the bretons. The Normans are boisterous and brusque, as far as you know them, red faced and dark haired, tending to anger and violent fits of emotion. The Norman style of war is the most effective in the region, and their castles are renowned for their impregnability. A norman horseman is a fearful thing, even to a people so skilled as the Bretons. You care little for their actions in other lands, or their impiety, they embody the ideals of the warior; Strong, Proud, Boisterous and Warlike.

You speak frankly of this with Aedward, and he nods along.

"I can agree with you, as strong a folk as any I know, but they aren't a folk of honour, and they ignore tradition"

You can both agree on that point, and by the time you're done talking of Normans you've known, you are both ready to retire. You shake Aedward's hand again, and leave him the rest of the doe. He is a good man, forthright and cheerful, and you are glad to have met him. You retire to your tent, and William relates how Ralph got into a scrap with another lad, but that the two have made up over it, he smiles as he describes how he found the two of them scrapping on the outskirts of the camp, and you nod knowingly, remembering such adventures. You send him to put Ralph to bed, and he takes a moment to pt on a serious face before going out, and you have to stifle a sympathetic laugh for the lad as he's sternly sent to bed for such unbecoming behaviour. You sleep quickly, and dream of oak trees on a riverside.

In the morning, Aed, William and Ralph pack the tent away, loading up your things into a wagon lent to you by de Gael for that purpose. You yourself clamber up onto your silver-dappled palfrey, as the camp deconstructs itself around you, and say your goodbyes to those you will not see again for a while. The feast was the culmination of Konan's progress for the year, and soon enough he will be back in Rennes, and de Gael will be off to earn his keep for the year, hunting brigands in the Broceliande to pay for winter quarters. You accompany him for the rest of the summer, but little goes on, and the harvest passes uneventfully. Soon enough, winter threatens to descend on the Duchy of Brittany, and you must decide what to do with yourself, as other retinue knights return home, or settle in with de Gael's household.

cont.

>>2261955
The Normans got everywhere, so there's no need to lock it to England.

Though I'm pretty sure we're going to England.

>Where do we, Roderic de Rennes, go for the winter of 1062-3?
>Home, to be among your brothers and talk to your father (Free, though you will have to suffer through Christmas with your brothers)
>The household of de Gael, seeking to win favour for yourself in the expedition of the next year? (This will cost you a mark, as you must pay dues to de Gael, and must maintain your own equipment. However, you are near at hand, should your lord have any employment for you)
>Seek your own lodgings; there will be employment in Rennes for a man of your skill, even in Winter (This will cost you a pound, to maintain yourself according to comfortable standards, but you will likely be able to find work)

>Stats & Equipment
>Name: Roderic de Rennes
>Age: 21
>Rank; Mercenary Knight
>Liege: Ralph de Gael
>Skills: (Decimal rolling system, simple stuff)
Courtesy 45
Command: 45
Blade; 55
Lance: 55
Horsemanship: 65
Charm: 50
Hunting: 45
Deceive: 40
Javelin: 55
Stewardship: 35
Other Skills: 30
Languages: Breton, French (Norman), Some English
Inventory: Two Palfreys, a Sumpter (Pack Horse), a Conical Helm, a Mail Hauberk, Gauntlets, Four Javelins, Three Lances(+5 to attack on horseback), a Sword, Fashionable Clothing (+10 to Courtesy rolls).
Wealth: 4 Marks, 15 Silver Shillings, 2 Servants (Aed and William)
Yearly Costs: 1 Mark to maintain equipment, 5 Shillings to provide for two servants and Ralph.

>From here on out, we'll be doing skill tests for certain actions, and dealing with paying for all of our equipment after each year's harvest. For now, this is quite simple, but if we acquire any business ventures, lands and titles, management will come to play more of a role.

>>2261994
>>Home, to be among your brothers and talk to your father

>>2261994
>Home, to be among your brothers and talk to your father

>>2261994
>The household of de Gael, seeking to win favour for yourself in the expedition of the next year? (This will cost you a mark, as you must pay dues to de Gael, and must maintain your own equipment. However, you are near at hand, should your lord have any employment for you)

>>2261994
>The household of de Gael, seeking to win favour for yourself in the expedition of the next year?

Any tie breaks?

>>2262021
Flip a coin, 1 is Home, 2 is de Gael

Rolled 1 (1d2)

Home it is.

>>2261994
>>The household of de Gael, seeking to win favour for yourself in the expedition of the next year? (This will cost you a mark, as you must pay dues to de Gael, and must maintain your own equipment. However, you are near at hand, should your lord have any employment for you)
The court of the Lord offers more opportunities

>>2262035
Is it too late?

>>2262040
Can't go around ignoring dice rolls, unfortunately. Sorry for the delay folks.

You head, with a weary heart, back from the last campaign of the autumn towards the family estate. Not a knight to be found among such brigands, and so you're not richer for the year's campaign. As you gently trot down the rain drenched dirt-road into Rennes, wagon rumbling behind you, you reflect on your year, and look forward to a more active campaign the next year, hopes that by all account seem more than reasonable. William's barons have been leading raids into Brittany, and Konan's have been reciprocating. Soon enough, the two dukes will elevate the matter into open war, and you will likely have pride of place as a household knight alongside de Gael. Soon, then, you will have your chance to escape from the home to which you now ride, truly a different one to the household of your infancy. Your father, when he was still in his prime, was loud, boisterous and gregarious, and you remember fairs and banquets thrown throughout your childhood, and he kept peace between you, Geoffrey, Theobald and your sister, Mary.

He began to ail a few years ago with a disease of the bones, and in his weakness his new, Norman wife has taken over the household, while Theobald, the more pompous of your brothers, runs the estate. Both are dour, over-pious and dull, and neither hold you in good regard. Your last departure was an icy one and you recall Theobald bitterly arguing against your father's gift to you of such things as you now own. Geoffrey is a more bookish man, originally intended for a career in the church, but you get along with him no better, with the snobbish bookworm thinking you a brute and an idiot, as far as you recall. You could handle their derision, but for their treatment of Ralph. They tried to force him into sleeping in the stable, like a common servant, the last time the two of you stayed, prompting you to take the boy into your own care.

Needless to say, then, as you trot through the familial countryside, you do not expect much more than a brusque welcome. As you draw closer to the motte and bailey in which your family resides as servants of de Gael, however, you are greeted by a warming sight, your sister Mary. You had sent letters ahead, penned by Aed on your behalf, but you had expected to meet Theobald. You are glad of the change, and jump down from your horse. Your sister, only a year your junior, was your companion of childhood, surrounded as you were by elder brothers. She smiles broadly at the sight of you, her warm, hazel-dark eyes glad to see you again. She holds you in a familiar embrace.

"Glad to see you alive, brother!"

She speaks in an unrefined breton, and you are glad to be returned to the company of family. She steps back, and sends her maids to collect up some servants to stow away your gear. Aed and William get to work, even as Ralph rushes up to meet his only other friend in the family. Mary smiles down at him.

"Haven't been out looting and fighting all year, have you sweetling?"

cont.

She is a tall woman, in the same heavily built model as you, and she stands taller than Ralph, though an inch or two shorter than you. Her face, tanned in the Breton sun, is marked by freckles, and though she is far from the most elegantly equipped maiden, you know her to be beautiful, from the number of suitors who have tried to get her hand. She leads you across the small earthwork dyke, through the familiar houses in the first chamber of the castle walls. You see the old faces of servants, and greet the faces of your childhood, from the smith to the stable boys, vigorous lads who, you know from experience, are good for a fight.

Mary explains that Theobald is dealing with recalcitrant villagers at the edge of the estate, and that Geoffrey, hearing of your coming, has fled to the nearby monastery for his studies. You almost laugh at the idea of them scrambling to avoid you, but stop yourself, asking where your father is. Mary says he has been confined in his room for weeks, laid up in bed for the weakness of his bones. She says he wanted to see you as soon as you arrive, and you thank her, before striding off to the keep. You move through the old corridors easily, and soon enough you stand before your father's great, iron banded door. You take a moment to breathe the dry air, and knock.

From within, a faint voice bids you to enter. You open the great door, and look upon your father, once so strong and proud a man, withered in his bed. So neatly wrapped, he resembles a body, freshly prepared for burial. He smiles at you, and his great eyes, the model of your own, are warm again with the great warrior's old strength. He rises, revived by the sight of you, and speaks, in a crackling voice, still with evident power behind it.

"Roderic! My boy, I have missed you. Come, sit."

You thank him, and sit on a chair next to the bed. He reaches out a hand to you, and you hold onto it as he speaks.

"My boy, you can see what I've become. I am old, I am withered. Soon, I will die"

You try to protest, but he silences you with a gentle look.

"It will be so, my son, I will go to god's judgement soon. I must settle things before I am taken. You are a good man, son, a strong warrior and a noble heir to your fathers before you, but you have always been quarrelsome. You must settle this feud with your brothers. I wish to see my house at peace"

You again try to protest, but his voice silences you again.

"It will be hard, I know. Geoffrey and Theobald have their sins, as all of us do, but you must be forgiving, as our Lord. Forgive them, for your father."

He looks at you with imploring eyes.

>How do you respond?
>I will try, father (Truth)
>I will try, father (Lie for his sake)
>I cannot make peace with such men, father.
>Write in...

>>2262111
>>I will try, father (Truth)

>>2262111
>>I will try, father (Truth)

>>2262111
>>I will try, father (Lie for his sake)

>>2262111
>I will try, father (Half-truth)

I don't see it happening, but if it eases his death we can at least try.

If we gain some success I Suggest we try some dynasty building with our brothers.

I have to go for a while lads, excuse me.

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>>2262114
>>2262154
>>2262186
>>2262188

"I will try, Father. I cannot say whether Theobald and Geoffrey will listen, but I will make peace, if I can."

Your father squeezes your hand, and nods his great head to you, the expanse of his beard crackling against his undershirt. He was a great warrior in his own time, and he spent his life on the battlefield. His shield sits across from his bed, hung up on the wall, bearing the image of a black dragon on the traditional checkered field of the Breton people.

"Listen to me, Roderic, your brothers are not bad men. Theobald is wiser than his years, and it is only sensible he be so arrogant, he will be a baron one day. Geoffrey was raised for the clergy, and with luck he'll go into the church, as soon as Theobald's got an heir of his own. He is a pious man, and he disdains the actions of us baser folk."

He lets out a peal of laughter, that brings your mind to happier days, in the depths of your youth, before continuing, his tone more serious and severe.

"Roderic, you were not born for this castle. You weren't raised for it. But you could take it. My own brother struggled with me when I inherited the office, and the calamity he brought wasted a dozen good years. Do not do as your uncles, do not covet this place. I can see so much of my brother in you, so much of his strength, his love of war, his ambition, do not waste these virtues in kin-strife. Go, go beyond this land of ours, when the spring rises, and find your own place in the world, with all the saints behind you. Go, my son, do your forefathers proud. Do me proud."

He nods, finally, as he speaks, and you bow your head to him. His great, powerful voice seems to rumble as he speaks, and a great love for this man, a pity for the ruin he has become rises in you. You remember him holding you as a boy, remember him, stern and strong, guiding you to be the man you are.

"I will, father. I will."

He nods, a contended smile crossing his face.

"Go on, lad."

He gestures to the door, and you bow again, walking out across the thick wooden boards of the floor, sealing the great door like some great tomb.

>With that, we'll conclude this session! I'll start up again next week at 6 PM GMT, Friday.

All announcements will be made here: https://twitter.com/Leo_III?lang=en

I'll be around to answer questions for a bit, Thank you all very much for playing. I know we're starting slow, but we'll move up to the adventure soon enough.

>>2262319
SO i take it you will guide is towards Conquest of England. Any chance we can carve something out for ourselves in Sciliy ?

We should find a cute greek princess while we are there as well.

>>2262827
I really don't know anything about Sicily, but I'm sure we could work out a fiefdom in the Scilly isles, if that's what you mean.

I mean, I've nothing against Byzantine adventures, and if you head that way, fine, but I can't promise quality, since I just don't know enough about the conquest of Sicily.

>>2262882
Is our sister cute?

>>2262882
Are welsh conquests or Crusades possible in the future?

>>2263024
Absolutely.

>>2262931
You have heard her described as quite beautiful, and have brawled with men for such talk a few times already.

>>2263118

Could we go for Cornwall? We're Breton,so if Willie Bastard lets us we could try and present ourselves to the people as a 'Liberation from the English Yoke under the guiding Norman hand'.

>>2263345
COuld also go to Spain and fight Moors.

>We havnt fucked our sister yet

What gives?

>>2263345
You could certainly do that, though I'm not sure William would be much up for the whole British liberation angle, seems a bit esoteric for him, especially since he's deriving legitimacy from Edward and the Saxons. That is, if he wins.

>>2263534
There will be opportunities for foreign travel, from Crusade to Anti-Moorish expeditions and everything in between.

>>2264742
This, ladies and gentlemen, just to make it absolutely clear, is some grade-A sin.

>>2259403
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=Norman+Conquest+Quest%2C+Chapter+1

Here's the archive, go vote up the thread if you enjoyed it.

>>2264852
But the sin makes it all the more appetising.
Leading down some Crusade-Level penance.

>>2266085
>We go on Crusade to repent our unholy affair with our sister

Actually sounds pretty cool. Might even cause him to become much more chaste afterward to try and repent for it.

>>2264852

Nah, I don't think William would actually go for that reasoning for a nanosecond, but it would be good for spot of divide-and-rule, prevent the Cornish from working together with any Saxon resistance that developed. That is, if he wins.

>>2266085
>>2266098
The First Crusade is more than three decades in the future. By the time that rolls around, we will be an old man in his 50s, well past our fighting prime. Not really an option. I am down for the idea of a qt foreign princess to be our bride though. Such a shame the church frowns on harems/concubines.

I'm all for going for England, but we're kind of opposed to William right now. It's going to be interesting to turn that around and get on the winning side, presuming we don't accidentally change the entire course of English history.

Wish I'd been here earlier. Being a great warrior is one thing, but I like a character with a bit of wisdom and awareness of what war costs the land and the common folk. We're at the dawn of the High Middle Ages, so I say our path is clear... We must become one of the True Knights of Christendom, a legend of chivalry not seen since the paladins of Charlemagne! If the QM even allows for it, we might yet even wield so legendary a blade as Durendal or Joyeuse to confirm our place in myth and history!

>>2268658
We are gonna kick the shit out of the english and moors and fuck our sister,

>>2268658
Grab an Irish girl and make some inroads with the Celts across the sea.

>>2268776
Also if you guys want to keep a second woman Irish culture at this time did practice concubinage. So long as you keep it on the down low to avoid legal problems the Irish wife might accept it.

>>2268776
Oh how I long for the day when OP will run a Anglo-Saxon quest, or something around the time of the fall of Rome. The god the cross has rejected us and tells us 'turn the other cheek' while heathen men make lamentable havoc in the lands of the Britons by rapine and slaughter. But the Old Gods remain. Epona of horses, Belatucadros of war, Nodens the Healer, Taranis of thunder and Andraste of victory shall hear us and by the might of the oaks, aid us to cast out the invaders, embrace what Rome left us and rise strong and secure in the isles.

>>2268847
Let's focus on one wife first and then only once we have something to pass on to our sons and daughters.

>>2259403
>norman conquest quest
>dont play norman
Why have you done this?

>>2269101
Bait and switch!

>>2268865
This isn't just normal heresy, this is M&S Heresy.

>>2268776
Its like you want fleas

>>2269332
Apostasy actually. Don't worry though; for this quest I am devoted to the idea of becoming an exemplary soldier of Christ; a paragon of virtue and prowess, who's chivalry shall be told of in years to come in the same breath as the paladins of Charlemagne.

...And then inevitably in about a millennium's time, we'll get turned into a girl for some chinese cartoon or something.

>>2269592
Who has a incestous relationship with our bastard brother.

And spergs on image boards will visciously defend it.

where did all you incest fags come from?

>>2268865
Hold out hope Anon. Some day, though I'm far more likely to focus on Heptarchy than anything earlier. I am a fan of very early settlement, Cyneric and Aella and the like. We will see.

>>2269101
Just to say gents, in real life Ralph de Gael, our liege, ended up the Earl of East Anglia, as a Breton.
>>2269592
I can get behind that, but fair warning there's going to be some William Rufus level anti-church fuckery later.

>>2268776
I'll give Irish history a look, just to be prepared, if you want to launch a jump-on conquest of Ireland.

>>2268658
Additionally, if this is popular enough, we may pass the torch to a second character. Angevins and beyond, my friends.


Gentlemen, No Incest. It ain't happening. Mary is a practical girl, and Ralph is a boy of fourteen with aspirations to courtly love and his own title. Further, any red-blooded christian would be in paroxysms of anguish at such inescapable vice. We're not doing it.

Thanks for all your interest folks. I may be able to run tomorrow all day long, so keep your eyes on the twitter, ask any questions there for a quick response; https://twitter.com/Leo_III/with_replies?lang=en

>>2269957
>make the mcs sister beautiful
>dont let the mc fuck her
I don't really care too much either way, but you did this to yourself, tbqh

>>2270111
no no he didn't

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>>2270111
I offer you eligible young maidens, nothing, but I mention you've heard your sister described as beautiful and bam. I need to work on my psychology ahead of time in future, it seems.

>>2270126
no you just need to not listen to incestfags

>>2270139
I mean, cousins are at least somewhat fair game, it's the 11th century after all, but not even pagans stoop so far.

>>2270145
no i get that and understand that is how things worked back then but our own sister though? come on

>>2270164
Exactly my point. Gents, refrain from trying to bang your sister.

We're Breton and we want to conquer Cornwall? Let's rebuild Ys.

>>2269957
>Hold out hope Anon. Some day, though I'm far more likely to focus on Heptarchy than anything earlier. I am a fan of very early settlement, Cyneric and Aella and the like. We will see.
>I can get behind that, but fair warning there's going to be some William Rufus level anti-church fuckery later.
Oh dis gon b gud.

Seriously though, by 1060, the cause was well and truly dead. Even the vikings were well on their way to full conversion by that point. The days of the old gods are well and truly behind us by the time of the Norman conquest.

>Additionally, if this is popular enough, we may pass the torch to a second character. Angevins and beyond, my friends.
Ooooh, that might be interesting~! Don't fall into the trap of trying to make an endless quest though; things are better when there's a distinct ending. I enjoyed what we got of the Byzantine quest, but it's not like I'm calling for us to go back there for the hell of it.

>>2270126
Ignore the incestfags. They just want what's forbidden. The ways around that are either to make the next eligible maiden a bit more of a chase and a challenge, or to literally just make her the perfect match in every single way, all but forcing her on us with what an obvious waifu she is.

We totally need to play matchmaker for our sister however. Once we build our legend, won't everyone want to marry the beautiful sister of the most honourable and chivalrous knight in Christendom? Naturally they have to prove they're good enough first though. Hyper-protective-big-brother-who-won't-accept-you-until-you-prove-yourself is GO!

>>2270207
A castle and realm worthy of the greatest of knights! I support this venture!

>Not planning to marry one of the bastard's girls so our descendants get a claim on England after the white ship happens.
Fucking incest fags

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>>2270237
A TRUE KNIGHT does not play the game of petty politics (or metagame with 21st century knowledge. Bad anon). He serves with humility and dignity and knows God shall reward the virtuous.

My current plan right now is to start formulating a plan to slowly take cornwall and eat up the welsh, then start fucking around in ireland for a few years
Then try to make big willy c unpopular among the english nobles so we can get our CELTIC BLOOD BROTHERS free from the english yoke
After that we take britanny and plan an invasion of iberia, most likely portugal

>>2270400
We are the third son of a small landed knight. This is never going to happen. This is starting to sound like the guy who wanted to start a peasent rebellion in Crusader Quest. Or that stupid Cairo plan.

>>2269957
>Gentlemen, No Incest. It ain't happening.

This is an outrage!

>>2270419
I know the chances of it happening are slim to none and most of the plan would fucking fail horribly and that we would most likely get stuck fucking around in ireland, but some times you gotta dream big
Besides, what if we just go off and create our own kingdom?
Who would stop us besides the people we would need to steal land from

>>2270419
no whats an outrage is to keep bringing it up when the qm said no

>>2270400
>>2270435
You need to chill the hell out. We are a landless knight, a third son. How the hell are we going to manage all of that in one lifetime? If we're LUCKY we might be made Earl of Dunmonia or Wessex if we suck William the Conqueror's dick hard enough during the wars in Normandy and the invasion of England. That's the only way in hell we'll EVER get enough support to actually claim a territory that big.

Bringing Wales under control took the English CENTURIES, partly because they're so ready for a fight and partly because the idea of answering to a central authority was fucking ANATHEMA to those people. If we're REALLY good, we might marry a princess of Gwent, Gwynned or Powys and secure a weak claim to the lands, if something unfortunate were to happen to her brothers or a war were to break out upon the death of her father.

Ireland is never going to fucking happen in our lifetime, neither is Brittany or Iberia. We'll be lucky to secure power in Wales before whoever's boss in England (most likely William the Don't-Mess-With-Me-I-Will-Destroy-Your-Shithole) comes and kicks us in the teeth for getting too powerful. At MOST we can hope for an alliance with some of the Irish Ri-rurech and maybe marrying a child or two off to them. Iberia and any plans for power in Ireland are going to have to wait for our son or grandson, one or both of which we also want to take the cross when Pope Urban II calls for a crusade.

That is a LONG list of things to do and if we manage it, our line will be more famous than half the kings of Europe! Not to mention that actively positioning for power like this kind of flies in the face of the idea of being a virtuous and true knight of Christendom, as no-one who ever seeks power, keeps their hands clean.

>>2270439
Relax mate. I want that incest half in jest. Didnt actually expect it to happen.

>>2270455
it just gets annoying when in every quest incest gets brought up especially in a midevil one ya know

>>2270474
Product of the time period
>>2270451
>>2270451
DREAM BIG DAMN IT
i completely understand what your saying, especially with us lack a power base of any sort to pull off any conquest, but if i believe hard enough it might happen

>>2270479
It's not a product of the bloody time; if you want that kind of thing, badger OP to make a Zoroastrian Prince quest or something, or maybe Borgia or Hapsburg quest.

We will be dreaming big though, but we have to make a choice... Do we pursue territory and power, or do we devote ourselves to virtue and chivalry, contenting ourselves with only minor rewards, in favour of becoming known throughout history as a True Knight of Christendom and a legend of virtue and chivalry? Both have potentially great stories to tell, but the odds of managing both at once are just damn near nonexistent.

>>2270498
I will have you know that when we had a clear and supported chance of having brother-sister incest in Crusader Quest. I voted against it.

I am very proud of myself. The character even got +1 Intellegence from it!

>>2270145
As I understand, it was not uncommon to marry your first cousin or niece, or even aunt but not really aunt cuz too old. I think it would depend on the timeline, cuz the Pope was pushing against consanguinity for awhile, so we can either float under the radar, or get big enough that the pope can't fuck with us. That is, if players want to do that. I do understand that fucking your sister was a huge no no in Europe. It's the one line you don't cross unless you want everyone to hate you.

Werent there suppose to be second thread today ?

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>>2271444
Absolutely.

>Ypu have just seen your father, withered from a sickness of the bones, and he has asked that you make it up with your brothers before his death. You are currently staying in the Castle of which your father is Castellan, early in winter. Theobald, your eldest brother, is resolving some disputes on the borders of the family estate, while Geoffrey is studying in a monastery nearby. Ralph, your bastard brother, is waiting to accompany you, while your sister, herself in her early 20s, is managing the stewardship of the household.

>What do you intend to do first?
>Go to reconcile yourself with Geoffrey at the monastery, through prayer and devotion you may prove to him that you are not deserving of his ire. (Roll a d100)
>Go to reconcile yourself with Theobald on the edge of the estate. He is a practical man, and he will surely see the sense in making peace if you offer himself a compelling enough reward... perhaps abandoning your claim to the castle, since you will never claim it any-way?(Roll a d100)
>Pray for guidance in the family chapel, reflect on your father, and teach Ralph some of the virtues of a christian.
>Attempt to build up your own funds, through investment, bounty-hunting or suchlike (Write in)
>Write in?

>>2270498
Personally I'd go for ruthless ambition and glory, less Wilhelm from CQ and more More that Greek dude from errr..... you know.

Exnay on the incest ay though, CQ had its chance and well it didn't happen though it was close.

I miss you HF senpai

>Wanting to mix with the Irish
Disgusting
>Wanting to rule Ireland/liberate it
Filthy degenerates, consorting with beings that have no soul!

Oh, and to the Cornwall folks, the Earldom of Cornwall was, in reality, granted to another Breton, Brian of Brittany, who commanded a Breton detachment on William's flank at Hastings.

>>2271457
>Go to reconcile yourself with Theobald on the edge of the estate. He is a practical man, and he will surely see the sense in making peace if you offer himself a compelling enough reward... perhaps abandoning your claim to the castle, since you will never claim it any-way?(Roll a d100)

I'd say we abandon our claim and make ourselves a non-threat to our brother and lay the foundations of our house, Theobald can do as he pleases with our house and it's lands, Geoffrey can join the church and begin his ascent in its ranks and we can begin our military career, we keep our affairs to ourselves unless it threatens or enriches the family in which case we share the endeavour and all profit.

We also keep the half brother out of all things as he is a sore point for the family and not a threat for now

>Attempt to build up your own funds, through investment, bounty

>>2271457
>Go to reconcile yourself with Theobald on the edge of the estate. He is a practical man, and he will surely see the sense in making peace if you offer himself a compelling enough reward... perhaps abandoning your claim to the castle, since you will never claim it any-way?(Roll a d100)

>Attempt to build up your own funds, through investment, bounty-hunting or suchlike (Write in)

>>2271461
We can probably get a Barony under him.

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>2271457
>Go to reconcile yourself with Theobald on the edge of the estate. He is a practical man, and he will surely see the sense in making peace if you offer himself a compelling enough reward... perhaps abandoning your claim to the castle, since you will never claim it anyway?(Roll a d100)
Abandoning claim still means we can inherit if they die, right?

>>2271457
>Attempt to build up your own funds
bounty-hunting
invest the hypothetical money we get

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>>2271465
>>2271463

With a heavy heart, you walk through the old corridors of the castle to your own apartments, now stripped bare for the use of guests, only a the great oaken bed, the german-style iron-bound chest, and a cistern. You have one of the maids, who you smilingly remember from your childhood as a maiden in the games of yourself and the stable boys, but who now looks much more alike to one, go and collect your finery, and to bring aed. You shave, clean your hair, have yourself anointed with rose water, and dress in your finery, without the surcoat, but with a mail-shirt underneath, for the roads even here can be dangerous. This is a duty you must undertake, no matter how little you care to, and it is with solemn severity that you tie on your belt, pull on your boots and stride out into the stables. You dismiss Ralph gently as he approaches to join you, preffering not to offend the likely terse exchange you expect by the addition of Ralph as an insult to Theobald.

You breathe deeply, and clamber up into the saddle, before beginning a comfortable canter out to the edge of the estate. The sky has filled with deep, grey clouds, and you ardently hope that the rain keeps off for a short while. You take some comfort in the feeling of your horse beneath you, even as you fill with dread and frustration at your oncoming duty. Distractedly, you push on through copses of ancient oak trees, now stripped bare of their leaves after the winds of late autumn. You wonder, absently, what could have drawn Theobald away, but you imagine either a poacher or some petty land dispute, the man, you must admit to yourself, having always been an attentive steward. You try to ignore memories of his sneering face, his oiled hair, his pointed face and his overwhelming tendency towards arrogance, and are glad to pass by a wandering friar, whom you great cordially, and who gives you the blessing of St. Saloman the Breton.

After a short ride, you find yourself arriving in a small hamlet, in the midst of a copse of woods, surrounded by groves of apple trees, the air still rich with the syrupy rot of half-harvested fruit. You are surprised not to see the villagers about their daily work, and grow more so to see a palfrey, appareled in gear much too rich for a peasant harnessed onto a post outside of a small peasant shanty. You dismount, your boots sinking into the thick, churned mud, and pat the nervous palfrey, calming it somewhat. This is all very strange, a village so empty, and you wonder if there is perhaps some festival on, to have drawn them all away. You approach the door of the shanty, and knock, calling out.

"Who dwells here?"

You press your ear to the thin wooden door, and hear someone, or something, moving within. You place a hand onto your sword, and pull the flimsy thing open, revealing the squalid hut to you. Within, lying bound on the floor, is a young man you scarcely recognize.

Cont.

The squire of your brother Theobald, a boy you have known since childhood, Alain, is bound in rope like a captured doe, gagged with a rag. He casts a desperate eye at you, his red-gold hair disheveled in the mud he writhes in. You rush over to him, and draw your dagger, sawing through the restraints. He gasps in breaths as you remove the primitive gag, and splutters for a moment, rising shakily to his feet. His face is bruised, and dried blood cakes his nose.

"What has happened, Alain? Where is Theobald?""

The squire speaks in a guilt ridden tone.

"Outlaws, Sir Roderic, they waylaid us when we stopped in this hamlet. They have taken his lordship, bound, to a camp in the woods, not more than an hour ago."

He looks at you desperately, and you resolve yourself, thinking as quickly as you may on how to save your brother.

"How many were they?"

"Four or five waylaid us, looked like poachers, Sir. They will have left tracks, two of them came up on horseback"

Brigands have stolen away your brother, it seems. What is to be done?

>Pursue the Brigands into the woods on horseback, with Alain on Theobald's horse. The squire is injured, but you will be more likely to dispatch these brigands with his aid.
>Pursue the Brigands alone. Send the wounded Alain back to the keep on Theobald's horse at a gallop to gather up some men to come up and join you, in case there are more brigands than anticipated, or in case you yourself are captured. With luck, you will dispatch them yourself, what brigand can match a Knight, and the men will arrive in time to clean up their mess.
>Rush back to the castle along with Alain to gather the militia.

>>2271483
>Pursue the Brigands alone. Send the wounded Alain back to the keep on Theobald's horse at a gallop to gather up some men to come up and join you, in case there are more brigands than anticipated, or in case you yourself are captured. With luck, you will dispatch them yourself, what brigand can match a Knight, and the men will arrive in time to clean up their mess.

>>2271483
>Pursue the Brigands into the woods on horseback, with Alain on Theobald's horse. The squire is injured, but you will be more likely to dispatch these brigands with his aid

>>2271483
>Pursue the Brigands alone. Send the wounded Alain back to the keep on Theobald's horse at a gallop to gather up some men to come up and join you, in case there are more brigands than anticipated, or in case you yourself are captured. With luck, you will dispatch them yourself, what brigand can match a Knight, and the men will arrive in time to clean up their mess.

>>2271483
>>Pursue the Brigands alone. Send the wounded Alain back to the keep on Theobald's horse at a gallop to gather up some men to come up and join you, in case there are more brigands than anticipated, or in case you yourself are captured. With luck, you will dispatch them yourself, what brigand can match a Knight, and the men will arrive in time to clean up their mess.
they have horses, when they are dead we will have more horses

>>2271483
>Pursue the Brigands alone. Send the wounded Alain back to the keep on Theobald's horse at a gallop to gather up some men to come up and join you, in case there are more brigands than anticipated, or in case you yourself are captured. With luck, you will dispatch them yourself, what brigand can match a Knight, and the men will arrive in time to clean up their mess.
Can you say when you're writing, please? I'm not trying to be rude, it would just be greatly appreciated.

>>2271500
>>2271499
>>2271490
>>2271486
Writing

>>2271483
>Pursue the Brigands into the woods on horseback, with Alain on Theobald's horse. The squire is injured, but you will be more likely to dispatch these brigands with his aid

We're a real gue element here we should approach them as a brigand knight ourselves and ingratiate ourselves with them, then we take them by night and rescue our brother

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Pausing only enough to send Alain galloping back towards the keep, you clamber up onto your palfrey and look for the tracks of the brigands. They are easy enough to find, the great hooves of the work-horses they ride easy enough to spot traipsing through the underbrush, deeper into the copse of trees. Your horse is an agile, elegant creature, and you spur her one with practiced skill, following the tracks through the wind-raked forests. Soon you spot smoke rising from a cook fire into the expanse of grey clouds above you. You draw as close as you dare, ad dismount, sneaking, aided by your light finery, through the brush, looking through a decaying expanse of brambles into the brigand's camp.

You count four of them, sat around a camp-fire, relishing in their success, with Theobald bound over one of their horses, his mute protests silenced by the occasional back-handed slap. The brigands are coarse men, with short bears, long, unkempt hair and dirt caked faces, dressed in peasant clothing, with crude peasant tools for their only weapons, and jerkins of leather as their only armour. You think quickly, and realize that surprise will certainly be on your side, but that to charge in on horseback would only alert them through the thundering of hooves. Your finery may sustain some damage, but the mail underneath will keep you safe, and you are far from an unskilled swordsman.

You are given a golden opportunity as one man rises, speaking in french of needing to relieve himself, and approaches your hiding spot, behind the bramble bushes, a short way from the camp. You secret yourself behind a tree, and, as he approaches, you club him roughly over the head with a large rock, allowing him to thud quietly against the dirt, unconscious. With the bandits likely to grow suspicious soon, you decide now is as good a time as any to enter the fray, drawing your sword and rushing into the camp, with bellowed war-cry. You strike them utterly by surprise, landing a solid blow across the stomach of one as he rises to his feet, sending him sprawling back, clutching at his guts. The other two rise, one armed with a handaxe for the gathering of firewood, and the other with a heavy cudgel of wood, and stand facing you, surpised but preparing themselves for your onslaught.

>What will you do?
>Try to intimidate them into submission (Roll a d100, lower is better, advantage from surprise and the brutal execution of their comrade)
>If it is your onslaught they fear, let them have it. Rush on and hack the Brigands to pieces. (D100, lower is better)
>Something else? (Write in)

Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>2271506
>Try to intimidate them into submission (Roll a d100, lower is better, advantage from surprise and the brutal execution of their comrade)
Find out what they know.

>>2271509
>>2271506
fug

>>2271509
This pretty much.

>>2271506
>If it is your onslaught they fear, let them have it. Rush on and hack the Brigands to pieces. (D100, lower is better)

It is too "badl our poor brother was butchered (by a hatchet) before our Valient assault could save him!

We stand to inherit quickly using this event given our other brother will be entering the church

Rolled 38 (1d100)

>>2271506
Maybe I don't understand, but why the fuck is nobody rolling with their posts?

>If it is your onslaught they fear, let them have it. Rush on and hack the Brigands to pieces. (D100, lower is better)

Rolled 8 (1d100)

>>2271513

Rolled 46 (1d100)

Forgot to roll!

>>2271513
>>2271515
Guise, what if this is part of a conspiracy? If we kill them now, we might not find out anything. They'll probably be executed, anyways.

>>2271520
Maybe who knows you're convoying a conspiracy with nothing but air, let's survive and then figure things out.

>>2271522
Not with your roll that for certain.

>>2271523
>rolling lower is better

Care to rephrase that?

>>2271522
Well, i'm not saying a huge conspiracy, but more like it could've been planned. Just killing them will just end the trail, probably. There probably isn't any conspiracy, you're right, but it seems like there is.
>>2271523
Read what OP typed. Low is better

Onslaught, 8.

Writing

Rolled 32 (1d100)

>>2271506
>>If it is your onslaught they fear, let them have it. Rush on and hack the Brigands to pieces. (D100, lower is better)

You will not have your honour tarnished by bandying with such brigands, you are a servant of justice, not some sergeant. You raise your sword and rush forth at the brigands, utterly shocking them with the zealotry of your charge. One attempts to turn and run merely at the sight of you, the terror of god inspired in him in the shine in your eyes or the blood on your blade, but you dispatch him quickly enough, bringing your sword, gripped in both hands, down onto the back of his half-turned shoulder, burying the blade several inches into his torso, and feeling it shudder as it shatters the collarbone, half-shearing the shoulder-blade from the back. The man stops in his tracks at the blow, and gasps in horrified shock at this mortal wound. You wrench your blade free, kicking the wretch and sending him reeling into the dirt, his life-blood gurgling out from the wound.

The other man, with wild eyes and an axe, now seeing his fate should he fail, resolves himself and swings his cudgel at you. Th heavy hunk of wood clatters uselessly against your mail, doing no more than bruising your upper arm, the pain turning quickly to anger as you turn on him. You swing wildly, glancing past the brigand, before regaining some of your composure. You steady yourself after the overstep, and avoid a similarly uncoordinated thrust from your opponent, before breaking through his guard and driving your blade into his side, shearing through his jerkin and into his guts. A look of pained surprise fills his eyes, and tears pool as he falls to his knees, trying desperately to stem the flow of ichor streaming from his side. You finish him off with a blow to the side of the head, and, sneering, wipe your blade clean on the cloth of his shirt.

Your brother stares in awe from his bindings on the back of a terrified work-horse, and you move towards him, breathing heavily with the exertion, but glad to have so quickly dispatched such vagabonds.

>Your brother is tied up, three of the brigands are dead and a fourth lies unconscious just outside the camp.

>What do you do?
>Remove your brother's gag, but leave him tied up for a short while, until you can extract an oath of peace between the two of you from him. He will not be best pleased when you do let him down, but this is a sure-fire way to have him oath-bound to treat you with respect. (No test required)
>Free him! He is your brother, and you will deal with him face to face as equals. Ask him for peace, and for his support of you in your service to de Gael, in exchange for your claim. (Charm test, plus twenty for the circumstances, Roll below 70 on a d100.)
>Write in? (Request something else of him along with either option, or suggest a third option)

Rolled 95 (1d100)

>>2271530
>Write in? (Request something else of him along with either option, or suggest a third option)
Tie up the unconscious one before he wakes up and runs away, then:
>Free him! He is your brother, and you will deal with him face to face as equals. Ask him for peace, and for his support of you in your service to de Gael, in exchange for your claim. (Charm test, plus twenty for the circumstances, Roll below 70 on a d100.)

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>2271530
>>Free him! He is your brother, and you will deal with him face to face as equals. Ask him for peace, and for his support of you in your service to de Gael, in exchange for your claim. (Charm test, plus twenty for the circumstances, Roll below 70 on a d100.)
Also tie up the last brigand, we need to interrogate him i case this was a paid job

>Free brother-->tie up brigand-->ask for peace

>>2271530
>>Remove your brother's gag, but leave him tied up for a short while, until you can extract an oath of peace between the two of you from him. He will not be best pleased when you do let him down, but this is a sure-fire way to have him oath-bound to treat you with respect. (No test required)

>>2271530
Okay three options here

>Gain his support in future endeavours by freeing him

>Gain his to be titles by murdering him and framing the brigands

>Gain his goodwill and not bank on it like a moron for whatever

I want to butcher him personally and gain our father title and work on things from there BUT I am open to other options.

>>2271530
>Free him! He is your brother, and you will deal with him face to face as equals. Ask him for peace, and for his support of you in your service to de Gael, in exchange for your claim. (Charm test, plus twenty for the circumstances, Roll below 70 on a d100.)

>>2271536
This seems really out of character, wtf

>>2271536
Why would you murder him? He's a pompous, arrogant lordling, but he's never really harmed you. The worst he's done is disdain you and have Ralph sleep in servant's quarters/the stables. You might not like him, but Roderic wouldn't just murder his brother.

>>2271539
Can we murder our brothers and then marry our sister and become The Dragon of Brittany?

>>2271538
What character? We're not exactly established any which way currently beyond a fraternal bond with our bastard brother and a dislike of our true blood brothers.

>>2271539
Ambition and title is a hell of a drug and opportunistic murder is not unheard of.

>>2271545
We promised father we would make peace.

>>2271545
Kinslaying and Murder is damnation to hell. We may dislike our brother and are ambitious, but we're not a fucking degenerate.

>>2271546
Peace is a broadly defined thing

>>2271547
Kinslaying is not the worst thing to deal in the mortal world

But I see I'm not getting any love here so do what you want.

>>2271537
>>2271534
>>2271533

Free Him! 13

Writing.

>>2271549
Kinslaying is one of the worst sins, dude.

If we want to get back at our brother take some gold from the treasury, steal is horse or fuck his wife. Kinslaying is not the answer.

>>2271549
>Kinslaying is not the worst thing to deal in the mortal world
Fiend! Sinner! Murderer and foulest criminal! Confess of your sins and may God forgive you for considering such a hideous act!

Our course is the course of the righteous and our ways are those of virtue. A True Knight of Christendom does not give in to such base motives, for is are wrath, pride, envy and avarice deadly sins? Such traits are to be shunned without question!

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You cut your brother's restraints, and let him down gently to the ground. He is bruised, but seems otherwise unwounded, though missing his sword and finery. He coughs, and drinks in cool air, before drinking deeply once you offer him your waterskein. In good circumstances, he is a man of your height, with rich black hair and a sharp countenance, but he is much worse for wear from his imprisonment, his hair disheveled and dirtied, his skin caked in mud, and bleeding from the nose. You offer him an arm to steady himself, and he takes it, still struggling for breath, perhaps with a broken rib, though you cannot be sure. After a few more moments, he speaks, in his own oily, superior fashion, though with more humility in it than usual.

"Thank you, Roderic"

He describes to you how it all happened, how he was surprised by the brigands while talking with the village reeve, and how the villagers fled into the woods at the sight of the brigands. He does not spare the thought to ask of Alain's fate, and the two of you sit down, as you tell him that his squire will return soon, with his horse and some extra. He gathers his discarded finery from around the camp, and you tie up the remaining brigand. When you return, he looks at you with mounting concern.

"These brigands, Roderic, there are more every winter. The peasants turn to banditry like better men do to faith in their times of need. Father cannot dispatch them, Ill as he is, and we have not the men to deal with them all, not in winter."

You nod, gravely, and though he does not say it you see, beneath the conceit of his lordly bearing, momentarily weakened by his captivity, that he knows he needs you to handle it. He was never a martial man, and you have been slaughtering brigands since Michaelmas. You think for a moments, and make him an offer.

"Brother, we must make peace. We have seldom been friends, I know, but I want no part in this strife any-longer. I will give up my claim, and those of my heirs, to this land, I will support you as you have need and I will be nothing but your greatest friend, but you must swear, along with me, that there will be peace between us, and that you will grant me the same aid, should I be in need."

You offer him a hand, and he is still for a moment, considering. He is not an evil man, even if you desire to slap him at times, and it is clear the appeal makes sense to him. He takes your hand and nods, placing his other hand over his heart.

"So be it then, I swear it. You will have my aid, what little there is, if you should need it, but you will never hold this title. My brother, there is another term, however. After this winter passes, should father pass with it, though I dread to think of it, you must swear never to return here. I cannot have another claimant to focus dissent. Take the bastard curr as it suits you, and I will provide funds and some men, but you must go, and not return."

Cont.

>This is a heavy burden to bear, to sever yourself from your home and family, but it is reasonable.
>Do you swear the oath, to conform to these terms?
>Yes
>No

>>2271573
>>Yes
but we will not hunt brigands for free this winter. if he refuses to pay for our service, kill him

>>2271573
>Yes

>>2271573
>Yes
>"But the same does not extend to you, nor to Theobald or Mary. Should I one day hold a home of my own, find time to visit on a feast day and I will lay as fine a table as you've seen."

He's offering men, which is more important than funds. The more men follow us, the greater price we can ask for our service and the more impact we will have in battles, thus making us more valuable to our employers and more likely to be bribed with lands and titles, so as to secure us as a permanent vassal. It's a good deal. Besides, nothing says we cannot write.

If we could kindly remind him that charity is a virtue and words are free with regards to Ralph, that'd be great too. Speak of me as you like, but do not insult those I care for.

>>2271574
Jesus fucking Christ, why are you so eager to solve problems through murder?

>>2271573

>Yes

>>2271574
Are you the same guy that constantly wanted to murder Hugh in Crusader Quest ?

>>2271571
>Yes
Kinda want this guy to die now, actually.

>>2271579
>>2271576
>>2271574
>>2271584
Yes, But the same does not extend to you. Writing

>>2271574
jesus anon I know I was blackguarding before but that seems like a heelspin

>>2271573
>Yes

>>2271584
No that was me

no that was me and holy shit were you fuckers stupid for not doing that, hugh was nice and all but we could have been the proper powerbrokers without question in jerusalem if you had listened a proper christain Zengi if you would

>>2271586
Can we still inherit if we lose claims?

>>2271588
We dont lose our claim. We just wont challenge him for his. If he dies without an heir we can show up.

>>2271589
Breddy sure we're forsaking our claim, which is a legal thing you can do

>>2271584
>Are you the same guy that constantly wanted to murder Hugh in Crusader Quest ?
nope

You squeeze his hand in your own, and nod definitely to him, speaking seriously and with some warmth behind your words.

"Yes, my brother, I do so swear. The same will not be true for you, Geoffrey, Mary or any other kinsman of ours, should I ever hold lands of my own. You are a wise man, Theobald, and I know you aren't so hateful as you make yourself sound to Ralph. He will be gone soon, and he will never conspire, or limit you in any way. There's no need to call him by such names, not any longer"

Theobald sighs once again, already regaining his lordly bearing, and nods.

"Don't put him before me in my hall, and I will do no harm to him, but for our mother's memory I will not have him sit alongside me. He is a stain on father's honour, but for our friendship, I will speak no more of him."

You sit and talk idly over the dwindling camp fire for a few more minutes until Alain, accompanied by your father's Master at Arms and four of the household's mercenaries, thunders into the camp. At the sight of you both unharmed, he breathes a sigh of relief, and dismounts, falling to a knee before Theobald and begging his apology. Theobald bids him rise, and forgives him, being lighter in his justice than you would expect of him. The mercenaries, all Bretons who have served in your father's house for years, clamber down, and the old master at arms, Childeric, a ruddy-haired german, walks over to his lord, bowing his great head.

You all ride back towards home, at a more comfortable pace. You fall, almost naturally, among the mercenaries, with whom you talk of pay in a merry fashion, enjoying the aftermath of the rush of combat, glad in your victory. You joke and laugh with them in the soldier's fashion, talking of Duke Konan's hunt, something they are all intrigued by. All four are older men than you, wielding lances and with maces at their sides, all equipped in their hauberks. They are fine soldiers, not knights, but skilled men, and along with six other such men they make up the core of the household troops of the family's little fiefdom.

When you reach home, the castle is awash with rumour, and you tell your story to starry eyed stable boys and blushing maids alike, enjoying the little glory of it. You do try, however, not to infringe on Theobald, describing his escape while you had them distracted, and recalling, with a smile to the man, how he dispatched a great red-bearded brigand while you took on the others. The story is the talk of the village by the end of the day, and you are glad to stable your horse, remove your mail shirt and settle in in the hall for a bowl of warmed milk, freshly baked barley bread and a glass of rich cider, alongside the other men of the castle, with Mary practicing her embroidery by the hearth.

As the evening grows darker, Mary departs, and all but one of the mercenaries, leaving only their sergeant, Hardouin, sitting with you and Theobald, talking of the brigand situation.

Cont.

A poor harvest has forced dozens of young peasant men out into the wilderness to go poaching, and many of those have turned to banditry, under a notorious outlaw, Hugh the Red. Supposedly, they hide in the woods that cover the northern half of your family's domain, and prey on merchants and couriers. Your brother is adamant that the woodlands should be scoured for the bandits, and every one of them hung, but Hardouin and Childeric advise a more cautious approach, sending out some mercenaries on horseback to talk with the villagers within the forest to gather information, before gathering some of the militia and striking each camp in turn. It dawns on you that you are expected to cast the deciding vote, since it seems you will be leading this offensive.

>What do you advise?
>Storm the forests with the mercenaries and hunt down the bandits.(This will likely take the brigands by surprise, though it is more risky)
>Take time to gather information on the locations of the camp, and to gather some of the better trained militiamen to launch targeted strikes. (This will take time, and risks the Brigands entrenching further.)
>Something else? (Write in)

>>2271599
>>Storm the forests with the mercenaries and hunt down the bandits.(This will likely take the brigands by surprise, though it is more risky)
Loooooot

>>2271599
>>Storm the forests with the mercenaries and hunt down the bandits.(This will likely take the brigands by surprise, though it is more risky)

>>2271599
>>Storm the forests with the mercenaries and hunt down the bandits.(This will likely take the brigands by surprise, though it is more risky)

>>2271599
>Storm the forests with the mercenaries and hunt down the bandits.(This will likely take the brigands by surprise, though it is more risky)

>>2271599
>Storm the forests with the mercenaries and hunt down the bandits.(This will likely take the brigands by surprise, though it is more risky)
Fucking peasants

>>2271599
>>Take time to gather information on the locations of the camp, and to gather some of the better trained militiamen to launch targeted strikes. (This will take time, and risks the Brigands entrenching further.)
It's only a fool that rushes in without due consideration. Varus lost three legions to the Teutoburg forest and we'd be fools to assume that our enemy hasn't got the lay of the land already. We need information. And besides, even if we massacre them all, that's not solving the underlying problem. The people need to be made to trust our brother and hold to faith in lean times, or this problem will just re-surface the moment we've turned our backs!

>>2271601
>>2271602
>>2271603
>>2271604
>>2271605
Writing. Expect a short delay, I need to get some lunch.

>>2271606
Our Brother made us vow never to return except during war or something maybe. We're just doing this to curry favor and make monies and experience.

>>2271589
>>2271592
We have renounced our claim, and the claims of any of our heirs.

>>"I will give up my claim, and those of my" heirs

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>>2271612
>being this retarded

>>2271612
>>2271614
Gents, please don't clutter up the thread.

>>2271609
Still no reason to leave a job half-done. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing properly.

>>2271614
Just report and ignore him. Kinslaying faggot deserves it anyway.

And keep your /pol/posting in /pol/ for fuck's sake.

>>2271617
It's better to crush it now, or it will turn into a full blown revolt.

>>2271618
pls crush me papa marx

>>2271618
I've seen too many attempts to crush a rebellion swiftly and decisively, run into traps that end up with things worse than they ever were before. The vote's already cast, but I can't help but feel this isn't going to be so simple.

>>2271621
wut

>>2271623
Oh sorry, I was talking about the thread; you know, the way we're supposed to?

>>2271627
Are you roleplaying or something? Where have you seen all these rebellions?

>>2271628
History, books, games... Take your pick. I'm not roleplaying; I'm using common sense and a basic grounding in military strategy gleaned from studying Rome, China, the HRE and modern history. Under-estimating your opponent is one of the best ways to get your shit caved in.

>>2271629
you should go back to running quests instead of being angry about life

>>2271629
They would've captured our Brother if we didn't come for him. Fairly confident they hedged their bets on that.

Decisive action is required. The brigands will be reeling after the escape of your brother, and if the men you dispatched are any indication they will be simple enough to slaughter. Yourself, the ten mercenaries and Alain will be more than enough, in your mind, to deal with twenty or thirty brigands in small groups. These are simply peasants, and the peasants must learn faith in their lord, not to flee into the woods every few months at the slightest hardship.

"Tomorrow morning, all of the mercenaries and Alain will come to meet me before the castle, fully equipped. We will interrogate the brigand and have him tell us the holes in which his peers hide overnight, but tomorrow we will judge his instructions and scour the woods.

There tracks of these brigands will be easy enough to find, since the woods are only hunted on your brother's permission, and only by a handful of freeholders, and you hold out hope that soon enough you'll have Hugh the Red in chains before your brother. The others nod, bowing to your superior expertise, and you all retire after some more in depth planning, dispatching Hardouin to go and interrogate the imprisoned brigand, and going yourself to have your equipment made ready and to get an evening's rest.

>Roll a d100.

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>2271637

Rolled 40 (1d100)

>>2271637

Rolled 50 (1d100)

>>2271637
Here goes nothing.

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>2271637

>>2271642
>>2271640
>>2271639
>>2271638

23 - Significant Success

You have been hunting brigands for years, this is not new to you. You have flushed them out of forest camps, you have had them hung and you have commanded men to scour the land for the last traces of them. You are in fact glad of such a chance to assert your own independent command, without any oversight, as you finally have the chance to show off the hard earned skills of independent command. You have every man eat a full breakfast, fill his skein with water, and ensure his blades are properly sharpened before the first light of dawn, and ride as soon as the sun creeps over the horison, every man uttering a prayer for victory before his departure. Alain is to be a courier between detachments, while you will command overall with Hardouin as your second.

The mercenaries are clearly just as eager as you, and they revel as you do in the challenge of the oncoming fray. The sky is again grey, and the woods are bitingly cold. You have heard from the interrogated man of at least three camps in the woods, five men in two of them, while twenty men reside in a central one deep in the northern woods, and several others may exist, scattered throughout the woodland. You intend to shatter the lookout camps before the men have woken themselves, and to cast the larger camp into confusion, before pursuing the other smaller camps over the next few days.

In the first day, you split your men between yourself and Hardouin early in the morning, sending him off to the north-western woods and heading yourself to the north-east, with four of the mercenaries and Alain as a courier. Your storming of your camp is a simple affair, as you simply ride in at a gallop, catching the six men of the small camp either sleeping or only just awoken, and slaughtering them in a small skirmish, personally killing two in the charge. Three of the other four are killed, while the fourth, a boy of Ralph's age, is interrogated, and you demand of him where the other bandits are, prompting him to weep and beg forgiveness. You have Alain take him, bound, back to the castle for a stay in the dungeon. You and your men scour the area near the apple-tree hamlet, finding three more brigands and having each in turn bound on a mercenary's horse. By mid-day, you retreat from the darkness of the woods to meet in the windswept plain nearer to the castle, meeting Hardouin, who brings six prisoners of his own, having caught his brigands all sleeping.

The number of prisoners does make you wonder. Some of these men are quite skilled, and you have known many a brigand to repent and go for a mercenary, once he's caught the taste of combat...

>What do you do?
>Have the brigands taken to the castle, with instructions that they be forced to repent and that they be given the option to face their lord's justice or to join you as mercenaries in penance.
>Have them all subjected to Theobald's justice, likely all to be hanged or to have their hands severed at the least.
>Something else? (Write in)

>>2271647
>>Have the brigands taken to the castle, with instructions that they be forced to repent and that they be given the option to face their lord's justice or to join you as mercenaries in penance.

>>2271647
>>Have the brigands taken to the castle, with instructions that they be forced to repent and that they be given the option to face their lord's justice or to join you as mercenaries in penance.

>>2271647
>>Have the brigands taken to the castle, with instructions that they be forced to repent and that they be given the option to face their lord's justice or to join you as mercenaries in penance.

Those that decline can face our brothers justice.

>>2271647
>>Have the brigands taken to the castle, with instructions that they be forced to repent and that they be given the option to face their lord's justice or to join you as mercenaries in penance.
Watse not, want not. And this frees our brother from having to grant us his own men when we leave in the spring. The only issue will be keeping them relatively happy, fed and paid. I somehow doubt our brother will be too charitable toward former outlaws.

>>2271647
>>Have them all subjected to Theobald's justice, likely all to be hanged or to have their hands severed at the least.

>>2271658
>this frees our brother from having to grant us his own men
i would rather have both to be honest. deal was he gave us some of his men. if we can't get both id rather have the professionals

>>2271661
EVERY MAN ON MY LAND IS MINE! I'VE LIVED UP TO MY END OF THE BARGAIN!

>>2271658
>>2271650
>>2271649
>>2271648
>>2271647

Writing. The Brigands will be recruited at the end of this little campaign.

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>>2271662
Jesus lefty, you just won the internet

>>2271665
thanks!!1!!!111!!!1!1!!

>>2271661
>professionals
He's not going to hand us the best of the best and I don't even blame him for that. Most medieval soldiers were levy, called up to fight in time of need with the minimum of training. If anything, these bandits are probably harder men than we would have got otherwise, if perhaps no more disciplined.

Besides, if we grow too fast and have too many men, it'll be unsustainable. Keep in mind, we have to feed and clothe and provide the essentials for all these men.

>>2271667
i liek you more as an op, and less like å player. you patronisin aussie cunt

>>2271669
What Quest does he run? Also, while he's probably right, I feel our Brother is more honourable than that and would give us decent soldiers.

Each new brigand reveals a new hide-away, and more information. Over the first night, you learn of three more camps, each garrisoned by ten men, along the road towards Rennes. They will be on alert after your first triumphs, and so you come to a more difficult phase of the campaign. Each of these camps is large enough to pose a threat. You resolve to initiate an audacious tactic. The next morning, you have Hardouin lead a column of men on horseback to scout around the two larger camps along the road, wiping out the lookouts surrounding them, and then returning to you in the evening, after a productive day of dealing sweeping the forests and handling your own collection of small camps. You must admit you are impressed and dismayed by the number of camps; it seems that this Hugh the Red is at least smart enough to lay 'caltrops' all over the forest, and you have no doubt that if Theobald had been in command he would have fallen prey to this web of camps. As it is, you are rolling along the lines of Hugh's defense, utterly annihilating his network of watch-camps.

Late in the evening of the second night, under a full moon and on a remarkably clear sky, you ride out with the men, split again into two detachments and riding fast in the darkness. It takes discipline to keep the two columns coordinated as you gallop through the forests, and even moreso to coordinate, through Alain, for yourself and Hardouin to attack your respective camps almost simultaneously, to prevent one warning the other. You take your camp utterly by surprise, sneaking in on foot, executing the lookouts before binding a few of the brigands and executing the rest in their sleep. After midnight, Alain, breathing hard, arrives, and says that, though Hardouin himself was injured by a sling-bolt from a sentry, the other camp has been handled. You have your men, and you have already come to think of them as your men, gather up the loot to be found in the camp and set out home, ordering Hardouin through Alain to do the same.

By the morning, your men have rested, and all are cheerful to see the spoils, even Hardouin, despite the shortness in his breath. So far, you have executed your campaign without fault, and the seized wealth of the roadside bandits is a great reward. All told, it accounts for about a mark, in jewelry, woven cloth and fine clothes.

Cont.

> You must decide how to distribute this wealth
>Keep the money for yourself
>Distribute shares among the men, keeping half for yourself
>Give out all of the spoils to the men, you may win a few over to your side permanently.

>You must also decide how to deal with the final camp? All options require a d100 roll.
>Storm it immediately in the morning, the confused brigands will be no match for you.(The most glorious way, and not one without strategic merit. In the light, you will be more able to co-ordinate the offensive and ensure no brigands escape)
>Storm it at night. (Risky in the dark, but a sure-fire way to force a confrontation the Bandits will not be ready for)
>Sneak in in the dark of the early morning, and try to capture the camp by surprise (Not very glorious, but it will help avoid casualties)
>Surround the camp and force the Brigands to surrender? (The least glorious option, but the one most likely to gain you a significant pool of manpower)

>>2271679
>Distribute shares among the men, keeping half for yourself

>Surround the camp and force the Brigands to surrender? (The least glorious option, but the one most likely to gain you a significant pool of manpower)

>>2271679
>Distribute shares among the men, keeping half for yourself
>Surround the camp and force the Brigands to surrender? (The least glorious option, but the one most likely to gain you a significant pool of manpower)