>>3104780
>>It was granted to you by the king for your valor in battle. Where you were but a lowly soldier, you are now a lord.

>>3104780
>Gain? More like loss! You are a prince in exile, confined to this wretched hole by your step-mother so her precious son can take the throne

>>3104799
>>3104801

I'll wait another 5 minutes before rolling for it, noble lords.

>>3104780
>>It was granted to you by the king for your valor in battle. Where you were but a lowly soldier, you are now a lord.

>>3104780
>>It was granted to you by the king for your valor in battle. Where you were but a lowly soldier, you are now a lord.

>>3104780
>Gain? More like loss! You are a prince in exile, confined to this wretched hole by your step-mother so her precious son can take the throne.

>>3104799
>>3104806
>>3104808

So be it! A little patience, if you please, noble lords.

>>3104780
>Gain? More like loss! You are a prince in exile, confined to this wretched hole by your step-mother so her precious son can take the throne.
No more peasant lord pls

>>3104815
More like dropped

>>3104780
You earned this fief with blood, sweat and raw courage in the field. After saving the king from a disastrous ambush, he rewarded you with a title of nobility and fief to call your very own. There are rumors this was only done to quell discontent among the lowborn, but who cares about all that? You're a lord now!

It is the 11th day of the Bull. The weather outside fair, if a little humid. The marlet birds sing of the summer to come and the wind is incensed with the smell of rain. The manor is rather quiet this morning, though you suppose its to be expected given there's only three people living in it: yourself and the two peasants from Millbow that you hired as servants.

After a brief and somewhat disappointing breakfast consisting mostly of watery gruel, you decide to spend your morning:

>Walking to Millbow for a bit of fresh air and conversation
>Staying in to look over your accounts and stores
>Writing some very important letters

>>3104831
>Writing some very important letters.

>>3104839
Writing! A little patience please, noble lord.

>>3104831
>Writing some very important letters.

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>>3104831
Reluctantly you retreat to the study, a small square room with a single window, a writing table below it and a single shelf standing against the far wall. You'd been surprised to find the room stocked with several books, possibly from whoever owned it previously. Among them, a picture bible, the kind you suppose the parents of nobility use to teach their children, which you've decided to use to teach yourself to read and write.

Without formal instruction of course, it's difficult to tell if you've made any real progress but by matching words to the pictures and then coping the words down and checking against the original, you're at least learning the shape of the letters. Its hard to match the sounds of the letters with the letters themselves, but you try your best all morning, till the servants call you down for lunch.

After an equally disappointing lunch (consisting again of the same gruel) you decide to spend the afternoon:

>Walking to Millbow for a bit of fresh air and conversation
>Asking your servants about your stores (and why there's only gruel to eat)
>Doing some martial exercises out in the yard

>You increase your Education to Deficient

>>3104891
>>Doing some martial exercises out in the yard

>>3104891
Ask the servants about our stores.

>>3104891
>Look over our assets/get some nerd to tells us about our assets and find out the most pressing issues are.

>>3104900
>>3104891
>Look over our assets/get some nerd to tells us about our assets and find out the most pressing issues are.

>>3104900
>>3104905

Writing!

You decide to chat with your servants about the state of your stores in the manor (in particular why they insist on feeding you gruel). One of them replies that other than some sacks of old grain and a barrel of moldy potatoes, there is nothing in the basements of the manor. The other offers to run to the village to purchase some groceries for tonight dinner and meals for the rest of the week.

This will of course cost you some money, as, while you may own the lands the peasants rent from you, you do not technically own the fruit of it (at least other than what they pay you as taxes and rent). In the little lockbox in your room you have 60 florins and 2 dubloons, enough to buy four months worth of foodstuff, should you be willing to blow it all on that.

A week's worth of groceries should only cost 7 florins.

>Give the servant 7 florins to do her shopping
>Refuse, you'll subsist on potato and grain for the time being

In addition, you ask the servants about the state of Millbow itself. They do not hesitate to tell you how poor the conditions are. In particular you learn of three main problems:

1. The village well has recently run dry, making it difficult to do any kind of irrigation
2. A local bandit, Mudrow the Murderer has been extorting the peasants for "protection fees", forcing many of them to flee to greener pastures and keeping others away from settling here
3. A pack of wolves have been hunting down the few cattle that graze in the fields and the peasants fear they will soon come for their children

From these conversations you gather the following about your fief:

>Demographics
Population: 7/7 (unsure)
Skilled: 0 (unsure)

>Resources
Fields: 3 (certain)
Food: 3 (unsure)
Cattle: 4 (unsure)

>Defenses
Soldiers: 0 (certain)

The day soon winds down from this idle chatter (which moves quickly to gossip). The sun is nearly set and as it is too late now to head outside, you decide to spend the remainder of the evening:

>Working on your letters
>Doing some physical exercise in the yard
>Hitting the hay early to get headstart on tomorrow
>

>>3104958
>>Give the servant 7 florins to do her shopping
>>Doing some physical exercise in the yard

Right if it's just one Bandit I say we fuck him up tomorrow. We can just have a nerd deal with the well once we deal with the things we can actually deal with.

>>3104958
>>Give the servant 7 florins to do her shopping
>>Doing some physical exercise in the yard

>>3104958
>>Give the servant 7 florins to do her shopping
>>Doing some physical exercise in the yard

Tomorrow, we're going to fuck up that bandit, and maybe get the villagers together to go track and kill those wolves. Maybe some wolf meat would do good to bolster our lacking food situation?

>>3104962
Sounds like a plan.

>>3104971
We are a war hero, so chances are we still have armor and weapons. However, I think it'd be best if we just grab something simple, like a club, to go and take the man out non-lethally. The peasants would probably like a good show, such as a beheading, or a public hanging.

>>3104962
>>3104966
>>3104971
>>3104973
>>3104977

Writing! Patience, noble lords.

>>3104977
Great Idea, we can hang his body in the entrance

>>3104958

The night's dinner is a much better fare. Your servant returns with an armful of vegetables, a chicken, a basket of eggs and a few loaves of bread (hard as rock, but cheap). She makes a hearty vegetable stew with chunks of carrots, potatoes and celery on a base of chicken stock made from the bones of the chicken.

After dinner, the servants retire to their own chambers to rest while you head outside to do a bit of exercise. The courtyard of the manor is square-shaped, the earth is soft, almost as much as sand, and not particularly well-kept. There are small stones and pebbles on the ground and errant foliage and weeds that grow in the corners. You do a few sprints to warm up your muscles and then go through some of the training forms you learned in the military. After about an hour, you work up a good sweat and washing yourself with some water the servants left for you in a bucket, you also retire to bed.

You wake the next morning feeling a little sore (it's been a month or so since you've done any real exercise) but well-refreshed and ready to face the day. The smell of fried eggs and more of the stew from last night doesn't hurt matters either. After eating your fill, you decide to the spend the morning:

>In Millbow, waiting for this Murdrow to show up. You want to have a man-to-man "chat".
>At home, practicing your letters. A lord should know how to read and write!
>Exploring the countryside, just to get feel for the lay of the land

>>3105014
Explore the countryside.

>>3105014
>>In Millbow, waiting for this Murdrow to show up. You want to have a man-to-man "chat".

>>3105014
>In Millbow, waiting for this Murdrow to show up. You want to have a man-to-man "chat".

>>3105014
>In Millbow, waiting for this Murdrow to show up. You want to have a man-to-man "chat".

>>3105027
>>3105032
>>3105034
Writing!

>>3105014
Make a mental note to hire a groundskeeper, as well as a proper adviser and scribe. Maybe save up some money to pay for a scribe's staff, so that he can keep ledgers and records of the goings on. We need a proper staff team if we want to get the administration and taxation of this place underway.

>peasant lord quest again
There’s like 4 of these running at once now come on

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News of this Murdrow has your blood boiling, not even out of rage--from what you can tell this land has been lordless for a while, so its understandable that a vulture would come to pick at the bones--but rather because you're itching to fight again. You put the on the mail shirt the king gifted you, but leave the sword behind opting instead for the thick, leather-wrapped walking stick you used to get here. You'd rather avoid killing him if at all possible, at least not without letting the peasants get at him first.

You arrive at Millbow a little before noon. Since you passed through here on your way to the manor, most of the peasants know your face and greet you respectfully (if with a bit of indifference). You make some small talk with the villagers asking them for details on Murdrow. You know from the servant girls that he usually comes around every other Thursday, not always to collect, but just to bully the men and eye the young girls. You tell everyone to alert you when he does arrive and spend the rest of the time taking a head count of the village (you count 13 souls in all, a bit off from your original estimate) and take a look at the well.

Just as the sun reaches its zenith, a young lad runs up to you, kicking up dust behind him, to tell you that Murdrow has arrived and is threatening his father.

>Ambush the bastard, get behind him and knock him down
>Attempt to parley with him, mostly just to have a fair fight
>Just watch from a distance for now, see what this Murdrow does

>>3105068
>Attempt to parley with him, mostly just to have a fair fight.

Walk up right behind him and call him out by name, but don't call him out too soon. Get close enough that he can't reasonably run away without getting fucked for trying.

>>3105076
Writing!

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36 KB JPG

>>3105076

You follow the child to a small hut, in front of which a thick-browed man is speaking quietly to an older peasant, who has his hat in his hands and is turning it over and over as though expecting to find a hidden coin in some secret fold. Murdrow is tall, with long black hair and a gaunt, angular face, like that of a stone gargoyle. Heft over his shoulder is a small hatchet, which, though it looks like it has seen better years, nevertheless looks sharp enough to separate body parts as well as any log.

There's a brief moment of hesitation because of the disparity in the lethality of your weapons but this is soon forgotten by a greater urge for battle.

"Murdrow!" You call out, slamming your walking stick to the earth. He turns and on seeing your mail shirt, immediately turns pale.

"Who're you?" He says, running his tongue over his teeth and flashing his eyes to the sides of him, clearly looking for an exit. You take a few steps forward and he backs away. "Stay back!" He says, brandishing the hatchet in front of him. "I'll rive you, I'll rive you across the nape."

You smirk. "Try it." You say and take another step forward.

>Roll 1d20+7 (+5 Accomplished Fighter, +2 Mail Shirt) vs
>DC 12 (+2 Uneven Weaponry)

Rolled 6 + 7 (1d20 + 7)

>>3105110

I attempt to walk forward and clobber him over the head with my stick, in order to bring a swift end to the fight.

Forgot to mention, this is a roll and count successes system, I need three dice rolls [/spoilers]

Rolled 3, 1 + 7 = 11 (2d7 + 7)

>>3105123

>>3105158
So separating the two, I got 3+7 = 10 and 1+7 = 8.

>>3105162
I think you rolled a 2d7, not a d20

Rolled 17, 2 + 7 = 26 (2d20 + 7)

>>3105170

Oh durr, I'm stupid. Big apologies!

>>3105178
Not a problem! Writing now.

>>3105110

Murdrow swings his ax straight at your head, it's not only easy to read, it's so slow that you're able to catch the shaft of the weapon with your bare hand. He pulls back, but not before you use your off-hand to snap your walking stick against the side of his knee making him yelp in pain and buckle to one leg. You swing down at his head and he rolls to the side and stands up, this time throwing the hatchet at your head. You duck the spinning blade and are knocked to the ground by a charge. He attempts to choke you, but you bash him in the face with your forehead and he screams and falls back clutching his broken nose.

Your head is buzzing but you quickly get to your feet and whap him on the chest and stomach until he's spilling his guts on the ground. He crawls back on the mud, holding up his hand in the way a frightened child might. "P-please. Don't. I won't do it again."

"Kill him! Kill him, m'lord. Kill him!" Says the old man with the hat. Then, in case there was any ambiguity about his instructions, he repeats them again at the top of his lungs.

>String him up and let the peasants have their way with him
>Cut off his head and put it somewhere it can deter other such miscreants
>Let him go with a warning, if he comes here again you'll bring your sword

>>3105217
I'm actually going to go with something a bit different.

I'd like to tie him up, parading him through the town so the peasants can yell at him, throw rocks, rotten fruits, et cetera.

Then I'd like to construct a small hangman's pole on the outskirts of town, and have him hanged right there, along with a plaque explaining exactly who he was and why he's now dead.

>>3105217
>String him up and let the peasants have their way with him

>>3105217
rip OP..???

>>3105223
>>3105235
Since these are about the same. I'll combine them. Writing!

>>3105293
Nope, just stepped out for a bit

>>3105295
OP resurrected!!!!!

>>3105217

You tell the old man to get some rope and tie up Murdrow. You have nothing personal against the bandit, but he'll need to be made an example of, so others don't take his place. Once he's tied up you parade him through the village, letting the abused peasants spit on him and throw rocks. All the while he begs for mercy, but neither you nor the peasants are interested in his pleas.

Once the villagers are through you have him hung on the outskirts of town, a scarecrow to all mischief-makers.

This whole proceeding takes up the rest of your afternoon and you return around evening for supper, leaving you the rest of the cool night to do with as you please. Unfortunately, it's started to rain outside, just a gentle spring shower so you'll have to limit yourself to the indoors. You decide to spend the rest of the evening:

>Working on your letters
>Going to bed early for some extra sleep
>Taking a warm bath to relax your body

>>3105313
Fuck letters, I've had a long day. I'll send a servant to the city in the morning to hire a scribe to write my letters for me.

>Take a warm bath to relax your body.

>>3105316
You have the servants boil some water for you and draw up a warm bath before they head to sleep. The manor does not have a pool or a bath of any kind so you have to resort to using a large empty barrel lying outside in the rain. You bring the barrel to a spot where the overhang from the manor shelters it from the drizzle and then jump in. The contrast of the boiling hot water with the cool wet wind on your face is a delightful one and it's not until the waters start to grow lukewarm that you decide to head inside--by then it's nearly midnight, but you feel thoroughly refreshed and your sleep comes easily.

The next morning you begin to muse on the various issues that remain in your fief, namely the wolves and the dried up well. Yesterday's visit cleared up some of uncertainties in your account of the fief:

>Demographics
Population: 7/15 (sure)
Skilled: 0 (sure)

>Resources
Fields: 1/3 (certain)
Food: 4 (sure)
Cattle: 3 (sure)

>Defenses
Soldiers: 0 (certain)

In particular it seems that two of your fields are going unworked simply because there isn't enough peasants to work them. Several families had abandoned there homes because of Murdrow's harassment, but mostly because of the well. Without a reliable water source, it's become impossible to water the fields when the weather turns warm. Even food has become scarce and the village grocer has taken to buying food from a nearby town. In a month or so his money will run out and then your fief will starve.

You think about these matters all through breakfast and then for the rest of the morning you:

>Head to Millbow to try dig for another water source
>Explore the countryside bit, perhaps there's a river nearby you can channel
>Take a trip to the nearest town, Gladstone

>>3105354
Well, the first thing I would like to do is tell one of my servants to go to the nearest city with a significant craftman's guild, to go get an engineer who can fix our water situation. I order him to bring the engineer here so that I can work out a contract with him.

Next, I'd like to
>Explore the countryside a bit

But the main reason I want to do this isn't so much for water, but for finding wolf tracks so that I can find their den. Although, if I do find a river, that'd be nice too.

I think I'll call it day for now, as it seems like most of my players have fallen asleep (or abandoned the quest, which I hope is not the case) Will try to continue tomorrow.

>>3105368
Alright, gn! Do you have any way of alerting us as to when the next quest will start?

>>3105354
Explore the countryside.

>>3105364
Damn. This guy's got some good ideas.

>>3105377
I'm hesitant to setup a twitter just yet, I'd like to run a few sessions first (1-3 threads) to see if I can sustain a steady pool of players.

For now lets just say that I'll be running again around the same time (5:00-30 PM PST)

>>3105364
+1

>>3105364
+1

>>3105354
>Explore the countryside bit, perhaps there's a river nearby you can channel
>that barrel of moldy potatoes must go. Don't want to get sick from it.Maybe plant them.

>>3105354
>Get a hunting party together.Can hunt down some food and wolves while looking for that water source.
>Maybe give them some combat training too

>>3105364
>>3105411
>>3105818
>>3105978
>>3106150
>>3106163

Consensus seems to be exploring the countryside and a chat with your servants about the well. Writing!

File: 1523003819417.jpg (2.39 MB, 2048x1080)

2.39 MB JPG

>>3105354
The matter of the well is still on your mind, so you decide to speak to one of your servants about seeking out an engineer, someone who can aid with the process of digging out a new well. Your servant regrets to inform you that such skilled laborers are unlikely to be found close to home. Nevertheless he provides you with a number of choices:

1. The nearby town of Gladstone, which is a full daytrip away on foot, might have an engineer on hand that's passing through, but it's very unlikely
2. Fort Pendragon, about three day's journey west, is currently under some reconstruction so it's very likely they have an engineer onsite. However, since he's already occupied it will take quite a bit of "incentive" to get his attention.
3. Pendleton's Port is a coastal trading hub about week's journey west. It is a free city ruled by the guilds so they are certain to have an engineer willing to work at a reasonable wage, though such a long journey is not without its risks.

The servant is more than happy to make the trip himself, provided you supply him with coin for his travels.

(You have 2 dubloons, 53 florins)
>Send him to Gladstone (cost*: 2 florin)
>Send him to Fort Pendragon (cost: 4 florins)
>Send him to Pendleton's Port (cost: 1 dubloon**, 11 florins)
>Forget it, you'll make do without the engineer

*This does not include the wages for the engineer which will range from 1 to 7 florins per week (this includes food and board).
**1 gold dubloon is worth approximately 15 silver florins

For the rest of the morning you decide to explore the countryside. The farmers you spoke to yesterday told you that the wolf pack is likely hiding in the forests northwest of the village (which is to say, a few miles west of the manor), so you set off with the intention of tracking their movements and possibly locating their den. You forego your mail shirt for some padded clothing (an old gambeson that you used to wear when you were a soldier) and take your sword, just in case you run into any trouble. It's unfortunate you don't have anything along the lines of a bow or sling. Admittedly you're not very skilled with such weapons, but they could be useful for hunting game--if there's any game to be found.

>Roll 1d20 to see what you find

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>3107163
Forget the engineer.

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>3107183
>>3107163
>Send him to Pendleton's Port (cost: 1 dubloon**, 11 florins)

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>3107163

>>3107163
>Forget it, you'll make do without the engineer

>>3107183
>>3107185
>>3107196

We'll continue on with the exploration, but I'll leave the engineer vote open till the next update (at which point I'll roll if there's still a tie). Writing.

>>3107163

By the time you cross the hills and fields and reach the borders of the forest, it's already late morning. The tree cover is light at first but quickly becomes thick enough to hinder easy movement. You find yourself making circuitous detours, looking for openings between the trees and thornbushes, keeping an eye out for tracks and signs of the wolves. The trees and the soil smell as they must in the aftermath of rain, and it is not long before you find a collection of paw-prints, ruined foliage and animal droppings which indicate that you're not alone.

You follow these signatures as far as you're able, well into noon, at which point you break for a quick lunch and rest and then continue on your search. You are careful to leave markings of your own, to ensure that you don't get lost in this twisted wood. Eventually the tracks lead you to the pleasant sound of moving water. The treeline breaks suddenly to show you a broad river that cuts through the forest body like a scar. At the bank of the river there are a litter of wolf pups lounging against their mother, who in turn lies beneath a small overhang created from the lip of a hill. Neither the she-wolf nor her pups have noticed your presence, and you don't see the male among them.

It seems the farmers greatly exaggerated the danger--it's only a single family, not a pack. Though if the pups grow to maturity, that might be cause for concern. You decide to:

>Head back for now, you know where they are and you'd like to return before dark
>Wait and observe the wolves, at least until the male returns
>Ambush the pups and the mother now while the male is away

>>3107183
>>3107199
Looks like we're going without the engineer then!

>>3107237
>>Ambush the pups and the mother now while the male is away

>>3107237
>Ambush the pups and the mother now while the male is away

>>3107237
>>Head back for now, you know where they are and you'd like to return before dark.

Get a small gang to help.

>>3107249
>>3107254

>Roll 1d20+6 (+5 Accomplished Fighter, +1 Gambeson) vs
>DC 13 (+2 Wild Animal, +1 Defending Young)

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>3107270

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>3107270

Rolled 9 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3107270
Rolling and tolling.

>>3107281
>>3107292
>>3107294
Writing!

>>3107300
Hi OP, I'm back! Sorry for not catching this earlier, but it's a good thing I'm here now. Let's kill some dogs, shall we?

>>3107237
>>3107237

You don't suppose you'll get a better oppportunity than this. Releasing your long sword from its scabbard, you creep behind bushes and shrubs until the den is straight ahead of you. Then taking a moment to brace yourself, you jump out and run straight for the mother, aiming to run her through chest.

The mother looks up at the sound and the pups wake and begin to whine from the movement. She stands on all legs and bares her teeth, pushing her children behind her with her paws. The moment you get too close she leaps across the air and several dozen pounds of wolf lands on your chest, pushing you off balance and clamping down on your arm just below the shoulder.

You fall backwards, but not before drawing your sword against the she-wolf's flank, cutting deep into her abdomen and nearly slicing her in half. As she bleeds out all over your body, the jaws clamped on your arm loosen further and further until finally, with a last gasp, her legs lose strength and she goes limp. You roll her off and stand. Some of the pups growl at you, some lick their mother's wounds and face, as if trying to wake her.

In the den you can see various bones and remains, indicating that these were indeed the cattle killers. The male might be back at any moment, but without the she-wolf it's unlikely that he'll continue to attack your livestock. The only matter that remains are the pups, there are six of them in total, in various stages of maturity, though all a few years from being fully grown.

>Kill them all, you can't risk them growing up and bothering you again in a few years and their skins will fetch a premium at the market
>Take them with you, perhaps you can sell them at Gladstone to a traveling circus
>Leave them, they'll likely starve to death without their mother and those that god spares, you can deal with later

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>>3107345
>Take them with you

But don't sell them. Personal doggo army!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>>3107345
>Kill them all, you can't risk them growing up and bothering you again in a few years and their skins will fetch a premium at the market.

>>3107359
how dare you overlook the possibility of a personal doggo army??????

Think about it, we have no guards and we're so broke we can't even hire an engineer to build a canal. Wolves are practically free and are pretty gnarly in a fight!

>>3107345

Take them with you but don't sell them

>>3107353
>>3107380
Please note that you don't have any experience in handling animals and that wolves are actually quite difficult to tame. You'd have to hire a skilled handler to attempt to tame them.

>>3107400
I will absolutely spend as much money as needed in order to get my personal doggo army. We can let the handler live in the manor to reduce costs via rent.

>>3107345
>Kill them all, you can't risk them growing up and bothering you again in a few years and their skins will fetch a premium at the market

>>3107345
op

>>3107345
>>Kill them all, you can't risk them growing up and bothering you again in a few years and their skins will fetch a premium at the market

>>3107345
>Kill them all, you can't risk them growing up and bothering you again in a few years and their skins will fetch a premium at the market
Sentimental idiots can't set their priorities straight

>>3107345
>Kill them all, you can't risk them growing up and bothering you again in a few years and their skins will fetch a premium at the market


we are poor new noble with just a village.

Our wealth don t exist, we are barely know and we don t even have a single bond with other noble familys.

and we need a military i suggest to go to the nearest city and hire 5 archers, 10 spearmen and at least a sergeant.
it s should be enough if there are bandits groups in the region, obsiouvly not now we need to fix more our lands. Perhaps even attract new peasants or try a marriage with a near noble family.

>>3107345
>Take them with you, perhaps you can sell them at Gladstone to a traveling circus
We can always kill them for their Skin later if nobody wants em alive

>>3107359
>>3107445
>>3107871
>>3107889
>>3107949
>>3107987

Sorry for disappearing abruptly like that I wasn't able to post anything for some reason

Writing!

>>3107345

The skins will fetch a pretty penny at the market and you're not willing to let a small problem become a bigger one in the future. You quickly slit the throats of the remaining pups and toss them into your bag. After cleaning the she-wolf at the river you sling her body over your shoulders as well and set off for home.

The sun slips past the horizon just as you reach your doorstep. Your servants are wide-eyed at your gore-covered form, one of them actually screams (the male one, to your surprise). They help you put away the animals and then draw up a bath before dinner.

As you undress you note that the sleeve of your gambeson is torn from the shoulder and there are deep gouges in the body, rendering it useless. You could have one of your servants or someone from Millbow take a look at it, though you suspect you're better off sending it to Gladstone to more experienced hands. The same goes for the pelts, though you can just as easily sell the corpses by themselves. They should fetch a dubloon or two.

At the very least your sleep is made sweeter by the knowledge that the cattle are safe and that on the whole, it was a good fight.

It is morning of the 14th day of the Bull. After your usual breakfast you sit pondering what to do this morning. You decide to:

>Make a trip to Gladstone, to sell the pelts and get your gambeson repaired
>Do some exercise and physical training to keep in shape
>Visit Millbow to spread the news of wolf and see how your villagers are faring

>>3108468
>>Do some exercise and physical training to keep in shape
news of the wolves will spread by itself, no need to be a glory-hound

>>3108468
by the way, they river we found the wolves by, is it close enough to the town for irrigation purposes?

>>3108468
Send someone to Gladstone. Go to Millbow.

>>3108488
supporting

>>3108477
>>3108468
Indeed, spread word of the river.
Also
>Go to Gladstone
We could find someone to help dig the irrigation channel and make it known that most problems are solved so that peasants come back.

>>3108477
From where you found it, it's at least a few miles so to dig the channels would be a major endeavor. However the river extends through the forest in a winding path so it might be closer somewhere else.

I won't be posting till later in the day (at least 6-7 hours from now) just wanted to get a post out so people don't think I'm dead

Things to do:
1. Sell wolf pelts (show them to peasants first to increase morales)
2. Attempt to bring back peasant that left our lands (We done some good things and found water source so that should be easy)
3. Create irrigation (That's one a little bit difficult to do on a budget without disturbing peasants work in the fields)
Hear some ideas how to go about it:
a) hire some laborers from town easiest option and probably the fastest one
b) we could try talking with local lord ask him for permission (probably pay him) to recruit settlers for our land. As a boon to incurege them we cen offer them stuff like right to cut trees for one year free from taxes for 1 year and additional 1 year to enyone who will help building irrigation
c) we can simple ordered our peasants to do it it would be cheapest option would took longest amount of time but it would take them away from fields so crops would suffer even more
*Option b is questionable because it's depend on many things for instance can we afford it? I would assume we also paying taxes so how much and how often? Also we probably would need provide head start buying tools and food for our settlers so yeah probably really costly thay could live from foraging for the time bing...
4. Hunting for specialist.
People that in my opinion we could benefit from
Sargent some kind of war veteran, retired guard
Carpenter would help imensly with eny kind of work
Men of cloth priest/monk if there is religion?

>>3108468

I'm new and can't choose

Sorry I was trying to use the dice

>>3113243
1d3

>>3113247

Hope it works this time

>>3113255
dice+1d3

Please work

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>3113260
Please work

>>3108488
>>3108493
Writing!

So sorry for not posting earlier, I had work-related stuff come up.

File: village.png (1.01 MB, 1005x565)

1.01 MB PNG

You decide to pay a visit to Millbow and spread word of your successful hunt. You take the head of the she-wolf with you, as proof, and the rest of her and the bodies of the pups you give to one of your servants to take to Gladstone and sell. As before he asks for some traveling funds, which you readily supply.

>-2 Florins, 2d 51f remaining

You also tell him to inquire about an engineer and to bring back any other laborers or peasants willing to settle in Millbow. He agrees to do all this and leaves around mid-morning, promising to return by tomorrow afternoon (as the trip to Gladstone is nearly 8 hours on foot).

At Millbow, the people are greatly heartened by your quick solution to two of their biggest problems. Even the last is partially solved by your revelation of the river. A few of the young men in the village even say they wish to join you on one of your future exploratory jaunts, if you'll have them. It's clear they're trying to curry favor, but there's also a measure of admiration in their eyes in serving a master who can draw up his own shirt-sleeves when there's work to be done.

The morning passes in cheerful conversation with these young men and you are reminded of the small squad that you led during your time in the lord's armies. As afternoon approaches, you break for supper in the house of one of the villagers. The mother of the house, a incorrigble gossip, prattles on about this untill eventually she hits on something that catches your interest: the peasants have been hearing strange sounds coming from one of the houses in the village and have seen shadows and shapes moving about it in the dark of night. They've concluded that it's haunted with some kind of spectre and have left it alone, but recently things have started to go missing around the village. Nothing serious, a few eggs, a handful of potatoes, a blanket drying on a clothesline. When a few of the village men tried to enter the house, they found it locked and barred and being of the superstitious sort, decided a few vittles and a quilt wasn't worth a curse on their heads.

Upon hearing this you decide to:
>Spend your afternoon investigating this house
>Head back home for a well-deserved midday nap
>Relax in the village with the youths for remainder of the day

>>3113612
Investigate the house.

>>3113612
>>Spend your afternoon investigating this house

also ask the young men if they would like to receive some militia training

>>3113612
>Spend your afternoon investigating this house

Gotta investigate. Probably an orphan from the war

>>3113612
>Spend your afternoon investigating this house

>>3113612
>Spend your afternoon investigating this house

>>3113612
Do some investigating,
Probably a homelesss

>>3114021
>>3114195
>>3114562
>>3114719
>>3114762
>>3114952
>>3115122
Writing!

>>3115122
What if the guy we hung had a kid living in there?
hang the kid too.

The mystery of the house intrigues you, if only because you never put much stock in the supernatural. Most such things are only plays of shadow and human fear, ghosts of the mind. This "spectre" is likely nothing more than a thief or squatter, in which case he must be brought to justice.

The house itself is in disrepair, one of the oldest and longest abandoned. Wildflowers and weeds are up to the windows. The wood smells like something had died inside it and every few seconds you feel the urge to sneeze from the thick flurries of dust that rise from the floorboards of the porch. The door is indeed locked from within and the windows boarded up (though that was done long ago). You knock, and upon hearing no reply you promptly kick the door down. It shatters into two pieces, cracking down the middle, and you come into an empty foyer, faintly lit by slits of sunlight from grimy windows.

Little footprints, five toes and a heel, trail from the door up a staircase on your right.

"I know there's someone here. This your last chance to come out!" No response. Then, the patter of feet above your head, the creaking of wood and the sound of window shutters being thrown open. Taking the stairs two at a time, you bound to the top floor, making straight for the room above the back of the house.

This door too is locked, but you open it with the same trick as the one below, revealing...a little girl, about 11 or 12, with one foot already out a small window opening to the backyard. A jump from this height would break her bones, if not outright kill her.

>Attempt to grab her before she jumps
>Speak with her, attempt to reason
>Let her jump, she won't be getting far

>>3115363
>Speak with her, attempt to reason
You will break your feet legs if you jump, and there is no doctor around here.

>>3115363
>Attempt to grab her before she jumps
Speaking will only startle her

>>3115363
>Attempt to grab her before she jumps
We are fighter so i assume catching her should be easier
then talking her down from jumping

>>3115373
>>3115383
>Roll 1d20+3(+3 Accomplished Fighter reflexes) vs
>DC 10

Rolled 16 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

rollin

Rolled 10 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3115418
Let's go.

Rolled 2 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3115418

>>3115363

On seeing your face the girl loses her balance and goes teetering side-ways through the window. She would have landed on directly on her head, if not for your quick reflexes. You grab her little ankle just as it's about to slip past the windowsill, so that she hangs upside down against the side of the house.

You easily pull her back in but the moment you set her down, she again tries to escape, making a mad dash for the doorway. You seize her by the waist and pull her back, at which point she gives up the struggle but bursts into tears, covering her eyes with her balled up fists, yet without making any noise.

"I'm not going to hurt you." You say, turning her around and kneeling to her level. "Who are you?"

She doesn't speak and only sniffs and drags her arm across the bottom of her running nose. Her hair is bunched up behind her like a tumbleweed, black with patches of faint gold that suggest a natural color masked by layers of soot and grime. Her white robes, torn at the shoulder and full of holes, nevertheless mark her as a sister-in-waiting, a little nun not yet of age. Her feet are bare and covered in small cuts and bruises and a strip of cloth is wound tightly around her hand, covering a more serious wound. When you go to inspect this injured paw she flinches and protects it, not even letting you touch it, as though it were some great girlish secret. Her face is gaunt and as you hold her you can distinctly feel the curvature of every one of her ribs. A poor, pathetic creature as any you've ever met.

"What is your name little nun?" You say. She winces at the address and her eyes grow wide in her head, as if to say "my secret!". She speaks, yet it is so quiet that all you can make out are the movement of her lips and you must press your ear nearly to her mouth to hear the sounds they make.

"It is Lily sir." She says.

>Take her back to the manor and interrogate her there. She'll be more conducive to speech after a hot meal and a bath
>Demand to know why she's been squatting in this house before doing anything else
>Drag her out into the street to show the villagers their "spectre"

>>3115542
>Take her back to the manor and interrogate her there. She'll be more conducive to speech after a hot meal and a bath

>>3115542
>Take her back to the manor and interrogate her there. She'll be more conducive to speech after a hot meal and a bath

>>3115542

>Take her back to the manor and interrogate her there. She'll be more conducive to speech after a hot meal and a bath

>>3115542
Back to the manor.

>>3115542
>Take her back to the manor and interrogate her there. She'll be more conducive to speech after a hot meal and a bath

>>3115558
>>3115563
>>3115575
>>3115598
>>3115607
Writing!

You don't think you'll get much more out of her than that, but a hot bowl of stew and a warm bath might make her more agreeable to questions. You take her hand (which she gives with great reluctance and with a confused grimace) and take her all the way back to the manor, lifting her up on your shoulders when she gets too tired to match your pace and setting her down again she recovers.

It's nearly evening by the time you return. You tell your lone servant to heat up some food and water while you ready the bath. Your servant is a little confused at suddenly having to service a street urchin (albeit one dressed like a nun), but doesn't ask too many questions.

At dinner, the girl does not show the same reticence as she did before, gulping down big spoonfuls of stew without so much as tasting it and, though never outright asking for seconds, never refusing one when it is offered either. It's almost more enjoyable to watch her eat then it is to eat yourself and even find a smile tickling your lips when your servant mops up her chin with an apron, and scolds her for "bolting her food like a naughty pup." After dinner, you tell your servant to bathe her, give her a change of clothes and then bring her to your study to talk.

She's almost unrecognizable when you see her afterward. The dirt has been scrubbed away revealing a petite, girlish face that suggests a kind of soft beauty that will come to her in womanhood. Her hair is a bright gold, the color of hay, and has, by no small effort, been made straight and lustrous as a waterfall, extending all the way down to the small of her back. She's clothed in a simple, but clean white dress that extends to her ankles, cloth shoes, and a little pink bow in her hair.

She curtsies as she enters, shivering and trembling all over, picking at the bandages still covering her right hand, shifting uneasily from foot to foot.

You decide to:

>Get straight to the point, who is she and why was she hiding in your village?
>Try to set her at ease by talking about your own family, particularly your sister whom she reminds you of
>Wait in silence until she speaks

>>3115659
> Try to set her at ease by talking about your own family, particularly your sister whom she reminds you of

>>3115659
>Try to set her at ease by talking about your own family, particularly your sister whom she reminds you of

>>3115659
>Try to set her at ease by talking about your own family, particularly your sister whom she reminds you of

>>3115659
Set her at ease.

>>3115665
>>3115669
>>3115673
>>3115675
Writing!

You pat the seat beside you at the table and she curtsies again as she sits, taking great care to stare at the hands in her lap, rather than making eye-contact.

"How do you feel?"

"Better, sir. Thank you, sir. Yes quite very much better sir." She nods as she talks and her voice is still small, but is now at least audible. Occasionally she glances around the room and her eyes seem to wander across the spines of the books on your shelves, and there is a quiet understanding that passes on her face, suggesting familiarity and even love.

"Do you know something? You remind me a lot of my sister."

"Yes, sir. Your sister, sir." She nods again.

"I haven't seen her since she got married, but we used to be very close. She was the elder and used to tease me mercilessly. Used to called me Frog."

"Yes, sir. Frog, sir. Frog, sir?"

"I had a bit of a...wart problem, when I was a lad."

"Yes sir." She covers her mouth. "Warts, sir." She says, trying not to giggle.

"Oh yes, all over my face. Master Frog, she would call me. One summer, I remember she somehow convinced me that if I got one of the village girls to kiss me, I'd turn into a prince. Normally a young lad doesn't need much encouragement to chase skirts, but I was the shy sort and didn't have much luck with the fairer sex. The warts didn't help much either. I did get my kiss in the end, though I wish I hadn't."

"Yes, sir. Wish you hadn't sir?"

"Well the only girl willing to kiss me was Suzy Bullround, the butcher's daughter. And...well to put it bluntly, she had something of a hairlip problem. Fact is, she had more mustache than I did."

The little girl begins to laugh, clamping both hands over her mouth.

"My sister had a good laugh though in the end, I suppose did become something like a prince, so who's to say it didn't work?"

"Yes, sir. A prince sir." She nods, still smiling.

"And do you have any family, little nun?"

She looks up at you and her hands slowly fall away from her mouth and return to her lap and her shoulders slump. She shakes her head.

"Are they passed?"

She nods. "Plague, sir."

"And you were sent to the cloister?"

She nods.

"And you ran away."

She gives you that surprised look again, and then nods.

"Because?"

She squeezes her eyes shut and purses her lips. "Because the high priest and me had a...disagreement sir."

"A disagreement."

"Yes, sir. Disagreement sir. Quite, very, big, bad disagreement, sir."

"Over what? Over religion?"

"Oh no, sir. Not, religion sir."

"Did he treat you badly then? Yell at you? Beat you?" Such things are common means of discipline, but you've heard stories of them going too far.

She remains silent for a moment, but finally says, in a very quiet voice. "No sir, he never beat me sir. Never me, sir."

"Then what was it?"

1/2

>>3115765
She doesn't say. She picks at her bandage and trembles and when you place your hands on her shoulder she winces and shrinks into herself. "Please don't sir." She says, very quietly, almost as if by reflex.

You decide to:

>Dismiss her, it's late and she should get some rest
>Press her, you've shown her great hospitality, the least she can do is answer your questions
>Ask her something else (write-in)

>>3115768
>>Dismiss her, it's late and she should get some rest.
It'd better not be what I think it is.

>>3115768
Dismiss her.

>>3115768
>>Dismiss her, it's late and she should get some rest
Whatever she can be our servant girl or something.

>>3115768
>Dismiss her, it's late and she should get some rest
Let's think what to do with her tomorrow. Servant? Probably the best, see if someone in the village is up for adoption probably not for the lack of water and food, send her back she escapes again.

>>3115779
>>3115787
>>3115792
>>3115794
Writing!

File: Priest.jpg (55 KB, 564x802)

55 KB JPG

Her reaction troubles you and you decide to dismiss her to let her get some rest. She seems immedieately relieved by this and curtsies one more time before quickly taking her leave.

In the morning, you find her setting the table with your servant. For the moment you decide not to press the issue of why she ran away. She's already taken on the role of a servant with your saying so, probably as a way of trying to remain in your house. You have no problem with it, as she appears to be a diligent worker and you can always use more servants.

Your servant returns from Gladstone shortly after you've finished breakfast--earlier than you expected and with a few friends in tow.

"My lord, may I present the High Priest Zachyriah and his retinue." Says your servant. The High Priest dismounts from a horse-drawn, covered carriage, of which your servant was also a passenger. He's a tall man, wearing the characteristic white robes and cloak of the priestly class, with a column of buttons down the front and a broad yellow sash around his waist. His head is completely clean of hair and his eyes are small and thin like they were held in a perpetual squint at something distant. His face has a self-assured smile, suggesting a kind of confidence among those that always get what they want. The retinue of plate-armored and mounted soldiers, four in all, suggest likewise.

"How do you do, lord?" He says, bending his head ever so slightly in your direction. "I do apologize for my barbaric intrusion, but I am in something of a spot and would greatly appreciate your assistance."

"The High Priest was going the same way and offered me a ride, my lord." Says your servant, suggesting that he too would appreciate you assisting the priest.

You decide to:

>Refuse, you have a feeeling you know why he's here
>Accept, the High Priest of a congregation is a powerful man indeed, refusing him hospitality would be a grave error
>Ask his business first, before you extend any invitations

>>3115858
>Accept, the High Priest of a congregation is a powerful man indeed, refusing him hospitality would be a grave error
Hid the kid?

>>3115858
Ask about his business here.

really? not even a full day passes and hes here. real convenient. now would he have simply ignored our place if we didnt check out the house.

>Accept, the High Priest of a congregation is a powerful man indeed, refusing him hospitality would be a grave error
have a servant hide the kid and question her. if shed not forthcoming we toss her to the pedepriest

>>3115980
Ah but consider that he might have been coming this way to begin with. Even if you had ignored the house, he would have come anyway.

>>3115998
not even a day to bond or connect or develop any rapport with the girl. i feel like tossing her to the dickwolves just for bringing this guy onto us to deal with. she better be royalty or something to be worth dealing with this guy.

just how good are we at fighting ?
can we get some lore on how we saved the king and the situation that lead him to being generous with giving us a fief?

>>3115858
>>Accept, the High Priest of a congregation is a powerful man indeed, refusing him hospitality would be a grave error

>>3115899
>>3115996
>>3116812

Refusing him would be foolhardy, yet from your conversation last night with the little girl, you can guess why he's come. You take a moment to tell your servant relay a message to the girl, for her to hide somewhere while the priest is here. He walks off, looking a little confused, but nevertheless obeying your commands.

Turning to the High Priest, you bow your head in the same manner. "You'll find my house is humble but you are welcome in it, High Priest."

"Wonderful. Please is there somewhere we might speak in private? It is a delicate matter, you understand."

"In my study, right this way."

He gestures for his men to remain at the courtyard and a moment later you are seated at the desk in your study. There was no sign of the girl as you passed through your halls, so your servant was able to pass the message along. Now you just have to get rid of the Priest.

"So, what seems to be the problem? I admit I'm not the most pious man but I have great respect for the church and--"

"Please, there's no need for all that. I'm just looking for someone that may have passed through here." He reaches into a pocket in his sash, pulls out a folded up piece of parchment and hands it to you. "Please, don't let her appearance deceive you, lord." He says, as you open up the paper. "That girl is wanted for crimes against God."

It's a drawing of the little girl, as you expected, except the artist has taken the liberty of adding a pair of glowing red eyes, instead of the pale green ones she actually has.

"What did she do exactly?"

The High Priest touches his fingertips together, forming a spear with his hands. "I'm not at liberty to discuss the details, lord. Such are the edicts of the church in these sensitive matters. Suffice it to say, she was caught participating in certain unwholesome activities and was subsequently branded for swift punishment."

"Witchcraft! She's a witch?"

The High Priest gives you one of his, calm, self-assured smiles. "I can neither confirm nor deny this suspicion. All I can say, is that the church has empowered me to recompense anyone that delivers this criminal to us. Preferably alive, though the reward is the same in either case." He reaches again into his sash and this time retrieves a small drawstring purse which he drops with a satisfying weighty clink on to the table. "30 dubloons. And of course, the gratitude of the church, the congregation and most of all myself, which I think you'll find is of even greater value."

You drum your fingers nervously on the armrest of your chair. 30 dubloons would be a generous addition to your coffers, more than enough to purchase the necessary labor to work your fields, dig a new well or even dig canals from the river. A horse costs only 10 dubloons. A new set of good clothes might cost 2 or 3. And the money represents a security against unforeseen disasters, famines, floods, acts of god.

1/2

>>3116850
On the other hand, there's only one punishment in store for a branded witch: death by burning oil.

"So, lord, I judge by your sudden interest that have you seen the criminal in question?"

You decide to:

>Give up the girl for the money, and consider it your good fortune that you found her
>Keep your lies simple and tell the Priest you haven't seen anyone that looks like her
>Make up a story about how you heard a rumor of someone fitting this description some place far from here

>>3116173

Skills in this quest have ranks, which range from +1 to +7. Having +7 in a skill is equivalent to being one of the best in the world in that skill. You are an Accomplished Fighter, which gives you a +5 bonus to combat (among other things). This puts you head and shoulders above the average soldier and even above those with natural talent (because of your extensive experience). You yourself are not short on talent either.

As for how you saved the king, this will be revealed in greater detail later on. For now, I'll say that you basically pulled him out of a bad ambush. While everyone else was retreating, you charged in to protect him.

>>3116851
>Give up the girl for the money, and consider it your good fortune that you found her

>>3116851
>Tell him that there were already talks in the village about haunted house, if they by any chance they learn about witch we won't hear end of it.

QM if this character knows anything about witchcraft? Like rumors legend? Is it even real?
Because knowing that would probably affect decisions

>>3116851
If our character believes that witchcraft is real, which he probably does:

>Give up the girl for the money, and consider it your good fortune that you found her

Best not to fuck around when it comes to spooky witch shit.

>Give up the girl for the money, and consider it your good fortune that you found her

>>3116851
>Keep your lies simple and tell the Priest you haven't seen anyone that looks like her

to those who want to send a child to her death.
she should have already used her magic on us when we were catching her.
it was probably something like magical puberty and she innocently played with it in front of everyone. And her hand was burned as punishment.

>>3116851
Tell him about the house, and keep the girl. If she has something that can help us we don't know. So let's find out first before we give her to the church

>>3116987
i think people saw us breaking in to it and coming out with the child.
plus the priest can detect footprints in the dust

>>3117003
All right but we should keep the girl, for now.

>>3116979
The problem isn't that we are afraid of her as a witch (even that is a possibility, considering the age period). The problem is that we would be hiding an enemy of the Church and if the Priests found out, we would be most likely stripped of our title and our life. Remember, we are a lowly and impoverished noble and nobody will care if the Church takes us life for harbouring a witch. We also have a responsibility to the people we govern over and the doubloons would help us greatly improve their standing and increase the prosperity of our fief. But I do feel bad for giving her over to this priest and I completely understand if the anons want to keep her from harm's way.

Man voting to let this rapist priest take the girl and burn her to death in oil. You motherfuckers are cold.

>>3116851

>Keep your lies simple and tell the Priest you haven't seen anyone that looks like her

>>3116851

>Give up the girl for the money, and consider it your good fortune that you found her

We will not daughteru this girl. She has been accused of witchcraft and we cannot afford to make an enemy of the Church.

If we want a daughteru, we will get one the old-fashioned way.

>>3117027
We have absolutely no in-character reason to believe that the priest is a rapist, and no real out-of-character reason either unless this church is an exact copy of the Catholic church, which it certainly doesn't sound like it is. We don't know enough about the setting yet to know if witches are a real thing that exists or not, but being a medieval setting our character probably believes that they do. Our choices are:
1. Harbour a potentially dangerous and evil witch and enemy of the church, become an enemy of the church ourselves, risk losing our lands and our life if found out, remain too impoverished to improve the lot of our subjects, and quite possibly end up getting fucked over if she really is a witch and she's just tricking us into helping her.
2. Hand what might be a witch but also might be just a little girl over to the church, they kill her, they look favourably on us for handing her over, we get enough money to make considerable improvements to our fief and raise the quality of life for all who live there.

The best option is clear. We cannot let the life of one child - who may not be as innocent as she makes out - come before the lives of those we are charged by the King to rule over and protect.

>>3117046
I mean for the most part the whole witch trials thing was politics not actual... you know, fear of witches. In character, I would suggest that it's false that we have "absolutely no in-character reason". From what we got out of that previous conversation with the girl I'd say we could at least have a gut instinct, an idea that she's been abused.

Anyway, realistically we don't have much of a character yet, these are choices that define who we are. I have no problem if we decide to be the kind of lord that does this, that's just the character so be it. I'm just saying OOC that's some cold shit, IC it seems like we thought she may be getting abused by the priesthood. No clear evidence obviously.

You make a good point though, I'd like OP to clarify whether the whole which thing is something we'd likely believe in character. Is it a confirmed thing? Is it a common superstition (although we've already been shown to not be very superstitious), is it something we'd recognize as foolishness? Seems like something that would impact the vote here

>>3117046
I see where you coming from but to be honest. We welcome her to our house fed her and patch her wounds and then we throw her to slaughter, it just doesn't seem right.

Our character already shown lack of believe in that kind of things for instance his approach towards "haunted house". Like he just said he's not really religious man either.

He is loyal to a king. Maybe approach of a king toward religion would influence MCs decision

>>3117081
Listen to this, he's got a point.

>>3116851
>Give up the girl for the money, and consider it your good fortune that you found her.

Not worth it, and from the words used by this man is clear that he knows is job.
They even have a drawing.

And he could just start asking questions to other people and remain a bit here.
The main problem in keeping her is what she has actually done and how magic works here (or if is just supersticion/ does our lord have seen magic already ?). Because the last thing we need to have now is to teach to this kid to not burn fields or summon demons.

Our peasants and is future childhood friends will probably not pass on the fact
of a kid wielding magic powers. Because even with the education and discipline we can give her (thanks to being a soldier), after 2/4 times that she cause a problem they will make is life hell. And the church will return here with some man at arms and knights for punish us as well, if there are too many magic related rumors about this child.

So keeping here is a suicide.

If you want to not see is death send her to the king and hope he really likes us or give her, refuse the money and ask to defend here in a religious court. Or just ask if we can kill her instead of the oil or something else.
I could change my vote or reconfirm it, if our character as already seen magic used (perhaps on the battlefield? Or by actually acts of witchcraft) or if the things he has seen were mostly supersticion. I can change my vote even if he knows just strange storys from inns.

See this is why I was annoyed at this event, no time for anything but to throw her away because there is virtually no reason to other than "morality".

We don't even know her name. If we are gonna sell out, we may as well sell out for the most we can milk outta this guy, ask for 10 more doubloons. I figure its the head honchos favorite girl.

There really is no choice, our character was made to give her away anyways with our reaction.

>>3117175
Correction

*,is what she has actually done a problem

>>3117185
Her name is Lily you heartless bastard.

Guys how about that. We keep her for now. We learn more about her if she stinks we sell her to a church. Just like Judas sold Jesus even amount of coin is same.

>>3117209
She. Has. No. Name.

Let her die.

>>3117209
Listen to this guy, if she as anything of value we keep her. This for you cold heart jerks

>>3117221
We don't know if she does tho, Judas KNEW who he was selling out.

File: Lily.jpg (124 KB, 564x805)

124 KB JPG

>>3117214
Then she anonymous just like us will you sell your brother for mere coin?

>>3117231
What?

That ugly picture makes me want to throw a witch out a window.

By Jove! Is this Salem or what?
By the way,the picture clearly shows the (cute)monster having red eyes.
Surely they are looking for a red eyed deamonette.

>>3117234
>What?
Idk man for the moment im just waiting for QM to drop some knowledge and see if that will change something.

Cash money!
>>3116877
>>3117036
>>3116873
>>3116859
>>3117036

Save her!
>>3116861
>>3116979
>>3116987
>>3117027

If i counted right seems like MC is a sell out

>>3117244
even the girl may not be a witch.
she is going to be one now,an angry one at that.
we're on her hit list

>>3117250
Believe me, the church is way scarier than the girl.

>>3117256
Well at least i hope when they will be burning her it won't be at our doorsteps.

>>3117244
I'd advocate for stalling or getting a chance to interrogate her.

We don't have to turn her over right now but we should soon after.

Maybe say, I will watch for any red eye witches and show him his room. Then make the girl start talking and decide if shes worth the trouble or not.

>>3117257
Now, that would be simply heartbreaking. Also, I believe our character isn't a "sellout". I believe that he's a good man but a man who always goes for the best of the whole collective. He's, after all, a military man.

>>3117262
What kind of education would we have anyways?

>>3117256
Inquisitors pulling out our fingernails
or
Diclonius tearing people apart with magic?
your funeral
+we have to answer the god/s of this world when we kaput.(if there is any)

>>3117265
Only a military focused one, I believe. As mentioned, we earned our title through service and duty in the army and the protection of the King. It was also mentioned that we're trying to teach ourselves basic literacy through a childrens' book. Therefore, we are not the most literate person in mathematics and humanities.

>Keep your lies simple and tell the Priest you haven't seen anyone that looks like her
The church is much scarier than anything that girl can do

I'd like to clear up a few questions that have come up:

1. Witchcraft

What you know of witchcraft is limited, as the church likes to keep a firm lid on such matters (which you've always found rather suspicious). Is it real? Or a mechanism by which the church exerts power? You don't know for sure, but as someone who doesn't put much stock in the supernatural (as established earlier from the haunted house) you lean toward the latter.

It could be that the High Priest is really hunting a dangerous criminal. It could also be he's trying to cover his own tracks for abusing a young girl under his guardianship. You know that Priests are supposed to uphold God's law, the High Priest in particular is supposed to be one that leads others by example--and the law includes a strict vow of celibacy and chastity as well as mercy toward children (especially orphans).

2. The Church

The Church of the Last God is widespread throughout the kingdom and is ultimately a benevolent force working toward the common good. But they are not stronger than the political establishment of the king and his nobles. They are allowed to make petitions, as the High Priest does here, and they have influence over those nobles that take religion seriously and they have money, but ultimately no political power beyond that. There is currently an unwritten separation of church and state, if only because the current king isn't all that pious.

The decentralized structure of the Church also means that each parish is it's own thing and the degree of influence, the goals and the nature of each congregation varies wildly from place to place. It's really more a matter of the people, the priests and nuns, in a particular parish, than the church as a whole. The fact that the High Priest just dropped 30 dubloons like nothing, is a testament to the good husbandry of his own flock's funds. Even if he speaks of the gratitude of the church in a general sense, it's own favor that would matter to you.

3. Character and Choice

>>3117067
>realistically we don't have much of a character yet, these are choices that define who we are.

The above more or less summarizes the point of these initial episodes. The MC is a blank-slate right now and is slowly being characterized by your choices. (Choosing to fight Murdrow -> combative, choosing to kill the pups right off -> pragmatic, choosing to investigate the haunted house -> skeptical). This choice is no different. I intentionally cut the bonding period short to give a fair shot to the less tasteful choice of giving the girl up. Perhaps it was a bit too premature in hindsight, something that I'll keep in mind for the future, but the choice is nonetheless important. Both actions will have consequences, both in terms of what kind of character you're going to play, as well as external ones. Showing the High Priest that you're flexible when there's money on the table, will have its own corollaries.

I hope that answers most things.

>>3117269
The Church has proven that it has the power to hunt multiple, if not thousands, of witches. The witches may have magic but the strings the Church holds are way more dangerous, Anon.

>>3117283
Well I wanted more information from her.

If that's the case then I'd have to do a 160 and vote to save her if only to not be tie down by this heretical organization. I don't want our character to be overly religious unless down right That GOT quest that Father ran before he went to go buy a pack of smokes

>>3117283
Thanks QM
> I intentionally cut the bonding period short to give a fair shot to the less tasteful choice of giving the girl up.
> Perhaps it was a bit too premature in hindsight, something that I'll keep in mind for the future

I don't mind that at all. I think it's better when we don't have time or ways to access all info it make it more challenging.

>Keep your lies simple and tell the Priest you haven't seen anyone that looks like her

>>3117283
This changes things up. Thanks for the clarification, QM.

I'll change from >>3116877 to
>Keep your lies simple and tell the Priest you haven't seen anyone that looks like her

>>3117292
done right*

>>3117292
Also
>Father's GOT Quest
Fuck me, what a shame it was that he left us for a pack of cigarettes.

>>3116851
>Keep your lies simple and tell the Priest you haven't seen anyone that looks like her
>Explain your sudden interest by saying "I just fucking hate witches."

>>3117283
Is it possible to stall for a bit or does the the decision need to be made right here right now?

>>3117348
I don't think saying that would help.

>>3117359
the decision seems too important. Avoiding the question/offer will be suspicious.


>>3117348
better don t say that. He will probably ask, then we will just say something simple. if we go for that.
---------------------------------
anyway if the vote of saving her wins, avoid to be too gentle and stand up your guard. For both church, people curiosity or the child it self.
Especially if you want to essentially adopt her or just let her work here (for her education we can t be here everyday, as a lord we have dutys. Getting married could solve this(or maybe no), and will give us a relationship with other nobles. For now one of our servants could have her helping him, when we are at home she can stay a bit with us. just leaving her alone would be bad and i doubt it s safe to leave her with other childrens).
Obsiouvly she need to obey to some rules, and that need to be made totally clear, and this need to be the first thing we are going to do after the priest leave our manor.
we will have time for know her story, so immediatly having rules it s vital.

ah we probably need to cut some of her hair and give her a new dress, something from the peasants will do (both of this actions can be done without problems by a servant).

For any person who asks us about her: she is a distant relative or a daughter of a dead comrade in arms, nothing else to add (this part the child has to learn it to perfection).
or we could send her away, far away. Mind you , we will give her some food and a vague idea of where to go.

>>3117495
We can dye her hair as well.

Tallying the final votes, it seems like saving her with a little lie wins. Writing!

>>3117359
Telling the priest she's not here is a stall in a sense. He's the High Priest of Gladstone, so you're sure to see him again.

You lean forward, your fingers reaching for the purse but when you look up there is a self-satisfied gleam in the priest's squint. Not unlike a fox that has spotted a lone chicken in a field. You half expect him to lick his lips and reveal teeth and the whole moment is soured. You push the gold away, fold up the paper and flick it back to him, instead.

His smile evaporates into a tight line and the tightness in his eyes relaxes to show a very specific kind of surprise, the sort that says "but I had you figured out". "Lord?"

"I have not seen anyone like her."

"But you--"

"I was only thinking of decieving you priest, for the sake of the money."

He snatches the purse and tucks it away. "The Last God looks unkindly upon lies."

"Which is why I didn't. But then, I told you, I'm not a pious man."

He stands, gives you that same bow-without-bowing nod. He lays a dubloon on the table and slides it over. "For my intrusion and for your hospitality."

You slide it back. "Unnecessary. You are freely welcome to both."

"Take it as a reminder then." He says, buttoning his robe. "That if she does come by this way, you will hold her here for me, for there is more to be had. That there is much to be gained in our friendship. And that there is much to lose, by enmity." Then he turns and moves toward the door, throwing it open and revealing your flustered servant standing there, holding a tray of refreshments. He bows deeply to the priest as he passes, staring after him, though the priest does not acknowledge him.

You weigh the dubloon in your palm, wondering if you've made the right decision after all.

For the remainder of the afternoon you decide to:

>Interrogate the girl again and confront her about the accusation of witchcraft
>Speak to your servant about his activities in Gladstone
>Head to Millbow to cover your tracks regarding the haunted house and the girl--in case the Priest gets any bright ideas

>>3117645
Speak to your servant.

>>3117645
Interrogate
Then head to millbow

>>3117645
>Interrogate the girl again and confront her about the accusation of witchcraft

and tell her to don t move from here. Then let s tell to our servant that we will speak with him later, and order him to survey the girl.

then

>Head to Millbow to cover your tracks regarding the haunted house and the girl--in case the Priest gets any bright ideas

>>3117645
>Head to Millbow to cover your tracks regarding the haunted house and the girl--in case the Priest gets any bright ideas

and then

>>Interrogate the girl again and confront her about the accusation of witchcraft

>>3117645
>Interrogate the girl again and confront her about the accusation of witchcraft
>Speak to your servant about his activities in Gladstone
If the guy hasn't left yet then we should not head to the house.

you dumb cunts

>>3118260
?

>>3118274
He's just a salty little bitch because we didn't hand her over to be raped or burned to death for some coin

>>3118288
nah, im salty because for once i would like to ecape the sad sad waifu route in a quest.
y'all niggas need to get laid

>>3118365
this

>>3118365
.... Who the hell is going to waifu a child

>>3118365
She's a fucking child mate. At best she becomes a servant, not a waifu

File: Salty.jpg (52 KB, 640x640)

52 KB JPG

>>3118383
>.... Who the hell is going to waifu a child

where do you think you are?

>>3115363
>revealing...a little girl, about 11 or 12

>>3115659
>revealing a petite, girlish face that suggests a kind of soft beauty that will come to her in womanhood

>>3115765
>comparing her to our sister in a romantic anecdote to get the incest fags on board

-Also op kinda waited and railroaded until the votes were on his side

>i choose this flavor

>>3118388
Are you in your right mind, Anon? These are literally just plain descriptions. And that anecdote was used to cheer her up.

>>3118388
>>3118412
I just want to interrogate her properly, we can still turn her over later. The offer is still on the table, and if I'm not mistaken, he might have offered a little more to compensate us.

>>3117645
Once you're certain the priest has left the premises (which he does with great haste) you have your servant bring the girl to you again. She's trembling all over with fear, but you do not have the patience nor the luxury to be disarming this time.

"I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself."

"Yes, sir. To explain myself, sir." She clenches her bandaged hand as though at any moment it might suddenly fly off.

"Sit. Have some of this." You gesture to the tray of fruit your servant had brought in moments before. She does not sit, but merely bows her head and stares at the ground. "The High Priest was looking for you. He even had a drawing of you."

"Yes, sir. A drawing sir."

"I told him I hadn't seen you..." Her eyes turn up, finally, and there are tears in them.

"Yes, sir. Thank you sir."

"Are you a witch?"

The question hits her like a slap. "I...that is, sir. I'm not sure sir."

That's not the answer you were expecting. "But you have been branded. Let me see your hand."

"Please, sir. Please don't sir." She clutches her hand to her chest and even turns her body away. You walk over to her, looming, and snatch the hand from her breast. "Oh, please don't sir." She struggles to take her arm back, but her girlish strength is no more than that of a kitten or an infant. The bandages are stuck to the skin by a layer dried blood, but the wound has long healed and it is easy to peel the cloth away to reveal, on her palm, a scar in the mark of heresy, the black circle. You let the hand drop and the girl returns it to its place between her breasts.

"Tell me why."

She shakes her head, trying desperately to swallow sobs. "I-I don't...I don't..."

"Did he abuse you?"

She shudders all over, as though you'd doused her with cold water and then a strange muscular contraction ripples up her body, almost like a hiccup. She let's out a soft gasp and when she looks up at you again, you start, for her eyes and her nose are trickling blood.

She wipes away a bead from her fore lip and then stares it and tastes it. Her shoulders throw back and her chin rises high enough to make you feel as though she were looking down on you, though you stand twice her height.

"Yes, sir." Even the intonation of the epithet has become something entirely different, no longer diminutive, but stressed and mocking. "The High Priest has strange predilections sir. He wouldn't let Lily get beat sir, like the others, but then he was saving her for himself, you see sir. He wasn't much for chastity sir. Not even of the ordinary sort sir."

"This...what is this? What's wrong with you?"

1/2

>>3119081
"Not so loud sir, or you'll wake her. And I'd like to stay a little longer, to speak to you sir. For her sake you see, sir." She begins to pace the room, circling around the table and stopping in front of the hearth to stare at the coals, the blood in her eyes reflect the light, giving it the color of gold. She glances back at you, and you can find no trace of the scared timid girl that was there just a minute ago. Is this witchcraft? A feeling, entirely foreign begins to fill your heart: fear.

"What did our High Priest offer you sir? Come sir, it could not have been silver. I see the dubloon in your hand. Was it 10 sir? Was it 20?"

"30." You mutter.

"30! There's a panic for you sir! Was I worth so much in the hand, to be worth so much in the bush?" She spits casually at the fire and laughs. "So then, sir. To trade sir, if you'll have me."

"What are you?"

"I'm Rose sir."

"You said your name was Lily."

"Lily is Lily sir and I am Rose. Rose, to bear those things Lily could not."

"A devil!"

She frowns. "A guardian, sir. A sister. A keeper of her dark places. A manager of madness. For she has no one else, so I was made in her image. Or was she in mine?" She laughs again. "But to trade sir. To trade. 30 dubloons is a sum indeed, but I have value sir. I am educated sir. I know three languages. The written Runic script and the common vulgar Runic and the Zemitic tongue--fluent, but a little slow in writing, and the Panole, fluent also. Not bad in arithmetic and accounts, quite very decent in fact, for the Priest was often in teachable moods after his thirsts were quenched and he was very good at money. History, a little. Medicine and pharmacy a little too, as much as the nursing nuns could teach us. What else? Some law. A little of the natural science--very little for they bar nuns from that sport. And whatever else you may find lacking, I can learn. For we have a mind, sir, like the proverbial bear trap. And so, what do you say sir, is that worth 30 gold pieces--for sure it is, a steward would cost you at least that much in just three months and I offer, life term, gratis. Gratis sir, except for your protection and mercy."

You sit heavily in your chair, sweating as though you were coming out of a bad fever.

"Take me in as a relation sir. Adopt me as a daughter, or a sister or a lost cousin. Cut my hair. And when the High Priest comes again, and he will come again sir, then introduce me to him as such and such. But he cannot lay claim to me then, as a relation of nobility, without a court and a trial. And that he will not do, for fear of exposing his own sins."

The girl, Lily or Rose, turns her hand and stares at the palm, grinning as though she were reading there the punch line of a good joke. "Or if you would sell her for the gold pieces...have the mercy to give us a head start."

(choices next post)

You decide to:

>Wash your hands of her, give her some supplies and tell her to run
>Adopt her as she advises, and see if she's as good a steward as she claims
>Give her up to the Priest--she seems to be a witch after all! (optional: alive or dead?)

>>3119092
>>Give her up to the Priest--she seems to be a witch after all! (optional: alive or dead?)

Dead

>>3119092
>>Give her up to the Priest--she seems to be a witch after all! (optional: alive or dead?)
dead, so she cannot tell him we lied

>>3119092
I think it'd be worthwhile to save the expenses on a steward and keep her, but the injection of cash at this point would probably be more worthwhile than the longterm gain of a free steward. Plus, it seems in character that we'd be rather scared of harboring her.
>Give her up to the Priest--she seems to be a witch after all!

>>3119092
>Adopt her as she advises, and see if she's as good a steward as she claims

>>3119092
>Adopt her as she advises, and see if she's as good a steward as she claims

"I'm a practical man.So welcome to my humble fief."
as a soldier we know when people get to that"place".making things up to soothe their broken minds.take her in,but watch out for self harm tendencies.

>>3119163
She's literally an unholy being. The money and favour of the church would be much more useful than a potentially evil being whose intentions we have no real idea about

>>3119164
she summoned an unholy being because of the abuses she faced.you would sell your soul too just to get out.
(commiting the sin of killing is considered selling your soul.even in act of self defense.)

>>3119167
The point is she is now tainted and host to what seems like an evil being (blood filled eyes and tears? Knowledge she shouldn't have, suppressing the true owner of the body). It's unfortunate but I think we should end her (so she can't be tortured and further abused) and hand her over to the church. We avoid their wrath, gain favour and much needed coin and don't have to constantly look over our shoulder due to harbouring this creature.

>>3119168
well I ain't accepting church coins,it means we will be stuck with following their orders.they will pay us to do dirty deeds.

>>3119171
Accepting the coin is just accepting payment for a service, if we are handing her over it'd be stupid to refuse the money at that point. It doesn't make us indebted to them. I was previously against handing over the girl because I thought it was simply the church abusing their power (and it partly is that), wanting back a girl they've been raping. However, things are different now. We've seen what she has actually become and I don't see how we can trust her in our house or around our people. We clearly know nothing of magic or witchcraft and I don't doubt that she was abused but we can't trust a word out of her mouth. She was branded by the church for what she has become, that's clear enough. I think we should hand her over, but I think we can at least kill her first to prevent further suffering. We shouldn't refuse the payment though, we are providing a service and should be paid. We can be done with them then

>>3119172
I'm sticking to it. It's the church fault for driving children into heresy. if she is so strong,how come she choses to run? is it holy magic?is it cowardice?or Lily chooses the peaceful option?
She is lucky we found her during the early stages,or we will soon faced a one-winged angel burning everything.(including the kitchen sink)

>>3119178
The thing is we don't know if it's early stages or how far gone she is. And yeah, I agree, the church is fucked but I don't think we can save this girl, and I don't think we should try. It looks like we won't be agreeing though and that's fine, it is what it is.

>>3119180
well,given that the character we are playing with is some what not so pious.(not a church attending person maybe?)he may have doubts about everything.

>>3119183
I would agree with that in general. Having evidence of something otherworldly shoved in your face like this has to shake a person a bit though. That being said I don't see it causing us to become more pious or less skeptical in general

>>3119186
now that you mention it.what did we fight against during the war?did we see anything weird?

>>3119092
>Give her up to the Priest--she seems to be a witch after all! (optional: alive or dead?)
Kill it with fire first

>>3119092
>Adopt her as she advises, and see if she's as good a steward as she claims
Long term profits, companion, unlocks hidden lore, fucks with the church. How any other option is viable?

>>3119092
>Adopt her as she advises, and see if she's as good a steward as she claims
Voting for the more interesting option

>>3119092
Adopt her.

I want to know what will happen.

lol at all these obvious 1 post samefags

>>3119345
no u

>>3119345
Yeah the samefagging is pretty ridiculous

>>3119092
>Give her up to the Priest--she seems to be a witch after all! (optional: alive or dead?)
>Dead
I rather deal with the human evil than literal metaphysical evil.

>Adopt her as she advises, and see if she's as good a steward as she claims

are any of us praying now?
i'm doing it to save the girl

>Adopt her as she advises, and see if she's as good a steward as she claims

Tallying the vote now:

>Give her up
>>3119114
>>3119122
>>3119138
>>3119216
>>3119367

>Adopt her
>>3119151
>>3119163
>>3119227
>>3119236
>>3119325
>>3119388
>>3119549

>>3119345
Not sure if this is happening here, but just to be safe we can adjust for samefagging by removing all 1-post votes (as this is a rather important vote):

>Give her up
>>3119114
>>3119122

>Adopt her
>>3119163
>>3119227
>>3119388
>>3119549

So be it, noble lords. Writing!

Oh sit forgot to vote last night

Send her to the gallows! Give her up.

>>3119227
Lies and blindness by greed.

You sweep a calloused hand through your hair, shaking off the droplets of sweat. You've seen this thing before, the madness of soldiers after one battle too many. Talking to themselves or to their dead comrades. Hearing voices in their heads. Screaming in their sleep. The worst was when they went quiet, like ants laboring without expression or care. Is this any different? Is there such a thing as witchcraft? More to the point, would you kill her for the gold? For you would not give her up alive and let her suffer further. "Even if I take you, even with the courts, what of your mark?"

She does not seem surprised by the question, indeed, she even seems to have been waiting for it. "A valid point sir. But the solution, easy." She flicks her eyes again toward the fire and without even a moment's hesitation, plunges her marked hand into the flames, drawing out a black pebble of charcoal which she grasps as though it were a rare jewel.

"What are you doing!" You race to catch her as the pain forces her to her knees--yet for all that she does not cry or scream.

"A proof of my sincerity sir." She says, gasping. "We will be loyal to you sir. Please be good to her sir. Please protect her sir. Please sir. Please sir. Please..." Then she falls backward in your arms and her eyes close and the mote of carbon falls from her hand, leaving smoking flesh in its wake.

...

It is a little before evening that you return from Millbow. You are told that the girl is still resting. Her hand has been bandaged again (to best of your own ability), but this time is scorched beyond repair with the skin and flesh melted through and blackened. You've taken the liberty to cut her hair short ("a right shame" to quote your servant) and to move her quarters from the servants chambers to her own private room, adjacent to the study.

You've told everyone that she's your long-lost sister, a by-blow of your father's that god has reunited to you by a twist of fate. The peasants have accepted this without hesitation, mostly out of indifference, as have your servants (though one of them seems a little peeved by the whole thing, perhaps out of envy). She will serve as your steward and she will do an excellent job or you will cast her out--or so you've planned your speech. In reality, you find yourself sitting at her bedside and wanting to stroke her hair or hold her hand as you would your real sister. Yet tinged with these feelings of sympathy and compassion, is also fear. Fear at a thing you do not wholly understand.

1/2

>>3120039
You wake up late to a consternation in your courtyard. A group of young men are waiting to meet with you: laborers that your servant scrounged up from Gladstone.

"They're good boy's m'lord." Says your servant, waving for them to line up in front of the manor. You count a half-dozen men, young, some of them only a year out of childhood. "They could help with the planting or with digging the well or with anything. They're even willing to stay since that Murdrow's been handled."

"What are they taking?"

"Half a florin a week to start."

You decide to:

>Dismiss them, you don't need them at this time
>Hire them to dig for a well in the village
>Hire them to plant one of the untended fields and assist with harvest in 4-5 months
>Hire them for some other purpose (write-in)

>Demographics
Population: 7/15 (sure)
Skilled: 0 (sure)

>Resources
Fields: 1/3 (certain)
Food: 4 (sure)
Cattle: 3 (sure)

>Defenses
Soldiers: 0 (certain)

>>3120043
>Hire them to dig for a well in the village
>Hire them to plant one of the untended fields and assist with harvest in 4-5 months
>Hire them for some other purpose (write-in)
Chopping firewood, clearing some land for open space, clearing or fixing up fields. Digging ditches, fixing up some of the neglected houses for them to move in and use as a barracks to sleep.


Wait whats the current season? No point in hiring so much help if its about to be winter.

>>3120120
It is the 16th day of the Bull, which is early-mid spring. Harvest is in the autumn which is in about 4-5 months. Winter is a month or two after that.

You also cannot choose everything at once as an option (unless that's the order of prioritization)

>>3120043
>Hire them for some other purpose
Dig canal from the river

>>3120043
>>Hire them to dig for a well in the village