>>4573185
> Diplomacy
2
> Martial
5
> Stewardship
5
> Intrigue
2
> Learning
1
Crown-Prince Andros of Nicosia, soon to be King Andros III

>>4573185
Male, Casimir

Diplomacy: 3
Martial: 5
Stewardship 4
Intrigue: 2
Learning: 1

A serious minded young soldier, somewhat naive but a capable governor and diplomat.

>>4573185
oh no points guy is back

>>4573203
Alright, switching to this to keep things rolling.

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>>4573203
>>4573204
>>4573209
>>4573213

***

Crown-Prince Andros of Nicosia, soon to be King Andros III
Diplomacy 2 (Average)
Martial 5 (Specialist)
Stewardship 5 (Specialist)
Intrigue 2 (Average)
Learning 1 (Novice)

***

The crowning ceremony is done without much fuss. The local bishop, father Seymor, has you take the coronation oath:

"I hereby solemnly promise and swear to govern my people according to their laws and customs with perfect justice and mercy in all my judgements, to honor the power vested in me by the Gods and conduct the affairs of the kingdom with the wisdom proper of those who bear a Crown."

The bishop then crowns you and the crowd cheers. The rest of the day you spend talking with dignataries.

The next day is the first day of your rule proper and you have to start to get accustomed to rulership.

You woken up early by your servants at the crack of dawn. They say the First Secretary is awaiting for your presence in the War Room. You get dressed and head there.

"Excellent morning you highness! I'm Matil Astroley, your humble first secretary. It is my duty to organize your agenda so that you can be as productive as possible. Now, I've took the liberty of contacting the commanders to give you strategy or combat lessons, the sages to prepare an advanced study guide, our diplomats to get you acquainted with foreign affairs, our best courtiers to get you acquainted with the lives of the nobility and how it can effect your rule, and the treasurer to give you lessons on how to best manage the budget. How would you highness prefer to manage your schedule? I'm afraid if you dedicate yourself to all these activities you only have time to spend a little time on each, so perhaps it would be better to choose one or two to focus on, as you still have many other duties as a monarch."

> I am more interested in strategy or combat lessons (chance of becoming Strategist or Duelist over time)
> I am more interested in learning with the sages (chance of becoming Scholar over time)
> I am more interested in learning about foreign affairs (chance of becoming Socializer over time)
> I am more interested in getting acquainted with the nobles (chance of becoming Master Schemer over time)
> I am more intereste in learning with the treasurer (chance of becoming Administrator over time)

> I'm going to do everything! (chance of becoming Diligent, chance of becoming Stressed)
> That's just too much stuff, I don't feel like doing it all (chance of becoming Slothful)
> To be honest, I kind of just want to get married right now (start looking for a spouse)
> To be honest, I just want to have fun with the courtiers (chance of becoming Lustful, chance of becoming Master Seducer over time)
> Don't ever wake me up this early again you fool, you're lucky I don't have you beheaded for this! (chance of becoming Wroth)
> Have the secretary beheaded for waking you up too early (chance of becoming Arbitrary)

> Write in

>>4573214
>I'm going to do everything! (chance of becoming Diligent, chance of becoming Stressed)
Andy can do it, he's a master of multitasking.

>>4573214
> I am more interested in strategy or combat lessons (chance of becoming Strategist or Duelist over time)
Preparing for war sounds cool

>Write in
>I will pray to the heavens for divine blessings and good fortunes.
Placate RNGesus before we feel his wrath

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4573217
>>4573231


1 - everything
2 - strategy/combat and praying

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>>4573217
>>4573231
>>4573243


"General Aetard is our best strategist, he will guide you in your journey towards becoming a better strategist you highness!"

You go meet General Aetard. He's an old man with an imposing presence.

"Good morning young monarch. I'll teach you the art of strategy if you only pay good attention. The most crucial thing is to know your enemy and to know yourself. If you know your enemy and know yourself then you can figure out the proper strategy to win the battle. That's why the most important aspect of the war is actually reconnaissance. I highly prize my scouts and my rangers, for they can find the enemy before the enemy can find us and give us accurate reports about their position letting us adjust our strategy. You need to learn about the geography of the kingdom as well. There are many parts of the kingdom where you don't want to be caught unprepared for it is easy to be ambushed there and of course those areas you'd like to bait your enemies into ambush. You'll learn more about it over time. The more you know about your enemy and the terrain, the bigger the advantage. And that's just the beginning..."

(You're a Martial Specialist)

You say a great deal many things about strategy and battle that you have learned from your former teachers to General Aetard.

"Your martial knowledge is rather impressive for someone your age, I must say I'm impressed young man. I suppose we can skip the introduction and go straight to advanced and more practical lessons then. Say, do you want to learn the art of strategy from the safety of the palace using tokens and games to simulate the movement of troops or would you rather take a field trip and get some hands on experience commanding actual armies in the battlefield."

> I have no time for going into battle right now, war games will have to do (chance of becoming Game Master)
> I will take time from my busy schedule for a few months to do a trip to learn more about strategy (the leader of the House Of Commons will be assigned as regent to rule in your absence)

> Write in

>>4573247

Ah forgot one option

> I'm more interested in learning how to duel (chance of becoming Duelist)

>>4573247
>I have no time for going into battle right now, war games will have to do (chance of becoming Game Master)
Better not leave right away, it'll encourage people to pursue their own interests behind our back.

>>4573247
> I have no time for going into battle right now, war games will have to do (chance of becoming Game Master)

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>>4573250
>>4573256


You decide to spend time learning strategy through games in the safety of your palace.

"Now to ruling the kingdom! Your basic duties are not too complex you highness. There are two parliamentary houses which present requests to you, the House Of Commons and the House Of Lords.

The House Of Commons has one delegate from each province of the kingdom, elected for a ten year term. Every man older than 25 years who declares to possess wealth that surpass a thousand gold in worth and knows how to read and write is elligible to vote on the delegate for his province, or to candidate himself to be a delegate.

The House Of Lords is hereditary, each province has a noble house, and the oldest men of the house has the right to parlay in the house, he can give up his right to whoever he wants within his family, even to a woman if he so desires.

Both houses can create law proposals, but they must be approved by your highness before being enacted in the kingdom. The leaders of the houses are chosen by a triple list and then the list is submitted to royal approval, traditionally the king just picks the most voted candidate unless there is some moral or political impediment, then he will choose the second or third one.

The leaders are usually for life, although the respective houses might by a majority of votes at any moment impeach them if they consider them unfit for the position, then a new internal election is called and a new leader is submitted to royal approval, but that doesn't happen too often.

Besides entertaining the parliament it is also the duty of the king to hear the people themselves so you should spend a few hours every week listening to whatever matters the general population wants to bring to your attention."

"Today you're scheduled to meet with the leader of the House Of Lords, Duke Zidras of Aubernon."

A very fine dinner is prepared for your meeting with Duke Zidras.

"Your highness it is a pleasure to finally have a formal meeting with you. I still remember you running around the palace with your toy swords, it is good to see you grown up and ready to tackle the responsibilities of rulership. It is never too much to express my condolences once again for your father, he was such a great man. I am sure you will be every bit as great as him, if not greater. I must present to you the concerns of the House Of Lords my liege, for there are urgent threats which require your attention."

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>>4573273


"To the north of our kingdom in the frozen lands of Askalya now rules Etherys, the Shadow Queen. I have personally sent an emissary to her court and what he reported has caused my heart to sink my liege! The wicked Etherys is openly making use of the forbidden arts of Necromancy and is in open pursuit of the forbidden knowledge of immortality. She has declared for all to know that she will spare no efforts into the attainment of the eternal life, for she intends to rule forever. Now, Askalya is a tiny kingdom, they have far less people than our own. As Gods' fearing people we cannot allow such a horrible abomination to take place. We should do something about the evil machinations of queen Etherys at once my liege!"

"The nobles are complaining that the peasants are unruly and refuse to pay their due obligations. They do not believe in the traditions anymore, the Gods' given right of the nobility to rule over them. There is a class of so called educators running amok the kingdom teaching the peasantry how to read and write and propagating dangerous beliefs that there should not be taxation without representation and workers should all be allowed to vote since they pay taxes. This is absurd since we all know a true citizen is only one that is educated and has property, someone who lacks both those things is in no position to exercise citizenship. Some of those agitators go so far as to suggest even women should be allowed to vote. The nerve!"

"There is a giant locust cloud that was sighted in nearby kingdoms consuming their crops, there is fear that it will come our way. Now, I'm not very superstitious, but the priests want some gold to perform some rituals to ensure the locusts won't come our way. If the locusts don't come our way and we don't pay the priests we save gold, but if we don't pay the priests and the locusts come our way they will accuse us of being faithless and they will say our lack of faith has caused this tragedy, and the population will believe them. Those damn priests, always wanting money."

"The price of spices has gone up substantially in the past several months, the nobles are complaining that it has become prohibitively expensive to season their food. They desire that you do something to improve their quality of life, it is insuferable to exist without the full experience of flavor that spices provide but nobody wants to go bankrupt just to taste something nice. We're not entirely sure what is causing the price of spices to go up."

> Send diplomats to the kingdom of Askalya (specify orders)
> Do something about the people spreading propaganda in the kingdom (what exactly)
> Make a donation to the priests to avoid the locust plague (how much gold 1-1000+)
> Send men to investigate the hike in spice prices (how many men 1-300+)

> Write in

>>4573275
>Do something about the people spreading propaganda in the kingdom (what exactly)
We'll send spies to infiltrate the ranks of these men and find incriminating evidence on their leaders (or grounds to fabricate evidence), then we'll bust all of them and make sure every peasant in the kingdom knows about their crimes. After that comes the masterstroke: we'll fund local schools to educate children and teach them proper moral values.
Make a donation to the priests to avoid the locust plague (how much gold 1-1000+)
What's the usual amount paid in these situations? 100 or 200 gold, maybe?
>Send men to investigate the hike in spice prices (how many men 1-300+)
Where will these men go to investigate?
Send 30 men in any case. If things go pear-shaped we can respond with overwhelming force.

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>>4573298

"We'll send spies to infiltrate the ranks of these men spreading propaganda around the kingdom and find incriminating evidence on their leaders or grounds to fabricate evidence, then we'll bust all of them and make sure every peasant in the kingdom knows about their crimes. After that comes the masterstroke: we'll fund local schools to educate children and teach them proper moral values."

"Brilliant! We might need some assistance in organizing all this however."

"Should I arrange a meeting with the spymaster and the head of education to organize the execution of your brilliant masterplan you highness?", asks Matil.

> Yes, we will need the spymaster and the head of education on this
> No, I will take charge of this operation personally
> Actually, you should take charge of it Duke Zidras


"Let's make a donation to the priests to avoid the locust plague.
What's the usual amount paid in these situations? 100 or 200 gold, maybe?"

"Yes, about that much seems appropriate. Let's not fatten the bishops too much."

> Donate 100 gold
> Donate 200 gold
> That's too much, forget about it

"Where should I send my men go to investigate about the hike in spice prices?
Send 30 men in any case. If things go pear-shaped we can respond with overwhelming force."

"The spices come in caravans from the east, so the easternmost provinces of the kingdom are the best bet. I believe most spice routes pass through Count Conbald's territory, the county of Luzybar, he might know something about it."

"Well, to the county of Luzybar we'll send the men."

"Excellent! We should have news within a few weeks."

You end the meeting and then you seclude yourself for prayer.

You greatly value your time of communion with the gods. You may not have been the most devout person of them all growing up, but now that the responsibility of bearing the crown is upon you, you must draw strength from the gods themselves who bestowed upon your this most important duty towards your fellow men. The most worshiped deity in the kingdom is the Sun God but there are plenty of other deities who are also worshiped, gods of rain, fertility, thunder, nature, harvest, peace, herds, commerce and even things like death and war. Which gods are you a fervent worshiper of?
> God of the Sun
> God of War
> God of Commerce
> Write in
After you're done with your prayers, your secretary then asks you.

"I'm preparing your schedule for next week your highness. Do you prefer to meet the head of the House Of Commons, the Highpriest of the Sun, the Treasurer or do you prefer to spend some quality time with your courtiers?"

> I'd prefer to meet the head of the House Of Commons
> I'd prefer to meet the Highpriest of the Sun
> I'd prefer to meet the Treasurer
> Why not invite all of them over on the same day?
> I'd rather spend time relaxing with my courtiers

> Write in

>>4573331
>Yes, we will need the spymaster and the head of education on this
>Donate 100 gold
>God of War
>Write in (Meet the head of the House of Commons and the Treasurer)

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>>4573342

You meet the spymaster, sir Nielex Rede, and the head of education, the sage Holex Arrer and explain your plan to them.

"As you might be aware by now there is a class of men who call themselves educators spreading propaganda in the kingdom. I have decided that we must send spies to infiltrate the ranks of these men and either find incriminating evidence on their leaders or grounds to fabricate evidence, then bust all of them and make sure every peasant in the kingdom knows about their crimes. On the aftermath we must also fund local schools to educate children and teach them proper moral values."

"Your highness, your plan is most excellent! I will need 200 gold to hire the right men to infiltrate the ranks of the traitors spreading vicious propaganda within the kingdom, to make the work more expedient. I could try to do it without the special funding, but the work would be much slower, I could not guarantee fast results.", says Nielex.

"Funding local schools to educate children into proper moral values will cost at least 300 gold upfront to hire teachers, rent school space and buy supplies your highness. It might also have recurrent expenses down the line. Without the extra funding there is little we could do more than what we are already doing I'm afraid, at most we could change the curriculum to be more strict with morals, but in general education changes take many years to show any results.", says Holex.

> Very well, I'll pay for the spies
> Very well, I'll pay for the schools
> Very well, I'll pay for both the spies and the schools
> These prices are simply outrageous, the kingdom cannot afford it
> Write in

>>4573372
>Very well, I'll pay for both the spies and the schools
While the expenses are building up, it should be worth it to see the groundwork for lasting peace set in place.
Unfortunately, I have to leave for now, but I hope someone else comes in.

>>4573372
>> Very well, I'll pay for both the spies and the schools

>>4573372
>>Very well, I'll pay for both the spies and the schools

>>4573372
> Very well, I'll pay for both the spies and the schools

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>>4573401
>>4573411
>>4573464
>>4573467


"Very well, I'll pay for both the spies and the schools."

"A most wise decision, my liege."

You sign and seal the orders for the treasurer to grant them the requested funds and send them on their way.

Comes then the day of the ceremony to donate the money to the church for preventing the locusts from entering the realm.

The bishops and priests are all ready and they read the lithurgy. They are lead by Bishop Reynalds of the Church of Nature.

"Brothers and sisters, we are reunited once more here to celebrate and pray for the forces of nature which are wild and untamed to bestow upon us only boons and shows us only its beautiful rather than its terrifying face. For if the Nature Goddess is propitiated her blessings will be boundless and what could be better than to be in good terms with nature itself? Our wise and magnanimous ruler has realized that and wisely decided to make a most generous contribution to the church of nature so that we can perform the necessary rituals to ward our kingdom from the plague of locust which has been ravaging our heathen neighbours. With this aid from our wise ruler, I am sure we will be propitiated by the Gods. So let us take a moment to pray..."

The whole ceremony is rather boring and in the end you give them the signed and sealed letter for them to be paid by the treasurer. You hope this really stops the locusts from getting into the kingdom, a famine would be really bad news.

Your presence is then required to hear the plea from the common folk. Most of the commoners just came to plead their case for minor pointless disputes which are held against some noble or another and therefore the common judges just judge in favor of the nobles every time, even when it would seen fairer to judge in favor of the commoners. There is literally zero repercussion to you to decide in whichever way you please, but your decisions in favor of the nobles will please the House Of Lords more and your decisions in favor of the commoners will please the House Of Commons more.

> Decide in favor of the commoners
> Decide in favor of the nobles
> Decide as fairly as you can in every case (roll 1d6 for a Learning check)

A particularly strange case comes to your attention. A man which was found in his house covered in blood with a knife in his hand and his entire family murdered. He was taken to the dungeons and has denied to everyone that it was him who killed his family, even under torture.

> Have him be hanged at once, he's clearly the murderer
> Throw him in the dungeons and let him rot there
> Let him go free, there's not enough evidence against him

> Write in

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4573650
>> Decide as fairly as you can in every case (roll 1d6 for a Learning check)
> Throw him in the dungeons and let him rot there

>>4573709


I asked for 1d6 by mistake, could you please roll 1d20 instead?


The DC is 10.

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>4573846
NO problem.
If we ever do consistently get more players. I would also advise asking for the roll after the option has been finalized. Cause then people bandwagon the good roll some times.

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>4573846

>>4573650
> Decide as fairly as you can in every case (roll 1d6 for a Learning check)

> Write in
Investigate the strange case. Send a few priests and mages to the man home and search for anything odd here. Question the man, his family and the family of the wife, as well friends and neighbours. Was this man sane or not ?
Lastly if nothing else works and no trace of another culprit can be found (beside the man), a mage will look in the mind of this man and see if he lies or not.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>4574286
>>4573709

1 - throw in the dungeon
2 - investigate

>>4574286
Support.

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>>4573709
>>4573846
>>4573905
>>4574103
>>4574286
>>4574408
You try your best to decide as fairly as you can but your youth and inexperience shows, you make many very bad calls which are blatantly unfair and seem completely arbitrary to everyone. You are not even consistent about it, so you don't even garner the favors of either of the factions. Nobody will judge you for it, of course, but you won't get known for your fair and impartial judgments either, getting a reputation for being unpredictable instead.

As for the case which has brought so much attention you decided that it was better to just throw the man into the dungeon and let him rot there. In all probability he was the culprit, the evidence was too strong against him, and if ever evidence that proves his innocence surfaces you can let him go free, if he's still alive, so you feel satisfied with the wisdom of your decision.

Then comes the time to meet the head of the House Of Commons and the Treasurer.

They are waiting for you in the War Room in a fine afternoon. The head of the House Of Commons is a fat middle aged man richly dressed and the treasurer is a young man with an unassuming appearance.

"This is Melvius Dallador, the head of the House Of Commons, and this is Karov Sillius, your Treasurer, you highness.", says Matil.

"It's excellent to finally meet you, you highness. My condolences for the passing of your father, I know I've been on the burial and expressed it already, but he was a man who always looked after the interests of the common man and will be sorely missed. We all at the House Of Commons hope you too will be worthy of the legacy of your father and forge a legend of your own to be sung by the bards."

"Your highness, excuse your humble servant for being so bold as to ask such things in our first meeting, but there have been a few extraordinary expenses being allowed with your seal lately, at first I thought they were forgeries but the first secretary confirmed you authorized them. Have your highness really been authorizing expenses without even knowing the state of the kingdom coffers?"

"Please excuse the improperness of Karov, he's a simple commoner who has been chosen to the role of Treasurer due to his fantastical mathematical abilities shown from an early age, he's not very good at dealing with people, he may not know it is improper to question the wise decision of the monarch.", says Matil.

> Forgive Karov, he just doesn't know much about etiquette
> This will not stand, fire Karov and get a new Treasurer, one with good manners
> This will not stand, have Karov beheaded for the insult

> Write in

>>4574424
>> Forgive Karov, he just doesn't know much about etiquette

>>4574424
>Forgive Karov, he just doesn't know much about etiquette

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>>4574543
>>4574556


You decide to forgive Karov, the poor man just doesn't know much about etiquette.

"Yes, I apologize you highness, you certainly have had your reasons to authorize such expenses. Well, I'll explain the conditions of your Vault. Your kingdom has about two million habitants according to the last census made over ten years ago. The average income of your population is two silver a day. We tax a tithe on everyone's income so we should in theory get about 40,000 gold per year. However due to corruption, difficulties in taxing the poorest people and some tax money lost to thieves we average about 25,000 gold per year. Of that amount we spend 20,000 gold funding the standing army, which consists of 300 professional soldiers and their commanders, and 4,000 gold funding the living expenses of the royal palace. We have about 1,000 gold per year free to do with as we please. In total the coffers of the kingdom have a little over 40,000 gold in store, the exact amount I cannot precise for we are constantly spending a little bit of money everyday buying provisions and needed things."

"You see, you highness? We're not really hurting for money. We can spend on some projects for the benefit of the people.", says Melvius.

"Well, maybe. But realize that in a war that much money would evaporate very very quickly having to pay for provisions and wages for a large army of conscripts. So what seems like a lot in peace is not really all that much in war.", says Karov.

"Then let's not just go on waging wars then.", says Melvius

> "I'm the one who decides whether or not we go to war, not you Melvius."
> "I'll try to remember the state of our coffers when considering whether or not to declare war."
> "I recognize it would not be wise to go to war at this moment, the House Of Commons can rest assured we'll have peace"

> Write in

>>4574563
>"I'll try to remember the state of our coffers when considering whether or not to declare war."

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>>4574576


"I'll try to remember the state of our coffers when considering whether or not to declare war.", you say.

"You wisdom is peerless you highness.", says Melvius.

"We have other more pressing matters anyway. Your highness, the House Of Commons asked me to present you the following concerns:"

"The nobles are harassing the commoners and demanding unlawful tributes that they are creating without royal approval and instating in their own fiefs just to enrich themselves! This is a violation of the feudal pact and you highness will certainly do something to stop this heinous activity from taking place."

"The Church of the Sun is using an ancient edict from a monarch from hundreds of years ago to persecute practicioners of the magical arts. All those harmless women that are knowledgeable in herbs and potions who live in the outskirts of villages providing essential services to the communities are now in peril of being burned at the stake just because some priests think magic is evil and should be banished, and they say they have legal backing to prosecute them. Several poor women have already been burned at the stake in the past few years! This insanity must be stopped."

"There is a gang of thieves called the Mustafas who is roaming the kingdom and demanding tribute from merchants for safe passage. This is something completely obscene and cannot be tolerated!"

"There are a few mercenary companies who actively recruit men within the boundaries of our kingdom whose activities have become detrimental to some of our local villages, they have recruited so many young men over the last few years who go seeking fame and fortune and never come back that our girls can't find husbands anymore! Your highness should put some restraints on their activities before they deplete some of our counties of able bodied young men."

"A young black dragon was sighted in the county of Verbenas. He hasn't harassed any villagers or anything as of yet, but it is a dragon so of course sooner or later it will start harassing the villagers and demanding tributes in food and gold."

> Deal with the nobles demanding unlawful tributes (how)
> Deal with the church of the sun persecuting witches (how)
> Deal with the gang of thieves demanding protection fees (how)
> Deal with the mercenary companies recruiting all the young men (how)
> Deal with the young black dragon living in your kingdom (how)

> Write in

>>4574587
>Deal with the nobles demanding unlawful tributes (how)
Order them to cease any and all levies not explicitly authorized by the crown. If they wish to continue collecting tribute, they may either appeal for royal approval or risk harsh punishment.
>Deal with the church of the sun persecuting witches (how)
Countermand the edict they're using. By our royal edict, all suspected cases of witchcraft may only be adjudicated by a magistrate invested with royal authority.
>Deal with the gang of thieves demanding protection fees (how)
Send our own standing army to round up the Mustafas and publicly execute them to a man.
>Deal with the mercenary companies recruiting all the young men (how)
Dictate an upper limit on the number of men a mercenary company may employ. Any companies found to be in excess of this limit will be severely punished.
>Deal with the young black dragon living in your kingdom (how)
Wait and watch for now. Once the other issues are dealt with, if he has begun to harass villages, send our finest knights to kill him by any means possible.

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>>4574608

You start to prepare an order for the nobles to cease any and all levies not explicitly authorized by the crown. Your express intent is that if they wish to continue collecting tribute, they may either appeal for royal approval or risk harsh punishment. Your legal advisors and scribes start preparing the text for the new law and submitting minutaes for your approval.

"Your highness, Duke Zidras has petitioned for an audience with you concerning the new edict you're in the process of formulating.", says Matil.

"Very well, let him come."

You welcome Duke Zidras into your throne room.

"Your highness, I understand that you are concerned about the feudal pact integrity, but you must see it from the perspective of the nobles as well. Each county is different, each has its own particularities, some have better infrastructure than others and as such the local nobles deem fit to charge more taxes than in those counties which have poorer infrastructure. If you pass your edict and make it so that everywhere we have a flat tax what will happen is that merchants and other greedy persons will move into those counties which have better infrastructure so that they can pay less and have more benefits and therefore the counties that are better off will be flooded with an abnormal level of competition in its markets and the counties that are worse off will have nobody wanting to do business there because they will consider that it will just not be worth it to pay the same taxes if they don't offer the same benefits. Requiring that every county submits their taxes to royal approval will just make your workload gigantic your highness, you will need to be constantly doing bureaucratic work, stamping things with your seal, signing paperwork, it will be a lot of pointless work that could just be avoided by granting your lords some freedom and giving them this vow of trust that they will do their best to ensure the health of the economy of the kingdom."

> "You have convinced me Duke Zidras, I will no longer pass that edict, I'll let the nobles tax as they may."
> "I am not convinced the nobles should be free to tribute however they like, I want to have control over this process, I'll still go with my edict"
> "I can see your point and this is really a lot of paperwork that I don't want to do, so I'll appoint a Minister to do this. I'll call him Levy Minister."
> Write in

>>4574640
> "I am not convinced the nobles should be free to tribute however they like, I want to have control over this process, I'll still go with my edict"
> "I can see your point and this is really a lot of paperwork that I don't want to do, so I'll appoint a Minister to do this. I'll call him Levy Minister."

>>4574651
>"I can see your point and this is really a lot of paperwork that I don't want to do, so I'll appoint a Minister to do this. I'll call him Levy Minister."
>"Also, since the nobles will need time to adjust, I shall grant them a month's time to submit their appeals before the edict is enforced."

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>>4574651


"I am not convinced the nobles should be free to tribute however they like, I want to have control over this process, I'll still go with my edict. I can see your point and this is really a lot of paperwork that I don't want to do, so I'll appoint a Minister to do this. I'll call him Levy Minister."

The frustration is evident in the face of Duke Zidras for a brief moment, but then he quickly regains composure.

"Very well, your highness, your wise decision is for the best I am sure. I'll take your decision to the House Of Lords and we shall prepare a list to indicate to you three names which we think would be the best fit to become your new Levy Minister."

A few days later you get news from your secretary.

"Your highness, the men you sent to investigate the high prices on spices have came back. They reported that the foreign merchants which deal in spices are avoiding our kingdom due to the large amount of thieves which plague our roads and so procuring spices has become increasingly difficult over the past few months. Not only that, but all manners of luxury goods, like silk, gems, precious metals, ivory, sugar, tobacco, fine crafts amongst other things, their supply is dwindling because the merchants fear their cargo will be stolen. The worst areas are the eastern part of the kingdom. Seems like many thieves gangs are operating around that area, the worst one is a large organization known as the Mustafas, they are so bold as to charge fees for safe passage."

"These Mustafas again. I really need to do something about them. Send my standing army to round up the Mustafas and publicy execute them all to the last man."

"At once your highness!"

During a banquet at the court, you notice one of your courtesans displaying an uncanny amount of interest on you. The intensity of her stares at you, the way she laughed at your antics and how her attention never focused on anything else but you... you're pretty sure she fancies you!

"Matil... who's that courtesan over there?"

"That one? She's Bruna Hawte, a lowborn. She's the daughter of one of our top scholars. She speaks several languages, is a very gifted dancer and I've read some poetry she wrote, it isn't too bad."

"How... how old is she?"

"Eh... by now I think she is... she is 19 I think. Yeah, definitely. She's 19."

> Make a move
> It's not appropriate
> She's not my type
> Write in

>>4574640
While he does make some good points and arguments, they should not have undermined and bypassed the crowns authority. This will have consequences.

Any who have been found to have horded or spend the money not on good governance or infrastructure will be fined the amount they collected.

Level the taxes based on a few modifiers, on development level of the county, how built up an area is, such as cities having higher taxes, population numbers, if they are near a coastline and have a port, and how productive a region is economically.

There will be some additional modifiers or exemptions such as farms and food producing areas having lower taxes, places with military garrisons, boarder regions, military occupied zones, etc.

>>4574663
Sure, we should give them time to adjust and make their cases before us. Would help with us determining what their taxation levels should be at approximately.

Even if I posted 8 seconds earlier I still would have been too late.

>>4574684
> Write in
Lets scout her first, talk to her, see what she is like. No need to rush, and with a lowborn no less.... She may have ambitions that would not be fitting for a partner.

>>4574692
Ask her about matters of state, her options of general affords and the locals and nobility, her experiences in foreign lands if she has ever traveled, and some personal questions like whats she doing here, who she is and where she's from, and so forth.

Ask some of them directly others indirectly, and a few of them we talk about and hope shes got something relevant to add or say.

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>>4574692
>>4574702
>>4574702


After the banquet you approach Bruna.

"My liege!", she bow.
"Bruna, isn't it? I noticed you've been gazing at me quite intently all banquet long. I was starting to think there was something stuck in my face."
She laughs.
"No, it's just. You really command attention in a room your highness."
"Do you have any interests in politics?"
"Excuse me your highness?"
"Have you ever wanted to have some position of power or authority over other people?"
"I have never really thought much about that. I suppose that if fate has in store something like that for me I will perform my duties, but it is not something I am actively working towards."
"Wise words young lady. What do you think of the court, do you like living here?"
"It is a very pleasant experience to live in your court your highness, I get to know lots of very interesting people from all over the continent. It is really lively."
"I heard you know many languages. Have you traveled a lot?"
"My father is a scholar so he has traveled to several kingdoms before and I with him. I have visited at least five different kingdom already, and passed briefly for a few more. My father is sometimes invited to spend a year or two as a guest scholar somewhere and when I was a child me and my mother would travel with him. I ended up learning several languages."
"It must be nice getting to know so many courts."
"It wasn't always such an excellent reception as we have received in your court my liege, at times scholars are not very prized, not all nobles are as wise and full of discernment to know the worth of a good scholar as you are."

>>4574759


"And what do you think about my kingdom, considering you've travelled to so many?"
Bruna pauses a little to think. She looks pretty when she's thinking.
"I've been to kingdoms which were richer and poorer than this one, and kingdoms which were larger and smaller than this one. I've also been to kingdom which where in great turmoil because their rulers could not properly manage the various interests of the people they ruled over. I think your kingdom is very stable politically, that the people generally like your rule. There are only a few minor problems..."
"Which are?"
"Well, the roads are very dangerous. I don't dare leaving the capital without a full escort of armed men. There are many bandits, and there's even whole tribes of monsters roaming freely in the wilderness. You go to any tavern and you can hear tales of adventurers who defeated scores of monsters and bandits while travelling through the kingdom. Only the major trade routes are somewhat safe, and even those are not always safe. There's also the ban on learning arcane magic. Wizards don't come to your kingdom because some ancient laws allow the Church of the Sun to confiscate their grimoires and even burn them at the stake. And the weird diplomacy of the kingdom. During your father's realm your diplomats didn't make alliances with anyone because your father didn't want to have to back anyone's war. It made your kingdom get a reputation of being soft amidst the most warmongering kingdoms, and only the fact that it is the largest one around in the area stops its neighbours from declaring war on you. Not that peace is bad, but not having any allies is not good."
"You are quite opinionated aren't you?"
"Oh! Excuse me your highness! I was just voicing my concerns, I didn't mean to offend.", she bows.
"No offense taken."

> Make a move
> It's not appropriate
> She's not my type
> Write in

That was more of a interrogation that a nice little chat, but em straight to the point without having to do half a dozen posts talking to her.

> It's not appropriate
We should bang some ice queen, melt her heart and all that jazz.

Lets go murder some criminals and bandits after.

Also, lets see if there are any other options out there before joining outlets and doing the upside down heart shaped tangle.

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>>4574839


You decide that it is not appropriate to get involved with Bruna.

In the following days you have your legal advisors start preparing an edict to countermand the one that the Church of the Sun is using to prosecute witches throughout the kingdom.

Naturally, news of your motion reach the ears of the Church of the Sun authorities.

"Your highness, your reverence Father Lozlipar, Highpriest of the Sun, has requested an audience concerning your edict in progress to countermand the one authorizing the Church of the Sun to prosecute witches.", says Matil.

"Let him enter."

"Your highness, the Church of the Sun have always backed the monarchs of this kingdom and for centuries have been the spiritual centerpiece of our society, we're all aware of the nocive effects that the rampant practice of witchcraft in a society can have, you allow some village witches to operate and soon they teach children to talk with ghosts and demons, and those children parlay with those entities and learn necromancy and demonology, and really quick we have entire cabals of necromancers and demon summoners popping up throughout the kingdom spreading death and misery with ambitions of dethroning the rightful rulers and placing themselves in the throne to rule as immortal undead masters of a country of slaves of the dark powers. Denying the Church of the Sun the god given right to prevent heathens from communing with the dark powers and partaking in the forbidden dark arts of witchcraft is condemning the kingdom to a fate of falling prey to the dark forces that lurk in the night. Search into your heart and see that I speak wisdom! The magistrates of the kingdom may be wise, but they lack the spiritual discernment of the church fathers to peer into the hearts of the accused of witchcraft and ascertain if they are true witches or not, many times the clues are very subtle! Often a witch can influence the minds of hundreds or thousands through mentalism alone and your magistrates would not find anything wrong with such a witch, but we know better, we know that such a witch can be even more powerful and dangerous than one that deal with potions and incantations. Therefore I must insist that you do not remove the power to prosecute witches from the church of the sun, for that would be the twilight of an age and the beginning of the night of the witches into our kingdom."

> "Your wise words have convinced me Father Lozlipar, I will not make the edict anymore."
> "The church of the Sun is not qualified to determine who is a witch and who is not, I'll go forth with my edict."
> "I see nothing wrong with the practice of witchcraft to be honest. I'll include in the edict that all the tomes on witchcraft that your church has confiscated over the years have to be surrendered to the royal library to be studied by our sages."
> Write in

>>4574847
>your edict in progress
Noticing a pattern here....

I hear your concerns father. But understand the I cannot allow such blatant undermining of the crown law and justice by the burning of people who have do no clear wrong on the basis of only being vague connected to such vile dark arts.

To allow such subjective and unproven accusations to sentence one to death without oversight can too easily be abused and be a great miscarriage of proper justice. This isn't the third Witcher ages of the wild hunt anymore.

You are to cease sentencing innocent unproven people to death till such time there is proper proof of said accusations of witchcraft and heresies.

I understand your fears so I shall address it immediately. I hereby establish the Royal Ministry of the Inquisition Office, given Crown authority to investigate, regulate and punish heresies and the crafts of the dark arts. All tomes and artifacts on witchcraft in church possession shall be handed over to this new office to better help its members fight against the forces of darkness.

what do ya'll think of my write in?

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>>4574898


"I hear your concerns father. But understand that I cannot allow such blatant undermining of the crown law and justice by the burning of people who have done no clear wrong on the basis of only being vaguely connected to such vile dark arts.

To allow such subjective and unproven accusations to sentence one to death without oversight can too easily be abused and be a great miscarriage of proper justice. This isn't the third Witcher ages of the wild hunt anymore.

You are to cease sentencing innocent unproven people to death till such time there is proper proof of said accusations of witchcraft and heresies.

I understand your fears so I shall address it immediately. I hereby establish the Royal Ministry of the Inquisition Office, given Crown authority to investigate, regulate and punish heresies and the crafts of the dark arts. All tomes and artifacts on witchcraft in church possession shall be handed over to this new office to better help its members fight against the forces of darkness."

"May the Sun God have mercy upon our kingdom! Great monarch, I must warn you, these vile tomes you request are written by the witches while being possessed by ghosts and devils which instruct them in the dark arts and are only proper for the instruction of more witches not of any gods' fearing person! We only keep them in our vaults because the Sun God instructs us that it is a great heresy to burn books, even books as vile as these. Most of the artifacts like potions, wands and other such implements we have destroyed over the years for our church does not command us to keep such devil's trinkets, we only really keep the books and assorted tomes, or objects which are just too difficult to destroy. It's hundreds of years worth of the most abominable heretic writ one can imagine stashed in our basilica's crypt."

"I must insist father, this is my final decision."

"Very well my liege, thy will be done. I will appoint a special commission of bishops and priests to oversee the handling of the vile tomes to your newly created ministry and I will call a council of bishops to let the Church know of your orders to stop prosecuting the witches. Let's hope time proves this to be the most wise decision. May the Sun bless you!"

"Your highness, from amongst whom do you desire to recruit this new Minister of the Inquisition Office? Should I ask the House Of Lords to appoint a triple list or the House Of Commons to appoint a triple list? Or since the matter seems religious in nature would you rather summon the Council Of Bishops and ask them to provide you a triple list?"

> I want a triple list from the House Of Lords
> I want a triple list from the House Of Commons
> I want a triple list from the Council Of Bishops
> Write in

>>4574935
Recruit from all branches including knights from the military. Ensure proper vetting of the people.

Ensure a secure facility is made in a semi - isolated monastery guarded with holy runes and wards.

>>4575008
Probably with a heavier focus on the lords and military, then the bishops, then the commons.

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>>4575008
>>4575026


"I want to recruit from all branches, including knights from the military, to ensure proper vetting of the people. We must ensure a secure facility is made in a semi-isolated monastery guarded by holy runes and wards. Probably with a heavier focus on the lords and military, then the bishops, then the commons.", you say.

"Recruit from all branches... knights... semi-isolated monastery... holy runes and wards", scribbles Matil frantically as you speak, "alright, I'll ask the House Of Lords, the House Of Commons and the Council Of Bishops each to provide a triple list of names for your highness to pick someone to be the Minister of the Inquisition Office - the new organization still needs a leader after all. I'll check with the Council Of Bishops for an appropriate location and request they appoint a number of adequately skilled priests to create the holy runes and wards, when I have an estimate of the necessary expenses I'll bring it to your attention."

You pass an edict dictating an upper limit on the number of men a mercenary company may employ. Any companies found to be in excess of this limit will be severely punished.

Within a few days of the publication of this edict a mercenary commander arrives at your castle.

"Your highness, the commander of the Blackguards requests an audience concerning your new edict on mercenary companies."

"I'll see him."

"Your highness, I'm Hector Doomslayer, chief commander of the Blackguards, the largest mercenary company of this side of the continent. We operate is sixteen kingdoms and we are currently waging over fifty wars. Your kingdom is the largest kingdom in the region and therefore our largest source of able bodied men. We have four castles in your kingdom and we recruit in over two hundred villages. Your edict may not have hurt the smaller mercenary companies much or at all but it has severely impact our ability to properly function. I humbly ask you make an exception for our company for at least ten years so we have time to prepare to switch our recruitment centers to other kingdoms in the region and sell our assets in the area, for with your new law it isn't profitable for us to operate in your kingdom anymore."

> "I cannot allow for such an exception to my law."
> "Very well, I'll make an addendum to my edict granting you ten years to adapt, provided you give me a discount on mercenary costs in the mean time."
> "How dare you come to my presence to demand such a thing? You need not wait ten years you rascal, the Blackguards are hereby banished from the kingdom and their assets in here seized."
> Write in

>>4575034
Write in
Tell me, do you know how many of the young men who go to war seeking fame or fortune with mercenary companies return? Almost none. As if they had all been killed in battle or worse. It has left our boarder towns lacking men which in turn hurts their safety and prosperity.

Perhaps a slight revision to the edicts are in order. Rather than limit the number of men a company can employ, we shall shift to a limit on how many men can be recruited from each region. No more than 10 percent of the total male population, or 5 percent of the total population.

In exchange I would expect a discount on your services, and for you to implement policy or incentives for our young men to return home to their villages or counties. If this is acceptable to you, then I may have a job for you and your company.


/
If the Company commander is smart to just just recruits more spread out and around the kingdom he wouldn't have to worry about the limits and we don't get some areas completely devoid of men. Plus it would encourage him to invest more into our kingdom and we would get veteran warriors and soldiers in surplus.

I wonder if the mercenaries are any good at dealing with dragons

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>>4575170


"Tell me, do you know how many of the young men who go to war seeking fame or fortune with mercenary companies return? Almost none. As if they had all been killed in battle or worse. It has left our boarder towns lacking men which in turn hurts their safety and prosperity.

Perhaps a slight revision to the edicts are in order. Rather than limit the number of men a company can employ, we shall shift to a limit on how many men can be recruited from each region. No more than 10 percent of the total male population, or 5 percent of the total population.

In exchange I would expect a discount on your services, and for you to implement policy or incentives for our young men to return home to their villages or counties. If this is acceptable to you, then I may have a job for you and your company.", you say.

"Hmmm... 10 percent you say? I can work with that. I will have to cast a wider net, but it is probably doable. I agree it is sad to see those little villages full of women with no men to defend them because the young boys had it in them to become real men through the test of fire of real warfare instead of staying home planting turnips or whatever all their lives. Not all of them die, we hardly ever fight a battle where more than ten percent of an army gets killed, I'd say about half of them die in the first year, maybe another half of the rest in five years, but the rest tend to survive, thing is most men when they get a taste of what the life of a warrior is like, life in bumfucksville doesn't feel like much anymore, they wanna keep travelling and killing, they have the thrills, they have the gold, they even have the women if they want, what else could they possibly want? We don't stop them from returning, it is just that very few of them want to go back to their old life. Most men end up retiring after five to ten years of mercenary work when they made some pretty amount of coin, but if they marry someone it will often be someone they met in their travels, not their childhood sweetheart they left in their home village. That's just how life is your highness. I'm not really sure what kind of incentive I could implement for them to return to their home villages, they probably don't even want to. As for your discount, I can give you, let's say, a 10% discount on hiring mercenaries for internal war and 5% discount for foreign wars."

"Very well, this seems acceptable.", you say, growing weary of negotiating with this mercenary.

"Thank you, your highness, I'll take measures to adequate the recruitment policy of my company at once."

"Your highness, Duke Chardon de Astoras has invited you for a friendly carrousing at his place, do you desire to attend?", asks Matil

> Yes of course
> No I have better things to do
> Write in

>>4575238
> Yes of course
Lets try not to get too drunk.
Maybe only half as drunk as Chardya.

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>>4575295


You decide to accept Duke Chardon's invitation to go carousing at his place. Matil schedule a trip on the proper date and arrange for Melvius to assume the regency when you are away.

"Your highness, Efeus Midros, renowned foreign scholar requests an audience concerning astrological matters.", says Matil.

"Let him in."

"Your highness, I have come to alert you that if my calculations are correct a meteor shower will impact your kingdom this year or the next. The meteors will probably be small, no bigger than a man's closed fist, but their crater can be enormous and there is no telling how much damage they can cause and how many lives can be lost."

"Thank you for warning us of such catastrophe Efeus. Matil, see to it that the man is richly rewarded for his services."

"Yes your highness.", says Matil.

"Your highness, Epaminondas Salitre, lowborn, requests an audience concerning giants in the local fiefs."

"I'll receive him."

"Your highness, the fiefs of the county of Asalya are being plagued by a gang of giants! None of the local adventurers has been able to defeat them, a single giant is already a tough foe for a group of adventurers but when they band together they become nigh unkillable, having each other's backs. They go from village to village raiding whatever they want from village stores, mainly stealing barrels of booze and stealing cattle to sate their massive appetites. This has gone on for years and this has prompted me to come to you my liege, for the baron has been unable to solve the issue, the count has been unable too, and the duke has been unable as well, therefore I must request that our glorious monarch end the reign of terror of this gang of giants!"

"I'll see what I can do.", you tell him, remembering that your standing army is out in a mission.

"Thank you my liege!", says the lowborn, bowing and leaving your presence.

"Matil, any news from my troops?"

"I'll have to check with the commanders. I'll be back your highness."

"Your highness, your troops have performed the reconnaissance and have located the den of the Mustafas in a cave complex in the eastern part of the kingdom. They will be ready to assault their position at your orders within one week!"

> Excellent news! Order the strike at once, kill them at will.
> Give orders to capture as many of them alive as possible, I want to have them executed publicly.
> I want to lead the attack personally.
> Write in

>>4575428
> I want to lead the attack personally.
Make sure we have a team of elite bodyguards with us at all times.

>>4575501
support

After this, it could be a good time to go around cleaning our realm from the filth. We have the army at our back and the kingdom is full of bandits and monsters. We can tell to any adventurers to join our ranks

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>>4575501
>>4575515


You decide to lead the attack on the Mustafas personally. You make sure to have a team of elite bodyguards with you at all times.

You and your men enter the den of the Mustafas taking torches with you. As you delve deeper, some men fall into traps and you're ambushed by the Mustafas who use their superior knowledge of the terrain to their advantage, killing several of your men.

"My liege, we have the numerical advantage. If we keep pressing we can certainly win this, but we will suffer heavy casualties for they have laid many traps and they know these tortuous tunnels much better than us. Also, they might have some secret escape route and we may not be able to capture their leaders.", says Heytor Kuksas, your commander.

> Let's kill them all, we have not the luxury to try and capture them alive
> I still want to capture them alive to execute them publicly, we'll do it by any means necessary
> I won't throw away the lives of my men, let's fall back and siege them, wait hunger to force their surrender
> Write in

>>4575518

I think haven't been descriptive enough.

The traps in which your men have fallen where mostly pit traps with spikes or slits on the walls that the enemy could shoot poison darts or crossbow bolts through. The enemy has ambushed your troops attacking them with slings and crossbows and running away, sometimes engaging with daggers when they thought they could land a sure kill.

>>4575518
>Write-in
Smoke them. And look around for signs of other exits. Some of them will go out and can be captured, the rest will die inside.

>>4575525

You have decided to smoke them and look for signs of other exits.

You have Martial 5. Your commander has Martial 3. He will give you a bonus of 1 extra dice on your roll.

Roll 6d20 to determine success of your action, DC 14.

Rolled 16, 19, 20, 5, 1, 4 = 65 (6d20)

>>4575550

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>>4575558

(crit success counts as two successes and crit fails negates one success, so all in all you got three successes)

You have your men fall back and divide them in two groups, sending one to collect wood around the area to build fires to start smoking the cave, and the other to search for alternative exits to the cave complex.

The smoke starts filling the caves and soon enough the coughing bandits start pouring out of the caves in droves. They try to fight their way out of the cave, but they are heavily outnumbered and so they end up not being too effective at it, being captured in significant numbers.

Your men locate an alternate exit of the cave that the bandits used to flee, they only managed to capture bandits which were particularly greedy and were carrying too much loot to the point of being slowed down so that our warriors in plate were able to run them down. The rest of the bandits that escaped through this route fled through thick forest so our mounted soldiers were unable to follow them and our regular soldiers were unable to keep up with their pace.

It seems this migh not be the end of the Mustafas, but you certainly dealt a significant blow on their operations, they will have to find another base and start recruiting more grunts and footpads before they can try to do any large scale operation again.

You hold a large battlefield trial for their crimes, then you take your prisoners back to the nearest large city, executing a couple on every village that you pass through and leaving them hanging by the roadside.

> Hang them all and head back to the capital, I have more pressing matters at the court
> Hang them all and start roaming the countryside looking for monsters to slay, I'm already leading the army might as well clean the realm from filth
> Keep hanging a few of them on every village and city you pass through until you reach the capital and then hang the bulk of them there
> Write in

>>4575564
>> Hang them all and start roaming the countryside looking for monsters to slay, I'm already leading the army might as well clean the realm from filth
kill any other bandits as well. No mercy.

>>4575564
> Write in
Interrogate all them seperately first.
Find out how they operate, why they act in criminality, and what other bases of operations and safe houses, or catches or supplies they have.

Then execute like 90 percent of them, hanging them along paths they tend to raid or rob.
Sell the rest into slavery or something. Maybe make em do hard labor to pay back society.

>>4575567
>>4575564
I want to capture the giants and form a fighting unit of them. It seems they are mostly just hungry since the only seem to be robbing farms for food and can't really feed themselves, so we can pay em in food and a little coin.

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>>4575567
>>4575641
>>4575642


At the local dungeon, you have your officers go through the lengthy process of interrogating all of the bandits separately. The process takes quite some time, in the mean time your army stays camped in the outskirts of town, your men spending their pay with booze and easy women.

Your officers question the bandits about what other bases of operation and safe houses or caches of supplies they have. Most of the bandits know nothing about any of that, being merely grunts and footpads, having received very little information from their superiors before being indicted into a life of crime. Upon being asked why they chose to be bandits most of them said that it was never a choice, that they were always outcasts by regular society and that the Mustafas gave them a home and purpose.

From the scant few leaders that we manage to nab we managed to squeeze some more information after some torture. They said that the Mustafas shit hit the fan plan is a rendezvous point by the river where there are boats hidden that they can use to ferry their stash of loot to any number of possible locations to resume recruiting people and start operating again once they have enough numbers. They say they themselves don't know the location of the other possible bases, only the hidden leaders knows the location of the caches where they stash the bulk of their loot, they are only middle management. The only reliable way of contacting the hidden leaders is by making secret smoke signals in the forest and waiting for their response to schedule a meeting, and then they give their leaders the loot for safekeeping. Upon being inquired why they trust blindly on those men they say the Mustafas leadership have mystical knowledge and can predict the future. Our officers mock them saying that they didn't predict us coming and the bandits say nothing.

"I want to execute like 90 percent of the bandits, hanging them along paths they tend to raid or rob, then maybe sell the rest into slavery or something, to do some hard labor to pay back society.", you say.

"We can travel around the area executing the bandits and hanging them, but as you know your highness slavery is forbidden in the kingdom. We could perhaps arrange to sell them to slavers that occasionally come from the north into the western ports, but we have to be careful to do so without letting the parliament nor the council know that we are doing it, or else there would be outrage. We would need to travel the length of the kingdom with them in tow to do so."

> Yes, this seems like a fitting punishment for them, let's do this
> No, that's just too much work, just hang all of them around this area and let's head back to the capital
> No, hang all of them around this area and let's keep hunting bandits and monsters
> Write in

>>4576190
> No, hang all of them around this area and let's keep hunting bandits and monsters

>>4576190
Even forced prison labor is a no go?
Well I tried, sorry boys.
Hang em all. Make it quick and painless.

And lets continue hunting and killing shit.
We brought the army all the way out here, may as well make the most of it.

>>4576210
Supporting

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>>4576210
>>4576269
>>4576287
>>4577367

You remember lessons you had as a kid about the history of your kingdom. You're not much learned in the ancient lore, but there was something about the founders of the kingdom having been once enslaved and breaking free from slavery before founding this kingdom and as such slavery has always been a taboo in our kingdom.

You decide to hang all the bandits around this area and then you get the army back marching and continue hunting bandits and monsters. You inquire the local authorities about what kind of menaces threaten the region.

"Your highness, this is a very dangerous region indeed and I'm very glad you came with your army to finally pacify the county.", says the mayor.

"The Mustafas where the major bandit threat in the region, but there are some minor gangs of thieves which harass merchant's in the king's roads. However, if they see the entire king's army marching towards them they will certainly bolt away faster than you can catch them and come back later when you're gone."

"As for monster there are quite a few who have been a nuisance for the past several years around the general vicinity of this duchy."
"An iron golem of unknown orign that roams the kingdom's wilderness aimlessly killing all in its path;
A den of basilisks in a nearby mountain which sometimes rampage through local villages;
A succubus who terrorizes several villages attacking mainly any men who sleep anywhere alone to steal their seed and lifeforce;
A horde of zombies that roams the wilderness so large that it sometimes forces evacuation of entire villages."

> Deal with the thieves (how)
> Deal with the iron golem (how)
> Deal with the basilisks (how)
> Deal with the succubus (how)
> Deal with the zombies (how)
> This is a job for adventurers not the king's army, head back to the capital
> Write in

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Question: do you guys want to simultaneously to the main quest run a parallel sidequest as the head of a mercenary company?

>>4578295
No, Simultaneous quests never work out, even if there are two QM's working together in collaboration on it.

>>4578280
> Deal with the thieves (how)
Put a price on the head of the thieves in cooperation with the traders and merchants, we put a base prince of 5 silver per dead bandit and a gold coin for thieves leadership, payment only when the whole group is dead. Merchants can add to a pot on top of that for any bands of thieves if they want a particular group dealt with quickly, or just to increase the allure of hunting bandits.

> Deal with the iron golem (how)
Bring heavy weapons like Ballista's, siege crossbows, and even some catapults with a supply train and wagons, horses and tools.

I actually made a bit of a elaborate plan on deal with the golem, but I have no idea how big it is, which would affect the plan, and there is a easier one for dealing with the golem if it is smaller or under 8 feet.

So how big is the golem?

> Deal with the basilisks (how)
lay bait out in a village in the rampaging path like juice livestock. Dig a bunch of spike pits but with some strategic breaks to allow them in. When the basilisk run into the village to rampage, we seal off the open paths and move in to kill as many as possible trapped in the village. Have horse riders and archers ready to pick off any that try to make it over the pits, and the horsemen chase them back to their dens. Once we have the location of the den we surround it and finish it off.

> Deal with the succubus (how)
Does it kill the victims? Grab a bunch of virgins to pose as part of a group of traveling apprentices with their master going to their guild, staying over near some of the villages and spring a trap on her. Kill or capture. If capture we study the creature with the Inquisition. If kill, well then problem solved.

> Deal with the zombies (how)
Aim for the head. Duh.
But this is easy, gonna steal this plan from Zombie Apocalypse guide.
https://zombie.fandom.com/wiki/121_A.D.,_Fanum_Cocidi,_Caledonia_(Scotland)
>The zombies were less than a day away, so Terentius got to work immediately. He drafted a force of civilian laborers who dug reinforced palisades, and two seven-foot-deep, inwardly narrowing ditches that eventually straightened to form a straight, mile-long corridor. The ditches were lined with stakes and filled with bitumen liquidum (crude oil: common for heating lamps in this part of Britannia). The fortifications were finished just as the un-dead drew near. As the ghouls drew near, Terentius ordered the trench lit.

> Write in
We can outsource or give out contracts to help to deal with smaller problems or just to handle any stragglers or anyone we missed.

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>>4578757

You gather with your commanders and the local leaders at the war tent to strategize what are you going to do about the threats in the region.

"Perhaps we could put a price on the head of the thieves. Five silver per dead bandit and a gold coin per thieves leadership, to be paid only when the whole group is dead. Merchants can add to the pot on top ot that for any bands of thieves if they want a particular group dealt with quickly, or just to increase the allure of hunting bandits."

"Seems like an interesting way to deal with crime your highness. The starting price is a bit on the low side, perhaps we could make it higher, and maybe make payment for leaders particularly higher, but I suppose the merchants will quickly bid to increase the bounties on the most troublesome gangs of thieves. The only trouble I see is the part of only paying when the whole group is dead, for even if someone deals a large blow on a thieves group if some of them escape we won't pay them a thing. Sound a bit like a scam to me. Unless that's exactly the intent, I think we should rethink this matter and make the payment available at any time, otherwise there won't be much incentive to pursue the bandits for money seeking adventurers."

"Well, what would stop bandits themselves from claiming the reward whenever a member of their gang gets killed for any reason?"

"That's a valid concern I suppose. It is up to your highness to consider the tradeoffs."

> There is no point in paying before the whole gang is killed nor raising the bounties too much, I'll stick to my proposal
> The payment is too low, let's double it, make it one gold per regular bandit and two gold per leader
> The payment is too low, let's increase it and per leader even more, make it one gold per bandit and five gold per leader
> It seems a bit scammy to only pay after the whole gang is dead, let's allow payments to be made even before that
> Write in

>>4579228
> The payment is too low, let's double it, make it one gold per regular bandit and two gold per leader
I have no Idea what the buying power of a gold coin is so i low balled it a bit.

Fine pay per confirmed bandit kill then. Let bandits turn on each other.

Also how big is the golem?

>>4579613
>I have no Idea what the buying power of a gold coin

It's about the regular buying power of gold in fantasy, 1 gold buys a peasant a month worth of food.

>>4579860
Sounds like a lot to me?
Then again I live somewhere expensive.

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>>4579613
>>4579860
>>4579962


You decide to double the payment of the bounty on the criminals to one gold per thief and two gold per thief leader.

"I'll dispatch a courier to the capital with the news of your new edict at once your highness."

"What size exactly is this iron golem that is roaming the wilderness?"

"It is about 12 feet tall your highness."

"I've been thinking about bringing heavy weapons like ballistas, siege crossbows and even some catapults with a supply train and wagons, horses and tools."

"Catapults are too heavy and impractical to move from place to place, but we can recruit local carpenters to build ourselves some catapults under instructions of the army engineers, the work can get done in a few weeks time. Ballistas and siege crossbows are significantly more complex equipments, above the skills of your average builder, we would have to pack them into a wagon bring some from a major city that has them and unpack them here, there are a few mounted on the walls of the capital, if you order them brought here then they could be here within a few weeks, but building more of them could take several months."

"Your highness, do you think using siege weapons against a moving target is really a good idea? Changing their target takes time, we would be lucky if we managed to land a shot on the golem at all, unless of course we got our troops distracting it while we aim, but then we would probably end up having a lot of friendly fire as well."

> Build some catapults
> Bring some ballistas and siege crossbows from the capital
> Build some ballistas and siege crossbows locally
> Now that I really think about it, I don't need siege weapons
> Write in

>>4580707
> Build some catapults
> Bring some ballistas and siege crossbows from the capital
> Build some ballistas and siege crossbows locally

>"Your highness, do you think using siege weapons against a moving target is really a good idea?
If someone told me how big it was earlier I could have told you how I planned to immobilize it, so shut up Kyle! On the bright side we don't need to destroy a mountain anymore.

We set up in a large field, dig a few very deep holes and trenches, like 30 feet deep at least 15 feet wide. Draw golem into field and lure it over the covered holes, let it fall in and then hit it with weapons, or fill the trench with burning pitch and coal, and try to melt the golem.

Bring the ballista's with steel bolts, and chain. we can use it to fire at the golem to tie down either to wrap chain around it or penetrate its metal hide.

> Write in
We can bring some magic people to help us deal with golem to either bring it under control or disable it.

>>4580767
Support

We will need to call some peasants from nearby villages. With them we should spend less time in preparing that field at least.
Send order to the duke of this land, if he can send some men for expand our army and if he wants to come with us.
A small group of light cavalry will be used for bring the iron golem to the prepared field. We will fight for kill the golem, since mages will require a certain time for reach us and attempting to block such a strong beast will work only for a short time with simple materials.

>>4580767
Lets make it 50 feet deep and 40 feet wide just in case...

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>>4580767
>>4581261
>>4581264


"If someone told me how big it was earlier I could have told you how I planned to immobilize it, so shut up Kyle! On the bright side we don't need to destroy a mountain anymore.

We set up in a large field, dig a few very deep holes and trenches, like 50 feet deep at least 30 feet wide. Draw golem into field and lure it over the covered holes, let it fall in and then hit it with weapons, or fill the trench with burning pitch and coal, and try to melt the golem.

Bring the ballista's with steel bolts, and chain. We can use it to fire at the golem to tie down either to wrap chain around it or penetrate its metal hide.

We can bring some magic people to help us deal with golem to either bring it under control or disable it.

We will need to call some peasants from nearby villages. With them we should spend less time in preparing that field at least.

Send order to the duke of this land, if he can send some men to expand our army and if he wants to come with us.

A small group of light cavalry will be used to bring the iron golem to the prepared field.

We might need to fight to kill this golem, since mages will require a certain time to reach us and attempting to block such a strong beast will work only for a short time with such simple materials."

"We will look for peasants with experience digging wells for such deep holes and trenches might prove troublesome to dig without some expertise. From your specifications we believe that we would need to mobilize a team of about five hundred workers to dig each trench and it would be done in about two weeks after the work actually starts. Of course it will take a little longer than that to find experienced workers and set up the whole thing. Supposing we only need to make three of such trenches, our expenses would be of the order of 2,500 gold to hire all the necessary workers."

"That sounds hella expensive!"

"Maybe that's why nobody decided to do anything like this before your highness. If we only dug one hole we could lower our expenses to about 1,000 gold."

> Very well, dig the three holes
> Only dig one hole, no point in spending so much
> I have a better idea on how to do this, forget these holes
> Write in

there are a few more option I'm not being able to post them

>>4581766
>> Only dig one hole, no point in spending so much

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>>4581766

"Up to eight ballistas can be brought from the capital in a month. Building more of them will take about three months. The costs would be about 1,000 gold per ballista."

> Bring the ballistas from the capital (how many)
> Make some more ballistas (how many)
> I have a better idea on how to do this, forget the ballistas
> Write in

"Pitch is not very easy to acquire in large quantities my liege, but we could procure large amounts of coal from the mines in the north. We could bid a caravans to bring us coal for the modicum price of about 100 gold per 1,000 lbs in about a month. How much coal do you think you're going to need to melt down the golem my liege?"

> I suppose 5,000 lbs is enough (500 gold)
> I will need at least 10,000 lbs (1,000 gold)
> No less than 20,000 lbs (2,000 gold)
> Spare no expenses, bring me 30,000 lbs of coal (3,000 gold)
> Write in

"Do you want to meet the Duke in person or should I send an emissary to invite him to come to your aid my liege?"

> I will meet the Duke in person, I'll stay in his castle while I wait for the preparations to be done
> I have more pressing matters, I will be leading the army against other threats, send an emissary
> Write in

"As you know there are no wizards in the kingdom, at least not officially my liege. Our options on spellcasters are divine casters like priests and such, or we could try to attract some outlaw spellcaster which might exist in the kingdom with a good enough promise of pardon and a big reward. What do you desire to do my liege?"

> Summon our best priests to deal with the golem
> Send word throughout the kingdom that I will give royal pardon and a reward in gold to any wizard which effectively lends his abilities to disable the golem, and the best one at the task will become court wizard
> We don't really need spellcasters for this, we can handle this without magic
> Write in

it was weird the system wasn't allowing me to post the second post with the choices, I spent like half an hour trying

At our current pace of about one update a day I already have enough material to last the whole thread maybe even two so I suppose it is just a matter of trying to stick to it. I'll try to update as often as possible.

>>4581895
> Bring the ballistas from the capital (how many)
6 should be more than enough.

> I will need at least 10,000 lbs (1,000 gold)
Even if it doesn't melt the thing, it would soften its metal enough for it to do serious damage.

> Send word throughout the kingdom that I will give royal pardon and a reward in gold to any wizard which effectively lends his abilities to disable the golem, and the best one at the task will become court wizard
I want a court wizard like I want a court midget!

>>4581896
>>4581930
Did you max out your character limit?
Or maybe its add blocker?
Or you hit a banned word and it won't let you post.

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>>4581815
>>4582188


"One hole will be enough. Bring six ballistas from the capital, should be more than enough. I will need at least 10,000 lbs of coal, even if it doesn't melt the thing it would soften its metal enough for it to do serious damage. Send word throughout the kingdom that I will give royal pardon and a reward in gold to any wizard which effectively lends his abilities to disable the golem, and the best one at the task will become court wizard
I want a court wizard like I want a court midget!"

"Very well, we shall procure peasants with the necessary expertise at once. We will dispatch couriers to the capital, to the mines and to the neighbouring cities. We expect everything to be in order within a few months time. Do you really want a court midget your highness?"

> Of course, tell them to look for candidates for me, I'll select one when I come back to court
> Of course not, it was a joke
> Write in

"Do you want to lead your armies against other threats in the region while you wait, do you prefer to head back to the capital or would you rather stay at the local Duke's castle my liege?"

> Let's go after those basilisks
> Let's go after that succubus
> Let's go after those zombies
> I'd rather chill in the Duke's castle for now
> I have pressing matters at the court, I can't stay, carry on the good fight commander
> Write in

>>4582188

nah, I was just posting this >>4581895 update exactly as it is over and over again and it seemed like it was going through but then it never appeared on the page

it was weird

I waited awhile then tried again and it went through normally

>>4582212
>Of course not, it was a joke
>Let's go after those basilisks
"I never thought the kingdom was in such a state, no wonder traders fears our roads. We should hold prayer to the god of war, when we will depart for slay those basilisks, his blessing will serve us well against the most fearsome of foes. At the very least our people can stay away from the zombies before they arrive. And in regard to the succubus we will need the aid of the faith, while we are brave of heart such a beast would attempt to sway our minds to evil. And i will not allow it. Let us go now."

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>>4582230


"Of course I don't want a court midget, it was a joke."

"I never thought the kingdom was in such a state, no wonder traders fears our roads. We should hold prayer to the god of war, when we will depart for slay those basilisks, his blessing will serve us well against the most fearsome of foes. At the very least our people can stay away from the zombies before they arrive. And in regard to the succubus we will need the aid of the faith, while we are brave of heart such a beast would attempt to sway our minds to evil. And I will not allow it. Let us go now."

"The plan is to lay bait out in a village in the rampaging path like juicy livestock. Dig a bunch of spike pits but with some strategic breaks to allow them in. When the basilisks run into the village to rampage, we seal off the open paths and move in to kill as many as possible trapped in the village. Have horse riders and archers ready to pick off any that try to make it over the pits, and the horsemen chase them back to their dens. Once we have the location of the den we surround it and finish it off."

"It is an interesting plan your highness, however the attacks of the basilisks are erratic in nature. Should we pick one village at random in their rampaging path and just lay the traps and wait for them? Also I'm not entirely sure if you're taking into consideration the stone gaze of the basilisks. Any direct confrontation the likes of which you're proposing will have a great deal many losses due to their stone gaze alone, men and horses alike will be turned into stone. The basilisks will often eat the victims they turn into stone, their jaws are powerful enough to break the statues and chew the stone to bits. Perhaps it would be wiser to consult with a specialist who has more knowledge on these creatures so that we can devise a better strategy to deal with them."

> Nonsense! Let's just corral them and slay the beasts, how hard can it be?
> Find a local expert who has dealt with the creatures before and survived, we could need some knowhow
> This stone gaze and eating habits are intriguing, I guess it doesn't hurt seeking a sage, send word we're looking for the foremost expert on basilisks
> This whole thing is too dangerous, I suppose we'll have to accept basilisks as a force of nature that rampages occasionally, just tell the peasants to evacuate their villages when the basilisks attack
> Write in

>>4582241
>> Find a local expert who has dealt with the creatures before and survived, we could need some knowhow

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>>4582250


"Find me a local expert who has dealt with the creatures before and survived, we could need some knowhow."

After searching for awhile, we find a blind monk who has survived an attack from the basilisks.

"My liege, my guide has turned to stone while I was touching him, I heard people screaming in panic all around me. I could hear the crunching sounds of the basilisks feasting on the stone around me. From the sounds they made I believe that somehow the stone turns back into meat inside their throats for it doesn't sound like they are swallowing stone, but that they are swallowing chunks of meat. Seems like that as long as they have enough to eat and you don't molest them they don't molest you either. I don't think they are malicious creatures my liege. I suspect they only attack our villages when they are hungry and can't find enough prey in their natural habitat. Once they were done feeding they left the village."

"So apparently the stone gaze only works if you can see the eyes of the basilisk huh? Maybe we could blindfold our men when we send them to fight the basilisk. Fighting blindfolded is difficult, but it is better than becoming a statue."

"We won't be able to use archers though."

"Yes, that's a shame."

> Let's go with the bait plan, blindfold the men
> Let's go with the bait plan, don't blindfold the men
> The basilisks are just big dumb animals, leave them alone, tell the peasants to evacuate the villages when they attack
> We might need something more elaborate, we should train some men into becoming experts at fighting blindfolded before we engage the basilisks
> Write in

>>4582261
>> Let's go with the bait plan, blindfold the men
>Ask the monk if he would accept to train us and our men in fighting blindfolded. For enough time that we would be able to put up a fight with the basilisks
"Even so their rampage must end. Too many have become òost their beloved ones"

>>4582280
*have lost

>>4582212
> Of course, tell them to look for candidates for me, I'll select one when I come back to court

>>4582230
Why do you hate little people.

>>4582241
>turn to stone
So thoses types of basiliks eh?
Yeah we need mages and wizards.
Darn church crippled us in terms of magic.

>>4582261
> Let's go with the bait plan, don't blindfold the men
Set up a bunch of traps then. Traps have no eyes, and they don't need us present. It will be a bit of a attrition battle but it will work if we are patient.

> Write in
Look into anyone who could make potions or special eye visors, charms or wards that can protect the men from turning to stone.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4582280
>>4582667

1 - blindfold the men
2 - don't blindfold the men

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>>4583568
>>4582667
>>4582281
>>4582280


"We will set a bunch of traps for the basilisks. Traps have no eyes and they don't need us present. It will be a bit of an attrition battle but it will work if we are patient."

"Very well my liege. Our sappers can prepare simple spiked pit traps without much trouble, it will take a few months of work to trap the perimeter of a single village. That is likely to inconvenience the villagers somewhat, but we can put flags marking the areas with pit traps to keep the villagers away from them to reduce the chance of accidents."

> Very well, tell the sappers to begin the work on the village where attacks happen most often
> That's just too much work, let's wait to ambush the basilisks with our men
> Write in

"I'm interested in potions or special eye visors, maybe charms or wards that can protect the men from turning to stone."

"Potion makers would be wary to negotiate with king's men my liege, they exist in large numbers but are still outlawed in the kingdom, besides we would have no way to test the potion until they are needed. It is unclear what specifications of eye visors could protect us from the basilisks, from the information we have we gather that it seems only blocking the line of sight completely actually stops the transformation in stone, but we could ask blacksmiths if they can come up with some idea."

"My liege, nobody in the army has any knowledge of potentially useful charms or wards which could protect the men from turning to stone. We could try to look for some wizards, but once again, the practice of witchcraft is still outlawed so it is unlikely we will find anyone willing to cooperate without heavy bribery and promises of pardon and a special license to practice witchcraft. We may also see if the priests know something about the subject."

> Seek potion makers, I want potions that can protect the men from turning to stone
> Ask blacksmiths to figure out some clever eye visors that could protect us from the basilisks
> Search for wizards who can cast for us charms or wards to protect the men from turning to stone
> See if the priests know something about charms or wards to protect the men from turning to stone
> Write in

>>4583581
> Very well, tell the sappers to begin the work on the village where attacks happen most often
> See if the priests know something about charms or wards to protect the men from turning to stone

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>>4583769
"Very well, tell the sappers to begin the work on the village where attacks happen most often. See if the priests know something about charms or wards to protect the men from turning to stone"

"I shall dispatch the troops and couriers at once my liege!"

"My liege, our twenty nine sappers may be fully able to defend themselves, but on the other hand it might be a better idea to place some other soldiers to protect them. How large of a detachment should we station overseeing the sappers work? There is always the risk that the basilisks will attack before the traps are fully complete and it would be a shame to lose our sappers to such an eventuality."

"You have the following troops available besides 29 sappers my liege:"

34 heavy infantry
37 longbowmen
18 crossbowmen
16 pikemen
96 light cavalry ("we should reserve at least 20 for courier duty")
49 knights ("twelve of them are commanders")

"Instead of raising our own troops we could summon the local militia to aid in the fight, every town is able to raise a small militia composed mainly of light infantry and a few bowmen. We suppose we could raise a hundred men as garrison to defend the village, although the levy doesn't require them to follow us anywhere. The only levy a village like that would be obliged to support and provide to the kingdom in case you summoned the king's army according to the law would be a handful of men at most."

> Our sappers are fully capable of defending themselves
> Summon the village's garrison to defend the sappers
> Station the following amount of troops (specify)
> Write in

"And what do you plan to do while the sappers lay the traps your highness?"

> Let's go after that succubus
> Let's go after those zombies
> I'd rather chill in the Duke's castle for now
> I have pressing matters at the court, I can't stay, carry on the good fight commander
> Write in

>>4583981
> Station the following amount of troops (specify)
>18 crossbowmen
>16 pikemen

> Let's go after those zombies

>>4583981
>> Let's go after those zombies
> Summon the village's garrison to defend the sappers
> Station the following amount of troops (specify)>>4585547

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>>4585547
>>4585585

"Station eighteen crossbowmen and sixteen pikemen to protect the sappers. Also summon the village's garrison to provide additional protection."

"At once my liege. The mayor shall pay the wages of the garrison for as long as they are needed so the crown doesn't need to worry about their costs, at least as long as the village doesn't go bankrupt."

"I believe it is time for I to lead the men into dealing with the zombie situation. I have devised a plan. We should draft a force of civilian laborers to dig reinforced palisades and two seven-foot-deep, inwardly narrowing ditches that eventually straightened to form a straight, mile-long coridor. We shall line the ditches with stakes and fill them with bitumen. Once the zombies arrive, we shall order the trenches lit."

"My liege, your plan sounds masterful in theory, however bitumen is hard to come by in the kingdom and we certainly couldn't procure enough to fill a mile wide trench in any reasonable time frame. If you insist in performing such a feat we could sent merchants to foreign kingdoms with orders to acquire some bitumen, I suppose to fill a mile wide trench we would need at least 10,000 gold worth of bitumen, it might be possible to acquire enough of it within a year or two. As for the trenches and palisades themselves, hiring enough workers to build them would cost about 2,000 gold."

> I want the bitumen for my masterplan, send the merchants to acquire it
> We could try to use something else as fuel in the trenches (specify)
> Forget about it the costs are too high, I have a better idea (specify)
> Write in

>>4585831
>> I want the bitumen for my masterplan, send the merchants to acquire it

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>>4586657

"I want the bitumen for my masterplan, send the merchants to acquire it."

"At once, my liege!"

"Now it seems in this area only the succubus remains to be dealt with. Does it kill the victims?"

"Sometimes it does other times it doesn't my liege. It only attacks men who sleep alone. It starts draining their vital essence by making them spill their seed over and over again until they die. Sometimes the damned devil doesn't have enough time to kill the victim and the men survives the experience. After surviving an attack by the succubus one hardly is unscathed though, many men become lunatics hearing voices of immaterial demons who tell them to do unspeakable deeds and very lustful, seeking to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh as often as possible. It seems those who have suffered prolongued attack by the succubus and survived experience fast aging and become quite slothful as a consequence of having had their lifeforce drained from them. The men reports are consistent, the succubus gain entry into even locked rooms through some supernatural means and begins performing immoral acts to seduce the men into having intercourse with them and once they begin they cannot stop unless someone else shows up and rebukes the succubus in the name of the Gods, in which case she will flee. Reportedly she has wings and can fly, she also seems capable of appearing and disappearing out of thin air whenever she desires. She has not been reported to engage in combat with people."

"I've been thinking we could grab a bunch of virgins to pose as part of group of traveling apprentices with their master going to their guild, staying over near some of the villages and spring a trap on her so we can kill or capture her."

"I'm not entirely sure as how that would work out my liege, as I've stated she is reported to only attack men who sleep alone. She doesn't attack men sleeping in groups. I do not quite understand the nature of your plan my liege."

> Have all the virgins sleep each in a different room alone in a local inn, station some men to spring a trap on her (how many men)
> Have all the virgins sleep each in a different room alone in the house of some person, station some men in each house to spring a trap on her (how many men)
> Now that I think about it, I have a better plan (specify)
> I do not think we have a good chance of catching this succubus, forget about it
> Write in

>>4588235
> Have all the virgins sleep each in a different room alone in the house of some person, station some men in each house to spring a trap on her (how many men)
reduce the number down to 2 boys and a master, throw in 5 knights, 5 archers, 10 heavy infantry.

Make sure they have stakes, holy water, crosses, and nets.

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>>4588825

"Have two boys and a master sleep each in different rooms alone in the house of some person, station 5 knights, 5 archers and 10 heavy infantrymen in the house ready to catch the succubus. Make sure they have stakes, holy water, crosses and nets."

"At only my liege! Do you desire to lead the operation personally or should one of our commanders take charge?"

> Lead the operation personally (roll 6d20 for Martial+Learning success)
> Have one of the commanders take charge (roll 4d20 for Martial+Learning success)
> Write in

(For this roll, you will need at least two successes to have any positive outcome since two attributes are being tested simultaneously. The DC is 15.)

Rolled 9, 11, 8, 12, 5, 18 = 63 (6d20)

>>4589422
I think we need the extra dice so we should go.

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>>4589922

You decide to lead the capture of the succubus yourself.

Your men get ready with stakes, holy water, crosses and nets to capture the succubus.

A few nights go by until one night strange sounds come from the room of one of the boys. Our men burst into the room to see the succubus raping the young man.

They rebuke the succubus and toss holy water on her, to what she screeches and get off from on top of the boy. The men toss a net on top of the succubus and drag her out of the room and outside of the home.

They take the devil to your presence.

"We got it your highness, we captured the devil!"

The demon was struggling and fighting inside the net but then it just stops and starts laughing then just disappears with a fizzling noise.

It then appears standing a few feet in front of you.

Your knights try to attack it but then it just flies into the air and blow kisses to them and makes a no sign with its finger.

The archers start shooting her but then she just flies higher than they can shoot her and she keeps cackling.

"I thought you wanted to talk, tell your men to stop attacking me."

"Very well, cease attacking the devil, let's hear it."

"Your highness?"

"I want to hear what the devil has to say."

The succubus then descends into the ground level agains and walks very close to you. Her scent just drives you mad, you get a raging uncontrollable erection.

"Oh, yoouur hiighneess, if you wanted to see me so much you didn't had to go through all the trouble to set up a trap to capture me, you just had to summon me you know. The name is Demilith the succubus, at your service. Draw a pentagram of blood anywhere and keep calling my name three times again and again, I will hear it and I shall... come. Just don't invite me to another trap, for I will know. I'll just know, and then we won't be able to have fun together."

"Damned devil, why would we want anything to do with you?"

"I don't know, power, knowledge, magic, a little bit of kinky pleasure. Your call your highness. I'm your humble humble servant, all I ask in exchange is your seed.", she cackles.

"In any case, I have more pressing matters to attend. I have an insatiable hunger for more male seed, you see, I just can't get enough. So farewell little king, call me when you need me."

The succubus then just disappears with a fizzling noise.

"My liege, the last thing that remains is outsourcing contracts to hunt monsters. There is an adventurer's guild in the kingdom. Do you desire to associate with this adventurer's guild?"


> I'm not done with this succubus, summon the priests, we shall set up a trap for her somehow
> I shall wait for my plans for this area to come to fruition in the Duke's castle
> Let's head to the local chapter of this adventurer's guild and see how they are doing
> I shall lead the army into a different region of the kingdom for surely other areas are also troubled
> I have spent enough time in the field, it is time to return to the court
> Write in

>>4590061
Is everyone including us so fucking incompetent we can't even kill a low level demon?
Just kill ourselves and let someone else take over.

> Let's head to the local chapter of this adventurer's guild and see how they are doing

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>>4591048

You decide to go check the local chapter of the adventuring guild.

"Hello your highness, it is an honor and a pleasure to have your presence in our humble establishment. I'll explain how our business operates at once. Merchants, nobles and common folk often desire to get rid of some beast or bandits, or to have some feat performed which require abilities which are outside the scope of ordinary men, so they pool their money together entrusting us to safekeep it for a small fee to cover our operational costs and then adventurers come to us and we give to them these quests so to speak to defeat the monsters or do some assorted work, usually escorting people or retrieving items from monster infested regions. We do not operate with unlawful work like assassinations and things like that of course, the only people we agree to place bounties on are those who are known criminals who are sought for crimes by the authorities."

"Could you produce a list of such jobs for me to peruse?"

"But of course your highness! At once."

The clerk starts grabbing a bunch of scrolls and laying them in front of you and explaining the various beasts that there are bounties on:

In no particular order of periculosity or urgency there is a list of some of the most dangerous monsters in the local area:

A pack of werewolves that lives in the forest that often steals cattle and sometimes attacks people. Bounty: 300 gold.
A manticore which terrorizes several villages. Bounty: 200 gold.
A lone yeti who lives in a mountain and steals cattle on occasion. Bounty: 100 gold.
A cerberus who terrorizes several villages. Bounty: 100 gold.
A banshee that dwells in a cursed abandoned cemetery but sometimes terrorizes neighboring villages. Bounty: 300 gold.
A vampire that hides in a cursed abandoned cemetery and often terrorizes neighboring villages. Bounty: 300 gold
A necromancer which hides in a cursed abandoned cemetery to perform his dark arts and has been accused of stealing corpses in various villages. Bounty: 200 gold

"Where is this cursed abandoned cemetery which is referenced so much?"

"Ah! Let me see... here, I'll show you in this map. It is between the Forest of Lamentations and the Swamp of Wailing."

"Sounds gloomy."

"Yes, nobody in their right mind goes there. There used to be a city there a long time ago, it was a mining city, but after the mine closed the young people started leaving the city, the old people died off, and the place turned into a ghost town. Nobody lives there anymore. There's even an abandoned castle there where used to be the local baron's residence. The whole place is full of undead nowadays."

> Give some money to the adventurer's guild for they to place on bounties (how much)
> Take the army to the cursed abandoned cemetery, it is time to cleanse the place
> This is no job for soldiers alone, summon the priests to cleanse the cursed abandoned cemetery
> Write in

>>4591785
>> Give some money to the adventurer's guild for they to place on bounties (how much)
300 to kill the succubus.

>>4591785
>> Take the army to the cursed abandoned cemetery, it is time to cleanse the place
its the place to be apparently

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4591935
>>4592221

1 - bounty
2 - cemetery

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You decide to take the army to the cursed abandoned cemetery. The men are scared of ghosts but you encourage them saying that the Gods are with us and that nothing will do us any harm.

The troops march towards the cemetery. With each passing day the terrain and the mood gets more and more gloomy. We start to find zombies and skeletons along the way that our men must dispatch. We have people stand guard at all times for randomly undead wander into our camp trying to kill someone.

We start to wander into larger and larger groups of undeads. God, where are all those undeads coming from?

Eventually we arrive at the cemetery proper. We start to kill wave after wave of undead. The whole place has fog all over, visibility is bad even during the day.

Then we arrive at a big mausoleum right in the middle of the cemetery. A bunch of men go check it and then we hear a loud wail and we see the men who went check it drop dead.

A banshee gets out from inside the mausoleum. Our men start attacking it. It kills a whole bunch of other soldiers but eventually it is destroyed. Once we inspect the mausoleum we find bones in the rags of what was once a dress that we assume was the corpse of the banshee.

> Make a large funerary pyre for the banshee corpse and our deceased men
> Take the bodies of our men and leave this accursed place, we shall not spend the night here
> Push onwards, we still haven't explored even half of this whole cemetery
> Write in

>>4592950
> Make a large funerary pyre for the banshee corpse and our deceased men
> Write in
Start tradition of burning the dead instead of burying it.

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>>4593624


"Make a large funerary pyre for the banshee corpse and for our deceased men. We shall not suffer our own becoming undead and I hope that fire can prevent this abomination from rising again. Also remember me to have the priesthood start a new tradition of burning the dead instead of burying it, we could have avoided having to deal with this many shambling corpses if there were no corpses at all."

"It shall be done my liege."

The men busily start felling all the trees they can find in the cemetery and the nearby areas and making a large funerary pyre. By nightfall, the corpses are burning as the hungry and tired men respectfully watch the gigantic pyre with their deceased brothers rage.

However the relative peace of the event is disturbed by a gigantic mob of undead rampaging from the unexplored parts of the cemetery. They appear to be lead by a shadowy figure that you believe to be a woman amidst the hordes of undead, ushering forth commands that the shambling corpses follow.

Your men prepare for battle but the undead never engage, instead they surround the battlefield and you soon find yourself without an escape route. You're surrounded at least ten to one.

"Surrender now and your lives shall be spared. You'll receive the mark of darkness and will be released into the world free to continue living your life. Resist and you shall die and your souls shall be mine for eternity.", says the woman in a surprisingly booming voice.

"And what does this mark of darkness consists of?"

"You shall drain the soul of every creature you kill and it shall empower you. Upon your death all the souls you trapped will be siphoned to me. You shall not be allowed entrance into the realm of the Gods for such a deed so you'll certainly rise as an undead after your demise."

> Very well, I accept your terms. Lay down your arms men.
> I shall never surrender to the dark forces! We shall fight to the last man! TO ARMS!
> I cannot doom all my men to not have an afterlife witch, but I'll have you know I am no common man, I am king of this land, give your accursed mark to me and let my men go free
> Write in

>>4595398
> I shall never surrender to the dark forces! We shall fight to the last man! TO ARMS!
I thought the banshee was the one rising the dead.
Put our men in formation and surround her, kill her at any costs. Once she's dead, the rest either revert back to being properly dead, or no longer pose as big of a threat.

>>4595465

You decide to fight.

You have martial 5 and your commanders have martial 3, so you roll 5+1 dice.

Roll 6d20 DC 10 for success against the horde of the dead. Since you are greatly outnumbered it will be necessary multiple successes for a good outcome.

Rolled 3, 13, 19, 5, 1, 3 = 44 (6d20)

>>4595471
Then perhaps a fighting retreat?
Zombies are slow, we can just move out to the end of the horde and then run away.

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>>4595477


Unwilling to acquiesce to the demands of the foul witch you resort to usher your men to a fighting retreat. You order your commanders to push the thinner portion of the horde to the back of your position so you can take advantage of the slowness of the zombies and flee from them.

The fight is fierce and you lose several men and horses but eventually you breach the encroaching hordes and your men manage to secure a path for you and your remaining forces to make it into the relative safety of the outskirts of your previous camp on the outskirts of the cemetery and regroup.

You order your men to hastly pack what they can but you're forced to abandon your campaign tents for the undead are still on your tail and can be seem looming in the horizon.

You flee from this accursed place and force march for seven days until you reach the nearest city.

> Procure supplies for your army and get it combat ready, soon you will have other things to deal with
> You're not done with that necromancer, ready the army and go there again for round two
> You gonna need a bigger army, summon the kingdom army to deal with that foul necromancer
> You gonna need magical assistance, get the army ready and summon the priests to deal with that necromancer
> That was a close call, you're weary of risking your life, return to the court and leave it to your commanders
> Write in

>>4595687
> You gonna need a bigger army, summon the kingdom army to deal with that foul necromancer
> You gonna need magical assistance, get the army ready and summon the priests to deal with that necromancer

Can the Inquisition do anything or is it still too band spanking new like a babys bottom?

>>4595712
*brand new*

>>4595712
>Can the Inquisition do anything or is it still too band spanking new like a babys bottom?

You left the court before appointing its leader, it only exists in name.

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>>4595712
>>4595723


"A necromancer building an army of the dead in my kingdom? That will not stand. I hereby summon the kindom army. Give notice to every duke to send me the reinforcements due according to the levy's law at once. Also summon the priests for we shall need magical assistance to deal with the necromancer."

"Yes my liege, I'll dispatch the couriers to every duchy, the army will be here within a few weeks."

Your men spend the next few weeks procuring supplies to substitute the ones they lost to their hurried retreat while the reinforcements from every duchy in the kingdom start slowly arriving, thousands upon thousands of men, mostly light infantry, but also a decent amount of archers and light cavalry and even a few knights.

Thirty three priests arrive to provide magical assistance to the army. They bring a letter from the Council of Priests which states that those are the most magically gifted priests in the entire kingdom and that they will certainly be of great assistance in dealing with any dark forces.

After about a month the entire kingdom's army is fielded, about twenty thousand men.

"The Dukes and their vassals should be able to afford fielding the army for a month or two. More than that will put serious stress to their coffers my liege, and they might resent it."

> "If everything goes according to plan I'll only need it for one battle, it will be done in a couple weeks. I'll lead the army to the cemetery to purge the are of all undead once."
> "Order the men to surround the cemetery and slowly kill the undead, I desire to capture the witch alive for interrogation."
> "Two months? That's enough time to kill the witch and take the army around for a spin. Maybe I'll surprise attack that other witch in the north."
> Write in

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Army Composition

Light Infantry: ~12k
Archers: ~4k
Light Cavalry: ~2k
Heavy Infantry: ~500
Knights: ~200
Others: ~2k

>>4595736
> "If everything goes according to plan I'll only need it for one battle, it will be done in a couple weeks. I'll lead the army to the cemetery to purge the are of all undead once."
> "Order the men to surround the cemetery and slowly kill the undead, I desire to capture the witch alive for interrogation."
Only keep her alive if she can be magically bound or or sealed. If not then kill her.

Send in some recon units and scouts to watch for traps or anything, and break the army up into 3 groups for tactical flexibility, we lead center and we have two of the best commanders lead the flanks..

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>>4595769

"If everything goes according to plan I'll only need the kingdom's army for one battle, it will be done in a couple weeks. I'll lead the army to the cemetery to purge the area of all undead at once. Order the men to surround the cemetery and slowly kill the undead, I desire to capture the witch alive for interrogation. Only keep her alive if she can be magically bound or sealed. If not then have her executed. Send in some recon units and scouts to watch for traps or anything and break the army into three groups for tactical flexibility, I shall lead the center and we'll have two of the best commanders lead the flanks."

"It shall be done my liege. Duke Arginout has come personally to lead his men and will make for a superb commanders, he has excelled in expanding his own duchy through warfare in recent years, he shall lead the right flank focusing on a skirmishing force with the bulk of our archers. Our most accomplished strategist, General Aetard shall lead the left flank with a force comprised of the bulk of our light cavalry. Since you decided to lead the center my liege it is up to you to lead the bulk of our infantry into the fray."

> Very well, I shall lead the infantry
> I am not satisfied with this arrangement, I desire to lead the archer group instead
> I am not satisfied with this arrangement, I desire to lead the cavalry group instead
> Write in

>>4602217
> Very well, I shall lead the infantry
Lead by example

>>4603968

You decide to lead the infantry and let your commanders lead the archers and cavalry.

Your Martial is 5 and your best commander General Aetard has Martial 6, so you roll 5+3 dice.

Roll 8d20 for success in this battle, DC 10.

Rolled 17, 20, 8, 18, 8, 6, 11, 16 = 104 (8d20)

>>4604277
See me roll only 1's.

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>>4605236

You lead the bulk of the infantry and let Duke Arginout lead the skirmish group while General Aetard leads the cavalry.

The troops go advancing into undead territory, facing greater and greater mobs of undead until the day of sieging the cemetery comes.

We are finally faced with the large scale battle our troops were preparing for, our troops surround the cemetery from all sides and start closing in, destroying all the undeads.

General Aetard's precise charges break the worst clusters of enemies while Duke Arginout's skirmishers soften the enemy for your troops to bring them down. You do suffer significant casualties in the front, but the fight is going your way for you have the numbers and the strategy to deal with all the undead.

Eventually the witch is sighted, leading a large pack of the dead. Apparently she's trying to make a run for it, attempting to get a large pack of the dead to breach through a weakly defended part of the army.

> Have General Aetard pursue her and have her killed, she can't be allowed to leave this cemetery alive
> You brought all these priests to catch her alive, send Duke Arginout with a group of skirmishers with orders to get her alive
> She's not all that important, just have the bulk of the army finish all the undead and cleanse this accursed place
> Write in

>>4605269
>You brought all these priests to catch her alive, send Duke Arginout with a group of skirmishers with orders to get her alive
she needs to burn alive

>>4605298
>Catch her alive just to burn her alive
I like your thinking
+1

Rolled 17, 12, 20, 11, 16, 1 = 77 (6d20)

>>4605298
>>4605320

You decide to send your priests to catch the witch.

The best priest has Learning 5. The other priests have learning 4. You can roll 5+2 dice.

I'll be rolling dice for the witch.

Whoever has more successes win.

Roll 7d20 DC 10.

Rolled 10, 3, 17, 14, 15, 5, 8 = 72 (7d20)

>>4607033

Rolled 1, 6, 11, 18, 4, 10, 11 = 61 (7d20)

>>4607033

Rolled 5, 20, 3, 11, 12, 19, 19 = 89 (7d20)

>>4607033