>>4963081
>Two dozen of your faithful footmen managed to escape the battle and have joined you (+1 [Unit of Footmen])

>>4963081
>You have been a fair lord and many of the local peasants remain loyal - twenty famillies have joined you aboard with all their meagre goods. Wherever you are going, you will not be alone. (+2 Population)

>>4963081
>You have been a fair lord and many of the local peasants remain loyal - twenty famillies have joined you aboard with all their meagre goods. Wherever you are going, you will not be alone. (+2 Population)

>>4963081
>>You have been a fair lord and many of the local peasants remain loyal - twenty famillies have joined you aboard with all their meagre goods. Wherever you are going, you will not be alone. (+2 Population)
PEASENTS, IT IS TIME FOR CELEBRATION

>>4963081
>>Two dozen of your faithful footmen managed to escape the battle and have joined you (+1 [Unit of Footmen])

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>>4963087
>>4963098

You were not the kind of lord to levy every fine you could on your peasants, and now you're more than thankful you weren't. They are simple people - shepherds and fishermen in former times, but now they are bound to you as surely as any can be. They have settled in and begun working alongside the crew - the women mending sails and heaving anchor-ropes as the men learn to fix rigging and the children bustle around with waterskeins and thread and sundries to keep the whole vast living engine of the ship going.

Where once you were knight and lord, now you are knight and captain upon the waves. You set out from the small port shortly before dawn, and just in time - on the cliffs above you spot riders, who watch you as you depart the realm you have served all your life. You have much work to do.

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[THREE DAYS PASS]
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You sit in your cabin, at last in quiet. The gentle thrum of the waves and the squawk of the gulls overhead has blended into the background, and you have finally handled the last bit of business. Now is time to think, finally, and to consider your plans. Without your land you are unbound - you have no set income, no way to pay or reward your servants, no fixed destiny in the world. You are an outlaw and an exile. You run your finger over the fine detailing of your breastplate, sat polished on the table, and remind yourself that you are a knight. And more, you are still a lord - your people still look to you, and you must guide and shepherd them. They wait for you, and the mercenary crew wait too. You must decide your own way, now.

>Which way?
>Head west, to the Isles. It is a long sail, but the islands are wild, strange, and all but beyond the remit of kings. You will be leaving civility behind, but where there is freedom there is opportunity.
>Sail southward, to the coast of Frankia. Your former liege, the usurper, found support for his attempt to seize the throne in Frankia, and you might find opportunity in that wealthy land - trader, mercenary, pirate?

>>4963112
>Head west, to the Isles. It is a long sail, but the islands are wild, strange, and all but beyond the remit of kings. You will be leaving civility behind, but where there is freedom there is opportunity.

Fuck the franks, dance the dance of pagan gods

>>4963112
>Head west, to the Isles. It is a long sail, but the islands are wild, strange, and all but beyond the remit of kings. You will be leaving civility behind, but where there is freedom there is opportunity.
FUCK YOU LOT IM GOING TO BE AN INSULAR ASSHOLE

>>4963112
>Head west, to the Isles. It is a long sail, but the islands are wild, strange, and all but beyond the remit of kings. You will be leaving civility behind, but where there is freedom there is opportunity.

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>>4963123
>>4963118

To the west, then. You call in Tristram and the village reeve - the headman who has represented his lord since the days of your father. Tristram dips his head while the reeve bows deeply, and both listen quietly as you tell them your plan to journey westward and seek out new roots they. The peasant is clearly worried, fearful of the strange world beyond, but loyally stays silent. Tristram nods gravely, and speaks once you have dismissed Cedric the Reeve.

"If this is to be our path, we had best know well what we mean to do before wer set out. The way I see it, if you will forgive me for speaking so, we would best begin by engaging in a little mercantile work - the kings of Frankia, Estre and Bernis all have colonies out in the isles, as I recall, and merchants travel out often to carry supplies. If we are travelling westward anyway, we would do well to hire out our cargo hold to a merchant house - Frankish, Estrean or Bernician."

You look askance at him - it isn't fit for a knight to bandy in coin like a merchant. He turns his head in some sympathy - an exile may not have room for such prejudices.

>Do as Tristram suggests - sail to a nearby port in one of the three kingdoms and sell your service hauling cargo. Perhaps use the payment to get some supplies of your own.
>You will not sully yourself! God guides you westward, and westward you will go.
>Something else? (Write in)

>>4963143
>You will not sully yourself! God guides you westward, and westward you will go.
>"It is not wise to reveal ourselves right now. Knowlege is spread fast by the words of the merchants and what would the other lords from our former lands or other lands think of us if all they see of us is a band of blackguards hauling cargo? "

>>4963171
Support, however we should take a merchant into our entourage if possible, as a guide and to establish a trade route in the future

>>4963173
yes, good idea

>>4963173
That too but we should be selective when it comes to merchants, God knows they love to fiddle with money.

>>4963177
i don't know what you are talking about, goy

>>4963205
Qui?

>>4963171
>>4963173
>>4963174

So just go westward and see about meeting up with a merchant when the opportunity arises?

>>4963221
yup

>>4963221
pretty much

>>4963143
>Do as Tristram suggests

We're already throwing off all the old customs, what's one more?

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You will not stoop to the level of a merchant, by the shed blood of god himself! You are a knight, as your fathers before you, and you would sooner be dragged to hell than cavort with penny-changing peddlers, let alone Franks! You dismiss Tristram, and take a few moments to sharpen your sword - that is how you will win your place in the world, as your forebears did. A knight ought earn his wealth by the sword, just as peasants ought to struggle in industry and farming. You stride onto the deck and direct the crew to sail out west - you will make your way, god willing, and be a lord upon land once more.

>Trait Gained; [Knightly] (You will receive an advantage to traditionally knightly acts, and a disadvantage to acts unfit for your station such as trading, moneylending or the like)

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[WEEKS PASS UPON THE OCEAN]
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The journey is long, and the seas are hard. For many days the sails draw you onward across the expanse of the blue sea. You pass by the cape of Kernow, the furthest western point of the continent, and sail onward beyond it. You pass no islands for a week, before you sight Drake's Eye, a black islet thronged by sea birds, supposedly the place where the last dragon east of the sea was slain. Most doubt that any such creature ever lived, but certainly none does now upon the continent.

On the next Sunday you pass the blue isle, Aras - this was the furthest civilised men from the continent had travelled before the isles were discovered. A handful of hermits and monks live there - you spot wooden shanties upon the shores, and have your men pray as you pass the stone cross, erected on the cliffs by some unknown priest, the first to bring the holy word across the ocean. You stop briefly to refill your water, and your men marvel at the great silver ravens and song-birds of the island.

Three more days pass, and you go beyond your knowledge. On the horizon, a smattering of isles begins to appear. The sailors say that these are called the Yuroi - warm and forested isles where the Estreans and Bernicians fight for dominance over colonies. The Yuroi are perhaps the most civilised part of the isles, since they are closest to the continent. You draw up to a small island to properly make landfall in the new world, and to bury those who died of camp fever on the journey. The air here is warm, and the seas are bright. Strange fruits bloom besides familiar apples and pears, and foreign trees bear leaves unknown to you. This, then, shall be your new world.

>Where do you go?

>Sail north. The first migrants to the new world came from your own country, a few centuries ago, and they settled in the temperate lands to the north.
>Sail to an island further into the Yuroi. These are fertile lands, worth staking a claim on and fighting off the Estreans and Bernicians for.
>Sail southward, where the air grows hotter and the land stranger and more foreign.

>>4963380
>Sail southward, where the air grows hotter and the land stranger and more foreign.

>>4963380
>Sail north. The first migrants to the new world came from your own country, a few centuries ago, and they settled in the temperate lands to the north.
what if we become florida? we'd be unstoppable

>>4963360
>Sail north. The first migrants to the new world came from your own country, a few centuries ago, and they settled in the temperate lands to the north.

>>4963380
>>Sail to an island further into the Yuroi. These are fertile lands, worth staking a claim on and fighting off the Estreans and Bernicians for.

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>>4963384
>>4963446

You order the men to set sail north once you've stocked up on fresh water and familiar looking fruit. One man manages to spear a strange dwarf pig, the meat of which is rich and sweet. Your men seem forlorn to leave the warmth of the Yuroi, but two days later when a man dies from some ungodly swamp fever they are happy to be escaping to more temperate climes. You pass many islands as you head north - a few small islets and reefs, a handful larger and occasionally marked by little villages.

After a week's sailing, you have reached the land of the Norann. You know it to be so because you begin to see stone towers perched on cliffsides, and herds of sheep ranging on small grassy islets. After a short while a few locals row out in fishing boats and come aboard. They are... strange. Half a head taller than the tallest peasants and with thick red beards and green eyes, they speak in a halting accent that is very hard to understand. Only by their making the sign of the cross are you given to understand that they are at least not pagans.

When they realise you aren't here to trade for mutton or cod, they lose interest, and depart, after marvelling for a few moments at your sword and armour. You are left alone on your ship, surrounded by the isles of shepherds and fisherfolk. The air feels strange. When you give your midnight prayers you feel a warmth and a sharp coolness at once - as if sat by a fire deep in a stone cellar. It is a fey place. Still, your people look to you.

>What do you do?
>Seek out the leader of these locals. If there are peasants there must be lords - someone with whom you can negotiate to get settled here.
>You do not negotiate with savages - find an island with plenty of sheep and a seaside village, get as well armed as you may and take over.
>Attempt to parley with the Norann for information
>Something else? (Write in)

>>4963570
>Seek out the leader of these locals. If there are peasants there must be lords - someone with whom you can negotiate to get settled here.
It is no fit for a lord to not know the neighbours of his realm.

>>4963570
>Seek out the leader of these locals. If there are peasants there must be lords - someone with whom you can negotiate to get settled here.

>>4963570
>Attempt to parley with the Norann for information

>>4963570
>Attempt to parley with the Norann for information
>Something else? (Write in)
We can get the information by trading for muton and fish, and just speaking to them. Maybe buy a little extra if they tell us all we want to know to our satisfaction.

>>4963570
>>Attempt to parley with the Norann for information

>>4963570
>Seek out the leader of these locals. If there are peasants there must be lords - someone with whom you can negotiate to get settled here.

>>4964038
>>4963801
>>4963795
Seek out a leader

>>4963857
>>4963890
>>4963976
Parley with the Norann

Looks like we're tied - I'll wait 30 minutes then get a post out combining the two if the tie isn't broken.

>>4964134
Righto, writing.

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>>4964134

Peasants must have lords, such is the way of things, and they will be better to negotiate with than these rustics. Still, you'd best learn the lay of the land from the fisherfolk, even if treating them is beneath your dignity. You have your reeve and a few sailors bandy and trade for fish and mutton and share a meal with the local Norann. The fisherfolk are glad of the free food and the good custom - coinage seems to be rare in these parts but well valued, with a few of them wearing bracelets of pierced shillings. Once they've gone the reeve comes to you and explains what he's learned - the locals are divided into a handful of clans. The clans fight over pasturage on the islands and compete over fishing grounds, while frequently feuding over personal conflicts. The two most prominent are the Aerick and the OnTathra, whose lairds dwell in their own stockade-towns.

With that in mind, you head off to meet these lairds. The locals eye you suspiciously when they are asked for directions - perhaps expecting that you'll be back in a few weeks to raid them for one laird or the other. The OnTathra, as the lord of that clan is called, is found making the rounds of the isles under his dominion. You find the clan-court travelling aboard several small ships with colourful sails and painted shields racked along the sides of each vessel. The court seems relatively humble, not a patch on a landholding magnate on the continent. The laird is dressed in long red and black robes, while his armsmen are equipped with axes and clubs set with silver filigree. He is attended by a great many wives and concubines, and the ship throngs with sheep and shepherds as the locals come to give him tribute. A primitive, and a fornicator besides, but as close to a lord as you're likely to find in this primitive land.

Your vessel is a fair amount larger than the Norann longships, and as you reef sails and drop anchor within sight of the floating court you are met by puzzled looks and men bristling with arms. You send Tristram and a few men to meet and make your introductions, as your squire straps on the last of your armour and you polish your sword. Thinking to make an impression, you fasten on your great-helm, hiding your face behind cold steel, and carry your greatest poleaxe. Primitives respect strength, after all.

Fully equipped, you climb into a small boat and are rowed over to meet The Ontathra. A fat, bullish man with thick neck and dark eyes, he seems to you a canny old veteran. He eyes you carefully, and holds out a horn of brownish liquid, inviting you to drink and speaking in the strange accent of the Norann.

"Fer why de ye come here, fear iarann? If in peace, take o' my hospitality, and drink beside me, and we may speak. If in war.... well, yer iron coat won't avail ye before so many foemen."

>"We come in peace, Lord of the Ontathra, and in search of land to settle". Be honest with him, and see if you cannot find a land to settle here among the Norann.
>"We come in peace, Lord of the Ontathra". Keep your intentions guarded. You will not serve beside or beneath such as he.
>"We will not take your hospitality, Norann. We want for guides, and food, and cattle, and if we are given them we will let your little convoy here pass in peace."
>Stand as if thinking for a moment, and then swing your poleaxe for the fat fool's head. Savages respond to strength, and you will win your land here by your own right and by your own blade."
>Something else? (Write in)

>>4964205
>"We come in peace, Lord of the Ontathra, and in search of land to settle". Be honest with him, and see if you cannot find a land to settle here among the Norann.

We can hardly conquer anyone when we chose to have a large populace accompany us rather than men-at-arms. If we can settle an area, we can grow in strength and then eventually overcome any would-be peers or overlords.

>>4964205
>"We come in peace, Lord of the Ontathra, and in search of land to settle". Be honest with him, and see if you cannot find a land to settle here among the Norann.
better be honest, we're not anglos

>>4964205
>"We come in peace, Lord of the Ontathra, and in search of land to settle". Be honest with him, and see if you cannot find a land to settle here among the Norann.

And promise to share a yarn of our story with him while we discuss

>>4964203
>"We come in peace, Lord of the Ontathra, and in search of land to settle". Be honest with him, and see if you cannot find a land to settle here among the Norann.
it's better to assimilate and help them conquer than be slain down by trying to conquer them.

>>4964205
>We come in peace, Lord of the Ontathra". Keep your intentions guarded. You will not serve beside or beneath such as he.

I don't think we want to settle among the locals, or we'll get dragged into their affairs sooner rather than later. Can we get directions to any habitable islands farther out?

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>>4964236
>>4964260
>>4964265
>>4964267

You nod, remove your helm and shake your hair free. Clasping the horn in hand you quaff some of the harsh, sweet mead offered before you. You clap a hand onto the laird's shoulder and incline your head, a traditional greeting between equals at your former home. He seems eased by your good humour, and calmed when you have your squire bear away your poleaxe and helm. Soon enough you and a few of your lieutenants are sat on wooden seats upon his ship and provided with a veritable feast - black rye bread, salted pork fat, smoked bream and rich mead. Strange Norann minstrels sing in a foreign tongue, and you chatter amiably with the laird.

He is eager to hear of events on the continent. You tell him of the recent battle, and gracefully pretend not to notice that he is completely ignorant of recent events at court. The man seems to pride himself on his civility and understanding of proper chivalric custom, and sine he is proving a kind host you do nothing to dissuade him from that idea. He refuses to talk of business until later in the evening, once his armsmen have told tales of cattle raids and petty wars with rival clans.

Once they are done, and you have offered up a tale of the grand tournament for the birth of your former lord, the usurper prince Bathoric, the laird dismisses most of his men, and turns to face you and talk business. He lays out his view of the local situation - the isles here are in a state of near constant disorder, as they compete over access to fertile seas and good trade routes to the south and across the sea. His foes, the Aerick, kidnapped his youngest sister several years ago and their laird took her to wife, and he builds to a towering rage as he tells of many other petty raids and injustices.

When you steer the conversation to acquiring land of your own, he looks at you with far sharper eyes for a moment, through the haze of the evening.

"Aye.. ye've a grand ship and mighty arms o yer own, ye'd be a fair friend to have against the pig-sticking Aerick scum - how's this for an offer. In three weeks my men and I'll be attacking a vassal clan of the Aerick, the Montarie. If you fight by us and bring a company of men at your back with that ship of yours, I'll have ye laird of the island we take from them. Serve as a vassal laird by me and win some glory and honour by me side."

>How do you answer?
>Accept the offer as is.
>Refuse the offer.
>Write in?

>>4964371
>Write in?
>"While I am moved by the plight of your kinsmen I can not accept in good faith your offer if you want us as your vassals, let us rule free and God as my witness my people and yours shall prosper together and the Aerick shall be struck with our righteous wrath. Even if you do not like my offer at least consider it for your sister. "

>>4964371
First off, I have seen no indication that we even have "a company of men" with us, and three weeks is not long enough to train or arm such a company.

Second, I personally would not like to be a vassal to anyone, though we may not have a choice given our circumstances.

Personally I think we should decline but offer our friendship and willingness to work together in the future on good terms, he has been a kind and civil host.

With our current situation I think the only chance of us remaining free and being able to build up is to find a untouched spot of good land to colonize, we'll probably have to lower ourselves to trade and barter and otherwise indebt ourselves in order to find supplies and information in order to successfully go beyond inhabited spaces and colonize some untouched wilderness.

>>4964397
yea seems right we aren't being a dick but we don't have that many soldiers

>>4964397
>>4964400
>>4964424

"While I'm moved by your plight, and the dishonour done to you and your kinsmen, and would, let god be my witness, be glad to fight the Aerick at your side, for now I must refuse. I can swear you no oath, and I have not the men to spare to do proper honour to this agreement. You have been a gracious host, and given us fine welcome to this land, and I wish you strength and luck in the war to come."

He looks somewhat disappointed, but after a time nods. You know in his stead you'd still prefer not to alienate a potential future ally, and your intuition seems to prove true. After a short pause he returns to his smile, and serves you and your people more food and drink before the night ends. His kindness is dulled by his disappointment, but he remains a generous, if uncivilised, host.

"Aye - I hope ye'll be by our side against the foe in good time. God keep you and your folk, fear iarann . If you want empty lands, you'd do well to sail north a spell. The land is a sight poorer, but there are no great clans there, and the only competition you'll find are the Yupequ, snow-eaters and wanderers who'll be no trouble to you."

You thank him for his kindness and the honour he has paid you, and depart to your ship to sleep off the mead and prepare for your next move.

>What is your next move?
>Do as you've been advised - sail northwards until the Norann villages run out and find a place to settle, at last.
>You will go no further into the north. The land here is good, and some of it must be vacant. Sail further into the lands of the Norann looking for an empty isle to claim, free of any lord. You'll likely have to fight for it, but such is your nature.
>You've heard the Ontathra's offer, now time is right to hear from the Aerick. Go visit the other clan.
>Something else? (Write in)

>>4964444
>Do as you've been advised - sail northwards until the Norann villages run out and find a place to settle, at last.

>>4964444
>Do as you've been advised - sail northwards until the Norann villages run out and find a place to settle, at last.

>>4964444
>Do as you've been advised - sail northwards until the Norann villages run out and find a place to settle, at last.

>>4964444
>>You will go no further into the north. The land here is good, and some of it must be vacant. Sail further into the lands of the Norann looking for an empty isle to claim, free of any lord. You'll likely have to fight for it, but such is your nature.

Sounds better try and take a small patch here rather than some poor land farther north. Besides, extreme climates have their downfalls, the tropics about got our asses.

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>>4964452
>>4964455
>>4964456

You don't much want to be embroiled in the squabbles of these primitives. This is a time to strike out upon new horizons, and hopefully to find some wealth and security in the land to the north. A few of the sailors grumble, but the peasants hold their faith in you. A few days of sail pass - a further two as you negotiate the shoals around a cape. The land is more and more thickly wooded in pine, and the air grows cooler. It is mid-spring, but the women and children huddle around braziers and the sailors wrap tight in their cloaks. Upon one sunday morning a man spots a great leviathan in the waters, it's great tail majestic in the spray.

At last, you are beyond the lands of the Norann, into the empty north supposedly occupied by the Yupequ wanderers. The land is divided between broad plains of squat grass and heather, and rich pine forests. There are a few islands off the mainland, which expands as far as you or any other can see before rising into forests, hills and whatever lies beyond. A few smoke trails rise from the woodland, where you can spot game birds flitting between the dark canopy. The trees here are strange, dark and high. The crows are huge, with rooks the size of dogs staring balefully down at the ship as it passes. Hares and other little beasts flit and sprint between patches of heather, and strange, thickly furred wild cattle roam. The sea is cold, the wind is biting, but this is no harder a land than men have dwelt in before. God willing it will be a fine home.

>Where do you look to settle?
>Search out a clear harbour on an island off the coast. You have a ship far better than these Yupequ or the Norann, you're quite sure to be more safe this way.
>Draw up on the coast by the plains. See how the soil is, and set about cutting timber and settling down.
>Anchor the ship and go out on horseback with your squire. Go and find some locals, see what the nature of the place is.

>>4964532
>>Search out a clear harbour on an island off the coast. You have a ship far better than these Yupequ or the Norann, you're quite sure to be more safe this way.

>>4964532
>Search out a clear harbour on an island off the coast. You have a ship far better than these Yupequ or the Norann, you're quite sure to be more safe this way.

Just for now, later occupying one of those hills on the mainland to make a hill fort would be great, as would having access to those deep pine forests and any minerals waiting in those hills.

>>4964532
>>Search out a clear harbour on an island off the coast. You have a ship far better than these Yupequ or the Norann, you're quite sure to be more safe this way.

I don't want to put off our homesteading too much, since the Winter seems to be harsh around these parts (by the by, what season is it right now, OP?) but I'd rather have a safe harbour first before we start venturing further inland.

>>4964532
>>Search out a clear harbour on an island off the coast. You have a ship far better than these Yupequ or the Norann, you're quite sure to be more safe this way.

>>4964557
Mid spring. Gonna be nasty winters. Would have been better to make a home with the Norann.

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>>4964568
>>4964557
>>4964543
>>4964535

You have the crew lay in course for a middling size island off the coast of this frigid land. After passing by a few the crewmen spot one that seems right - ringed on three sides by cliffs and beaches covered by the tide, only the southern shore is accessible - a small cove leading up to a range of grassy sand dunes. Beyond those is the dense pine forest, with a few clear spots on the other cliffsides. It a grey, dark isle, with the rocks standing out silver-grey against the waves, but it will do.

The ship anchors in a small cove where a rocky headland sticks out at the islands south-western edge. There, it is sheltered somewhat from the winds and tide, and the anchors can hold it steady and relatively safe, though these are rough waters, and you sense that the Norann keep to their shallow longships for a reason. You, and a few of your lieutenants, climb down into small boats and row for the shore.

The dunes remind you of the coast near your own home, though the grass is strange, and great dog-like otter-creatures gambol and run amidst them. You march over the sand-hills and find yourself on a patch of sandy heathland, and then in a rich and clearly very old forest. The thick pines are foreboding, but under their canopy there is a sense of quiet comfort. You have your squire build a small cross out of branches, and you kneel to pray for good fortune. A few small smoke-trails rise from the canopy on the far side of the island.

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[2 WEEKS PASS]
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It has been hard work, but fruitful. The peasants and crewmen have set about felling trees and building squat stockades on the heath behind the dunes, where the sea is within easy reach. Little fruitful seems to grow here, but the heather is rich and the reeve tells you it would make fair pasture if you had any stock to graze upon it. Construction of the little village is slow, but sure - sheltering under rough-carved huts is undignified, but they keep off some of the chill. Many are glad to be away from the biting insects of the Yuroi, but the biting cold of the nights is a reminder of god's harshness.

There is much work to be done. The new village must be built, a supply of food and industry found. You must explore the woodland, though the campfires you sighted at first have passed away. You must have a church - must have a fit residence for you yourself. You are, once again, a lord, and you must be about the work of your office.

>>4964656

>What is to be done? (Several of these tasks will be attended to, but whichever you assign your direct attention to will be completed far more efficiently)
>Focus on building up the village.
>You must attend to the food supply.
>Investigate the forests
>Go and meet with the Yupequ, see what can be made of them.
>Sail to another port (Where? What for?)
>Something else? (Write in)

>>4964657
>>You must attend to the food supply

>>4964656
>but the heather is rich and the reeve tells you it would make fair pasture if you had any stock to graze upon it.

Fuck, we should've traded for some sheep.

>You must attend to the food supply.

This is the number one priority, whatever other inhabitants of this island that exist can probably be ignored for now. Security isn't a big issue when we only saw a few trails of smoke, that can't be more than a few households, and the impression I get is that we have more advanced technology and we are probably the most heavily armed person in a hundred miles.

>>4964657
>Investigate the forests, put your men to use in the study of local eatable flora and fauna, (little animals, poultry if there's some, berries, mushrooms, fruits?, whatever they can find we have to put on trial)
>experiment boiling water with the trees' needles

>>4964688
>>4964693
Second.
Food above everything, it's the biggest worry.

>>4964657

>You must attend to the food supply

Square away the essentials first. Technically that's the least "lordly" of the tasks at hand, but even a knight needs to eat and when the food is good the grunts complain less about incoming fire.

>>4964657
>You must attend to the food supply.
>Sail to another port (Where? What for?)
Tools and medicines.

>>4964823
>>4964765
>>4964719
>>4964693
>>4964688
Though it is hardly fitting for a man of your station in usual times to trouble himself in finding food, these are not usual times - an besides, the lord himself fed his flock. You gather together the reeve, a few prominent villagers and your steward to consider your options. A few are presented to you, based on each man's assessment of the land you've found yourself in.

The reeve speaks first, and suggests that you focus your efforts on coralling and pasturing the wild cattle of the mainland heaths. They are strong, sturdy, fit for the environment, and able to provide both meat and furs. Though they are not tame, if you could get the herd to settle on the island you could quite easily manage, protect and steward them as if they were. Tristram notes the difficulty of transporting at best half-wild bulls on board a ship, but you can see the potential in the plan - a reliable source of meat, fur and perhaps milk from an animal you know can survive the climate.

Tristram offers the counter-suggestions of bartering with the Norann for a flock of sheep, and in the meantime focusing on a diverse range of ways to gather food. Forage, hunt for game, fish and eventually herd sheep on the heathland. You do not know this land, and it would be sensible to hedge your bets until you know it better. Your squire, Gareth, notes that you could also acquire Norann sheep and cows more directly, especially since such raiding seems to be a well established ritual among that folk.

One of the prominent sailors argues for fishing. The seas of the isles are famously rich in good fish, cockles, mussels and crabs. These are meagre rations, but relatively easy to get at and with potential for trading - fish can be salted, smoked or even left out to dry into stock-fish fit for long sea travels. There are a few small boats on the ship that could serve the purpose - with a bit of work the women could weave nets and the men could carve out new fishing boats from the rich timber.

Another peasant headman offers, finally, that even if the soil is loose and poor, you had best stick to proper cop farming in the long run. You've some turnips and onions and the like in the ship's hold that could make fair seeding for a few fields. It would be poor fare for a knight, but at least it would be hearty and consistent. You consider further that you might well go and observe the Yupequ - they cannot truly eat snow, as the Ontathra said, and by watching them you might well see how sustenance is usually gathered or grown in this land.

>>4964929

>>What do you choose? Individual families will dabble in different methods, but your choice will determine the main means of sustenance the colony will follow.
>Capture a wild herd of heath-cattle and bring them to the island.
>Follow Tristram's plan - survive on a broad basis for now and go to purchase a herd of sheep from the Norann.
>Follow Tristram's plan, but take your squire's advice. A quick night raid on the Aerick could win you sheep, cattle and a bit of local renown, even if it might put you at some risk.
>Fishing is the best way - start building boats and weaving nets.
>Set to planting onions, turnips and rye.
>Go to see the natives, and invite them to show you how best to survive out here.

>>4964930
>Follow Tristram's plan - survive on a broad basis for now and go to purchase a herd of sheep from the Norann.
>Fishing is the best way - start building boats and weaving nets.

>>4964929
Tristram offers the counter-suggestions of bartering with the Norann for a flock of sheep, and in the meantime focusing on a diverse range of ways to gather food. Forage, hunt for game, fish and eventually herd sheep on the heathland. You do not know this land, and it would be sensible to hedge your bets until you know it better. Your squire, Gareth, notes that you could also acquire Norann sheep and cows more directly, especially since such raiding seems to be a well established ritual among that folk.

>Capture a wild herd of heath-cattle and bring them to the island.
I want beasts of burden.

>>4964998
Support

>>4964930
>Capture a wild herd of heath-cattle and bring them to the island.

>>4964962
Support. I would say prioritize fishing and then trade for sheep personally.

Trying to get the cattle sounds like it's liable to cause issues

>>4964962
support

I am also of the opinion that once we are established we should also try and catch some cattle, just that we need a more reliable base to start with.

>>4964930
>Capture a wild herd of heath-cattle and bring them to the island.

>>4964930
>Follow Tristram's plan - survive on a broad basis for now and go to purchase a herd of sheep from the Norann.

Sheep are far easier to manage than cattle, eat less, and provide wool to go with their meat and milk. Cattle farming requires acres of land not likely to be found on our small island or even the bigger ones around. Raiding might be cheap, but we don't want to be counter-raided in response before we've even set up a wood fort.

That said >go see the natives
should be our next step for sure, we may not be able to subsist off whatever they do but if they're whaling or seal clubbing or farming some weird crop we've never seen before like potatoes we need to know about it.

>>4965027
Would any cattle anons be willing to compromise for an easy early source of food with the promise of seeking out cattle later?

>>4964930
I'm curious about population expansion, I'm sure that it might be possible to incorporate some of the natives here, or perhaps even convincing some Noranns to settle here with us but what about people from across the sea? Perhaps send the ship back loaded with trade goods and sign on some settlers?

I think we should also look into marriage with a relative of a Norann clan chief. It'd be good to have a nearby ally with some decent military power. Maybe we can try and rescue that sister of the chief we met? That's a knightly thing to do, rescuing maidens and the like.

>>4965134
ok, sure
changing my vote to
>Fishing is the best way - start building boats and weaving nets.
t. >>4965055 on mobile so ID may change

>>4964930
>Follow Tristram's plan - survive on a broad basis for now and go to purchase a herd of sheep from the Norann.

>Fishing is the best way - start building boats and weaving nets.

>>4965005
>>4965001
>>4964998

Capture heath-cattle

>>4964962
>>4965014
>>4965018
>>4965105
>>4965153
>>4965323

Start work on fishing and plan to purchase a herd of sheep from the Norann

Righto, writing.

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>>4965339

You know that the Norann take good catches of fish in the seas to the south, and suppose that it will make a fair industry for your burgeoning village. Tristram is not wrong to suggest sheep, though - a good source of meat and wool is a sensible thing to have on hand, since both make fair goods for trade and industry. You set the steward to work planning out your first trading venture. Over the following days you direct your attention to the mustering of work gangs, the felling of trees, splitting of planks and binding of boats. A good number of the villagers are experienced fishermen, and know the craft fairly well. Supplemented by spare rope from the ship, they soon have a fair small fleet of a half-dozen fishing boats.

Meanwhile, the wives and elders have gathered up a good deal of dune-grass. It is fibrous and tough, and its fibres can be woven into sturdy string for rope-making and nets. It will take time before the industry is in full swing - crab-traps, dredging nets and other such peasant tools take time to make (you are told). These preparations mark the easy part of the work - now, the fishermen must go out on the beating waves. Rain, hail and light snows are a common sight in this land, as common as the great grey rooks, and they batter the fishers as they work. One is drowned before the rest work out the knack of rowing in such weather.

The fish are, at first, elusive. They seem to keep clear of the beach - the fishers must row out into the oceanic expanse to the east to find decent quarry. Eventually the idea is had to take the boats aboard the ship, sail out into the blue, then set them down to fish over sand-bars and around the small crests of black stone that emerge from the waters. Once there the catch is almost miraculous - herring, cod and eels come up from the salt deeps net after net. A few keen slingers bring down a pair of huge white sea-gulls, and a few intrepid souls consider climbing the islets where the birds nest to get at their eggs.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
[Weeks Pass]
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Quickly, the village falls into a stable routine. The air stinks of fish and fowl, but for the first time in months the people aren't forced to live off sailor's rations. Eels and crabs are stewed up with heath-flowers, sea-birds are plucked and roasted in earthenware ovens, fish are dried and kept in piles beneath the floorboards. The fishers claim you've caught the last few months of the shoaling season for cod, and so that rich, white fish is in much abundance. You have to admit, when fried up it makes a fair meal. Indeed, since it isn't truly meat it counts as a fasting-food, too - your soul surely thanks you.

>>4965357

>The Village now has a surplus of fish and sea-birds. There are many opportunities to expand this, though - more fishing boats, looms to weave better nets, learning to climb the islets for bird eggs, building smokers or harvesting salt. Fisheries may stink, but money doesn't.

>Please can three of you roll 1d6 to see how the rest of the village's business has gone in the meanwhile.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4965358

>>4965358
dice+1d6
Rolling for cattle

>>4965358
I'm curious, how many able fighting men do we have available to us? No professionals I suppose other than our squire, but surely we can muster a decent militia between some hardy sailors and peasants. Any arms?

>>4965369
It goes in options lad

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4965369

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4965369

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4965358

>>4965377
fuuuck i thought it didn't send, I'll take some sleep

>>4965372
You have perhaps 25 able bodied peasant men and 50 sailors. None of them are trained soldiers or anything like it, but they are all relatively hardy people, experienced swimmers and well acquainted with climbing and traversing the sea. You also have your squire Gareth and yourself, along with six horses. You are the only person properly armed - you have a sword, a poleaxe and three lances. Your squire and Tristram both have long knives since they are noblemen. Otherwise you've a few hatchets for cutting wood, a few boat-hooks, some carving knives and an assortment of agricultural and kitchen tools.

>>4965383
>along with six horses.

Nice. Can we breed them?

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>>4965363
>4

Construction of houses in the village goes relatively well under the supervision of the reeve. More and more pines are felled and split into dark planks. Spare nails are salvaged and planks are slotted together. Foundations are dug into the sandy soil and houses are built more properly. Once done they sit covered by a layer of turf carved out of the nearby heathland, insulating them from the chill. Their dark wooden doorways stand out from the brightness of the turf rooves. Each one is made up of one long room around a fire-pit, and each is descended into by a few steps carved into the dirt. Dried heather is spread on the floors to keep them dry and relatively clean.

Soon enough the village houses are hung with bunches of herbs and drying fish, and the old wooden stockades have been converted to storage for spare planks and the boats, and for stable-room for your horses, who have not enjoyed the journey by ship, but seem to settle quickly in the new land, looked after by your squire. You yourself still have no suitable abode, but your people are accommodated in two rings of turf-rooved houses. Most of the sailors stay aboard the ship, but one or two have married eligible young women or those widowed by the deaths during the journey.

>>4965376
>>4965380

Unfortunately, little else has been achieved. The forests remain dark and unknown, while the Yupequ remain out of reach. The villagers and sailors seem mostly satisfied - glad to be fed, dry and settled in new houses. Some seem to have begun to grumble at your lack of a church, and especially of a priest. Easter is approaching, and all are loathe to miss out on communion. Further, in order to buy livestock you'll need something to trade in return, unless you're willing to accept mercenary work. The village also needs a name - something for all to gather around.

>What is to be done next?
>Investigate the forests?
>Focus on expanding an industry in the village (which, write in)
>Look to the defense of the village
>Sail south to find your Norann neighbours and think about trading
>Something else? (Write in)

>>4965398
>>Sail south to find your Norann neighbours and think about trading

Lets see what they would want that we can provide, seek out some wives for the unmarried, seek out a wife for ourself? And perhaps find some people willing to join us.

Leave the married men behind for defense?

And last if all, see if we can find some work that is fitting for us.

Perhaps we can see about acquiring some pages from some norann lairds to train as knights? Help foster good relations and all that. It would mesh well with a political marriage i would think

>>4965398
>Sail south to find your Norann neighbours and think about trading
We have a stable source of food. But we also have something very important: knowledge over a different kind of warfare and working methods.

>>4965398
>Sail south to find your Norann neighbours and think about trading

>>4965398
>Sail south to find your Norann neighbours and think about trading

>Write in

See if we can't find a priest! Our peoples' immortal souls are at stake!

>>4965461
YES this matter is of uppmost importance, better find a decent one too after all we don't want the priest to be a jackass

>>4965398
>Look to the defense of the village
There are natives on this island, we can't avoid contact forever and we can't guarantee it will be on friendly terms. Best get defenses up now before we regret it.

We have nothing of tangible value to sell to the Norann that they can not get on their own. While we should maintain cordial relations with the chief that guided us here, we shouldn't sell our military tactics for a bunch of sheep. Come on anons, for real. Be smart about something for once.

What we should do right now is prioritize our own defense and sustainability for the winter without indebting us to the Norann. Taming livestock is preferable to trading favors, and if we can't tame them in time killing them for their hides and smoking the meat to preserve it is a neccessity to survive the winter.

If we make it through the winter in good condition we need to head back to the old world to find additional colonists, small communities like this rarely survived without constant influx or aid from their mother nation, and we have no patronage from any nation. There ought to be other villages and counties that supported the usurper that are still in Anglia, if we can seek them out and convince some of them to come with us we can hopefully boost our numbers and become a regional player. Priority is to get Engineers for construction, Miners to help find and excavate potential mineral deposits and Smiths/Metalworkers to produce the tools and weapons we need to defend ourselves.

>Focus on expanding an industry in the village (which, write in)
Taking a long shot here, I know we mostly have nothing but farmers with us and that gives us a limited pool of competence, but do we have anyone skilled in Boat Building? Perhaps one or more of the sailors are familiar with or have experience in working a shipyard? We have excellent access to good lumber, and if we want to trade anything to the Norann great boats would go far longer than promises and fish.

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>>4965443
>>4965413
>>4965461
>>4965405

There is only so much you can do with the meagre resources and expertise available to you in your new home. With that in mind, you begin to prepare an expedition to trade with the Norann. Beyond wealth and the like you are in need of more people, of a village priest, of livestock and all manner of other things. To prepare for such a journey, you will need to plan - you need to know what you have to trade, what you want, and who you want it from.

A few questions need to be answered before you depart.

>>>>What will you attempt to prepare in order to trade with?
>What simple dried fish you have available
>Fell some of the larger trees and sell the Norann the finest timber you can gather
>Go out on horseback and see how many heath-cattle you can bring down. Meat and furs, and the feathers of sea birds.

>>>>Who do you want to trade with?
>The laird you already know, the Ontathra.
>Just head south and find the nearest vassal clan, trade with them.
>If you want to purchase the trappings of civilisation, you had best sail all the way to an Estrean or Bernician port in the Yuroi.

>>4965476
I wouldn't say we should sell our knowledge to the Norann, but we can certainly sell our skills. Get sheep and wives, perhaps some excess clansmen or malcontents to join us.

From a combination of a merc job or two and finding out if there are amy trade goods in the north we can sell to them. Point of fact simply gaining information from them about what to trade them would be worth the trip.

>>4965540
>>What simple dried fish you have available
>>Fell some of the larger trees and sell the Norann the finest timber you can gather

The fish we should be accumulating anyways, but I'm sure they would appreciate a source of good wood for their boats if nothing else.

>>The laird you already know, the Ontathra.

We at least know that we can expect a friendly welcome.

And I'm just going to throw this out there, knights typically had more than one squire and several pages who were taught by the squires, taking on lesser sons and relatives of a laird or two would do good to bolster not only relations right now but in the future, if they are willing.

Is anyone else in favor of trying of rescue a maiden like a proper knight.

>>4965543
Sound good. We might have to do mercenary work regardless.
>>4965552
Educating some sons of a lesser noble could be a good way to acquire favor with the friendly clan, true.

>>4965558
Perhaps if we do well we can attract a handful of warriors to our banner as well

If we go the timber route, could it also work alongside that making at least some rudimentary stone spears to arm our men with? Useful byproduct I would think

>>4965575
Training our peasants into a militia and how to handle a shieldwall is also something we oughta think about, once we get some roots

>>4965604
Absolutely. I'd say we'd be well served to train with slings and javelins as well, ship combat and all

>>4965540
>Fell some of the larger trees and sell the Norann the finest timber you can gather
>Go out on horseback and see how many heath-cattle you can bring down. Meat and furs, and the feathers of sea birds.

>Just head south and find the nearest vassal clan, trade with them.

>>4965398
>Sail south to find your Norann neighbours and think about trading

>>4966010
Am retarded, please ignore this
>>4965540
>Fell some of the larger trees and sell the Norann the finest timber you can gather
>The laird you already know, the Ontathra

>>4965540

>Fell some of the larger trees and sell the Norann the finest timber you can gather
>The laird you already know, the Ontathra.

>>4965540
>Fell some of the larger trees and sell the Norann the finest timber you can gather
>Just head south and find the nearest vassal clan, trade with them.

>>4965540
>What simple dried fish you have available
>Fell some of the larger trees and sell the Norann the finest timber you can gather

>The laird you already know, the Ontathra.

I know its only been a day so not too great a need to worry yet, but I still really hope this hasn't been abandoned.

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>>4965543
>>4965558
>>4965653
>>4966012
>>4966116
>>4966191

You spend a week directing work crews to fell some of the finer trees upon the island. You've grown familiar with this land over the last few weeks - with wearing a thick cloak and warming your boots by the cook-fires each morning. The peasants - even the sailors, call you lord, and at times it is almost like you were at home again. If you wish to bring civility to this new land, though, there is much work to be done. Once the timber is loaded up you gather your crew and set sail once more, heading southward. The journey is shorter this time, since you know where you're going. The Norann villagers seem anxious and guarded - they do not row out to meet you but bundle up in their longhouses. It takes a while to find anyone who can tell you where the Ontathra is, but you learn that he suffered a defeat in the attack he had been planning and retreated to an island holdfast.

You make your way there - smoke trails rise from a few burnt villages on the islands you pass. The Ontathra's court is much less grand as you arrive at the round stone tower the laird is holding up in. Still, a bandaged armsman leads you and your squire ashore and along a cliffside path to the tower, and you are brought into the laird's presence. The jovial, large old fellow has recently lost an eye, though he smiles and offers you his hospitality with a mug of mead regardless.

"Ahh, fear iarann - you've returned, and intact. I hope your affairs up among the snow eaters go better than ours. Why do you come?"

You share pleasantries, mutually mourning his recent defeat, and inform him that you're here to trade. You need sheep, and you're eager for expertise, equipment, a good priest and some goodly women to make wives for your settlers. His eyes sharpen as you speak, and he quaffs his mead more pensively.

"Hmmm - I see, come to get yourself set up. I've fewer sheep than I've had of late, I'll admit, and I'd guess fewer wives. What've you to trade in return?"

You let him know of the fine wood that grows around your new home, and ask if he'd be interested.

"I could make use of it - walls to rebuild, a fleet to replace, but I'll admit it's not the main thing I'd want of you. Still, I'll have my steward meet yours to make arrangements - There's a few flocks I'd rather sell than have stolen off me now their shepherds are dead. In terms of women, I can send a longship of widows up your way, and there's plenty seeking refuge from villages the bastards got at who'd likely be happy to sign on your ship there. No dowries, but beggars can't be choosers, aye?"

>Do you agree to the Ontathra's offer?

>>4966599
Excuse the delay lads, summoned back by the dubs.

>>4966724
Accept. Maybe throw in some extra to help them out.

I hope we are able to conquer both their tribes in time.

>>4966724

>Agree

Given the circumstances it's honestly a pretty good deal, and there's hardly any point in souring them on us in the way that demanding more might do.

>>4966724
Agree, sounds like a fair deal.

>>4966785
>>4966758
>>4966754
>>4966726

You clasp the laird's hand and each finish your horns of mead, as servants bring forth another pair. The Ontathra grins. You can see that the recent battle wasn't kind to the old warlord, a feeling you know well since the death of your liege, Prince Bathoric, who ought to have been king. You remember the prince's face - his skill with the lance, his honour and honesty. But that was then, and this now. The Ontathra interrupts your reverie;

"Grand, grand - while I've got you, though, I wonder if you might consider another offer. I'll be plain with you - as you can tell I'm not in as strong a position as I was. I could make very good use of your support in this crucial moment. If you would be my friend and ally, laird out-of-the-north, I'd do you fair service in return."

You run a hand through your beard - so he calls you a laird, as if you were another chief of his folk. If you were ever to support the Ontathra in war, now might well be the time. He is weaker, certainly - you will have harder work to support him, but greater rewards should you win. Equally, though more distastefully, you could follow the prevailing winds - go meet with the Aerick and join him in finishing off his rival. You speak up

"What do you suggest, laird of the Ontathra?"

"Take your ship there and what lads you have. The battle was hard on the foe, too, I should say! Go out into the lands of the Aerick - I happen to know one of the laird's sons is leading a warband on a raid as we speak. I cannot stop them reaching the village and the monastery there with what force I have, but if you can I'll make it worth your effort. Defeating a son of the Aerick at war would make your name in these lands, for one, but I know you easterners don't fight merely for our esteem. If you'll do it, I'll give you my only daughter, Aelle, and her dowry of silver, cattle and serfs, and count you my son-in-law, and no vassal. How does that sound?"

He seems a slight pained to have to trade his daughter, but eager to take revenge on the Aerick and hoping to slay his rival's son in the bargain.

>Do you accept this second deal?

>>4966808

>Agree

>>4966808
>Ask how many men are in the raid, we have no trained fighters other than ourselves and our squire, plus maybe the sailors.

>Suggest he load up the men he'd send up to respond to the raid on our ship to accompany us into battle, it would be our best bet of successfully stopping them and killing the son. If he agrees and is still willing to give us the same deal, accept his offer.

>>4966823

On second thoughts, switching to this.

>>4966823
Support.

>>4966823
Sure, not like he'd be able to outright twin after this anyways.

I'll support.

>>4966823
Support

Time to put our skills to use, but even a handful of trained men would be a great support.

>>4966823
+1 also how many sons those our father in law have?

>>4967257
He has a great many sons on account of his many wives and concubines. He has only one trueborn daughter left, though, by poor luck and plague.


>>4966823
>>4966826
>>4966873
>>4967027

"Hmm. I think between you and your sailors there you've a fair chance - I don't know the size of this raid but I expect it'd only be a couple of dozen men at most. The Aerick are well dispersed, like carrion birds picking at my clansmen. I've no men to spare - those I have left are needed here or to protect our other villages as best we can."

He takes a long drink of his mead. His eyes cloud, and you can see the concentration behind his eyes. You remember the same looks on the eyes of the lords at captains at the last battle. Attempting to salvage what's left and marshall the remainder of his men is likely no mean feat.

"I have nothing else to offer you - slay the Aerick boy, save that village and you'll have a fine wife with a fair dowry of cattle, silver and bondsmen. Elsewise, you'd be well served to get yourself back home. I expect the Aerick will try to get at me once they muster anew - the choice is yours, fear iarann"

>Will you aid the Ontathra under these terms, or return home?

>>4967706
Aid him

We are a trained knight after all, and a veteran besides.

>>4967706
I think this is worth it. He'll be indebted to us, and his people might think us proper helpful. Not to mention if we play the actual invasion/attack right, we could get support from any wavering souls who might not want further fighting.

>Accept and aid.

>>4967706
>Aid him.

"The Aerick whelps skull will serve as a fine drinking vessel, once gilded. And a fitting token for the binding of our two lines. I swear to you, Ontathra, the soil will deep drink of that foul lineages blood before we next meet"

>>4967746
Metal. Sharp metal. One might almost call it...

...edgy.

>>4967706

>Aid him.

>>4967747
Hey, you can't cut without an edge.

>>4967706
This is risky, but I say go for it, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

>Aid them.

>>4967706
>Aid him
It's knightly to help our religious brother in time of need, right?

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>>4967706
"I will aid you, Ontathra, with what force god has granted me. You shall have the Aerick whelp's skull for a horn when next I drink in your hall, and much foul blood of his ilk shall I spill aforetime"

Veteran warrior as he is, the Ontathra seems perhaps taken aback by your vigour in such a pronouncement. You cannot tell whether he is impressed, dismissive or scared - it is no matter. You are sworn and bound now, and will make good your pledge, and have a wife from the bargain. Notions of chivalry and courtly elegance are one thing, but the duty of a knight is in war, and you will do your duty as best you can. You remember the crush at the battle - remember laying about you with your poleaxe and splitting skulls as you rushed forward into the fray. A chance to win honour, a chance at battle - that will do your heart great good.

The laird claps you on the shoulder, calls for more mead, fetes you and has your crew given a fair feast for a meal. A boy is sent to guide you to the isle being raided, and once you have done eating, and have made a prayer at the stone, cliffside cross by the laird's tower, you set out back for your ship. The red Archangel at your back for a guide, you tell the sailors to ready for a fight. You order the vessel to set out, and quickly set about equipping yourself properly. Your squire aids you in strapping on your armour - greaves, mail, coat of plates, great-helm and all the rest, until you stand a head taller than you did, and shine as silvered iron in the midday spring sun.

Sword in hand you go up to the forecastle of the vessel, and call on the sailors. You tell them of the Aerick's misdeeds - of the innocent lives you come to save, of the monastery you come to shield, and last of the plunder that is to be had. Wives, wealth and the wonderment of the Norann is what you promise them, and they cheer at the offer as they pick up boat hooks, hatchets and batons.

The journey to the isle is short. It is a squat little island - set on all sides by little islets with raised pastures. Clustered by the beach are a number of houses, while a path runs upward to a simple stone monastic house. You hear churchbells ringing on the wind, and see smoke rising from burnt hovels. Four longships are drawn up on the beach, but the only body of men you see is a few standing on the path up to the monastery - likely the brothers and townsmen attempting to hold off the attackers.

>>4967798

>What do you do?
>Leave a handful of men to guard the ship and go forth with all you have. Rush up the path towards the monastery and join up with the local defenders, before sweeping the raiders back down into the sea.
>Attack the Aerick longships first - if their defenders can be slain and the vessels torched, the Aerick will have no chance of escape, and no way of attacking your ship in your absence.
>Split your force into three bodies and march up the beach into the village. Clear out the raiders before they can finish plundering the place, don't give them chance to regroup.
>Something else? (Write in)

>>4967798
>>Attack the Aerick longships first - if their defenders can be slain and the vessels torched, the Aerick will have no chance of escape, and no way of attacking your ship in your absence.

>>4967802
>>Attack the Aerick longships first - if their defenders can be slain and the vessels torched, the Aerick will have no chance of escape, and no way of attacking your ship in your absence.

Perhaps we can try capturing at least one or two of them? Put a few men on them and row them out?

>>4967802
>>Attack the Aerick longships first - if their defenders can be slain and the vessels torched, the Aerick will have no chance of escape, and no way of attacking your ship in your absence.

>>4967802
>Attack the Aerick longships first - if their defenders can be slain and the vessels torched, the Aerick will have no chance of escape, and no way of attacking your ship in your absence.

We have to secure our exit as well as make sure the son cannot escape, if the monastery falls, so be it, we are here for the son.

We still need to name our village don't we?

>>4967865
You got a name in mind?

>>4967916
Well, naming it after ourselves seems to, how do you say, conceited. Naming it after our fallen lord would keep his noble spirit alive upon earth in some small way.

So that could be one avenue we could take, name it in the honor and memory of the king that never was.

However a second option, is to name it after our future wife, Aelle, as a romantic gesture of sorts.

Not sure exactly what we'd name it if we chose to use it to immortalize the memory of Prince Bathoric or court our lady Aelle, but that's what I've been thinking

A third choice is to just call it what it is, the end of our exile. Exile's end

>>4967925
I was thinking of calling it 'insertourname's Landing' regardless of the conceited nature of the name or perhaps going with your third suggestion.

I don't think naming a shitty village of just starting out peasants after our lady love is particularly romantic. Maybe we can name the island after her, Aelle's isle or something like that.

>>4967925
>>4967959

How about New "our former fiefs name"?

Naming an island after the prince is a good call in any case I'd say

>>4967848
>>4967828
>>4967820

You marshall the men and what small boats you have - sail in close to the shore as you dare before dropping anchor and launch the boats. All is noise and the splashing of waves as the sailors row up to the shore. You pray under your breath as shouts rise from the longships and the village beyond. The sky is slate grey with cloud, and the beach is beaten by brown-grey breakers. As soon as it is shallow enough, you jump from the foremost ship and stride forward in your full armour. Trepidatious, the sailors are slow to follow, but once the sling bolts begin to clatter off your coat of plates they start to follow your lead.

Arrows and stones clatter harmlessly off your helm and breastplate - it is only a matter of time until one should find a crack. You heft your great poleaxe and lower yourself into a sprint towards the shield wall forming up the beach between you and the longships. Your boots clatter in the sand. The Aerick armsmen before you are scantily armoured, in the Norann fashion, and wear girded robes, helms and jerkins at most. A few hold slings and hunting bows and stand behind the rest, while most are armed with tall wooden shields and axes or spears.

You utter one last prayer, and leap into the fray...

>Roll 1d100

Rolled 2 (1d100)

>>4967979

Rolling

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>4967979
DEUS VULT

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>4967979
Hoo boy, I hope we live.

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>4967979
Bo3?

>>4967983
>> 2/100 - Near Critical Success
Armed and armoured, you are a foe for whom these Norann are not ready. They scarcely know of proper knights, and certainly didn't expect to see a creature out of fairytales sprinting up the beach towards them like an avalanche on legs. Their shield wall is sloppy - centuries outdated on the continent and only half-formed by the time you slam into it. You bowl over the two men you collide with and keep going - your poleaxe swings as if you were mowing hay, and two Aerick slingers are sent up to god without their skulls intact.

You bellow out a challenge, whirl around and lay about you. You catch an axe blow to the shoulder in the ensuing melee but the crude weapon hasn't enough weight to do much more than bruise. Still, you crack the fellow's rib-cage for wounding one of his betters. When the sailors arrive their lesser weapons don't matter much, as they crack the heads of men reeling from a broken formation and still agape at the fear iarann in their midst. It is a short fight, and you have time to roll your shoulders and breathe a sigh of satisfaction over the slain - this is much better work than managing work crews, more fit to your station.

Four of them throw up their arms in surrender, and fall before you in supplication. These aren't knights - you've no duty to accept their surrender. To put them to the sword would make an example, and keep the fear the Norann seem to have of you in your full caparison alive. Still, you've other matters to attend to. You have a few moments to decide your next choice - there seem to be a great many more men in the village who'll be more ready than this lot by the time you arrive.

>>>The Prisoners
>Slay them - raiders and brigands deserve no quarter.
>Spare them - have some sailors tie them and row them back to the ship for prisoners.

>>>The Ships
>Have some men row a few of them out - ships are a useful thing to have, and you reckon you can spare the men.
>Push all four of them off and let the waves scatter them - if you want them after you can retrieve any that are intact, and you won't need to give up so many men.
>Burn them. You don't need the dinghies of primitives.

>>4968063

So lower numbers are better? Thank heavens for that at least.

>Spare them - have some sailors tie them and row them back to the ship for prisoners.

>Push all four of them off and let the waves scatter them - if you want them after you can retrieve any that are intact, and you won't need to give up so many men.

>>4968063
>>Spare them - have some sailors tie them and row them back to the ship for prisoners.

Sets a precedent, if we kill them all the rest are likely to fight to the death.

Ransom, thralls, give them to the laird to do with as he pleases, whatever.

>>Push all four of them off and let the waves scatter them - if you want them after you can retrieve any that are intact, and you won't need to give up so many men.

Seems like a safe compromise

>>4968063
>Spare them - have some sailors tie them and row them back to the ship for prisoners.

>Push all four of them off and let the waves scatter them - if you want them after you can retrieve any that are intact, and you won't need to give up so many men.

>>4968063
>Spare them - have some sailors tie them and row them back to the ship for prisoners.

>Push all four of them off and let the waves scatter them - if you want them after you can retrieve any that are intact, and you won't need to give up so many men.

Also just want to say monk, you painted an absolutely stunning scene just now. I can imagine the knight of the isles charging, backed by the sea spray, looking like an iron devil emerging from the depths of the ocean's black heart, shaded by mist as he charged the line of raiders howling a terrifying clarion call

>>4968076
>>4968070
>>4968077
>>4968084

You shout an order for the sailors to push the longboats out into the surf as you wipe the blood from your poleaxe. You call out for your squire, and the lad runs up to hand you your sword. Since these folk are, by continental standards, unarmoured, you want a more flexible weapon. You stand over the captives for a moment, weighing your sword in hand. The breakers spray across the beach, as men shout and heave ships. You raise your blade, grasping the hilt with both hands, and swing hard downward.

You bury it in the salt-sand, and the captives need little guard after that. They are tied at the wrists and dragged to the boats with a skeleton guard. The remainder of the men pick over the dead - pulling on jerkins and helms, replacing their hatchets with axes, and preparing for a sterner battle. It begins to rain as the longboats are caught on a riptide and set out into the waves. In the village, a shield wall has formed up against you, with a handful of better equipped huscarls at its heart. Axes hammer on long shields, and spears bristle - more men stream out of burning houses minute by minute. You can see, on the hill beyond, a brutal fight as the monks are hard pressed in defense of their brothers. You do not have long.

>What's the plan now?
>Charge the shield wall head on, with yourself as the tip of the spear. Break it in two and the rest will scatter, and you can get at the Aerick whelp.
>Split your force in two, and bet that the advantage of flanking the shield wall will equal the risk of putting some force in the hands of a lesser man.
>Something else? (Write in)


>>4968108
Glad to hear it mate.

>>4968201

>Charge the shield wall head on, with yourself as the tip of the spear. Break it in two and the rest will scatter, and you can get at the Aerick whelp.

Men of the cloth are in danger. As a godly man, we must come to their aid without delay. Embody the rapidity of god's judgement AND FUCK SHIT UP

>>4968201
>>Charge the shield wall head on, with yourself as the tip of the spear. Break it in two and the rest will scatter, and you can get at the Aerick whelp.

Wouldn't we be better served using our poleaxe to break the center though?

>>4968203
Deus vult!

>>4968201
>Split your force in two, and bet that the advantage of flanking the shield wall will equal the risk of putting some force in the hands of a lesser man.

Are the Huscarls armoured? If so we shouldn't be overconfident, what we just did to those men just now may not happen again with these folks.

>>4968210
https://youtu.be/HaTn3oRPtzg

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>>4968210
>>4968203

You have your sailors set up in a loose wedge, and place yourself at the point of the spear. You call your squire to bring back your poleaxe, and fix your eyes upon the huscarls. Mail byrnies down to their knees and nasal helmets set over their face. These men are at least decently armoured, even if their equipment is woefully outdated. You roll your shoulders, and prepare to charge into the fray once more. The church bells ring clear on the gale, and the sea wind is at your back. You meet eyes with a great, broad huscarl, and fall once again into a charge with the traditional Anglian cry of "DEATH!" on your lips.

You hear sailors roar behind you, and feel your feet set on more solid ground. The huscarls brace, and you leap into them. By the bulk of your armour you force one back - with a blow from the flat hammer of your poleaxe you rebuke another. Behind you, the sailors force forward, and the shield wall strains. The fighting is far fiercer now - the wall is sturdier, and doesn't buckle. The huscarls turn their attention on you. Your squire duels one with your sword, and you pray under your breath that the lord will help him strike true. Three huscarls stand around you, and a forth lies at your feet. There is no time for pause - you slam the solid hilt of the weapon into the prone man's right eye - if he is not dead he is at least not likely to be up soon. A heavy axe-blow lands on the back of your thigh and white pain flashes before your eyes- another axe clatters against your shoulder, forcing you down onto one knee. A huscarl grins, frothing, down into the eye-slit of your greathelm, and raises his sword for the blow.

The sailors seem to waver as you sink downward - a huscarl caves in a man's forehead and turns to face you. Soon they will be too many for you to fight off. Now is the time.

>Roll 1d100.

Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>4968240
https://youtu.be/RdAzXbGE2Xk

Rolled 80 (1d100)

>>4968240

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>4968240

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>4968240

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>4968240

the suspense is killing me

So anons, thoughts on getting a whaling industry going?

>>4969095
Good idea.
It's a dangerous one and we may lose some men,
but hey WHALES.

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>>4968381
>>4968358
>>4968243

You force yourself back up onto your feet and surge forward with your next step. The first Huscarl is ready for you - he swings his sword down. It slams into your pauldron, though, and glances off, leaving the man off balance. You grit your teeth through the pain and let out a roar as you lever your poleaxe up, burying the blade into the underside of his chin and splitting it up to the noseguard. You suddenly feel a bolt of pain in your back as a huscarl's spear-point slams in beneath your shoulder. If not for your armour it would have been a mortal blow - unfortunately for the huscarl your mail coif is just long enough to stem the point.

You wrench your axe free of the gurgling corpse and bring the hammer around in an arc into the spearman's side. From the cracking, and the way the man doubles over, you'd bed he was a few ribs poorer now than a moment ago. Only two more - one on either side wielding an axe. One axe blow glances off your gauntlets, and you manage to parry the other. The iron of your poleaxe resounds with a sharp clang. You wrench it upward under the axe blade, drawing the man in, and deliver a sharp kick to his chest, though your thigh burns. He falls back, and you turn to face the last man. You are breathing heavy - your shirt is blood-soaked from the wound in your back, while your thigh and shoulder spasm in pain.

You see your squire bring your sword - too big for him, down on his foe's head. He brings it up again and again, until the man's helm is a handful of scrap iron. Good lad. The last huscarl charges for you, and knocks you down. You carry him with you, until you are both struggling in the sandy mud. He is an experienced brawler, and attempts to press his arm into your neck. Your gorget is too sturdy for it, though, and a plated knee between his legs sets him gasping. He draws a knife, and stabs for your eye-slit. For a moment, you think you've met your end. In a fury, thouh, you swing your great-helm forward.

His flimsy nose-guard buckles, followed shortly by his nose. You throw him off and launch yourself atop him, slamming your armoured head into his face until it is a broken paste of blood and shattered bone. You heave yourself up, leaning on your poleaxe. Your armour drips with mud and viscera. Still, your work is not done with, and you charge into the back of the shield-wall with the last of your vigour. The force of you in their back, and the loss of their huscarls, is enough to break the Aerick line. You fall to a knee, exhausted, and watch as your squire carves through the inexperienced footmen, and the sailors cave in skulls with their boat-hooks. The rain falls yet heavier, and no quarter is given.

>62 - With bonus, extremely narrow success.

>>4969141

You swear a light oath, and think for a moment how much finer it is to be a mounted knight than a footman.


>>What is to be done?
>You must rest a moment. Have your wound bandaged, and send your men to deal with the stragglers in the village.
>You must rest - you cannot join the rest of the fight. Send your men on under your squire's command to aid the monks.
>There is no time for rest, and you cannot risk your men going on without you. Take some water, form up, and march up the hill into the backs of the last of the raiders.
>Something else? (Write in)

>>4969099
It'd be a pretty lucrative trade I would think, though we'd probably need a long time to build ourselves up properly to do it.

>>4969146
>>You must rest a moment. Have your wound bandaged, and send your men to deal with the stragglers in the village.

Then form up and press on to the aid of the monks?

>>4969156

On second thought, if we rest it gives time for the enemy to finish off the rest of the defenders and form up against us on preferable terrain.

No, we should rush to their aid, being hit from both sides should be enough to break their morale

>>4969146
>>There is no time for rest, and you cannot risk your men going on without you. Take some water, form up, and march up the hill into the backs of the last of the r

>There is no time for rest, and you cannot risk your men going on without you. Take some water, form up, and march up the hill into the backs of the last of the raiders.

>>4969146
>There is no time for rest, and you cannot risk your men going on without you. Take some water, form up, and march up the hill into the backs of the last of the raiders.
And so a legend is born.

>>4969146
>There is no time for rest, and you cannot risk your men going on without you. Take some water, form up, and march up the hill into the backs of the last of the raiders.
We don't NEED to spearhead the assault, though. Let's not overdo it.

>>4969146
>>There is no time for rest, and you cannot risk your men going on without you. Take some water, form up, and march up the hill into the backs of the last of the raiders.
Cut off the heads off the dead huscarls and lets use them as throwing wepaons to sacre them

>>4969188
Agreed, hopefully our men have salvaged enough proper weapons and some shields to do some proper fighting themselves and we can simply support and direct them.

>>4969146
>There is no time for rest, and you cannot risk your men going on without you. Take some water, form up, and march up the hill into the backs of the last of the raiders.
>Something else? (Write in)
Give our squire a chance at glory while we supervise from behind the line.

>>4969146
>You must rest a moment. Have your wound bandaged, and send your men to deal with the stragglers in the village.

Our squire deserves a reward for his actions this day

>>4969188
support

After our display, we have surely inspired our men to perform better and to be more courageous - we should partake, but in a command and inspiration role

>>4969182
>>4969181
>>4969159
>>4969188
>>4969200
>>4969391

There isn't time to rest, though you're too worn out to lead the charge yourself this time. You raise yourself tall as you might, let out a shout of "Rally!" and urge your men onward. Now equipped with a few more salvaged bits of gear they look ever more like fit footsoldiers. You call out for young Gareth to go at their head, while you march surrounded by your men off to the left. There is at least a shield or two between you and the foe. The march up-hill is a slog, but you can hear the shouts of battle ahead.

The scene is a brutal one - many monks lie dead or gravely wounded, while an abbot lays about him with a great bludgeon, since he is not permitted to draw blood. A well dressed Aerick Huscarl - presumably the whelp himself, stands at the midst of the line. Once you are within sight the Aericks seem to panic - they do not wish to be hemmed in on both sides. The left of their line draws backward, while their right stays in place, until they have forced a semicircle of shields with its left side facing you.

You bring your poleaxe down, aiming the point squarely at the foe, and call out the charge. Your men are tired, and plenty are wounded, but with you at their back they fight more valiantly than a sailor might. The Aerick are better trained and equipped - their spears make mincemeat of the first men to get to them, but a few cracks in their wall appear with each new axe-blow. You stab with your poleaxe above the heads of your footmen, and bloody your blade before the end. Soon enough the shield-circle buckles under the weight of your numbers, until the last few are pressed between you, the monks, and the steep drop to the side of the hill-path. They fight like cornered dogs, though, and the Aerick whelp brings down many of your men before he is caught in the spine with a boat hook. Once he falls, the mass of axes and cudgels brings him bleeding and broken to the floor - the last of his men is kicked off of the hillside, and screams to his death in the crag below.

Your men cheer and whoop - the monks utter prayers of thank and fall to their knees in weeping. It has been a bloody day. You throw off your helm, call for water, and drink deeply. Your hair is slick with sweat against your neck, and your shirt is drenched in blood. You look down the hillside all the way to the beach, and see the carnage. perhaps three score of men lie dead or dying - blood stains the sand as fires still crackle in village houses. The church bells ring out through the rain, and in the distance thunder rumbles.

Your breath and body are ragged, but you are the victor.

>>Session Break - I'll be back to continue in a while.

>>4970398
Well, heres to hoping we can convince a few monks and villagers to join us perhaps, and hoping to their being loot stowed on those longships, if we managed to grab any of them up.

>>4970398
Thanks a lot QM, I'm glad this worked out! Rest up well.

>>4970398
>Session Break - I'll be back to continue in a while.
Have a good rest QM!

Oh yes - while I'm away, we do need a name, both for our village and for our main character himself, since so far he doesn't have one.

I'm glad folks are enjoying this - apologies for the slightly inconsistent update schedule.

>>4970895
you're doing great work, thanks!

>>4970895
How about his name be Miles. Apparently it means Knight in medieval latin.

>>4970895
honestly this quest is a welcome break from all the of the fantasy stuff, we'll definitly need a priest and a church tho

>>4970895

The Village: Exile's Rest

Ourselves: Alfred

>>4970895
How about Hereward?

And the village, maybe Herewards landing

>>4970895
Village: Exile's rest

Name: Albrecht

>>4970895
Either of these are fine with me...
>>4971095
>>4971544

>>4971544
I like this one

>>4971544
This one is nice.

So how should we expect to wait for anyways

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[SESSION RESUMES]

With the Aerick dead and his raiders put to the boat-hook, there is little more to do. You have your men sweep the isle to finish off any stragglers and to put out what fires they can, insisting that no plunder be taken from the villagers. Three of the longships are recovered, and their plunder collected while your men and the monks gather up the bodies, strip them of arms and wealth, burn the lowborn and consign the huscarls to burial in unconsecrated ground for their blasphemies. You spend most of the rainy afternoon painfully having your armour removed. A soft-faced young monk is placed in charge of your care, and swiftly enough you are brought to realise that the wound in the back of your shoulder is far worse than you felt, in the stupour of battle.

The monk washes and binds your wound, wrapping a band of clean, white cloth around your torso. You grit your teeth - you are used to the subtle agonies of the chirugeon's table. Still, it stings like hell. At last you are brought a basin of warm water, in which spruce pines have been boiled. You send the monk from the room and wash clean the sweat, blood and mud from your hair, combing it out with a comb of whalebone. The bath does you much good. You dress - a white shirt and a long tunic, a surcoat bearing your heraldry - a silver stag on a blood red field. Your squire brings you your sword belt and you gird yourself, before being admitted into the presence of the abbot in the monk's refectory, where the brothers eat in silent reverence.

You share pleasantries with the abbot a while - it seems he is from Anglia himself, and you are his first news of current events. He is a sharp, bone-thin man with warm eyes and a clergyman's kindness of heart, in spite of his evident skill with a bludgeon. Once you have begun to eat - rich white bread with goat's butter and a mutton stew - he talks to you more earnestly. He thanks you heartily for your aid and bemoans the destruction of the village. He promises that the brothers there will pray for your soul, and call upon the lord to bless your endeavours - that the divine office will be said for you daily until the day of judgement. Some of the younger monks - boys the age of your squire, look on you with sheer awe. Their tonsures and sack-cloth contrast sharply with your long, dark hair and rich outfit.

The Abbot bestows gifts on you - a pair of finely bound manuscript psalters, a fingerbone of St. Aelfgar, who parted the stormclouds when the first ships came into the Isles, and the service of the monk who tended to your wounds to serve as a confessor and regular healer, should you be willing to take him on. You thank him piously, and finish your meal before retiring to the chapel to pray. You kneel on the cold stone, and thank God for bringing you through another battle alive. A bronze statue of Christ upon the cross hangs above the altar. His eyes of black glass seem to watch you, with pity and warmth fitting the saviour.

Once you have finished your prayers, you walk down the hill to the beach, where your sailors are assembled, to assess the damage. It is a grim scene. You arrived with 50 sailors, and leave with 32. Most were slain in the melee in the village itself, though a few passed on the hill. The villagers have suffered far worse. Of the twenty houses here, only four remain intact. Most of the men have been slain, and all is disorder. The remaining folk are broken and glassy-eyed, though they thank you with what warmth they can. The plunder retrieved from the ships is mostly in the form of sheep, cows and what small quantity of silver was to be found in the place. A few bundles of woolen cloth and barrels of mead are piled up, too.

More is to be had of use to you from the Aerick raiders themselves. Between the huscarls and footmen your sailors have collected enough arms and armour to make a far more formidable and professional looking force. You could arm and armour perhaps another twenty men, if you had them. The Aerick laird's son's body is retrieved and set before you. He wears valuable arm-rings of silver, and a gold-plated crucifix around his neck. His armour is inlaid with fine stones - jet and garnet, and an iron torc remains around his neck.

You are faced with the choice so many captains arrive at - how much ought you to give back, and how much should you keep to reward your men for their pains? All of the wargear of the slain is yours, of course, but the plunder of the village is yours to keep or return as you choose and see fit.


>Gained: 50 Men's worth of Norann arms and armour. The service of a Chirugeon and Confessor. Your sailors are no longer inexperienced soldiers. Plunder from the slain equal to 2 Wealth. The support and favour of the Abbot of St. Aelfgar's Monastery. A saintly relic of Aelfgar, and 2 fine Books.

>>How is the rest to be divided?
>Your sailors have lost a great deal of friends and companions today, and suffered much harm. It is enough that these people retain their lives - take it all.
>Divide the plunder - take the movable valuables, leave the sheep, cows and other food.
>Divide the plunder - leave the silver and ephemera, take the sheep - you came south for livestock, after all. The people are much fewer, anyway.
>Leave all the plunder for the villagers. These women need dowries to find new husbands if they are to be safe ever again in life, and their children need food, or else suffer a worse fate than death by the raider's axe.
>Something else? (Write in)

>>4973414
Why don't we suggest that the villagers come with us and integrate them? It would be easier for them to survive in a larger community, and our lands are good for livestock.

>>4973421
Supporting
Also we get to keep everything on top of that.

>>4973421
Unfortunately they aren't allowed to make that choice for themselves - they are their lord's bondsmen and effectively his property. You'd have to ask the Ontathra, unless you want to force the issue.

>>4973414
>Divide the plunder - take the movable valuables, leave the sheep, cows and other food.

The Ontathra promised us a dowry of silver, cattle and serfs, these women could be some of them in order to not separate the wealth too much from the people. Their homes are destroyed, in addition to whatever dowry we get, part of said dowry could consist of these people and their wealth and sheep anyways, then we could most them to our island. It doesn't have to be all of them since the monastery needs villagers to support them, it is just to ease the blow of taking their wealth and livestock, since it'd still be among them if they were part of those who come with us.

If this whole integrate the monastery villagers with us doesn't work, we can just take some of the wealth like I voted for above to ease our sailors lust for gold and then we'll still get a decent reward of all the things we desire from the Ontathra anyways.

>>4973414
>>Divide the plunder - take the movable valuables, leave the sheep, cows and other food.

Make sure none of it belongs to anyone living, or heaven forbid, the monastery. What kind of knight would we be if we took what little these people had left? But the dead have no use for trinkets or wealth!

>>4973414
>>Divide the plunder - take the movable valuables, leave the sheep, cows and other food.

>>4973414
>Divide the plunder - take the movable valuables, leave the sheep, cows and other food.
>Still ask for some food for on the road.

>>4973414
>Something else? (Write in)
Let the villagers take what they need or want first, and we take the rest mostly valuables. Offer Ontathra to take the villagers in exchange of wealth and some armor, and the body of the slain chieftain's son and his personal jewelry.

The people stay safe that he would otherwise be unable to protect, and we are happy to gain some goods and people. He gets wealth and the sheer satisfaction of killing his rivals son and the jewels to prove it.

We can even throw in a ship or two.

>>4973658
I support this insofar as presenting the son's body to Ontathra as untouched as possible, including all his clothes and jewels, as a trophy

>>4973666
I feel that it won't matter much in the future since we are marrying his daughter. Did he even have any sons still alive?

>>4973414
>>Divide the plunder - take the movable valuables, leave the sheep, cows and other food.

where's OP?
this is legit one of the best quests out there IMO

qm curse strikes again!

>>4976658
Why i keep abandoning this board for a year or more at a time

Qm come back ):<

>>4973414
>>Divide the plunder - take the movable valuables, leave the sheep, cows and other food.

QM COME BACK YOU COWARD!

I dont suppose someone would want to pick the quest up? I love the premise

>>4981865

Supporting this. I really want to see this continue.

>>4981865
same

>>4979768
>>4981865
>>4981995
>>4982437
>>4977434

My apologies, lads, I've let you down on this one. I didn't mean to be gone so long, I've been ill the last few days to the point of contemplating dropping this, and I ought to have said something. I'm doing better at the moment, and I can see that people are realy eager for this to continue, so I'll do my best to keep running. I'll put out an update shortly, and keep going from there until we run out of space on the thread, then I'll set a time for the next session, and make running this a regular part of my schedule.

>>4982484
That s okay if you where ill, are you better now ?
The update will be posted today ?

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>>4973505
>>4973510
>>4973579
>>4973622

It is decided that you'll leave the food, beyond a few provisions for the journey back to the Ontathra. You take as your portion the body of the Aerick boy and his jewels, thinking to trade it with the Ontathra for the villagers. You have a few of your men stay to put out fires, return sheep to pastures and help repair the village huts for the remaining villagers, a kindness for which they thank you in spite of their tragic circumstances. The rain beats down as the remainder of your men - caparisoned in their newfound armour and weaponry - load up the longships and boats and row out to the ship.

You sit, at last, in your cabin. Your breath is heavy with injury, and ragged as each breath pulls at the ruptured muscle of your back. You thank the young brother as he sets a poultice against the wound, and allow your squire the evening's rest before he cleans your armour and sands your mail. The men feast on the deck, in memory of their slain fellows, and you pass the night looking over the festivities with a looted horn of small beer.

The next morning is grey, and bright. The ship gets underway, albeit slower for the burden of small longships towed behind it, and for the fewer number of crewmen. Still, you come back to the Ontathra's stone broch-tower, and once again his men greet you kindly. You are lead up to the tower hall, and this time the scene that meets you is far more formal. The Ontathra - his old warrior's frame girded in gold and green robes and a silver coronet - sits enthroned over his court of armsmen and concubines. You enter his hall in full arms, with the son of the Aerick borne on a long shield by two sailors. The old chief grins, through the ceremony, as the body is set before him.

"Sir Albrecht, out of Anglia, you have come to us in strength, and god has brought your arms to bear against our foemen. For the slain son you have brought me, I shall make you a living one - take the hand of my daughter, Aelle, and abide with her all your days."

Your maiden wife steps forth from the crowd - dressed in a white gown set over with a mantle of verdant green, her hair like copper bound behind her head. Her eyes meet yours with a look of stern resolve, and some apprehension. You bow your head in the respect due to a father in law, and take the hand the lady offers you. At this, the court cheers aloud - cries of "fear iarann", man-of-iron, resound in the stone tower. You are toasted and cheered through the night, and your men make merry with the local folk in song, dance and contest into the night.

Cont.

>>4982504

After this there is feasting and celebration. The Ontathra is still hard pressed by his foe, but that foe has been chastened. By nightfall he is out of his regalia, and you are back to horse-trading over a horn of mead. In exchange for the jewels of the slain boy he'll do as you ask, and let you have the villagers such as they are, freed from their bonds to him. Along with them, you will sail home with the gifts of the monastery, a boat-load of widows for your unmarried sailors, the armour and goods taken from the Aerick looters, a fair herd of sheep and cattle, a fine dowry of fair dresses, silver, robes and a pair of coronets, to mark you and your wife as laird and lady in your own right.

The next few days pass in a haze, as your ship is loaded up with the dowry of your new wife, along with her few servants and your many new subjects and livestock. The Ontathra weeps and clasps her hands as he passes her to you, though she does her best to remain steadfast before her father. At last, you arrive home in Exile's Rest, and set Tristram to work ordering your vastly expanded estate. Houses are filled - men wed and fields filled fresh with livestock. The chirugeon rushes around administering rites of marriage, giving confesion and treating the sick, while you and your bride settle into your quarters on the ship.

>Wealth: 5 (Livestock, Relics, silver)
>Population: 5 (2 Anglian, 3 Norann)
>1 Unit of Veteran Sailors, Norann equipment.

In the ensuing weeks the village settles into a new order, much livelier than before. Many new households have been born in the slew of weddings, and days are spent settling into a rhythmn of fishing, shearing, milking and labour. The sheep and cattle are set to roam over the limited pasturage your island home affords, while men set out into the woods to fell ever more trees for new houses. By all accounts, Exile's Rest seems to prosper. Still, there is much to do - the village lacks defenses should the Aerick seek revenge, you and your wife lack a suitable home, you have no contact with the Yupequ natives, no church, and your newfound wealth is burning a hole in your coinpurse - now is a time of opportunity.

>What is to be done?
>Focus on building a suitable abode for you and your wife, Aelle.
>Set about construction of a church.
>The village must have a palisade - a decent defense against raiders and sheep-stealers.
>You must needs meet your Yupequ neighbours, and find out what lands you have planted yourself in.
>You wish to set a new industry in motion with the capital you have to hand - begin to plot on the topic.

>>4982484
A motherfucking miracle

>Focus on building a suitable abode for you and your wife, Aelle.

and if possible

>You must needs meet your Yupequ neighbours, and find out what lands you have planted yourself in.

>>4982505
>>The village must have a palisade - a decent defense against raiders and sheep-stealers.

We need a solid defense, afterwards a house for us and god.

>>4982484

That you chose to say something and come back at all speaks a lot –you've been better than I have in similar circumstances. Hope you get better soon, and I look forward to continuing this.

>>4982505

>Set about construction of a church.

We are a knight of God, and we shall prioritise building a house for him before earthly pleasures. Anything else would be sheer sacrilege.

>>4973711
He has a lot of sons, from his many concubines. He has had five daughters, only one of whom survives and who you've married.

>>4982510
Supporting.

Though I'd say that we should do as much as possible to make our home a defensive structure.

And hey, sorry to hear that you were sick Monk, just a lil transparency goes a very long way.

>>4982505
Holy shit you came back, this is honestly what made my day man, great to have you back. Hope you feel better from the rona'
By the way
>church
We experienced a miracle so might as well commemorate it.

>>4982505
>You must needs meet your Yupequ neighbours, and find out what lands you have planted yourself in.
>The village must have a palisade - a decent defense against raiders and sheep-stealers.

>>4982505
>>Set about construction of a church.
>>The village must have a palisade - a decent defense against raiders and sheep-stealers.
we need a place for the holy relic

>>4982505
>The village must have a palisade - a decent defense against raiders and sheep-stealers.
The palisade must be also on the waterfront or it will be worthless.
>You must needs meet your Yupequ neighbours, and find out what lands you have planted yourself in.
Know thy neighbour.

>>4982645

Switching to >>4983051

You can only attend to one thing at once, I'm afraid - I'll take the first thing in each post as the vote.

>Church
>>4982561
>>4982759
>>4982935

>Abode
>>4982510
>>4982645

>Palisade
>>4982525
>>4983051

>Yupequ
>>4982924

It is proper, you think, that you thank God for your victory and properly establish the village by the construction of a church. You have the reeve go out and find men willing to work on the structure, and take Tristram aside to discuss what is to be done. Your new monk attends to the proper folk rituals and sacraments to sanctify a section of ground, and a few choices stand before you to be made.

First, you must determine whether your church is to be of wood - as the houses of the village are, or the more complex stone-work and mortar. In Anglia a church of any material other than stone would be at least irregular if not shameful, but you are among the Norann and their churches are usually of timber. It would certainly be cheaper, too. Tristram lays out the expenses of both options in some detail, and describes how mortar and stone would have to be sourced, along with at least one or two hired stoneworkers from the nearest Norann clans.

Beyond that is the matter of a churchman - as the builder of the church you will have the right of advowson - to appoint a priest of your choosing, though the tithe would go to him once chosen rather than to you. The question is, where will you send to for a priest to minister to the village? The Norann church is distant and estranged from the Holy and Apostolic Church hierarchy on the continent, and your Norann subjects will likely find the practices to which you have held all your life somewhat strange - it is for you to decide, of course, but it is likely to be a source of some social contestation.

>Send to the Norann for a priest, it is best to be a civil lord and to be one among your people, and one with your bride. You are not on the continent now, and if you are to be a laird in these lands you would do well to follow their customs.
>Send to the Bernician and Estrean colonies in the Yuroi for a proper, Apostolic priest. Your church will be a part of their hierarchy, and you will impose the right and godly practices of the true church onto your Norann subjects, come hell or high water.

>>Also, what is the church to be built of;
>Build it of wood, in the Norann fashion. (-1 Wealth)
>Build it properly, out of stone-work. Such is proper. (-3 Wealth)

>>4982759
>>4982648
Thanks lads - I'm certainly on the mend, I'm really honoured to find folks so eager for the quest.

>>4983198
>>Send to the Norann for a priest, it is best to be a civil lord and to be one among your people, and one with your bride. You are not on the continent now, and if you are to be a laird in these lands you would do well to follow their customs.
>>4983199
>Build it properly, out of stone-work. Such is proper. (-3 Wealth)


>>4983201
I am glad you are here again, i really like your quest honestly.

>>4983198
>>Send to the Norann for a priest, it is best to be a civil lord and to be one among your people, and one with your bride. You are not on the continent now, and if you are to be a laird in these lands you would do well to follow their customs.

>>Build it of wood, in the Norann fashion. (-1 Wealth)

I say we save the money for fortifications

>>4983198

>Send to the Bernician and Estrean colonies in the Yuroi for a proper, Apostolic priest. Your church will be a part of their hierarchy, and you will impose the right and godly practices of the true church onto your Norann subjects, come hell or high water.

>Build it properly, out of stone-work. Such is proper. (-3 Wealth)

We are civilised men, and if we must be the most distant outpost of civilisation in all the world, so be it. When it comes to the Lord, no expense may be spared.

Just to keep you all posted, I'm off to bed for a bit - we're in need of a few more votes, so I'll put together a post over my breakfast.

>>4983198
>Send to the Norann for a priest, it is best to be a civil lord and to be one among your people, and one with your bride. You are not on the continent now, and if you are to be a laird in these lands you would do well to follow their customs.

Not that we aren't going to put our own influence into it all...

>>4983198
>Send to the Bernician and Estrean colonies in the Yuroi for a proper, Apostolic priest. Your church will be a part of their hierarchy, and you will impose the right and godly practices of the true church onto your Norann subjects, come hell or high water.

>Build it properly, out of stone-work. Such is proper. (-3 Wealth)

Holy shit, I thought this was dead. Glad to have you back QM, sorry to hear about your illness.

I'm tempted to save for proper fortifications or a proper manor/small hold made of stone, but God comes before mortal pleasures.

As for the priest, we are foreign to these people but we are their ruler none the less and they shall follow in the footsteps of their ruler and obey the proper rituals. We shall be a good ruler and we can appease their sensibilities in other ways, but this isn't something we should compromise on, plus we may run into others from the continent in time and when we do it'd be best to appear civilized.

>>4983198
>Send to the Bernician and Estrean colonies in the Yuroi for a proper, Apostolic priest. Your church will be a part of their hierarchy, and you will impose the right and godly practices of the true church onto your Norann subjects, come hell or high water.
>Build it properly, out of stone-work. Such is proper. (-3 Wealth)

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>>4983213
>>4983240
>>4983299
Norann Priest

>>4983250
>>4983631
>>4983673
Apostolic Priest

---

You will have a proper church, befitting the dignity of the lord God. No expense is to great, and any expense elsewise would be all but blasphemous. God must have his house, and let it be a fine one. You have Tristram send for master masons from the nearest Norann clan, the McGenall, trading silver and livestock for their service. The people of the village are set to work with hammer and mattock, splitting stone from the cliffsides and outcrops in the pasturage. The black-grey rock of this isle is hard and splits into flakes, like slate, but when stacked and bound in mortar it can make a fair wall.

With the aid of the masons the foundation is laid out - soil is cleared from the consecrated ground down to the stone below, and mortared stone walls begin to divide the space into the proper chambers. A narfex or entryway is set out, then the two entryways, west and east. The baptistry is set in the west wing for the font, while the other wing serves for a chancel, to be hidden behind a wooden rood screen and to host the holiest point of the church, the altar itself. The further end of the foundation is divided out into a vestry, a residence for the priest and the village administration.

Work on the church will take a long time before it is completed, but with the ground consecrated and the shape of the foundations lain down in black stone, the place is already a house for god. The people come to pray even when it is just a foot of walled foundation, and when it is finished you have no doubt that it will be the grandest church for a great many leagues in any direction. You will bring god to this land, which ought be his, and this shall be the first of his houses here.

>Construction of the church will continue for a time - no further investment will be required except in case of emergency or disaster.

You are left, however, in some conundrum, having been unable to decide who you should send to for a resident priest. Both options have their merits - a Norann priest will be familiar to the people and will keep them in peace and good order, while an Apostolic priest will help you spread civilised ways amongst all of your subjects, as well as satisfy the native Anglians you have brought with you. Your advisors can offer little help, but your wife steps forward to offer her opinion one evening as you take your ease together.

"I would have one of my own folk, Albrecht, but I see the position you are in with it. The abbot at St. Aelfgars is a westerner, and he might know some solution to satisfy both our people."

You think on her suggestion over the following days. The reserved, solid bearing of your lady wife has kept your time together mostly quiet, so far, as she adjusts to her place here and you to a maiden's company once more. She is most herself when among her own people - she spends perhaps an improper amount of time among the villagers, directing them and sternly settling their quarrels and disputes. She is an Ontathra to these people as much as her father, and that commands more respect here than would the daughter of a lord in Anglia. You are not certain how best to deal with her, if at all.

>>The longer no majority is reached on the question of where to find your priest, the more disorderly things will begin to grow among the people. You may also now choose to send off to the Abbot for a nominee.

>Will you..
>Take an apostolic priest
>Take a Norann priest
>Just send to the abbot, for goodness' sake.

Still, as the weeks pass in discussion, you have further work to attend to. The nights are growing darker and the days much colder, as snows begin to fall more and more regularly. This land is about to throw upon your people it's first great test, and you must be ready to respond to it, priest or no. The Reeve brings to you a great many concerns - of livestock going astray in the snow, of the need to slaughter excess livestock, of the lack of fuel, fodder and other necessaries. He can attend to many things, but your attention on any would make things more efficient and orderly.

>What do you lend your talents to?
>Direct the slaughter and preservation of excess livestock
>No slaughter - your herds are too young. Instead, have them set to roam upon the mainland, where foraging will be easier over the winter with more pasturage to hand.
>Work to ensure there is enough laid up for your subjects - set the men to work fishing, drying and making hard cheese for the coming winter.
>Focus on laying up fuel
>These tasks are beneath you - go hunting on the mainland, perhaps find some furs.

>>4983820
>>Just send to the abbot, for goodness' sake

In my opinion, bringing Bernicians and Estrians around will bring trouble from their parent nations. We should avoid attracting attention.

Personally i think a norann is a good choice but I'm willing to compromise.

>>Work to ensure there is enough laid up for your subjects - set the men to work fishing, drying and making hard cheese for the coming winter.

We should have quite a bit of excess wood stockpiled from our timber industry right?

>>4983820
>>Take a Norann priest

>Work to ensure there is enough laid up for your subjects - set the men to work fishing, drying and making hard cheese for the coming winter.

>>4983820
>Just send to the abbot, for goodness' sake.

>Work to ensure there is enough laid up for your subjects - set the men to work fishing, drying and making hard cheese for the coming winter.

>>4983820
>Just send to the abbot, for goodness' sake.
>Work to ensure there is enough laid up for your subjects - set the men to work fishing, drying and making hard cheese for the coming winter.

>>4983820

>Just send to the abbot, for goodness' sake.

>Work to ensure there is enough laid up for your subjects - set the men to work fishing, drying and making hard cheese for the coming winter.

>>4983820

>Just send to the abbot, for goodness' sake.

>Work to ensure there is enough laid up for your subjects - set the men to work fishing, drying and making hard cheese for the coming winter.

>>4983820
>>Work to ensure there is enough laid up for your subjects - set the men to work fishing, drying and making hard cheese for the coming winter.
Get me the abbot boi

>>4983820
>Take a Norann priest
>Focus on laying up fuel
We can't have people dying of exposure. Let's hope our houses are well-insulated...

>>4983820
>>Take an apostolic priest
The middle ground option seems kind of the choice where it pleases no one kind of deal. I belive that taking the apostolic priest will not only help civilize or assimilate our Norrab subjects but it can also bring the attentio from the Bernicians that we exist and maybe we might attract more refugees from the Isles. There might be unwanted attention but I believe the benefits are outweighed.
>Work to ensure there is enough laid up for your subjects - set the men to work fishing, drying and making hard cheese for the coming winter.