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>>5702984

The ambiance was unusually quiet at the Pleasantville's Mage's Guild. More than half of the inhabitants of the tower had been killed. Four persons were mourning the six dead of the last days during the escape of three dangerous bandits. The glorious Mirador, a pale blond light elf, leader of this group and normally a quiet person preoccupied by it's studies announced.

-I talked with the escaped dark elf. She says that this barbarian Villeroi had her raped by his men before bringing her to the count where she will be hanged. It seems that she was captured by some tree spirits and that those men, by unknown means managed to beat them and snatch her from them.

The water mage, Soudar, a man in his thirties who had climbed ranks faster poured himself more wine as "it is not because that I am a water mage that I have to drink water" as he said, and laughed. It made the rest sigh. The only female in the group talked. It was Ava, that had suffered herself from the terrifying lord who had escaped.

-He has something! He has something to protect himself from magic. I am sure of it, I tried to curse him but it failed and then when I tried to send him to sleep with a simple "somnis" spell he reacted as if nothing had worked...

Soudar was quick to answer.

- Nonsense, you were simply too young, and a woman. Women are bad at combat magic...

Before he could continue the last of the four, a pale bald warlock who lost his nose in a brawl or an experience came to Ava's defense.

-Oh, and I suppose that all the others that were there were slaughtered too? They were powerful mages...

Soudar brushed it off.

-Everybody who does actual magic is powerful for you, bargainer, but they got jumped by this elven girl, and the criminal, and the last one, you saw how he cut the legs of our crazy cat lady... He is ruthless. .. Maybe he had some antimagic spell upon him, who knows, or an artefact, but it is of low importance. I think that he will get killed soon enough.

The bald noseless man answered angrily while Ava nodded enthusiastically in support.

-You insult those who do pacts to gain powers but you are no more than an ignorant drunkard, nobody detected a magical artifact on him or a spell ! It is in his blood! He is one of those that...

He was interrupted by Soudar who arose from his seat.

-What? You want to duel, you want to be drowned, I can erase you and your bitch from existence you insolent cripple I...

-ENOUGH!

>>5702986

Mirador the elf was generally soft spoken but the stupidity of his subordinates, between the noseless and powerless idiot and the drunkard were too much for him. He decided to end the discussion.

-I don't care about your quarrels. We lost five guildmembers because of these miscreants. I will send one of you to report everything. I do not know what this Villeroi can do, there is multiple theories but I think that, since he was protected by the count, he was only a pawn of a larger conspiracy, a conspiracy of a mage of at least rank ten, since they can use spells undetectable by lower ranks. We need to get this renegade sorcerer, not it's instrument. Do any of you have any idea of who it may be?

They all looked at each other, only Ava dared to speak in a small voice, the guildmaster, when furious, scared them all.

-I... I think that maybe it can be a mage from his home country, this Lord Charles is a stranger.

The guildmaster's lips twitched in what looked like a small smile.

-Correct, and I suppose that you know it's name, young lady ?

-How could I...I...

-You mean that you have not even begun to research something about him? Paying someone to listen to his servants? Before arresting him?

Ava became red like a beet.

-I... No... I never thought about... And it was Zoomer who was the leader of...

-You think that the duty of a subordinate is not to make for the shortcomings of his leader? You think that I would be alive if I was not doing everything to stop my leaders from doing inconsiderate acts ? And if they insisted, by not taking mesures about it ?

She was red, normally she was not even attached to this man and now he was beginning to accuse her for her mistake while she was only a beginner and on her first mission, it was not fair ! She knew that elves felt their emotions harder than humans and that if they tried to never show that they were upset when their serene facade collapsed it could be terrifying but still. She tried to answer.

-I... It is my first mission, I maybe lacked experience and...

>>5702987

His answer was accompanied by great hand gestures and tapping her head with his long fingers.

-SILENCE ! Enough ! You are always young and unexperienced ! You, humans ! All of you ! Always foolish ! And excuses, eternally trying to find excuses for their stupid behaviour ? You know what you should do instead of finding excuses ? Try to learn ! Try to put something in your head during your pitiful century of existence to learn something and not be totally stupid ! And act upon what you have learned, instead of drinking wine, going to the brothel or eternally being sour because a spirit bit off your nose because you were too weak to tame it because you are a failure at the art of the warlock, you know the art of magic made for failures that are unable to learn alone ! But no, no, no, no, the human mage is unable to research before acting ! His life and those of his subordinates and colleagues are so meaningless for him, after all some other drunk human will put his rod into a fat human cow and she will defecate two or three more in the span of a few years, so we can sacrifice half a guild outpost in a duel with a dangerous rogue sorcerer... Others will replace them ! The human does not look to the left, or to the right, he simply follows like cattle and rushes where his instincts tell him to go, and he burns in the flames of nothingness, and his comrades burn, but he does not care because they are of no importance to him ! And should we blame him ? No, because you are all failures ! ALL OF YOU !

They all seemed ashamed to be insulted as such by such an experienced mage. Soudar tried to speak.

-Mirador, listen, they were weak but still some were good drinking budies and...

-THEY WERE ALL COWARDS AND TRAITORS ! They let a prisonner escape ! They had one job, to guard this room and they failed ? Mages, mages who I do not know how managed to be middle ranked ! But they give ranks to everyone, to you the drunkhard who did not even manage to remark that five persons were slaughtered just under you... And the noseless hack who did not manage to do it to.

>>5702988

This time the noseless man tried to plead his cause.

-You were in the tower too, and you failed to remark anything I...

-I WAS DOING RESEARCH WORK ! You know, important stuff, requiring a functionning brain to work, something that will advance all magic, something more important than the weakness of the pathetic worms that I have to work with ! Worms that are unable to do even the most secundary task without me having to swipe away your filth ! And really I must do everything. What are you doing young Ava ? You are crying ? How sweet... I hope that you still haven't sold your virginity to a pimpled idiot at the mage's academy, magical virgin tears could sell on the market of alchemical artifacts, it could be a beginning to repay the damage caused to our tower and the loss of manuscripts far more precious than your lives... So, now, take notes, and listen well what I, who had done my job, because I am able to think before throwing magic everywhere, have to say about this Villeroi magicless sub-being.

Everyone took a plume, some ink and began to write, out of pure fear of the hatred in this mage's eyes, he was not a specialist of pain magic for nothing, it was said that he could torture the soul of someone for eternity after having killed him. His tone became fortunately more calm and analytical as he explained.

-This Villeroi, as I learned by rumours, comes from a land called France, some petty human kingdom in the middle of nowhere. And this kingdom is under a renegade sorcerer, or even a stranger sorcerer, too far from the reach of the guild, that because he can perform minor magic like walking on water has managed to pass himself as the son of some deity. His name is Geasus Krist, and he is the man what we want, they attribute this "magical anomaly" to him. So, since I do not want to waste more money than you already lost in teleportation, you will take horses, go to the nearest outpost to be teleported back into the guild and tell our wise leaders what he had done so we can teleport into this lost kingdom and crucify him for exemple. Understood ?

Since they nodded he added.

-Good, now out of my sight, your presence diminishes too much the average intelligence in this room to be tolerable. OUT !

It was when Ava was still crying outside that the noseless man brought her a handkerchief and began to bring her towards the northern gates. She told him, between sobs.

-B... But... The nearest outpost is to the south and...

-Yes, yes... But we will not try to go to the leaders of the Guild. Our own guildmaster at pleasantville, as you saw, is a cunt, this "rogue mage" theory makes no sense, I have tried to ask about this Geasus to the demons of knowledge and nothing came out of it... His magical resistance comes from another source, it comes from his blood... I am sure of it... So we will go see some friends, and put an end to this sucker of magic.

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>>5702991

MEANWHILE IN LOCAL :

After hearing your councillors your orders were clear. The girl that had tried to kill you, and claimed that she was a trained assassin, told that her "soul" was trapped by "Lord" Creepy Bitchson, this upjumped commoner not even worth of a title and that she was forced to act because of this. You were sceptical about it, after all only God could order souls and without a soul a person could not move, the soul, in Latin "anima" was what animated someone. You learned it from Father François, your priest, you could barely read french so latin was of course above your skills. But you still knew that when the soul left the body the person was dead.
Despite these rational reasons your councillor Oldfossil, raised in these strange lands of India insisted that separating the soul from the body was possible by dark magic and you decided to do an ordeal to see if the girl lied about her plight. But your councillor, Oldfossil, insisted that making her walk on hot coal would be less effective than using a kind of magic stone to see if she has a soul... You had to answer him.

-My dear councillor, I understand that your concerns are genuine, but I can assure you that an ordeal by charcoal is more efficient and simpler to do. The ordeal by fire is a true and tested method of finding criminals who lie.

The old man tried to answer but since you liked him you accorded him the permission to call your Guelph guardsman and order him to bring this stone.

-Tell Gardasil that he can bring his stone and we will see it used.

You then ordered your people.

-Bring the girl to the great hall, and bring some hot charcoal from a brasero. If she walks seven steps on it without collapsing or trying to go out of the burning coal she will prove her case before God and me.

It made your frenchmen agree while the girl and some Indians were more skeptical. She told.

-I... Walking on hot coal ? B... B... But it is madness.

Your brave Ancel menaced her with his knife, after trying to make her eaten by a rat she was clearly afraid of him.

-Silence, villein woman, our good lord has spoken !

Ah, you liked such feudal spirit... Only one thing remained. Should you ask the people to watch ? After all it will be a good example of justice. And since you were travelling for some days you had no time to bring justice to the rest of your good people. Should you hear their cases now ?

>No, better do it another time.
>Yes, let them watch and bring their plights to you after that. It will be a day consecrated to Justice.

>>5702992
>>No, better do it another time.
Le justice can wait another day. I have also forgotten, what did we do to the black Guelph?

>>5703006

We gave her back to the count she was probably interrogated and hanged. We did not give back the bandit Bob Denarius nevertheless.

>>5702992
>Yes, let them watch and bring their plights to you after that. It will be a day consecrated to Justice

>>5703006
This after Ancel and the other men had their way with her as spoils for their hard work.

>>5703010
Ach too bad, we could've found a use for her.

>>5702992
>>No, better do it another time.

>>5702992
>No, better do it another time.
Welcome back m'lord

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>>5703006

>>5703016
Of course good sir, it was fair, we promised them, we kept our promise, this is why people are eager to serve a good lord.

>>5703017
We had to show that we could catch some of the criminals at least, we let them escape after all.

>>5703072
Thank you good sir.

>>5703019

No, you were the one who was the victim of a tentative of murder, you wanted this do be done quickly and quietly, it would be better to keep the proofs of these acts only for you and your entourage. It would be a useful card to play against the baron and his servants, later...
You then ordered the prisoner to remove her boots and your servants to prepare the burning coal. She first tried to say.

-B...b...but you do not really expect me to...

A poke from Ancel's knife helped her come to her sense. Your brave Ancel even tried to steal her boots, since they were far better than his but since they were probably not to his size he simply tried to look if, like many travelers, she hid some money into them, unfortunately for him it was not the case. You then ordered your men to encircle her with their spears and to push her on the live coals. Unfortunately you could not see Oldfossil, nor Gardasil with their stone, you had to do it without them. Only Bob Denarius, the Orcadian and Captain Crumbling were present besides a great number of guards and servants and all your brave frenchmen. Cop helped organise the troops. You ordered your guard's captain to tell the accusation, even if he had trouble understanding the concept of ordeal by fire. The old man cleared his throat and told.

-Elana, if it is your true name, you have been accused of having attempted to murder our good lord and you pleaded that you were forced to do it because your master owned your soul and could obliterate it. To see if it is true, and you were forced to comply and did not act out of your own will, you will have to pass an ordeal by fire. If you walk seven steps on these hot coals and do not try to move out of them and do not fall then you will prove that you told the truth.

He told it without any conviction, these foreign Indians seemed to not believe in trials by fire... Strange people and strange customs. The Orcadian, who, if he was green and ugly could at least support you as a fellow christian but answered.

-Not a very good way to cook her, you should put her on a brooch...

Hah, yes, he liked human flesh too... And Elana looked at you with afraid green eyes, trying to plead for her innocence while she had just tried to poison you, had thrown a dagger at you and kicked you in the face two hours ago. Women.

-Please my lord, please ! I do not know how walking on burning coals will prove that I say the truth there is...

>>5703399

You hit the armrest of your chair and told severely.

-SILENCE ! It is evident, if you tell the truth God, in this trial, will protect you and you will not fail. God protects those who tell the truth before the courts of the nobility that has been put in power by his leutnant on earth the King. If your case is wicked your body will falter just like your words.

It seemed to calm her but she was terrified. Still, while the brave captain of your guard whispered you, as any old man who disliked changes and new civilised customs like these ordeals that you introduced here.

-My lord... If I may give your opinion I fear that these trials will more test the pain resistance of the accused more than their faith. A person who tells the truth but cannot handle the pain will be condemned. A pain resistant criminal might escape his punishment.

Ah, brave man, loyal and capable of reflexion, a rare quality amongst commoners but you had to point out the obvious.

-Dear captain, I find your lack of faith... Disturbing. God will protect the Just, and if the person believes in his cause with sufficient faith and zeal and fanatically he cannot fail the trial. The odds are unimportant, will is important, look, do you think that the knights at Montgisard were thinking about the odds when they had won ? They were 300 men against 30 000 saracens, one against an hundred, do you think that they thought "Oh there are one of us against a hundred, the odds are bad let us flee home" ? No, they believed in the power of the True Cross and disregarded such minor problems, if they were one hundred for one they had simply to make each blow a kill, and the saracens, after some losses, understood that their god was false and fled, they were morally inferior. When our good King Philippe Auguste rode with his host at Bouvines against Othon the Kaiser of the Germans, the rebellious Flemish and the vile Englishmen did he thought that the enemy was on a hill and had more men than him ? Did the frenchmen think that they would lose because of these odds ? No, they knew that the enemy had decided to wage war on a Sunday and that their emperor was excommunicated ! Hah ! How could these knave expect to compensate this with numbers ? Our belief proved stronger and the enemy fled, my ancestors have still the banner of some flemish knight that hangs in our great hall. What I say is that if someone truely believes in his cause he will know that he will get over the pain and advance through these coals, if not, then he was not sure of being on the side of the truth.

You then ordered a servant to pour yourself some wine and added with a smile.

-And if a wicked man nevertheless believes in his cause and goes through the coals he will not "escape" anything, to escape something you need to be able to walk or run, and it is harder when your feet are all burnt.

>>5703401

You sipped from your wine while your guards captain nodded supinely, he was obviously impressed by your display of wisdom and logic. You then ordered your men to push the girl on the coals, to be sincere she seemed to tell the truth but women and murderers, and even more murderous women, lie well. You doubted that she would be able to pass, she would probably like practically everyone cry and try to jump out of the coals, you would then order to execute her and be finished with all of it. A pity, she was young and beautiful, ah, if only she choose to live an honest life instead of murdering. It was while you were thinking about it that you smelled the smell of charred flesh. To be sincere you were not watching the girl carefully, you disliked seeing women suffer or be tortured but.. What ? She had already made two steps ?!?
You could see the pain and the tears on her face but she fixed you and continued to advance, the more lightly that she could but she almost fell because of the uneven ground that were the burning coals. She screamed in pain at the third step, crying strongly, you saw Father François doing the sign of the cross while she took the fourth, her eyes crying but being full of determination. You sipped more wine to avoid looking at the state of her feet that must be horribly burned. You saw then Oldfossil coming in due haste in the room and murmuring something, he was with your guelph guardsman and probably his stone. Well he could have been quicker he wanted to try his method first. While they were moving towards you the accused lady took her next two steps quickly and could not stop crying, after her last step she almost fell under your throne. Seven steps, she had done it. To your great astonishment. You prayed silently to ask the help of the Lord on this case, was he sending you a sign ? You quickly ordered two of your men.

-Take care of her, bandage her feet they are...

They were in a pitiful state indeed, like grilled meat, she had severe burnings and could probably not walk for some time.

She was still crying and tried, in her pain, to tell.

-Am... Am I innocent ? Right ? You will not kill me ? My soul will not disappear ? No... I...

Cop, always an honest man, answered.

-Be silent ! Our lord now knows that you told the truth but he must still judge if you are worthy of being kept alive !

>>5703403

It was a true question, she was about to answer when Oldfossil took a strange glowing stone, like the one you saw in the druids and brigand's cavern and the one that Praetzel, the sweet daughter of the guelph merchant gave you, it glowed very faintly when he took it while it was glowing more when it was held by Gardasil, you remembered that it was because Guelphs had "magic in their souls" or some other nonsense. What you knew was that it changed into mud when you touched it, because you had a pious soul and had nothing to do with witches or heretics ! When Oldfossil put the stone on Elana's hand it simply did not glow, nothing, simply a blue stone. He then murmured.

-She... She was telling the truth, her body contains no soul at all....

You tried to not sound too sarcastic when you answered.

-No ? Really ? I thought we did all this ordeal simply to make the great hall more warm and luminous !

Your oldest councillor then bowed and looked a bit sorry when he told.

-Pardon me my lord, to have doubted your method, I would have never guessed that we could know the truth without magic. It.. Who would have thought.

You smiled in answer and told.

-And who would know that we could know this with a simple glowing stone ! We both learned something today.

You then raised and patted him kindly on the shoulder and the old man felt proud, knowing that you appreciated his advice while using your own methods too. He then simply answered.

-So, what will be your decision my lord ?

And this was the main problem, you had trouble to imagine that someone could move without it's soul before and had not seriously thought that the lady could be innocent but here... Here it was even harder. You see, if a man, or even a woman, tries to kill a nobleman he should be put do death, it is easy, but what if he is threatened ? If his life is threatened and he will be killed, so it is him or the nobleman, he must be put to death too, because his life is far less important than the one of a lord of course. When someone threaten's the man's family you could understand them, after all, despite the best efforts of our right and proper feudal society many people put family before their good lord who feeds the family... So you would give them a short and relatively painless death, because trying to save your family is understandable, even if your noble lord is more important. But... But now.... Now someone threatened not only this girl's life but her soul.

>>5703407

And it was far more terrifying, someone who accepted to be martyred to not commit mortal sin like murder could go to paradise... So he had a choice between this life on earth and the Eternal Life. But without a soul how could he get there ? No, how could this girl without a soul rebel against someone so vile that he usurped the power of God, that should be impossible... Her lord could send her to heaven or hell, or even deprive her of her eternal life if she didn't do what he demanded. What would you have done at her place ? The prospect of never going to paradise, of never witnessing the glory of the Lord and living with your ancestor and the great saints and heroes amongst the righteous terrified you... If someone could deprive you of it and ordered you to kill the baron... No, the baron was a wicked sorcerer who worshipped the demon, no, a good nobleman, like Count Careless. What would you do ? The simple fact that you, a nobleman, a knight with moral values hesitated made this dilemma terrible. You thought that you would trust God, who is the only one that could judge souls and refuse this... You liked to think this.
But before you was not a knight, but a girl of sixteen or seventeen, of peasant lineage who had never heard about Christ, never heard of salvation, she had no hope, only the certainty of her erasure after death, or of hell. And she could not even kill herself, it was a mortal sin and would have sent her right to hell. You looked at her green eyes, she seemed to plead, and cried even more while some servant took care of her wounds. You looked at her face, her small mouth and her crying eyes, and then stopped to look at her, you could not judge her upon looks alone. She had probably killed before this... She should at least be imprisoned, as long as her master had her soul she could be forced to do anything. You got angry at him, by forcing her to do wicked acts he sent her straight to hell, and by capturing her soul he could force her to do this. He was the real criminal, but you could not punish him. You had to decide to let her live or not. Should you spare the person who had attempted to murder you ? You decided to order to.

>>5703413

>We cannot afford to let her live, hang her in the morning.
>Give her the choice, if she accepts Christ and converts she will be kept her as a prisoner in the dungeons.
>Give her the choice, if she accepts Christ and converts she will be kept here as a prisoner, locked in a room of the castle and healed of her wounds.
>Give her the choice, if she accepts Christ and converts she will be kept here, under good watch but she could walk freely in the castle.
>Spare her and keep her in your dungeons, you will need her to testify against her master.
>Spare her and keep her in some room of the castle, you will need her to testify against her master.
>Spare her and keep her in the castle, under good watch but she could walk freely in the castle. She will testify against her master in due time.
>Other (write in)

Choose one choice please.

>>5703415
>>Give her the choice, if she accepts Christ and converts she will be kept here as a prisoner, locked in a room of the castle and healed of her wounds.
Ask her why she's so afraid to die when she has no soul. Can her master see where she is right now?

>>5703415
>Give her the choice, if she accepts Christ and converts she will be kept here as a prisoner, locked in a room of the castle and healed of her wounds.

>>5703415
>>Give her the choice, if she accepts Christ and converts she will be kept her as a prisoner in the dungeons.

>>5703415
>Give her the choice, if she accepts Christ and converts she will be kept here as a prisoner, locked in a room of the castle and healed of her wounds.

>>5703415
>>We cannot afford to let her live, hang her in the morning.

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>>5703424
Good questions, I added them to the dialogue, you are a wise lord good sir.

>>5703428
>>5703542
>>5703731
>>5703825

After thinking about it you decided to be merciful, you had taken pity upon the girl. But first, you had some questions.

-Why are you so afraid to die if you have no soul, remind me...

She seemed terrified and told.

-P.. Please do not kill me, if I die my soul will only be used to enchant an object or sent somewhere to be tortured for eternity to fuel some cultist experiment, or sold to devils in exchange of power, I do not want an eternity of...

You made her a sign to stop and reassured her.

-Do not worry, we will spare you if you accept our Lord, Jesus Christ.

She looked at you very strangely.

-Is it the God that you talked about ?

-Yes, Father Francois will explain, but if you convert and regret sincerely your actions we will not kill you.

She looked still worried.

-Can... Can this god help save my soul ?

-Saving souls is what all this religion is about believe me.

She then seemed to weakly smile, and with a light of hope in her eyes she told.

-Then I... Then I agree.

You slowly nodded and then spoke to the troops.

-Men, I want her in a room of the castle, a well guarded room, Father Francois will make her convert and we will send for a healer.

But before they carried out your orders you asked your ancient murderer and now prisoner.

-And your lord Creepy, can he see where you are since he has your soul ?

-I... I do not know, he did not speak too much about it, we knew that he had them all in a strong chamber and can destroy any of them, and that kills us. He gave me four weeks to carry out this mission, one and half have passed, and he will probably think that I have deserted some time after this I...

She then burst into tears, she had just gained some weeks of life but was in a precarious position, and you too, if you wanted her as a proof of the perfidious acts of the baron you needed her alive, and knowing that she could be killed at any moment was bad news. But now was not the moment to cry. You let your men bring the lady to her quarters while she thanked you for keeping her alive and you saw Denarius look at her backside while she was lifted by one of the men and Captain Crumbling congratulated you.

-Well done my lord. Even if I do not know how will your berthroted take the news.

You looked at him strangely.

-Rose ? Why would she have something to say about my Justice ?

-Not your justice my lord, but the fact that you will.. And what if there is a bastard ?

>>5703891

You raised an eyebrow and Oldfossil came to the rescue of his old friend by explaining.

-It is customary, my lord, in all Bifurian tales and legends, were an antagonist is a beautiful woman, she is generally "turned around" by the hero and she joins him after trying to kill him, is seduced and they may sometimes even live happily ever after, or have an adventure while the man pursues his main love interest. Or she dies while trying to do good for a good redemption arc.

Denarius, who had been a bard, agreed.

-The tales of Coomer the Great and those of the Truth's Sword provide many exemples of it.

You tried to explain them that it was not the time nor the place to talk about this. Your sweet Stacy, who had been knocked out, bound and gagged by this murderous Elana was in the room and she would not appreciate, and you did not appreciate yourself that your justice was taken for such pettiness.

-By Saint Georges ! No ! She is indeed a very beautiful woman but she his wounded and has maybe other needs than the company of a gentleman, and as you said I am to be married.

Denarius answered.

-But the two girls at the brothel they...

-Is was not love it was satisfying needs, now be silent and leave me, all of you, I need to think about my next actions.

Of course you needed to think about it, you needed to "not be killed" during two weeks, while people far more powerful than you, Count Careless and maybe some other high lord used the misdeeds of Baron Crook to bring him down to move against his uncle, who was the chancellor of the queen. You knew about the power games back in Paris at king Philippe's court and you knew that the best way for the lower nobility to not get beheaded was to do what your high lords told you and try to intrigue as rarely as possible. So you had two weeks to kill. What would you do first.

>>5703893

>Focus on your lordly duties, you had justice to give and advancements in your projects to be verified.
>Tell Stacy to visit you in your chambers, you need to know if she is well after all. Hai hai !
>You need to talk with your councillors about the "after Wickedson" period of the baronny, if the baron is overthrown and replaced by Count Careless he will give the barony to a new person, how could we influence him to give it to the good candidate and how to adapt to it.
>You had not even hunted ONCE while in India ! What folly ! What injustice ! Your predecessor lord Random hunted Aurochs, you need to see if you can bring the pelt and meat of one back here and feast upon it.
>You need to plot your revenge against the Lord of Darkplace, he has sent a murderer towards you, he needs to be killed, and you had promised to kill him for Lord Neutral.
>Maybe you should write to Lady Takable, she is a "guest" of the baron now but if you wrote to her she would be happy.
>The baron has sent disguised men to pillage your lands, maybe, while he is dealing with judicial problems, you could send some men to do exactly the same, burning some villages to avenge Otherone. What could go wrong ?
>Other (write in)

Choose maximum 3 choices please.

You gain +25 xp for having foiled a murder plot against you by the way, and 2 piety for pardoning your murderer like a good Christian. You gain 1 mudcore for your wise use of an ordeal by fire. It was good justice.

>>5703896

Your new stats :

Charles de Villeroi

Class : Local Lord
Level : 4
XP : 530+25 = 555 (next level at 700)

Stats

Combat : 51%
Intrigue : 25%
Rulership: 36%

Piety : 56+2 = 58
Mudcore : 54+1 = 55

With 55 Mudcore you have a bigger field of gritty realism around you, in this field the most heavy magic will not work and supernatural abilities will not work, oh, and women will lose 4 pounds of strength of course, plus in the field the people that obey you will act more like they would be in a dark fantasy setting. You have chosen Blood of Mud and so your mudcore field will become a bit bigger and stronger but could be transmitted to your children.
Magic, even restorative, will become considerably weaker near you.
Next level at 60, your field will become more important and most magic will be impossible to cast near you by the weaker practitioners.

Talents
-Cavalry Commander : +20 to martial when you have to lead a cavalry charge or a cavalry attack. Works only when commanding shock or melee cavalry mounted on horses.
-Foreign Etiquette : You focus on learning Indian etiquette with Oldfossil, you gain a +10 bonus in intrigue in your interactions with the nobility of your duchy.
->Basic Literacy : Your lessons with Oldfossil and Lady Takable finally paid off and you can read and write, even if you write with errors and move your lips still when you read it is a great leap forward.

Traits :
Leader : Your magnetism on the masses is glorious and your learning of speech could encourage many men to follow you. You may choose the best of 3 rolls when you try to speak in public to convince an audience, be it the Council of Many or angry peasants.

>>5703896
>Focus on your lordly duties, you had justice to give and advancements in your projects to be verified.
>Focus on converting more of our subjects to Christianity
It is the only way to safeguard our souls from such wickedness, for surely no sorcerer can have dominion over a spirit wreathed in tge light of Christ the Lord!
>You had not even hunted ONCE while in India ! What folly ! What injustice ! Your predecessor lord Random hunted Aurochs, you need to see if you can bring the pelt and meat of one back here and feast upon it.
We can lead a prayer at the feast, amen!
To soend time with stacy would be nice too, but maybe a bit of chastity is wise when Satanic magic is afoot?

>>5703896
>Focus on your lordly duties, you had justice to give and advancements in your projects to be verified.
>You had not even hunted ONCE while in India ! What folly ! What injustice ! Your predecessor lord Random hunted Aurochs, you need to see if you can bring the pelt and meat of one back here and feast upon it.
>You need to plot your revenge against the Lord of Darkplace, he has sent a murderer towards you, he needs to be killed, and you had promised to kill him for Lord Neutral.

>>5703909
Supporting

>>5703896
>>Focus on your lordly duties, you had justice to give and advancements in your projects to be verified.
>Maybe you should write to Lady Takable, she is a "guest" of the baron now but if you wrote to her she would be happy.

>>5703896
>>Focus on your lordly duties, you had justice to give and advancements in your projects to be verified.

>>You need to plot your revenge against the Lord of Darkplace, he has sent a murderer towards you, he needs to be killed, and you had promised to kill him for Lord Neutral.

We send Bob to stir up trouble and then ambush whatever men he sends out to quell it, then we storm his hold.

At this juncture continuing to dance in the shadows will only leave us disadvantaged.

>>5703896
>>Focus on your lordly duties, you had justice to give and advancements in your projects to be verified.
>>You had not even hunted ONCE while in India ! What folly ! What injustice ! Your predecessor lord Random hunted Aurochs, you need to see if you can bring the pelt and meat of one back here and feast upon it.
>>You need to plot your revenge against the Lord of Darkplace, he has sent a murderer towards you, he needs to be killed, and you had promised to kill him for Lord Neutral.

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>>5703909
You are a very pious man, you should have been made a bishop. We will visit the new church while doing our duties I think.

>>5703942
>>5703980
>>5704004

>>5704172
Wise words, very wise words, private wars are the best wars. We could see the decline of our right and proper feudal society when landowners of noble blood were forbidden from waging wars to defend their honor.

>>5704195

You had lordly duties to attend to, first of all. You were a serious lord and decided to focus on governance before taking a good time. What would your poor peasants do without your justice and your guidance ? Probably nothing great. So you decided to make this your priority. You had learned yesterday evening that there was no immediate menace on your lands, good.
You decided to begin by visiting your lands tommorow, or, at least your projects, you wanted to see the orchard and the irrigation system that had to be finished and then to see the riverboat that your men were building. For now you had to rest.
After all of his you will have enough time to hunt and plot your revenge against your enemies as you wish. Duty first after all.

Your dreams that night were about the strange magical stones, you remembered how you turned those that you touched to mud, how it glowed brightly in the hand of the Guelph's merchant's daughter, glowed faintly, well, not even faintly but was simply translucent when Oldfossil or another man took it while it was dark and looked like a rock when the soulless lady kept it in her hand. Strange treasures were in these lands, but then you heard somewhere that India was known for it's precious stones.

The next morning you ordered to saddle the horses after breaking your fast and you began to ride towards the south. The day was abnormally sunny and Oldfossil came with you. First you stopped at the village of Local where your good people saluted you and glorified your name. You waved to them, it was an honour for them to see their lord. You decided to come to the warehouse of the carpenter who built your riverboat.

You knew that since your workers were not experts in the construction of boats they needed the guidance of the sailor, Popeye, who had recently came in your lands to find shelter from debt collectors and who accepted to be one of your serfs with his family. Riding with your knights and councillors you demanded to see him.

He was at the warehouse where some carpenters were at work, a short blond beardless man and a taller one with a mustache were cutting planks and unfortunately you could see that the boat was not even half finished.

-Why is that ?

You asked with your stern voice while the shorter carpenter explained.

-I... My lord, we lacked the men, all of them are working in the canal, we are beyond schedule, yes, but even if we finished in time, we would have finished in winter and the river would be frozen.

>>5704725

That was true, Oldfossil had said that the priority was to finish the ditches of your canal before the ground would be frozen and hard. He even interjected in the favour of the craftsmen.

-My lord, I preferred to focus on the orchard irrigation system, we will probably be finished far quicker. You know it is only a quarter finished but if we focus on time we will be able to finish it in two weeks and plant in a third week.

It was on schedule of course but the work proved harder than expected. Maybe you should take some decisions about it.

>You need your boat before winter, shift some men from the earthworks towards the boat.
>Maybe you should give more funds to your projects to engage more workers.
>Everything is good, let us continue to focus on the irrigation system, you have to plant your orchard on time, it will be far more profitable than the riverboat.
>Order than all the commands about planks and naval supplies must be of priority in your lands, the peasants commands shall not pass before their master's.
>Encourage the men to work harder, tell that you need the boat before winter and that they shall be rewarded if they build it in time (rulership roll).
>Other (write in)

>>5704726
>>Maybe you should give more funds to your projects to engage more workers.

>>5704726
>Encourage the men to work harder, tell that you need the boat before winter and that they shall be rewarded if they build it in time (rulership roll).

>>5704959

Roll please when you make a choice with a roll good sir. I will try, if I have enough answer, to write this evening to post during the night.

Rolled 100 (1d100)

>>5704960
I shall pray for success!

>>5704726
>>Everything is good, let us continue to focus on the irrigation system, you have to plant your orchard on time, it will be far more profitable than the riverboat

We're likely not going to be able to make use of it before the Baron is dealt with anyways.

>>5704963
...Oh no. This is a low-roll-good quest, non?

>>5705022
Yep

>>5704726
>>Everything is good, let us continue to focus on the irrigation system, you have to plant your orchard on time, it will be far more profitable than the riverboat.

>>5704726
>Everything is good, let us continue to focus on the irrigation system, you have to plant your orchard on time, it will be far more profitable than the riverboat.

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>>5704778
>>5704959

>>5704963
Seeing the results of the roll you obviously are a Cathar or a Vaudois good sir, consider returning to the One True Church before trying to pray again for a good roll !

>>5705010
Yes, and it takes workers from the irrigation system.

>>5705022
>>5705082
Yes, it is sad, fortunately the decision with the roll was not chosen.

>>5705094
>>5705146

You decided that such problems always happened in great works, you needed not to worry about this, you told the men to work hard and decided to go straight towards your irrigation system and future orchard.
You decided to ride on. After two hours of a pleasant ride in a surprisingly hot autumn afternoon you finally came to see the great realisation, well at least the first realisation of your reign. Oldfossil, who drew the plans, was very excited pointing at everything while mounted on his horse.

-You see my lord, everything here is advancing, we already finished one quarter of the work. The irrigation network is not the most complicated.

You saw fourty peasants shoveling dirt and digging under the watchful eye of a one eyed overseer who seemed to be a kind of craftsman. You recognised some of them, Pauperus, one of your serfs, bowed low while he saw you and you waved at him. Seeing the deepness of their trench you were impressed.

-By the beard of Saint Jacques Oldfossil ! It is as deep as three men and large enough for our boat to navigate it ! You do not want to irrigate but to drown someone ! Hahahaha.

Your knights laughed at your jest, even Oldfossil smiled a bit, then he explained.

-My lord, if the climate is moist here it changes a lot with the seasons and many summers our lands can suffer from droughts, it is one of the reason of their low population, everything that gets far from the river without a good irrigation system is risky to plant. It is why Otherone is mainly a cattle herding village. We generally use water mages to combat drought but I know that you dislike magic so I thought about this system. But here with...

The old man seemed to be genuinely happy at playing the architect, you decided to let him continue.

-With a huge reservoir of water that will be full even when the river becomes smaller during summer we will be able to irrigate our apple trees during all the year, reducing their chance of dying. We will be sure to gain 2500 gold coins from our revenues.

>>5705200

You praised him, this man really thought about everything. From this reservoir that would be opened towards the river, with a possible digue to retain the water in it if the river recedes, many smaller ditches connected the patches of land where the apple trees would be planted. It was a beautiful system, even if you knew nothing about how to build irrigation systems you had to admit that it looked like it was solid.

-It is magnificent my dear councillor, magnificent, but we have only three and half weeks before Saint Catherine's day when we must plant the trees. Will your men manage to finish it in time ?

-I focused all the men here my lord, and even if we had trouble with some rocks, we managed to be back on schedule. If only one quarter of the irrigation system is finished, with teams that work everyday and a calling for the serfs to do their corvées in advance we will have young men from the villages ready to work too, after all the harvesting season has finished and they threshed the wheat and did their other work after these two weeks, I think we will be able to double our manpower in two or three days, I already received some demands from peasants to work here. I took the liberty to have some thrustworthy men talk about the pay in the inns, taverns and marketplaces of your lands my lord.

Hah, at least the inns proved to be useful. You had to congratulate Oldfossil but before you could he continued.

-We will probably store the materials for the construction of the cider house during the winter my lord. To dig the foundations when the ground will be softer. To be honest we will need at least two to four years to have our first apples so the cider house is not a priority, we can wait to contact the best craftsmen. I think that the dwarves of the dwarven community will be eager to build our stills and tanks.

It was beautiful, one last question remained.

-And the apple trees ?

-1000 apple trees as you have wished I have ordered trusted men to buy them. Most of the money went into them, we had to send men to many farmers who had some small plants and some will arrive in the next weeks. It is where it costed us money, I ordered our guardsmen to gather the taxes in apple trees too when the peasants choose to pay in nature as you had autorised them. Most of the money went into them.

>>5705201

Excellent, most excellent. You were genuinely happy, it was this, to be a lord, you had great visions and you gave orders while brave men like Oldfossil made them possible. A good steward was very precious, men like him, when properly led, made the will of the nobility manifest and took care of all the technical work that a knight would not know. Yes, you needed to reward him. And genuinely, you appreciated him, he had helped you a lot in India, after all he even brought you here, or at least prayed God, without realising it, to bring you here. He was an honest steward, a rarity, and did his duty with such a sense of feudalism that you thought about rewarding him somehow. A lord must be generous with his loyal servants and here you could afford to be.

>Simple kind words to praise his works will suffice.
>Perhaps 100 gold coins will help him.
>1000 gold coins would be a just reward for having build all of this.
>He was a petty nobleman, probably a second son, maybe he deserves to have his own lands. You could build him a small manor house on a fertile plot of land that he could transmit to his heirs... If you remembered well he had a still living older brother and a nephew at the capital.
>Perhaps something like a book would please him, he likes to read and helped you learn to be barely literate after all.
>Other (write in)

Then there were the workers. Maybe you should tell a word to them. Encouraging the men to work harder will probably made them finish this orchard ahead of schedule. How should you motivate them. ?

>Promise them a monetary reward if they finish in two weeks.
>Promise them the first tankard of cider (after you, your knights, your councillors and your lady of course) from the apples that will grow here.
>Tell them that they work for their Lord, the highest honour that there is, and that they will build the biggest orchard of the barony, a tale that they could tell to their children and grandchildren (after all what else could a peasant tell to his children about his life besides stories about when he escaped the wolves when he was coming back drunk from a tavern).
>Other (write in)

And please roll a RULERSHIP roll for your speech to the peasantry.

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>5705204
>He was a petty nobleman, probably a second son, maybe he deserves to have his own lands. You could build him a small manor house on a fertile plot of land that he could transmit to his heirs... If you remembered well he had a still living older brother and a nephew at the capital.

>Promise them the first tankard of cider (after you, your knights, your councillors and your lady of course) from the apples that will grow here.

Rolled 6 (1d100)

>>5705204
>>He was a petty nobleman, probably a second son, maybe he deserves to have his own lands. You could build him a small manor house on a fertile plot of land that he could transmit to his heirs... If you remembered well he had a still living older brother and a nephew at the capital.

>>Promise them the first tankard of cider (after you, your knights, your councillors and your lady of course) from the apples that will grow here.

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>5705204
>He was a petty nobleman, probably a second son, maybe he deserves to have his own lands. You could build him a small manor house on a fertile plot of land that he could transmit to his heirs... If you remembered well he had a still living older brother and a nephew at the capital.
He is very old. Maybe this way he can train a successor to advise us?

>Promise them the first tankard of cider (after you, your knights, your councillors and your lady of course) from the apples that will grow here.
I hope that God shall look more fabourably upon this roll than my last, amen.

Rolled 50 (1d100)

>>5705204
>He was a petty nobleman, probably a second son, maybe he deserves to have his own lands. You could build him a small manor house on a fertile plot of land that he could transmit to his heirs... If you remembered well he had a still living older brother and a nephew at the capital.

>Promise them the first tankard of cider (after you, your knights, your councillors and your lady of course) from the apples that will grow here.

>>5705204
>>He was a petty nobleman, probably a second son, maybe he deserves to have his own lands. You could build him a small manor house on a fertile plot of land that he could transmit to his heirs... If you remembered well he had a still living older brother and a nephew at the capital.
>>Promise them the first tankard of cider (after you, your knights, your councillors and your lady of course) from the apples that will grow here.

Rolled 36 (1d100)

>>5705204
>He was a petty nobleman, probably a second son, maybe he deserves to have his own lands. You could build him a small manor house on a fertile plot of land that he could transmit to his heirs... If you remembered well he had a still living older brother and a nephew at the capital.

>Promise them the first tankard of cider (after you, your knights, your councillors and your lady of course) from the apples that will grow here.

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>>5705261
>>5705341

>>5705354
A wise idea, training a successor should be a priority.
Unfortunately you should have confessed your sins before rolling I think, hah ! But fortunately the roll passes because of your "leader" trait.

>>5705508
>>5705601
>>5705646

Looking at Oldfossil you told him in a dign and important tone that you saw your father use in important circumstances. You explained him.

-Dear Oldfossil, your work here was prodigious, your work here is formidable you took an open field and now there would not only be an irrigation system but a reservoir and an orchard on it. You deserve all the praise that you can get. But praises, if they are the highest honour of a dutiful servant, are nothing when not backed by acts.

You then put a hand on his shoulder and added.

-For how many years have you served the Local Lordship dear Oldfossil ?

-I have sworn to serve Lord Random fourty two years ago my Lord.

You could see the emotion in his voice, and it was even more present when you explained him.

-Fourty two years of good and loyal service deserve a reward. I shall order my men, once this orchard will be finished and when we will have the money, to build you a small manor house and I shall give you some land, it is time that you have your own and serve me not only as a councillor but as a vassal. I know that you are a second son, and what do second sons like more than that eh ?

You tried to smile kindly at the old man and he tried to say something his eyes were full of emotion and he began to tell.

-My lord I... I...

He then put his hand on his heart and seemed to be frozen in place and struggled to breathe. Before you could imagine something he fell from his horse ! By Saint Denis, no ! You dismounted your horse just as the same time as your knights and you noticed that your councillor had troubles to breathe. Giving this man his dream apparently had made his hearth weaker. You hoped that he would not die, it would be an incredibly stupid death. Godefroi tried to revive him with some strong alcohol and it seemed to save the man from his fainting. His hearth seemed to still ache and he could have fallen from his horse on a rock and died but fortunately he simply was bruised. After some "where are we ?" that you heard from him you managed to be sure that he still had all his head when he told.

-T...Thank you my lord... I am sorry, it must be the sun, and the emotion. I... Never hoped to have lands and... At least since my wife died 30 years ago... I do not know if I deserve this and..

-Do not worry, you deserve it all, I am the one who judges about that and your services have been marvelous. Continue like this and you will be a happy landowner I can guarantee you this.

He nodded.

-T... Thank you my lord.

>>5705891

You waited for your men to give him a drink while Godefroi, your old knight, gave you a stern lecture about waiting while they are sat down before praising too much old persons or young women but, hey, you did nothing wrong, and nobody was dead. You decided to go see the workers.

Seeing one man, a young brown haired lad of average build who bowed when he saw you coming you asked him.

-What is your name my good lad ?

-I'm Random m'lord.

-Random ? Hah, like our old lord. Good, good. Then, know something dear young random, and know something all of you.

You raised your voice and could see that all the men were listening.

-The work that you have done in my absence makes me proud of you, you have proved that with will, shovels and good orders you can transform a barren patch of land in the most beautiful irrigation system of the barony and even maybe of the county. And rejoice, my good men, because your hard work has been noticed by the lord of your lands. You will soon receive additional manpower from the peasants who have finished their work in the fields and if you manage, with this additionnal help to finish me this place in two weeks I promise you that I shall give you the first barrel of cider that we will produce here.

Some men cheered but you continued.

-But know, my good men, that the reward in alcohol is not the greatest one. Most of you here, are peasants, you know the satisfaction that fills those who grow crops when, after many months they take shape, you harvest them, and you bring the grain to the mill that will give you flour and finally you see a good slice of bread on your table. This satisfaction of knowing that you had transformed some grains in the land in a good meal, and a good moment, the satisfaction of having grown some kind of life is always a moment of proximity to God.

They tried to remember their work even if some looked like that you did not know a lot about their condition. Happy men, they had nothing to worry about and could grow crops, reproduce and die without any problems because you protected them. So you decided to say something about it.

-And believe me many people love this satisfaction of growing plants, why do you think that even my sweet sister, back in France, spent her time at her personal garden !

>>5705894

It made some men chuckle, to be honest your mother was more found of gardening than your lady sister, it was women's activities after all to grow life, you preferred to end it, but making some commoners laugh about her activities and compare hers to theirs was out of the question. Your lady mother was your lady mother, first amongst all women, excepting the Holy Virgin, while your little sister was a mischievous little think that once in winter, under the pretext of wanting to hug her big brother, threw a snowball inside your tabard ! If she had been here with you you would have married her to an old man ! Hah ! But you continued your speech, you needed to end on a positive note.

-So when all of this will have grown and you will see one thousand beautiful apple trees you could joyfully, when you go to the marketplace, tell to your children that you took part in the building of this that you brought this to life, that this, at your humble level, is the realisation of each one of you.
You could talk about it when even in Pleasantville or Podunk you will be able to tell the innkeepers when you will buy cider here that it has been done because of your work and maybe even try to pay less for it.

It definitely made the peasantry laugh and they thanked you while you told them to continue their good work and to do even more than what they would do normally. A peasant always works better when he knows that he is being watched. Like hunting dogs (but far less dangerous or gracious) they needed sometimes to be patted on the head to know that they had done a good work so they could tell their families that even the lord had noticed them and be proud of it. Of course you should never praise them too much, if you do they would imagine that you will give them something and brag about it to their women saying that "they will receive more grain or money" because of you, of course they will not receive anything but in their fantasies if it is not deserved, so their wives will tell them that they are good for nothings and that they should have listened to their mothers and not married them and you know the rest. It makes unhappy families that make unhappy children... No, no need to give the populace any delusions of grandeur. A good lord should know to praise the hard work of his serfs honestly, so all his words do not lose all meaning like those of a pathetic urban provost of the merchants who needs to flatter his colleagues to be elected. You did not depend on a mythical "will" of the people to rule, you were named by the king, himself anointed by God and so each words of praise coming from your mouth came from above and were practically holy for your peasants.

>>5705897

You now had to decide to travel to the last of your project, the old temple of Monsanto who was now a church, the church Notre dame de Local, the first Christian Church in India if you exclude those of Prester John, you wanted to visit it at the end but a part of you wanted to go there when your brave Father François will come here to visit, but for now you had to take care of your councillor, your men put him back on his horse and you knew that you had to return to your castle before going to the church.

It was when you were riding back towards your village that you saw a peasant woman running towards you, she looked to have some saracen blood and she was screaming.

-My lord, please, my lord ! Help, my brother is dead of an illness and I cannot even bury him in the village.

Godefroi, who was riding with you seemed to be a bit thoughtful for a moment, he was still near Oldfossil to support him when he screamed.

-I recognise her ! Her brother was one of the lepers that I ordered to chase towards the unhabited east of our lands ! I ordered your men to shoot their bows on sight on all those who tried to come back but some of the people tried to disobey. Have you touched his clothes ?

You remembered it, you had given such orders and congratulated Godefroi on his gestion of the crisis. She answered him.

-He was all rotten but yes ?

By the heavens ! A woman with possibly leprosy was running at you ! You did the sign of the cross and told.

>Arrière satanique ! Do not approach anymore or I shall cut you down !
>Vade retro ! Kill her men, and burn the remains !
>Have you been into the village before ? Have you seen other people before us ?
>Leave our lands ! Now ! I banish you from here on pain of death !
>You must remain in isolation, all remains shall be burned, if you show signs of leprosy you will be banished from our lands. What you did was very dangerous young girl.
>Other (write in)

>>5705899
>>Vade retro ! Kill her men, and burn the remains !
A leper is dangerous to everyone

>>5705899
>Arrière satanique ! Do not approach anymore or I shall cut you down !

>>5705899
>Vade retro ! Kill her men, and burn the remains !
Gotta' keep ourselves safe from the dread plague!

>>5705899
>Vade retro ! Kill her men, and burn the remains !

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>>5706070
Of course

>>5706185

>>5706187
Dealing with this was unfortunately common.

>>5706370

You told your men, maybe in a less calm voice than you should.

-Vade retro ! Kill her, men, and burn the remains !

You tried to turn your horse around while the lady was running towards you and the three guardsmen that heard you seemed to hesitate, fortunately Bohémond took a shortspear from one of them and from his horse threw it right into the running lady. You ignored if she was sick or not but the risk was too great. She got the spear into her belly and fell. She was still agonising when you ordered.

-Well done Bohémond, take two men with you and stop anyone from approaching, take a long pole, some oil and a torch and burn her remains. Then burn your own clothes and try not to breathe near the smoke.

The men from India, who did not knew about the illness, began to talk between them. Cop, who normally never discussed orders, dared to ask you.

-With all due respect my lord, is it truly so dangerous ? I mean... Cannot a mage cure it ? And..

-It makes your body rot, it changes your hands, feet and then your whole body into rotten meat, there is no way to cure it... You never heard of leprosy ?

-Not before messire Godefroi told that he stopped some group of people afflicted by it near nearby and chased them from the village.

You shook your head.

-Then it is strange, how could it have entered our lands.

Maybe they called leprosy by another name, but at least they would know something about it. No, it was very strange. You decided to help Oldfossil back in the castle and then go pray for advice, praying was the best way to cure illnesses too. Who trusted doctors who would simply make you spill blood shamelessly and use leeches and other strange methods ? No, this "science" was overrated and you did not predicted it a great future.

It is where you saw Father Françoid, he was, as always, near the kitchens and told you enthusiastically.

-Monseigneur, monseigneur, look, I have spoken with the girl, Elana, and she accepted our faith, I shall baptise her in one or two days, the time to explain her everything and for her wounds to cure a bit and...

-And I want to see the church, you told me a lot about it, Oldfossil and you, and I want to see it before we assist at a religious service.

-Of course Monseigneur Charles, of course. Follow me.

He swept his hands, still full of bread crumble, on his robes and made you sign to follow him. Seeing what he smelled he probably had some wine during the morning. Ah, brave man, you could always count on him to be cheerful and jovial. You decided to go on foot to the church, even if your rank authorised you to enter in it on a horse it was really a short walk to the village from the castle, you had only a bridge to cross and two streets to go. From the outside the temple of Monsanto had not changed but the inside promised to be beautiful. The priest explained you.

>>5706497

-Our artisans have finished the altar and a painted statue of the Holy Virgin. I have already consecrated the place but we still need all the chasuble, the chalice, the ciborium, the paten and everything it is being build by local craftsmen, some materials have been bought in Podunk and other market towns.

You approved of it while he continued.

-The short bearded écossais that live in a community to the north of here were very good at forging gold, I think that they are now our only specialists in it.

While he talked and explained everything you looked at your people, some women were trying to buy vegetables from a small cagot and you could swear that one of them smiled and blushed while looking at you. Some peasants bowed and removed their hats while you passed by and an old woman threw a bucket of used water from her window practically on the feet of a couple of guelphs passing by. They all began to scream and you laughed. It reminded you of your youth when you were strolling in the village of Villeroi and everyone saluted you as the son of the lord. A time without responsibilities but so much amusement.

You finally entered in the square temple, it was still not very lit inside but you could see the new altar who was well done by a local stonemason and you looked at the work, it was beautifully done, the crosses and gothic arches on it were more than beautiful for a village church but one small detail disturbed you.

-Why is there a five pointed star on it ? I saw witches here using this symbol when we were fighting wolf men... What does it mean ? It was built by a pagan, is he trying to curse the church ?

Father François reassured you and explained simply.

-No, no, there is no sorcery or devil worshipping here monseigneur, you see, a five pointed star can represent the five wounds of Christ, the four nails and the spear or the five joys that the Holy Virgin had of Jesus : the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation of Jesus to the Temple and the Finding of Jesus at the Temple. All of these mark for good lessons to learn : humility, love of neighbour, detachment from the things of the word, obediance and piety. You see, those who worship evil invert the star with it pointing downwards and put it in a circle, just like they invert the cross in their hideous blasphemies.

You both did the sign of the cross, even if a pious man has nothing to fear from the forces of evil it was always better to be careful. You then answered.

-It is magnificent, really. A beautiful work, you should congratulate the stonemason. And for the statue.

-Yes of course, I put it here.

>>5706498

He pointed towards a niche where you then saw a statue of the Madonna of a reasonable size, more or less half as great as a true person. It was beautifully painted and delicately sculpted, really the man who did this knew how to work wood. She was crowned and wore blue robes as per custom with a serene expression and she carried the Child. It was near a window and at this hour it was as lit from the sky by rays of sunshine that fell into it. You were there, at the first church in India, and Father François could understand your contentment by simply looking at your expression. You decided to kneel and pray. After reciting the Pater Noster and other prayers in Latin that you knew you decided to.

>Pray for strenght, against the baron and your enemies.
>Pray for your beloved Rose who is captive of a vile devil worshiper.
>Pray for the poor woman that you had to kill, she was foolish but her death helped to stop the spreading of the leper.
>Pray for Oldfossil, might he receive some strenght and recover quickly.
>Pray for your companions, that, far from home, managed to bring Christendom and help you greatly.
>Pray for your people, may Local prosper and thrive.
>Pray for your liege lord's liege lord, Count Careless, may he rule fairly and manage to bring down those who contest his authority.
>Pray for your family, they are far away in France and you do not know what happened to them, may they all be well.
>Pray for Father François, he proved to be a good friend and might he find strenght and zeal to convert all of Local.
>Pray for the craftsmen who built the altar and the statue, and the others who still work on this church, may they be rewarded for such holy work even if they do not understand it, and may they see the light and convert.
>Other (write in)

After you finished your prayers and congratulated the priest he asked you if you wanted to see the work of the craftsmen, part of wich were at the so called "dwarven community" were short scotsmen lived, it was a two hours ride.

>Yes, of course, let us saddle the horses and ride there.
>No, there is no need for this. We will see the liturgical tools once they are finished.
>Let us only see the craftsmen that are in the village.

>>5706500
>Pray for strenght, against the baron and your enemies.
>Pray for your beloved Rose who is captive of a vile devil worshiper.
>Pray for your family, they are far away in France and you do not know what happened to them, may they all be well.

>Yes, of course, let us saddle the horses and ride there.

>>5706500
>Pray for your family, they are far away in France and you do not know what happened to them, may they all be well.

>Let us only see the craftsmen that are in the village

>>5706590
Support

>>5706498
I know about the penthram being an old Chrisyian symbol, but would not good Catholic men know the inverted cross as the Cross of Saint Peter?

>>5706500
>Pray that you, your subjects, and Rose may have your souls rotectes from the vile sorceries of this land, which can steal and bind them somehow

>>5706879
*pentagram
*Christian

File: Crucifixion of Saint Pete(...).jpg (2.56 MB, 2600x3722)

2.56 MB JPG

>>5706590
>>5706591
>>5706861

>>5706879
To be sincere I do not know good sir, I tried to do some research and I never found an exemple of a Cross of Saint Peter simply drawn like an inverted cross. We can see representations of an inverted cross with saint Peter on it (pic related), or for exemple a statue of Saint Peter carrying an inverted cross, but I think that since a lot of people were illiterate they always tried to draw saint peter on it (here he is dressed as a monk and seen as an old man to distinguish him from Christ) because inverting a symbol was always a sign of humiliation. For exemple Saladin, when he took Jerusalem, ordered to make a procession with the inverted True Cross before burning it to humiliate the Christians (a fact that might have been known by people like Charles or Father François since the fall of Jerusalem was a great sad event for all of Christendom). It is a tradition that survived today even outside of religion, when during a fight some hooligans or political activists capture the flag of a rival group they will often take a picture of it inverted.
But then I tried to see when the sorcerers, satanists and other vermin began to use the inverted cross and I found that it was only sure for the XIXth century. Apparently inversion of symbols, or prayers were already present in the early middle ages (people saw performers of dark magic as pronouncing their prayers in latin from the end to the beginning), I have found some writings about the trial for sorcery in the XIVth century of a lady who had lit a candle in the form of a cross in a church, but they do not say if the cross is inverted. I have not found anything before, so it is possible that it was not yet a satanic symbol.
And by the way, thanks for having made me research all of it. If you have some sources or information I will look to it gladly.

>>5707203

While you knelt and prayed you first and foremost prayed for your family, for your lord father, your lady mother who must be with him, your two elder brothers and even your little sister. You prayed too for those of your brothers and sisters who had died before reaching adulthood as many children did. You hoped that all will be well for them in France while you were in India. You prayed for Rose too and for strength to finally beat your enemies and protect your faith and people. It was appeasing, the image of the virgin seemed to look at you kindly when you were in prayers and it appeased your soul. Then you told your priest.

-Let us go towards those short men, they live amongst themselves like cagots but I hope that they can craft some beautiful art.

-Oh yes Monseigneur, they are very good. Let us go, I shall tell my servant to ready my mule.

He told you this while you exited the church and you could not not be intrigued by this. You told humourously.

-A servant ? You have a servant Father ? I hope that it is a pretty young lady.

>>5707527

He reddened and did the sign of the cross.

-Monseigneur ! I have to be celibate ! It is my vows and...

You laughed.

-I still remember how I saw you when I was twelve years old, you werr with a beautiful lady near a haystack and you had raised your cassock... And not to take part in agricultural work hahahaha.

He became even more red and did the sign of the cross. You liked the man, even if he was whoring and drinking and eating like two men he was truly a "bon vivant" and a good Priest, always with a good advice and always on time to celebrate the holy mass. He then answered.

-Monseigneur we all sin... Look you are berthrothed too and I do not know if you managed to remain chaste for your beloved and...

It was his turn to laugh at the face that you made.

-It was not true love, simply a recreational release of needs. Hum... Let us not talk about this, well, or talk about this in confession. Let us go.

You then marked a pause and walked together towards the castle but when on the bridge you then said with a smile.

-But your servant, it is a beautiful woman ?

You thought that the priest was trying to curse you before he controlled himself and told.

-Yes, there is nothing that we can hide to you Monseigneur Charles....

Hahaha, you were sure about this. You patted him on his back and told.

-Sacré François ! You never change. We will celebrate this with the best beer of those bearded Scotsmen.

You then rode together, and with some men towards the small "community". It was actually a kind of fortified village beyond a palissade. At the entry a short bearded Scotsman was splitting some firewood with an axe and seeing you and father François he told.

-Who are ye ?

Of course outraged by such insolence your brave Bohémond answered him.

-Bow before your lord, dwarf, if you do not want to taste fifty times my baton.

The man seemed to take strangely to the words of your companion. He seemed not to be disturbed by the fact that he called him, rather insultingly, a dwarf, but he seemed not to fear the baton.

-Heh, ye hae some spirit youngling ! bit whit aboot ye cut th' crap, aye aye, tis a laird, ah shall ca' mines.

You did not understood a word of what he said, and when the words were not understandable it meant that there was no sense behind them. Even if they were strangers, and rather sympathetic ones, you liked Scotsmen, these Indian Scots seemed to be even more inbred than your peasants back home. Maybe it was how they all became small ? Too much inbreeding. The short man disappeared in the gates and entered inside.

You decided to enter too, you had enough of his insolence and even if father François told you.

-They are not very polite but it is like this, these short Scotsmen seem to be a very parochial people not accustomed to seeing a lord.. and...

You rode towards the gates and made your black stallion rear, his hooves opened the gate in a mighty kick and you entered inside.

>>5707528

You heard the cries of surprise women, of children too, and of short bearded Scotsmen who grumbled. Some took hammers and pitchforks inside, as to defend themselves ? Was it rebellion ? Or had they simply never seen you, finally some of them recognised you and put down their weapons when you told.

-What does this means ? Where is your elderman ?

Finally an old Scotsman, with a long white beard that was carefully braided and a bronze coronet appeared. You remembered some of the short Scotsmen from here, those who had came here to sue two Guelphs before your courts, but this one, you never saw him, he was quite an imposing figure, as long as he was large and he looked at you from his balcony. Speaking in a better articulated manner than the rest.

-Lord Random... Hum... No, Lord Charles is it now, I am lord Braggi Grotshagger of the Grotshagger clan, at your service my lord. What can we do for ye ? And may I ask why you made such a thunderous entry in our community ?

Him ? Lord ? What did it meant ?

>Good sir, perhaps I have misheard but did you refer to yourself as a Lord ? Am I in presence of a gentleman of noble blood ?
>There is only one lord here my good man, and it is me, and why do you wear a coronet ? Are you a baron of this realm or another one ? No ? Then I suggest you to remove it !
>Your people, good sir, do not even salute their lord when he enters here, they do not bow nor they try to be polite. Is it what you call hospitality ?
>We are searching for your jeweller good sir, I have heard that you have been charged to do our liturgical objects for our church and I wanted to see the advancement of the work.
>Other (write in)

>>5707530
>>Good sir, perhaps I have misheard but did you refer to yourself as a Lord ? Am I in presence of a gentleman of noble blood ?

>>5707530
>>Good sir, perhaps I have misheard but did you refer to yourself as a Lord ? Am I in presence of a gentleman of noble blood ?

>>5707530
>Good sir, perhaps I have misheard but did you refer to yourself as a Lord ? Am I in presence of a gentleman of noble blood ?
>Regardless, your people, good sir, do not even salute their lord when he enters here, they do not bow nor they try to be polite. Is it what you call hospitality ?

>>5707530
>>Good sir, perhaps I have misheard but did you refer to yourself as a Lord ? Am I in presence of a gentleman of noble blood ?

>>5707805
>+1
Indignity must not stand, but it'll be rectified easier if we talk to a noble

>>5707805
Supporting

>>5707530
>>Good sir, perhaps I have misheard but did you refer to yourself as a Lord ? Am I in presence of a gentleman of noble blood ?
>>Regardless, your people, good sir, do not even salute their lord when he enters here, they do not bow nor they try to be polite. Is it what you call hospitality ?

>>5707530
>Good sir, perhaps I have misheard but did you refer to yourself as a Lord ? Am I in presence of a gentleman of noble blood ?
I did not realize the new thread was made so soon, seems our encouragement in the general worked.
Also good to hear that my boat idea is actually being worked on which makes me happy

>>5707530
>Good sir, perhaps I have misheard but did you refer to yourself as a Lord ? Am I in presence of a gentleman of noble blood ?

File: Grimnir Grotshagger the d(...).jpg (266 KB, 1920x2880)

266 KB JPG

>>5707579
>>5707719
>>5707805
>>5707920

>>5707933
Of course, arrangements with the unwashed masses are harder to reach.

>>5708185
>>5708276

>>5708594
Glad to see you good sir, yes your encouragements motivated me to write, and of course, the boat will advance.

>>5708710

You decided to ask the first important question that came to your head when you saw this short man.

-Good sir, perhaps I have misheard but did you refer to yourself as a Lord ? Am I in presence of a gentleman of noble blood ?

The bearded Scotsman with a coronet nodded and told.

-Aye, we have noble blood in the Grotshagger clan, and I lead the community, we are what you call noblemen.

You still saw no shield or coat of arms on his clothes and doubted him a bit but you decided to believe him for now. Plus, he made the effort to talk slowly to be understandable. You continued.

-Your people, good sir, do not even salute their lord when he enters here, they do not bow nor they try to be polite. Is it what you call hospitality.

Here he seemed to be quite shaken, he gave orders in the tongue of the Scots to his men and told.

-I'm sorry about it, they did not knew ye... Well not this idiot of Grimnir Grumpybeard.. I shall remind him to address properly the human lords. We live in isolation, you see, and do not have a great habit of dealing directly with the inhabitants of Local.

He then barked orders in his guttural tongue and explained.

-I shall offer you some freezing beer, let us share a drink to put behind us this not so hospitable welcome.

It was honourable but these ideas displeased you, this man wanted to punish and give justice himself, was he your vassal ? Has he a legitimate authority here ? Or maybe the black bearded Scotsman was his servant ? You preferred not to press the matter and told him.

-Well, let us go, and we will see the work of your jewellers after that.

The short man agreed and soon you sat on an undersized table with Father Francois, your knights and this Grimnir. He began to talk while a short and fat as a barrel woman brought you some beer.

-Your priest, Father Francois is a great man, it is the only one who I saw outdrink one of my lads ! Heh... But for the men, they must have thought that you were an elf with this long blond hair and face...

It made you laugh.

-A Guelph ? Me ? Well I know that some Italian nobles are of good Frankish race, after all the Normans have been there and we have worked hard to install the house of Anjou in Naples. But my good sir, it is ridiculous.

He told you, agreeing and drinking but still suspicious.

-Yes, yes, maybe but some lads whispered that you had elven blood you see, we never know with men, they all got turned around by the elves with their lies, their magic and their "pretty women". Pretty they may be but thin as they are they could not survive marriage. And with your judicial decision...

>>5708808

He was about to go in a long rant and maybe it would be wise to interrupt him before he spoke ill about her majesty the queen who, if she was a witch, that must be burned, should not be disrespected for her ethnic opinions on the quarrel between the popes and the emperors. But here this short quasi cagot was daring to criticize your justice ? Or he simply trying to assess you. Should you reprimand him ? Appease him ? Or answer with a veiled threat ?

>Let him talk more.
>Listen, I can understand that you are a staunch supporter of the Ghibelline party but I can assure you that I am of pure Frankish blood, directly descended from a companion of Charlemagne. And I would like you to stop bringing your quarrels on your lands.
>I never knew that Guelphs were so much hated by the Scots. Is it because Otton IV spent his youth in England and was close to their king Richard Lionheart ? It is an an old story, practically a century old, you really hold grudges it seems hahahah.
>What were you saying about my Justice ? My decision displeased you ?
>Are you implying that peasants have dared to speak against my rulings ?
>This beer is excellent, truly, I always buy your beer it is the best in the region, I hope that you will be able to continue to produce it.
>Other (write in)

>>5708810
>I never knew that Guelphs were so much hated by the Scots. Is it because Otton IV spent his youth in England and was close to their king Richard Lionheart ? It is an an old story, practically a century old, you really hold grudges it seems hahahah.
>This beer is excellent, truly, I always buy your beer it is the best in the region, I hope that you will be able to continue to produce it.
But small-talk aside...
>Are you implying that peasants have dared to speak against my rulings ?

>>5708810
>Let him talk more.
>Listen, I can understand that you are a staunch supporter of the Ghibelline party but I can assure you that I am of pure Frankish blood, directly descended from a companion of Charlemagne. And I would like you to stop bringing your quarrels on your lands.
>Are you implying that peasants have dared to speak against my rulings ?
Let him get it out of his system, perhaps we can learn more of the Scottish hatred for the Guelph and perhaps some useful info. Then we can settle him down by telling him we are not a (forgive me for using this word), an Italian, before getting into a more serious topic.

>>5708810
>>Listen, I can understand that you are a staunch supporter of the Ghibelline party but I can assure you that I am of pure Frankish blood, directly descended from a companion of Charlemagne. And I would like you to stop bringing your quarrels on your lands.
>What were you saying about my Justice ? My decision displeased you ?

>>5708810
>>Are you implying that peasants have dared to speak against my rulings ?
>>This beer is excellent, truly, I always buy your beer it is the best in the region, I hope that you will be able to continue to produce it.

>>5708810
>Listen, I can understand that you are a staunch supporter of the Ghibelline party but I can assure you that I am of pure Frankish blood, directly descended from a companion of Charlemagne. And I would like you to stop bringing your quarrels on your lands.
>What were you saying about my Justice ? My decision displeased you ?
>This beer is excellent, truly, I always buy your beer it is the best in the region, I hope that you will be able to continue to produce it.

>>5708810
>I never knew that Guelphs were so much hated by the Scots. Is it because Otton IV spent his youth in England and was close to their king Richard Lionheart ? It is an an old story, practically a century old, you really hold grudges it seems hahahah.
>What were you saying about my Justice ? My decision displeased you ?

>>5708872
+1

>>5708810
>Listen, I can understand that you are a staunch supporter of the Ghibelline party but I can assure you that I am of pure Frankish blood, directly descended from a companion of Charlemagne. And I would like you to stop bringing your quarrels on your lands.
>What were you saying about my Justice ? My decision displeased you ?
>This beer is excellent, truly, I always buy your beer it is the best in the region, I hope that you will be able to continue to produce it.

File: Bringing Order.jpg (3.12 MB, 1753x2477)

3.12 MB JPG

>>5708850
>>5708872
I have tried to make the most popular choices first. That lead to a quite hard to write dialogue to use them all. By the way, I have tried a new "system" for intrigue with one roll at the end of a conversation when you try to influence a character, all your preceding choices in the dialogue being weighted into it. I never tested it, we will use it here but tell me if you prefer this system or having options with (intrigue roll) behind them in conversations ? Hearing the opinions of loyal vassals and bannermen is always important to me.

>>5708907
>>5709090
>>5709360
>>5709555
>>5709784
>>5710148

You frowned upon the man and quickly entered the matter of the subject.

-Are you implying that peasants have dared to speak against my rulings ?

Your tone was a little outraged but the short man agreed.

-Yes, yes, of course in the limits of their dwarven right to complain.

You heard that the short scotsmen had a right to "grumble" in Bifuria, it was a bad law, but it seemed to be respected by the local nobles. You were used to the grumblings of Orin and your other Scottish servants but a right to complain by short people was too much. Grumbling quietly was one thing, complaining was another sort of problem, it was the beginning of a revolt. And giving this right to all the people who were afflicted with dwarfism was abusive. You could see the logic, on one hand, each court had it's jester, who could say anything that he wanted, because he was considered as mad and funny, and dwarves made very good jesters, because they looked funny. But let us be serious, not all dwarves can be gold jesters. A jester must know how to juggle and have some wit, you had to find a good dwarf to do the job.

You remembered that once your father told you that he had to ride to help find a court dwarf to give him to the king, from his wife the queen your countess of Champagne and Queen of Navarra... And well, it was hard. He had to ask each village "Do you have a dwarf ?" and then "is he remotely funny" , he searched for five days before some peasants from the south of the county told that they knew a dwarf who could fart on orders. It was impressive ! A dwarf of this quality is fit for a king, Your lord father quickly searched for him and effectively, he could. Unfortunately the queen deemed him "too vulgar" and ordered him to be sent back to his village. Finally she decided to give her husband a pair of young sighthounds and the dwarf had been taken to the court of a nearby bishop. It was sad, you would have liked your father to keep him for himself, having a dwarf who could fart on command at home would have been a great distraction when you were a kid.

>>5710346

But enough sweet memories. This "right to complain was too much" your answer was to be harsh and fair.

>I do not want to hear the dwarves complain do you understand, if they have this right they can complain low enough for me to not hear them.
>A right to complain ? It is already scandalous that the people has an opinion, and now they are allowed to voice it ? What will be the next because someone is small he will dictate me how I should run my castle ?
>The fact that you are physically and mentally challenged is not a good reason to begin to complain, it can hamper the populace's morale.
>Are all the dwarves on this lands buffoons and court fools ? If not then why do they can complain ?
>Other (write in)

Before he could continue you added to your words.

-And by the way, I can understand that you are a staunch supporter of the Ghibelline party but I can assure you that I am of pure Frankish blood, directly descended from a companion of Charlemagne. And I would like you to stop bringing your quarrels on my lands.

The short bearded man who was already looking concerned by your last words proclaimed loudly.

-GOBLINS ? DO I SUPPORT GOBLINS ? Sneaky thieving little gits with pointy ears... like elves ! I suppose that goblins are just smaller elves or elves are two goblins one on the other ! They are as bad as the others ! I spit on them ! As told by the chronicles of the First Dwarf Fortress both of them are cannibals anyway and an hindrance to dwarves ! I am insulted ! In my own home ! BY THE ANCESTORS I SHALL...

Father François, always a man of the cloth, tried to broker peace by telling.

-Surely our lord did not meant harm.

You agreed with him.

-Yes, I ignored that you detested Italians and Swabians and Bavarians in general. I thought that you supported one against the other. But do not touch the pope, even if the current one is awful.

You cleared your throat while he seemed to calm for a bit, processing your words, it seemed to be just a misunderstanding. But for principle you sipped some beer and added.

-You know, I always buy your beer it is the best in the region, I hope that you will be able to continue to produce it.

Your small smile at your words who could be at the same time an opening for negociations and a veiled threat made him uncomfortable right before he could answer were a good negociating tactic in your opinion. Still you could add some words or leave them unspoken.

>>5710349

>Let him connect the dots himself.
>I hope that indiscipline and complaining do not sour our good relationship. Well, I think that we have religious objects to see, let us go.
>It would be a shame if it was forbidden for sale after it had been used to try to poison me.
>So I do not want to hear your peasants, or even yourself, complaining in public about my rule, my law or my decisions. Understood ? Or I shall confiscate this land and banish you from here. You could then try to complain to our sweet Guelph queen about your right to complain if you want.
>Other (write in)

>Roll an intrigue roll (1d100) brave bannermen please, all your choices, and the ones you choose during this update will influe on the bonuses and maluses of the roll.

Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>5710349
>>5710351
>I do not want to hear the dwarves complain do you understand, if they have this right they can complain low enough for me to not hear them.
>Let him connect the dots himself.

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>5710349
>A right to complain ? It is already scandalous that the people has an opinion, and now they are allowed to voice it ? What will be the next because someone is small he will dictate me how I should run my castle ?

>>5710351
>It would be a shame if it was forbidden for sale after it had been used to try to poison me.

>>5710349
>Are all the dwarves on this lands buffoons and court fools ? If not then why do they can complain ?
Explain yourselves to me! Also, how is it that a short and deformed man can rule as a nobleman or lord? Surely it reflects God's judgement of him that he looks like this.

>>5710351
>It would be a shame if it was forbidden for sale after it had been used to try to poison me.
>I hope that indiscipline and complaining do not sour our good relationship. Well, I think that we have religious objects to see, let us go.
Carrot and stick is useful when training a dwarf for court -- even one with noble blood, if this is true -- just as with training a horse.

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>5710416
Oh, and a roll!

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>5710349
>>I do not want to hear the dwarves complain do you understand, if they have this right they can complain low enough for me to not hear them.

>>5710351
>>It would be a shame if it was forbidden for sale after it had been used to try to poison me.

Rolled 72 (1d100)

>>5710349
>>I do not want to hear the dwarves complain do you understand, if they have this right they can complain low enough for me to not hear them.

>>5710351
>>I hope that indiscipline and complaining do not sour our good relationship. Well, I think that we have religious objects to see, let us go.

='(

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>5710349
>I do not want to hear the dwarves complain do you understand, if they have this right they can complain low enough for me to not hear them.

>>5710351
>Let him connect the dots himself.

File: Vengeance of Clovis.jpg (1.04 MB, 980x958)

1.04 MB JPG

>>5710362
>>5710410

>>5710416
These scotsmen seem to all be very short, maybe in India the tall ones died and short scotsmen reproduced with other short ones and it made them shorter than today. Inbreeding of bad specimen, for lack of a better choice, could be as detrimental to fierce scotsmen as to hunting dogs. It seems to be the case with the jews in these lands too... And for the cagots, well, they always were small.
And wise words about carrots and sticks. You truly are a wise man.

>>5710418
>>5710434
>>5710754
>>5710931

After you told that "I do not want the dwarves to complain do you understand, if they have this right they can complain low enough for me to not hear them." you had to menace him a bit. You decided to add, after your speech.

-It would be a shame if it was forbidden for sale after it had been used to try to poison me.

You smiled smugly while the scotsman's eyes became big like table trenchers. He tried to speak, then almost stopped himself, then punched the table and rose on his funny height of five feet and told.µ

-How ? How dare you youngling ! Our privileges were garanteed by Lord Random ! And you come here and... And suppress them ! You think I, that have fought orcs and trolls will fear some beardless humans because they are on a horse ! I will... I will..

Since Godefroi and Bohémond were already putting their hands on their swords hilts and were ready to cut him down, and his men, if more numerous, were only lightly armored he decided to be calmer. It was always the problem when you suppressed some privileges, peasants always complained, especially were they were unjust, clearly charts accorded to burghers or these "rights to complain" were destructive to the realm, contrary to good privileges, like those of every landed nobleman to mint his own coins, judge his own people and start a private war with his neighbors. But having correctly assessed the situation you told.

-You will what ? And what privileges ? Are you my vassal ? I do not remember when you swore fealty to me and I confirmed your right to the land. Did you saw this men ?

You told your knights, and Father François, who despaired to receive his church furnitures now and looked lost. He was still a village priest with no understandings of politics. The scotsman pointed towards you with fat index finger and told.

-You... I was allowed to settle here fifty years ago by Lord Random ! And dwarves are never vassals, our enclaves can govern themselves and... And your shameless humgi lies are outrageous ! We never poisoned your beer ! It was your servants that did it. You tell me to talk to the queen ? I will show you ! I will talk to the baron ! Hah ! We know how much he likes you ! Let us see what you will do when he will confirm our privileges ! And you will pay reparations I tell you !

>>5711097

Your blood boiled in your veins and you were about to cut the head of this insolent knave but... But you then remembered that he knew nothing about what was about to happen. Of course, the Kobold slavers incident and the book and the fact that Count Careless was bringing it at court, it was only known by a small circle of people. This short scotsman was not in the conspiracy, he ignored that in less than two weeks Baron Crook would probably lose his seat of power because of the Guelph party at court who wanted to move against his uncle. The thought amused you, indirectly the Guelphs will destroy this short man's court-case giving him one more reason to hate them. You then decided to simply smile and raise a hand towards your men to tell.

-No need to behead him. He is right. Let us see what the baron has to say about this, do it, please, complain, dear not-vassal. Let us see how it goes.

He frowned towards you, not understanding your serene tone.

-It is... Are you bluffing or it is an elf trick ?

You ignored what bluffing meant so you raised from your seat and ordered.

-I want the religious objects ready upon two weeks. In the meantime try to go to the courts.

The short scotsman said something in his tongue and then menaced.

-You will see !

It only made you smile while you rode back towards your keep. You hoped that he will behave exceptionnaly well to have a better chance to win his case. Once he will have the baron's decision, but no baron to enforce it you will laugh at his face and maybe throw him in a cell, or better, force him to pay a fine, you always knew that scotsmen were stingy but these short ones were even more so.

Your knights who knew about the situation snickered a bit once they understood, even if they had no mind for intrigue. But old Godefroi asked still.

-But, monseigneur, tell me, what if they complain to the next baron ?

-Then I hope that he will remember who made it possible for him to be the baron by exiling his predecessor. And maybe it will even be an ally, or myself, heh, knowing the law is good but knowing the judge is always more effective.

Everything was for the better in the best world. But now you still had one or two things to do. Since you wanted to visit Otherone tomorrow to see how it was more or less repaired and give justice to your peasantry after tomorrow you could take the time this evening to plot your revenge against the one who had tried to kill you, the lord of Darkplace. What shall you do.

>>5711098

>Call your councilors after dinner and discuss of all of it. You need to hear their suggestions before knowing what to do.
>Order your mercenaries, Bob and the Orcadian to kill the lord of Darkplace.
>Demand Captain Crumbling how much men you could mobilise in the case of a feudal war.
>Ask for the girl assassin to be brought before you and to tell you everything that she knows about Darkplace.
>Better for the girl to be baptised before you could trust her.
>Write a letter to the Neutral Lord, who wanted you to kill the Lord of Darkplace, to tell him that he tried to kill you and ask his advice of how to answer to it.
>Other (write in)

>>5711099
>
>Ask for the girl assassin to be brought before you and to tell you everything that she knows about Darkplace.
>Call your councilors after dinner and discuss of all of it. You need to hear their suggestions before knowing what to do.

>>5711099
>Better for the girl to be baptised before you could trust her.
>Ask for the girl assassin to be brought before you and to tell you everything that she knows about Darkplace
Gathering intelligence, but only when we know she is a good Christian who can be trusted.
>Write a letter to the Neutral Lord, who wanted you to kill the Lord of Darkplace, to tell him that he tried to kill you and ask his advice of how to answer to it.
Then discuss what we've learned with a fellow man of good breeding and high station.

>>5711099
>Better for the girl to be baptised before you could trust her.
>Ask for the girl assassin to be brought before you and to tell you everything that she knows about Darkplace
>Write a letter to the Neutral Lord, who wanted you to kill the Lord of Darkplace, to tell him that he tried to kill you and ask his advice of how to answer to it.

>>5711099
>>Call your councilors after dinner and discuss of all of it. You need to hear their suggestions before knowing what to do.
>>Ask for the girl assassin to be brought before you and to tell you everything that she knows about Darkplace.
>>Better for the girl to be baptised before you could trust her.

I would advise against sending a letter to Lord Neutral, we cannot fully trust him and there is always a chance the letter could be intercepted.

>>5711317
What do you mean."Neutral" is a name rhat evokes firm convictions!

File: Father François.jpg (7 KB, 187x258)

7 KB JPG

>>5711108
>>5711177
Of course, trusting pagans is hard. Especially murderous pagan women, three good reasons to not trust them.
And you are right, we need allies.

>>5711261

>>5711317
He is quite shady, I can agree but as >>5711321 said Lord Swiss Neutralsson has never betrayed us, and was a friend of Lord Random and Lord Takable, even if he did nothing when the later was arrested.

====

You ordered father François to baptise the girl that tried to kill you before dinner while your servants prepared you a bath and you feasted with your closest advisors. It was a good dinner, Oldfossil was better and you talked a bit about the events with the short scotsmen. He seemed to tell you to appease them but the reduction of their privileges suited him, he knew that it would be easier to tax them. Godefroi then told a really funny anecdote about a drunken night in Paris during his youth and how he threw two Sorbonne students in the Seine after their criticised the hat that he bought to an Italian merchant, then he remarked that he had forgotten the said hat at the tavern where he was drinking and he had it stolen by thieves.

You decided to keep Oldfossil with you at the end of the day for writing a letter to the Neutral Lord. But before you wanted to know a bit more about the lordship of Darkplace. First you told him to tell you exactly where it was.

-It is on the lower Plotline river on the other side of the baronial lands my lord. It is maybe nine to ten days to travel on foot from here. Or a week on horse. We need to pass through the baronial lands to take it.

-And the keep, what does it looks like ?

-It is a small keep, smaller than Local and the lordship only has three villages. It was given to Lord Creepy Bitchson some twelve years ago, they built this assassin school in the meantime, it is near the castle of Darkplace.

When you were discussing all those serious matters, and waiting for an explanation Father François and his 200 pounds entered your room and, absolutely excitedly told.

-Hosannah monseigneur ! Hosannah ! It... It seems to be a miracle.

-A miracle ? What ?

-I baptised the lady, the young woman that tried to murder you, I tried to educate her about the Lord during these days but she seemed obsessed by the question of her soul. I told her that the Lord would give it to her back if she prayed hard, believed and did good deeds, but she insisted to see, she insisted for the stone that showed souls. So I agreed to give her, since she could not walk because she still has wounded feet, and called Gardasil to bring it to her after her baptism... And when she was baptised, it glowed !

He did the sign of the cross, you did the sign of the cross, and Oldfossil told.

-Unbelievable...

To be sincere you felt ashamed for having doubted before, the light of the Lord shined upon your lands and you ordered.

-Tell some guards to bring her here. Let us pray, it is a sign.

>>5711430

You made a sign towards father François and he led the prayers. Even Oldfossil, who was a pagan, knelt. You knew the words by heart even if you did not understand latin and began to pray. Hell, even Ancel who was bringing some firewood prayed and told "Hosannah messire, hosannah".

-Pater noster, qui es in cælis :
Sanctificetur nomen tuum :
Adveniat regnum tuum :
Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hódie :
Et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimíttimus debitoribus nostris.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem.
Sed libera nos a malo.

When the girl, in tears of joy, was brought to your chambers by three guardsmen you ordered.

-Where is the stone ?

She told.

-I... I still have it my lord. I can't say you thank you enough, you... You saved me, and you two I...

She kissed Father François on the cheeks and hugged him, even if she could not stand. In her hands the Star stone failed to glow of an inner light, but was it was not black or darker, it was as if held by a normal person. You had confirmation of it when a guardsman took it from her. It was impressive, a proof of the power of the Lord, as when the walls of Jericho fell before the call of His trumpets or when the lord gave the stigmata to Saint Francis of Assisi.
It was a sign, at least, as what you saw, four years ago, before your the fall of Rions. You asked for the Lord for a sign, you prayed hard and asked for strenght against the englishmen and the occitans that defended the walls, you had volunteered to charge amongst the first and hoped for a sign to know if you would survive, you generally did not fear battle but you saw a hare on the road, it was a bad omen, even if you dismissed peasant superstitions, and the day before one of your father's men, Raoul, who you knew from birth, was killed by a crossbowman on the walls. It could have been you, and you passed your night in prayers until, at the middle of the night, you felt as a kind of hot and luminous liquid was poured in your veins, of course it was invisible, but you felt it, you felt that nothing would happen to you and that the Lord will protect you, and even if you should die you will go to paradise. With this conviction in hand you stormed the walls and when the spear of an englishman hit the nasal part of helmet instead of your neck and slided on it without killing you you knew that it was not luck, but the Will of the Lord Himself. Yes, this sign reaffirmed your faith just like this one too, the saving of the soul of the woman that you had pardoned in christian charity, it was clear, just like this girl all the indias were murderous, barbaric and corrupted by witchcraft, you had to bring them the Truth, be it by mercy, or by the sword. You finished to pray when you approached the girl and told.

-It is true then you...

>>5711433

She was still full of emotion, hugging you from her chair and kissing some parts of your doublet, like a loyal peasant when he thanked you for lessening his taxes. You tried to extricate yourself from her while she was telling.

-Thank you my lord, thank you... I... I do not know how to thank you enough. You... You gave me my soul back..

-It is God, not me. I..

-You gave me the chance to see the truth, and... I tried to murder you I... I am so sorry, you cannot imagine I...

She was now ashamed, and happy, and even more emotions that only women could have at the same time because any man would have blown up under all of it or ordered it. Women are creatures of emotion after all. Then, you had still a decision to take.

>Organize a mass to celebrate this sign tomorrow.
>Order the woman to give you the plans of her vile ancient master's castle to you. And to tell about his forces.
>We will plot our revenge tomorow, when she will be more calm and able to tell everything about the forces of the Lord of Darkplace.
>Swear to build a gothic chapel in your castle to commemorate the miracle;
>Swear to convert all your people to commemorate the miracle.
>Swear to place a huge golden cross with jewels in your church to commemorate the miracle.
>Swear to find Prester John to commemorate the miracle.
>Other (write in)

You gain +3 piety for this miracle.

>>5711435

Your new stats :

Charles de Villeroi

Class : Local Lord
Level : 4
XP : 530+25 = 555 (next level at 700)

Stats

Combat : 51%
Intrigue : 25%
Rulership: 36%

Piety : 58+3 = 61
Mudcore : 55

With 55 Mudcore you have a bigger field of gritty realism around you, in this field the most heavy magic will not work and supernatural abilities will not work, oh, and women will lose 4 pounds of strength of course, plus in the field the people that obey you will act more like they would be in a dark fantasy setting. You have chosen Blood of Mud and so your mudcore field will become a bit bigger and stronger but could be transmitted to your children.
Magic, even restorative, will become considerably weaker near you.
Next level at 60, your field will become more important and most magic will be impossible to cast near you by the weaker practitioners.

Talents
-Cavalry Commander : +20 to martial when you have to lead a cavalry charge or a cavalry attack. Works only when commanding shock or melee cavalry mounted on horses.
-Foreign Etiquette : You focus on learning Indian etiquette with Oldfossil, you gain a +10 bonus in intrigue in your interactions with the nobility of your duchy.
->Basic Literacy : Your lessons with Oldfossil and Lady Takable finally paid off and you can read and write, even if you write with errors and move your lips still when you read it is a great leap forward.

Traits :
Leader : Your magnetism on the masses is glorious and your learning of speech could encourage many men to follow you. You may choose the best of 3 rolls when you try to speak in public to convince an audience, be it the Council of Many or angry peasants.

>>5711435
>Order the woman to give you the plans of her vile ancient master's castle to you. And to tell about his forces.
>Organize a mass to celebrate this sign tomorrow.
Then, at the mass...
>Swear to convert all your people to commemorate the miracle.

>>5711452
support
Now lets find as many assassins as we can to save their souls

>>5711452
Support

>>5711452
+1

>>5711452
Supporting

>>5711452
+2

>>5711452
+3
God has blessed her. Maybe we should look into starting a Nunnery.

>>5711452
You all impress me by your unanimous decision, I admire you. You deserve 5xp for having lead to such a movement of vassals. And even a (still unfinished) map of the Barony, it should help you with military decisions. I shall publish it again once finished and try to make it less ugly.

>>5711456
Hahahaha, maybe the others are less in search of their souls.

>>5711467
>>5711511
>>5711545
>>5711706

>>5711814
Why not, it would be logical.

====

You then solemnly sworn to convert all the people of Local to celebrate this miracle, this triumph over idolatry and petty magic was as great as the burning of the "world tree" of the pagan Saxons by your ancestors. After such solemn sermon you ordered Father Francois to.

-Father, organise a mass tomorrow, to commemorate such miracle. We should celebrate such great day.

But then, after some wine and happy words you turned back towards Elana and ordered her.

-So, now tell me everything. How well is Darkplace defended ?

She tried to gather her thoughts and told.

-There is a wall, and a moat around the castle, not around the village.

-Is the moat full of water or of spikes ?

-No, I think not, we use one of the walls to train to climb at the school.

-Where is it ?

-It is outside, outside my lord to the north.

-Where ?

-You know... Hum... I... Could draw you a map, if I had the time, I must simply... I mean, I am sorry but...

She still was crying with emotions and her answers were not very precise. So you simply asked her.

-Well, do it tomorrow, just tell me, how many men at arms does the Lord of Darkplace possess ?

-He... He has sixteen, no fifteen guardsmen if I remember well.

Oldfossil added.

-And how many students were there in your school ?

-We were thirty two, well with the recent losses and counting myself out we are down to thirty. Half of them are little children. Five others are sixteen or seventeen like me and ten are between fifteen and twelve.

Mmmh, interesting. You ordered her to rest, she will draw the plan tommorrow and we will be able to discuss about future actions. Oldfossil told.

-Even if we are outnumbering them, with our 40 guardsmen, 6 of whom are mounted, and 4 knights, including you my lord, and if we take the orc and this scoundrel Denarius and even your Ancel it will put us at 47 men, it will not be enough to attack a castle if it is defended. And I would not trust our guardsmen against middle ranked assassins even if the prowess of your knights is so excellent and always amazes me... I am not a military man but it seems to not be the best solution. Plus we would have to cross the baron's lands to go to Darkplace. And waging a private war without your liege lord's permission would be illegal. About the map my lord, I shall show you everything. I am not an expert but I have travelled many times in these lands in the last decades.

File: Ugly map of the Someplace(...).png (1.18 MB, 8818x6006)

1.18 MB PNG

>>5711844

He was right, not about everything, these assassins were not good soldiers in your opinion, and in general Indians accorded too much faith to the "ranks" of those armed vagrants, but about the fact that 47 men could not effectively besiege a castle and blockade it, even if it was small or storm it.
If the ennemy had enough ressources in his castle to outlast your troops you will be beset by famine and, worse, if one of those assassins managed to enter into your camp and poison your food as easily as this girl managed to enter in your fortress it would be terrible. You answered Oldfossil.

-I do not think that we will attack when Baron Crook still rules Someplace, and even if we attack we should leave some soldiers behind. But once the new baron will be here we will have all the proofs that we need of his involvement in an attempted assassination and it will be a good Casus Belli.

You smiled at your use of Latin, one of the rare words that you knew and even more when Oldfossil asked you what it meant and you had to explain. Haha, it was not everyday that you got to teach the old man something. You ordered a servant to bring you both some wine and you suggested.

>We shall raise the peasantry, if we raise one or two hundred of them we will be able to overwhelm anything with pure numbers.
>We shall call for help in our letter to Lord Neutral, he is the most powerful vassal of the Baron, surely he has far more soldiers than us and could help.
>A military expedition, especially near winter, is perilous, we should find a better way to avenge ourselves.
>Maybe a simple chevauchée with a small number of men, burning the villages and the crops will be enough.
>What if we force some of his men to move from his castle and attack by surprise ?
>Other (write in)

>>5711846

Your new stats :

Charles de Villeroi

Class : Local Lord
Level : 4
XP : 555+5 = 560 (next level at 700)

Stats

Combat : 51%
Intrigue : 25%
Rulership: 36%

Piety : 61
Mudcore : 55

With 55 Mudcore you have a bigger field of gritty realism around you, in this field the most heavy magic will not work and supernatural abilities will not work, oh, and women will lose 4 pounds of strength of course, plus in the field the people that obey you will act more like they would be in a dark fantasy setting. You have chosen Blood of Mud and so your mudcore field will become a bit bigger and stronger but could be transmitted to your children.
Magic, even restorative, will become considerably weaker near you.
Next level at 60, your field will become more important and most magic will be impossible to cast near you by the weaker practitioners.

Talents
-Cavalry Commander : +20 to martial when you have to lead a cavalry charge or a cavalry attack. Works only when commanding shock or melee cavalry mounted on horses.
-Foreign Etiquette : You focus on learning Indian etiquette with Oldfossil, you gain a +10 bonus in intrigue in your interactions with the nobility of your duchy.
->Basic Literacy : Your lessons with Oldfossil and Lady Takable finally paid off and you can read and write, even if you write with errors and move your lips still when you read it is a great leap forward.

Traits :
Leader : Your magnetism on the masses is glorious and your learning of speech could encourage many men to follow you. You may choose the best of 3 rolls when you try to speak in public to convince an audience, be it the Council of Many or angry peasants.

>>5711846
>A military expedition, especially near winter, is perilous, we should find a better way to avenge ourselves.

>>5711846
>>Maybe a simple chevauchée with a small number of men, burning the villages and the crops will be enough.

>>5711846
>A military expedition, especially near winter, is perilous, we should find a better way to avenge ourselves.
Now that we know that we can save souls, we can easily force any assassin sent after us to turn cloaks, and nothing good comes out of rushing right away.

>>5711846
>We shall call for help in our letter to Lord Neutral, he is the most powerful vassal of the Baron, surely he has far more soldiers than us and could help.

>>5711846
>>A military expedition, especially near winter, is perilous, we should find a better way to avenge ourselves.
I don't want to be like Napoleon.
I do like the idea of turning all of his assassins against him. We will need to be vigilant however.

>>5711846
>A military expedition, especially near winter, is perilous, we should find a better way to avenge ourselves.

>>5711846
>Maybe a simple chevauchée with a small number of men, burning the villages and the crops will be enough.

>>5711846
>A military expedition, especially near winter, is perilous, we should find a better way to avenge ourselves.
Cold winters, the mortal foe of the French

File: Like a game of chess.jpg (157 KB, 410x617)

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>>5711876
>>5711945

>>5712081
It is optimistic good sir.

>>5712228

>>5712290
>>5712514
To be sincere, as much as I admire the Emperor (even if I am more of a Royalist of course), Napoleon lost more men in the summer of the Russian campaign than in winter and it was more distances, bad protection of the flanks by his subordinates (Schwarzenberg being too prudent with his austrians on the south and Oudinot and Gouvion Saint-Cyr being beaten by Wittgenstein on the north) while choosing to pursue towards Moscow in a gamble instead of waiting at Smolensk, Vitebsk on in Wilno. In my humble opinion it was more Napoleon's ambition and hubris that lead him to defeat than the cold.

>>5712329
>>5712424

Despite the fact that you wanted to march on the Darkplace lands and kill everyone there you understood that it was not the best time to do it. Winter was near and the castle would be full of provisions while the food will be more and more scarce in the campaigns around. If you had to raise some hundred levies they would, without good provisions, starve and a siege would be impossible, the defender's supplies outlasting yours many times.
So you told your brave councillor.

-A military expedition, especially near winter, is perilous, we should find a better way to avenge ourselves.

Oldfossil agreed, telling you.

-Of course, I can only agree.

-Yes, plus, if some assassin's try to kill me we can turn them around if God gives them back their souls, I have thought about the sign and maybe it was what that meant. That redemption was possible.

The old man looked not convinced and answered.

-I disagree my lord. If I may explain myself, you were very lucky, first lucky to not be poisoned. If an assassin kills you before you could offer him redemption how could you offer him redemption at all ? Secondly we had a girl who was not into killing, and, as she said herself, most of them become accustomed to kill and like their lives, they would not understand the importance of the salvation of their souls. Or only get them back to betray us later, such is the ingratitude of the people with an evil alignment. Thirdly, if we talk too loudly about this, and denounce the disgusting soul practices of the assassin's guild we risk to face not the students but the masters of this powerful guild and that would be very detrimental on your life span my lord. Of course they would, as per custom, send their weaker minions first before sending higher ranked ones but even the weakest are more dangerous than the girl that they have sent.

>>5712543

You were not convinced by this "alignment" sorcery but you had to agree with him, he made some very convincing points. Yet, you could not not avenge yourself from this upjumped commoner. You had only limited options and all of the choices were bad. You decided to tell.

-Yes, then let us send our two mercenaries to murder him. Or even engage some bandits to do the deed.

-My lord, these bandits will not be ranked adventurers, and even if we may take him by surprise I would advise caution. After all playing intrigue and murders against someone whose profession are intrigue and murders would be unwise for "amateurs" like us.

On this he was right, you loved a good battle, a good fight and were not well versed into the art of plots and intrigue. But still, paying twenty men to murder him would do ? No ? But on the other side sending assassins against a man who trained them would be like him sending knights against you. Yes... You had to think about it another day. You then told.

-We will see this later. Let us write to Lord Swiss Neutralsson, we should tell him about the murder, maybe he will know more about vengeance and intrigue than us. We will send a trusted man with the letter tommorow.

Oldfossil immediately prepared a pen and parchment, of course you now knew how to read, with difficulty, but you would be completely incapable of writing so his help was most welcome.

>Write about the murder commendited by the lord of Darkplace, tell that you have caught the assassin, do not mention the soul transfer.
>Write about the murder commendited by the lord of Darkplace, tell that you have caught the assassin, mention the soul transfer.
>Write about the murder commendited by the lord of Darkplace, do not tell anything else.
>Other (write in)

>>5712544
>>Write about the murder commendited by the lord of Darkplace, tell that you have caught the assassin, mention the soul transfer.

>>5712544
>Write about the murder commendited by the lord of Darkplace, tell that you have caught the assassin, mention the soul transfer.
Also? Lord fo Darkplace always makes me think of Garth Merenghi

>>5712544
>>Write about the murder commendited by the lord of Darkplace, tell that you have caught the assassin, do not mention the soul transfer.

>>5712544
>>Write about the murder commendited by the lord of Darkplace, tell that you have caught the assassin, do not mention the soul transfer.

>>5712544
>>Write about the murder commenced by the lord of Darkplace, tell that you have caught the assassin, do not mention the soul transfer.

>>5712544
>Write about the murder commendited by the lord of Darkplace, tell that you have caught the assassin, mention the soul transfer.

>>5712544
>>Write about the murder commendited by the lord of Darkplace, tell that you have caught the assassin, mention the soul transfer.
I think letting him know we can return souls is better than keeping it a secret.

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>>5712565

>>5712588
Had to check on that one, thanks, you made me laugh.

>>5712656
>>5712671
>>5712878
>>5712899
>>5713759
It is an opinion, and your choice won !

===

You decided to write to the Lord of Darkplace without omitting any part of the story, be it the murder, the fact that you had proofs of it and even a prisoner or the miracle of the return of the soul of your would be murderer.
Once everything was finished you dismissed Oldfossil and decided to go to sleep. You still had to decide whom to send with the message.

>Bohémond would do the deed.
>A messenger is good but he can be attacked, let's give him two or three guardsmen.
>Brother Louis, your brave Templar, could do the deed
>Ancel is clever and crafty even if too smelly to be presented to a nobleman but he could carry a letter.
>Send a guardsman on a palfrey, you cannot send one of your knights or Ancel.
>Other (write in).

For this day you had another task, you wanted to travel to Otherone and see if it was being rebuilt. So you ordered to saddle the horses and go there. After some hours of riding you found the village in a bit better state than it was before your travels.
After some hours of riding in the beautiful plains of your lordship dominated by a grey sky you saw the village, some of the burned husks remained but one or two new houses, looking like temporary shacks, were ready while foundations or first floors of other homes seemed to have been rebuilt. The happy peasants saluted you and in the middle of a quite intact group of houses you saw workers preparing some daub for the walls of a future half timbered house. The destructions of the baron seemed to not be so serious after all.
You ordered the village elder, Ishaan Devi, to be brought before you and demanded him how was all the work going. The slightly saracen looking old man answered.

-All is good my lord, we will rebuild some of the houses, and we are halfay through the barn. Thanks once more for having helped us so much with your taxes reductions. We will pray for you... But..

-But what ?

You answered. And the man seemed fearful before saying.

-I... I do not want to disturb you but I think that there is something sinister afoot.

-Ah ?

-You see, my lord, we are humble people, living in the Cairns plain but as you know, this plain is full of old tombs, long ago pillaged and where the remains of the dead have been destroyed after being used by necromancers and other...

-Yes, yes, I know the story of the brother of Lehman, I even visited the tomb, tell me what is it ?

-Of course my lord, sorry for disturbing you with this, but we saw eerie lights on one of the Cairns, that appear during the night and when some youth from the village decided to visit they fled in panic, telling that they saw a ghost.

-A ghost ? It is peasant superstitions, you cannot really believe that these places are haunted... I ignored that Indians were as superstitious as celts.

>>5714173

The old Ishaan Devi shook his head.

-I do not know what indians are you talking about but truely, I can only ask you to try to investigate, or do something.

What do you answer ?

>It is nonsense, return to work and do not fear "ghosts".
>I shall post two men, one of them will be your son that serves in the guard, in the village, if it makes you feel safer.
>Bring me the youth, we will see what they have to say.
>I will visit the tomb with my men. Let us see where is this ghost. Can one of the villagers guide us ?
>I shall call Father François, he will do an exorcism near the tomb.
>Other (write in)

>>5714173
>Brother Louis, your brave Templar, could do the deed

>>5714174
>I shall call Father François, he will do an exorcism near the tomb.

>>5714173
>Brother Louis, your brave Templar, could do the deed
A Templar will be shielded from interference by enemies of The Lord.

>Bring me the youth, we will see what they have to say.
Let's see what's what. Could be a demon masquerading as a ghost, after all. Demons are very real and, in this land of India, very active.

>>5714174
>>I shall post two men, one of them will be your son that serves in the guard, in the village, if it makes you feel safer.
they can come back after reconstruction is done
>Bring me the youth, we will see what they have to say.
I still want to investigate it though,we must gather information.

>>5714188
Support

>>5714173
>A messenger is good but he can be attacked, let's give him two or three guardsmen.
>Brother Louis, your brave Templar, could do the deed
he has already gone out to the world before for our loans so I think we should just make him our messenger
>Bring me the youth, we will see what they have to say.
and if credible we can
>I shall call Father François, he will do an exorcism near the tomb.
The father, son and holy spirit has confirmed that it can work wonders in India so this should work

>>5714173
>Brother Louis, your brave Templar, could do the deed

>>5714174
>It is nonsense, return to work and do not fear "ghosts".
An excuse to be lazy. That's all it is.

>>5714174
>Brother Louis, your brave Templar, could do the deed

>Bring me the youth, we will see what they have to say.

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>>5714180

>>5714188
Of course, a heathen lands breeds demons. You even saw devils walking in streets and people dealing with them openly.

>>5714203
>>5714264

>>5714276
Sometimes Bohémond did the deed too, since he was younger, but objectively Brother Louis is your most well travelled knight.

>>5714520
I tend to agree, but it never hurts to check.

>>5714573

You regretted to not have your brave Brother Louis with you, he knew about many things and was literate. But now he was travelling to deliver your message to the Neutral Lord so you had to investigate by yourself. You ordered Ishaan.

-Bring me the youth, let us see what they have to say.

The youth in question turned out to be quite numerous, it was not a pair of young drunkards to be sure. There were four of them, all in their late teens at 16 to 18 years old probably. The first one, and the first who spoke and who was probably the "leader" of this small group. He was tall and strong, with blonde hair and a sturdy build probably made by hard labor in the not very fertile soil of Otherone, and wore a linen shirt. Yes, he was probably a farmer. The second one was a beauty to see, a slender red haired girl, who tried hard to remain dignified and was very pretty. Yes, you knew that Judas Iscariot had orange hair and that orange had all the bad characteristics of red (who could symbolise violence) and yellow (an impure white which symbolised treachery) and that you should always be careful with gingers. But your Ancel was a ginger and if he was a scoundrel he was a useful servant. And this ginger girl seemed fierce and beautiful. But even in the quite luxurious habits of Indian peasants with died clothes of many rare colours her pink and purple, the most costly colour, dress probably signified that she was the daughter of some rich plowman, or maybe his wife. You decided to enquire about it and told.

-Are you married, young beauty ?

She seemed to redden and told.

-N... No my lord I am only sixteen and...

-And still not married, a beautiful girl like you... Ah, the men here are not very active.

You looked at the blond lad and deduced immediately at his air that he was more than a bit interested in the prospect of her marriage. Probably these two were "playing" in the fields together when they saw the ghost. Well, once that was clear you looked at the rest. Another girl, heh... What was that ? She was slightly shorter and shubbier and dressed in orange, a bad omen, and had quite short brown hair but what was on her nose. Was it ? Spectacles ? Since when do peasants needed them ? Or had the money for them ? You asked her.

-What do you have on the nose ?

-I... It is my spectacles and I...

-Oldfossil could wear some some day but why would you need them ?

-I read a lot, my father insisted that I learn and...

>>5714642

By Saint Denis... You knew why you needed to avoid books, they were dangerous for your health in plus of being boring. No, really, the peasantry should be protected from books. And how did they knew it. You asked.

-There is people who know how to read in Otherone ?!?

The brown haired girl answered.

-Yes, three people, our family were merchants in Podunk before retiring here and buying a goat farm.

Mmmmh... Always those urban populations and their bad habits. You should talk to this merchant and tell him to stop endangering the youth but speaking about youth it was the last one, a lanky chestnut haired young man in a green linen shirt who seemed to shake and look around him every time. He must have been a shepherd, the most common profession in the village, since he had a big brown dog. You told him.

-I suppose that you were the one who came closer to the ghost ?

-Y... Y... Yes, it was a... A monstrous ghost, who floated on the air and... And...

His voice was faint and quite high pitched for a man, with strange tones and you quickly grew bored of hearing it. Plus your brave Ancel, always here, did the sign of the cross and told.

-It is bad luck messire ! It is diabolical ! Only ghosts and witches on broomsticks can fly ! We must exorcise the place, I shall remain...

-Silence villein !

Once you calmed your servant you demanded them all what happened, probably the blond lad could be more useful.

-So, what time was that ? I supposed that it was during the night, you were having a lovely night gazing at the stars with the women that you loved and you were disturbed by the ghost ?

You said with a smile, but the blond lad shook his head.

-No my lord, no, we... We heard the rumours and were actually trying to catch the ghost, or to see it. When we came here, we know each other from a long time but I work at the sawmill at Nearby and often drive a cart to give wood to the other villages who live in the plain. Now we had to drive even more for planks and other materials needed for the reconstruction. So when I heard about this ghost I decided to bring D...

-So you wanted to chase a ghost with a young lady ? And putting her into danger ?

You knew that woodsmen were wild, and that they often had success with the fair sex in small villages, after all they were solid lads who did dangerous work but to put a woman in danger like this ? Before you could scold him it was the red haired girl who answered.

-But I insisted my lord ! My father owns the sawmill of Nearby so I came here as for a deal. But, to be honest my lord, we want, my friends and I, to enter in the adventurer's guild and what better way to do it than catch a ghost ? Before living a life of solving mysteries !

>>5714644

By the heavens... What could you answer to that ? Thus were the consequences of Marigny's novelties, the peasants, instead of working in the fields or forests began to chase ghosts. And wanted to leave your lands. And with no serfdom to keep them there they could... You frowned upon the twi other ones and told sternly.

-And I suppose that you wanted it too ?

The bespectacled girl agreed. But tried to keep her enthusiasm in check, she understood that you disapproved and was an intelligent girl.

-Yes my lord, from a long time, we had wanted to see the Ghost, I talked to the village elders, to know what tomb it was, but it has no name, everyone forgot who was buried there. So I decided to go...

You shook your head and looked at the fearful shepherd.

-And you wanted to go there too ?

-N...N... No my lord but they promised food.

Of course, always motivate a peasanr with food.

-A peasant or a shepherd must earn his food by working, young lad, not chasing ghosts.

A simple look at him showed that work was not the thing that interested him the most. But, to be sincere, shepherds could be lazy they only had to see if no beast fled and remain near the flock, doing nothing all day. But before deciding what to do with this bunch you had to ask them.

-So tell me about your encounter with the ghost ? How was it ?

The blond lad began to explain.

-We decided to first see the tomb, before doing anything, I wanted to spot the places where the ghost might go to lay a trap for it, so in the middle of the night when we saw eerie lights in this unnamed tumulus, we got there, on foot. We then heard voices, like whispers that were carried by the wind and then, traversing the grave, a ghost came here. He was huge, white and with strange bloody teeth. I tried to throw a rock at it but it simply passed through him. We then decided to flee and to return today since he saw us. We ran to the village and when we turned back the ghost had disappeared.

Hmmmm. Well, at least they seemed not to be drunk, simply stupid, and they kind of saw a spirit while not under the influence of spirits. You ordered to.

>Return to your homes, kids. And do not try to become armed vagrants it is not an honourable way of life. Try to work, marry and pay your taxes instead.
>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)
>Other choice with the youth (write in)

>Dear knights, soldiers, Ancel, let us go to this unamed tomb. We will see if this ghost can stand before our blades.
>If this ghost can fly we should ready a crossbow. Let us get there.
>Call for father François, he will exorcise the place and everything will stop.
>Ask Ishaan if there is any people who generally work or make their beasts graze near this unamed tomb.
>Other (write in)

>>5714645
>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)

>Call for father François, he will exorcise the place and everything will stop.

>>5714642
>>5714644
Took me a sec to recognize Mystery Incorporated

>>5714645
>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)
>Call for father François, he will exorcise the place and everything will stop.

>>5714645
>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)
>Call for father François, he will exorcise the place and everything will stop.
Jesus powers go!

>>5714645
>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)
>Dear knights, soldiers, Ancel, let us go to this unamed tomb. We will see if this ghost can stand before our blades.

>>5714645
>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)
>Call for father François, he will exorcise the place and everything will stop.
Ghostbusting time

>>5714645
>>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)

>>Call for father François, he will exorcise the place and everything will stop.

>>5714645
>>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)
>>Call for father François, he will exorcise the place and everything will stop.

>>5714645
>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)
>Call for father François, he will exorcise the place and everything will stop.

>>5714645
>Well, if you wanted to see the ghost let us go to the tomb. (This should frighten them enough and teach them a lesson to not do it again.)
>Dear knights, soldiers, Ancel, let us go to this unamed tomb. We will see if this ghost can stand before our blades.

File: Ancient Tumulus.jpg (70 KB, 400x300)

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>>5714657

>>5714685
Good to see that the loyal bannermen embarking on this quest were properly raised during their childhood.

>>5714775
>>5714826
>>5714948
>>5714972
>>5715109
>>5715235
>>5715478

So it was time, you decided to call for father François while giving a good lesson to these youngsters. You ordered quickly one of your guards.

-Redshirt, go fetch me Father Francois. He must be in his church. In the meantime we shall get into the tomb.

Ancel did the sign of the cross and told.

-Messire no ! Entering an old tomb is bad luck ! It can curse us on seven generations, can I call the priest instead ?

The lanky shepherd agreed.

-Y... Yes... I can do this too, it would be...

You smacked both on the head and ordered to advance.

-I shall not tolerate cowardice. We will see what there is in this tomb, besides we are during the day and the ghost seems to be seen only at night.

Ancel, who was really superstitious as a peasant began to tell.

-But messire it is because he fears the sun but under the earth he... AÏE !

You smacked him harder, for good measure and soon you were going there, you and your guardsmen on horse, the rest on foot. Seeing the plains of the Cairns, an endless expense of short grass dominated by the sky reminded you of a less civilised version of your native plains of Champagne, but even in champagne there was some hills dominated by castles and vineyards. Here, here you had nothing but some tumuluses of old kings that broke this landscape. You still appreciated it, especially in autumn when there was no high temperatures that could be uncomfortable in the absence of any trees or shadows. Finally, after one hour and half of riding you got to the dreaded place. On the outside it looked lie a tumulus equal to many others, smaller than the tomb of Lehman's Brother, it must have been the grave of a smaller notable, or maybe of a lord of these lands before they were even incorporated into Bifuria.
But once you approached the place, under Midday's sun, you found something very disturbing. A gate, a wooden reinforced gate seemed to protect the place, as if it had been built yesterday. And it seemed to be new. How ? How was it possible ? A door was always the costliest part of a peasant's house, it had to be sturdy, it had to be able to pivot and it had iron parts in it, be it the lock or the hinges. To threaten a peasant a lord only had to threaten to confiscate his door and he will be crying and imploring his pardon. So how someone would have put a door here ? Even if it looked primitive, it seemed to be very strange. The original door, if there was one, was probably rotten centuries ago. You asked.

-Who built that door ? What does it means ?

It was the orange clad short brunette that answered.

-It was made with the wood that was brought for reparations from the sawmill of Nearby. It is the same wood as on the houses.

The blond lumberjack added.

-Yes, it is beech wood.

>>5715833

The blond young lad answered.

-I do not know, well, I mean, my lord, we sold to the village collectively and they put the wood in the ruined barn. Someone could have stolen it, I do not know.

Someone with a cart then, because transporting enough wood to make a door for one hour and half would require more than a man's strenght. Or at least someone with a donkey or some beast of burden. Of course, Ancel had a better explanation.

-It was transported here by magic ! It is diabolical ! We must go back messire ! Everything is rotten here ! I smell sulfur ! It is the work of the devil !

The smell was strange, yes, but you had not the sense of smell of Ancel, or of the brown dog who began to try to run away. Godefroi, always a wise man, had thought the same thing as you and asked the young shepherd.

-Did you guard some cattle at night ?

-N...No... The night near these tombs can be dangerous. And we should not enter here, these tombs, they are full of traps.

You were interested by this. Asking.

-What kind of traps ?

It was the woodsman who answered, telling you.

-I am not sure my lord, but sometimes when we visit these tombs we see old pits with spikes or old swinging blades or systems who threw arrows at any disturber. Of course everything here was robbed and no traps work any more.

You interrupted him, sensing somewhere that he seemed to be fascinated by those traps. What was important was what you had to say.

-If someone brought, at great cost, a new door, could this someone had repaired some of these traps ?

Everybody looked at each other, your guards began to pray to the Lord, or their pagan gods while the sheperd's dog, as if able to understand you, threw himself on it's master who was shaking, and Ancel, your scout, continued to tell "It is a cursed place messire ! Flee before we are changed into goats, into pig's shit or into nun's asses". To be honest, you would have been the first in a tomb if you knew that there were no traps, simply imaginary ghosts or real englishmen trying to hide here to raid the rear of your armies but dying from falling in a pit with spikes ? Or from a hidden crossbow ? That was no death worthy of a knight. You had to send someone before you, you would walk just after them and cut down anything dangerous. After all, there were women to protect.

>Send the young shepherd, he seems to be a good candidate for a live bait.
>Send Ancel, he is crafty and clever.
>Send the woodsman, he seems to be a brave lad and with his axe he could try to split the door if he can't open it.
>Other (write in)

>>5715835
>Send the young shepherd, he seems to be a good candidate for a live bait.
And his dog. It seems... Right, somehow.

>>5715835
>Send Ancel, he is crafty and clever.

>>5715835
>>Send the young shepherd, he seems to be a good candidate for a live bait.

>>5715853
support

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>>5715853
>>5715864
>>5715950
>>5715983

You ordered to send the young shepherd, and his dog, forward. He first refused and tried to implore you but when you told one of your guardsmen to whip him ten times if he continued to whine he decided to go forward. The red haired girl even told him that there was no traps behind the door and he had nothing to fear, even if it did not convince him he moved the bar that blocked it and entered inside.
Effectively, there was no trap and since the red haired girl was right Ancel did the sign of the cross and whispered at you.

-Messire, she is a witch I tell you, she brings us bad luck, she has red hair and knows the future ! Probably by boiling little children alive and...

-You have red hair too and sometimes you tell something true, when it is not about what you have stolen... So do not...

-But I am not dressed in purple messire, and my father does not own the place where the wood for this door was sawed ! I tell you she stole money to be dressed like this, she is a witch and a thief we should burn h... AAAAAH !

He screamed at the same time that the young man and his dog. They had seen a skeleton strapped in a niche somewhere here. You did the sign of the cross, not wanting to disturb the dead but it made clearly an impression on your men. The niche with the corpse was at the entrance of the small corridor while there were it was divided in two branches going sideways. Where to go ? Left or right. While your men began to light some torches since everything was dark the young lumberjack told you discreetly.

-May I suggest you that we split up, my lord. To find more clues ?

>Yes, it is a good idea indeed. Let us do that. Godefroi, Bohémond lead those who go to the left, take two men, the shepherd and the dog. The rest follow me to the right.
>Yes, it is a good idea indeed. Let us do that. Godefroi, Bohémond lead those who go to the right, take two men, the shepherd and the dog. The rest follow me to the left.
>No, we would be easier to kill if we are not together. Let us all go to the left.
>No, we would be easier to kill if we are not together, let us all go to the right.
>Other (write in)

===

It is a rather short update so I will try to update this evening if I have enough answers.

>>5716210
>>Yes, it is a good idea indeed. Let us do that. Godefroi, Bohémond lead those who go to the left, take two men, the shepherd and the dog. The rest follow me to the right.

>>5716210
>Yes, it is a good idea
>Send Ancel with Godefroi and Bohemond, the shepherd and dog, and blonde lumberjack
>We will go left with the others
Let Ancel travel with the other cowards, whike we get to better understand the peadant women, hon hon.

>>5716210
>>Yes, it is a good idea indeed. Let us do that. Godefroi, Bohémond lead those who go to the left, take two men, the shepherd and the dog. The rest follow me to the right.

>>5716232
Support

>>5716232
Support

>>5716215

>>5716232
This man does not fear nor battles nor smallpox like his two brave companions that supported him.

>>5716314
>>5716331
>>5716350

You thought about it one second. You were still not married, and your lovely lady was far away. Plus your kind Stacy was too shocked of having been knocked out and attached to be of great use. Of course you took care to not be demanding and even if you hugged her sometimes and that she told that she was not afraid with a brave knight like you around she was not in the mood for a more physical kind of love, and after your near death experience and the revelations of the plots of your enemies you had no time for it. So spending some time now with a beautiful young woman was an interesting prospect for you, and even if a tomb potentially full of deadly traps was not the best place for it. You ordered.

-We will split up, take the right, Bohémond, Godefroi, I give you Ancel and the rest. Notseen and Notheard, come with me, and take the damsels with you, do not worry young ladies, with me you shall be safe. Notheard, you have a torch, take the lead.

It was two of your most discreet guards nodded, the beardless one took a torch and with a quite fearful "Yes my lord" he advanced. The lumberjack looked at you like he was upset, after all he probably wanted to be with the women, but what could he do, he was a young lumberjack and you were a lord, and a more experienced man who had still good looks, if you judged by the way the red haired girl looked at you. But it was normal, a man could be well seen by the fair sex until his early thirties while a woman was already old at twenty years old, even if older meant more experienced, yet not to the point taken by a burgher of Amiens called Emmanuel who you saw once with what you supposed was his grandmother but was his wife, the vision made you fearful since. Since the corridor seemed to go in a circle you decided to talk a little bit.

-So, ladies, you wanted to run around like those armed vagrants and visit old tombs, how is your first impression of it ?

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>>5716646

Curiously instead of being afraid, or maybe to show that they were courageous both ladies giggled. You ignored the answer of the brunette who told something about "an exciting mystery" and that "we should see who had a donkey or a cart in the village". She was ugly and already infirm, needed besicles, at her young age. The other one tried to impress you, you knew these kind of girls, daughters of rich peasants, and merchants, were always dreaming of a knight, they had the luxurious tastes of noblewomen but not the grace nor the culture of them. It is why you never married them, and often they were not preserved by some kind of physical labor and became fat afterwards, like their burgher husbands, an ugly people for an ugly function in society. But this girl was one of the beautiful ones, who wanted, on the contrary, to learn and to impress a bit, and she decided to impress you by her recklessness, probably tying it to something that a knight would appreciate.

-You know my lord, if you brought us to make us afraid, I am not. And I am sure that this ghost isn't real.

She giggled at the end and you looked at her impressed before bumping into Notheard. You quickly turned around to tell him.

-By the beard of Saint Jacques, why do you, damned dog, have stopped ?

-I saw a strange stone my lord. Look, it seems to not be connected to the rest... We should be careful not to march on it...

You looked at it, your two guardsmen and the girls, the half blind one telling.

-It looks like something that I saw in a book... But is it repaired.

The red haired lady, looking at it, decided that it was nothing and told.

-I am sure that it is not, and maybe it will open a hidden door. Look.

And she marched on it, before you could catch her to stop her. Effectively, there was a hidden door, right under the careless girl, you heard a "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" and a kind of huge splash. She seemed to have fallen in water. You told.

-Do someone has a rope ? And, are you wounded ?

You preferred the maybe sinister "are you wounded" to the more common "is everything alright" because asking someone if everything was alright when he fell in a kind of well were not the wisest words that someone could pronounce. You heard her deformed voice, she seemed to call.

-Help...

Looking with a torch to the thing you saw that she fell into a quite high well, a devious trap if there was one. None of your men had ropes, it seemed that you had to rescue a damsel in distress. You asked her bespectacled friend.

-Does she knows how to swim ?

The other one looked quite panicked and could only mutter.

-I hope...

And now you had a damsel in distress to rescue. One part of you wanted to curse her for throwing herself more stupidly into danger than a just knighted squire, but another part of you remembered that she wanted to become an armed vagrant and that could tell a lot about her personality.

>>5716649

>Order your men to untie their belts, untie yours too, by attaching them you could maybe make a makeshift rope.
>Call those who turned towards the right for help.
>Inspect the mechanism that made her fall here.
>Other (write in)

>>5716650
>Order your men to untie their belts, untie yours too, by attaching them you could maybe make a makeshift rope.
What do we know of diabolical mechanisms? A knight rescues damsels!

Though... If she floats... Does that not prove she is a witch, as Ansel feared?

>>5716650
>>Inspect the mechanism that made her fall here.

>>5716650
>>Inspect the mechanism that made her fall here.

>>5716650
>Order your men to untie their belts, untie yours too, by attaching them you could maybe make a makeshift rope.

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>>5716657
Well said, of course.

>>5716684
>>5716896
>>5716949

You decided to inspect the mechanism, looking at it like it would help your damsel in distress. You heard her screaming and the brunette was telling.

-What to do ? What to do ? What are you looking at ?

You ignored everything about mechanisms, she was not wrong, you could not determine how this worked. Fortunately she told.

-It only opens a trapdoor and she fell into it ! We need help, before she drowns ! Help us ! Help !

Your men tried to look into the well, but you only faintly saw the red haired girl who tried to swim. You decided to take the matter into your own hands, enough time had been lost.

-Soldiers, bring me your swordbelts.... Without the swords you dimwits. We will tie them together, to make a rope, she is light, it should work !

You began attaching it and it was in the middle of it that you saw Ancel, you asked him.

-What are you doing here ? You have not fled ?

He reddened and told, obviously lying.

-Messire ? Me ? Fleeing ? No, I was only trying to... To pee undisturbed outside, I did not want to disturb a resting place and... Why are you scream...

Histerically the orange clad brunette threw herself unto him and began to shake him like a tree with fruits. Telling him severely.

-Why do we scream ? My friend is dying ! She is drowning ! Don't you see ! She tries to swim ! She fell into a trap ! A well, here ! Could you not.

Ancel did the sign of the cross, while still held by the terrified bespectacled girl.

-She floats ?!? And is a redhead ! And dresses in purple ! SHE IS A WITCH ! It is diabolical ! And you too probably since you know how to read ! Aaaah ! Do not approach me.

And with this he pushed her, she was smaller than him and surprised, so under the push she recoiled one, two, three steps and... And her foot found the emptiness over the well before she fell right into it with a cry. You were still tying your belts together while you did it when you heard a great splash and some cries. Furious you screamed.

-ANCEL ! What did you do ? You ass ! What gave me such an inbred idiot as a scout ! We had one damsel in distress now we have two ! Are you still alive ladies ?

Some cries came from the well but between the cries for help of your guards and the mutterings of Ancel about "noblemen's ingratitude when we save them from a curse because the one casting the curse has tits" you could not hear anything. You asked Notheard.

-Have you heard something ?

-Nothing my lord.

You then turned towards your other men, Notseem simply shook his shoulders, trying to put his torch into the well to see the girls while Ancel told.

-I think that they are saying that they are already wounded and lost and that we should continue without them.

>>5716963

You looked at him, sighting strongly and heard other unintelligible screams before throwing the tied belts into the well. Unfortunately it was too short, it had gone only to one half of it's lenght. You heard more cries and told.

-Continue to try to stay on the surface ladies, we will remove you from here !

You tried to see if you could find something useful here but no, nothing useful around, only stone walls, while you heard some more cries from below and Ancel assured you.

-They say that they suffer and they want us to throw big rocks on their head to put an end to their suffering.

You sighed strongly and.

>Ask Ancel to bring help.
>Push Ancel into the well.
>Tell Ancel to give his belt, then tell your men to hold you while you will go into the well with the four belts attached as a rope and try to catch one of the girls.
>Send a guardsman to bring you help.
>Go fetch some help yourself from the rest of your men.
>Other (write in)

>>5716964
>>Tell Ancel to give his belt, then tell your men to hold you while you will go into the well with the four belts attached as a rope and try to catch one of the girls.
lmao wtf Ancel

>>5716964
>Tell Ancel to give his belt, then tell your men to hold you while you will go into the well with the four belts attached as a rope and try to catch one of the girls.
I love Ancel

>>5716964
>>Push Ancel into the well.

>>5716964
>Tell Ancel to give his belt, then tell your men to hold you while you will go into the well with the four belts attached as a rope and try to catch one of the girls.
>Send a guardsman to bring you help.
Might need more belts.
Ancel is in a foul mood. We must redouble the beatings and cut down on his meat.

>>5716964
>Tell Ancel to give his belt, then tell your men to hold you while you will go into the well with the four belts attached as a rope and try to catch one of the girls.

>>5716964
>>Tell Ancel to give his belt, then tell your men to hold you while you will go into the well with the four belts attached as a rope and try to catch one of the girls.

We should lower Ancel down instead kek

>>5717350
Ancel will only kick, and scream, and maybe drown the girls because he thinks they're witches.

>>5716964
>Tell Ancel to give his belt, then tell your men to hold you while you will go into the well with the four belts attached as a rope and try to catch one of the girls.

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>>5716983
>>5717013


>>5717020

>>5717034
Intelligent man here, a true Philippe de Poitiers. And I agree, Ancel, like many old family servants becomes too accustomed to his habits and behaves with indiscipline. You must remind him who is the lord here.

>>5717077

>>5717350
>>5717370
True, completely true.

>>5717500

You ordered Ancel to tie his swordbelt to yours and to help you descend down here. With three men pulling the belts you could try to go down and catch one of the girls.
After a short while it was done and you began to descend it like a rope when you scaled walls. Unfortunately, the rope was short. With three long sword belts it was half length towards the end of the well, with Ancel's belt you still had not enough length to take the hand of one of the girls, you tried to even tell one to grab your foot to use all the length of your body and your arms but it was not enough, and their hands were too short and too soaked to not be slippery if they managed to lightly touch the walls just near you, the two girls tried to catch you but the weight of their dresses brought them more and more towards the depths, finally you saw one of them weakening you tried to tell her.

-Grab me... Try to...

>>5717782

They cried and tried to do it but one of them, the brunette, who was less athletic than the other began to drown, her friend tried to help her but she had trouble to swim too and you saw her disappear under the water. You tried to help, to do something but you had to admit your powerlessness. You saw her sink and could do absolutely nothing, as in the worst times of the wars that you knew.
You see, a man at arms or another kind of armed peasant not raised in a cult of chivalric bravery would fear for his life. Of course a knight would fear for his life too but he will control this fear and understand that glory and honor are more important. No, what any man feared at war was seeing his companions dying without being able to do anything. What you loved in war, because it was normally something pleasant, was that you could fight, loot, drink and take a good time doing glorious and amusing activities, you see, your actions determined your fate, it was a time of power, even for lowly peasants like Ancel when they could steal chickens from other filthy peasants without consequences. Hey, even at battle, your actions, be it trying to find the most glorious enemy, or staying behind the line like a coward, had consequences and if let us say, a Barrois or an English knight broke your head with a mace you would be dead but it would be, if he was honorable, in a melee combat, one on one, by hitting you from the front and besting you honestly, you could blame only yourself. Factually, you choose your life or your death and the life of the death of others. But when an illness struck the camp, or an arrow struck an honest man, you could do nothing to protect him, just like you could do nothing to save these girls, you saw them dying, before you, without any way to help. And seeing this filled you with sadness. The brunette had already drowned and the red haired girl, more by determination than by witchcraft tried to stay on the surface but when she saw her friend drowning she began to despair, cry and almost swallowed some water. You had to take a quick decision or you will have two dead girls on your conscience soon.

>Jump into the water even if you are not a good swimmer and try to save the girl who is under the surface.
>Jump into the water even if you are not a good swimmer and try to save the girl who is still afloat
>Order your men to bring you back on the surface and call for help, you need more belts.
>Other (write in)

>>5717784
>>Jump into the water even if you are not a good swimmer and try to save the girl who is under the surface.

>>5717784
>Jump into the water even if you are not a good swimmer and try to save the girl who is still afloat
She is more beautiful anyway, non?

>>5717784
>>Jump into the water even if you are not a good swimmer and try to save the girl who is under the surface.
A true knight does indeed help those truly in need.

>>5717784
>>Jump into the water even if you are not a good swimmer and try to save the girl who is under the surface.

>>5717784
>>Jump into the water even if you are not a good swimmer and try to save the girl who is under the surface.
Well she can't be a witch if she's drowning

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>>5717791
>>5717847
>>5717918
>>5718016
>>5718176

Even if she was the ugliest one the brunette was a damsel in distress and you were a knight. A knight always must try to help a damsel in distress even the daughter of a merchant. Not thinking anything you jumped into the black water, seeing nothing under you, and tried to catch the girl. All your clothes, even if you had removed the justaucorps and the pourpoint and were simply with a linen tunic, and your boots were trying to drag you under the water. You saw the redhead panicking and trying to stay on the surface, visibly with difficulty but you simply tried to jump to the bespectacled one. Once under the water you saw nothing, but if it was deep the well was not too big and you hoped to find something, just any part of the girl that you wanted to save.
You tried to grab anything but found only cold stone and had trouble staying on the surface. You saw practically nothing in this deep dark and the water was glacial, dulling your senses of anything but the cold. You were never a great swimmer, a child of the Champagne plains you had not many occasions to swim in a pond. Of course you knew how to swim, having to do it from time to time but you were not some Norman, Breton or Genoese as comfortable on the sea as on land. No, plunging, especially quite deep, was hard and you tried to get to the drowning girl with all your strength.
You tried to dive deep, probably deeper that you ever had in your life since the ponds near your castle were maximum as deep as one man and half, and found nothing. The girl was probably even deeper underwater and she was descending to the deeps of this pit at each lost moment. You came back to the surface, using the mossy wall to help you and dived once more into this complete darkness. You were cold, you were not sure if you could do anything but it was the right thing to do.

>Roll a d100 (I will take the average of the first 3 rolls as a result)

>1-5 : you manage to get the girl back to the surface
>6-30 : you manage with difficulty to get the girl to the surface.
>31-50 : you manage to get to the girl but not to swim to the surface with her
>51-75 : you find nothing, she is already in the dark
>76-80 : The other girl drowns while you fail to save the first, you can try to save her too.
>81-100 : you do not manage to get back into the surface, you die drowned like the Emperor Barbarossa on crusade.

About your possible death : I was thinking of doing some kind of "fate point" for 50 piety but at the same time such a stupid death could be very funny in this kind of fantasy mudcore quest (main character drowned during a side quest) so I do not know.
A cynical part of me would say that it will give me more free time to not have to write an update each day but another part of me woes that you should die the day when I finished my entry exam for a foreign university and so I shall have a lot free time to write from now on.
So be kind please, do not drown good sirs !

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Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>5719344
It can't end like this.

Rolled 72 (1d100)

>>5719344
oh no

we need a 35 or lower

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>5719344

fear not

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>5719344

>>5719440
Well it's a good thing my roll do not count

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>>5719441
No difference, actually. If you'd been third roll, average would be 68. As it is, 66. Either way...
>51-75 : you find nothing, she is already in the dark
Jinkies.

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>>5719363
Fortunately you are alive... For now...

>>5719369
>>5719407
>>5719440

>>5719441

>>5719444
I wanted to write Jinkies too if you saved her... But well, at least it is like any good game with a dungeon and monsters, it begins like a Scooby Doo with an investigation and it ends in death and tears.

====

You tried to dive deeper and deeper, stirring the water with your and in a faint hope that you would find something, you saw nothing, you were freezing, but despite all your efforts you found nothing but the mossy walls of this pit. You then felt an urge to breathe and had only the time to propel yourself to the surface before trying to breathe. You swallowed some water and tried to stay on the surface, you tried to catch the wall but it was mossy and you had to stir the water around you and try to swim to stay on the surface, your muscles were numbed by the cold and your clothes made you slower. You managed to save keep your head from the surface and cried for help, your cry being half heard since you coughed some water. You then remarked that your deep baritone voice was alone in screaming for help, where was the nice soprano of your red haired co-explorator ? You sensed, in the complete obscurity that she was near you, you tried to touch her and told.

-Hey, my sweet are...

Nothing answered and you saw that her hand was the only part of her body above the water, she must have been unable to stay afloat for so long. Hearing only your chivalric instinct you even if you were tired, dived and took her under the arm, bringing her towards the surface. Once there she began to cough, she had swallowed water and had no strength left to try to fight for her life. You tried to tell her.

-Try to swim, you seem to know how.. I...

You both ended under the water with no time to say "HELP" since with only one hand you had trouble to keep both of you afloat and the girl had not the strength to help. With a great effort and a help from the wall you managed to bring you both to the surface. The cold bite at you and you felt your strenght declining and declining. You still screamed.

-HELP ! HELP YOU DAMNED BASTARDS UP THERE !

>>5719452

Fortunately you heard the voice of your brave Ancel, who was screaming with all his lungs from a small point of light up from here.

-MESSIRE ! OH ! BEWARE THE WITCHES ! WE ARE COMING ! WE HAVE SENT SOMEONE TO BRING MORE BELTS OR ROPES ! HOLD ON MESSIRE !

Holding fast, holding fast... It meant that they would need several minutes before tying the belts and helping you. Each second seemed to be an eternity and you knew that the poor girl was absolutely unable to help you, she even was an hindrance to your salvation since helping her occupied one of your arms and she was a small but important weight to keep afloat. A small voice inside your head told you that if she floated for so long she was probably a witch anyway and she would not be a great loss, while the loss of the Lord of Local would be a tragedy for all the people. Isn't it ?

>What is this devilry ? A part of you calls for cowardice ? You are a knight, you swore to protect the widows and orphans, and innocent damsels with soft breasts that you can feel while you keep her above the water. Who would you be if you put your life before a lady's ? With strength in your arms and a prayer on your lips you will hold. You have sworn vows and a nobleman is only as worth as his worth. (Harder roll)
>She is a peasant girl, even if from a rich peasant... And she wanted to join armed vagrants, and truely, this red hair, and this suspiciously long time afloat... She might be a witch... Maybe she is exhausted because she has exhausted her magic ? And you could not die here... No, you were too important for that, what would Rose think ? And your companions ? And poor Oldfossil ? That you died in this cave trying to help the girl, let us say that she drowned, you tried hard to help but it was too late. If she dies here she will not die of smallpox in one or two years anyway. (Easier roll)
>Other (write in)

Roll a new d100 to survive until help arrives, jumping here was not a very good idea indeed.

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>5719453
>She is a peasant girl, even if from a rich peasant... And she wanted to join armed vagrants, and truely, this red hair, and this suspiciously long time afloat... She might be a witch... Maybe she is exhausted because she has exhausted her magic ? And you could not die here... No, you were too important for that, what would Rose think ? And your companions ? And poor Oldfossil ? That you died in this cave trying to help the girl, let us say that she drowned, you tried hard to help but it was too late. If she dies here she will not die of smallpox in one or two years anyway. (Easier roll)

>>5719453

Of course, I forgot to tell but as always I will take the average of the first three rolls.

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>5719453
>>She is a peasant girl, even if from a rich peasant... And she wanted to join armed vagrants, and truely, this red hair, and this suspiciously long time afloat... She might be a witch... Maybe she is exhausted because she has exhausted her magic ? And you could not die here... No, you were too important for that, what would Rose think ? And your companions ? And poor Oldfossil ? That you died in this cave trying to help the girl, let us say that she drowned, you tried hard to help but it was too late. If she dies here she will not die of smallpox in one or two years anyway. (Easier roll)

Rolled 25 (1d100)

>>5719453
>What is this devilry ? A part of you calls for cowardice ? You are a knight, you swore to protect the widows and orphans, and innocent damsels with soft breasts that you can feel while you keep her above the water. Who would you be if you put your life before a lady's ? With strength in your arms and a prayer on your lips you will hold. You have sworn vows and a nobleman is only as worth as his worth. (Harder roll)

>>5719471
>>5719506
>>5719731

It makes an average of 49, a good score, I will try to answer in the evening.

I say we need, as a based male and a based knight, more women for our sake. The second lady may not be of high birth, but she will have to do ! Are we men, or are we scholars ? We must not let our brain decide, let us listen to our balls, and get the two ladies. Better drown than messing up this opportunity

>>5719453
>What is this devilry ? A part of you calls for cowardice ? You are a knight, you swore to protect the widows and orphans, and innocent damsels with soft breasts that you can feel while you keep her above the water. Who would you be if you put your life before a lady's ? With strength in your arms and a prayer on your lips you will hold. You have sworn vows and a nobleman is only as worth as his worth. (Harder roll)
Charles may be many things but I do not believe he is a bad person, I believe this would weigh on his mind

>>5719923
He is also not a coward

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>>5719471
>>5719506
>>5719731
>>5719739
>>5719855
I suppose that it counts as a vote to save the lady ?

>>5719923
>>5720168
I agree with you, he is at the same time bigoted, superstitious and illiterate but he is far more brave and capable of putting himself in danger for others than the average modern man.

====

The freezing water menaced to drown you, you tried desperately to hold the girl with your left arm and to stay afloat by moving your arms and legs, hoping to heat them a bit by doing it but you understood that you expanded energy far too quickly at this pace. You then looked at the half frozen girl that you held. She was not heavy but took one of your arms when you had trouble to stay afloat. You thought, one instant, to let her down, to save your precious life at the expense of a peasant girl, after all she would probably die in childbirth or of an illness in some years and a part of you suspected her of witchcraft for staying afloat so long. You tried to shake her an instant but nothing, no way to get her to move more than a bit. This voice in your head telling you to abandon her grew stronger and stronger until you felt shame.
How could you think such thing ? How could you bargain for your life like some merchant in a besieged city ? Risking your life and protecting your people was your role, as a Lord. Maybe it was stupid to jump in this well but you already failed to save a girl, no way you would kill the other. What would it make you if even with this you would die ? You would be a murderer, a coward, how will the Lord and your ancestors look at you once you are in paradise... If you even were in paradise after such a cowardly act.
And damn it, protecting the widow and orphan was the role of a knight, you had sworn vows, you had to uphold them. Of course the peasants were stupid, unwashed, or in the case of this lady they preferred to take their baths cold, you chuckled to yourself, but they were your people, your subjects and you had to take care of them like a father of his children. To be harsh but fair and to be ready to defend them.
You surged with all your strength and stayed afloat, even if at a moment your face was under the water and you almost swallowed some you held fast. Your arms ached, your legs ached, but you had seen worse during many battles and trainings, you will hold fast, ignoring the cold, ignoring the dark, ignoring the water you held the girl above it and flailed your arms and legs.