Feudal Quest

[Jiven]

[X] Find an excuse to do more research on her. As malleable as her powers seem to be, you might find some interesting possibilities.
-[X]However, warn Dita about this weakness- as priestess, it's something she should be aware of.
[X] You'll keep the Chosen here and finish off the other haunt as efficiently as possible. No need to waste time on haunts when you have a million other things to do.
[X] Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

Frankly, this is pretty much in line with my current goal: creating an organized Chuch of Inovia.

 

[megrisvernin]

[X] Find an excuse to do more research on her. As malleable as her powers seem to be, you might find some interesting possibilities.
-[X]However, warn Dita about this weakness- as priestess, it's something she should be aware of.
[X] You'll keep the Chosen here and finish off the other haunt as efficiently as possible. No need to waste time on haunts when you have a million other things to do.
[X] Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

 

[fitzgerald]

Frankly, this is pretty much in line with my current goal: creating an organized Chuch of Inovia.

Click to shrink...

Jiven do remember that our Uncles attempts at doing so got him and his Inovian wife killed on trumped up Witchcraft charges by our Grandfather

 

[Thomasfoolery]

Am I reading correctly that the people voting to do more research want to tell Dita but keep it a secret from Emma?

 

[Arkeus]

Am I reading correctly that the people voting to do more research want to tell Dita but keep it a secret from Emma?

Click to shrink...

Not for me- myself, it's a "i prefer telling Emma though i don't really care either way, but Dita must be told. Also, research is cool".

Basically, while i strongly believe Dominic could totally tell Emma and continue his research as he is diplomatic enough for making sure Emma trust him enough, especially as he told her, the real important point is telling Dita: Telling Emma won't help the Chosen beside herself, while telling Dita may help lots of Chosen.

EDIT:

Also, as a Priestess, Dita is going to be in a position of authority, so it makes sense not to go over hear head for this. She is going to have to get used to making decisions as well as having knowledge to pass on to the chosen, amongst other things. The earlier she understand this the better. Beside, her telling her Chosen this will increase her credibility with them.

 

[fitzgerald]

Am I reading correctly that the people voting to do more research want to tell Dita but keep it a secret from Emma?

Click to shrink...

More that we are telling Dita (a priestess of Inovia) to spread the word to all the Choosen

 

[Thomasfoolery]

Alright that's fine then, just wanted to make sure there wasn't an expectation of Dita keeping it a secret from Emma. I will say that telling Emma ourselves will likely make her more amenable to further research though. She seems pretty laid back so as long as she considers us trustworthy we probably don't need an excuse.

 

[Jiven]

Jiven do remember that our Uncles attempts at doing so got him and his Inovian wife killed on trumped up Witchcraft charges by our Grandfather

Click to shrink...

Of course I remember! Doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

 

[Falconis]

Not sure if we should be sending the chosen on. The well seemed to me to be the more difficult of the two to undertake since the heart is likely in a place we can't reach without directly confronting the tentacles.

[X] Find an excuse to do more research on her. As malleable as her powers seem to be, you might find some interesting possibilities.
-[X]However, warn Dita about this weakness- as priestess, it's something she should be aware of.
[X] You'll keep the Chosen here and finish off the other haunt as efficiently as possible. No need to waste time on haunts when you have a million other things to do.
[X] Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

The rest stop is something I wanted to suggest either way, as it gives us potential for several deals in the future with the chosen and helps us with Dita.
With any luck we can use her priestess status to change Inova's mind on some matters as we enlighten her to the plight of her chosen. (and perhaps secure some blanket blessings on our keep/lands)

 

[ShaperV]

The Cleansing of Corzu Pt 4

[X] Find an excuse to do more research on her. As malleable as her powers seem to be, you might find some interesting possibilities.
-[X]However, warn Dita about this weakness- as priestess, it's something she should be aware of.
[X] You'll keep the Chosen here and finish off the other haunt as efficiently as possible. No need to waste time on haunts when you have a million other things to do.
[X] Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

As you've already noticed Emma is pretty laid back about being used for research. She doesn't mind if you stop to scan her again now and then while you're out adventuring. Dita is a bit concerned about your discovery, and asks you to let her know if your continued investigation turns up any other interesting tidbits.

Dark moon well proves to be a little bit more challenging than three bells tower, but not much. Between Dita's light, and your and Katiana's fire magic, the tentacles have trouble getting close enough to anyone to do damage. The two Chosen rather gleefully hold the tentacles off with flaming torches while you attempt to determine where the heart of the haunt is. Peering into the well Kat and Dita are fairly confident that the water itself is the source of the tentacles.

But how the heck do you destroy a body of water?

Inge peers into the well. "Would freezing it work?"

"I think so," Kat replies. "But how?"

Inga steps back into Dita's light, setting her torch aside so she can cup her hands together. She chants briefly in some barbarian tongue, and a snowflake the size of a saucer forms out of nowhere. She hops up on the lip of the well, nimbly avoiding several questing tentacles, and drops it in.

You hear a sharp crack from below, and frost suddenly covers the well and surrounding ground. The tentacles turn blue, and then dissolve into mist and vanish.

"The Winter Queen's favor," she smiles. "Useful."

Uh huh. Well, at least now the haunt can't fight back while you spend the rest of the day digging up all the ice and tossing the chunks in a bonfire. By the time you're done Kat and Dita are sure the thing is actually dead.

With the haunts cleared, you can finally complete the ritual for establishing you regency over Corzu. Congratulations, you get to choose two benefits from the following list:

[ ] +1 to a stat while in Corzu
- Pick which stat. Changing this will take several actions, so choose wisely.
[ ] Maintain the +1 stat bonus while in neighboring lands
[ ] Heal at 2x normal speed while in Corzu
[ ] Sense supernatural evil within 1 mile while in Corzu

No, you can't pick the same thing twice.

With the completion of the Cleansing of Corzu adventure you gain:

+1/9 Flesh Sorcery
+1/9 Leadership
+1/16 Swordsmanship
+1/9 Tactics
+Flesh Sorcery Technique: rapid healing (2x normal speed)
+Hidden Lore: Chosen Magic (will be added to Lore post once I've written it)

 

[Walkir]

[ ] +1 to a stat while in Corzu
- Pick which stat. Changing this will take several actions, so choose wisely.
Picking Charm 5 would allow us to get charm & soul 5 way easier.

[ ] Maintain the +1 stat bonus while in neighboring lands
A home advantage in diplomacy would be nice, especially as we can't hope to only negotiate at home. It also replaces 25 training actions instead of the 16 picking one at 4 would take.

[ ] Heal at 2x normal speed while in Corzu
Nice to have.

[ ] Sense supernatural evil within 1 mile while in Corzu
Would actually be a good thing in helping to protect Corzu.

My vote:
[X] +1 to Charm while in Corzu
[X] Sense supernatural evil within 1 mile while in Corzu

 

[Jiven]

That was a formality, I guess. Now we can finish the month.

[X] +1 to a stat while in Corzu
- Soul, we want to be able to develop some Soul 5 spells later.
[X] Sense supernatural evil within 1 mile while in Corzu

EDIT:

Picking Charm 5 would allow us to get charm & soul 5 way easier.

Click to shrink...

What do you mean ?

 

[Arkeus]

[X] +1 to a stat while in Corzu
- Soul

EDIT:
[X] Sense supernatural evil within 1 mile while in Corzu

This is probably the one that will have the most effect, as it will greatly help any magical tinkering and growth of Dominic in the next few years. As magic could theoretically increase Charm (we already know of at least one spell that does that, and there are probably others in Fire), i am more than satisfied with not improving our charm more than what it is currently.

Soul seems to me like the biggest one when it comes to multipliers.

'Detecting evil' is also sort of interesting, especially as Dita will be targeted, but i feel like there isn't yet a real need for this, and magic might be able to give us warning.

[ ] +1 to a stat while in Corzu
- Pick which stat. Changing this will take several actions, so choose wisely.
Picking Charm 5 would allow us to get charm & soul 5 way easier.

Click to shrink...

Not really- Flesh magic can grant permanent Charm stat boosts, and fire magic seems to be able to create temporary ones. Also, while Charm would help, any meeting with nobles far from Corzu (Say, Kolovaro, or the Crown Fief, etc etc) won't have this bonus, and Charm is mostly important for the big ass meeting with nobles.

 

[Walkir]

What do you mean ?

Click to shrink...

Picking a stat boost saves us a lot of training actions, and going from 4 to 5 a full 9 actions/3 turns if we did nothing else (which we obviously won't do) more than just going from 3 to 4.

 

[Jiven]

Picking a stat boost saves us a lot of training actions, and going from 4 to 5 a full 9 actions/3 turns if we did nothing else (which we obviously won't do) more than just going from 3 to 4.

Click to shrink...

Ah yes, I remember having the same problem with Exalted. I will modify my vote according to this.
Sadly, Charisma is a stat we will surely use out of Corzu, and Soul is useful for defending our homeground. At such, I prefer to keep the +1 Soul bonus.

 

[Thomasfoolery]

Those are some pretty nice boosts, especially considering that Corzu isn't all that big, I wonder what a sort of thing a Duchy's regency magic gets you. Somewhat sad we didn't try for the beast, but it was probably the smarter play not to go for it. Also kinda curious about what the winter queen is.

[X] +1 to Soul while in Corzu
[X] Sense supernatural evil within 1 mile while in Corzu

Kinda unsure about the stat point, but since I rather want body as our last permanent stat I'll go with this in the spirit of compromise.

Picking a stat boost saves us a lot of training actions, and going from 4 to 5 a full 9 actions/3 turns if we did nothing else (which we obviously won't do) more than just going from 3 to 4.

Click to shrink...

Not sure I'm following you, as you seem to be implying we can train stats, which we can't.

 

[Jiven]

Kinda unsure about the stat point, but since I rather want body as our last permanent stat I'll go with this in the spirit of compromise.

Click to shrink...

You obviously meant Charm 5 or Soul 5. The benefits are incommensurable.

 

[Thomasfoolery]

You obviously meant Charm 5 or Soul 5. The benefits are incommensurable.

Click to shrink...

Indeed they are, the sublime glory of swording things is on a much higher level than those plebeian pursuits.

 

[staplesdex2]

[X] +1 to a stat while in Corzu - Soul
[X] Maintain the +1 stat bonus while in neighboring lands

I'm hoping for Dominic to gain that end game tier magic to permanently increase Charm stat and force sorcery early.

 

[Arkeus]

Kinda unsure about the stat point, but since I rather want body as our last permanent stat I'll go with this in the spirit of compromise.

Click to shrink...

Indeed they are, the sublime glory of swording things is on a much higher level than those plebeian pursuits.

Click to shrink...

In the spirit of compromise i'll have Dominic get a permanent Body and Charm point from Flesh magic so that you and Walkir are happy with a Dominic with Body 4 (maybe more if we can get more permanent bonus from magic) and Charm 5. Obviously i'll have Dominic pump souls so that he'll immediately have Souls 5 in corzu, and soon Soul 6.

EDIT:
Edited my vote for having Detect Evil as the second boon, as it's more valuable than being able to fully use our bonus Soul point in neighboring fiefs just now.

 

[ShaperV]

Picking a stat boost saves us a lot of training actions, and going from 4 to 5 a full 9 actions/3 turns if we did nothing else (which we obviously won't do) more than just going from 3 to 4.

Click to shrink...

You can't improve stats with training, only skills.

Those are some pretty nice boosts, especially considering that Corzu isn't all that big, I wonder what a sort of thing a Duchy's regency magic gets you. Somewhat sad we didn't try for the beast, but it was probably the smarter play not to go for it. Also kinda curious about what the winter queen is.

Click to shrink...

Having a larger fief would allow you to have more regency magic benefits at the same time. Having a really big fief might actually let you get a larger bonus, but that would take something bigger than a barony. At least a duchy possibly whole kingdom.

Dominic has never heard of the Winter Queen before, but Emma can tell you the story. Apparently she's heard all about it from Inga over the course of their association. The Winter Queen is fantastically powerful ice sorceress who lives somewhere in northern Scandinavia. Some time ago Inga saved her from a.. a Dragon? Okaay then.

At any rate, in gratitude she bestowed on Inga the ability to call on a small portion of her magic from time to time. Normally that would be a fantastically difficult bit of magic, but after studying Emma you believe that the Chosen are actually relatively easy targets for that sort of thing.

 

[Arkeus]

Having a larger fief would allow you to have more regency magic benefits at the same time. Having a really big fief might actually let you get a larger bonus, but that would take something bigger than a barony. At least a duchy possibly whole kingdom.

Click to shrink...

This brings to mind a couple of questions about things said in the past:

Question 1: You once said that once we activated our regency we could access Regency Magic, which we could experiment with for better benefits. Does this still apply?

Question 2: There has been a lot of voting going down lately. Does the "conversation between us is what Dominic thinks and is how things are chosen, not votes" stated in the rules still apply?

Also, Inga definitely looks to be Epic Hero tier.

Edit:

Question 3: What is the impact of Inga having destroyed the demon's heart and freed the souls? Is the Demon actually greviously crippled for a long time? Are the freed souls going to be able to go to Gods/whatever now, and are priests going to learn of this happening? If so, what is a Priest's reaction to souls being freed like that?

 

[ShaperV]

Question 1: You once said that once we activated our regency we could access Regency Magic, which we could experiment with for better benefits. Does this still apply?

Click to shrink...

Yes now that you actually have a thief you can begin to research regency magic. You can research new permanent bonuses, like the ones you already have, or you can attempt to research regency spells to have more temporary effects on the contents of your fief. You can already see how to research spells to do things like affecting the mood of your population or drawing extra magic from your fief to power other spells. There are probably a lot of other things you could research, but that will take more time.

Question 2: There has been a lot of voting going down lately. Does the "conversation between us is what Dominic thinks and is how things are chosen, not votes" stated in the rules still apply?

Click to shrink...

I've found that calling for a vote on a particular issue is the best way to get a discussion about it going. So far the decision with the most votes has usually also been the one with the best arguments, presumably because the players are being influenced by the quality of arguments. However, I'm not necessarily relying on counting the exact number of votes to decide what Dominic does. If we have a split where the option with fewer votes actually has much better arguments for it I'm likely to have Dominic go with that regardless of the vote totals.

Also, Inga definitely looks to be Epic Hero tier.

Click to shrink...

Definitely.

Question 3: What is the impact of Inga having destroyed the demon's heart and freed the souls? Is the Demon actually greviously crippled for a long time? Are the freed souls going to be able to go to Gods/whatever now, and are priests going to learn of this happening? If so, what is a Priest's reaction to souls being freed like that?

Click to shrink...

From what you understand about demonic magic, demons actually gain power from the souls that they have imprisoned. So logically what Inga did should permanently weaken the demon, possibly even causing it to be demoted to a lower circle. Most like the souls of actually been able to go on to whatever their final reward might be, and the demon is going to be seriously weakened and won't be up to causing mischief for some time.

 

[ShaperV]

Deleted

 

[staplesdex2]

Can you give a specific example of what sort of regency magic could we research? What sort of game mechanics could be applied when doing said research?

 

[ShaperV]

Can you give a specific example of what sort of regency magic could we research? What sort of game mechanics could be applied when doing said research?

Click to shrink...

Regency magic is mostly good for making yourself stronger (by drawing energy from your fief), for gathering information about the state of your lands, or for subtly influencing the attitudes and mood of your citizens. Researching regency magic is going to work just like researching sorcery – you give me a general idea of what you want to achieve, have Dominic spend an action researching it, and I'll tell you what you invent.

 

[ShaperV]

Noble Schemes Pt 1

After finishing your adventure in cleansing Corzu and establishing your regency, you make your way up Eztergrom with the intention of meeting your aunt at Castle Pisch. However, there's an unexpected spectacle in the lake. A large metal object, which after a moment of staring you realize is a dwarven steamship, is floating offshore.

Asking about, you discover that a party of dwarves has arrived here bearing messages for the local barons from the Pharaoh of Egypt of all places. Apparently the Pharaoh has been impressed by the success of Western crusaders in cleansing Anatolia of the vampire menace, and he has decided to do the same in the upper Nile. He has issued a call for the heroes of Europe to travel to Egypt to join his forces as they prepare to march on the vampire lords of the upper Nile. Egypt has numerous heroes of its own, of course, as well as a mighty force of wizards and elite fighters, but the interior of Africa has been lost to the forces of evil since time immemorial and no one knows what you may encounter there.

The Pharaoh is also announcing that he intends to deprive the vampires of sustenance by resettling the population of their territories. While he is prepared to simply execute the unfortunate slaves of the vampires should this prove necessary, he hopes that the nations of Europe will consent to take in these refugees from foreign wars. He expects that his campaign will last for several years, and that there will probably be tens of thousands of refugees in need of resettling every year. He has made arrangements with the dwarves to deliver these refugees to whatever locations in Europe may prove willing to take them in.

So, you have two opportunities here. If you wish you can make arrangements to travel to Egypt and joined the crusade, either this year or next, for anything from a few months to several years. You may also speak to the dwarves about arranging to take in refugees, of whatever type and in whatever numbers you may desire. But the dwarves will only be here for a week or so, so if you want to take advantage of either of these opportunities you'll need to speak with them soon.

When you arrive at Castle Pisch you discover that your aunt is there as expected, but at first everyone is too busy speculating about the surprising news from abroad to spend much thought on the original topic of marriage alliances. Apparently the dwarves have been making their way upriver for the last several weeks bring this news to various nobles. You get the impression that a lot of nobles are considering going off to Egypt to join the fight, or at least sending their sons or a few champions. However, hardly anyone has any interest in taking in foreign refugees. After all, they're probably going to be a bunch of filthy savages, right?

Eventually the discussion does turn back to more urgent topics, however. As expected your aunt has several potential marriage prospects to bring to your attention, but she's also rather interested in hearing about the progress that you've made on that front yourself. Are you going to suggest any particular plan about who to marry and what alliances to form, or do you just discuss the pros and cons of the various possibilities with her in general terms?

 

[staplesdex2]

I think I'd like to have have refugees come in to our fief. They may have exotic knowledge with them and see if we could have them work for us. For a political front is it possible to show everyone i.e. the other nobles that Dominic is a bleeding heart and actually cares about others?

As for the marriage prospects it would be either Chesna or Ezti. Keep Kat away from our Aunt.

 

[Thomasfoolery]

Hmm, I think it would be really fun to participate in the crusade honestly, the problem is I'm worried if we do so we may come back to see our family in ruins considering this is a rather delicate time, there's also the more localized worries to be concerned about while we're gone. As for the refugees, eh, they could be useful but they also sound like a bit of a pain, maybe Kat knows a bit more about what the average quality we could expect from them is?

As for marriage, the plan I favor is to assassinate Rogtatica and marry Ezti, the problem is that I don't want to admit to planning an assassination, so without knowing that Ezti likely does not seem like a great choice from our Aunt's point of view. Another problem being of course that the assassination isn't a sure thing anyway, and it'll require quite a few actions gaining the skills necessary for it.

Also pity it seems the demon wasn't killed, I was optimistic after the previous post on the subject. Does that mean the chosen don't have holy fists after all?

 

[Arkeus]

Hmm, I think it would be really fun to participate in the crusade honestly, the problem is I'm worried if we do so we may come back to see our family in ruins considering this is a rather delicate time, there's also the more localized worries to be concerned about while we're gone.

Click to shrink...

It's a question of timing, really. On a personal level, we need our affairs in Corzu to be in order first. We are almost there, so that's ok. OTOH, going this year probably means that we won't be able to follow up the Ezti, Chesna, Nikolai and Rogatica plots unless we hurry the fuck up.

Beside growing stronger, the epic quest will possibly give us some really powerful alliances with the Egyptians- if we want to marry Kat, this is probably the best way to go. Likewise, being heavily allied with the Egyptian could give some real additional weight for when our king dies. If a lot of Berjora nobles also participate, we could make some more alliances there (or kill rivals).

As for the refugees, eh, they could be useful but they also sound like a bit of a pain, maybe Kat knows a bit more about what the average quality we could expect from them is?

Click to shrink...

Refugees are a solid plan if we want to stay in Corzu and conquer Rogatica/etc, as it gives us a lot of manpower that we know isn't allied with anyone else in Berjora. They also probably don't have the same bias against magic most do, so it could really help with that, too.

As for marriage, the plan I favor is to assassinate Rogtatica and marry Ezti, the problem is that I don't want to admit to planning an assassination, so without knowing that Ezti likely does not seem like a great choice from our Aunt's point of view. Another problem being of course that the assassination isn't a sure thing anyway, and it'll require quite a few actions gaining the skills necessary for it.

Click to shrink...

If we want to marry Ezti, this is a good time to talk about her to our Aunt- we could legitimately gai na Barony for our family, which is nothing to sneeze at, and it's almost certain our Aunt would be ready to help us get more troops/alliance to fend off Rogatica, or even invade it if it goes too far.

In no situations should we talk about marrying either Chesna or Dita, as both are out cousins and it's badly seen. Moreover, it could be seen by our aunt as trying to steal from her brother Pavel in Chesna's case.

So, anyway, here is what i am thinking: If we are positive about Ezti, now is the time to strike. If we aren't (i am not), now is a good time to talk about Ezti as being a possible plan, but one that needs more time to come to fruition because of Rogatica. This would help our Aunt make plan with us, possibly help us, but she will then also talk about other candidates.

I think that as long as we show her we have plans she will be satisfied- and we do have plans.

If we want to marry Kat, the "we need time for Ezti" diplomacy is probably the best bet, especially if we hint we have other prospects that we can't quite talk about yet.

As said, though, marrying Kat will probably be GREATLY helped by going on that Epic Quest, as it will give us a lot of personal alliances with Egypt and younger nobles.

I am personally in favor of convincing our Aunt that while we have plans we aren't quite sure of them yet, so she can still tell us of the other prospects. I like Ezti and Kat quite a bit, but i don't want to get hasty about marrying. This should be done with care.

EDIT:

I am also in favor of taking refugees, but not going to the crusade right now, as i don't want to give up on making something of our fief. Sure, we could convince Ezti to marry Rogatica, secure an alliance there, and then give up on the Nikolai thread after we get Chesna to her Debute (unless we manage to do it real fast), but i feel this will just make a slightly better Pavel out of us, someone who is able to get alliances but not really went as far as he could to find power and influence in his own kingdom.

...I also don't want to leave Ezti to Rogatica, or Chesna to Nikolai's tender mercies.