Let's play a role-playing game

[tdn]

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but we’ve now reached a new phase of the game.

I have no direction to point you guys in. I know what happened to you (and the kingdom), but it’s up to you to find clues and evidence. If you come up with reasonable ideas, I’ll be sure to give out appropriate clues as they come up. But I haven’t planned anything like “If you find the magic key in the Castle Arrrrrghhh, then take it to the dragon’s lair, then open the third door on the right, you’ll find the treasure.”

I see two options right now. One, stay in the keep, and two, go somewhere. You might come up with a third option that I haven’t thought of. The only reason to stay that I can think of is to ask Chimin or Myrtis more questions. The only place that you’ve come up with to visit is Caleme, seat of the Archbishop. You could also go to Kobing, but that’s pretty far. You could go to Conwan’s keep. You could go to Tashal, the big city. You could go to Olokand, traditional summer home of the king. Or you could go to any other place you desire.

But pretty much no matter where you go, I’ll make sure that stuff happens to you. Hopefully, some of it will be good.

Here’s a thought that I had: Being that there is no postal service, men of wealth often hire messengers to run letters between strongholds. If you could find out what messengers have been in and out of certain places, you might get an idea of who has been talking to whom. Of course, the messengers might be pretty tight-lipped.

[Koldanar]

@tdn

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but we’ve now reached a new phase of the game.

I have no direction to point you guys in. I know what happened to you (and the kingdom), but it’s up to you to find clues and evidence. If you come up with reasonable ideas, I’ll be sure to give out appropriate clues as they come up. But I haven’t planned anything like “If you find the magic key in the Castle Arrrrrghhh, then take it to the dragon’s lair, then open the third door on the right, you’ll find the treasure.”

I see two options right now. One, stay in the keep, and two, go somewhere. You might come up with a third option that I haven’t thought of. The only reason to stay that I can think of is to ask Chimin or Myrtis more questions. The only place that you’ve come up with to visit is Caleme, seat of the Archbishop. You could also go to Kobing, but that’s pretty far. You could go to Conwan’s keep. You could go to Tashal, the big city. You could go to Olokand, traditional summer home of the king. Or you could go to any other place you desire.

But pretty much no matter where you go, I’ll make sure that stuff happens to you. Hopefully, some of it will be good.

Here’s a thought that I had: Being that there is no postal service, men of wealth often hire messengers to run letters between strongholds. If you could find out what messengers have been in and out of certain places, you might get an idea of who has been talking to whom. Of course, the messengers might be pretty tight-lipped.

Bishop NAF, I’m all for following what sounds like an imperative from your own God. If you had reason enough to have a vision about this, then it must be important to you (and by proxy perhaps all of you) in some way. I would push for us to go there.

Perhaps, along the way, you could show me how to behave in a city? I’m tired of this barbarian crap around your people.

[NAF1138]

@Koldanar

Bishop NAF, I’m all for following what sounds like an imperative from your own God. If you had reason enough to have a vision about this, then it must be important to you (and by proxy perhaps all of you) in some way. I would push for us to go there.

Perhaps, along the way, you could show me how to behave in a city? I’m tired of this barbarian crap around your people.

Of course, we will help you as we can. Not that we know much more than you do at the moment. I suggest you talk to the lord of the keep before we leave as well to get some detailed explinations of etiquette.

I like our GM’s suggestion of finding out about messengers, but I don’t think we will get anywhere if we don’t get out and start doing.

tdn, is there a route that we can take that will get us on the road but still leave us with some options as to our final destination?

[tdn]

@NAF1138

tdn, is there a route that we can take that will get us on the road but still leave us with some options as to our final destination?

Here’s the PDF map again. Any route you take will take you through a number of towns. Note that if you go to Caleme, you have to go to Tashal, which will take you through Querina, Conwan’s town.

Not shown on the map are hundreds of smaller villages that you’d pass through, and they have little side roads. But there are no roads in between the major ones. If go to, say, Fisen, there’s no easy way to get to Minarsis unless you take the long way around.

[NAF1138]

Let’s bump this a bit and try to get a couple of the other players attentions.

Anyone have any thoughts? I still feel pulled back to my home, but am open to suggestions.

[tdn]

Just to get on the road, at the moment you have two options – north, back into the wilderness, or south, towards population centers.

[tdn]

Just to give you a little more information on what decision you might make…

Chimin is not really clear on family relations, but Lady Myrtis seems to make it her business and her hobby. She relates the following information:

If you go south to Uldien, the Baron of Uldien’s wife is Santo’s sister. If you go north and west to Gardiren, the Earl of Neph’s wife is NAF’s sister. While the Earl is a bit of a libertine, opportunist, and adulterer, NAF’s sister is devout to the point of being – how can I put this? – a judgemental and prudish old pepperpot.

Santo’s teenaged nephew is a prince and may someday be king. His older sisters have a lesser chance of becoming queens. The possibility is remote for all of them, but the times they are a-changin’.

A village near Uldien is the seat of the Bishop of Serelind, who will surely know NAF. He is an old man who is known to be a voice of reason in the Church. His ideas are old-school but humanistic and peaceful.

Proximity to any of these places increases the likelyhood of your being recognized. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

[tdn]

@Koldanar

Perhaps, along the way, you could show me how to behave in a city? I’m tired of this barbarian crap around your people.

I’m sorry, I forgot to address this bit.

Your companions may remember some basic etiquette, but Lady Myrtis is the go-to girl for social questions.

There is a basic difference between a village and a town (also called a city). In a village, a local lord is not only the law that prosecutes, but also a protector of the poor. He keeps the poor in their place and enforces rigid social hierarchies, but he also protects them with his sword.

In a town (such as Tashal), the poor have no such protection. They often need to resort to lawlessness to survive. In general, one is safer after dark in a village than in a town.

Lady Myrtis can offer the following guidelines for acceptable behavior in either setting:

*Know your place. Better dressed people, as a rule of thumb, are better than you, and you should show defference.

*Do not steal, rape, get too drunk, or start fights.

*If one must steal, rape, get too drunk, or start fights, do so among the poor and socially weak. Crimes against free peoples carry stiffer sentences. Crimes against nobles are very serious and can get you killed or tortured.

*Respect the local religions. Heresy is a serious crime, and the sentences for such are extraordinarily painful. Heretics often beg for the sweet release of death.

*Carry a letter of introduction. It can get you into important places.

*Don’t associate with wizards, witches, and other sorcery types. They are rarely good news.

[glee]

Do any of us posh folk have troops or castles etc?

[tdn]

@glee

Do any of us posh folk have troops or castles etc?

You have a keep, a garrison, and deputy sheriffs. Santo has similar. It’s very similar to what Chimin has here.

[Koldanar]

@tdn

A village near Uldien is the seat of the Bishop of Serelind, who will surely know NAF. He is an old man who is known to be a voice of reason in the Church. His ideas are old-school but humanistic and peaceful.

Proximity to any of these places increases the likelyhood of your being recognized. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

I feel this might be our best option. I’d be worried bout that last bit, but maybe we can have me act as the lead (as I would be unknown?) and the rest stay in disguise we could keep a lower profile.

[Santo_Rugger]

@tdn

*Do not steal, rape, get too drunk, or start fights.

*If one must steal, rape, get too drunk, or start fights, do so among the poor and socially weak. Crimes against free peoples carry stiffer sentences. Crimes against nobles are very serious and can get you killed or tortured.

I say we go hang out in the poor towns.

[glee]

@tdn

You have a keep, a garrison, and deputy sheriffs. Santo has similar. It’s very similar to what Chimin has here.

OK, everyone - how about we gather some military support?

[Santo_Rugger]

@glee

OK, everyone - how about we gather some military support?

Sounds good to me.

[tdn]

Chimin doesn’t know your military strength, but some guesses can be made.

glee, you most likely command a company (20) of men. Santo, being that you’re not just a baron but the Warden of Oselmarch, you have a lot more to work with. My offhand guess is at least five companies, two mounted and three afoot. But they patrol a very specific region, and that’s way on the other side of the kingdom.

[Santo_Rugger]

Something to think about if we end up over there at some point.

[tdn]

The Oselmarch Army

The Genin Trail is an extremely important trade route for Kaldor. To ensure that caravans travelling along are safe from attacks by Pagaelin tribesmen, Gargun and Brigands the King of Kaldor has a standing army that resides at Kobing. Its main objective is to guard and patrol the Genin Trail from the Osel Bridge to Kobing. The army’s four standing companies are comprised of two medium foot, one light foot and one light foot longbow. They are augmented in the summer by the feudal levy. At these times the size of the army will double. These troops are mostly comprised of yeomen of light and medium foot.

As Lord Marshall of the Oselmarch Army Baron Firith is responsible for the provisioning and maintenance of the troops. He is assisted in training the troops by his Deputies, four Sergeant-at-arms (one per company) and 12 Corporals (three per company). During the summer Corporals are given responsibility for summer levy troops. This gives them valuable, and often dangerous, experience (summer levy troops are notoriously ill equipped and trained). Usually new sergeants are selected from the corporals with the most experience when the summer levy troops arrives. The longbowmen are an odd bunch at best. Known for their extremely high esprit de corps the rest of the army has begun calling them “Pagaelin Pluckers” which has only increased their arrogance. To ensure that each man knows whom he struck, the bowmen incorporated decorating their arrows. Some of them have started collecting “trophies” in the form of scalps, ears or other body parts (dried) that dangle from their bows. Although not officially discouraged this practice has started to cause problems when overzealous bowmen chase after a trophy only to be confronted with a group of vengeful Pagaelin tribesmen. On road duty Bowmen will usually volunteer for scouting duty.

Realizing that open skirmishes are unlikely along the Genin Trail, Sir Nethan, the Deputy Lord Marshall of the Oselmarch army, has begun training his men in ambush tactics. This has had some success with the regular troops but usually falls apart with the ill-trained summer levy. Oselmarch regulars are skilled in both ambush tactics and formations; the shield wall and hedgehog are preferred, although they don’t have much call to use their formations when fighting the wily Pagaelin.

Training is extremely grueling and those that have the opportunity to do it year round, under the unsympathetic eye of the Deputy Lord Marshall Assistant, are some of the hardiest soldiers to come by. This becomes extremely important when the Baron chooses to join the troops on the road. Fiercely loyal to the Baron, these men are doubly diligent while the Baron Sleeps in his multi colored Pavilion.

[tdn]

Your choices now are to stay put and gather more information or to get on the road. You have armor, weapons, (badly worded) letters of introduction, and 4 pounds in coin. North leads you to Gardiren, Nenda, or back to Naniom Bridge. South leads you to Caleme, Querina, and Tashal, and should you so choose, Kobing and Oselmarch. Armies, information, possible enemies or allies, and possible face recognition lie south. The first stop, Uldien, is the home of a bishop and Santo’s sister. (Not in the same village.)

You have been in Getha for a day and two nights.

There are several villages on the way to Uldien.

Today’s weather: Cold (freezing at night), partly cloudy, and a little windy.

It will take you about 8 hours to get there.

Is it Uldien, then?

[tdn]

I should probably give you a little information on the Pagaelin. Much like Koldanar and other Taelda, they are barbarians. However, unlike the Taelda, they are far more brutal and war-like. They firmly believe that the weak are meant to be physically and mentally abused. Women in that society don’t so much have sex as get passed around for rape. You don’t want to know what happens to children and the elderly. Tribal rule is by pure brute force, and chieftains tend to have short life expectancies. (They are often compared to Gargun.)

So far, so good, right? Lately, some tribes have become more organized, and have engaged in ritual assassinations. There seems to be a religious aspect to them. This is a worrisome thing to southern Kaldorans.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, this was Orsin’s (Santo’s) headache. He was charged with protecting the good peoples of southern Kaldor against the evil Pagaelin. Sir Chimin is unsure of who the current general is.

[tdn]

Are we bored?

Confused?

Overwhelmed?

Underwhelmed?

Bored?

Tired?

Too busy?

Misled?

Bored?

Bored?

I’m a few of those things.

My brother from Obama Fe is visting next weekend, and cleaning out the dead rats and hookers from my apartment in anticipation of his visit may eat into some of my time. But I can always find 60 seconds to pore over old tomes to find something to intrigue you. And I always have time to develop an intriguing random encounter.

Have I told you yet how King Miginath died?