Fantasy RP

[Duck14]

Alfred

I nod. “I am. But I’ve spent most of my life along this river. It’s more of my home than anywhere else has ever been. Though in all my years I’ve never seen a storm like that one during this part of the year. Hopefully it’s not a sign of something more.”

[Tikobe]

Othan

I nod as I mount my horse and follow after Raethus. I don't particularly feel dismayed about leaving the castle. After all, homes are just meant to be lived in, so leaving it and living somewhere else, even if only for a few days, shouldn't be any matter at all. Besides, if I can spend a few nights not in bed with Thalla, it'd be a relief.

I try obstinately to deny to myself that I had shivers caused by the nightmare that may or may not, though it very likely was, have occurred because of my wife.

[Leggo]

Jonos

I grab the shoulders of the few men around me and shout at a group next to me, “To me! We'll pursue the routed men!”

I then charge down the hallway with my group while shouting a warcry.

[Bannanachair]

@ Alfred: "I've never seen a storm like that at all," Garry said. "I'd reckon most men haven't, and that those who have haven't been able to tell anyone about it."

@ Othan: The eleven men of your party ride out of the city of Mallowater, with some conversations breaking out as you ride. Your son, Tammen and the other two squires seemed to be laughing and joking amongst themselves. Boderick, Northan and the other knight whom you haven't met were also conversing between themselves, but Northan was also entertaining his son quite a bit. You and Raethus had a few briefer conversations, though for the most part both of you were content to ride in silence. Galad was characteristically untalkative, listening to some conversations but never saying more than a few words at a time.

Eventually you and your group arrived at Castle Shan on the foot of the Qhirst Mountains. The castle, despite being on the smaller end for castles, was still rather unique. Wyst Shan's father immigrated into Orevod from the Cavelands during the War of Gagh Buldir, fighting valiantly under your grandfather Kallian and his father Othan. He was granted some land right on the edge of the mountain range and some small villages to protect, and he modelled his castle after those from his homeland.

The castle itself was small and unimpressive, but an artificial cave was carved out of the mountain and connected to the interior of the castle. Wyst has been dead for a few years, and Raethus spends much of his time maintaining a court presence in Mallowater and helping you manage military affairs. As such, the castle has been largely maintained by some of the women of the family - Raethus's sister Kirsa and his daughter Melery have been doing much of the administrative work of maintaining the castle, with Melery taking over more and more as Kirsa was getting increasingly pregnant.

(I spent literally close to an hour writing and rewriting that because I couldn't figure out how to properly introduce the location.)

@ Jonos: The men repeat your warcry as they follow you, chasing after the enemy men and killing and capturing some of them as they retreat. Much of the rest of the palace is empty, and it seems like all of the remaining manpower of the Atrekaran army was grouped together in that one entrance hall in an attempt to stop you as quickly as possible. After chasing after them for about an hour, Wallace approaches you.

"My lord, we've captured Darmen Var Norbury. He was wearing the uniforms of his soldiers and fighting alongside them inside of the palace."

[Leggo]

Jonos

“Bring him to me in the throne room. Organize men to secure the treasury, as well as teams to sweep the town in full. Prioritize taking any remaining soldiers captive, use force only if truly necessarily. Send men to gather my vassals, I’ll be holding a makeshift court to address issues and grant the county to whoever took the gate.”

The easy part of taking this town is over, but this is just the beginning of a lengthy campaign. I need to reorganize the town, gather any levies I can from the remains of the county, and so much more. I’d much rather be fighting. I was born to fight, and I trained hard to do it efficiently and well. I’m no slouch in governance, but I certainly don’t enjoy it.

I make my way to the throne room so I can enjoy the seat while I still can.

[Duck14]

Alfred

“Well at least we live to tell the tale. Hopefully th3 rest of our journey will be much less rough for all our sakes.” I grasped the note I had written to Matt’s family and slipped in my jacket pocket. It would be awhile yet before I had the chance to deliver it.

[Tikobe]

Othan

I look over to Raethus.

"We've finally arrived. What shall we do first?"

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: "Aye, your majesty," Sir Wallace says, bowing quickly then hurrying off to do as you had bid. The throne room in Norbury was somewhat less grand than what you were used to having grown up in Thasi, but it was still a rather nice room. The throne itself was an ornate chair of gold with red velvet pillows, and there was a carpet of red and gold that ran along the centre of the hall. Tapestries of battles fought by the old empire of Nerath hung to the walls on either side of you (The Battle of the Nubarb was depicted on one side and The Battle of the North adorned the other).

Sir Walace Oakheart entered the throne room several minutes after you were seated, alongside Sir Barrian Murton, Sir Ornith var Pradingly and the captive Count Darmen var Norbury, bound in ropes and being guarded by the two knights accompanying Wallace.

Barons Bernard Darham, Humphrey var Capvering, Herwig Otterberg and Horthon Drayden arrived shortly after, with some retainers, arguing amongst themselves. "I was the one who raised my standard upon the gatehouse first!" the Baron of Fishford shouted, as var Capvering retorted "But it was I who slew the last remaining grandson of Arlon var Norbury to take the bloody gate! It's thanks to me that there will be nobody left to lay claim to Atrekara after Darmen var Norbury's death!" Darham was the only one not advocating for himself, but instead arguing in favour of granting the title to Otterberg.

A messenger arrived several minutes later bearing some bad news. "Your majesty, three of your barons have died today. Baron Worth Clifton was struck by lightning making his way to your war council this morning, Maldir Talsworth was struck by a branch and Ballus Horddrigg was slain trying to storm part of the wall."

As the four barons were still making their cases to you, the Redscar arrived. "Your majesty, the lad's not willing to set foot within the walls of Norbury. He's convinced that some forces within the city conspired to have his father killed, and he told me to inform you that he'll have no part in the bickering over, in his words, this fucking terrible shithole of a city."

@ Alfred: Naroth nodded and walked off, and Garry also went off to do some work on the ship.

(Should I timeskip past the rest of the voyage? I'm inclined to because it would allow the plot to move faster, but I'm hesitant to do so because of some pacing for a storyline that I want to set up involving Alfred, Othan and Jonos.)

@ Othan: "Dinner's first," Raethus said as he dismounted, "And then we'll go over the specifics of the bandit problem and discus how to best deal with it. Melery, show my new squire the way to the stables, and then get dinner ready for us."

"I've already prepared food in anticipation of your arrival, father," Melery said. She was Raethus's eldest daughter at sixteen years old and, from what you can tell, much better at behaving ladylike than your own eldest daughter.

"Melery, is your aunt Kirsa up?" Northan asked.

"She is, uncle Northan. Would you like me to go get her for you?"

"No, I'll go and see her myself. Thurum, come with me," Northan said, as he and his son walked into the castle. "Within a few days, you'll be a big brother."

"I'm already a big brother!" You heard, as your nephew's and brother's voices trailed off.

Melery, Thander Marthus, Tammen and the two other squires went off to go to the stables, and likely to have fun doing what kids do. Whatever it is that kids do, that is.

[Tikobe]

Othan

"Very well," I nod as I dismount and join Raethus.

"Raethus, you've never told me a few things: Where did these bandits come from? You called them 'well-organised' a few days ago, but I can hardly believe that they're enough of a problem that 60 men would have as much of a challenge against them as you said they would. And furthermore, where are they located?"

[Duck14]

(You choose Mr Tim.)

[Leggo]

Jonos

So many issues to deal with all at once. I feel like I’m watching over children with my vassals arguing like this. I’ll address that, but first I’ll need them to stop arguing.

“My lords! Why must you argue like little children? I base my rewards off of merit, as you all well know, so instead of bickering like fools, draw your swords and duel! Whichever one of you yields and/or dies first doesn’t get the county. We will see truly who deserves Atrekara.”

Bloody oafs. There’s always a problem with my vassals.

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: "There are about twenty of them, and they've gone into each of my villages in turn, demanding valuables, and leaving. Ten of then have been described as having armour, fifteen with horses and all of them have swords. They're probably mercenaries who haven't been hired for a while or ex-soldiers. With my men mostly working the farms or the mines, they're not organised in military fashion frequently enough to be able to combat the bandits, so to save their lives, they've simply been ceding the demanded goods and trying to appeal to me to come here to reclaim them."

@ Duck14: (Is there anything else that you want to do before reaching Estermere, Mr. Duck?)

@ Jonos: They are all silenced immediately, and stunned for a minute before responding. "You can't be serious, your majesty," Baron Darham said. "You've already lost half of your primary vassals today. The sheer amount of instability that that alone will cause is going to be astonishing, and you want to put even more of your vassals into such situations?"

[Duck14]

(You know what, I better go and check on our good pal Artie.)

Alfred

I pace up and down the room for a moment. The storm had passed, we had for the most part come out of it on top. I would have to ask someone more informed on epweather patterns when we reached Estermere. Until then, we had about two days stuck on a broken ship. Artie. I went to him, the navigator had done so much for us all. Without him we would have perished very early on. I went in search of the young man.

[Leggo]

Jonos

“I’m certainly not going to sit here and argue. Either agree who gets the county amongst yourselves or fight. Those are your options.”

[Tikobe]

Othan

I look to Raethus and voice a notable concern of mine.

"Have you kept a solid account of the stolen goods? It's going to cause an issue later when it comes time to return the bandit's treasures, assuming that you have intentions on returning them. After all, it's likely some of those treasures have already been sold, and some of the villagers are going to want to take more than what's been taken from them."

[Bannanachair]

@ Alfred: You find Artie resting in his quarters, coughing loudly. When you walk in, he shouts. "Captain! Thank you for saving my life!"

@ Jonos: Your four barons glance at eachother, at you, at Wallace and at the Redscar (who seemed rather amused by the situation), seemingly trying to figure out what would happen next.

Your chained prisoner, still in the room, spoke. "I'll bend my knee and kneel before you, your majesty, giving you taxes and my armies in war if you allow me to keep Atre - " He was cut off by Sir Barrian Murton punching him in the face and growling curses at him.

Your barons got back to arguing among themselves, though now that it was clear that you were willing to allow violence there were threats of violence being thrown in.

After a few minutes of that, the Redscar walked up to them, punched var Capvering (by far the loudest and most obnoxious of the arguers) in the face and spoke. "His majesty has wars to fight, and so can't afford for you lot to fight among yourselves. There will be more lands for you to gain as the campaign goes on. If you lot will shut the fuck up about which one deserves Atrekara I guarantee that you'll get more lands. If you won't, then his Majesty is likely to make counts out of men more loyal to him and less prone to useless infighting - hell, he might even try to give me lands!"

"You don't really believe that the campaign will continue much longer, do you?" var Capvering said. "The duke's already almost doubled his lands, and he'll need to hold them now."

@ Othan: "As soon as Mel got word to me of what's happening here I ordered her to keep track of everything stolen, but I was in Mallowater when the bandits showed up so I don't know the specifics of it. They were mostly demanding gold and some farm equipment, though they were also asking questions about the defences of this castle."

"It sounds like they're setting up a trap," Galad said, apparently having listened to what you were saying. Galad was older than Northan but slightly younger than Kallian, and a veteran of the same two wars as you were - and something of an expert of falling into traps, or so the stories go. "If they got you to come back here by yourself they'd have jumped you on the road and held you for ransom. Or snuck into the castle and gotten you that way. Either way, with Lord Othan and Lord Northan here as well as some more knights, there's no telling what they'll do. Maybe they'll be scared off by our numbers. Maybe they'll be encouraged by the possibility of not one but four wealthy targets."

"If they wanted hostages, they could have just taken Kirsa and Aldona," Raethus said. The other two knights must have left a while ago, as it was just the three of you talking there. "The daughter-in-law and granddaughter of Earl Thander Mallowater? The sister-in-law and niece of the famous Othan and Kallian Mallowater? The beloved younger sister of one of the most accomplished tacticians in Orevod? There's plenty of money to be made from that. They didn't need to bait me here."

"Maybe they're greedy," Was all that Galad had to say to that.

[Tikobe]

Othan

"Most likely, however it's not the most probable thing one should prepare for, it's the worse possible event that takes the honor there," I speak as I begin my theory crafting. "If they are soldiers with no jobs, there is a chance that there's one of two possible motivations that they have, though there could easily be more than these two: The first, and possibly best scenario, is to demand better conditions. They probably have it in their heads that they did Orevod favors that they feel have not been repaid and are trying to convince us to pay our dues. If this is true, we'd have an advantage in that we could convince them to open up a dialogue. We don't actually need to show them leniency in this matter, but we can at least catch them unawares this way. On the other hand, the worst case scenario could occur where they are merely driven by a petty sense of vengeance and will be much more likely to attempt to slaughter us miserably rather than improve things. It'd be harder to ambush them this way since they'd be much more on guard and also because they'd be more willing to resort to foul play. Not to mention they may have been soldiers who've served under me. If that's the case, it wouldn't be surprising to see bastardizations of my tactics being used, or at least ones that they've been exposed to. Regardless, the second possibility is most definitely not one we can discount, especially with that small rebellion going on in Orevod."

(What, thought I forgot the rebellion you mentioned in the bio?)

[Duck14]

Alfred

I chuckled and sat down at his bedside. “Don’t mention it Artie. Without you we would have all been long gone, lost in the river forever. You saved us, I merely repaid the favour. Anyway, I just wanted to see how you was holding up. I’ve had a good few hours rest and still feel exhausted. You must be in an even worse state.”

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: "Tomorrow, we'll go to each of my villages in turn to ask detailed questions in an attempt to figure out their motives and goals," Raethus said. "From there, speculation should be much easier, allowing us to do so more accurately and to thus make our strategies from a better informed standpoint."

(I meant that the only conflict in the past ten years had been a peasant's rebellion, not that it was ongoing contemporaneously to the story.)

@ Alfred: "I can barely hear you, captain!" Artie said, as loudly as he spoke earlier. "You don' 'ave to whisper just because we're out of the thunder!"

[Tikobe]

(Oh shit.)

Othan

"At the same time it would also give us an idea of what kind of tactics to expect from these men. It would make for an interesting and valuable experience seeing them use my ideas and having to counter them," I mention as I think about these things in depth. "Of course, for the most part I already have a few ideas to use, though I'd rather propose them within the presences of Northan and Thander Marthus, simply due to the fact that I'd need Northan's help with this and I want Thander to see a strategy meeting in person and getting accustomed to such things."

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: "We'll hold a meeting to discus out strategy over dinner, or maybe after dinner," Raethus said, as you, he and Galad walked into the castle and towards the dining hall. At the dining hall, you see some familiar faces already there - Northan and Thurum were there, alongside Northan's four-year-old daughter Aldona and very pregnant wife Kirsa. Two of Raethus's children, Einein and Alys, were already there, though his eldest two daughters were not. Sir Boderick and the other knightly friend of Northan, who introduced himself during the journey as Sir Arthel Haiderling, were also there. The only people missing were the squires and Raethus's two eldest daughters.

[Tikobe]

Othan

I relax in my seat before remembering my position and straightening my posture a little. I look around, though I speak not a word. I merely partake of my meal as I patiently wait for the squires to arrive. As I had mention to Raethus and Galad before I wanted Thander Marthus here before we discussed these things. I could still recall my recount of Treehold to the children and their particularly adverse reactions to it. Even though Thander Marthus seemed to be the only one okay with the story, I still believe it would be wise to expose them to these things as early as possible.

[Leggo]

Jonos

“The Redscar speaks frankly, and truly. I expect more of my sworn vassals than to be griping so uselessly. You do nothing but exacerbate the issues we already face. When I said take the gatehouse, I meant physically, as in your banner is atop it and the gate is ours. I applaud you, Lord var Capering, for your efforts today, and for that I will make sure you are financially compensated. But Lord Otterberg will be getting the title. This campaign has only begun, and there will be plenty more land to fish out as the war continues.”

I turn to Lord Otterberg and say “Make arrangements for your new administration of this county. Muster as many soldiers as you can. We’ll be back on the march soon, as soon as we’re resupplied and reorganized. First, you’ll need to be sworn in as count and sworn in as a count of the realm, sworn to serve me. ”

It’s also time to deal with var Norbury.

[Bannanachair]

(I've updated the OP, in case you guys don't read the OOC thread that I have for updates.)

@ Othan: Despite your silence, many of the others in the room seem to be enjoying themselves, laughing and telling stories of wars and fights they've been in (though nothing as dark as Treehold), of hunts they've gone on and of tourneys that they either won or lost to only Northan in. After the first course of the meal, other people notice the absence of the teenagers. "Thurum, go get your cousins and their friends. Tell them that we're eating," Northan says, and his son gleefully departs to go get them.

The first course was of cheeses and some cured meats, accompanied by a small cup of a slightly sweet wine made from grapes grown by the Shan peasants. You're halfway into the second course, which is enough roasted beef for the table to have likely taken an entire cow to make, when they finally show up. Melery and Nerys were giggling to themselves about something when they arrived, and the squires were somehow louder and more rambunctious than the knights who had actual proper stories to tell.

@ Jonos: Baron Otterberg knelt before you. "I, Count Herwig of Atrekara, Lord of Norbury, swear fealty to Duke Jonos of Thasia as your loyal vassal."

"That's not fair!" Horthon Drayden shouted. "It was my standard that was up first!"

"Shut the hell up! What part of stop squabbling and wage war for more territory do you not understand!" Redscar said in retort, clearly just as annoyed with feudal politics as you are.

Otterberg, seemingly ignoring the Baron of Fishford's protests, walked over to the chained Darmen var Norbury. "Bastard pretender," he said, in a voice slightly deeper than one would assume from his white hair and walrus moustache, "Before you are to be executed, I would like to know as much information as possible about my new Barons and the state of my County."

"Fuck yourself!" Darmen shouted in response. "You slaughtered my sons and nephews and raped my land over a conflict that happened when my grandfather's grandfather was a child! You stripped me of all my titles because our mutual ancestor had more land than you hold now a hundred and fifty years ago?"

[Leggo]

Jonos

“I stripped you of your titles and took your land because I could. And I did. I was born to rule all of Thasia, so I will.” I motion to the fallen Count. “Wallace, have our friend here taken to the deepest, darkest cell we have. Place half the household guard in the cells to guard him. Once he’s willing to provide valuable information, we will discuss his treatment, and perhaps we will even spare his life.”

I have no intention of sparing his life. I’ll behead him myself. I wonder what’s on the agenda next.