Fantasy RP

[Tikobe]

Othan

I eat my beef in silence. Were young one always this rambunctious? I, for one, most definitely was a more silent child. However, I suppose I was also irregular in a few aspects and according to some I still am in some areas. As such, I simply ignore the noise of the young.

I look over to Raethus for his input. While I am the heir to the Earl, an Earl who may expire at anytime, he is still the master of the property so I feel the honor of starting the conversation should go to him.

It was most definitely not because I didn't feel like going through the bother of doing it myself. Most definitely not at all.

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: "As you command, your majesty," Sir Wallace says. Then he, Darmen var Norbury and the other knights there to guard him depart from the room, as Darmen shouted curses and insults at everyone in attendance, vowing vengeance.

"Your majesty, as much as I would enjoy remaining in court with you, I believe that I should immediately see to administering my realm," Count Herwig said. "I'll need to go over all the laws already in place and adjust them to fit Thasia, I'll need to find out as much as possible about the primary and secondary vassals under my command now and I'll need to get them to swear fealty to me, I'll need to see what's in the treasury and... Well, you get the idea."

He departed the room at that, leaving you alone with the other three barons and the Redscar.

@ Othan: Raethus doesn't broach the topic of the bandits until after the meal is done. The third and final course was a sickly sweet pudding that the ladies and children in attendance enjoyed, but which was far too sweet for you to stomach. The wine wasn't bad, though it too was on the sweeter end.

"I think that we're done with the meal," Raethus said. "Melery, Kirsa, if you wouldn't mind escorting the younger children and other women out of the room, I would very much appreciate it."

They do as Raethus instructed, but Thurum refused to go. "I'm not young! I'm a big kid!" He said.

"Thurum, we talked about this," Northan said in response. "You can sit in on war council meetings when you become a squire. You know that war councils are for squires and knights only." Thurum left sulking about being excluded, but he left nonetheless.

"So, the reason that we're here is to deal with some bandits who are plaguing the area," Raethus began, "As of right now, I have no idea where they are laired. The way in which they rob me is not by camping out on highways, but by riding directly into villages to demonstrate their martial abilities and demand gold and equipment."

"Have they visited the same village twice?" Boderick asked. Clearly some thoughts were forming in everyone's head.

"To my knowledge, they have," Raethus responded.

"Did they bring their full force on the return trips? They've already demonstrated that they're capable of overpowering the villagers if they need to, so they wouldn't have to demonstrate it again."

"I do not know that," Raethus said in answer to Boderick's next question.

"Are they striking at only your villages, or are they also targeting villages under the protection of other knights?" Arthel asked.

"I've asked others with estates near mine, but people tend to be embarrassed about bandits and unwilling to disclose that," Raethus said.

[Leggo]

Jonos

I make my way closer to the Redscar. "How did you and your men fare in battle today?" I sarcastically add "If my vassals continue to act like that, maybe I will have to grant you a title or two!"

[Tikobe]

Othan

To save up on time in the discussion, I began speaking.

"To recite the information made available, there is little we know about these bandits other than their means of operations and their existence. There has been around twenty of their number spotted, of which half of them are armored and most use a horse for travel. From their equipment and their rather convenient means of transportation, it would seem likely that they're former soldiers who've fell on hard times. Their tactics are unknown, as with what they've done with the stolen goods. It is planned to go and speak to the villages about what they've seen and develop more sophisticated strategies afterwards," I explain as I turn to my friend as I continue speaking in a much more quiet voice. "My apologies for only being to share what you've recently told me."

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: "My men survived, for the most part. I was unscathed despite fighting on the frontlines - I'm still the Redscar, not the Redscars. Those old men are bickering fools who don't know what they're doing or why they're doing it - essentially, they're the perfect politicians. I'd much rather not be granted any land, however. My lot in life is to kill people for gold to spend on alcohol and whores."

@ Othan: "There's six of us and four villages," Northan said. "One man to each village tomorrow, to investigate what was stolen, what forces can be mustered and what defences can be implemented might be a good idea."

"That would leave two of us without things to do," Raethus said. "That's hardly an efficient way to use our resources."

"The other two of us could search the countryside, or the mountainside, for any trace of where they might be lairing," Boderick suggested.

[Tikobe]

Othan

"While not inherently a bad idea, there lies a problem with the security of it. Suppose we go out and divide ourselves like that. All of a sudden, the bandits raid one of the villages. One of our number would end up by their self aided by only a few men with no true martial skill and who've been walked over by these bandits before and as such probably have no confidence in their ability to retaliate against the bandits. While one could argue this scenario could be made favorable by having the one who got caught up in the raid hide and then follow the bandits afterwards, the bandits ride on horse back, probably as a means of making an unexpected entrance followed by a speedy retreat. While this most definitely would lead a trail of a large number of hoof prints to follow straight to where the bandits are quartered, it would be better to come across it by chance then go through the trouble of hiding one of our men in hopes of being undetected in their shadowing of our foe," I mention as I take a breath to continue my speech with. "However, as I mentioned before, it's not a bad idea and there lies a certain efficiency with dividing our forces to collect information. I would assert that instead of one town for each of us with the other two scouting around the countryside, we make two groups of three and each group visits two of the four towns. This way we can gather information faster but with less risk of ambush."

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: "With the squires helping us, we would very easily be able to operate in five groups of two," Sir Boderick said. "Each man with his squire, and then you and I to either search the countryside or visit another village." The squires were indeed sitting in on the war council and lit up at being called helpful, but as befits their position, they were remaining silent and simply listening.

[Tikobe]

Othan

"Hmm..." I think to myself. I have visited the area often enough that while I wouldn't be able to explore the deeply forested or mountainous areas of the territory I still memorized a general map of the territory in my head. However, sending a scouting party would be dangerous. At the very least it shouldn't consist of my own person, I didn't have enough skill to support Bode effectively. Not to mention I had more than a few enemies among the other nobles in Orevod, so to trust my back to a knight I had just recently met was more than unwise. As I think to myself a sudden realization hits me.

"Raethus, I don't think that the bandits would target the towns randomly. After all, if they raid one town if they raid that same town again too soon it wouldn't be able to yield any profit. There must be a pattern that they use to decide when to target the towns, even if the pattern is hard to figure out."

[Leggo]

Jonos

“Indeed, they’re stuck in their old way of thinking. I want a modernized duchy, not so attached to the way things are of used to be. There’s nothing wrong with fluidity.”

I want to find Wallace, get the status on causalities in my household guard as well as with my levies. I should also probably address the people at some point. So much to do...

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: "Be that as it may, we don't have enough information to look for the patterns. The messengers that my daughter sent simply described the bandits and details of their number and equipment. We would still need to visit each village to find out when these bandits first arrived and how often they've returned, if at all."

@ Jonos: "There's nothing wrong with fluidity when it makes people more powerful. People only dislike it when it's to their disadvantage," the Redscar said. Wallace went off to the dungeon with Darmen var Norbury and the other knights under your command.

[Tikobe]

Othan

"Do we at least know the last village that was robed? Or the ones most likely to be targeted next? I'm not going to suggest that we fight them off in one of the villages, we wouldn't be able to wipe them out like that, but it would be helpful information to have on hand."

[Duck14]

Alfred

I chuckle, his ears had been shot by the storm. No wonder, he was out there for ages. I lifted my voice this time so that he would hear. “I just came to see how you were holding up. The storm is all but over and we’re bound for Esteremere.” Hopefully we would have our navigator in good knick by the time we got there otherwise we’d need to take him to a psycisian of some kind. Wouldn’t do to have a death man onboard.

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: "It's hard to tell specifically, in part because the peasants don't actually bother knowing the names of their villages and in part because it seems like sometimes multiple are visited by them on the same day."

"If they're doing that, then they'd also be splitting up their number," said Sir Arthel, apparently a master of stating the obvious.

@ Alfred: "Can I take a shore leave in Estermere?" Artie half-asked half-shouted at you. "I want to live a bit before I die in the next storm!"

[Tikobe]

Othan

"And in some ways that's a relief. It's at least much more reassuring then suddenly being ambushed by their full twenty," I say before announcing my new plan.

"Looking over what we have said so far I propose we follow a plan similar to what's been said: All four among us with squires should visit each village, however I will accompany Northan's and Thander Marthus's group while Sir Boderick will accompany Raethus and his squire. After the information has been collected the two groups with three men should scout out the countryside. Our primary goal should not be to directly seek out their lair but to search for hoof prints made by a large number of horses. Such tracks would likely be made by the fifteen beasts that the bandits possess and should be able to lead us to the bandit's resting place. Once they're found we should regroup here in the castle and discuss what we've learned."

It seems logical. Raethus's group should have the strength of the three men in it and Raethus's familiarity of the surroundings, while my group would overcome my inability to be at least average in combat by using Northan's and Thander's excellence in combat and still be guided by a similar familiarity of my own. That and it would be a good chance to observe Thander Marthus's growth and allow him to see how I handle matters.

After confirming that I left nothing unsaid I look over to Raethus. I may be above him in rank but it is his territory and he is a much respected friend. It would be wisest to both be in agreement on this matter.

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: "I think that Othan's plan should work," Raethus said. "Tomorrow, we should all plan to be back here by evening-time before the sun sets so that we can discus our findings."

"I have one minor suggestion to add to the plan," Northan said. "As far as I'm aware, Galad and Arthel are unfamiliar with the countryside here. Raethus, do you have any guides or anyone of that nature who may be able to assist them?"

"Would the younger lads, Einian and Thurum, be able to help?" Bode asked. "Einian lives here and Thurum spends a large amount of his time here with his mother, so they'd know the area better than I would."

"Einian might be old enough, but Thurum's only eight," Northan said. "Maybe if these bandits had come two years down the line I'd be willing to let my son be involved, but right now I say he's too young."

"I might have some farmhands or stablemen able to help with that," Raethus said. "I'll go through the personnel who are here tonight and decide who's best suited for the task. Does anyone else have any other quarries?"

[Tikobe]

Othan

I stay silent.

I wanted to discuss the men on our side of things, but since we were collecting the men tomorrow and would be spending most of the day scouting out locations afterwards it was something best left unsaid until dinner tomorrow. As such I relax into my chair, wondering what tomorrow's expedition was going to be like.

[Duck14]

Alfred

I nodded. “You’ve more than earned some time off once we reach Estermere. We’ll be having a break from the river anyway, we have a few repairs to undertake and that will no doubt cost us a few days. You take all the time that you need. Future voyages shouldn’t be that dangerous., I hope.” In truth I was very much looking forward to that time as well, a break from what was one of the most treacherous trips I had ever been a part of.

[Leggo]

Jonos

“I’ll be off doing whatever, if you need me feel free to come to me.”

There’s nothing like the chaos of war to make you forget that you have actual needs. I’m tired, and quite hungry as well. Perhaps I should find some way to remedy that. I mustn’t dally, though, as we need to get back on the march. My men do deserve a small reprieve, though, and mustering the new men probably won’t be quick. Whatever. I’ll figure it all out as it comes.

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: "As there seem to be no further objections, that is the plan. This war-council is, I think, adjourned for today, unless anyone else has any suggestions or objections," Raethus said, as several of the knights started getting up.

@ Alfred: Artie remains silent for a few seconds, and just as you're thinking of leaving, he breaks down into tears. "I'm sorry for letting the helm get destroyed, captain," He said. "You gave me th' one job and I failed at it, I did!"

@ Jonos: As you head to the dungeons to find Wallace, you actually encounter him heading up from the dungeons on his way back to the throne room.

[Leggo]

Jonos

“Wallace, there you are. There is much to be decided and done. Walk with me.” I begin walking back towards the throne room with him, and continuing to speak, say:

“First, due to your excellent loyal service to myself and to the Duchy, it is my pleasure to grant you a sizable sum from the captured treasury. We’ll work on the specifics later. I’ve decided to split the treasury contents between myself, you, Redscar, and my direct vassals. It’ll be up to you to do this, or at the very least find someone who can. Have Otterberg receive a slightly higher amount due to his county being in ruins. The rest can receive even amounts. Next, I’ll need a report on our casualties during the battle. Also, make sure all Barons who’ve died have been sent back to their respective lands, and their heirs report to me to swear oaths to me and take control of their armies. I want to be marching out of Norbury into the next county within a fortnight. Do you have any questions?”

Yikes. That was more than I thought. I do really enjoy having Wallace here to enforce my will. Perhaps I will make a count of him someday. Someday... soon.

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: "Which county are you planning on invading next, your majesty? We're in a good position to flank Norvera, but Demara is ruled by a sickly old man and has been for as long as I can remember. Herwin mentioned to me, in passing, that he'd heard rumours of trade alliances between Norvera and Eredal, so that might not be the right place to strike at next. Maybe Aflaria or Mescor? Sciania would be politically difficult for now, as Othye var Sweiton is married to the sister of the duke of Tivell, and his nephew is serving in the Threun Guard."

[Duck14]

Alfred

I sighed and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Listen here laddie. There’s nothing you could have done for the helm. It would have gone whatever we did, the most important thing is that you’re alive. You did more to save the ship than anyone else, even me. We’re alive because of you.”

[Tikobe]

Othan

I get up and look at Raethus.

"Well, I can't say I wasn't expecting it, but that wasn't very productive. We were only able to confirm what we already know and come up with a basic plan. My apologies over that."

[Bannanachair]

@ Alfred: "Captain, I have a question," Artie asked after a minute. "Did you hear laughter during the storm?"

@ Othan: "Unfortunately, our main problem is the lack of information that we have on the bandits. Hopefully we'll have a better plan tomorrow."

[Duck14]

Alfred

I looked at him for a moment and thought about it. Storms sometimes sounded like laughter with the mixture of thunder, rain, and wind. “Laughter? What do you mean by that? Like a person laughing at you? Or just the wind?”