Fantasy RP

[Bannanachair]

(Just a quick message to lurkers: We are still accepting joiners. PM me if you're interested.)

(Also, 15 pages!)

@ Alfred: "It's probably noth'n, cap'n," Artie said. "Probably just the noise and the weather and me bein' tired getting to me."

[Tikobe]

Othan

"I hope so. I still have some ideas, but they're just general plans to work around the organization issue you brought up. I have nothing in mind as far as large scale tactics are concerned," I reply.

[Leggo]

Jonos

“I don’t want to make any decision now, I’m going to convene the war council and get the opinions of my vassals. I want to examine the political situations of each county, based on reports from my spymaster.”

[Bannanachair]

(Two military tactics/logistics conversations ongoing at once is very easy to manage and not get mixed up, I assure you. In fact, this relatively short post is my first draft and not my third due to how simple both of these conversations are and how few things I need to keep in mind, and me choosing to try to do scene transitions or character development instead was not a bad attempt at simplification for me.)

@ Othan: "If we can find out where the bandits will be somewhere and when they'll be there, we can easily move people into position to outnumber them three-to-one or four-to-one. It's not the positioning and tactics that I'm concerned about, but the movements and timings," Raethus said. "We actually should have brought Hedrek along, come to think of it."

@ Jonos: "That makes sense, your majesty," Wallace said. "I'm planning on checking on what storage is in this palace, especially what alcohol is stored. From my best guess Darmen barricaded himself in weeks ago and left the rest of the city to starve, so he probably has some good stuff that he was working his way through."

[Leggo]

Jonos

“When you find it, take whatever and give the rest to the people, in the hopes that perhaps we can curry some favor.”

Feeding starving people is a good way to turn them to your side, I suppose.

[Duck14]

Alfred

I nod. “Get some rest if you need some. You owe this crew nothing more for the rest of our trip. But if you feel up to it at any point I’d love to see our navigator back on deck.” I gave him my warmest smile and left the room.

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: "As you command, your majesty. I'm going to be looking for some desert wines for myself - just a bottle or two, nothing that will cut into public opinion. Is there anything that you'd like for yourself?"

@ Alfred: "Aye, cap'n. We'll be sailing past Forfait soon, maybe this evening or tomorrow mornin'. From there, you'll want to try to keep land visible on the starboard, and to keep sailing with the current instead of against it, and we'll be in Estermere in time for supper the next day." Forfait is an islet within the Nubarb itself, and, according to local legend, the location of the ruined capital of a great kingdom conquered by Tarthel nine hundred years ago.

[Tikobe]

Othan

"Indeed, he was always skilled at such matters," I recall before giving a slight sigh. "There's nothing we are able to do about it now. Even if his descendant is your squire he wouldn't come here for a bandit issue. He doesn't have enough youth left for such matters. Hopefully, however, he'll teach your squire his tactical mindset. As much as I disagree with him on some matters he is still invaluable to me."

I smile, hoping Raethus doesn't realize that I forgot his squire's name during that spiel. I'm not even sure that he's Hedrek's descendant for that matter and not Hartwig's.

And was he the child or grandchild? Maybe great-grandchild.

[Leggo]

Jonos

“No. Thank you. I have business to attend to.” With that, I begin my trek outside the palace so I can examine how the city is looking.

The line sometimes gets blurred between “top general + right-hand-man” and “friend”. I don’t have friends nor do I want them. I don’t want to seem too chummy with Wallace. Emotional attachments are a weakness, an anchor at your ankle. I don’t want to weigh myself down. My only want is the reunification of Thasia.

[Duck14]

Alfred

I nod. “Well that’s exactly what we pay you for. Shouldn’t need to stop anywhere before we reach Estermere, hopefully we don’t encounter anymore severe weather before then. Don’t think you’ll survive if we send you out there again.” I chuckle, knock the door with my hand, and leave the room. Artie needed some rest.

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: "Tammen is Hartwig's grandson," Raethus said, correcting your mistake. A second passed, before he added, "At least, I think he is. Hartwig's been wanting me to take one of his family members as a squire for years, and has been wanting me to betroth one of my daughters to one of his descendants for just as long. It would be a terrible mistake if I got one of Hedrek's instead..."

@ Jonos: As you step outside, the storm seems to be dying down, though it is still very much stronger than you noticed during the fight itself. Some houses were burning and there was some damage, but overall your armies were much more restrained than many you've seen in the past. As a matter of fact, they were significantly more restrained than they themselves were after some of your previous clashes with the var Norbury family.

@ Alfred: It's been several hours since you've woken up this morning (assuming that you slept for the whole night after the storm, that is) and you have yet to have eaten. Your stomach grumbles as you notice that you were too caught up with your duties as captain to eat.

[Tikobe]

Othan

I look away in embarrassment over my mistake before I return to meet Raethus's gaze.

"At least there are people after your daughters. I worry about Jayla dying alone sometimes," I say before I recall my own marriage. "Then again, being unwed might be a blessing for her, actually."

It was a blessing I wish I had, personally speaking.

[Duck14]

Alfred

I sigh and stroke my stomach. There was always something to please. I made my way to the dining area of the ship. I didn’t expect them to have much available given the storm but a clump of bread would probably do me for now.

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: Raethus let out a chuckle at that, before veering the conversation back on-topic. "I advise getting some rest tonight, given that we'll be heading out to the villages and probably the outlying farms basically all day tomorrow. You know where the library and my thairaboards are, if you want something else to do before sleeping. I'd play, but I have to find people to act as guides for sirs Galad and Arthel, then I'll do some mundane things such as making sure my account books are in order and the like."

@ Alfred: As you're eating your clump of bread, you're approached by the troublemaking Vrelonian merchant. "Captain, I would like to apologise for my behaviour yesterday. I had no idea how bad the storm was when I spoke to you, and I panicked."

[Duck14]

Alfred

I frowned. I could be rude, I could speak my mind . But we were all in the same boat, everyone handles those kind of situations differently. Wasn’t really his fault to react in the way that he did. “Don’t worry about it friend. We all panic. But you reacted naturally and you’re in no way the worst passenger I’ve had. Honestly, I’m not even sure I handled that storm in the best manner, we did lose a crewman after all.”

[Leggo]

Jonos

It appears my men have controlled themselves, to the point where I don’t have to get out there and corral them to stop them from burning the city down. Even with limited training, I’ve clearly managed to envoke discipline in them.

If this is what my soldiers can do now, imagine how well-trained and professional they’ll all be after months of campaigning. I’ll have some of the most experienced troops in the region, and a veteran mercenary company at my back.

On that note, though, I’m weary from all the fighting and planning. I could use a proper sleep. I make my way back into the palace and find a nice vacant room to sleep in.

[Tikobe]

Othan

"I understand. Good day, Raethus," I reply as I walk away.

Unsure of how exactly to spend my time, I decide to just head over to a guest room and sleep. I would read some, but a lack of sleep is a lack of mind, and mind's the only strength I have.

[Bannanachair]

(Dreams are fun to write, but I couldn't be bothered to write two of them in just one post. Sorry about that, guys.)

@ Alfred: "On the bright side, at least we're alive," The man said. "And, surprisingly, most of my cargo is rather intact." He then departed to let you finish your food in peace.

@ Jonos: You're directed to a room that seems to have been inhabited by one of the daughters or nieces of Darmen var Norbury, and likely a favoured child given the softness of the bed and the level of decoration in the room. Most of the other bedrooms, especially of the male heirs, were being used for storage during the siege.

You fall asleep almost immediately, and suddenly you're at dinner as a child conversing with your sister, waiting for your father to arrive from some matter of court or another. Daela looks to have been nine, and you must have been seven. You can hear Daela's words, and you know that they're in the Elusian language, but you can't make sense of what the sounds mean.

The wooden door is opened, and a man steps through. He has your family's distinctive emerald-green eyes, but he is not your father. He looks like he could be your long lost and more unruly brother, in fact, with his tall, athletic frame and his unkempt beard and hair. You recognise him from family portraits that you've seen, however, as your ancestor and not your brother: Balon Dawburn, the only trueborn son of Ramsey Dawburn to have any children.

He dies, full of arrows to his back, and another man comes to take his place. Morm Dawburn walked in then, standing on his father's corpse. He looked around the room for a minute, and then his head fell off, shattering into a million pieces like porcelain upon hitting the ground.

The man to walk in next was initially unrecognizable to you, until his eye rolled out of his skull and his legs vanished from underneath him. Upon that happening, you immediately recognized him as Ayvon, your parents' grandfather. "You're trying to reunite my father's grandfather's lands," He said, looking at you with his one remaining eye. "I shouldn't have tried. I told my sons not to try, and Gareth told his sons not to try. And yet you try anyway. You'll end up just like me, you know?" He aged continually throughout his speech, until eventually he also died in middle age.

Your father walked in then, looking as he did over twenty years ago and yet still older than any of the three corpses on the ground were when they died. Without saying a word, he grabbed your sister and dragged her away from you, to marry her off to some minor foreign nobleman. You'll never see her again if you let him do that, you know, and yet it transpires all the same.

Then you wake up. The sunlight beams through the windows, and at first you think that you barely slept at all. Then it occurs to you that it's sunrise, not sunset, and the next day.

@ Othan: You sleep a dreamless sleep, which comes as a welcome change from that of the previous night. You're awoken, however, by a knocking on your door what looks like an hour before the sun will be up. "Othan!" Said your brother's voice. "If we're going to ask questions, we'll need to get to the village before the peasants leave to start working the fields. Wake up!"

[Tikobe]

Othan

I yawn as I reply, "Very well. Give me a moment to dress myself."

I dress myself in the clothes I asked the servants to pack. Considering that they're nothing particularly fancy it doesn't take long. Afterwards, I put on my cloak to fight off the cold of the early morning and walk out the door to meet Northan.

"Let us head out. Do you know which village we're leaving for?"

[Duck14]

Alfred

I nodded to his back. The bread was a nice source of nourishment but my mind was already wandering to the food we would have once we docked. I would make sure the lads were well fed after such a turbulent journey.

[Bannanachair]

@ Othan: Your brother opened his mouth to speak, but your son chimed in first. "We do know which village we're leaving for," he said, without specifying which village. Northan thwacked him lightly in the back of the head for that, though his grin was still on his face, and Northan had nearly let out a bit of a chuckle anyway.

"We're headed for Wyst's Town," Northan said. Wyst's Town was a fairly old village, though the name is less than ten years old. In his old age, and as he was nearing his death, Wyst Shan had gone ever so slightly crazy. Renaming that town was just one of his numerous and foolhardy attempts to attain immortality: He also commissioned an eight-foot tall statue of himself (which Raethus hid away as soon as he inherited the castle) and "wrote" a book comprised of insane ramblings at it's best and nonsensical scribbles at it's worst, to name but two others. The village itself was the largest on the Shan estate, with almost sixty families living in the town and working the land.

@ Alfred: And it was indeed a turbulent journey. The remaining two-and-a-half days of the voyage were thankfully nowhere near as intense as that storm on the third day, though there were a few gusts of wind and instances of minor rainfall that scared you into thinking that that storm would repeat itself. Naroth forbade Artie and Garry from doing anything above deck other than look at the scenery (including the island of Forfait and other islets further in the Nubarb Delta). That said, your injuries were somehow not quite as bad as those accrued by your fellow crewmembers, and so you were able to do the things that you wanted to do yourself, with Naroth's begrudging admittance that it wouldn't kill you.

The merchants finished inventorying their inventory and your crew finished sorting your rations, and you found that even with the losses of some insured cargo you were still somehow breaking even on this voyage. That said, the repairs to your ship would set you back significantly anyway, but probably not as much as the shipwrecks that you passed during the remainder of your trip.

It was early afternoon when you arrived in Estermere, the city of twenty-six thousand people that was also the capital of the Eredalian duchy of the same name. The dockhands there were overloaded with damaged ships, and so the cost to dock was slightly higher than usual. The rest of the day was spent overseeing the dockhands who were unloading your cargo and giving it to your passengers and answering questions asked by the engineer who went onboard your ship to assess the damage caused by the storm.

It was maybe an hour until sunset by the time everything was finally taken care of.

(Hey Duck, I decided to try something new with this post. Tell me if you can figure out what it is.)

[Leggo]

(schools just started and it’s already kicking me in the ass so apologies if my replies become scarce)

Jonos

That dream was too... surreal. I don’t dream that much, and never with that type of darkness. Am I really doing the right thing? Is this what my ancestors would’ve wanted? It has to be. But I’m putting myself on the line. And for what? A title I’ve never held, nor my father, or his father before him, and so on.

It doesn’t matter. I’m already too far down the rabbit hole. I have to continue my campaign and hope it succeeds. I’ve yet to give though to what happens next. Being so consumed with reclaiming Thasia in the name of my ancestors, I haven’t given a thought to what comes after that task is done.

Regardless, it’s dawn. I’ve slept more than I though I wanted to. I need to be productive, perhaps if I have no tasks that are urgent I’ll summon the war council and talk about our next target.

The dream still sits in the back of my mind, and the back of my thoughts, as if my ancestors are watching me.

[Tikobe]

Othan

As I heard the name of Wyst's Town I let out an awkward sound that I tried behind a terribly fabricated smile. Whenever I hear the name I remember that Wyst was, at one time, my superior officer. I felt the embarrassment of his actions, although it was probably Raethus who had it worse.

"Very well," I say. "Let us finish this endeavor as soon as we can. A day only has so many moments, and the less of those moments we spend on one task the more we can do in one day."

I begin to head off to the stables.

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: It takes several hours for the war council to assemble, given that some of the older men were sleeping in. Eventually, however, you managed to assemble everyone other than Hallon Talsworth. "The kid's refusing to step foot in the city, your majesty," the messenger who you sent told you. "He seems to think that it was Norbury that killed his father, not the storm that we were all caught in. He said to say that he would be willing to obey any order that you gave him other than entering this city, and will march his troops wherever you want to strike next."

"Your majesty, he might be willing to pacify the countryside and ensure that the Atrekaran barons will to swear fealty to you," Sir Wallace suggested.

@ Othan: You reach the stables and mount your horses without any issue, and you see that some of yesterday's party has already departed - Sir Galad's horse and his squire's horse were already gone. You also passed Sirs Boderick and Raethus and young Tammen Almerry, who entered the stables just as you were leaving them.

The ride to Wyst's Town was equally uneventful, with Northan taking the hour that it took to drill your son on some matters of language. He was asking questions in Elusian too fast for you to make out, and he seemed to be occasionally changing his dialect - you heard Ayomoran, Thasian, Dathan, Tivellian and Threun, and two others that you couldn't understand. He then swapped to Eredalian, which you're much more proficient in, but the questions he was asking weren't about Eredal or the Eredalian language - he was quizzing your son on Argolonian, having him translate simple sentences from that tongue into Eredalian.

Northan then changed to a northern dialect of Vrelonian that you could barely understand, then to a language that must have been Old Nerathi. It was while he was speaking Old Nerathi that you finally arrived in Wyst's Town a bit after the break of dawn, but while many of the villagers were still getting ready for their days of work.

[Tikobe]

Othan

As we reach Wyst's Town I look towards my companion.

"Alright, I'm afraid we shall end the games here," I explain as I slowly bring my face to have a cold stare that was similar but not quite a glare with lips that were slightly bent downwards. It was my favorite face when dealing with commoners. I felt that it let them knew their place and that I was a person they should fear and respect.

Some may not enjoy that kind of attention, but I personally found that it made dealing with them easier.

I move my horse forward towards the nearest peasant and began to speak.

"My name is Othan Mallowater. I'm looking for someone who can act as a representative for Wyst's Town," I say, giving an introduction for my greeting. Names helped people act faster rather then waiting for their generosity. At worst, Northan and Thander Marthus would play the role of the kind noble to counteract my harshness.

Family night a few days ago showed that I wasn't really suited to be a kind character.

I normally, however, didn't go this far, although Raethus always did say that I take it too far regardless. I took the effort this time around to set an example for Thander Marthus. His development was the main reason I took the liberty of joining him and Northan, after all.