An adventure in a village by the lake IC

[drack]

This'll be happening in your nearest pop center to the rats as I'm coming from that direction, northward works better, though I've got movement with which to sweep through your lands if your leader is elsewhere. :smallsmile:

From the mountain they descended like raindrops through the town, cannon balling from the skies only to pull up at the last second. In an instant the city had been flooded with tend of thousands of little fairies with miniature weapons sheathed at their side. This next one was bigger then the others though, Seven, maybe eight feet tall draped in furs and tanned skins as a king might be draped in royal silks. Beneath his stag-skull mask a hungry fanged maw opens grins sinister as eyes filled with a deep and startling lust for blood survey the town. The man stands like a hungry predator searching for prey, but as he lifts his head and roars to the sky, it is not a feral cry that does arise, but words that on savage wind do fly. "I am Jack, Lord of all Fey, bring me to your leader or appoint a new one today, for I've no patience left for games and play, there is a debt of oath and blood to pay!" As the fey lord had landed the ground neither quaked nor shook, but in eerie silence did it upward look.

[Toptomcat]

We'd be meeting in a Small Town, then.

One moment, the shadow looks like any other cast by a lonely shed: the next, it moves fluidly and throws back its hood to reveal a remarkably young elf with red hair and eyeglasses. A few of the fairies jump in surprise.

"Then a leader you'll get without a moment's delay. Tell me this: must we rhyme, or is prose okay?"

She's dressed in the traditional robes of a wizard, with little in the way of ornamentation or finery. With her slight build and smooth skin, she doesn't look much older than eighty- scarcely old enough to have finished school by elven standards. The only thing that spoils the innocuous appearance is her apparent calm in the face of the eerie horde.

[drack]

Any who cannot rhyme are but slime!

Nah, I rhymed in one of my backstories and I've been having trouble shaking it this game. Probably because rhyming fits fairies, but still, I'm not always rhyming. :smalltongue:


"I haven't a clue what you're talking about," Jack replies curtly. "but if you were right over there I suppose I needn't have to shout."

I tried! I really did! :smallfrown:


"Well isn't this your lucky day. Looks like your nation will get a say (screw it, best way to kick a habit.) I have decided to issue you and your people a pardon." Casually Jack draws forth some knotted flower stems presenting them to the elf. An eon hence I called all fey back to my capital for the festivities, and your ancestors it seems did not comply. Were they alive they might be executed, but you elves have always had short lives. Additionally because I'm in such a good mood I've granted you a pardon for the last eon of taxes. Certainly I doubt that you've saved even a half an eon's taxes. Because of your ancestor's disloyalty however, I have not known you were here and could not therefore perform my duties as your liege lord, so for that I will apologize." The Fey named Jack inclines his head slightly in a show of sincerity. His eyes don't reflect any bitterness for it, but they still seem as bloodthirsty as ever. As your governance has doubtlessly perished I'll name you Baron of these lands, and in return I'll expect your loyalty and five percent of all taxes you collect. Again he glances at the tied flower stems as one might at a document containing all that had been said. Jack pauses a moment, shifting his glance to the elf's face to see how he's taking all this. Somehow he gave off the feeling that he would have preferred an open rebellion, not to raise the villages, but purely for the slaughter it might bring.

[Toptomcat]

The girl is taking this whole thing with remarkable equanimity. She's got a pretty good poker face on her.

Attempting a Bluff check to conceal reaction. Sense Motive DC [roll0]:She seems a bit relieved that you're not immediately here to wreck things. She's picking up on the implied threat of force, and there's a bit of fear, but she isn't nearly as intimidated as you'd hope. Maybe even a trifle amused, actually.

She takes the knotted flower and examines it closely.

"A barony! An interesting proposal, and a knotty problem.

But let me put my own twist on it:"

She unties one knot, reties it slightly differently, and hands it back to Jack.

"You'll have your tithe. But in tariff, not in tax: tariff on the trade between your lands directly held and your renewed Barony, with terms favoring your merchants. We've clever artisans, to make any number of shining delights and cruel armaments sized to suit your people perfectly.

Prosperity for your own lands and your newly-minted Baron's. No wise and clever ruler could resist- no?"

My counteroffer is a trade agreement in which you get 20% of our nation's production and we get 10% of yours, rather than the book-normal 15% to both of us. So the premium remains five percent, as you originally specified, but this way it ends up as a win/win rather than a win/lose.

Either a road will need to be constructed to do so, or you'll have to build a port anywhere on the central lake. We'll subsidize 50% of the construction cost of the port/your part of the road.

[drack]

"Denied." Jack replies simply, returning the knotted flower stems to their original position.

Trade agreements cost an action to make, and I'm nomadic which means building a new road each season if I wanted to stay connected to ya. More hassle then it's worth for me.

[Toptomcat]

The girl stares longingly at the sky for a long moment.

It would be so easy to take to the air and incinerate the lot of them. Just one little spell...

Finally, she looks Jack in the eye and takes the flower once again.

"Very well, then. Five percent of tax receipts, payable seasonally in currency or compact trade goods and beginning this autumn. We'll meet your tax collector at this very spot: delivery of the goods is to be your concern."

She kneels, a faint smile on her face.

"Your Baron, Eria Berlinetta, swears that it will be so."

[drack]

Somehow Jack seems somewhat more glum, but he still makes a show of joviality even though it never seems to quite reach his eyes. "In that case, let us celebrate your new appointment!" As one the fairies all excitedly begin glowing any number of shades as they bring out sweet nectar, grasshopper legs, and other food and drinks to better celebrate the affair.

500RP to you in the form of higher moral, foodstuffs, drink, and good cheer. :smallsmile:

[Toptomcat]

It takes a bit of cajoling to get the Varisian farmers and loggers out from behind their barred doors, and to get them to put down their spears. Thousands of armed fairies don't abruptly show up at their doorsteps every day. Eventually, though, they join in with a will, supplementing the fairies' treats with fine food and drink of their own. A good time is had by all...spoiled only slightly by Jack's mood, and the polite refusal of his new Baron to let him out of her sight until his final departure.