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  1. - Top - End - #571
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Bertelis's confusion for his arrival does not abate, as he rises, advances, and takes his seat with the King. And not just king - legitimate war hero. Not that long ago, King Louen had declared an Errantry war to join the alliance of men, elves and dwarves against the invaders of Chaos, riding to the aid of Middenheim to break the seige that the monsterous Kurgan had set there. When daemons took to the field, Louen had traded blows with the horrific prince of chaos Be'lakor, and even snatched the head priest of Sigmar from the daemon's clutches in the height of the battle - possibly the greatest act of fellowship that Bretonnia had ever performed for the Sigmarites of the east. If Bertelis had been born a few years earlier, he and his brothers would have been swept up in that errantry war; called, perhaps, to die at Louen's side against Archaon's terrible warriors. As fate happened to show itself, he had been just too young. He had been forced to seek out his own peril - and these were perils whose memories bounced around inside him, desperate to be spoken. And Duke Hagen was no lack of legend himself - the stories of his exploits in the Battle of Arden Forest against the vampire cult of Mousillon are the stuff of dreams, and nightmares.

    At first, recounting his exploits to the king and the duke is awkward, and odd; but as they give him space and encourage it, the accounts rush out like water from a pierced skin, the flow extending the rip as it goes. He has not spoken about most of these in his mother tongue; only written to his brothers and father. The immensity of all he has been through till this point towers over him, made real somehow as it rises in the air in the Breton tongue.

    He talks about his brothers, and the comparatively small, anodyne acts of daring they got up to before three of them went home and he turned north to attend the funeral of a family friend. He talks about getting shot for the first time, by musketeers on the road to Trundheim; riding them down, and how funny the arguement seemed to him now, which he had with Emil about whether to hang the bodies. He talks about the mine in Trundheim; the first battle he commanded, there; the beastman he killed with the broken remnant of his father's sword, and that sword now being reforged by Morovir. He talks about the disastrously embattled village of Westvein, with its monsterous Lord Armata and the coloured chaos beast in its hills and the dire wolves they slew, taking their pups to raise, and the river pirates with their ghastly rituals and gaudy golden throne. The Lord of the Foxwoods, Yellow Eyes, The Trundheim Slug, the Skaven of Axebite Pass; as much of this as the King and Duke tolerate him rambling about, he rambles. He explains with something like pride that his companions sometimes call him the Hedgehog knight; this to explain the bandage over his eye, further illuminated by the helmet at his side which still features the bullet hole exit on its back where the wyrdstone round very nearly emptied his braincase.

    He does not hide parts of the story; but his telling is somewhat uneven. Men as keen as those listening to him can tell that his account of the Dancer in the Dark, who slit him up and down and left him bleeding in the horror house in Altdorf, is something deeply unresolved in him; something that has undermined his image of himself as knight, driving him to alternate follies of reckless, even self destructive risks like chasing the Skaven into their lair and trying to fight them with a candle and dagger... and negligent avoidance of some of his discipline, pouring himself into the care and entertainment and morale uplift of the embattled pilgrims which, while perhaps admirable, is not his knightly place (though Matrud of Montfort, patron of the Virtue of Empathy, might contend to split hairs about the subject).

    He casts his allies in a glowing light - even Wighard, who himself casts a glowing light. But Wighard is a man of skill and courage, whose capacity to master the forces of the unseen world is a distant second to his true quality, which shows in how swiftly and heartily him hade himself a father to Siobhan. Gimgroth is a warrior of such talent and conviction that Bertelis worries for the Company in his absense; with that dwarf around, who had pulled himself up from the mires of ignoble mercenary origins, their party could afford to be cavalier (hah) about the foes they engaged because his champion-capacity for rising to challenges was so grand. Without him, they will need to be more judicious where they can afford to; but had also a parallel, if uneven sense of understanding with the dwarf, and his wounded sense of honor. He will miss that very much. Morovir is a dwarf of a different kind: one who seems to Bertelis to have doubted himself for a long time by the standards dwarves hold for themselves, but is proving both stalwart in combat and supreme in crafting such that he ought not to have worried at all, and his clan, wherever they be, would to well to beg him back. Bruno, being a peasant elevated to nobility by an act of valor, is almost honorably Bretonnian in himself, for such stories (as rare as they are in Bretonnian) are great fodder for bards. But particularly the strength he has shown with the revelation of darkness in the family adjacent to his cousin, the awfulness of that fight, has convinced Bertelis that Bruno has the right stuff within him; and he has not doubted his choice to give over the imperial armor to the Baronet, even when he could have badly used it himself. Jasmine may be the most surprising of all - Bertelis remains puzzled by the frankly alien mentality of Halflings and their approach to danger and battle, but cannot help but admire that she is so willing to put herself in harms way even when she walks among men as men would walk among giants. The fact that she is a woman seems to barely detriment her at all; though he will continue to fuss over her safety. He emphasizes the fact that this halfling woman led a unit of Bretonnian men at arms into the depths of the Skaven den to deliver them, and the peasants; an act he would not have expected of most men, or humans, or peasants; let alone a peasant halfling woman.

    His stories run aground on awkwardness when it comes to the Green Knight, too. The presense of that mythic warrior in his journey while still an errant, and an errant who has strayed somewhat from his path, is deeply indicting to him; and that is discernable, in his voice.

    "...And so he bade me to take the horn from his hands that would summon him to aid me, and asked for an oath in price; and a second oath, if he were to make war on the plague running through Bordeleaux on my behalf. And I - perhaps impetuously - oathed that I would see slain a champion of each of the four dark gods before I slept twice under the same roof; and further oathed that I would do so without calling on his aid. And I gave him back the horn; something I would question, when the rats shot me down under the earth and I thought I was dead. But it was not to be; and my friends and the pilgrims carried me from there, and along the way until I had strength to walk and ride again. That is the last of the deeds the company did, before we arrived to deliver the pilgrims, and I caught young summons. Next, we are to sail around to Bordeleaux; to see if... my father's house still stands, and what can be done about the peasant revolts in the area; and then into Mousillon, to seek the cursed blade as we promised the Templar of Sigmar. And then..." He paused, and laughed a little. "...Maybe a ... short interval of peace before something else." He blushes then; the laugh feeling overly familiar and inappropriate, when he remembers his august company.
    Last edited by MrAbdiel; 2023-01-22 at 02:41 AM.

  2. - Top - End - #572
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Both listen intently and even Duke Hagen starts to visibly relax, albeit tensing up slightly at the mention of Bruno and Jasmine, the King is if anything curious about them - asking about the process of Bruno's elevation and gently probing at Bertelis' feelings about them.


    Overall though it seems like both are happy to experience vicariously through Bertelis what it was like to be young, unburdened with responsibilities and able to seek adventure at will.


    His Majesty is also especially interested in accounts of the Skaven menace.

    We cannot allow Skaven to base in the pass - that route is too important. Our Imperial friends are too obtuse to acknowledge the threat even exists, and our own knights ill-suited to such combat, we may have to source some Tileans.

    Duke Hagen looks uncomfortable

    We sometimes wish more of our knights had the pragmatic attitude of Duke Huebald of Carcassone - orcs do not know honour, so do not deserve to be fought with chivalry

    Duke Hagen interjects

    With respect my Lord, you talk as if chivalry is a handicap

    Louen smiles and looks at Bertelis

    The Duke is our conscience, whenever we get too willing to compromise in the name of statecraft.

    The skaven are numerous, cunning and by what few accounts we have without honour even amongst their own kind. They are vermin, intelligent vermin, but vermin.




    There is a small silence as he waits for a response from Bertelis.


    But the skaven menace is not what we are here to discuss - though we thank you for your first hand account.
    he nods at the Duke, who removes the cloth with a grimace of disgust at what lies underneath.

    What it concealed is a once fine breastplate - beautifully engraved and clearly a master-work of the armourers craft - now pitted and shattered by several shots from a firearm

  3. - Top - End - #573
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    "I, ah... quite agree about the Pass. Considering there are dwarven tunnels down there, perhaps the mountain folk can be persuaded to take on the task; they would surely draw less concern from our neighbours than an army of mercenaries."

    Bertelis offers this almost spontaneously, only a second too late comprehending that he is trying to advise the King of Bretonnia on matters of war and statecraft. Rarely does anyone have the opportunity to teach anyone's grandmother how to suck such quantities of eggs.

    "Or, ah... I had been thinking that, as I journeyed, I mean."

    He is glad for the conversation to move on; but looks at the ruined cuirass in dismay. Bretonnians did not possess, widely in their craftsmen, the skill to forge plate armor with much in the way of contour and articulation. Such was a dwarf art passed to Imperial men; Bretonnians mostly made doo with their bucket-helms and simple, classical partial plate filled out with layered chain, and hardened leather. A breastplate like this might well have been a special commission from a foreign craftsman; or given its present location, perhaps a diplomatic gift. Whatever its origin, it was a fair and fine work; or it had been.

    "Awful to see, your majesty." His hand is drawn, subconciously, to his side where the ache of the skaven warpshot round that nearly killed him for the second time on that delve still throbbed. "...The guards at the gate spoke of a rash of pistol shootings, here in the city. Is this the product of that base thuggery..?"

  4. - Top - End - #574
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    No

    He pauses

    An Imperial master armourer took a pilgrimage to Couronne. When I heard of this, at great expense I engaged him to work with the finest armourers in my service to make the best armour they could. When they were done I had one of my veteran men-at-arms take a dozen shots at it with an arquebus.

    3 times he missed, 3 times it resisted, 4 times it went through, on the 11th the gun exploded.

    Fortunately he only lost an eye



    Although he talks about this in the same tone one might use to describe the lameness of not particularly favoured steed.


    And more and more of these things come in and what is perhaps worse is that they are not under noble control.


    He holds his hand up to forestall the Duke


    I know, we have had this discussion.

    Peasants use bows.

    Knights do not

    But it is not dishonourable for a knight to command peasants who do.

    Therefore there is plenty of precedent for peasants to wield weapons that knights do not.



    He bangs the table


    But they have to be under the command of nobles.

    We are supposed to be the military elite and protectors of the realm, and if it comes to it that we cannot do that with a horse and lance then we need to do it another way.

    That is the essence of chivalry.

    We fight for those who cannot.

    How we do that matters a lot less



    He is definitely more agitated, and this is clearly a subject that he has been dwelling on for a long time, very rarely gets to talk about and it seems he hasn't worked out any answers for.


    He has dropped talking about himself in the Royal We and is probably on the cusp of dropping to tutoyer the pair of you


    The Duke is also a bit more animated, and it is clear they have this conversation - or versions of it, before, And I remind your lordship that the solution is strict prohibition and enforcement


    Even if we could do that, the armourers and castle-builders art has not advanced much since the days of Gilles the Unifier of blessed memory. Powder and cannon have gotten much better and more common.


    If we persist in foreswearing them we will end up prey for those who have not.


    Not in your lifetime, not mine, but eventually.



    He stands and gestures


    I want Brettonia to shine as brightly a thousand years from now as it does now and you know as I do that even the Prophetesses say it won't


    Then he slumps back into his chair, breathing deeply, and looks at Bertelis sadly


    That part is true. I had them run a series of long-term divinations on the future of the Kingdom - because sometimes just being really good at killing monsters isn't enough for future generations.


    The auspices were not good.

  5. - Top - End - #575
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    bruno and jasmine: the man turns into a skeezy tavern called the one-eyed cat. It's a smoky bar of ill repute, with a barkeep who looks like he means business and tavern goers who look at you with barely repressed hatred when you enter. it looks like this place isnt too fond of outsiders

  6. - Top - End - #576
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Bertelis lips move. He has opinions; oven the last year, he has read and understood more about military motion and the rise and fall or nations than most of his peers would before their greying years at least. But he has not been asked to advise; indeed, he has not been asked much at all. Fingers curling into his palms as of physically restraining his penchant for palaver he asks.

    “…Forgive me, my King. How… can I serve you in this matter?”

  7. - Top - End - #577
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    His majesty looks at Bertelis, takes a swig of watered wine and swirls it around his mouth several times in a combination of appreciation and contemplation before replying. It possibly also gives him a chance to calm down a bit.


    It seems apparent that while King and Duke do not see eye to eye here it does not compromise their friendship - indeed they might only be capable of having such a frank discussion because they are good friends, and that his Majesty expects something from his counsellors other than blind obedience. Bertelis might take note of that parallel to his own experience.


    There is a position for which you are uniquely suited - which I shall tell you about in a few moments, and there a number of services for which you are well qualified - which I shall also tell you about.


    But I have to begin by telling you how we got here.


    Firstly, yes, I fear for Brettonnia, whilst we remain without peer in valour and gallantry we are falling behind in our technology, our economy and our understanding of the wider world.


    Some might say



    he looks at the Duke


    That we have fared perfectly well without such things in the past and have no need of them now.


    However I worry that unless the nobility take notice we risk change happening without our control or even knowledge and we wake up one day to find ourselves irrelevant.


    This might already have happened in L'Anguille where the city may pay lip service and taxes to the Duke but could go the way of Marienberg any day now and there is little we could do about it.


    A dozen of us gamed out on the sandtable for nearly a week last winter and concluded that we could not take it by assault, a siege could be established from the land but we have no way of maintaining a blockade by sea and that the whole process would impoverish at least three duchies.


    So a reminder, before I forget, when you go through there I need a report please


    Where was I? Yes.


    Secondarily, we cannot easily over-come this isolation or even work out how to fix our problems because of our insularity, some would call it righteous self-confidence


    I like and support the Pilgrimage not just on its on divine merits, but also because it is one of the few ways new people come here and some of them have skills we lack. Unfortunately few are prepared to stay because they find the status of a peasant unattractive compared to what they are used to.


    Again before I forget, anyone in your recent charge you feel I should make an especial effort to retain?


    Scholarship is not highly regarded here, we have no university and the vast bulk of the nobility only study two things - their own ancestry back as far as The Uniter and how related they are to everyone else; and the art of war.


    That is except here in Couronne where they also study their horses' pedigrees to an even more intensive degree.



    That might be a royal joke, at least he smiles when he says it


    And also our own studbook is closed


    That's definitely a joke


    You know how nobility works here, but you might not have considered how it handicaps us in diplomacy.


    The daughters of Brettonia can freely marry abroad without problem, save having to live somewhere where they are less cherished and protected. Nevertheless they adorn the courts of our neighbours and serve as ornaments to our magnificence.


    Our sons generally do not chose brides from abroad, because however exalted they may be in their home country here they would be considered non-noble and their children not eligible to inherit.


    We can therefore only offer low-status matches with our sons as few of them are willing to marry a foreigner, as such we end up cut off from the wider world.


    Though again plenty see that as a boon not a handicap



    He stands


    For the final part of the puzzle, well, come with me


    He opens the door to the cabinet and steps inside, the Duke gives you a weary and knowing look and beckons you follow his majesty
    Last edited by wilphe; 2023-01-24 at 04:47 PM.

  8. - Top - End - #578
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    ElfRangerGuy

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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Bruno had quickly explained to Jasmine who he was following and why.

    When they entered the tavern he immediately saw that this was not a tavern he wanted to stay in, and he assumed that Jasmine would feel the same way.
    "I'm sorry for the intrusion," he said, "but I think I'm a bit lost. I'm looking for the tanners. Would you mind pointing me in the right way."
    While he said that he was looking around as much as possible without being obvious about it, mostly to see where the guy he had been following had gone to.

    Spoiler: OOC rolls
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    charm I guess: (1d100)[47] vs 77 (if schemer applies, vs 87)
    Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett

    "Magic can turn a frog into a prince. Science can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with." Terry Pratchett
    "I will not yield to evil, unless she's cute."

  9. - Top - End - #579
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    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    While Bruno is distracting the tavern's patrons, Jasmine takes a moment to look to see if the bar has any exits to the kitchens or a back alleyway that their quarry might have used to disappear.

    Spoiler
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    (1d100)[15] v. 66 perception

  10. - Top - End - #580
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Bertelis smiles at the King's jokes; but the weight of the conversation, the high and intricate matters of international relations and the long shadows they cast over generations to come being naturally intimidating for the young knight errant. Strangely, it was for opposite reasons than he might have once imagined. Being more worldly than his brothers, having befriended many kinds of folk from the Empire who did not fit the Bretonnian mould; and when the conversation began, telling of his adventures, he had thought he might need to give delicate and diplomatic allowances for such folks before the paragon of Couronne. But the king's mood tended towards an unforeseen pragmatism, fortunately tempered by his companion the Duke; and Bertelis found himself mostly harbouring unspoken objections and apologetics against the King's concerns than he did defenses of his own taken liberties.

    When the king asks about individuals to retain, Bertelis considers genuinely. "Of the pilgrims, I do not think so. Most were desperately poor when they began, and will return home desperately poor - though I would hope some of Couronne's knights errant would be willing to accompany them back given the danger they faced on the way in. But... There is a dwarf in the Company - Glod, whom I mentioned. He is skilled in the dwarven runecrafts, but also in the weapon-working of the dwarves. He has been striving to reforge my family sword; but it has been hard for him to do much work on it, on the road as we constantly are. I think he does not mean to burden us to ask, but an opportunity to set down roots for a while and teach the anvil-ways, while working himself on his rune magic in relative stillness and peace, may do him good. And the dwarves taught Sigmar's sons the riddles of steel; perhaps they can do so for the blood of Gilles. Now, with the War over and our favor in the dawi halls greater than it has ever been by dual reasoning of your warhost's action saving Middenheim and deflecting the Archenemy, and the ongoing efforts of our young knights in the mountains slaying the greenskins, it may be time to foster relations through them directly. I would radically even suggest-"

    Spoiler: OOC:
    Show
    No reply to the message I sent Morovir, so I thought I might as well set up a possible exit (and one he can return from if he shows back up in a few weeks easily enough.)


    He catches himself again. No, he is not here for radical suggestions; he is here to serve, and he needs to listen more than he speaks. He follows the king, and the duke, to the next revelation.

  11. - Top - End - #581
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Radical suggestions are good, you may speak freely.

    The cabinet itself is not much smaller than the privychamber you were in, but furnished with only a few simple chairs and small tables.

    The most comfortable looking chair sits in the corner facing a large map of Bretonnia and a larger one of Mousillon on the opposite wall that you entered through.

    Painted around the wall are the blazons of various knights - most of which you do not recognise, but a few you recognise as former companions of the King.

    Almost the entire wall facing the entrance is taken up with a fresco depicting when the Lady of the Lake appeared to the first three Grail Knights, Gilles, Landuin and Thierulf and bade them drink from the Grail.


    Mousillon is in my thoughts always. his Majesty says grimly, a touch of melancholy entering his voice.


    But at least there you know where you stand.


    What do I see elsewhere?


    Lords who neglect their duties, worse there are some peasants who so distrust their Lord's indifferent justice that they would rather handle matters between themselves than draw his attention


    I have too many chevaliers fainéants who seemingly exist only to enjoy only their wealth and status but would be better suited to the distaff than the lance.


    I thought I could encourage martial prowess with tournaments and I have, people praise my name for it, but while I may get a score of knights to joust in front of pretty maidens in the sunlight only a couple of them will be seen when the time comes to face beastmen in the Forest when there is no one to watch.


    Merchants act like they are beyond the law - because few nobles understand their business enough to effectively govern them and they've successfully convinced the rest that it would be dishonourable to try to.



    He sighs,


    I have a realm were the fundamental rules are considered so self-evident as to be beyond question - but at the same time something to be gotten around.


    Fortunately truth is not considered amongst the virtues of chivalry, nor is hypocrisy any bar to knighthood


    Oh come on, not even you can say that like you believe it


    Apart from the question that if the rules are so great why do so few of us follow them, it leaves the door open to, what do the Imperials call it again? The Enemy Within.


    Dissembling and lies are a way for chaos to enter.



    He looks at Bertelis,


    Every single one of those blazons belonged to a Knight who died at my side, there are even more in the Grail chapel next door. There you will find your Great Uncle's, I fought with him and with your grandfather


    His eyes in a moment have become those of the man in his nineties he really is, no matter how the magic of the Grail has kept him in vigorous middle age, sorrowful with the loss of generations of friends, and, tearful?


    His voice may be cracking a bit however he continues


    The insurrection that threatens your father's lands and kin will have to be bloodily put down - if your lord has made your life intolerable, or is a traitor or a chaos worshipper perhaps that can be excused. Though I would prefer for the neighbouring lords to deal with it.

    But once you declare war on the nobility as a whole there can be no such accommodation



    Spoiler: OOC
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    That's main plot not sideplot so for Bramble to dump whatever information he feels like giving
    Last edited by wilphe; 2023-01-25 at 03:06 PM.

  12. - Top - End - #582
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    However, one cannot rule with the stick alone, sometimes one needs the carrot.


    There is a domain called Saulx in Mousilion.


    Not totally ill-favoured, it appears that the most common malady there is the uncanny resemblance of so many of their peasants to their Lord.


    Look, peasants exist to serve and if the way some peasant lass can best serve you is as a warm place to dip your wick then fine. I have no issue with that, nor even if one prefers boys. How you treat your peasants is not my business unless it gets out hand.


    But when I pass through a place and see too many children of the manor I always get worried, its disruptive and it makes trouble. Noble bastards1 are bad enough.



    He does still talk about this in the same way that someone might discuss someone who beats their dog and drowns her unwanted puppies, when its mostly about the lack of character and cruelty displayed reflecting badly on the perpetrator rather than compassion for the victims.


    Anyway, the Lord pushed too far, may even have been a Slaaneshi in some accounts and died at the hands of his tenants.


    The neighbouring lords were too busy bickering amongst themselves to take the place back promptly, when they did organise an attempt it failed ignominiously against prepared defences. In any case I don't have much time for any of them either - they seem no less corrupt and pay me less than lipservice.


    I have therefore reverted the fief to the crown - I would rather have a domain of self-administering peasants who acknowledge my over-lordship of Mousilion than see it fall into the hands of a corrupt noble who doesn't.


    However no land can exist without a Lord, but a Lord who is obliged to be an absentee will work.


    Hence I wish to bestow this fief on you, you would my direct royal vassal but it is too small to be a barony, therefore I propose to revive the title of Knight Banneret which has been dormant a few generations.




    Spoiler: 1
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    It seems that noble status is derived from both your parents being nobles - it says nothing about them being married, that only seems to affect inheritance rights.

    In theory that doesn't make them worse off than any younger son, but that's another potential disaffected social group to worry about, and maybe more dangerous because they are nobles
    Last edited by wilphe; 2023-01-25 at 02:48 PM.

  13. - Top - End - #583
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    bruno: the barkeep says "two streets over and under a sign of a cow" im assuming you head that way, or at least leave the doorway

    jasmine: the hooded man has ducked into the privy, probably to wait out you and bruno.

    wighard: an acolyte of shallya takes you to the high priestess who is waiting for you behind a large desk. "hierophant wighard, we thank you for bringing pilgrims safely to couronne" she says, inclining her head ever so slightly. after dismissing the acolyte, she gets down to business "there is a certain blasphemer that is roaming the countryside of brettonia. we need him taken out swiftly and without fuss" she hands you a picture of the blasphemers face.

    please describe him, give him a name, and an identifying trait

    bertelis: how are you feeling now that the king has rocked your worldview?

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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Bertelis rubs the back of his neck, runs over his thoughts a few times in his head, then lays them out at the King's invitation.

    "Axe Bite Pass. For now it is a demilitarized zone, but everyone knows it has served as a fruitless jousting run for the Reiksguard and the chevaliers du Parravon for much longer. The addition of Skaven as a problem only complicates matters further - and as Your Majesty has said, the route is both too important to give over to enemy occupants, and now threatened by an enemy our knights are ill equipped to fight. Right now, because of your personal friendship with Karl Franz, it is not a contentious zone. But a hundred years from now, Imperial historians are likely to be sketching out the life of three or four less impressive successor to him, with names like 'Ernst the Unwholesome' and 'Gregoria the Rotund'. We are gods-blessed to have had a coalition of monarchs so competent to stand against the darkest moment since in the world since Asaval Kul rode down from the black north; but we cannot count on it for long."

    "And inevitably, whatever lesser successor Emperor sits on the throne many years from now with glance over at Axe Bite Pass with its blurry interchange of Reikspiel and Breton customs and lords and ask..."

    Bertelis drops into fine Reikspiel, dented with an Averland drawl.

    "'Why are we letting those wine-swilling frog chompers have that land anyway? Let's run a few Steamtanks through and drive them back so Reikland has a new county to tax directly, ho ho ho.' And given Your Majesty's less than sanguine assessments of our military future, there may be little to be done about it at the time. And they may take the pass and a dollop of Montfort and Parravon for good measure, seasoned with our pride. What to do, then?"

    "Here is my suggestion, radical as it is: give the pass to the dwarves. They are a difficult and contentious bunch, but what they crave is restoration of their old places and a chance to breathe in the vapors of their ancient glory. My eyes have seen the crumbled dwarven way under Axe Bite Pass, defiled now by - relatively - a small occupation of ratmen. And there is no force in the world better at containing such monsters than the dwarves. Imagine if, instead of the dread scenario I posed a moment ago, a hundred years from now, there is a small but hardy dwarven buffer state in that gap. The Bretonnian and Imperial families in the area are so mercenary souled they will submit to a crown that taxes them no more fiercely than the last, and with more assurance against local threats and desolation by armies crusading one way or the other. And the dwarves who come to found a new colony, at the crossroads of trade between Bretonnia, the Empire and the dwarf holds north and south of the gap, are likely to be mostly young Imperial dwarves drawn in by the promise of a new frontier and the chance to make a name in a new place."

    "They will haggle harder than Imperial neighbours, but they will also provide you with a source of dwarven artisanship immediately adjacent, which may source some of your concerns about where to best acquire such skills. Perhaps, if Your Majesty can imagine it in a more technically thought out fashion than his servant can, there may be room for some kind of... labor rotation where peasants are permitted to go and work in crews for the dwarves constructing their domain, absorbing some of the skills by adjacency, returning after a tenyear to Bretonnian with a practical education and a small, elevating honorfic title for peasants like 'Dwarf-Friend' or some such. But most importantly to my mind, such a state would give pause to Ernst the Unwholesome who will be unable to attack a dwarven neighbour without the revolt of his cabinet, and therefore unable to seize any ducal lands from future Bretonnian generations. He will instead have to do what so many before him have done and take a bite at Marienburg, inviting the elves to come whip them again."


    It is the most sustained technical thought about Statecraft that Bertelis has ever pronounced. But having done so at invitation, his fear is much relieved; even if he is rebuked for every part of it, he will walk away wiser.

    But when the conversation moves on indolent lords and their uproarious peasants, Bertelis becomes the listener again; words of his grandfather and great uncle fighting in the king's presence humbling him, for all his small worries about his personal expressions of courage or cunning.

    He grimaces at the mention of the insurrection. He knows the King is right - there can be no gentle reset of past norms now that the revolt has rolled over and slain two lordships. It cannot enter the mind of the peasantry at large that there is success to be gained by revolution. All they could achieve is the decapitation of the ancient system of ways that has, mostly, kept them safe of hundreds of years and likely a collapse into nationwide anarchy to be plundered by Orcs, Skaven, Imperials, Aeslings, Dark Elves and, perhaps worse of all, Bilbalians. The only question now was how to wisely discern the minimally brutal response to permit the healing of relations to begin.

    ...And which young lords would be given those now vacated and sorrow laden lands to attempt to rebuild. Bertelis grimaces as he thinks of his brothers - what a curse for them, to either be dead in a ditch somewhere, or else to be in the running for such an awful duty as to be the first brick in a new, likely doomed dynasty.

    Then comes the discussion of Saulx.

    He tries to suppress a grimace at the casual description of peasants and their purposes. It offends a part of Bertelis that is young and raw and well acquainted with many peasant. And, for that matter, one who has a perfectly developed platonic affection for peasant lasses and who has much preferred to leave them with virtue intact and lilting tales of his restraint and gallantry on their lips. But compassion is not a virtue one can express willy nilly at the highest levels of statecraft; and the rational part of Bertelis knows this, too.

    He waits for the hammer to drop. He knows, in the depth of his gut, this will be a new obligation. A new monster to slay; a new artefact to break or daemon to dispel, and this will be the task that finally burns him to ash before he can fulfil his vows and bring Deanna home and secure his family's future. The king will ask for his life, and he strains against the coward-poison left in his soul by the Dancer in the Dark to muster the strength to respond in the affirmative.

    But the hammer does not fall; and Bertelis is stunned. Under his present vows, he cannot be anything more than an itinerant lord anyway; and if one day he were to return from his quests with valor and perhaps treasure to secure Saulx more completely, he might be prepared for annexure of similarly corrupt neighbouring domains and the birth of a full Barony. Mousillon was cursed, awful land; but Lyonesse's seizure of so much of that territory had reverted much of the land to arable, uncursed usefulness. It seems the fate of the land is tied much more to the quality of those who rule and live there, and not so much the other way around.

    "I... accept most certainly, Your Majesty. At your command, I will see to its immediate welfare when we pass through on our present quest to Mousillon proper, and again on our way back to Lyonesse. And, perhaps once the many fretting matters settle around me, I might be able to settle there and administer its safety and prosperity more directly. Knight-Banneret... Thank you, my liege. I would... I would..."

    He trails off, eyes glossy with the considerations of this honoured, but not imperilous charge.

  15. - Top - End - #585
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    If we could get enough Dwarves - another potential pitfall we face is getting enough experts from the Empire without upsetting the Empire - but not an idea without merit


    We have little experience of the Stout Folk here - but what little we have is very favourable. They are as protective of their womenfolk as they are of their honour.


    Or if we are to have it as a buffer between us and Imperials - perhaps we share over-lordship with the Emperor?



    +++++++++++++++++


    Upon Bertelis acceptance His Majesty smiles,


    Good, I will have them draw up the paperwork and we can do investiture tomorrow morning.


    He sighs, as if he is about to cover something both deeply troubling and dear to his heart


    I was going to tell about the knights commemorated here, and why they are here rather than in the grail chapel


    He looks at the one to the right of the door, runs his hand over the blazon


    Tancred of Porret - companion of my youth. The first to fall by my side at the hands of a brayherd on our first week of errantry.


    Huet le beau - cleaved in twain by a greenskin warchief but swiftly avenged


    Audenin Oger - struck down by a bandit's bolt


    A half-dozen lost in the Errantry against chaos: Gauchier, Oudin, Louis, Talebat, Poton, Mahieu


    Several dozen commemorated here - from Knights Errant to Barons.



    His voice is beginning to crack


    All of them my friends


    All of them a great loss to Bretonnia.


    All of them Chevaliers sans peur et sans reproche



    He looks at you again with tears in his eyes


    All of them women

  16. - Top - End - #586
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Wighard is not exactly sure what type of bird it is that crashes into Lyonesse in his vision - he does know that it is not any of the 5 from the Holy Family that he has ended up retainer to. Perhaps it relates to the current issues in Bretonnia, perhaps it relates to Eonath Bleakscythe.

    But as he is not an expert on either ornithology or heralrdy or dark-elf symbolism that will have to wait.


    ++++++++++++


    Wighard ***** an eye at the Most Holy Matriarch's request, he's not an assassin nor a bounty-hunter but on the other hand he wouldn't expect the hierarchy of Shallya to be experts in hiring such people.


    He looks at the drawing, a fair-haired young woman missing her right ear


    "Forgive me your beatitude, but I have some questions.


    Firstly, that by "taken out" you mean what? Killed, brought back and handed over for sentencing, what?


    Secondly, by what authority are they condemned?


    Thirdly, what is the offence of this Cecilia d'Orgremont that even the church of Shallya considers them beyond redemption?

    Normally such fates are reserved for those who embrace the Fly Lord, or here in Bretonnia the heresy that the Lady of the Lake is Shallya's servant - and even that is normally handled by the Damsels and the Knights


    Fourthly, I should tell you that I am no wizardly assassin, I am a healer; and that while my colleagues are certainly talented in matter of solving problems by killing people they have habitually struggled with the "without fuss" part of your request


    Finally, if this task is to be undertaken for no more than you Holiness' gratitude?

  17. - Top - End - #587
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    wighard: the high priestess smiles. its not a pretty sight. "we have reason to believe she is a silent carrier of neiglish rot. kill and burn her corpse, so she cannot spread the disease any farther" she pulls a hefty bag of coin from a drawer. "this should cover your expenses" inside sits 70 GC.

    "there have been many small outbreaks of neiglish rot across couronne, and we traced it to her. she did a runner, and we need this silenced, lest a panic ensue"

    "the order comes from the damsels themselves, having had to treat many cases of the rot"
    Last edited by bramblefoot; 2023-01-26 at 03:27 PM.

  18. - Top - End - #588
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    ElfRangerGuy

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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    "Thank you for your assistance," Bruno said, moving back outside and moving a bit further away.
    "I'm not sure who that man is and why my attention was drawn to him," he said to Jasmine, "but seeing that inn there is something not entirely correct. Looks a bit like a thief's den, don't you think? I'm not sure if I best stay here and see if he comes back out or head back to the temple and try to figure out later who he was."
    Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett

    "Magic can turn a frog into a prince. Science can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with." Terry Pratchett
    "I will not yield to evil, unless she's cute."

  19. - Top - End - #589
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    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    "I dunno what you want him for, but he slipped into the jakes. We could nip around real quick and kick the sides in and grab him while he's ****tin', if ya don't mind a little fuss. Might start a riot tho. Or we could hide and tail him when he leaves, next time try not to let him spot ya."

  20. - Top - End - #590
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Wighard is not entirely sure this is above board, but keeps that thought to himself and leaves the money on the table for now. He considers trying spending some time chatting with her to see if she lets anything slip - but as she is probably better at that then him drops the subject.

    Instead they talk about medical practices for a bit and he then takes the money and his leave. He does take the advantage of any lulls in the conversation to check her aura over however


    Spoiler: OOC
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    (1d100)[8] Magical Sense 77

  21. - Top - End - #591
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Bertelis gazes at his tearful, tired king.

    There is no protocol for what is happening. There is no well rendered tradition of how a Knight Errant - or rather, Knight Banneret - ought to respond when his King becomes emotional while confessing a deep and shocking secret that may be regarded in the hearts of some countrymen as blasphemy. The young man's eyes hunt across the wall of honor tokens of slain chevalières; then to the duke with something like desperation; and then back to the king, when the duke gives him no escape from the conversation.

    Bertelis is surprised to find he is less surprised than he thinks he should be - a complicated state of mind. But he has travelled enough to have met warriors of many kinds; peasant, and noble; man, and halfling, and dwarf; male and female. He wonders how frequently that circumstances align that permit such an event as a chevalière: a young woman grown strong enough to fight in armor and with lance; with a complicit mentor to teach her that way; with the subtlety to act the part of a man in so many encounters; with allies willing to support the gallant fiction; and with the peculiarity of spirit that permits a knight to life of virtue supported on a single, inextricable and elemental lie. He imagines a less battered and world-weary Bertelis might disdain such women for that subterfuge, and the manner in which it undermines the brotherhood of knights and their ancient legacy. But then, this had likely been going on for many years. It can't have undermined it that much. If for every hundred young men ride out in the mould of Gilles le Breton to die for their king and country, cound he really begrudge that there might be, secretly, one young woman riding out likewise, in the mould of Repanse du Lyonesse, to die likewise?

    Can it be virtuous to disdain virtue?

    No; he supposes not. He believes in the codes, and the traditions. He believes men are the shield of women, and knights are the shield of the peasantry. He believes in a world of laws, and rules, and codes that are real, and necessary, and fundamentally good. But he also understands the world is messy and fundamentally chaotic; the imposition of hard forms and ways on it was not perfect, and in the messy underfray of that contact of law and lawlessness was a space where exceptions had to be made for the good of the entire apparatus. So what if there were chevalières out there? If they struck out into the world to do the good demanded of knights, who can condemn them? Only the Green Knight, and the Lady herself; not this scarred and cowardly son of Bordeleaux.

    The king, a man of great wisdom and insight, must surely see some flash of this playing out on Bertelis' face; the fundamental understanding of this truth, and the tragic necessity of honouring these women this way, rather than elsewhere.

    At the bottom of his soul, Bertelis finds something to say.

    "...Glory and renown beyond death are the but the gilded lure of knighthood; the virtues themselves are the great reward. I expect all your friends knew that. May all knights come to know it, before they are called to give all."

    Then he turns his eyes back to the blazons, taking a small step forward to remove the king entirely from his eyeline, so he might compose himself without witness.

  22. - Top - End - #592
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    wighard: the high priestesses' aura is animated like a roaring bonfire. she truly believes that this woman must die with all of her heart and soul. what now?

    bertelis: the meeting is adjourned, and you're given free reign of the lodge. as you wander into the courtyard, you see two teenage boys and a 16 year old girl fencing with wooden swords. they stop what they are doing to look at you, and the girl looks somewhat sheepish, like she's been caught doing something she shouldn't. wdyd?

    bruno and jasmine: can i get perception checks?

  23. - Top - End - #593
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    He allows the teens to bask in their anxiety for a moment. Then he approaches, looks them over, looks over their swords... and takes a minute aside to drag his heel to draw two large circle, each a couple of yards across. He takes one of the lads by the shoulder, and leads him into the first circle.

    "Do you know your Tobaran circles? You try to stay inside the circle without leaving it, or stepping on the line. And you-" He gestures to the other boy, inviting him to the antagonist role in the outplay of the lesson, "may attack as you like from any direction, crossing and crossing back over the circle as you like. Your goal is to score touches, but also to drive him out of the circle. You do this every day for a few years, you use smaller circles, you come to know where your feet are when you're fighting, and it becomes much harder for your enemy to dictate where you will be."

    Then the takes up a crooked, decent stick shed from a poplar tree in the courtyard, tests it for weight, and steps into the other circle, beckoning the girl to come on and try her luck.

    He spends an hour or so in what is partly tutelage but is just as much play, feeling aeons older than these youths, showing them some of the elements of fencing they are trying to discover by trial and error.

    At some point, he ought to take on one (or more) such as a squire long term - but he will need a destrier before he feels he has the credibility as a knight of the realm to really pass on knowledge; not to mention, ideally, to be free of his oath and fears about home. Nothing would stop him passing this much to those young people, though. Perhaps, in their own adventures, it would be the difference between failure and hard fought success.

  24. - Top - End - #594
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    bertelis: the girl, whose name is aletta, proves suprisingly competent at swordplay, nearly disarming you on three occasions. when the hour is up, you hear clapping coming from the entrance to the courtyard "well done, well done" duke hagen says. "i see you are training my niece well" he walks over to you, and whispers, "she gets bored and has a tendency to sneak out of podoye in the name of adventure. i would feel honored to have her in your care on your quests"

  25. - Top - End - #595
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    ElfRangerGuy

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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    "I'm going to head to the temple to get this thing out of my eye," Bruno said, "and then we can ask around about that guy so we know more and maybe also know why 'the thing' drew my attention to him."

    Unless Jasmine protested much, he would head to the temple of Shallya, looking around to make sure he wasn't followed.

    Spoiler: OOC rolls
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    perception: (1d100)[6] vs 69
    Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett

    "Magic can turn a frog into a prince. Science can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with." Terry Pratchett
    "I will not yield to evil, unless she's cute."

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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Bertelis looks to Aletta as she duels with the boys, and he confers with Duke Hagen to one side. With the venerable grail knight all but requesting he take her on as a 'squire', he can hardly refuse. Bertelis can read between the lines - he wants her trained, and that can only be done so much within Bretonnia's open sight.

    "...Well. Our quests are dangerous, but we are beginning to acquire a small train of followers and expect more. If she can be ready to go with me after the signing tomorrow morning, I would be honored to have her under my aegis."

    Even as he says so, he is parsing through the quests they have slated, in his mind. He cannot take her into the heart of Mousillon when they seek the plaguesword; but perhaps she and the other followers can remain behind in...

    ...In his fief. In Saulx. Until they return. Thinking of his fief as anything but his father's house in Bordeleaux was a way of thinking he would not be used to for a long time.

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    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    "Oh yah, you and Bertelis both got those mad eyes. A matched pair, you are. Sure, let's visit the temple. Besides, I reckon I know why you mistook this tavern for a tannery; the beer smells like piss and the patrons smell like dead mules. That been out in the sun a week."

  28. - Top - End - #598
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    bruno and jasmine: you both spot a strange glyph marked on the wall in chalk. the glyph is that of a serpent devouring a rat.

    wighard: siobhan wanders up to you and passes you a note. "found this in my pocket" she says. the letter reads as follows. come alone to the place where the crooked tree bends double. wishes have been made here, and danger will ensue if you do not come

    bertelis: duke hagen nods. "ill get her packed and ready" he walks off, whistling

  29. - Top - End - #599
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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Congratulations on your having your first cryptic and ominous letter show up on your person; its a rite of passage for a wizard as fundamental as menarche is.


    And like menstruation is only in the abstract a reminder of your unique power and place in the world; in practice it is usually inconvenient, annoying, messy and sometimes painful.


    But also in bear in mind - this is how we ended up in Trundheim in the first place



    He reviews the writing, seeing if it is the same as any other note he's seen before or recognises it


    Any idea where this place is?


    Spoiler: OOC
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    It has never come up yet, but:

    Realms of Sorcery:

    Once accepted into an Order and having sworn his binding
    oaths of loyalty and allegiance, an Apprentice is bound legally
    and spiritually to his mentor. Though a Magister may not
    be able to know what his Apprentice is feeling or doing, an
    Imperial Magister will always know where his Apprentice is
    within a certain radius. For some Magisters this radius is only
    a few hundred meters, but for the oldest and most powerful
    Magisters, this range can be a few miles. This means that it
    is nearly impossible for an Apprentice to leave a reasonable
    proximity of his mentor without his mentor knowing what
    direction he heads.



    So, with that and Kwolf and her wolf overwatch might be possible



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    Default Re: tomboys and troublemakers part 2: road to couronne

    Jasmine makes a note of the weird symbol and as they walk back to the temple she looks for more of them along the seedier bars or taverns along the back streets. She also chatters away to Bruno about it. "Weird symbol, yeah you saw it? Somethin' killin rats is probably good, unless the rats are one of them 'mettyfors' the professor was always going on about. Semiotics this, allegory that. He was a talker, I bet he's talkin' old Morr's ear off now. Or he would if he had ears. Anyway, what do you reckon it is? Cult? Secret society? Organized crime? I doubt them prissy Shallyans would have an idea about it an' I don't wanna ask the wrong people ya know. I wish they had honest witch hunters we could talk to here instead of those weird magic girls although I bet you an' Wighard like that better. When we get back to the Empire, I can't wait to tell the Hammer about all the monsters and stuff we killed. Although you probably oughter get that eye fixed up before we meet him again. After all, as the preachers say, 'if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out'."

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