Good sirs and noble ladies, I know, I know, I should have been here in october but I am late like Charles de Valois when repaying his debts ! Such is life I would say, life is full of trials, more work, writer's block, a broken computer, heh, God puts trials on our way so we can overcome them in the most chivalric way. So ride on, let us go back on saddle and ride with Charles de Villeroi, our gallant hero, who has just left the capital to go to Tradnod, to give the duchess of these lands the locket that she has lost and that he has found after vanquishing awful men made of wood and other foul witchcraft.For those who are new in our crowd, worry not, for I have here all the links to the previous scrolls detailing the adventures of Lord Charles de Villeroi.>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5085315/ thread 1>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5134375/ thread 2>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5194246/ thread 3>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5314154/ thread 4>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5422744/ thread 5>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5422744/ thread 6>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5561322/ thread 7>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5561322/ thread 8>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5702984/ thread 9>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5785267/ thread 10>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5920163/ thread 11>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/6011182/ thread 12>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/6079405/ thread 13>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6157669/ thread 14>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6256761/ thread 15Of course, as tradition dictates, we shall begin with a small prologue from another place of the world.
>>6328662PROLOGUE :Somewhere in a very dark fortress in a remote part of the world, ancient entities were watching closely. They watched how events unfolded and how life was changing. Here lied B'beg the Terrible, tentacled master of Evil, or at least of the most part of it, plotter extraordinaire, dark lord incredible and terrific tyrant. We could say that almost everything shady in a good half of the known world was of his meddling. In the gothic and spiky (any self respectable dark lord must have spikes and skulls as part of his interior decorations, and even B'beg's opinion was unknown on their aesthetic interest he was one for the decorum) room whose roof was not seen in the darkness, even to those who like Abovyurlevel, could see in the dark because of their elven blood, because it was far too high. It was here that the Dark Lord had assembled his generals, cronies and the representants of all the nasty beings that swore fealty to him. And what he had just said had shaken the audience to the core.-It is time, sound the wardrums, release the trolls, send in the hordes ! We go to war ! The final war for the annihilation of this world has begun ! On march my minions ! On march !Even to someone has cynical as Abovyurlevel, who had already seen eight wars to end the world in his more than ten millenia of existence, such speech was glorious and emotionnal, it would be an exceptionnal occasion. As each time, and perhaps some evil spirits will mock him for his naivety, but he believed that this time was the good one. At each the preceding wars, the forces of Evil used surprise, skill and sheer numbers to beat the ineffective defense of the forces of Good, but at the last time, some hero from a forgotten prophecy saved the day. But now, now with the confirmed death of the Chosen One there was no chance for this now. All would depend in numbers, surprise, grit and agression and now victory was inevitable. The stupid stranger, had been central to it. But this time, strangely, the generals, plotters and planners of the forces of evil looked uneasy. One of the Duergar, with golden and bloodstone decorations whose name Abovyurlevel could not remember dared to say.-Omnipotent Gelatineous Master, I fear that the troops will not be ready for this endeavour. The tone of the Terrible Dark Lord was dangerous.-What do you mean by it ?-I mean that Wohnk has not enough forces for his campaign to the southlands, to have a base to then turn against the Im..-I know, I know, tell it to Steiner, he will reinforce the troops and put some order here.The people in charge of troop movement and logistics, and even some charged of spycraft in the southlands, like Mokhtar, a human who was barely tolerated here. Finally, one spoke.-My liege...-Your sliminess...-Steiner...-Steiner cannot deal with the task...-How ? How you imbeciles ? I gave you centuries of planning and you are not able to send my armies forward... Are you that incompetent ?
>>6328664It was Mokhtar, a southron who was barely tolerated here but who was specialised in spying in this direction, who answered.-It is more, Tentacled Master, that all have gone too well. The southern emirs and sultans have copied the empire's policy of tolerance to evil and we have managed to convince several nations to rally our cause, nations that traditionally have been against us.-And ? Isn't it good ?-Well we promised those that are for us lands from those who are against but there is not enough. And worse, the orcish armies of Steiner have been promised rape and plunder but it they have to march through the desert without killing anyone in the cities they find they can mutiny .-Surely Steiner can discipline some orcs... But are you saying that we are delayed because all have gone too well All of them nodded, and the tentacled face of Bb'eg contorted, his tentacles forming knots with eachother, a sign of great exhaustion. He sighed. -Can we not betray one of the parties involved. -It will be hard... Your Great Gelatinous Master, to ensure that the betrayal goes properly, we must...-We must cultivate loyalists of those betrayals in the ranks of the southern kingdoms. And I fear that could not be done tod...-You had years !-B...-Enough, execute that man and all those responsible...Guards already began to carry away those who carried bad news and the rest of those responsible for this direction would be eliminated soon, several people grumbled under the halls, an Arch demon dared to say, perk of being immortal.-But... Your sliminess... It will only make everything slower... And...-Enough ! How many years...Some generals looked at eachother, finally one of them told.-In three years we can possibly...-Three years, good, not one more, send the distraction today, I want our ennemies weakened before our final strike. And you...The master of darkness pointed his arm at the archdemon and sucked it's soul, destroying him before capturing it into a labyrinthic gem to torture the thing for eternity.-Do not contradict me...The master said, sighing once more. Abovyurlevel looked at the former lieutenants of those who will be executed, already jockeying for power, and smiled. These three years will prove to be interesting indeed.
>>6328666MEANWHILE ON THE ROAD BETWEEN BRIBEROPOLIS AND TRADNOD : You enjoyed the roads during the early spring, the first flowers bloomed and you had to smile at the sight of many Indian strange birds flying in the region. Your brave Bohémond was in a good mood and you saw Ancel running after you, eager to serve. Elana sometimes had ran with him, telling that it was a good way of bettering her "cardio" or something like that. You wondered what it meant and if it was so important, and insisted for her to be on a horse, even if she was a servant girl, a woman should sit instead of running, it was French gallantry after all. So she obeyed. As for the witch Pennycilyn, she was very strange... Motherly, grandmotherly even. She severely looked for everyone to have eaten in the morning and to have warm clothes even if the period was rather warm. She insisted for your servants to prepare food with care and add some herbes, and for giving generous portions (lest you will starve). Of course having a witch around food made you uneasy but you saw that she ate everything, and did not drink some counterpoison after it. And the cooking was good. It was still strange to see a being who looked like a woman in her mid twenties behave like a grandmother. Of course a woman in her mid twenties was already quite old, but it was more "old like a mother" than a grandmother.Still, you found her strangely kind, even if you knew that some witches masqueraded as kind old women before boiling children alive and eating them. You should always be prudent. The road was quite pleasant, without madmen trying to kill you and clearly secured, you crossed prosperous inns in a region that seemed to be better than the one of Local, who seemed to be already very rich with peasant houses with big windows in your French eyes. Heh, and France was very rich for the Christendom. No this land was blessed and perhaps not so ban even if full of uppity commoners and pagans after all. You crossed villages and rivers, and even a bourg called "Flyover". It was a bucolic vision and a sympathetic travel, you were justly eating at one of the last boroughs before Tradnon when something disturbed this quiet. Yes indeed, all of this was cut short when one of your guards bursted into the main room of the Inn where you were eating lunch and began to tell you.-My lord, my lord, there is a heretic preaching heresies on the village square !-A heretic ? But you are pagan too, what do you know about heresies Dummy ?Dummy was the name of the guard, they had strange names here, but yet, he told.-No, no, like really heretic, you must see, the people are listening to him.
>>6328667Pennicyillynn, who was a pious pagan, decided to see and you followed too, with your knight and a curious Ancel. Elana followed and you were now surrounded by your men at arms, knights and even an experienced scout and tracker. All that the Lord of Local needed to intimidate some heretic. You saw the man, in red robes, effectively in the main square of the village, under the oak in the middle and wondered if he would be hanged there, the man had a booming voice, a beard and the light of fanaticism in his eyes. Commoners and peasants moved away, even if you were not on your lands and so did not have right of high and low justice here, as we say in France, but they understood that being in the way of a nobleman with a retinue was a bad idea. The so called heretic preached.-WOE TO US ! WOE to all our Empire for it has lost it's soul ! Woe to us for we embraced modernity and rejected tradition ! Be it everywhere, everything is slop ! All our art, all the representations of the gods and men, they are slop ! Vile corporate slop ! Evil is now explained and tolerated ! In the good old days all was better ! All was simpler and clear with a clear direction from the gods ! I tell you, all this slop will bring us to times of grim darkness ! All our souls shall be crushed !You understood more or less the spiritual message, or not... What was slop ? You turned towards Bohémond, your knight and the brother Templar Louis.-What is he talking about ?Bohémond raised his shoulders and told.-I don't know but he is as passionate about it as the Bishop of Reims when he calls to fast on Lent.He indeed looked as tortured, your own priest, Father François, was too, the fat man was full of suffering and lent was for him as terrible as if he was himself in the desert with the lord. He still respected it piously, a proof of his faith. Still, you asked your dear Templar, who was educated.-What does this man means ?-I suppose, monseigneur, that he is criticizing the guilds and corporations of artists working for the heathen temples. Perhaps he is a kind of Iconoclasts.-What is an iconoclast, you know I do not speak latin.-It is greek monseigneur, several centuries ago, the schismatic greeks, who worship icons as idols, it is why they are in schism with the church, decided to burn their icons under another heretical movement who wanted to destroy all images and effigies of our Lord. I suppose this man must be the local version...You saw that Pennicillynn frowned at the words of the preacher and he continued.-I tell you, today we form a refuge of civilization for all the free peoples where people grow fat and kind and nobles are all bright and good but it is a facade, everything will disappear and our expectations will be subverted, tomorrow it will be beset and destroyed, our rulers will prove to be cowards and our people will lose everything. All the races that coexist peacefully will be at eachothers throats ! I tell you !
>>6328668This, this sounded like sedition, you wondered what to do.>"Guards, arrest this man and give him to the Local Lord ! He must judge about this agitator.">Ask Pennicillynn what this man is talking about and why it is so heretical. She may be a witch, she at least is learned in matters of local religion. >Ask the preacher to speak in good French, instead of speaking in riddles. >Leave the place, it is not your problem>Other (write in)
>>6328669>Ask Pennicillynn what this man is talking about and why it is so heretical. She may be a witch, she at least is learned in matters of local religion.
>>6328669>Ask Pennicillynn what this man is talking about and why it is so heretical. She may be a witch, she at least is learned in matters of local religion. It takes a pagan to understand a pagan; good minds baptized in Christendom and made bright by the Lord's own light cannot comprehend such slop!Welcome back, LL.
>>6328669>>Ask Pennicillynn what this man is talking about and why it is so heretical. She may be a witch, she at least is learned in matters of local religion.
>>6328669>>"Guards, arrest this man and give him to the Local Lord ! He must judge about this agitator."
>>6328789>>6328875Glad to see you back good sir, and you are right our attempts at comprehending this may be rather... Sloppy...>>6328967>>6329009You decided to ask Pennicillynn about what this man was saying. Not that you trusted the witch but having at least an understanding about what is heretical in these lands could help a lord such like you. So you told her.-What is he talking about ? I can barely understand it.Looking at you like at a child, your new "court mage" answered.-He is talking about fate, he says that fate preordains us all and not our decisions....-Well we all act according to God's plan, lords ruling, peasants working in the fields, clergymen praying, and burghers doing their burgher things. -Yes yes, I agree... But...Before she could tell why, the man continued.-All has been desecrated to pander to some unknown denominator and to win market shares ! That is the only reason of the madness that we live ! They tell that it leaves more freedom for the people, but what pleasure is there inf freedom without struggle, without truly different experiences ?You told Pennicillynn.-He sounds like some philosopher, spouting nonsense.She smiled at you and explained.-People of his cults tell that the plans of the gods for the world have been corrupted, and that they pander to the interest of some mercantile corporation.-A mercantile corporation ? Are the pagan gods shopkeepers ? That makes no sense at all...-Of course it is nonsense but nevertheless it is what they believe, that there have been a degradation of the plans.-A degradation ? But how can God's plan be degraded, it never changed in the first place, God is outside of time.She looked at you and gracefully raised her shoulders, these Guelphs were annoying, anything they did was graceful, even shrugging, who was not ladylike at all, was done with such poise by your court witch that you stopped for a short amount of time. Still, the fact that the pagan gods were compared to shopkeepers was incredibly funny but you would be insulted if you learned that you prayed some burgher. You were not an expert in pagan idols, they were all the work of the devil, you knew that before praying to Jesus Christ your Frankish ancestors prayed to some terryfying idols. You remembered when Brother Louis explained that Clodion the Hairy-one, king of the Franks, has been said by pagans (he was a pagan himself) to be bathing with his wife when a sea monster sent by Neptune who looked like a Quinotaur attacked him and we were not sure if the kings descended of the king or of the beast since the monster had taken his wife before he could kill it.
>>6329206Well, at least a demon who sent sea monsters to rape your wife was something respectable, you did not know what a Quinotaur looked like and never met one but it seemed formidable, and if you hated heathens you respected strength. Even Sequana, that some gauls worshipped as godess of the river was seen as a fairmaiden. Imagine worshiping some shopkeeper or merchant with fingers like sausages. Hah ! Humiliating. You still listened to this heretic.-Yes, I tell you, all the universe is connected with an invisible stockmarket and new men, called the Deihires, replaced the old gods and...What was a stockmarket ? A market where they sold stocks ? With a pillory, you could theoretically arrange that for this spouter of nonsense. So you asked :>"Guards, arrest this man and give him to the Local Lord ! He must judge about this agitator.">"Guards, put the stock-market man in stocks on the market square ! Hai hai !">Ask the preacher if, since his pagan idols are apparently some fat merchants, he can bribe them if we give him money, let us see if he is some swindler.>Try to ask this preacher about his arguments, why does he thinks so ? Because he does not like the most modern art ?>Tell this man to worship God, not Mammon !>Leave the place, it is not your problem>Other (write in)
>>6329207>Tell this man to worship God, not Mammon !This is a good opportunity to counter-proselytize! The Queen said we're allowed, after all. Our God cannot be bought like these false ones! No, indulgences don't count!
>>6329207>Ask the preacher if, since his pagan idols are apparently some fat merchants, he can bribe them if we give him money, let us see if he is some swindler.Perhaps we can get something out of this...>Tell this man to worship God, not Mammon !...And we do this spitefully if we can't.
>Tell this man to worship God, not Mammon !
>>6329207>>"Guards, arrest this man and give him to the Local Lord ! He must judge about this agitator."
>>6329207>>Tell this man to worship God, not Mammon !>Ask the preacher if, since his pagan idols are apparently some fat merchants, he can bribe them if we give him money, let us see if he is some swindler.
>>6329252It is wise indeed, and no, indulgences are participating to good work, they are virtuous, and given to the Church, not to God directly. Only a heretic would say the contrary.>>6329253Of course, spite is a key ingredient here.>>6329326>>6329422>>6329438Looking at the man you told him severely.-Your words are pompous, but you cannot worship God and Mammon at the same time ! God almighty is not a shopkeeper and he has a plan.You had your strong booming voice and everyone turned towards you. The heretic seemed unphased, and, lacking proper respect, he began to talk to you like... Like you were a mere nuisance in his speech and not a gentleman who had chivalry in his blood for four hundred years ! What a scoundrel he was ! Worse still, he even said in a bored tone.-And here comes the redditard objecting ! You should have begun by saying "aktchually" you pompous peacock ! Hah ! You are not from the Tigie River, you have to go back ! You think to deceive us with your ridiculous accent "Ioue cannotte worchippe gode ande Mammon atte ze same tayme". Who do you work for in truth ! Show your flag ! Tourist !To be sincere you were rather taken aback by such verbose violence. You were accustomed to talk boldly and carry a big sword, that and the armed men at your back generally shut the mouth of the lowborn. You could go into some verbal sparring with a lord but that, from a common knave taken out of the gutter ! Tonnerre ! It will not take. In truth the effectiveness of the insults was a bit dulled by the fact that you did not understand them. It was clearly something disturbing. No, a courteous man had to make his insults understood by his opponent so he could answer. It was the chivalric way indeed. You tried to understand the strange patois of the man, remembering your reading lessons with Rose and Oldfossil you were proud of yourself when you supposed that a redditard was a a man who has something to "redire" or to say back as we said in French. And the suffix "tard" like in "bastard" or "soiffard" or even the siege engine "couillard" meant a pejorative. Yes indeed, it must mean something like a vile naysayer, the smug imbecile frail of body but proud of mind who retorts to a wise decision about raising taxes or going to a crusade. You actually had no idea what aktchually meant, and showing your flag and insulting you as a foreigner must have been a way to tell that you could not hold high and low justice here and judge the people. Even if this man deserved a hanging. As for a tourist, it perhaps meant an inhabitant of Tours, or someone who built towers. Yes probably. They seemed to dislike the tourangeaux here. Sad, they were quite nice lads it was said. Perhaps it was because of the rumour that they had the purest french tongue, and this primitive Indian seemed to mock the proper pronunciation of the French language before. Hah ! What a fool !
>>6329684You still had to choose what to do with this knave. >Defy him with facts, reason and the truth of God (rulership roll, hard roll but with bonuses if good arguments are given)>Cut off his head, he is a commoner who insulted a nobleman (no need to roll, a sharp sword has more arguments than a sharp tongue in this kind of discussions)>Do not touch this learned gentleman, he is perhaps wiser than he seems (very tolerant of you, and tolerance for evil is always a bad thing)>Order your men to arrest this heretic for having insulted you (Not very sportsmanlike I would say).>Other (write in)
Rolled 29 (1d100)>>6329684>Show your flag ! Tourist !I think this man may be from Poltard.>>6329685>Defy him with facts, reason and the truth of God (rulership roll, hard roll but with bonuses if good arguments are given)We shall win converts this day, or this man will die for trying our patience!He himself has said that the gods have had their plans thrown into disarray by merchants, which goes to show that they are false and feeble. If they do not wish for their faith to be compromised, why have they not put a stop to it? What kind of divinity is so weak that a spice-seller may overturn its decrees?Our Lord Jesus Christ faced the self-same profanation when coin-changers clogged the Temple. What did He do? He cast them out with whips and overturned their tables. Behold true power: not the whimpering of compromised idols, but the righteous wrath of the Incarnate Word!And then he made it clear, in no uncertain terms that nobody will ever misconstrue or take advantage of cough that usury is unlawful. This is a universal story all can apply, whereas he has so incomprehensible and niche a theology that "tourists" cannot parse it. Can ANYONE here udnerstand this man, besides he himself? Where is his continuity? Where his prophets or martyrs? He offers only jargon none here can grasp. A faith unintelligible to simple folk is no faith but gnosticism.Therefore I bid you, good people, turn from these mute idols to the living God; and as for this agitator, let him either repent and receive baptism, or be delivered to the local lord for his obstinacy!
>>6329684Welcome back my lord! >>6329707SupportJesus Christ is the natural enemy of merchants
Rolled 36 (1d100)>>6329685>>Defy him with facts, reason and the truth of God (rulership roll, hard roll but with bonuses if good arguments are given)
Rolled 65 (1d100)>>6329707This man is a man of learning. +1
>>6329707Good sir, such an eloquent speech, I shall suppress the malus, unfortunately if you would have passed if it was simply a speech here you are in a debate so I will not give you the bonus of choosing the best of the three rolls and so it will not be won, even if it is not lost. I agree with everything and with your wisdom, even if I doubt that Charles would be an expert in gnostics, after all he is a man of the sword, not of knowledge about heresies. Brother Louis would have known of course.>>6329969I have heard that recently some strange men began to worship God in a kind of reading clubs, outside of our mother Church, they call themselves "protestants" or something. I am sure two or three of them had a stroke when the read your wise and just words messire.>>6330158>>6330310Indeed he is, may God bless him.====You decided to preach passionately for your parish, beginning to defy the vision of such a heretic, if his so called "gods" have been bought off by merchant they must be weak and false, unlike our Lord who chased the merchants from the Temple of Jerusalem. So you began to tell this.-Insolent man, you should be whipped for insulting a gentleman. But I shall answer for the good people of these lands, so they are not laid astray for false teachings. I tell you that if your so called gods are so weak and feeble to be chased from the sky by merchants, my God, our Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins and arose on the third day, has triumphed. Now he rules all fate according to His plan ! Yes indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ faced the self-same profanation when coin-changers clogged the Temple. What did He do? He cast them out with whips and overturned their tables. Behold true power: not the whimpering of compromised idols, but the righteous wrath of the Incarnate Word!The man looked at you and the people too, they seemed to be shocked that there was only one God, one thing was sure, the heretic seemed unhappy.-Your necromancer god of pain is powerless ! Merchants are reigning ! Soon his birth too will be ruled by them, for they are not simple merchants, no, they are the invisible hand of the Market ! A big invisible hand in the sky that moves everything ! This is the truth that the newfags do not understand ! They think that the gods rule but we are doomed to slop by the merchants and their hand !You recoiled at this blasphemy to answer.-I do not know about invisible hands, but my hand is very visible and it will end in your nose if you continue with your blasphemy ! For the Lord told that usury was unlawful. So he won. It is as simple as that, without absurd invisible hands and merchants who buy the gods.The man answered, furious.-Hah, and why is there usury then if your God is so powerful !-Because you are heathen, so I call you all to accept baptism, enter the church, and be spared prison for your heresies !
>>6330386The heretic seemed to boil internally, and in your opinion heretics should not boil internally but burn externally.-Me ? To bow before monotheism ? You cannot explain why everything is going to slop !-But what is even this slop that you always bring us ? You talk like a... How they are called Brother Louis ?The stoic templar told.-A gnostic monseigneur.-Yes, a gnostic ! Guards, arrest that madman !-Repression ! Help ! Help ! I'm being repressed !A punch from Fed calmed him, justice at last.He told while two of your men took this man by the arms. To be sincere, the people were not moved by your words, nor by his, the mass of peasants watched like cows at your verbal jousting. Since you were in this small village called Downton, who was at less than one day of Tradnod. It was lead from a manor, not even a castle since the region was very secure, by a petty lordling. You ordered your knight Bohémond to introduce you and the guards at the gate, who had shields painted with a kind of helmet, who was probably the symbol of the small lordling ruling here, told you that "Lord Realisd Withai" was ready to see you. He was indeed small with blond hair and a round face, and a very beautiful wife. He seemed to be very jovial and when you came he immediately offered you beer and wine and told.-Lord de Villeroi... I beg your pardon but my men haven't explained my where you were from... I was proceeding to lunch, be welcome.-The Barony of Local in the County of Pleasantville...-Oh ! The County of Pleasantville, in the north of our Duchy. Wilder lands than those around Tradnod, but I am always glad to receive noblemen, enter please, I have Bifurian wine and figs from the Imperial Corelands, they have been brought to me by a halfling merchant.-It will be a pleasure monseigneur, and you too, gente dame.His beautiful wife nodded and after some pleasantries he told.-I suppose that you are here for the tournament.-The ? The tournament ? I was here to arrest a heretic who was preaching on your lands.The man asked.-An heretic ! This is most shocking ! By the heavens ! Bring him here !You ordered your guards to bring the man and while seeing his lord he became hysterical screaming.-SLOP ! HE IS FAKE AND SLOP ! DON'T YOU SEE ! BETRAYAL ! INVISIBLE HAND ! ALL SOUL WILL BE SUCKED FROM THE WORLD !
>>6330387He was screaming "Reeeee" when finally lord Realisd ordered to put him in the pillory on the main square of his village, he ordered it to his steward who was a small and rotund cagot. What a shame, having a cagot as a councillor. But this lord was a heathen and knew no better. You wanted to say that the pillory was a very light punishment but you were too preoccupied with this story of tournament and asked once you and your knights were sitting in the pleasant main hall of the manor with wine in hand. Not as good as some Burgundian wine but pleasant nevertheless. His wife Mayed, had an adorable voice.-You talked about a tournament monseigneur, what do you mean ?-A tournament, yes, the nameday of the little sister of the Duchess of Tradnod, her twelfth nameday, the duchess has decided to hold a banquet, a ball and of course a tournament. It shall be a magnificent feast. I am not a great fighter myself but seeing you all in mail I supposed that you came here for it.-Oh... To be sincere I wanted to give the duchess her locket back, I found it back in an accursed forest and...The wife of lord Realisd who had a beautiful smile and long blonde hair like you liked them, asked you, fixing you with nice green eyes.-An accursed forest, it is so interesting tell me more.Of course you recounted the story in your most charming way and the local lord and his wife proved to be more than amusing conversationnalists, sometimes Brother Louis or Bohémond added details. You even threw some food from the table to your Ancel so he could eat on the ground while his betters ate normally. It seemed to amuse the local couple. But enough pleasant moments, you wanted to know more.>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife if the tournament will be only Indian jousting or if there will be a melee.>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife about the nameday of the Duchess's sister and if you should bring a gift, and about the duchess's family.>Ask the lord Realisd about the punishments reserved to the heretics here.>Ask the lord Realisd about heretics, are there a lot of these madmen in these lands.>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife a bit more about the Duchy of Tradnod and life in the core of the Duchy.>Ask the lord Realisd about the Guelph regent of the Duchess.>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife about the duchess Naiv of Tradnod.>Ask the lord Realisd about the other counties in the duchy of Tradnod.>Other (write in)Choose maximum 3 choices please good sirs.
>>6330388>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife about the nameday of the Duchess's sister and if you should bring a gift, and about the duchess's family.Practical concerns first...>Ask the lord Realisd about heretics, are there a lot of these madmen in these lands.>Write-in: What IS this "slop"?But this man's ranting is troubling
>>6330388>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife about the nameday of the Duchess's sister and if you should bring a gift, and about the duchess's family.>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife a bit more about the Duchy of Tradnod and life in the core of the Duchy.>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife if the tournament will be only Indian jousting or if there will be a melee.
>>6330388>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife about the nameday of the Duchess's sister and if you should bring a gift, and about the duchess's family.>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife a bit more about the Duchy of Tradnod and life in the core of the Duchy.>Ask the lord Realisd about the other counties in the duchy of Tradnod.
>>6330388>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife about the nameday of the Duchess's sister and if you should bring a gift, and about the duchess's family.>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife if the tournament will be only Indian jousting or if there will be a melee.>Ask the lord Realisd and his wife a bit more about the Duchy of Tradnod and life in the core of the Duchy.
>>6330425Unfortunately the rest of the bannermen here are not as learned in theology or interested by it as you, but they followed your wise advice of practicality.>>6330453>>6330504>>6330620You took upon yourself to ask several questions, first trying to move the conversation towards the young Duchess's family.-I am new to these lands, gente dame et monseigneur, so I am not as well informed as those who live one day from Tradnod. Please enlighten me, the Duchess Naiv has a sister ? Or perhaps more ?It was the lordling who answered, explaining simply.-Yes, yes she has two little sisters, Sapphira, who is twelve and Ametyst who is only ten, the poor duke Gemmer had a male heir but he died more than ten years ago, the duke died of illness and his wife of sadness soon after losing her husband and son. Lord Behindthetron is the regent now, after the local nobility, with the help of her Majesty, preferred him over Count Hapyon Careless, your liege lord and Count Schemer Plottingson. He has not been bad at all, I supported him and he does best to take care of the girls. The great question remains that duchess Naiv needs a suitable husband.His wife nodded, explaining even more.-Yes, but the young ladies are kind and adorable. Loving embroidery, feasts and sweets. Like many girls their age, even if it is said that the third one might have magical gifts.You raised an eyebrow at this witchcraft. Then of course you asked.-Should I bring a gift ? I mean...The fat lordling talked to you reassuringly ;-Do not worry, there would be an incalculable amount of simple lords here so there is no need of something grand. You nodded, trying to then ask. -And the tournament, will it be jousting like you do here in India, or a melee.The lady scolded you.-A melee ? You mean bashing yourselves with swords and axes before a kid ? No, no, no, it is far too violent.Seeing her tone you did not insist. Hah, you knew that even little girls liked when men were going to fight in their name, even more when they fought to the death. Yes, you supposed that your Rose would enjoy it too much, back home, but even a lady who did not struggle with bloodthirst would like to see her gallant knight take risks while wearing her favor. So you told.-I am terribly sorry, simply... My lands are more... Rugged than here, your lands seem to be more peaceful.They both nodded. Lady Mayed answering.-Yes it is plains on this side, and gentle hills with halfling communities. The East of the core of the ducal lands is more forested, we will enter towards the duchy of Tricked, and old elven lands, we are closer to the border, or at least to Elfmarch there.
>>6330768Her husband nodded., sipping from his goblet.-Yes, and the north of the ducal lands is more hilly and rugged, with dwarves and a kobold problem. But most of the lands are peaceful, where horses can dominate the battlefields, humans have been historically dominant, at least since the Empire managed to support it's infantry and cavalry with battlemages. So we have no more problems. Well, last time I had to hire adventurers was when we had a swindler's ring on the lettuce market but nothing more. Yes, we can say that we are blessed here. I have only one village and see how it is prosperous.You had to admit that it was bigger than local, and if his keep was small it was richly decorated, he seemed to live in a rich province, like some pampered lordling of Île de France or even a Burgundian. Champagne was rich too, but India was, and it pained you to say it, richer than France. Even if that did not count because these riches were probably the product of magic. Whatever, it was interesting and you continued to discuss about the upcoming tournament, the two locals proved to be sympathetic and they had been so polite that you wished to invite them at your marriage, but Rose was dealing with the list of guests. You hesitated a small moment before leaving.>Invite them to your marriage>Do not invite them to your marriageThen, about Tradnod you have a choice :>Decide to enlist in the tournament>Permit your knights to enlist in the tournament>Do not enlist in the tournament>Do not permit your knights to enlist in the tournament
>>6330769>Invite them to your marriageThe more the merrier, though I do shudder at the cost with how many we have invited>Decide to enlist in the tournament>Permit your knights to enlist in the tournamentSounds like good fun
>>6330769>Invite them to your marriageWe ought to build a network to spread our faith and our other good feudal values.>Decide to enlist in the tournament>Permit your knights to enlist in the tournament
>>6330769>Invite them to your marriageLet nobody say we skimp on grand occasions!>Decide to enlist in the tournament>Permit your knights to enlist in the tournamentWhy not? We prefer bashing heads in to anything else.
>>6330769>>Invite them to your marriage>Decide to enlist in the tournament>Permit your knights to enlist in the tournament
>>6330786>>6330827>>6330828>>6330937I am glad to see these answers, you truly live in Chivalry and songs are sung about men like you messires. ====You ended the lunch and decided to continue towards Tradnod, of course you invited the lord and his wife to your marriage, this Withai seemed to be a family of minor nobility but they had an interesting conversation and were very joyful. When you got out of his manor and rode with your knights Bohémond told you.-Lucky man, he is fat and ugly but has managed to have a more beautiful wife than many lads.You smiled at this and answered.-He has a nice demesne, it helps. And besides it is not like she choose who she had to marry, and she seems happy, he must be a good man. Even if he is a bit young to be this fat... Eating only venison comes with a duty to exercise a bit.Brother Louis agreed, while you looked at the beautiful sun and continued to ride. You then told.-I shall participate in the joust. It will be good fun, even if a melee is better.Bohémond, always young and eager, asked you quite kindly.-I shall fight too ! It will be great fun. A merry feast demands a joust !Brother Louis frowned, you knew that as a Templar he was seeing these kind of exercises as futility, he was a knight but a monk too, and he raised his weapon only against the enemies of God. Of course he trained, but tournaments were dangerous, and could even kill good christian knights in a waste of blood. In your opinion it was a part of the risks but the clergymen were always merciful. He told you.-I would advise against it monseigneur.-And why is it Brother Louis ?-Because it is risky, you are a fearsome fighter lord Charles, and I would argue, a better knight than many of these green boys that are here and never knew war. But jousting is rare back in France, and here they mainly train for it, it is their favourite sport, plus, you only have chainmail, while they are covered in plates. If you are unhorsed there will be risks of injury, I would not want your bride to see you with a broken leg again, or God forbid with something more grave.You waved away such concerns.-Hah, it is not important, by the way I will win some horses and equipment, since the winner always gains the armor and the horse of the loser. Our lands need finances and I am sure that those steel harnesses aren't cheap. They shall pay me back for my equipment. Like in good old days. When the Templar looked at you, a bit scandalized, he did not know you so well when you were a simple knight and when you lived in France, you corrected.-It is not like I lived of it, but sometimes gaining money in tournament could help me...Bohémond told.-Get completely drunk and pass such a night in the brothels of Paris, do you remember when...
>>6331120You looked at him and reddened, Elena raised an eyebrow, while Ancel smiled at it like your guardsmen, Pennicylynn seemed to be as scandalized as Brother Louis. You corrected your friend.-No, no, it was one time, I was young and drunk on wine and victory, if I gain something I shall use it to make our marriage with Rose more agreeable, and perhaps to make some repairs in our church.It was the moment that Pennicillynn choose to intervene.-Tournaments are barbaric, they are wounding people and glorifying war. Why don't people glorify peace.You answered as any nobleman would.-Peace is boring, it is wasted energy for all the young lads of the realm. -Wasted ?!? B... But war causes destruction ! Death, slaughter and many horrror ! How can you say this my lord ! War is wasteful ! As Aeliryn says, we should make love, not war.Seeing that she invoked her pagan goddess you had to answer, with some humour.-I do not know, I always made both ! That made Bohémond laugh and he even told.-War is fair, it keeps the chivalry strong and is an honest way to gain glory and renown. Plus women all love warriors, that is known. And they all love watching tournaments when brave knights fight in their name and to defend their honor.You remembered lady Rose who fell in love when you protected her, and saw that Elana reddened when Bohémond told this. Only the witch seemed to shake her head and tell. -That is awful. Humans are barbarians.
>>6331121You smiled, it was amusing, you were sure that if a Guelph gentleman like Servmiabarel defended her in a duel she would be blushing instead of preaching. But you knew better than to argue with a woman, even if she was a witch who was perhaps several millenia old. Women were creatures of emotion and they never tell what they mean, such is their nature and they are only more adorable for it. Brother Louis had to temper your happiness meanwhile.-God love those who keep peace monseigneur. The witch looked to the Templar and they seemed to agree. It made you laugh, so you told.-Between Christians. It is why there is rules, like no battles on Sunday, but do not tell me that the Crusades were not righteous !-They were, monseigneur, the scriptures say that nothing is better than to give your life for those that are close to us and brothers in faith called udms. Blessed are those who fell to protect the Holy Land.The witch seemed to be even more terrified.-Holy war ?!? B... But it's...You added.-It is even better than private wars.This made them smile, the fact that private wars were forbidden here was a great injustice. The witch almost choked herself.-W... What ? You mean wars... For private matters ! But it is illegal and...-This is great injustice, without the ability to defend their honor on the battlefield, the lords of these lands have become soft and let armed vagrants take care of the land. Private war is the best way to regulate local quarrels and shows the freedom of the landowners. Those who cannot mint their own coins or wage their own wars are not truly free. By the way, let us talk of something less martial, what kind of present could we give to the young sister of the duchess... Here they seem to be giving presents on birthdays instead of the namedays of the saints. They all looked at eachother. Bohémond telling.-I composed a new song but it is about the Crusades.Brother Louis told you.-Perhaps a book, I do not know a lot about young girls but before I joined the orders I remember that my mother loved to read...Elana suggested.-Perhaps a doll, or something like this... Or it is too simple.Penicyllynn told you.-You must bring her something unique. Perhaps an enchanted toy. Something that moves....Ancel suggested.-Buy her a little dress messire, like for a larger noblewoman. Well not large in this sense, but older I mean. You wondered about all of this. A toy with magic would be heretical. Other things might be seen as too cheap or too costly. Bohémond talked about music, perhaps a small harp. You thought about it while listening to Bohémond's new song, about the Call of Clermont who launched the crusades, and thought about what to buy, seeing the white stone walls of Tradnod at the horizon.>Buy a book>Buy a doll>Buy some enchanted toy>Buy a not enchanted toy>Buy a small dress>Buy a small harp>Other (write in)
>>6331122>Buy a dollElana would know the ways of young girls best, and we were told that it didn't have to be grand. But make it a nice fancy doll, not a cheap one.
>>6331122>>Buy a doll
>>6331152+1 to the gift, the caveat, and the rationale.>>6331122
>>6331122>>Buy a small dress
>>6331152Wise words, to trust the youth in these matters.>>6331177>>6331196>>6331567You finally decided to buy a doll and announced it to your good people, Elana seemed happy that her idea had been taken. When you rode near Tradnod you remarked that it was a pleasant city. Oh it was far smaller than Briberopolis of course, and less official in it's architecture, half timbered houses were hidden behind white walls here, and strange blue tiles covered the roofs. On the other side Tradnod was bigger than Pleasantville and it's buildings more grand. In your estimations, and with the rumors that you had heard you could estimate the population of the Capital, Briberopolis, to 100 000 inhabitants, roughly half of Paris, it was a huge city, Pleasantville was a decently sized town of 3000 people and here you thought that Tradnod had perhaps a bit more than 10 000, 12 000 maximum. You remarked the numerous and brightly coloured tents that were being installed around the city and the jousting lists that were being built. Several knights were already here, with their squires and their servants. It almost filled your eyes with tears of nostalgia for your time in Paris, or in Provins and Reims and all the tournaments that you had participated in, or even seen. Since you were a little kid you loved tournaments, furious melees where knights fought in mock battles and where men were paraded in their most beautiful armors and tabards before being unhorsed by a mace blow. The sounds of the horses, the cheers of the public, the beautiful ladies on the stands. Aaaah, it was marvelous. You wanted to take part in it.Still, you were at the end of the afternoon and had to decide where to go first in this new and very sympathetic city. With a tournament you feared that all inns would be full and the castle, with it's white towers, too. Curiously the smell of the spring flowers covered the most unpleasant smell that many cities had. It was very agreeable, especially when the southern wind brushed your face. Still, you had something to do so you choose first to...>Go to an inn, to have somewhere to sleep>Go to the castle, demand an audience for tomorrow to give the Duchess her locket back>Visit the jousting lists and enlist for the tournament>Seek a craftsman who can make dolls>Other (write in)PS : Sorry for my late update, I am in the middle of moving to a new house so I cannot update as much as I would want to.
>>6331864>Go to the castle, demand an audience for tomorrow to give the Duchess her locket backThank you for making the time to update anyway, QM! We should t this out of the way, I think, before anything else.
>>6331864>>Visit the jousting lists and enlist for the tournamentPerhaps we can get a preferential spot if we do it early...?
>>6331864>Visit the jousting lists and enlist for the tournamentShouldn’t take too long so we would still have time to request an audience.
>>6331864>>Visit the jousting lists and enlist for the tournament
>>6331864>>Go to the castle, demand an audience for tomorrow to give the Duchess her locket back
>>6332046Thank you good sir. >>6332047Perhaps, we must see.>>6332074Indeed good sir, if all goes well.>>6332173>>6332210You decided to go towards the jousting lists, making your knights follow you, well, especially Bohémond who was eager to enlist for the tournament. You enjoyed the smell of grilled meat that some squires prepared, and the beauty of the tents, each one armoried as a nobleman of these regions. Of course the rules of heraldry in India were a bit less developped and strict than in France but it stayed marvellous. And what you saw was... Strange... There were normal and guelph knights the latter in less heavy armor than the complete "plate" armor of the indians, but there was too a cagot on a giant rooster, you burst out laughing seeing him, people found you rude but thinking of a cagot knight was already very funny. The small individual tried to insult you but his rooster, seeing you and fearing finishing as a "coq au vin" began running while making chicken noises. You rarely had so much fun. Then you saw a small scotsman on a giant Ram and even a second one and you and Bohémond had to laugh again. You asked.-And what next ? A giant pig ? Bohémond laughed even more at that.-It borders on the ludicrous, an insult to chivalry and righteousness.... I am here to fight knights, not some children who ride farm animals. One of the two short scotsmen who was on his ram, took a warhammer in his and and began to tell you.-Ye want a good' hammering' ye long haired, beardless, elf lovin’, son of a vagrant ! Why are ye laughing at me !Here, you were an honest and good man, but to tolerate this, that some man three heads shorter than you who was riding a ram could threaten your family. You did not hate scotsmen, but this one had to be put in it's place, wich was roughly as high as he was himself. Bohémond was quicker.-Do not insult my lord, or I shall bring your head even closer to the ground !-Ye... Ye will repeat that ! Hey Borri ! There is some VENOMOUS, DUNG-SNIFFING, OX-BREATHER who is quarelling with us !And the second small scotsman quickly drew his axe. You joked with great humor.-Hah, perhaps you could reach me if you jump high enough.
>>6332495That made your troops chuckle and other people too. You were a good man, and polite, but how could you not laugh at a man riding a giant goat or a giant rooster ? Some seemed scandalized, and of course, of course, in the middle of all of this you had to encounter two familiar faces. The first one was lord Swiss Neutralsson, that you knew well as your dear ally from your barony, who saw the nomination of the new baron ruin all his plans to inherit the barony. Since he was wanting to give you all lady Rose's lands you would have of course supported him, well, at least you got some back from the queen. The man was not a warrior, or at least not a great one in your opinion, so you supposed that he was there for politicking. But the apparition that you saw at this moment surprised you even more. A halo of red hair, the sound of chainmail, and the angry stare of a beautiful woman (even if she had the hair color of Judas Iscariot and was in general insufferable), who had a sword in her belt and was walking near another woman, a quite plain looking blonde who was wearing this steel armor like a knight. How scandalous ! By Saint Denis, you could support one woman in armor but here... And in a tournament ? What, you will have to fight women ? How could you accept this ? To lose and be humiliated, or far more probably to win and be called Charles the woman beater ? It would be most unchivalric. O woe to us who have forgotten the traditions ! Woe to these barbaric pagans that have no concept of honor or decency. Rooster or ram riders should be jesters, not knights.Lady Mary Sue, in her eternal preaching attitude (no wonder the Scriptures forbade women from speaking in churches) advanced towards you and before you could salute the Neutral Lord told you :-You ! Lord Charles ! Why are you bullying those dwarves !Her voice was high pitched and clearly angry. Unfortunately for her, her anger was matched by the two small scotsmen, probably they did not want to be seen as being hiding under the skirts of a woman. You blessed the fact that the Indians spoke a dialect of French that was sometimes hard for you to understand so your answers took some time. Because before you could calm her the hammer scot (and not the Hammer of the Scots, hehe) told.-Who is doing the bullying ? What are ye saying ye madwoman ! I was doing the bullying !She tried to tell :-Master dwarf I...But the other one told.-That's none of your business ! He mocked us now he will pay !Politely you told.-The two small ones are right my lady, I would not want you to be shocked by their foul language, your ears deserve not to be muddied by it !-Are you implying that I cannot defend myself because I am a woman ? Should a remind you who ended in the mud the last time that we sparred !
>>6332496This thing again, you saved her life from wolf-men and at another moment she managed to beat you when you sparred. Only because you slipped. She will definitely remind you of it until you die. You answered.-I slipped ! And that makes...You were interrupted by one of the short men, telling.-Wot are ye telling ! I wanna fight it with axes, stop speaking...You dismounted immediately, ready to give him satisfaction, it was not like he did not ask for it.-Excellent, God shall judge, I will shorten you even more and eat your ram !Bohémond dismounted too, adding.-And I shall make a warhorn with it's horns.-Ye will wot ! I will eat your horse first after breaking yer kneecaps ye...At this moment you remarked that a huge group of people, maybe several dozen, were around you and that finally a herald came here, he had an ornate coat of arms, a big hat, and was surrounded by four sergeants that probably were there to maintain order. He began to tell.-What is happening ? Sires ! Good Lords, who are you...-I am the Lord of Local, Charles de Villeroi, here is my knight Sire Bohémond d'Autrelieu and we are simply resolving a quarrel in the good old fashioned way. -Yes, and i'm Sir Tordek Tordeksson and this is Sir Borri Gimlisson, and we are about to hammer tha face of this big son of an elfThe herald intervened before you could defend yourself against any italian heritage. Perhaps the scottish rain has not only reduced the stature of this bearded madman but his intelligence had dampened too. He began waving his hands and telling.-Please ! Please noble lords and knights ! I conjure you, do not duel and spill blood during the festivities for the birthday of Sapphira of Tradnod, young sister of our duchess. Can you imagine how much she would be in pain if she learned that people died because of her birthday ?You raised an eyebrow, people died everytime. The girl was twelve damn it... It was not like it was something shocking. Your own little sister was less than ten when she saw her first man dying, some poacher that was hanged on the walls of your father's castle. You did not think that it was so bad... If the young sister of the duchess was so delicate you could always tell that the loser disputed the fact that she was the most beautiful girl of the duchy, it always pleases girls to know that people who do not know them die in their name. So even if everyone looked at you with insistance you were not going to forget your honor for such trivial matters. Of course Pennicillynn looked at you with the stare of an angry grandmother, lord Neutralsson looked at you with insistence, like he did not want you to do this. You looked at the scotsman, he was looking determined to end the matter with blood. And you understood that backing down would not come from him.
>>6332497Once more it seemed that you had an important decision to take : >Try to convince the scot to lay down his arm (intrigue roll)>Try to convince everyone that there is a less bloody way to end this : organize a melee, it should be a good occasion to make all the knights show their bravery and impress the people. The young lady Sapphira could watch if she wants. Make the stubborn scotsman understand that if you met in the melee you could bash each other to death without all this fuss. (intrigue roll)>Back down from the duel and apologize.>Tell that your honor and lineage has been attacked and that you will not back down, try to convince the good people here that you are in your right to fight (intrigue roll)>You wanted a duel, you will have a duel, tell the little scoundrel to draw steel (combat roll)>Other (write in)As always I will take the average of the first three rolls. To remind you of your stats :Charles de VilleroiClass : Local LordLevel : 5XP : 945 xp (next level at 1000)StatsCombat : 53 = 53%Intrigue : 30%Rulership: 36%Piety : 91Mudcore : 57With 57 Mudcore you have a bigger field of gritty realism around you, in this field the most heavy magic will not work and supernatural abilities will not work, oh, and women will lose 4 pounds of strength of course, plus in the field the people that obey you will act more like they would be in a dark fantasy setting. You have chosen Blood of Mud and so your mudcore field will become a bit bigger and stronger but could be transmitted to your children.Magic, even restorative, will become considerably weaker near you.Next level at 60, your field will become more important and most magic will be impossible to cast near you by the weaker practitioners.Talents-Cavalry Commander-Foreign Etiquette-Basic LiteracyTraits :Leader
>>6332498>Try to convince everyone that there is a less bloody way to end this : organize a melee, it should be a good occasion to make all the knights show their bravery and impress the people. The young lady Sapphira could watch if she wants. Make the stubborn scotsman understand that if you met in the melee you could bash each other to death without all this fuss. (intrigue roll)Win-win! Maybe our mudcore aura will help.
Rolled 24 (1d100)>>6332498>>Try to convince everyone that there is a less bloody way to end this : organize a melee, it should be a good occasion to make all the knights show their bravery and impress the people. The young lady Sapphira could watch if she wants. Make the stubborn scotsman understand that if you met in the melee you could bash each other to death without all this fuss. (intrigue roll)
Rolled 67 (1d100)>>6332526Oh, yes.
Rolled 18 (1d100)>>6332498>Try to convince everyone that there is a less bloody way to end this : organize a melee, it should be a good occasion to make all the knights show their bravery and impress the people. The young lady Sapphira could watch if she wants. Make the stubborn scotsman understand that if you met in the melee you could bash each other to death without all this fuss. (intrigue roll)
>>6332498>>Try to convince everyone that there is a less bloody way to end this : organize a melee, it should be a good occasion to make all the knights show their bravery and impress the people. The young lady Sapphira could watch if she wants. Make the stubborn scotsman understand that if you met in the melee you could bash each other to death without all this fuss. (intrigue roll)
Rolled 20 (1d100)>>6332498>Try to convince everyone that there is a less bloody way to end this : organize a melee, it should be a good occasion to make all the knights show their bravery and impress the people. The young lady Sapphira could watch if she wants. Make the stubborn scotsman understand that if you met in the melee you could bash each other to death without all this fuss. (intrigue roll)
>>6332526Indeed, it always helped in such situations.>>6332556>>6332573>>6332651>>6332759Argh, damnation it seems that with 36,6 of average it is a failure, a small failure but a failure nonetheless, Charles is just not a good intrigant. But lady Fortuna gave you good rolls, so it should not be too grave.===You decided to choose your words carefully, not wanting to pass for a coward, or to displease the authorities, you told the herald.-I can understand the plight of the Duchess's young sister. Yes. But I am not the kind of knight who walks with a stain on his honor. So I wish to propose something. Let us do a contest of arms. A melee, like in many tournaments. Sir Tordek and me would be on opposing sides and any good knights could join. Let us fight our differences on the tournament field, not in a duel.You looked at the knights and they seemed to agree, the herald seemed in deep thought. If the small scotsman disagreed he would be seen as the unreasonable one. You then looked at the bearded small lad, but he seemed to be absolutely stoic in his demeanor.-Nay ! I will not let ye escape from a proper hammering...You told him, seeing that he was even less subtle than you.-I mean let us not disturb all the...-Are ye afraid, ye rock-brained jackass !Damn it, it was too much, you snapped and told.-Enough ! Draw steel you blackguard !Several knights tried to stop you from killing each other this time and the herald told.-Could you at least wait until tomorrow, and equip yourselves properly for a duel. And do it as the art dictates.At this you nodded with the scotsman. You had just traveled all day and if you thought that it would not be hard to kill such diminutive individual it would be easier if properly armored. He was half armored too and it would be unfair to fight like this. So you both nodded and agreed to fight tomorrow at dawn. You regretted that your idea about a melee was rejected only because of the stubbornness of that Scotsman but such was life, and you smiled thinking that such stubbornness was generally directed at Englishmen, who totally deserved it. In truth you had no choice, for a duel like this one needed the approbation of the local lord. If you were on your lands you would have fought quickly. And if you were hotheaded as you were and not stopped by many other knights it would have been the same, but it could have legal repercussions, after all if a liberal lord would agree to your battle, many others would try to stop it, not wanting to lose their knights on "petty" matters. As if honor was petty.
>>6332998If the duel was formalized you knew that it would have to be done according to rules : no advantages from the position of the sun, the same armor, the same weapons too. You remembered your duel for Lady Roses's honor against lord Hostil, Baron Crook Wickedson, wicked as he was, had organised it and agreed on swords and shields. Knowing that the offended party could ask for the modalities of the duel the scotsman said.-Hey, this one too, with the brown hair and the funny beard insulted and laughed too... I want Borri to axe him too, what about a two against two so we end this at once.You looked at Bohémond and he nodded, wanting to join the fun, but the herald told.-I have to have the agreement of the regent and...-I want justice !Screamed a small but determined voice and from between the legs of the assembled knights and squires, it was the first cagot that you made fun of ! The rooster rider. You had to stop a chuckle, and he pointed his hand at you.-This vile scoundrel insulted me and laughed at me, a true anointed knight ! I demand justice ! If those two honorable dwarves can obtain a duel, I demand one too.You chuckled, this cagot was calling the two scotsmen "dwarves" when he was smaller than them. You answered calmly. -Good Sir, I do not wish to kill you, you are smaller than my young sister. It would be unfair and..This seemed to shock the assistance, Lady Sue looked particularly scandalized and even told "how can you say this ?" many people whispered like you had said to a noble lady that she was fat and ugly, even tough she was. Hey, this cagot was not a noble lady, his ancestors were lepers ! He was afflicted of his small stature by God !The herald turned towards you.-If someone wishes to support lord Charles de Villeroi and Sire Bohémond... Perhaps I can plead with the regent for a fight of three knights against three. You looked around you but nobody seemed to want it, you turned towards the public. Even Penicyllynn looked at you sternly, of your guardsmen most of them were chuckling at your words, Ancel le Purineur was approving of them and probably looking to steal something since everybody was looking towards you. Elana looked pained for you. You turned towards Brother Louis.-Brother Louis, you are a monk, but a knight too... Perhaps...
>>6332999The old Templar, in his usual calm voice answer as a man of the cloth.-Monseigneur, I am sorry but I cannot participate in judicial duels, as the Pope himself declared at Latran in a Holy Council that judicial duels and matters of honor are unacceptable in Christendom and not a fair way to conduct judicial affairs. Plus we are in a Wednesday and according to God's Truce we cannot duel on such day. I can only tell the good sirs that oppose you that giant rams and giant roosters are indeed quite amusing to look at and that young knights who had never seen them can be taken in a fit of laughter. And there was nothing evil in Lord Charles intentions, for he is a good man and I can attest of it and...-Nobody asked ye, ye old stranger ! I want my fight...You understood that Brother Louis could not, and probably many knights did not want to sully their honor by fighting such diminutive characters. It would be like fighting women, there was no honor in it. You saw the son of Lord Swiss Neutralsson, Sir Swede Neutralsson, a fine lad, going to support you but his father stopped him. Probably to not sully his reputation. So you told, exaggerating a little bit. -Since we two are probably as big as you three if put together one on the other, we can perhaps fight being two against three...The three small characters seemed to be immensely insulted, genuinely thinking that they were worth a knight. Listen, you had two good short Scotsmen as guards, but they would not be able to fight as well as knights. And you were not talking about the cagot. People seemed to disapprove too. The herald told.-This would be against the dignity of any knight and unacceptable... I...At this moment a knight, middle sized, with short black hair and ugly features but who looked solid, advanced and told you directly.-Good sir, you are a man of honor, and I must say, a based man too. As our duke said, "we humans have to stick together". You have my sword. -Based ? Based on what ?You asked, and you wanted to thank the knight for his religious charity, humans should stick together and be kind to eachother indeed, we were all creatures of God but the Herald was quicker, asking.-What is your name, good sir ? So I can report it to the regent ?-I am Sir Chud of the Incel, knight formerly in the retinue of the Duke of Poltard.
>>6333001Good ! Excellent ! It took a special kind of honor to wish to join a dishonourable fight, and sacrifice your personnal honor for the one of another nobleman, you could not thank Sir Chud more. But you had to agree to come in the castle in two hours, so you could duel tomorrow. The Herald was ready to report your duel to the authorities, all was in their hands now. Perhaps they would forbid such inequal fight ? Who knows. Before you could know you saw Lady Sue approaching you, just like lord Neutralsson and his son. What to do, whom to speak first ?>Speak to the cagot and the short scotsmen, to agree about the weapons and armor that you shall use.>Speak to Sir Chud of the Incel, to thank him for his help>Speak to Bohémond about the duel.>Speak to Lady Sue who is coming.>Speak to Lord Neutralsson and his son to salute them.>Other (write in)
>>6333002>Speak to Lady Sue who is coming.If we don't, she'll just insert herself in whatever conversation we try to have. Yes, truly Lady Mary Sue is the kind to self-insert.
>>6333002>>Speak to Lady Sue who is coming.
>>6333010kek, +1
>>6333010Hahaha ! I laughed at your jest sir, and I like when good men of wit understand some of the not explained pleasantries of this endeavour. +5 xp for the witty man who renders our quest merrier and sees what is to be seen.>>6333204>>6333223You decided to speak first to Lady Sue, she was a lady after all and it would be one unpleasant task less. So you told her.-My lady, how comes Tradnod has the honor of welcoming your presence ?She answered rather rudely, her tamper clearly stirred by your previous words.-Mocking dwarves and halflings ? For their mounts. Seriously ? And then saying horrible, racist things.. How can have you sunk so low ! Even for you it is abherrant...-Oh, Lady Sue, are you sure it is not a bit too much ? Of course a giant rooster and a giant ram, ridden like horses, look funny. I saw it for the first time, then the others insulted me... -It is not funny to make fun of those who are smaller than us ! You always preach about knighthood and never practice, I hope you end up dead, it will teach you !That was really nasty to say, to irritate her a bit you answered.-I will be sorry to disappoint you then, and it is good because I shall be able to enjoy your beautiful expression when you are furious and your cheeks take the color of your hair. Honhonhon. You are still welcome to my marriage by the way...She became completely red at these bold words, and opened her mouth, to close it just after it. And you profited of the respite to salute the Neutral lord and his son, the first one bowed telling.-Lord Charles, it is a pleasure to see you here.-A shared pleasure, by the way I would not have thought that you were the kind of man who jousted.-I simply watch my son ride with his lance, as any good father would. And you, is it the tournament that brings you here ?-I must give her locket back to the Duchess, I took it in battle against tree men several months ago but had no occasion to give it back. But yes, I should joust.-Of course, and you had much courage to defy such warriors as these dwarves, they are fierce, and I halflings tend not to lack courage.-It is not his courage that I underestimate, it is the reach of it's arm.Your answer made the lord smile lightly and his son chuckle, it had the benefit to irritate Lady Sue even more. She told, while flanked by the woman warrior who was behind her, and a bit behind.-Then I shall humble you if you survive, while jousting.She said fiercely, her red hair waving in the wind. Her friend told her in a fearful voice.-But Mary, you have never jousted before... It..-I have two days to learn ! It is not like I am not good at everything that I do ?
>>6333466You chuckled at Lady Mary Sue, her confidence was naïve, you were not an excellent jouster, but to think to be able to master the art in just two days. You answered.-My lady, it is folly, you will probably get hurt and..-The last time we faced each other, Lord Charles, you were the one who ended hurt and on the ground....It was low, because you slipped on ice and Lady Sue humiliated you during your victory. She definitely was insufferable, you became red of shame by that moment and hoped that you could avenge yourself. Still, you let her do as she wished, if she wanted to be ridiculed during the jousts, let her be. You decided to.>Ask the Neutral Lord if he still has plans for the barony and is here to find allies.>Ask Swede Neutralsson if he has already had success in tournaments before>Continue to taunt lady Sue, and ask her the name of her rather plain faced female friend who wears a steel armor.>Speak to Bohémond about the duel>Speak to the cagot and the short scotsmen, to agree about the weapons and armor that you shall use.>Speak to Sir Chud of the Incel, to thank him for his help>Directly go to the Castle>Other (write in)====+5 xp so a total of 950 xp
>>6333467>Speak to Sir Chud of the Incel, to thank him for his helpNo weapon will make up for the difference in reach, surely, and we an talk to Bohémond whenever.
>>6333467>>Speak to Sir Chud of the Incel, to thank him for his help
>>6333467>She became completely red at these bold words, and opened her mouth, to close it just after it.Honhonhon! We showed her!>Speak to Sir Chud of the Incel, to thank him for his help
>>6333467>>Continue to taunt lady Sue, and ask her the name of her rather plain faced female friend who wears a steel armor.
>>6333470Of course, and it is good to know the locals.>>6333724>>6333747Le charme français, hai hai !>>6333983ou decided to talk to your gallant helper, Sir Chud of the Incel, who seemed to be very ugly to look at but a gentleman nevertheless. You told the brave man.-Messire, I wished to thank you, for your help. You were the only one who rescued me from this situation, I shall not forget it.The man answered with a smile that showed his crooked teeth.-I am simply happy that something at last happens. Normally nothing ever happens.You looked at him, somewhat sadly.-Really ? Tournaments are so dull here ?-Yes indeed, everytimes it is the same thing. The balls too and the banquets. Damned pointy ears who organize all of this. But here at least you stood up to these stunties. You stood up for humanity, for us !You were a bit taken aback by these words, and even if this man had, like many barbaric Indians, a rather small and hard to comprehend definition of humanity, you calmed his enthusiasm.-Let us not presume that my personal interests are those of all humanity or even all the Christendom. But I am glad that you helped. Many knights would think it dishonorable to fight such small men, but in my opinion it reclaims true Chivalry to help an honest man even when there is no obvious glory. You sir, acted like a true knight.He seemed pleased with it, and smiled to you putting his fist on the breastplate of his armor.-And you sir seem most based, and have a powerful aryan phenotype, you are in love with this red haired lady that is here isn't it ? I tell you you have a chance with her and her companion. Even if I dislike uppity women with armor.These words made you understand that this sir Chud was a well read man. Why would you say ? Because he used words that were unknown to you, aryan, phenotype, based (on what ?) and he disliked women playing at being men, that was a show of wisdom. But the fact that he has the gall to suggest that you would love Lady Sue (you lusted for her sometimes, you admitted but lust was far away from love) or this other plain woman who dressed in armor was what confirmed one thing : this man had never known the fairer sex, probably preferring to read books. Well, with his face, you could not blame him. But he seemed most gallant and you answered. -I see you are a man of learning, and I agree, women should remain doing womanly activities, for it is not in their nature to take the burdens of manhood. And Messire, I have to marry soon so my heart is already taken even if I would defend the honor of these ladies for, if they misbehave in a non courteous way, remain ladies of noble blood.-You are such a white knight !-Yes indeed. Thank you greatly.You answered him, but he looked at you, astonished. Probably he thought that you were too arrogant, but a fine knight is entitled to arrogance. There was an awkward silence. He began to say.-Did you know that despite making only 13% of...
>>6334546But before he could explain you what was a "percent" you asked him.-Tell me good sir, for what weapon do you have a preference, we will have to choose.-Oh, yes, a mace, against stunties, definitely a mace, I prefer them to warhammers, they have gotten worse and worse quality recently.You answered him.-Yes, but one of the short scotsmen will probably want to have a hammer.-Yes, they forge them well indeed, it is one of the rare things they do well, like gnomes with machines.-Gnomes, do you mean small jews, I never knew them as excellent craftsmen... Perhaps they can be toymakers ? He looked surprised.-What, good sir, is a jew ?-It is a member of the Christ-Killing people, like those that you have here, but yours are really small.-You mean big gnomes ? By the heavens ! It is more terrible than I thought.Apparently you made an error in asking him about the jews and "gnomes" as they called them, because he was hard to stop about the subject. You learned that they plotted against the Empire, were godless beings, poisoned wells, and stopped Sir Chud from marrying. It was incredible, he seemed to be able to talk about them for hours and you thought that he could have been invested in what India would have been as local trials against the Talmud to be such knowledgeable on the subject. Ypu agreed that such crimes were numerous but you added that the jews profaned holy relics and practised usury, the man agreed with you and you were surprised to see how quickly bonds form over antisemitism. Rejecting the jews and their lies was really bringing people together. You tried to switch to the Lombard's problem but before you could do you were taken to the castle. You had to give your opinion on choosen weapons for the duel. Fortunately, on the way, Sir Chud told that he saw a small jewish toymaker in town, and you were eager to see if this craftsman could be put to good use. You wondered, on the road, about what to choose. Of course you had to choose wich weapons first, before meeting the other party you had to agree. You thought about two handed weapons or on the contrary one handed weapons and shields. Two handed weapons would help you with reach, but give some reach to your opponents too, while you were better with a one handed weapon and shield, but shields could be more useful for small men like those who will fight against you.>Insist on one handed weapons and shields (you are more familiar with those).>Insist on two handed weapons.>Other (write in)
>>6334547>Insist on one handed weapons and shields (you are more familiar with those).We don't need any special edge, but let us put on good show for those who will watch us.
>>6334547>>Insist on one handed weapons and shields (you are more familiar with those).
>>6334547>Insist on one handed weapons and shields (you are more familiar with those).
>>6334547>>Insist on one handed weapons and shields (you are more familiar with those).Pah! We will destroy them no matter what we choose! (So we might as well pick what we're more comfortable with)
>>6334697Indeed, you are right.>>6334976>>6334980>>6334985Yes, to win they would need ten more inches at least.>>6335038You decided to tell Bohémond, while you were going into the town of Tradnod and it's blue roofs. Even more blue than those of Rouen, made of slates who looked blue under the sun (in the rare occasion when the weather in Normandy was sunny). The place seemed pleasant and not full of beggars and cutthroats like Briberopolis. The people, even if there were goat-men and demons amongst them, seemed happy and cheering because of the festivities and tournaments and you were taken yourself by such joy surrounding you. Here a cagot offered some apples to a kid. At another place a merchant embellished his shop with small bright flags to show how festive was the day. A solid man helped an hold woman carry some burdens, it was heartwarming to see such kindness. So it was in a merry mood that you entered the fortress of white stone that served as the Duchess's home. It was a powerful castle with two rows of walls, but the inside had gothic windows, too much windows in fact and you supposed that many an assailant could take the dungeon, who was more a place to live by than a true and solid fortress able to defend you if the enemy breaches the walls.You entered the halls of the castle and were quickly led by a female servant, probably some handmaiden of the duchess, with luscious dark blonde hair and eyes full of life, to the appartments of the regent. Probably he did not want to trouble the young duchess with a matter of duelling and wanted to hear you. You were separated from your councilors, even Bohémond who was one of the interested parties. On one side it was intimidating, on the other side you were just meeting the regent of a Duke. Something glorious indeed. The regent, Behinthethron, that was introduced by it's servant, seemed tall and gaunt, even for an indian Guelph, he was dressed in white and gold in the strange not very virile clothing of the guelphs. He had a very long hair that added to his lack of manliness, but his blue eyes had the same spark of intelligence that you saw in Oldfossil. You bowed of course, telling him.-Monseigneur.He answered you with politeness.-Lord Charles.. De Villeroi isn't it ? You are welcome, please, take a seat. He clapped in his hands and a guelph with a pichet full of wine served you in two goblets, you took a seat, thanking him, and told you.-I must understand that you plan to duel ? Against Tordek Tordeksson, the dwarf. He already explained that he had two knights behind him. And that you had too. I will be sincere and direct, I do not wish for this duel to take place. -But your lordship...-Think of the little sister of our Duchess ? Does she wishes to see blood drawn and quarrels at her birthday festivities. Plus the reason is absolutely stupid. The dwarf told that you mocked his battle ram and then menaced to eat it.
>>6335181You had to smile.-Admit, monseigneur, that going to a tournament on a ram or any other farm animal is absolutely ridiculous.The Guelph lord who had sat, had a little smile, but he explained.-It is indeed. But as much as we want to mock the dwarves, they are necessary for the peace in the realm. So I shall ask you to ask for the pardon of our short friend. Since he is as short in height as he is in temper he will not back down. He is a good warrior, and I would not want a lord of our duchy, that is to marry recently and who has received a mission from Her Majesty, to die for a stupid quarrel like this one.You were a bit taken aback by such words. How ? You, a nobleman, a lord ? Retreat before a mere knight while you were not even mocking him but his ram, and he insulted your lineage ? Tonnerre ! That was folly ! Treachery ans folly. You tried to explain yourself. -I can understand your judgment monseigneur but I cannot be seen as a coward ! Why should I prostrate myself before men who lacked respect for my Faith and bloodline.The regent looked at you silently for a moment, before explaining.-Lord Charles, I do not intend to let you duel on my lands or on those of the duchy, especially for a reason as benign as the appearance of someone's goat. And I would advise you to try to arrange with the dwarves to repair your honor... Or you will soon have problems with all his cousins, his clan and all the other bearded ones in all the realm, knowing how they function.
>>6335182You seemed outraged. You thought that the duel was sure and certain, and now nothing... You absolutely did not want to bow to a small bearded scotsman. You frowned, what was this authority who forbade duels, forbade private wars, forbade you to mint your own money and wasn't even Christian to begin with. O rage ! O injustice ! You were about to sigh, India was really a terrible place to live. Your earlier good mood evaporated. Yes yes, some knaves and unchivalric curs would say that two hours earlier you thought that there was no glory in this duel and it was pointless, but now you had been forbidden from doing it ! Your honor as a knight was trampled under the weight of decree ! And by an Italian ! Damn it, if you could not kill eachother for pointless reasons why even live ? What next, stopping you from giving justice to your peasants as you see fit ? Mortecouille ! You now had to answer.>Tell that you will say sorry to the bearded scotsman and the ridiculous rooster rider and leave it at that.>Tell that you will not say sorry to anyone and find another place to fight your duel. Honor can only be washed in blood.>Try to persuade the Guelph that authorizing the duel would be better, after all if you are not allowed to fight some might say that it was because of your size advantage, and that Behindthethron does not consider scotsmen equal to other men. Perhaps someone would even tell that he has English blood, imagine the scandal ! (Intrigue roll)>Try to convince him of your good faith, saying that you came here to give back the duchess's locket, only to get insulted. An honest subject is insulted by some foreign knight, and he cannot defend his honor, he has even to say sorry for a meaningless insult ? Is it Just and Fair ? Worthy of our right and proper feudal society ? (Intrigue roll)>Tell that, as a lord, you will organize a duel on your own lands if it is not permitted here. The vassal of your vassal is not your vassal, you shall ask to Count Careless or even your baron, or even take the decision yourself ! (Rulership roll)>Agree with his decision but tell that you wanted simply to give the duchess her locket, try to win his sympathy. Tell that you understand that there is not much honor to win anyway in such a duel. Be vague, do not promise anything. (Intrigue roll)>Try to win the sympathy of the regent by saying that you heard that he was a wise ruler, despite Count Careless's dislike of him. Tell that you could help him if he gave you the service of letting you gut this scotsman. And the other cagot with the rooster too, we could even eat the ram and rooster if he wanted too, it would be amusing.>Ask the regent that if he did not even manage to make a simple knight to present excuses to his opponent, how can he hope tp force a lord to do it ?>Tell this fiend that you would be sure that count Hapyon Careless, if he was regent, would not care about this duel and let you fight.>Other (write in)
Rolled 84 (1d100)>>6335184>>Try to convince him of your good faith, saying that you came here to give back the duchess's locket, only to get insulted. An honest subject is insulted by some foreign knight, and he cannot defend his honor, he has even to say sorry for a meaningless insult ? Is it Just and Fair ? Worthy of our right and proper feudal society ? (Intrigue roll)
Rolled 10 (1d100)>>6335184>Try to persuade the Guelph that authorizing the duel would be better, after all if you are not allowed to fight some might say that it was because of your size advantage, and that Behindthethron does not consider scotsmen equal to other men. Perhaps someone would even tell that he has English blood, imagine the scandal ! (Intrigue roll)
Rolled 30 (1d100)>>6335184>Try to persuade the Guelph that authorizing the duel would be better, after all if you are not allowed to fight some might say that it was because of your size advantage, and that Behindthethron does not consider scotsmen equal to other men. Perhaps someone would even tell that he has English blood, imagine the scandal ! (Intrigue roll)
Rolled 92 (1d100)>>6335184>Try to persuade the Guelph that authorizing the duel would be better, after all if you are not allowed to fight some might say that it was because of your size advantage, and that Behindthethron does not consider scotsmen equal to other men. Perhaps someone would even tell that he has English blood, imagine the scandal ! (Intrigue roll)
>>6335426>>6335612>>6335784>>6335805You decided to play your hand wisely, the regent was too powerful and intrigue would perhaps yield better results than ranting out loud. So you decided to say.-Monseigneur, listen, I understand that you do not want this duel to happen, we all know that it is because of the size advantage... I mean, look at that short scotsman... He is tiny... I would kill him easily, the same about the cagot. You do not want to lose these men and have a scandal with the clans of these short beardes scots... But... Look at it from another perspective (you had just learned this word and wanted to use it), they saw that I mocked them and dismissed their fighting ability, I am clearly not the only one. And some of them dislike Guelphs like you. They would easily point out that you refused the duel because you thought of their combattant as inferior, and weak. And weakness, or perceived weakness, is a worse dishonor than loss. They could even tell that you are English for disrespecting the scots so much. Agreeing to the duel would be far better, don't you think.You had told it in your most pleasant voice, trying to make him follow your train of thoughts, but unfortunately he stayed impassible as a statue, looking at you and being surprised while asking.-I am terribly sorry, lord Charles, but what in the heavens and hells are the "Scottses" and "Anglishemen" that you are talking about ?Happy man, he never saw a representant of the foggy island. But still, you had the term.-Short scotsmen, you know, the short bearded men like this Tordek Tordeksson, they live in an island in the north of France.-No they don't.This abrupt answer stopped you in your tracks, you needed a moment to answer.-Yes they do ! I know my geography, I even saw a scotsman that was taller than those in India of course, but he was from this island and...-Dwarves are not good sailors, they are a hill people and they definitely do NOT come from some island in your land, they are an elder race. Here before humans.You smiled lightly seeing the pagan superstitions of the regent.-I can assure you that men were perhaps longer lived before, but not shorter.The man frowned.-Yes... Indeed elves predate dwarves, but I can assure you that dwarves do not come from an island. Have you thought, lord Charles that your analysis suffers from bias ?
>>6336006You repeated as if you understood.-My analysis suffers from bias ?-Yes, don't you think that you try to apply concepts from your foreign lands, from a small information source, to life here, in Bifuria ? I can assure you that dwarves are not islanders, and that nobody will care if I am an Englishman since nobody knows what it is.-I can assure you that if they knew you would soon authorize one hundred duels instead of letting yourself looking like one in front of the people.-Should I understand that it is an insult, and that you insulted me ?-Of course not monseigneur, it is worse than an insult it is a curse. I would not wish it upon anybody.-Good, then it is fortunate that nobody knows it. You are dismissed.He told, and before you could answer you were outside, agreeing. You then realized that you had not obtained anything. Damn it, you should become a better diplomat. You sighed and the words of the regent echoed in your mind while you walked into his castle. Perhaps they made sense. Perhaps truly you had not enough experience of the world, you were 27, not a young man anymore, but not old and wise like one of those hundred years old Guelphs. When you saw Bohémond and he asked.-We will fight with shields or with two handed weapons monseigneur ?You could only answer.-We will not fight at all... But I have a question for you Bohémond... Do you remember when we saw scots ?-Yes indeed... -How do you remember them ?He seemed to think a moment before saying.-One was red haired, they had a strange accent and they were rather poor, why ? You nodded, and told you.-Perhaps... We do not know much about scotland ?-What do you mean...-You see, we recognize them by their accent, but we saw much more scotsmen in India than in France...-But France is closer to Scotland than India...-Yes... In the books, but in truth, there is more scots here.-Yes... I agree...-And I call them short scotsmen, but perhaps, they are all short, and we saw two really tall ones ?-You mean ? Really ?-Yes... Look, you are above average, and I am quite tall... -Even very tall monseigneur, but what you say makes sense, we saw far more short scotsmen than we had seen tall ones... Some travelers told that the scots were average sized but perhaps these travelers were small too, or did not want to bring it too much, or saw tall ones and small ones, they never told that they are all small.-Yes, perhaps the travelers have been lying to not offend the scots, King Philippe wanted to ally with them after all.
>>6336007The brave Bohémond nodded, and you saw that the reasoning of the regent was perhaps not false, you have been blinded by ignorance. These short men were indeed scotsmen, they were all short. It is perhaps for reasons like these that some wise men tell that travelling opens your mind to new ideas. One question remained, and it was asked by Bohémond.-What shall we do Monseigneur ?>Try to find a toymaker for your birthday gift to the duchess's sister.>Finally enlists at the jousts.>Visit the castle and hope to find someone.>Confront your scottish enemy.>Other (write in)
>>6336006>>6336007>someone finally listens closely enough to Charles to understand that he has no idea where he is or what he's talking aboutHoly shit, my sides! I never thought I'd see the day.>The lesson doesn't really stick anyway, he still thinks they're Scotsmenmfw>>6336008>Confront your scottish enemy.We have to break the bad news.
>>6336052Kek same>>6336008>>Confront your scottish enemy.While the satisfaction of honor may have been denied in these lands, we should still give the option for satisfaction in our own lands, should the ecossais be inclined.We should absolutely heap the blame for this on the regent.
>>6336052Messire, this is just facts, reason and logic, if we met two tall scotsmen and far more short ones we can deduce that the scottish people is short in general. Just like a scotsman could have been mistaken if the two only frenchmen that he saw were Charles and Bohémond, who are taller than the average man. But let us be sincere, to think that men from hills and mountains who speak like scotsmen and who cling to their money like scotsmen are not scotsmen, simply on the words of a strange pagan, who has not even heard about Christ, and who claims that they are some "dwarves" who are not human, is nonsense and superstition. We are better than that.>>6336073Wise words that should please this écossois and honor the Auld Alliance that King Philippe has just proclaimed 4 years ago.====You decided to speak to the scotsman, who was not a short scotsman according to wiser men than you, simply a normal one. You tried to find him in the castle and fortunately, since he was loud, you managed to find him quite quickly. He was with his friend and had put on an armor made of plates of steel. You came by, explaining the man.-Messire, I am just coming back from the regent !-Hah, to say sorry I suppose ! To..You cut him off.-No, I shall not excuse myself when I am in the right and you are in the wrong, I am just telling you that the regent refused to allow us to duel properly.-Wh... What ?!? He told me that ye were ready to excuse yerself ! By my beard ! That's... That's outrageous Borri !His companion nodded and told again.-Outrageous ! Damned pointy ears ! They deserve da axe !He raised his axe, threateningly and you wondered if, while being smaller than your bride Lady Rose, and even smaller than Elana, he would seriously think about trying to cut down the regent of a duchy in the middle of his castle, so you looked with attention but it seemed to be only verbal. Finally Tordek asked.-So what we will do ?You answered him, graciously.-I am the Lord of Local, if you want to fight, we can do it in my territory, I am favorable to freedom to regulate honorable quarrels with steel. So let us fight after this tournament, in my lands. I am to marry soon so I would prefer to end it before it.The scotsman nodded and spoke as a true scotsman.-Oh, yes, so tha clan would not have to pay for yer marriage if yer dead. I can understand.Hah ! Clingy as a scot ! And to think that this stupid Guelph was explaining you that they were not scotsmen. What a foolish idea. You then told.-I suppose that you would prefer axes and shields ?-I am more fer hammers... Or maces... But ye, with shields dat's good. Whot to do now... Fight in this tornament I s'ppose... The halfling will be sad... Pfff, damn elves... Always lying and manipulating humans for their sake...Borri approved.-Knife eared basterds !
>>6336474You let them to their reflections, according to Oldfossil the Guelphs had began to supplant the scotsmen as councilors of kings here because they used their women to woo them into marriage. Even if the scotsmen were rich, you understood why someone would prefer to marry a guelph woman. But whatever, you asked.-I should enlist finally to the tournament, by the way, do you know a good Toymaker ?-Yes, there is a Gnome, Toysarus... He is in the low quarter.-Thank you good sir.>Speak a bit more with Tordek about how he came to this tournament.>Speak to Tordek about the ram that you mocked, why is he riding a big goat ?>Speak to Tordek about the Guelphs.>Go to the toymaker>Go to the tournament to finally enlist>Other (write in)
>>6336476>Speak a bit more with Tordek about how he came to this tournament.>Speak to Tordek about the Guelphs.Maybe we can find some common ground here...>Go to the toymakerIf it's on the way.If not>Go to the tournament to finally enlist
>>6336476>Speak to Tordek about the ram that you mocked, why is he riding a big goat ?Why DOES he do such a silly thing?>Speak to Tordek about the Guelphs.Tell me more of the feud, frenemy.Then...>Go to the toymakerIf it's on the way, as >>6336484 says, and if not>Go to the tournament to finally enlist
>>6336484+1
>>6336484>>6336563SupportCharles accidentally being diplomatic through dislike of the knife ears is funny to think about.
>>6336927>I've decided: I hate scheming Italians more than Scots, regardless of their height>Ach, I have no idea what you're talking about, human, but I'll drink to that!Top kek
>>6336484Wise words good sir, wise words.>>6336563We are always polite with someone that we will soon try to kill, this is the essence of Chivalry.>>6336793>>6336927Who likes them good sirs ?====You decided to speak to the Scotsman a bit more, after all the short lad and you had to kill eachother soon so you better get acquinted with it. You told him.-Thank you for this adress, you are from the city ? Or you know it well ? How did you came for the tournament ?-Nah, nah, I was here sometimes, but I'm from the hills in the North of Bifuria... The mountains on the north of the North March, the Emperors when they killed tha barbarians there, gave lands to good dwarven folk, so they could fortify it against the barbarians who were pushed back to the tundra. Heh... My clan is here. The tournament, i'm here for the bitches.You reddened.-I beg your pardon ? The...-Yes, the lassies, I want to be seen as a good dwarf, so when there is no war but to the far south, winning tournaments can give me a bride. There is far more male dwarves than lasses so I have to impress ya understand. I want to have a son, named Tordek too, like my father and meself ! -Oh... So you court a noble lady... -Nah, I will choose once I'm famous...You raised an eyebrow, and then tried to change the subject, this barbarian clearly had not learned about courteous love.-And so you came on your ram... What a silly idea ?!?-Wot ! Ye are mocking my ram again ! I shall....He raised his fist, his friend did it too, but their fists even if raised high, were lower than your head. -Let us say that I am simply surprised for seeing that mount. I have never seen it before, it seems strange to me to want to joust on a beast slower and smaller than a horse.-Horses are too big for us dwarven folk !His companion added.-And have ye tried to use a horse on the mountains, the goats can climb, hah ! Mountain cavalry they are !You were quite surprised by this, but thinking about it, if their country was made of hills. It could make sense. Horses were better on flat terrain but still.-But they are smaller, how did you plan to joust with this ?-With bigger armor !-But it cannot stop you from being unhorsed !You told, effectively, even if it will be better after falling, a better armor will not help you win, merely survive. The answer of the stubborn scottsmen surprised you the most, il was a long silence, a way to say that they had no idea. You decided to change the subject.-Whatever... What is important is that we can't duel, and that, good sirs, is inacceptable. Be assured that I shall do all that is possible to correct this judicial mistake.-Yeah, dam knife ears ! Dey mock us behind aoer backs !The other, Borri, nodded.-Always lyin'n'cheatin' !
>>6337743You then told, quite amused by their agitation (small agitated beings were funny, it is why you found your little sister or lady Takable absolutely adorable, of course these two scottish lads did not look as adorable, but they were at least as amusing to watch grumble).-I wondered why did the regent choose to not allow us to fight, southern people love intrigue I must say, they do not have our honesty. I have heard about a mutual dislike between the Scots and the Guelphs, is it true ?They looked at you, unsure, and Tordek told.-Not sure 'bout the Scots, but we dislike elves ! Aye !-Good for nothing' grass chomping, pointy eared b'stards !-Dey are as bad as goblins, aye ! But too powerful !You were surprised to hear the last phrase.-As bad as Ghibellines, so the quarrel between the pope and the emperor does not concern you ? Heh... You simply hate all the inhabitants of this peninsula...The two looked at eachother, and finally Tordek explained.-The emperors... Some say they are bought by elves... I don't know... Some are good, some are bad... But the inhabitants of the capital peninsula are ponce !-Yeh we dislike them... Like elves, or goblins, or orcs...You were about to tell him that scotsmen seemed to be a contentious people but before he could list all his people's ancestral ennemies, you had to tell.-And what about the English ? After all we have allied together against them.The two short bearded men looked at eachother, they seemed to be quite lost but Tordek decided to tell.-Yeah damn with them ! Hah !And the other agreed joyfully.It was one more confirmation that they were scotsmen, you then heard messire Tordek tell you.-If we have to foight, we shall go to your lordship, wot about going after the tournament, do you life in the norf ?-To the north of here, yes. We will have to travel for at least two weeks. I do not know how fast giant goats, or giant rams, do travel.He nodded, adding.-I shall talk to the halfling, and we will have a duel.
>>6337744You shook his hand most chivalrously, and then decided to go towards the shop of this Toysarus, gnomes... This is how the locals call small jews. You remembered the wise words of this Sire Chud about them and you decided to ready yourself for some nefarious plot, but to be sincere, you had already met jewish merchants and if they all tried to scam you, it was not so different from any other foreign merchant. You saw the small man in his shop, in a half timbered house, curiously there were no jewish quarter her to host the jewry, they lived among people. It was objectively illogical in your opinion, first because who knows what they could do in the night and what nefarious plots against Christians, or pagans, they could do, and second because in India they are very small. These small jews would need small houses with small doors, small chairs, and everything small for their comfort, and clearly, living like other people must be uncomfortable to them, be it to eat their dinner or wash the dust from high shelves. The jew on the counter had besicles, and seeing you, now accompanied by not only Bohémond but the rest of your suite, he politely told in a small obsequious voice, while bowing deeply.-My lord, honoured priestess, sir knights... What can an humble toymaker do for you ? We have fine wares made here or shipped from around the Empire and beyond.Effectively he had toys, some wooden toys, some dolls, some brass toys representing characters, some dolls too, some small houses, he seemed to use his small stature to reduce the words around him to the size of a little child and you found it quite cute. You then asked for a doll and since you were not an expert on it, you asked Pennycillyn and Elana to advise you, they were looking at the small dolls and you found them strange. Why were they representing grown women ? Normally a doll represents a baby, or a child, so a young girl could learn to care for a child, or have some imaginary friend of her age. But apparently such was the indian custom, some had beautiful dresses and the craftsman explained how he made them and cut the cloth, making the two women very happy. You were more interested by the rest to be honest. Looking around you you saw (you know learned how to read) some "toys for young boys" and decided to watch them. Perhaps even touch them, it was only curiosity. There was.>A strange bronze little knight with a spear planted in his back, what can it be ?>Some small wooden statuettes representing knights, and dragons and many other things.>Cards and other things generally used for gambling.>A strange red and white ball.>Look at the dolls instead and choose one, it would be better to at least take part in the gift to the duchess's little sister
>>6337745>A strange red and white ball.Got. To. Catch. Them. ALL.
>>6337745>>A strange red and white ball.:]
>>6337745>A strange red and white ball.What a stupid toy!
>>6337756>>6337909>>6337914Indeed good sirs, indeed.====You decided to let the ladies choose a doll and took the strange white and red ball in your hand. You wondered what it was made for, should you launch it ? Juggle with it ? You tried to find similar balls or other toys that would go with it but nothing came out. Well, at least it was a well done ball, all round and solid. You decided to take it in your hands and saw a metallic circle on it, you pressed on it, wondering what it will do and... And the ball opened, and a sudden burst of coloured light got out of it. You released the ball, crossing yourself, Brother Louis, who was watching you, recoiled too and bumped into a shelf. -Satanerie !You told while crossing yourself and Ancel le purineur screamed. -AAAAAAH ! It's devilry messire !Worse was when a beast climbed out of it ! An abominable beast all full of yellow fur, like the mantle of Judas Iscariot, or like impure gold and white ! Tonerre ! It struck one of your guardsmen with lightning ! Only God could do that. Your guardsmen recoiled in terror and soon you heard the two ladies scream.-Hiiiiii !-Hiiiiiiiii !It was indeed for fair women, even more terrible than a mouse, Elana jumped into your arms and Penycillyn too. You thanked God and all the Saints for Elana's small size and the fact that the Guelphs in India were light. So you had two women on your arms and could not chastise the beast as you saw fit. Your men were running and the jew was screaming.-What have you done ! It was a rare monster sphere from the east ! It is broken now !You told.-Catch the beast damn it !And the vile beast, something between a rat and a rabbit, almost got caught by the brave Ancel, who screamed.-I try messire ! Aaaah ! We shall gut the beast and eat it for dinner !The small pest tried to run and you saw that your guardsmen, with zeal, tried to oppose it but feared the lightning that he sent. The man who was touched was not dead or seriously wounded, fortunately, it was not strong enough to kill. But still, a rabbit who was bigger than the ball where he came from was clearly a spawn of satan and had to be put to the sword, or, as the small jew screamed, caught at least, because it was rare and precious. But the damned demon from the ball decided to hide under a shelf and emit small sounds before someone armed with a spear could try to chase him from there. In this extreme situation, only one thing remained : what to do ?>Put down the ladies in your arms and try to catch the beast (combat roll)>Order a man to block the door and try to chase the beast in the shop (combat roll)>Put down the ladies and order everyone to go all in to catch or kill the thing, damn the consequences if there is damage to the toys of the small jew, he perhaps plotted against good christians with his devilish spheres !>Stay far away from the beast, you are a brave knight but this thing could be full of maladies.>Other (write in)
>>6338192>>Put down the ladies in your arms and try to catch the beast (combat roll)
Rolled 66 (1d100)>>6338192>Order a man to block the door and try to chase the beast in the shop (combat roll)We cannot foresake our chivalric duty to these two pretty ladies, even if one is a grandmother and the other sometimes wears pants, and also we are married. These are all technicalities, and anyway, we are French!
Rolled 51 (1d100)>>6338192>This foul creature practices sorceryIt must surely be a demon! God be with us as we slay it!>Order a man to block the door and try to chase the beast in the shop (combat roll)
Rolled 47 (1d100)>>6338192>>Put down the ladies in your arms and try to catch the beast (combat roll)Gotta catch em all lads
>>6338267>>6338284Nobody is perfect, and a lady has not to be perfect to be protected by a knight, you are absolutely right messire.>>6338409God be with us indeed, but the average of our rolls is of 55 and we have 53 in combat ! Mortecouille !>>6338517Of course !====You ordered one of your men.-Fed, block the door !Before putting the two ladies on the Jew's counter and drawing your sword. Montjoie ! You were ready to slay the beast, even if it was a small pest and that it tried to hide under a shelf. The jew tried to complain but Brother Louis took him and told him.-Why are you storing demons in your boxes, jew ?The jew gasped as he was grabbed by the Templar while the others tried to catch the beast. You passed your sword under a shelf and you saw that it screamed like a pig while running. Damnation... People tried to spear the thing but in the middle of the shop's shelves, it was hard. Finally Ancel screamed.-I will get it messire !And he jumped on it, fast as a cat catching a mouse, unfortunately Elana had silently decided to jump on it with an elegant somersault too. Pennicyllyn screamed when she saw both of them collide, the idiot Fed tried to see if they were well and ignored the fact that the horrid beast ran between his legs and got out of this toyshop. You rushed to the door and saw that the yellow fiend had already ran near the stall of an apple merchant and shot a lightning bolt on him that made the man recoil while the beast tried to steal a cabbage that was too big for it to transport easily, especially when the merchant tried to kill it by hitting it with a stick. You understood that you will not manage to catch it and it will continue to sow chaos in the city until someone finally killed it, probably a cat. You saw that fortunately Elana and Ancel were not so much hurt because they began to argue with each other, Ancel calling her a harlot and Elana calling him an imbecile. Not wanting to interrupt them you turned towards the jew.-What was this sorcery ? Were you planning to release it on good Christian children ?Of course there was no Christians in this city but this was generally what any good man said when he caught a jew doing something shady. Everybody knows that these people sacrifice kids in blood rituals. You crossed yourself and vowed to pray for their poor souls. Unfortunately Toysarus could not muster an answer, perhaps because he was grabbed by the throat by Brother Louis and raised at a normal height, his feet dangled above the ground and he was becoming red. Pennicyllynn answered first.-It's only a long eared hamster, it is not so dangerous !You ignored what was a hamster, and Brother Louis too, he released the jew, who fell on the ground and asked.-So this beast has a name ?The court mage shook her head, explaining.-No, no, I mean, it looked like a hamster but yellow and with long hair.
>>6339201You told.-I have never heard of such beasts, but it can throw lightning ! It is obviously a demon...-Not a demon but a magical beast...Brother Louis told you.-I never heard of amsterres or read about such beasts in Pline's writings... We have found a new beast monseigneur... -It is not a hamster ! It has far too long ears... You then asked.-Then what it is ? Answer, jew !The jew told.-I... Do not know, it is a rare beast from the far-east... And now it is gone, you should pay for...You looked at him, furious, like Ancel, Bohémond and Brother Louis. You answered.>Fine, take your money, and for a doll too.>Money ? What ! You just kept a demon here, a demonic fiend who throws lightning bolts ! And you pretend that we shall have to pay you ? Give me a free doll and we will do as if nothing happened ! (Rulership roll)>Money ?!? You have been consorting with demons ! I shall give you to the sergeants so they can question you before you are burned on the main square of this city !>Other (write in)Whatever your answer was, and what happened next, you then moved to the jousting lists, to enlist in the tournament. It was at this moment that Brother Louis finally told you.-Whatever this adventure was, we discovered some new strange Indian beast, that is probably demonic. But I still wonder how to call it...You answered the soldier-monk, intrigued.-What do you mean ? -I mean that we have to name the beast, when we will be back in France we shall tell about it and legends will be made, like the mighty Turtle that you vanquished, it has to be known, since it can be dangerous. We have to ensure that the next travelers to India will be better prepared than us.It was logical and good, and you nodded with enthusiasm. He then asked.-Do you have any ideas monseigneur ?>We shall call it a amesterre, after all even if Pennicyllynn tells that it looks a amesterre with long ears we have never seen amesterres with short ears so we better tell that it is the normal form of this indian beast. But most importantly we shall tell that it throws lightning bolts, so people know what to do against such magical beast.>It screams like a pig, we can call it an Indian Pig, a Cochon d'Inde, it is a good name, a cochon d'Inde... But most importantly we shall tell that it throws lightning bolts, so people know what to do against such magical beast.>It tried to steal a cabage and to eat it... To pierce the thing with it's teeth... We can call it a "Pique un chou" so people know what it eats, perhaps it is the consumption of cabages that makes this beast able to throw lightning at people.>Other (write in)====PS : I am sorry for my late update good sirs, but I was ill yesterday. Fortunately I was cured by prayer and the consumption of emeralds ground into powder, a most potent remedy.
>>6339203>Money ? What ! You just kept a demon here, a demonic fiend who throws lightning bolts ! And you pretend that we shall have to pay you ? Give me a free doll and we will do as if nothing happened ! (Rulership roll)Alas, in a land full of paganry devilry with a witch queen, nobidy will be burning even a perfidious gno-- I mean, Jew. Nor is jeeping such a creature likely a crime, even if it is before God.>It tried to steal a cabage and to eat it... To pierce the thing with it's teeth... We can call it a "Pique un chou" so people know what it eats, perhaps it is the consumption of cabages that makes this beast able to throw lightning at people.The pun is irresistible.
>>6339203I am glad you're feeling better, btw. Welcome back, QM!
Rolled 29 (1d100)>>6339236Supporting
Rolled 41 (1d100)>>6339203Oh right, I forgot my roll...>>6339236This is me. let's hope I don't mess up our average.
Rolled 13 (1d100)>>6339203>It screams like a pig, we can call it an Indian Pig, a Cochon d'Inde, it is a good name, a cochon d'Inde... But most importantly we shall tell that it throws lightning bolts, so people know what to do against such magical beast.>Money ? What ! You just kept a demon here, a demonic fiend who throws lightning bolts ! And you pretend that we shall have to pay you ? Give me a free doll and we will do as if nothing happened ! (Rulership roll)
>>6339203>>Money ? What ! You just kept a demon here, a demonic fiend who throws lightning bolts ! And you pretend that we shall have to pay you ? Give me a free doll and we will do as if nothing happened ! (Rulership roll)>It tried to steal a cabage and to eat it... To pierce the thing with it's teeth... We can call it a "Pique un chou" so people know what it eats, perhaps it is the consumption of cabages that makes this beast able to throw lightning at people.loving this poke arc
>>6339236It is, Cochon d'Inde is a pun too, it is how we call Guinea Pigs in French. And I agree, the laws on witch burnings are very lax in this pagan land. It is a shame.>>6339297>>6339323>>6339484Nice rolls good sirs. Nice rolls.>>6339485May the lord preserve us from demonic beings who are born from some strange balls.====You had effectively terrorised the vile jew, telling him "Money ? What ! You just kept a demon here, a demonic fiend who throws lightning bolts ! And you pretend that we shall have to pay you ? Give me a free doll and we will do as if nothing happened !" and obtained a beautiful doll of a blonde girl, it apparently was a "special command" of someone called sir Epstein, and was of good quality. You ignored who it was but apparently he was mysteriously dead before having sent a servant to take it so it lied there. So it was thus charged that you traveled to the tournament. And it was on the road that you answered Brother Louis.-It tried to steal a cabage and to eat it... To pierce the thing with it's teeth... We can call it a "Pique un chou" so people know what it eats, perhaps it is the consumption of cabages that makes this beast able to throw lightning at people.The Templar seemed to be amused.-Pique un chou ! Hah, what a ridiculous name... It sounds almost how peasants would call spirits and demons...-You have any better idea brother ?-I... Hum... I must think... I... And with all his wisdom, the brother Templar was incapable of finding something better so you got silently unto the tournament. To be honest it was quite easy to enlist, you had simply to give your name, titles and coat of arms to the heralds, they were well trained and knew the Lordship of Local. They quickly added you, there was more problems with Bohémond, when they asked by whom he was knighted, and when they told that it was by your father they explained that he was not a known knight. You vouched for him and told that you were here and they had to agree... The fact that these pagans dared to be skeptical about the knighting of the French chivalry made you almost furious but you controlled yourself. Still, something made you uneasy, all the knights here seemed to have this armors made of metal plates, and they seemed more solid than your chainmail. Won't you look poor ? Or like some tournament knight rabble ? You were a lord now and had to look the part. Fortunately you knew that if a knight won in a jousting bout he could win the armor and the horse of his opponent, equipment that shall be bought again. With some victories you could perhaps reduce your debt or even gain an armor for yourself.
>>6339707Once Bohémond and you were enlisted, it was already late, you ignored if there was still room in the castle or in an inn, despite the protests of Pennicyllyn who found it "indecent" you decided to find some lodgment in an inhabitant's house. It was common practice during tournaments. Finally you managed to rent the last floor of the house of an old couple, Bed and Breakfast, Bed was a kind old woman who helped her husband, Breakfast, a hatmaker and they were very pleased to receive a lord. You of course acted kindly and royally, rewarding them generously, it is natural for a nobleman to live above his means and show is generosity after all. Still, since you had a little time you thought about what to do, there was still no banquet at the castle, curiously because some indians considered that a night of eating and drinking wasn't recommended before a tournament, so you decided to.>Go to a tavern to listen to gossip about the best jousters in the tournament to learn about their strengths and weaknesses and gain an advantage for tomorrow (intrigue roll)>Go to the castle and try to give the duchess her locket, even if you had not time to talk to the regent about it you will have to be subtle about it to approach her. (intrigue roll)>Send Ancel out so he could learn something about the tournament and go to bed a bit earlier, you have traveled for a long time and need to rest.>Try to find someone that you know is in town to speak to him (send the name)>Other (write in)
>>6339709> an old couple, Bed and Breakfastkek>Send Ancel out so he could learn something about the tournament and go to bed a bit earlier, you have traveled for a long time and need to rest.I think trying to spring ourselves on the Duchess uninvited would be a bad idea, and Ancel is assuredly better at skulking than we are. We need our beauty sleep!
>>6339709>>Send Ancel out so he could learn something about the tournament and go to bed a bit earlier, you have traveled for a long time and need to rest.
>>6339709>Send Ancel out so he could learn something about the tournament and go to bed a bit earlier, you have traveled for a long time and need to rest.>Send Elana with him, to keep him honest and on-track
>>6339723Of course, of course.>>6339939>>6339991>>6340127You decided to send Ancel to learn more about the tournament, so you gave him his day while you decided to rest, after having eaten with the local family. You decided to give their evening to your guardsmen and Bohémond too. Brother Louis decided to stay and sleep here, just like Elana and Pennicyllynn. When you lied on of the curiously numerous beds and you saw the three of them speaking between themselves, as you were about to lie down and had taken off your haubert Elana approached you. She took her sweetest voice and told.-My lord, you were riding and walking all day, allow me to massage your sore back please.You had your best smile, and explained.-Hah, how can I refuse something that is so kindly propose.You had to admit that she effectively knew the human body because she worked skillfully and you were in bliss. What better than having a nice girl massaging you when you lied on your back. You had the same happy face as the house cat of this humble burgher townhouse when he received his ration of milk. But another female voice stopped her.-You are doing it wrong ! It was the court mage, Elana answered defensively.-I know anatomy and how to relax someone, I know what I am doing.-No you don't it is almost if you want to kill him ! Let me do it, watch and learn, massaging sore muscles requires techniques.-Listen ladies I...You began but before you could end Pennicyllyn was near you too, and massaging you. And she was strangely very good at it, well, not so strangely, she was a healer, she explained some strange terms about "bloodflow" and "ligaments" that you did not understand, what blood ? Your blood was flowing well. One thing was sure, it was very relaxing. Finally Elana told.-My lord... I... Wanted simply to say, that I am afraid for you... About this tournament ?-Why ?-Because you will go jousting with only chainmail ! It is risky !Pennicyllyn approved.-Yes it is very risky, you can break a bone or be killed, I do not want to lose my liege lord even before seing him in his castle.-Oh, everybody jousts in chainmail...Elana answered.-Knights have plate armor my lord. And I do not want to see you killed. And lady Rose would want it even less ! She would be so sad to see her beloved be killed on a tournament.-There is always a risk but I am not one to disappoint lovely young ladies. You could see her blush, even without seeing her since she was behind you. You then added.-And I shall not refuse to participate when even small cagots on overgrown roosters are jousting. Heh, even women are doing it !Pennicyllynn answered.-Be they elves, humans, halflings or dwarves, men or women, all jousters wear full plate, I cannot imagine the wounds of someone who received a jousting lance in the chest without protection...
>>6340224You scoffed at this.-Bwah ! I shall simply be better and not get it, it is the principle of the sport after all ! And greater is the risk, greater is the glory.Brother Louis, who was lying down on his bed and had directed your prayers before you had gone to bed, decided to intervene at this moment.-Monseigneur, I beg you to reconsider, God Allmighty is the Only one whom glory belongs to. These contests of arms are surely not Christian in nature and put only pride against pride. Your sword and lance should be carried in the name of the Lord, to protect His Church and in times of war. No glory gained on tournaments shall follow you in the Eternal life.You rolled your eyes, you were a pious man of course, someone who thought about Salvation. You always prayed, gave to the Church and were determined to root out witchcraft and heresy from your domains, but you had to admit : clergymen had a way to kill all the fun in life. You knew that you were weak, about fornication for exemple... But even when you had to be married when you looked at all the rules about making love to your wife, you knew that you could not. Tournaments were the same thing.But such was the nature of clergymen, after all they managed to bore your ancestors unto submission until they accepted not to rapt their wives but to ask their fathers for a marriage and accept a no from the father in question. Such was life. You answered to the brave Templar.-Listen Brother Louis... Listen... I am not a monk, I am a knight, spare me all these sermons. I am sure that Jesus Christ would not mind us training for breaking lances in Holy Wars. And here, in pagan lands, we cannot even have fun with private wars, so we have to make the best of what we have.Pennicyllyn seemed shocked.-Private wars ? Fun... But it is horrible, people die ! It is like those tournaments, believe me it is...You turned around and looked at the women, then at brother Louis. You then told, angrily.-Have you been conspiring ? All you three... To make me change my mind ? You saw Elana redden and Brother Louis make an apologetic face, your court mage moved her long pointy ears more to the back of her head. You continued.-I knew it ! By all the saints... I am not so stupid as to be beguiled by some kind caresses and a religious sermon, I know that I do not read much and I don't know latin, but it does not mean that I am an imbecile. I would appreciate that you speak openly.Brother Louis was the first to answer.-I tried... But... We preferred to do it now... Not to embarrass you before your men. Elana added, approving him.-And we are really worried... Not only for you, but for us too, and for Rose. You have been so kind to me, I do not want to lose my liege lord in a stupid joust.You of course felt that she was sincere and answered.-Do not worry, I do not intend to die.
>>6340227Pennicyllynn finished their tirade, telling.-Your God, like Aeliryn, is a deity of mercy and compassion, I cannot see him approving of people bashing eachother with sticks for entertainment ! Believe me I have seen so many cripples after this kind of incidents, and magical healing does not work on everyone. You raised your hands, you would not be lectured on piety by a witch. Finally you decided to answer.>Fine, fine, I shall not fight in a tournament before my marriage. You have won. Are you happy ?>Listen, kind ladies, dear brother... I understand that you worry for your lord, and it shows an admirable feudal spirit, but jousting is glorious, and fun, and less dangerous than a melee. So everything will be fine.>Brother Louis, and you too ladies, you want me to what ? Wear armor ? First I do not have one, second, I lost a friend on a tournament when a splinter of wood entered the visor of his helmet and he lost his eye, an infection finished him after it. So do not worry about me, pray if you want but it is enough.>I understand your concerns, but conspiring behind my back... I am not the kind of lords that is manipulated by his entourage. Try other methods next time. Now let me sleep and let us no more talk of it.>Other (write in)In all cases, if you joust, you will have a +5 bonus to one roll since you were well rested. You shall choose when to use this bonus.
>>6340229>Listen, kind ladies, dear brother... I understand that you worry for your lord, and it shows an admirable feudal spirit, but jousting is glorious, and fun, and less dangerous than a melee. So everything will be fine.>Think, please, of what sort of lord you want, or that dear Rose would want to marry. A man who fears danger? No! If I were such a man, soft and careful rather than one who faces it head on, I would not have saved Rose, or have survived (forgive me for saying this) attempted murder by Elana. it is a good man who keeps his skills sharp and his vitality up by such sport!>And Brother Louis, God's glory should be shown in these pagan lands, yes? We are the few Christians in India, and we must set an example that it is God, and not armor or Satanique sorcery, who protects men best. pray for me that I shall be protected, and if God wills it, so I shall be, and so too shall I show the supremacy of the One True Faith.
>>6340247+1 Soundly reasoned! sorry OP I was busy I don't know where all the other voters went
>>6340229>>Listen, kind ladies, dear brother... I understand that you worry for your lord, and it shows an admirable feudal spirit, but jousting is glorious, and fun, and less dangerous than a melee. So everything will be fine.>>Brother Louis, and you too ladies, you want me to what ? Wear armor ? First I do not have one, second, I lost a friend on a tournament when a splinter of wood entered the visor of his helmet and he lost his eye, an infection finished him after it. So do not worry about me, pray if you want but it is enough.
QM?
>>6340247+1I am forced to stop lurking and come to aid the quest.
>>6340247>>6341435>>6341459>>6341459By Saint Michel and Saint Denis ! It is rejoicing to see people worrying for me, so like Guillaume (or William) the Conqueror at Hastings I shall remove my helmet to show that I am alive. But I have to disappoint you, I have not been wounded in some duel with a vile knight or been on campaign, I have simply finalised to move from a place to another, and had to have my thesis subject reviewed (I shall have to rework it). And moving from house to house is like laying siege to a castle or courting a woman, it demands much attention that you cannot give to your comrades and bannermen. I am very sorry for it.>>6341792What wonderful news, this absence has helped some new men to find their courage and mount on their horse ! Be welcome and ride in the sun, exchanging japes and complimenting the best blows of your brothers instead of lurking in the shadows like some manant. All to say that am always glad when someone joins, you deserve a good barrel of fine Burgundian Wine.====You were not the kind of man taken to long tirades to justify yourself. It would even appear weak, a lord does not have to explain itself before it's servants. But they were not only servants but friends too, and you could see the worry in their eyes. Oh, of course Elana and Pennicyllynn had the soft hearths of women and even if you knew that women discouraged men from dangerous endeavours only to see them enterprise such endeavours more eagerly, you could discern a sincere worry in those blue and green eyes. And Brother Louis, he was an honest man and a man of God, he preached well and you did not want to disturb him. If you had been ten years younger you would have laughed at their worry but you were a man grown, a man who was at the height of it's maturity, you were 27 years old. So clearing your throat you explained. -Listen, kind ladies, dear brother... I understand that you worry for your lord, and it shows an admirable feudal spirit, but jousting is glorious, and fun, and less dangerous than a melee. So everything will be fine.You saw that it was not enough and you turned towards Elana. -Think, please, of what sort of lord you want, or that dear Rose would want to marry. A man who fears danger ? No ! If I were such a man, soft and careful rather than one who faces it head on, I would not have saved Rose, or have survived (forgive me for saying this) attempted murder by Elana. it is a good man who keeps his skills sharp and his vitality up by such sport !
>>6341929Of course Brother Louis Frowned, the concept of "what Lord you want" was perhaps a too indian phrase. Who ask you what Lord you want ? God grants you a liege lord, serve him ! But of course you meant it in a chivalric ideal, it is always more glorious to serve a glorious lord, a lord who embodies courtesy, bravery and honor and who is generous with his subjects than a vile coward like Landless John. The invocation of your attempted murder by Elana shocked the court mage and the poor young dark haired girl reddened, but a soft look from you made her understand that she was forgiven. She was ashamed, poor girl... But she had managed to survive her trial. Some wiser men would have said that jousting has nothing to do with swordfighting but your voice and your rhetorical talent made your audience brush aside such thoughts. You finally turned towards the Templar.-And Brother Louis, God's glory should be shown in these pagan lands, yes? We are the few Christians in India, and we must set an example that it is God, and not armor or Satanique sorcery, who protects men best. Pray for me that I shall be protected, and if God wills it, so I shall be, and so too shall I show the supremacy of the One True Faith.Against such words what could he do. He to put his hand in his salt and pepper beard and answered.-Your words are wise, Monseigneur... I have not thought about it... Pagans do not understand the canons of the church but shows of strength can help. I shall pray for your victory and for you to triumph unharmed messire. But be careful, I fear that these knights who are not waging war or fighting in melee must only be jousting and some of them could be good.You raised a suspicious eyebrow and looked into his direction.-Do you mean that I, Charles de Villeroi, who had fought the Aragonese, the English, the Barrois and the Flemish will be bested by some stick wielders ? Some green Knights who had not bled on battlefields ? Par le Sang Dieu, even women or cagots on gigantic roosters compete ! Do you think that I will ridicule myself ? No... No... Of course I can admit that there must be some admirable knights in the bunch and perhaps one will unhorse me, but I believe in God almighty and in my right arm to see me through.And with this words, and the Templar's quiet approbation, your decision was made. You profited from a nice massage and a good night, then a good breakfast the next day.
>>6341930And what a day it was ! Under a radiant sun the banners and pennants of many knights and lords flew in the light breeze. Trumpets blazed and servants prepared the arrival of the duchess and her court. The knights had been assembled by rank and skills and divided in some groups. The organizer of the tournament explained that there was more than 100 knights who will be jousting but opponents will be drawn from the same groups until only 32 remained then there will be elimination. The rules here were clear, a lance broken on a shield was one point, a lance broken on the breastplate of the opponent was three points, while unhorsing him was an automatic victory. Combats were not continued on foot. You acknowledged these indian habits and decided to see who was in your group, apparently you will have to draw a number and it will be your opponent. Your group was composed of :1 : Sir Abso Lutrubish2 : Sir Bello Average3 : Sir Abov Average4 : Charles de Villeroi, Lord of Local5 : Sir Strongo of the Ponant6 : Sir Richard Appleberry "the Ringbearer"7 : Sir Eldomiel Afleaf also known as "The Rakeslayer"8 : Emokid Darkadoxx, Lord of Edge9 : Sir Beorn Bearington10 : Dame Wanda Fishface11 : Sir Satanas Chitstowin12 : Griller Boomersson, lord of the Rent13 : Sir Noobmurder Finalboss14 : Sir Swede Neutralsson15 : Sir Cumferance Dadjoke16 : Dame Karen Allseeing, scourge of the ManagementYou did not know who most these men and women apparently were but you will have to fight three of them. You wondered how some won their nicknames and wanted one yourself. But enought dreaming. As a lord you had the privilege of being one of the first to draw the numbers. If you won at least two of the three battles you should be chosen as one of the 32 knights who will fight to gain the main prize of the tournament. It seemed reasonable. You decided to approach your hand of the vase where the organizers kept the rocks where numbers were drawn and thought about how to prepare. Your group was the first to fight, Bohémond's would be next and jousting in the afternoon.>Learn more about your opponents, send Ancel to learn.>Train a bit on a quintaine with your horse, you perhaps have become rusty.>Speak with one or many of your opponents. >Other (write in)ROLL 3d16 PLEASE, it will be your opponents, if you roll a 4 (So the number of Charles) the man who has rolled it can choose an opponent from the list because Fortuna smiled upon him. Hai hai !>Other (write in)
Rolled 12, 16, 3 = 31 (3d16)>>6341931>>Train a bit on a quintaine with your horse, you perhaps have become rusty.It would be wise to warm up.
>>6342025>Griller Boomersson>Dame Karen AllseeingHa! An old man and a woman. Not prestiious but easy wins.Sir Abov AverageHmm...>Learn more about your opponents, send Ancel to learn.Ancel, study that last one.
>>6342155Oops, I should have tagged this with my vote, too.>>6341931
Rolled 15, 3, 12 = 30 (3d16)>>6341931>>Train a bit on a quintaine with your horse, you perhaps have become rusty.
