Week 1: March 20th - 27th

Insert text here.

Javan will do his interview with the mites, get Hub access and visit as many elemental temples and participate in as many trials as possible. Earth, Dark, Life, Fire and Water temples in this order, or whatever is closer from the Hubs first.

He's also probably going alone, so he's going to take some extra steps before resting each day to make sure he's not surprised during his sleep, multiple simple sound trap and the like.

I think we should post these in the New Adventure thread. We are in the OOC thread right now. I made one post especially for this.

Uh, no need to make this more complicated than it needs? Arch can always clean stuff up if he wants later

Well, Arch will decide. I think you can move posts if need be (very vague memory of doing it).

I'm gonna use this thread to tell you what I'm doing and get double-checked by you guys.
Nevermind, I guess this thread counts as both.

Week 1:

Migration
Pay the Blackbrine people and have the correspondence sent to the Olthoi, who will write to Osteth. Load essentials and foodstuffs(with a surplus for emergencies or last-minute changed minds), and begin talks with the bureaucracy in charge of the blockade. Prior to the agreed-upon departure time, will oversee the migrating peoples' packing for 2 days before the boarding day. The sign-in info ledger will be presented in the blockade bureaucracy with a +10 estimate for people changing their mind at the last minute. Should be enough to satisfy them. All up to the Blackbrine fleet at that point.

Martial training. Same-old, keeping peace.

Mite Interview: Somewhere in there.

Raid!
Gather info on criminal groups in and around Holtburg. 5th day, plan a raid on one of these groups. 6th day, do the raid with combat able-and-ready people. Take their stuff, overwhelm resistance and leave the surrendering people gagged and bound to be found and dealt with by the law. You bet I'll be there. Loot them for equipment. Weapons, armor, anything useful. Possibly recruit?

Roleplay at mid-week to end: drinking buddy
Rory's taken to imbibing drink at the end of each day. It needs to stop before it becomes a wreckless habit.

Your actions seem okay to me.

I'm not sure I'm the best person to roleplay with Rory considering we already did so. I'll wait to see if anyone else will participate before make any decision.

I'll be happy to RP with you Rory. But how about we all do it? It's been a long time since our characters just hanged out and I don't think we've ever done it all at once. The rest of you down?

@Zeiss The GM told us to use this thread Zeiss.

@Rory Great ideas Rory. We'll definitely put that equipment to good use.

@Arch How many weeks do we have to work with?

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I will arrange an interview with Marleth of Thunderbeard to see about getting an insight into the various Lords' fighting styles. I'd like an idea of who they are and how they think before I meet them. I'm hoping to use that understanding as an advantage in any future negotiations/fights. I'll purchase all of her various journals and read as many as possible before the meeting.

Next, I need to know who is currently in charge of Holtburg and who is backing them. To that end, I'll work with Zeiss on getting our spy ring set up and getting this information as soon as possible. We are going to need this kind of info if we are going to successfully target allies for our coup without taking a time wasting shotgun approach.

If we get that info before the end of the week I'll have Kolson work with Zeiss and the spies to start building our alliances. I'm hoping to target ambitious and foolhardy idiots that will be easy to manipulate (like the fops Zeiss has already found), but I'd also like to start laying the groundwork for winning the support of some legit folks like Fairn of Feathermoon or Cyndra of Sunreaver if possible.

Finally, I'll have a talk with Rory about his drinking habits before he implodes under the weight of alcoholism.

Furture Goals and Actions:

1. Before pulling the final trigger on the coup I want to travel to Glenden Wood to see Fahran of Silentblade. I'd like to take the measure of the man and see if he might not be a good ally for the future. I'm thinking if we want the coup to stick we'll need someone's support and he strikes me as the most ambitious of the Lords. I'm hoping to use that as a path to legitimacy and I'm prepared to support his ambitions to do so so long as he is willing to help the refugees or is at least willing to not get in the way of us doing so.

2. I also hope that Lefftenant and his boss go for the nonaggression agreement. If they show up and are interested, I'll definitely make time to discuss that with them assuming I'm in town.

3. I need to follow up with Country Rider about that bandit job. I'll do that first thing as soon as I can travel again.

Main objective. It has no "end", so my time shouldn't be exclusively devoted to it:

• Find allies for the Exchange. If Qui-Gon can be trusted with the Hub passage, I will grant him the right and he will help me in this  endeavour. The people and organizations we will approach are the ones who could help the Exchange establish itself as the sole Bloc in Dereth, starting all around Aluvia. Without telling them, we will also determine who could contribute in a coup in Holtburg.
  

Secondary main objectives:

• Establish a spy network in Holtburg. Use the 20 men Gretta has sent to do so. Gretta's people will not be part of the spy network: they will only help me find suitable recruits who I will coordinate myself.
  
• Find operatives (see https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4pdKgiss7uFN2ZaS2p3MEhFblU/edit ) for the Holtburg and Glenden Woods regions. Zeiss will handpick them himself. An operative pretty much act as a Spymaster, but for a given region. Zeiss will be the true Spymaster. Of course, since I'm not planning to give my operatives the Hub passage, I will recruit them in their respective region.
  
• Convince the Bloc in Glenden Wood to merge with the Exchange, under Zeiss' leadership. If there is no Hub, I will establish an Exchange post in Glenden Wood.
  
• Oversee the Exchange's activities.
  

Tertiary objectives. These small tasks are loose ends that need tying up.

• Interview the three employees who were said to be trustworthy enough to be granted the Hub passage. They will transport cargo through the Hub and hand it over to our other employees on the other side.
  
• I'll send Biggs and Wedge to Janwall to command the people left there, if there are any. One of them will act as the commander while the other will be his second-in-command, the enforcer. If we have no people there anymore, Biggs and Wedge have the task to set up an Exchange post and oversee the reconstruction of the town while we find funding to allow that.
  
• Have Mevrak join our spy network.
  
• Convince the caravans' guard to turncoat their current company for the right price while making sure they're not going to put our organization at risk.
  
• Continue selling the food we have (Van now has two people to help him with that).
  
• Find a job for that informant I interviewed (the Embezzler) in the PTC.
  
• Pay our employees. Last time we paid them was the 14th of March if my file is right. We also can use the money we got from selling our food to do that (we made 842gp of profit last time Van told us about it, which was a few days ago).
  

44 days... so 6 weeks.

Well, things haven't changed for me since last time i stated my goals. Make our way to Tufa, ask the Mites to get the interviews done, get Moogled over to Holtburg.

For more than that, i kinda need specifics.

Essoje wrote:Javan will do his interview with the mites, get Hub access and visit as many elemental temples and participate in as many trials as possible. Earth, Dark, Life, Fire and Water temples in this order, or whatever is closer from the Hubs first.

He's also probably going alone, so he's going to take some extra steps before resting each day to make sure he's not surprised during his sleep, multiple simple sound trap and the like.

Based on Javan's personality as the GM understands it, and the time constraints, he will have time to visit 2 of the Temples (even with hub access... the Temples aren't really close to Hubs) within the week. He will most likely succeed at Earth, Dark, and maybe Life. He will very likely fail at Fire and Water.

Rory wrote:I'm gonna use this thread to tell you what I'm doing and get double-checked by you guys.
Nevermind, I guess this thread counts as both.

Week 1:

Migration
Pay the Blackbrine people and have the correspondence sent to the Olthoi, who will write to Osteth. Load essentials and foodstuffs(with a surplus for emergencies or last-minute changed minds), and begin talks with the bureaucracy in charge of the blockade. Prior to the agreed-upon departure time, will oversee the migrating peoples' packing for 2 days before the boarding day. The sign-in info ledger will be presented in the blockade bureaucracy with a +10 estimate for people changing their mind at the last minute. Should be enough to satisfy them. All up to the Blackbrine fleet at that point.

Martial training. Same-old, keeping peace.

Mite Interview: Somewhere in there.

Raid!
Gather info on criminal groups in and around Holtburg. 5th day, plan a raid on one of these groups. 6th day, do the raid with combat able-and-ready people. Take their stuff, overwhelm resistance and leave the surrendering people gagged and bound to be found and dealt with by the law. You bet I'll be there. Loot them for equipment. Weapons, armor, anything useful. Possibly recruit?

Roleplay at mid-week to end: drinking buddy
Rory's taken to imbibing drink at the end of each day. It needs to stop before it becomes a reckless habit.

Love to see the roleplay, if anyone wants to post it elsewhere. On to actions; the Blackbrine accounts are settled and the people shipped off on their ships, hoping for the new life that'll await them in about a week when they arrive at their destination... barring any horrible encounters at sea of course.

Rory nearly fails the Mite interview given his rather violent nature, something the Mites are against, but is able to roll well enough to bypass their suspicions. They inform him that he is on their 'watch' list though, IE if he is found to be unacceptable to their mindset his access (and Zeiss') will be revoked.

Rory learns of a small bandit group that keeps themselves in the area south of Holtburg, near Blackrust. The raid goes disastrously... several of Rory's people are wounded, one dies. Rory himself is the only reason his side 'wins' in the end. They manage to confiscate some bronze weaponry and a large supply of rations.

Kolson Wezrae wrote:
I will arrange an interview with Marleth of Thunderbeard to see about getting an insight into the various Lords' fighting styles. I'd like an idea of who they are and how they think before I meet them. I'm hoping to use that understanding as an advantage in any future negotiations/fights. I'll purchase all of her various journals and read as many as possible before the meeting.

Next, I need to know who is currently in charge of Holtburg and who is backing them. To that end, I'll work with Zeiss on getting our spy ring set up and getting this information as soon as possible. We are going to need this kind of info if we are going to successfully target allies for our coup without taking a time wasting shotgun approach.

If we get that info before the end of the week I'll have Kolson work with Zeiss and the spies to start building our alliances. I'm hoping to target ambitious and foolhardy idiots that will be easy to manipulate (like the fops Zeiss has already found), but I'd also like to start laying the groundwork for winning the support of some legit folks like Fairn of Feathermoon or Cyndra of Sunreaver if possible.

Finally, I'll have a talk with Rory about his drinking habits before he implodes under the weight of alcoholism.

Furture Goals and Actions:

1. Before pulling the final trigger on the coup I want to travel to Glenden Wood to see Fahran of Silentblade. I'd like to take the measure of the man and see if he might not be a good ally for the future. I'm thinking if we want the coup to stick we'll need someone's support and he strikes me as the most ambitious of the Lords. I'm hoping to use that as a path to legitimacy and I'm prepared to support his ambitions to do so so long as he is willing to help the refugees or is at least willing to not get in the way of us doing so.

2. I also hope that Lefftenant and his boss go for the nonaggression agreement. If they show up and are interested, I'll definitely make time to discuss that with them assuming I'm in town.

3. I need to follow up with Country Rider about that bandit job. I'll do that first thing as soon as I can travel again.

Fahran of Silentblade seems to favor specialized forces rather than large troops or swarms of armies. He spends more time and money on training than any of the other Lords, resulting in an overall smaller force that is far better equipped and trained. His troops see near constant rotation into the Dires post of Fort Tethanya.
Dorin of Songblade believes primarily in shock tactics, using brutality and severity to crush resistance as quickly as possible in order to minimize losses and potential difficulties with logistics and morale.
Raene of Shadowforge has spent most of her career fighting bandits, on the sea as well as on land, and arguably has the largest water-based naval force under her. She's known for being black and white in warfare; she is willing to be diplomatic right up until you cross a line, at which point she shows no mercy.
Aayndia of Floralwind is cautious and believes in preparation, no doubt why she was given the Lordship of Lytlethorpe and the unpleasant job of staring at the Dryreach Zone. She uses tiers of forces, with defenders in front, followed by pikemen, then ranged, then long ranged, then artillery. She never does any military maneuver without full support, including airships or sea warships.

Thanks to some good rolls Kolson's... 'spies' determine that a former General Dwarven woman, Myra of Hammersmith, is the new Lord of Holtburg, having been elected there by the usual method; a vote from the other Lords. Kolson recognizes the name, as she's fairly well known for undergoing long campaigns in the wilder regions, near Crater and the Dires.

Fahran of Silentblade is tremendously busy for uncertain reasons but Kolson manages to bribe his way into an appointment next week (1g down).

The Lefftenant takes the overture of non-aggression to his superior, but you don't hear back from him all week.

Zeiss of Dreamkeeper wrote:Main objective. It has no "end", so my time shouldn't be exclusively devoted to it:

• Find allies for the Exchange. If Qui-Gon can be trusted with the Hub passage, I will grant him the right and he will help me in this  endeavor. The people and organizations we will approach are the ones who could help the Exchange establish itself as the sole Bloc in Dereth, starting all around Aluvia. Without telling them, we will also determine who could contribute in a coup in Holtburg.
  

Secondary main objectives:

• Establish a spy network in Holtburg. Use the 20 men Gretta has sent to do so. Gretta's people will not be part of the spy network: they will only help me find suitable recruits who I will coordinate myself.
  
• Find operatives (see https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4pdKgiss7uFN2ZaS2p3MEhFblU/edit ) for the Holtburg and Glenden Woods regions. Zeiss will handpick them himself. An operative pretty much act as a Spymaster, but for a given region. Zeiss will be the true Spymaster. Of course, since I'm not planning to give my operatives the Hub passage, I will recruit them in their respective region.
  
• Convince the Bloc in Glenden Wood to merge with the Exchange, under Zeiss' leadership. If there is no Hub, I will establish an Exchange post in Glenden Wood.
  
• Oversee the Exchange's activities.
  

Tertiary objectives. These small tasks are loose ends that need tying up.

• Interview the three employees who were said to be trustworthy enough to be granted the Hub passage. They will transport cargo through the Hub and hand it over to our other employees on the other side.
  
• I'll send Biggs and Wedge to Janwall to command the people left there, if there are any. One of them will act as the commander while the other will be his second-in-command, the enforcer. If we have no people there anymore, Biggs and Wedge have the task to set up an Exchange post and oversee the reconstruction of the town while we find funding to allow that.
  
• Have Mevrak join our spy network.
  
• Convince the caravans' guard to turncoat their current company for the right price while making sure they're not going to put our organization at risk.
  
• Continue selling the food we have (Van now has two people to help him with that).
  
• Find a job for that informant I interviewed (the Embezzler) in the PTC.
  
• Pay our employees. Last time we paid them was the 14th of March if my file is right. We also can use the money we got from selling our food to do that (we made 842gp of profit last time Van told us about it, which was a few days ago).
  

Between Kolson and Zeiss, a small spy 'network' is established for the group. At this stage it mostly consists of listening in on conversations and greasing palms here and there, and costs about 12g to operate for this week.

Jinn is a good enough liar to pass the Hub interview, and goes about trying to gather allies. Based on Zeiss' direction he focuses his efforts in the Aluvian region, and manages to convince 5 Names-Aren't-Important wealthy individuals to pledge themselves and their companies to the cause of the Exchange provided they get the following; free usage of the Exchange's services for transit to avoid tariffs, taxes, and banned goods, as well as support for them politically should the need come to be.

Zeiss learns in short order that the Naverre Raiders are in fact in charge in the Glenden Wood area. He's heard of these people before, supposedly they were the largest Bloc around and based in Yaraq. For them to have spread their influence this far and fast is noteworthy.

Janwall has been... well not 'completely' abandoned. The Aluvians who were there trying to rebuild it are gone, your own people are gone, but the refugees have stayed to live amongst the rubble and there's a large Order presence there now trying to provide relief and support to the refugees. If questioned the Order will freely admit they are going to rebuild Janwall themselves, and establish it as an Order city and haven for those suffering from the war.

Zeiss has no trouble convincing several caravan troops to betray their company as long as he's willing to pay upfront (100g total for 5 total platoons).

The shifting winds have made the profit from this week's food sales go up, to 916g total. That's net profit, not gross.

The GM is having trouble finding his notes on how much is owed on payroll. More on that soon.

K wrote:Well, things haven't changed for me since last time i stated my goals. Make our way to Tufa, ask the Mites to get the interviews done, get Moogled over to Holtburg.

For more than that, i kinda need specifics.

Higaide spends the entire week traveling. By the end of the week he will be arriving at the outskirts of Tufa, which is under blockade at the moment; the city has not fallen, but is totally surrounded and under siege by Aluvian forces.

I had 842gp of net profit last week for the food. Is this new number (916) added to the one I had previously, or did you just add 74gp?

When you get the number for how much my employees need to be paid for, could you tell us for which period it is? Thank you.

Let's make this simple.

The amount of gold you have earned this week AFTER paying everything payroll wise (NOT counting the cost of the spy network and bribes) is 680g.

Yeah, much simpler. I'll leave the employees payroll to you.

Did we make any net profit for the previous week (March 12th - 19th)? I know we hadn't paid our employees for that period yet.

I'll subtract the spy network and bribes cost once my excel sheet is in order.

Suddenly, Zeiss loses all his gold!

But seriously it's all been tabulated. Stop asking lol.

I'm... i'm gonna have to take some time to formulate an estimation on just how screwed i am.

You're good K.

Also Kolson, I think you have a good shot at making the Lord of Glenden Wood an ally. We would need one if we are to put the Naverre Raiders out of my city.

The weapons are of at least passable quality. Maybe we could find someone who wants them in exchange for metal to work, which we could give to smiths with an order to fill? I wonder, do we have any smiths among the refugees who stayed? This we could use to our advantage. Humans did crafting the old-fashioned way on Vesayen, and if you don't have training making stuff magically, that's one less use the Aluvian government/military had for the refugee problem. This will require we have equipment needed for smithing. We are not likely to find such equipment readily available or popular. Perhaps in a museum?

Post raid, day 7: It seems we have our first casualty. Next-of-kin will be notified. If any of said next-of kin-took the charter, the person's name will be recorded as the first on a list of deceased. Their belongings will be stored to be later passed along.

Quick note: The complete ledger of peoples' names and info will go with the charter, a copy per ship. Final destinations/fates of people who took the charter will be recorded on a separate ledger to be exchanged by a Blackbrine contact at the payment rendezvous(a Hub city). I intend to use that ledger for obvious reasons.

Hey Arch, kind of forgot about telling you this because of the drama I caused, but can we say that the letter I gave back to Huldar was a forgery I made and I actually kept the true letter?

Hmmmm. Alright, I'll allow the Forgery roll.

New roleplay thread is up.

Arch, there woudln't happen to be any smiths in the veil, would there? Proper old-fashioned smiths. And is there anywhere we could buy smithing equipment? For heating and cooling, could we use black mages?

After a roll I've decided that exactly 3 smiths stayed behind and didn't head off with the other refugees. 2 Humans, 1 Mosswart.

More post-raid stuff: Also day 7: find out what got that one soldier killed and a dozen wounded, and adjust accordingly(could be as simple as "we get better). Those who were wounded will be healed via magic. Handwave all this if you like.

Couple things we could do with these weapons. First, we will switch to the better quality, and let's assume we have practice weapons. We'll keep inferior ranged weaponry if we didn't have any to practice with before. Also, martial training never included specialization or ranged practice. I will fix that starting the following week.

Money: sell inferior quality as-is, removing any distinguishing marks or 'calling cards' etched into them. Second, and less traceable, melt them down and sell the materials. Either way, Gretta's people will handle the fencing.

Practice: dull the sharp edges on any of the weapons. I imagine we got ranged weaponry as well? Additionally(and probably happening anyway), set up wooden targets for archery practice.

Nevermind all that. I know what I'll do.