Feudal Quest

That's sort of what I'm arguing. If your going to make him super-special that way, have him actually fit, or explain why he's not. *shrugs*

 

Dominic doesn't even have a set description of his appearance yet. Obviously he's not actually Dominic, but a changling that is glamoured to make everyone around him think he's the legit lord. The thing we're playing ate the real Dominic (possibly by mistake, possibly because he just wanted to try being a human lord). That explains everything; he only has the skills the real Dominic had, and some innate magics, but he's got 3 actions because he's really a monster.

 

[X] A permanent +Charm buff (10-12 actions, includes Flesh Sorcery 3)

 

Buffing the hell out of his Stats

At 3/3/3/3 Dominic is flat out a pro at anything he turns his hand to. Literaly he can learn the basics of any skill and so a professional job of it (4 stat)

 

I'm more wondering why he didn't have higher levels in a few things, or more skills to start off with. For that matter, why all three of his sorcery affinities were only ranked at 1. He couldn't find time to increase at least one to 2?

 

ShaperV gave us a character with solid basics and tons of potential.

Dont get greedy people

 

Although I feel differently when new skills are introduced that would fit into Dominic's background without him getting them (like administration) - this is correct. Dominic is already great, let's not get greedy here.


@ShaperV: How many soldiers can Biaslis train at once, would bringing Corzu 1st and 2nd foot plus garrison to discipline 2 be doable in 3 turns (as 3/4 are missing) or would it need more?

[X]permanent cosmetic alterations
But this works well with [X] A permanent +Body buff (9-10 actions, includes Flesh Sorcery 3) , so that works as a prerequisite, I guess.

Edit: stupid [ x ]...

 

Sorry, long-standing issue with me.

But my point remains: if he's so talented, has such potential, and is so naturally competent, what's he been doing with that?

Any, grumbling done.

 

The paths of magical learning is fairly important as it will ostensibly give us our first potent Sorcerous tool, and as we say “when we have a hammer all we see are nails”, so it will probably shape how we organize our next few plots. Keeping this in mind, here is how I see the different options will influence our actions:

[ ] A force-based melee buff (5-6 actions, includes Force Sorcery 2)
This is the option that doesn't truly change anything, it's a “Dithering', 'On the path to something else' option. It basically opens up the road for a whole slew of different Force options, but it doesn't truly change Dominic's current tools. As such, it's the option to take if we are not looking toward commiting ourself to long training times.

[ ] A special sensory ability to buff social actions (1-4 actions)
[ ] A temporary vision/hearing buff (2-6 actions)
Those are similar- they give a greater flexibility and ability overall, but aren't game changers, and unlike the previous options they do not even increase a sorcery level and thus open up large tree paths.

[ ] A fire/force 'balls of heat' effect for letting large groups travel during winter. (12-16 actions, includes Fire & Force Sorcery 2)
This is probably the most heavy investment of time, putting not only 8 or so actions to take us to Force/Fire2, but also needing 4-8 actions of research on top of that. As such, it's not realistically possible this winter as discounting adventuring, it will take us five months of doing nothing else to achieve it.

What it gives, however, is strategic capabilities. Training this now means that Dominic will be ready to wage war next year's winter. As it is a consequent investment of time, it means that Dominic will /want/ to wage war next year's winter.

This is the spell to research if we want a Dominic that is going to push for a bigger Corzu soon and take advantages of assassins or other political tools to create excuses for wars.

However, we must keep in mind that this is a flashy option- if we use that capability we can't hide our being a sorcerer, and it WILL attract witch hunters.

[ ] A powerful fire/force combo attack spell (9-10 actions, includes Fire & Force Sorcery 2)
This, and the next options, are all spells that are both game-changers but also mostly need to increase our sorcery levels to learn (so the investment of time is not as big as it seems, comparatively).

This spell greatly improves Dominic's tactical abilities. It is mostly used for adventures, where it leaves open the choice of “kill them all” to Dominic. He will almost always have that option open to him while adventuring from now on, which will open many adventures that would otherwise be closed (Black Beast of the wood, possibly some of Gavrilla's incoming ones).

Even when it comes to our Family, showing them this capability means they need to take our Sorcerous ability seriously. In that case, it will be a “I have power” statement.

Like the previous spell, this is a flashy one. However, it's somewhat easier to hide if we mostly use it while adventuring with people we trust. It's also less disturbing than strategic-scale spell for superstitious people.

Anti-arrow shield(Force):
Mobility enhancement(Force and/or Body):
Force fire sword(Force/Fire):
Tactical flesh buffs(Flesh):

Those are all Tactical fighting considerations that could probably be gotten quickly after raising our ranks. I am grouping them because none are as significant as a potent Fire/Force ranged spell, but all of them are around the same kind of benefits, and gives the same kind of drawbacks.

Those would all be useful to know when we begin having heavy combats, but are less of a considering beforehand.

[ ] A permanent +Charm buff (10-12 actions, includes Flesh Sorcery 3)
[ ] A permanent +Body buff (9-10 actions, includes Flesh Sorcery 3)
I am merging those two options because once we have the one we can have the other quickly, and because they are both similar in that all they give is a static boost point. Very powerful, but it's less changing our abilities than stacking them.

Cosmetic Alteration(Flesh):
This one differs from the +Charm Buff as it is less about being more handsome/pretty, and more about quickly changing how we look. As such, it will probably take a bit more time to learn in order to enact quick change.

This one also brings a game changer to the table, as it means we can quickly look like someone else in the middle of a diplomatic encounter in order to get access to locked-out part; We can impersonate people in order to give false orders, or we can simply make sure we are not identified so that we don't need to give up on adventures when they become politically dangerous.

It also has the superior advantage of not being flashy if played well. No one but our most trusted need to learn about this, and it's relfected on how we use it: this ability will lead to intrigue-heavy Dominic, focusing on the social manipulations and spy work.

[ ] A permanent strength/stamina buff for horses (10 actions, includes Flesh Sorcery 3)
This one is a 'less flashy' strategic application of magic. It will greatly increase our strategic abilities, and possibly even bring about the path of being a famous horse breeders that is much sought after (lots of political gain there) without much risk.

Given the minimal investment of time (Flesh 3 is 8 actions), it's well worth it.

Basic magical husbandry(Flesh):
This is a deeper focus on “increasing our people's power”, where “people” means anything we own, beginning from animals and including our bastards. It is a long term investment where we slowly bring up the power of our troop, slowly tinker with them if we can or simply create a better next generation.

Investing in those abilities probably means a Dominic that plays the long game, who becomes famous for his beautiful horses and fierce falcons publicly; Who tinkers with his refugees from the vampire holds secretly, who makes sure to have as many bastards as possible, hoping for them to be as powerful as possible.

This one isn't about the short-term gain of a powerful ability, but about beginning a path of research and growth that needs political care to be loved and intrigue care so that no one knows about the flesh magic.

As such, here are my choices:
[X]Basical Magical Husbandry
Because I want to play the long game, and the long game must be begun from the start. Accepting the magical refugees was a good first step, and I want to be ready by the time they come. OTOH, I think we need Flesh 3 to really begin this one, not Flesh 2.

Once we'll have a solid grounding there, I will want “Cosmetic Alterations(Flesh disguises)”. From then on, i'll probably try to focus on actual combat abilities. Sadly, the 'balls of heat' are probably not something to get before we truly want to wage war.

 

[X]Basical Magical Husbandry

 

Looks like Basic Magical Husbandry is in the lead.

Ok, just a couple more issues with orders and we can get this turn going:

Construction
Kat is going to argue passionately that it makes no sense to take her off of construction duty to go wandering around Corzu doing a survey you won't be able to act on until spring anyway. She's getting worried about finishing the keep before winter, and she can easily keep the project going through harvest season by using some garrison troops as labor.

Will you let her have her way, or insist that she stop work on the keep to go do the survey of Corzu?

Ezti
The wording of the proposed order doesn't match your previous discussions, so I want to be clear about your goal here. Do you want to arrange for Ezti and Boris to meet while your brother is visiting, so you can try to get them together? Or do you want to keep them from meeting, and plan to visit Ezti after he leaves?

 

If she actually prefers to keep working with the Garrison, by all mean let her.
EDIT: She is probably right anyway, if she thinks it's possible to finish it before winter if she gives it her all.

We want to arrange Ezti and Boris to meet while he is visiting so we can try to get them together. Not sure why i used that wording, probably because i meant in my head "we can't see her before we have a group meet with Boris" and i derped.

 

[X] Cosmetic Alteration

Maybe too late to sway Dominic, but he should be aware how poor his prioritization is regardless. Cosmetic Alteration gives Dominic and incredibly powerful and variable tool for social and political interaction and adventures. Like Arkeus pointed out, that's something that could fundamentally change the way we play by broadening the options available to us. That's a good thing, being more capable is a good thing.

Obviously I think that magical husbandry is a useful and valuable thing to learn that could have just as much of an impact on Dominic's abilities, but only in the long term. I think most people would like to have both of these abilities, I know I do. What is most efficient is to learn the one with the stronger immediate benefits and then learn the one with the long-term benefits while benefitting from all of those amazing benefits conferred by the first ability.

Edit: Thought that just came to me. If you want more strategic value out of cosmetic alteration than being able to go on adventures with fewer consequences, consider that we're marrying to a family known for intrigue. Ideally we'll have access to spies, and spies could benefit hugely from being able to change their faces. Not so much for identification, there aren't cameras in this setting. However, giving a spy the face of a specific person could ease the infiltration of social events, keeps, private offices, etc.

Edit2: Another thing to consider is Dominic's esteem in the family. Actually pulling off the appearance changing magic he mentioned to his aunt would likely impress the hell out of her and shift her opinion away from "Oh how cute, he's an overambitious kid" to "Oh, he's a serious magical prodigy". Magically healthy livestock doesn't quite compare.

 

This was a tough turn to plan, since there were several important points of disagreement. For his magical research goal, Dominic ultimately goes with:

New Research Goal Adopted: Basic Cosmetic Alterations
Get Flesh Sorcery 3, then spend a few actions working out how to use it to do basic cosmetic changes.

This was chosen because all of the front-running options included Flesh Sorcery 3, and at least two of them (+Charm and quick cosmetic changes) would have had basic cosmetic changes as a prerequisite anyway. Once you've finished this you'll be in a better position to estimate how long the various flesh sorcery options will take, not to mention having the main prerequisite for all of them satisfied.

For turn orders, Dominic chooses:

Dominic
[X] Magical Research
[X] Magical Research
[X] Teach Dita Diplomacy

Dita
[X] Research: Illusions/Stealth light magic
[X] Train: Diplomacy (with Dominic)

Kat
[X] Continue construction. Add the cellar repairs to the work queue.
- Use garrison troops for labor since the labor tax isn't available

Jaroslaw
[X] Assist Bialis with training the troops

Traian
[X] Collect the Harvest Tax

Minor Actions
[X] Approve Bialas' request to fund equipment upgrades for the troops after harvest
[X] Put off the meeting with Ezti a bit until you can arrange to introduce her to Boris while he's in Corzu
[X] Write our sisters with greetings and news of the Keep
[X] Observe your mistresses, and talk with them and others. Make sure that no conflicts are brewing like they did early this year, or that you getting married won't cause any problems to pop up. Try and do it as subtly as possible.
[X] Talk to Dita about what she plans on doing after rescuing and redeeming/purifying Tavi.

Note that many of the proposed orders were related to magical research, and the one about writing your father was dropped because it wouldn't have accomplished anything (your father doesn't really know your childhood friends, and will get annoyed if you repeatedly write him for help recruiting people).

 

Results, September Year 1

Update - October 1, Year 1​

Dominic - Magical Research x2
You improve your Flesh Sorcery by two steps, putting your progress at 3/9.

Dominic - Teach Dita Diplomacy
Dita - Train: Diplomacy (with Dominic)
This goes surprisingly well considering what a hoyden Dita can be. It turns out she can be surprisingly charming when she actually tries, and with practice her childhood training with her mother begins to come back to her. You gain +1/9, and Dita actually improves to Diplomacy 1 [+1/4].

Dita - Research: Illusions/Stealth light magic
At this point Dita has worked out how to make an object appear to be a different color for a few minutes at a time. She hopes to turn this into an effective camoflage technique, but it's apparently going to take more work.

Katiana - Continue construction. Add the cellar repairs to the work queue.
Kat finishes her staff, completes the repair of the cellars under Corzu (see added map in Lore post), and makes good progress on the keep. The workmen are a bit nervous about the fact that she now has some kind of minor earth spirit helping her on a regular basis, but the work is definitely proceeding faster than before. At this point Kat hopes to finish the renovation sometime in mid-November.

Jaroslaw - Assist Bialis with training the troops
Done.

Traian - Collect the Harvest Tax
A steady stream of wagons loaded with grain has begun arriving at Corzu Keep, and stores in the granary are rising rapidly. But Traian looks like he's ready to tear his hair out on those rare occasions when he's actually in the keep and not off supervising, and you gather he's fighting with all sorts of organizational problems. Well, he's a smart guy, he'll probably work it out.

Military Report
Both the 1st and 2nd Corzu Foot did Discipline training this month, getting them halfway to Discipline 2. Road patrols had no encounters of note.

Order: Approve Bialas' request to fund equipment upgrades for the troops after harvest
Done.

Order: Put off the meeting with Ezti a bit until you can arrange to introduce her to Boris while he's in Corzu
Done. Boris arrives near the end of the month with several letters for you (see news items below). Unfortunately he brings along his band of 30-odd companions, so the manor will be more crowded than ever. Ezti is due to arrive in a few days, and then you can try your hand at playing matchmaker. Meanwhile, it's good to see your big brother again.

Order: Write our sisters with greetings and news of the Keep
Done. You'll probably hear back next turn.

Order: Make sure your mistresses are happy
Both girls are a bit unhappy that you won't let them get pregnant. They're very intimidated by Zarana and her coterie, and are afraid that once you marry her you won't have any use for them anymore. Having your children would at least reassure them that you'll continue to take care of them even if you're too busy with your hot wife and her kinky minions to have time for boring village girls.

Order: Talk to Dita about what she plans on doing after rescuing and redeeming/purifying Tavi
Travel the world righting wrongs and fighting evil together? Probably working with the Chosen, of course. Maybe they can find some interesting heroes to hang out with, or join the Pharaoh's crusade down in Africa for a few years.

News: Chosen Activity
Emma visits once to get her armor repaired and heal up for a few days, since she managed to get two fingers bitten off. She gets falling-down drunk on her first night in the castle, and you find her stagering along the parapet singing foreign songs and cursing in three languages. You were getting ready to deliver a blistering lecture, but when she caught sight of you she immediately burst into tears and started drunkenly rambling about a cellar full of kids she couldn't save in time...

After that Emma is pretty embarassed around you, and spends the rest of her 3-day visit mostly with Dita.

News: New Adventures
You receive a letter from Aunt Gavrilla detailing several new adventure leads (see 'Menace in Verzi', 'The Howling Peak' and 'The Silent Stalker'). None of these are critical issues, but a favorable resolution to any of them would be good for the family.

News: Family Intrigue
Your father, grandfather and Gavrilla had a family planning conference in Zarand last month, and made several decisions about future alliances. Your proposal to marry Zarana to secure an alliance with Balzar has been approved, and your father plans to meet with Baron Balzar (who happens to be in the capital) this month to negotiate the details.

Meanwhile, everyone is surprised and encouraged by the fact that Chesna has somehow managed to catch the eye of Girgo Czene, the heir of the Czene family. He's 22 and has been resisting marriage in favor of the decadent persuits the Czenes are generally known for, but apparently Chesna's open-minded attitude and vast tracts of land have changed his mind. It now looks like there's a real chance of convincing the Czenes to cement a marriage alliance, which would be well worth the price of eventually losing Pischia.

Finally, the idea of having Boris marry Ezti has been discussed and is generally considered promising. Boris has already met Baron Hatvan's daughter and isn't terribly impressed with her, so he's interested in meeting this 'badass country babe' you've discovered.

News - Local Events
You receive a brief but polite letter from Baron Rogatica thanking you for your timely information, and assuring you that the beastman problem has been dealt with by his rangers.

 

Ah, the "I want a baby" deal. Sends even big, brave men into a tizzy. *laughs*

Anyway, on the news front: if Chesna actually marries Girgo and forges an alliance between the two families, that's a huge benefit for the family. And if we can get Ezti and Boris together, we end up replacing Pischia with another Barony. We may well also get Rupea to throw in with us, due to being surrounded on all sides by us or our allies. Which gives us a nice solid power-block.

As the adventure's: while my preference would be "The Howling Peak" and "The Silent Stalker", I think "Menace in Verzi" would be better. It is Dita's fief, after all, heir or not. Wonder if Emma would like to come with?

Of course, if we could deal with all three in Winter, that'd be excellent. If we take Dita along, it'd hopefully make the family more inclined to be lenient/helpful. However, that's unlikely, considering the distance's involved.

Also, with the "Menace in Verzi", we could start looking for clues for who might have been a witness if Dita's dad really did finish the paperwork.

 

Mmmh, a couple of questions for Kat.

It seems she has experience with aquatic spirits. Would she have any knowledge on how to lure out a aquatic monster? I guess she can't just dance for it....

While it could be tempting to use Kat as bait for 'The silent Stalker', it is somewhat dangerous at least until Dita has some invisibility ability that she can use to hide or some such.

Seems like "The Howling Peak" could be quite doable as long as we have Dita and a bag of rope with us. We sadly won't have access to things like a Force Jump for a while (it would be ideal there), but it shouldn't be impossible as is. Given the location, it's probably one we want to do when we go visit our grandfather.

 

Well, our brother is here.
Quick hide Katiana, she seems to be is his type (a very good opportunity for us to state our claim, that we agree with her offer).

On the other hand, our mistresses situation seems to be a problem into brewing.

To me, the little troublemaker is Aldona, so we should deal with her first.

Aldona - Age 15
• Body 0, Mind 2, Soul 1 Charm 2
• Seduction 2

Her seduction is better than our own or Dita's.

we should use her to train our own and Dita's (making her somewhat useful and less prone to create problems), after, we probably will have to have her train some useful skills like reading and writing, administration and diplomacy, so she can function as our secretary

For Mira, I propose that we have her practice her household skills, her seduction and dance, so she can help maintain our wardrobe and have something to do to help our cause.

Mira - Age 15
• Body 0, Mind 1, Soul 2 Charm 2
• Seduction 1

 

I suggest we add the following to the building que

* Tower Loft: With a Temple to Thoth

 

Actually, have we mentioned to Kita we want the Tower Loft? If not, should probably mention that.

Now, on a completely different topic: should we talk to Dita about the potential plans with cooked up and/or the possibility her dad completed the paperwork? Or should we wait until we raise our Diplomacy and/or get confirmation that the paperwork was done?

 

I don't believe we confirmed said "Yes do it"

 

Well we probably won't have time to attend to any of those adventure leads until winter, but it seems likely only the Zarand one will be gone by then. Heh, pretty amusing seeing the transformation of Traian, but surely he couldn't have expected a quiet life reading books when we mentioned we were going out into the boonies? Also did Dragos manage to get anything done this turn or was he still organizing stuff? Finally checking the front page the stats of our mistresses are actually pretty decent.

Anyway for a plan I'd suggest something along the lines of

Major actions
Dominic
1) Magical Research
2) Magical Research
3) Dealing with the visitors

Dita
1) Research: Camouflage technique
2) Train Woodscraft 3/4

Kat
1) Repair the Keep

Jaroslaw
1) Assist Bialis with training the troops

Minor Actions
1) Experiment with giving your mistresses (especially Aldona) a bit more responsibility, perhaps they could be useful for greater things in the future.
2) Talk with Dragos to see if he has any suggestions about longer term developments to Corzu.

 

Major actions
Dominic
1) Host you guests, play matchmaker between Boris and Ezti
2) Magical Research
3) Magical Research

Dita
1) Research: Camouflage technique
2) Train Woodscraft 3/4

Kat
1) Repair the Keep. If haven't already, make her aware we want the Tower Loft, and apologize for not informing her sooner.

Jaroslaw
1) Assist Bialis with training the troops

Minor Actions
1) Talk with Dragos to see if he has any suggestions about longer term developments to Corzu.
2) Tell Boris about The Hand in Piscia, and our worries that it could hurt the family if it became known they had a base in one of our Baronnies. It is especially troubling when considering that Chesna is now courting the Czene heir.
3) Make sure to always have a word for Dita when she goes too far, she must make sure not to look too alien. Likewise, try to push her to meet Boris' men and socialize with soldiers a bit. She want to become a Hero after all.
4) Try not to get so drunk we go on a panty raid in Piscia.
5) See about getting a helper monkey for Traian and a Blacksmith.

Anyway, I was thinking: with a high enough Flesh sorcery, would we be able to create a "Death Touch"? So, say we have a meeting with Baron Rogatica, and then a month later he dies in his sleep due to a time-bomb we installed in his heart/intestines/brain/whatever.

 

Given Boris is stated to be very much a skilled warrior

Perhaps training Tactics with Boris (and Dita) would be a smart use of time.

 

Not sure he'll be around long enough.

He is, I'll change my vote.

 

It might be wise to put two actions aside for entertaining Boris and Ezti, or at least keep in mind that events may snowball to make it so. They shouldn't, but it's possible.

For minor actions, we should share what we've learned about the Hand and Nikolai's suspicious activity with Boris. He can pass it up the chain of authority to our father.

We should probably talk with Boris extensively, really. He's probably got advice to give on being a ruler, military organization and logistics, hell maybe even women. Big brothers love giving advice on topics they think they can embarrass their siblings with. Maybe it wont be good advice, but it should be amusing. We should also spar! I bet Ezti would love an informal fighting tournament.

Edit: Asking Boris to personally overlook anyone's training might be a bit rude. Asking if his retinue wouldn't mind showing the garrison a thing or two on the other hand.... But really, this is basically a vacation for him, or should have at least the pretense of being one unless he indicates otherwise. This is good practice for hosting lordly parties, let's take it seriously.

 

Let's also keep him away from our women staying with us.

 

To those freaking out about Aldona having a higher Seduction score, she doesn't. Her's: Charm 2 + Seduction 2 = 4. Dominic's: Charm 4 + Seduction 1 = 5. We are still the superior lover.

 

Who's freaking out? I know I'm personally amused, but acting out as if it's blow to the ego. Someone more skilled at us? Oh, the shame!

Though now I'm wondering what you could do with Charm 5+Seduction 5.

 

Make a god long for your touch, I'd bet.