Departure
Sunset finds your father still hard at work in his study. He looks up at your knock, setting aside what looks to be an inventory of the siege stores at one of the border castles.
"You wanted to see me, father?"
He nods. "Pull up a chair, son. I hear you're leaving in the morning?"
"Yes. I want to make sure I have time to get my feet under me and deal with any urgent problems the fief might have before I need to collect taxes," you explain.
You're reminded of the years your father spent tutoring you in the arts of nobility. Many times he's handed you some problem off his desk and asked you how you'd fix it. But this is the last time you'll have him at hand to critique your ideas and offer advice. Corzu is your responsibility now, and in just a few weeks you'll have to handle it on your own.
"That's probably for the best," he agrees. "But there are a few things I want to make sure you're aware of before you leave. You remember how to claim a land?"
You've had this one down since you were twelve. "Visit each settlement, announce my lordship and make sure they publicly acknowledge it. Walk each border with my neighbor on the other side, and agree on where the boundaries are. Set a marker stone at each corner, anointed with a few drops of my blood, then do the ritual of claiming at whatever spot I'm going to use as a throne room. I'm hardly going to forget something so simple, father."
Every competent lord knows at least that little bit of regency magic. It helps to cement your legitimacy in the eyes of your people, and some lords claim it gives them a bit of extra vitality when they're on their own land. Not that anyone talks about such things often. It sounds too much like magic, and nobles practicing magic would be scandalous.
"You'd be surprised how many young lords get the order wrong," your father replies. "But I suppose you have a talent for that kind of thing. Be sure to check the land for Haunts before you do the last step, though. You don't want to claim some corrupted patch of land by mistake."
"Now I'm sure you can handle running a minor estate, but there are some political issues I wanted to make sure you're aware of. I'm sure you know that the King's health is declining, and his heir is only five. What you may not realize is that the House of Lords may not be able to agree on a regent when the time comes."
That is not good news. The King is in his sixties, and he's been senile for some years. No one knows how long he's likely to live - he might hang on for a decade, or he could fall down the stairs and break his neck tomorrow. When that happens the crown will pass to his one living grandson, but the boy is obviously too young to rule in his own right. You'd assumed that there would be a political fight to name a regent for him, but if the House of Lords can't agree…
That could mean a civil war.
Your own family leads one of the kingdom's three major factions, while your rivals the Dardais lead the other. The Czenes, who control the kingdom's third duchy, lead a distinctly smaller faction that usually acts as a swing vote. But they could easily see a war between the Dardais and the Petrans as an opportunity, and there are a lot of unaligned barons who might agree.
"I see you understand," your father continues. "Hopefully we'll find a peaceful resolution before the time comes, but a wise man prepares for the worst. I need to you keep an eye out for ways to serve the family interest while you're off in Corzu. The Baronies of Kiscun and Rogatica are both aligned, and Baron Rogatica seems to have some sway with the other backwoods baronies. We don't have a lot of contact with any of them, so take advantage of being neighbors."
You frown. "Wait, doesn't Corzu border on Pischia? Uncle Pavel has held that land since before I was born. Hasn't he been doing this already?"
"My brother is not a particularly diplomatic man. He makes a lot more enemies than friends, so we try to keep him away from the diplomacy. Besides, he's been away on that damned crusade in Anatolia for most of the last six years, and it's hard to make allies by writing letters. Last I heard he hasn't even found a husband for that daughter of his."
"I see. Well, I can certainly make the rounds and get the lay of the land. Am I supposed to be shopping for a wife?" As a second son you've always hoped to have the luxury of marrying for personal reasons, but if the situation in the kingdom is looking that unstable you'll probably be needed for an alliance.
"I'd advise you to keep your eyes open and explore your options. Your Aunt Gavrilla is planning to make a circuit of the kingdom next year scouting out alliance possibilities, so don't be surprised if she drops by to talk up the merits of some influential baron's daughters at some point. If you want to make your own choice you might want to get her on your side before she starts proposing alliance plans to the Duke."
Yeah, that's a good idea. Your grandfather is a serious hardass, and he's not going to be impressed by anything that looks like an attempt to get out of doing your duty to the family. If you ever want to inherit one of the baronies you're going to have to step up and come up with something that's advantageous to the family in the next year or so, or else you could easily end up getting trapped into whatever alliance your nutty aunt wants to arrange.
"Well, thanks for the warning, I suppose. Anything else I should know?"
"I think that covers it. Take care of yourself, son."
--oOoOo--
The journey to Corzu is relatively uneventful, as a large party of armed men isn't an appealing target for bandits or beastmen. The cold weather makes for some miserable nights when you can't find an inn and have to camp instead, but it's nothing you haven't dealt with before.
The trip is a bit of an eye-opener in other ways, though. You've been to the family estate in the capital a few times, but that trip was along a royal highway through the richest part of the Kingdom. Now you're passing through poor country, and it's a very different experience. The baronies of Rupia and Kiscun don't seem to have paved roads or bridges, just ferries at the larger rivers. Inns are few and far between, and the service and food are both poor. The travelers you meet are mostly itinerant peddlers, minstrels, and the occasional teamster delivering a load of goods to some local bannerette.
Eventually you cross into Pischia, and locate a ferry across the Sava river into Corzu. It isn't much of a ferry, just a raft manned by a couple of peasants with poles, and it takes two hours to ferry your party across. That puts you in Igal, the smaller of the two villages marked on your map of Corzu. It's a run-down cluster of huts surrounding an overgrazed village green, with a few larger farmhouses dotting the surrounding fields.
From there the dirt track crosses half the length of Corzu to reach Tamasi, your other village. This is a considerably larger and more prosperous village, with several docks along the waterfront and a paved village square surrounded by the shops of various craftsmen. You stay overnight at a relatively comfortable inn, and the next morning make your way down another dirt track that should lead to your new castle.
Well, calling it a castle would be overly generous. Four hours later the trail passes through a little farming hamlet, and ends at Corzu Keep. It appears that this was originally a simple stone keep, maybe 40' square and four storeys high, but at some point someone built a modest fortified manor house next to it and put up a 15' curtain wall surrounding the ground between the two structures.
As a fortification it's a bit weak, but it would be adequate for your needs if not for a few… problems.
You notice as you approach that the fields surrounding the keep haven't been cleared properly in years, and are badly overgrown with underbrush and small trees. An attacking force could sneak right up to the walls with ease, and the fact that the moat is half collapsed and mostly dry means it wouldn't be much of an obstacle.
The outer gates seem solid, but the old caretaker who eventually answers your pounding turns out to be the only staff in residence. Apparently Pavel never saw fit to station anyone here while he was responsible for administering the territory, so the manor has been gathering dust for more than a decade. The ground floor is in reasonable shape, but the upper floor obviously hasn't been cleaned in years and there are several spots where the ceiling has leaked and rot has set in.
Sandu, the caretaker, is old enough that he has trouble getting up and down the stairs, and apparently hasn't been up them in a long time. He seems mortified by the condition of the place, but pleads that he wasn't notified that you were coming and that 'Nicolai' never answered any of his requests for funds to hire a maid staff.
But the worst of it is the keep. Apparently the roof was set on fire by a lightning strike several years ago, and with no one in residence most of the upper floors burned. Fortunately the fire didn't spread to the manor house, but with all the damage from flame, smoke and water it's pretty much unusable. To your eye it looks like the stonework is still sound, but repairing the damage and making it habitable again would require a major renovation.
Now what?
Turn Results
You have arrived in Corzu.
You have gained a new retainer: Traian the Accountant
Note: Status posts are now up to date.
