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Post by Fuzz on Jul 11, 2017 23:55:53 GMT -5
The Baron had his meeting with you lot, and a slight recess was called. To summarize the details:- The Baron was initially excited at the prospect of a campaign against Saderia and the Kaiser come spring in 3 months, and had planned around industrial support for himself and Hollentor to guarantee victory
- The Kaiser's men turned on their Einstadt escorts while riding East out of Bruchenende. A large army of Saderian troops, counting at least 5,000 troops was apparently already camped on the Stargfelsene border, and has begun marching West, to the capital. They will arrive in 6 Days. (IG, not RL)
- Hollentor has only 50 men in their contingent, including their Champions, and their Baron wants to immediately ride north, back to his home, after being informed that the Totfrundian army was similarly camped on their border, and is now also moving to invade.
- Due to the failure to unravel the conspiracy plotline, the Baron refuses to let Wolfy leave his side and refuses to abandon the Keep.
- Stargfelsen has roughly 500 troops stationed in and around the keep.
- There are roughly 10,000 civilians in the city proper, with another 20,000 spread around the entirety of the barony.
You are now presented with two possible choices:- Stand and defend Stargfelsen Keep from the siege of the Saderian Army
- Flee the barony with whichever NPCs you care to muster with you
In the first case, it will be far more dangerous but the rewards would also be greater if you succeed. If you fail, however, permadeath for some members of your party will unquestionably happen, as well as possible inventory and monetary losses for the survivors, as they're ransomed back to freedom. Multiple NPCs would undoubtedly die, as well, if that's a thing you care about.
The second option is the safer of the two, but obviously would not have as many rewards. The number of other characters (NPCs) you choose to rescue and bring along with you (excluding Nasib) will dictate how difficult you escape will be. If you choose this option, Stargfelsen WILL fall to the Kaiser, as will Hollentor, most likely.
Regardless of your choice, you have 48 RL hours to discuss (ICly and OOCly) what you all want to do. You do not have to reach consensus, however if you split up and try both options, your chances of success with either will go down because of lack of manpower. Think outside the box and decide what you want to do, and how.
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sparky
Chesterfields
Wishing Well Repair Man
Posts: 243
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Post by sparky on Jul 12, 2017 0:20:11 GMT -5
*Carter walks into the Gryphon, at first heading up for his room, but then veering off for the bar, setting a silver bar on the counter and telling the tender to give him a double of whatever's going, before heading to where the rest of the party ends up converging. Taking a long pull from his drink, he gives his head a shake, before speaking*
"Like I said at the jousting pitch- Situation's pretty fucked. No way I'd be able t' mass produce enough guns to help them... but Auto Crossbows... Maybe... In any case, that's if I'm stayin' t' help. But... Ainnae fully decided on that. Could help a bit by just leavin' me smithin' notes behind, still have most o' me others back in Calidor, and have these near memorized."
*he look to Kitara* "Now, I ainnae about t' forget me promise t' help ye. I'll nay go back on it. Whatever ye choose t' do, I'll stand b'hind it, and follow ye. If ye, Frazer and I work t'gether on gettin' these folks prepped, get 'em trained, we might be able t' slip off b'fore they get here. But, I can already guess ye'll nay want t' do that. Dinnae think any o' us really want t'."
*he looks to Allison, Sarah, and Doc in turn* "We Chesters ainnae soldiers. Might have once been," *he looks to Doc, giving a nod* "But not for these lands, or for these people. But we did get hired t' protect th' Baron and his family. And I've a feelin' that if there is a spy, they're here in Stargfelsen, and will take th' chance t' strike at Leopold or Wolfy durin' th' fight. Be up to ye's on whether ye's feel ye's be obligated t' stay on that account or not. There ainnae no shame in sayin' no. In fact, I'd wager there'd be more honour in helpin' Kitara. Far more, and we owe more t' her than we ever will t' th' Baron. And Kitara," *he'd turn to face the Templar woman* "If ye did choose t' stay, there be a chance we could use this as more leverage t' help find your daughter, with a more consistent search in Hellwyn proposed by th' Baron on Cassia. But, it ainnae a sure thing."
*he takes another sip, refreshing his throat from his long ramble, before speaking up again*
"I know, ye's are gettin' tired o' hearin' from me, for now. Short o' it is, on my part- Kitara, ye stay, or go, I'm with ye. Every step o' th' way. In my books, it be your choice. Gave me word t' ye, and I'll nay break it. So, we go about it how ye feel best." *he takes a seat, taking another sip of his drink and getting a smoke lit* "Oh, and I think I roughly paid for half th' booze in here. So, get yourselves a round b'fore off duty lads come in."
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Post by leroybrown on Jul 12, 2017 1:47:08 GMT -5
Sarah sat off towards the corner, nursing a bottle of something distilled and formerly grain. The stress of the trip seems to have taken its toll on her, as evidenced by her sunken posture and fatigued demeanor. Golden-olive eyes scanned off at seemingly nothing, though they seemed focused on something. "My training won't help much, when it comes to war," she sips, her voice much gentler than baseline, "but I also don't like the idea of running now. I'll go with the majority here, but I'm at a loss for ideas." A longer pull from the bottle, her brows knitting together at some thought. "My mother is a doctor, I am basically a doctor at this point - we can help keep the wounded in action. I can see what we can find for dried herbs and other ingredients, if even just to stockpile simple concoctions like reds and greens for combat. Can set up a field hospital, to work on minimizing casualties. Doubt I can find any glands for frost resistance potions..." She trails off a moment, somewhat dazed. "Just an offer, and a shot in the dark, but I feel that is where my skills would be best used, if we were to fight this."
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Post by Kitsunenotsume on Jul 12, 2017 2:24:37 GMT -5
((Given that I've been without internet for 7 days, get back, and discover 2 hours into the deadline that I need to reply to an ultimatum with a high chance of PC permadeath when I won't even be able to get actually informed about how the hell we ended up in these situations for another 18 of the 24 hours thanks to work and sleep, I am not left feeling particularly inclined to want to participate in this event chain at all if the standard resolution to an elongated plot-line is to kick the PC decisions down the stairs and demand an answer to a complicated question at the bottom. Given that we have not even settled on which damn *day* we have having the next event on, I for one find this effective 6 hour RP time-bomb to be heavily unsatisfactorily, and while I understand the desire to get the whole thing over and done with, would appreciate if we could settle on Thursday for the event and extend the deadline for a decision until that evening.))
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Post by modular on Jul 12, 2017 6:54:06 GMT -5
OOC: I can only speak for myself, but a lot of how thinhs have been presented have made me want to abandon any involvement whatsoever. One of the options presented by two players, said out of the box, wasn't even listed. There is an arbitrary feeling to the permadeatg warning that feels exactly like throwing a d6, and it feels disingenuous to be told we failed to investigate a thread when, aside from the choice to investigate vargenburg, and splitting for Kitara's sub-plot, we had little agency about what threads we followed. Often we simply logged being told what was set up and what we were doing.
I'm really not comfortable moving forward, especially after being chastised Icky for having weeks to solve the case - it hasn't felt like we've had that much time, much less a sense of the passage of time IG.
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Post by drunkensolamnic on Jul 12, 2017 11:09:53 GMT -5
Kitara looks at the others before taking a deep breath. When she speaks, she speaks very firmly despite obviously having thoughts come together only as they are spoken. Her anger and frustration with the entire trip and the events to have occurred during it clearly still bubbling below the surface.
"Kaiser Gustav has murdered zousands in the past. Men and women, vho's only fault vas being kept unarmed by Gustav and unable to fight back against armies moving across zhe lands of their lords. Ve have a chance here, to save zousands more in Hollentor and Stargfelsen from a similar fate. To break ze Kaiser's power once and for all. I've often been of a mind to have a desire for ze Kingdom to rise to power, but I have seen more and more zat ze harder it clings to ze old ways, the more doomed it will become, and doomed it is vith a murderous bastard like Gustav, at its helm. Ve have a chance here, to give ze Kingdom a hard shove towards finding ze proper balance between ze veakness of tradition and corruption of advancement; ze strength of old ethos and ze security of a modern army."
She grimaces.
"And if anyvon needs a more personal reason; if ve ride now... Volfgang vill hang next to his father, and I've seen too many boys in trees on zis trip to vant zat on my conscious. If ve ride, hundreds of ozer young men, boys.. vill dangle next to Volfgang. I say ve stand and ve fight, and do zis proper. Ze only vay ve vin is if ze peasants stand viz us, if ze men put down zeir tools of trade and take up ze tools of var to stand by ze soldiers and zeir Baron. Zeir Baron vho vants all ze benefits for himself of ze new vays, but has yet to indicate zat he is villing to give any of ze benefits to ze peoples in his lands."
"I say ve stay, and fight... on condition ze common folk join us, and zat ze common folk join us only on condition of ze law of ze land being revritten to protect zem from furzer abuses like zey suffered in Vardenburg. If ve are going to risks our lives, it should be to make a major change for ze better in zis region.. not determine vhich asshole lord gets to pick vho lives and dies because zey veren't born to von of five or six families."
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fen
Chesterfields
Morbo finds steampunk quaint
Posts: 56
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Post by fen on Jul 12, 2017 19:53:15 GMT -5
Allison stays silent for awhile, listening to the others as she sips some cider. Finally, she speaks.
"I want to say 'This isn't our business'. We aren't soldiers, as Carter noted. My gut tells me we should get th' hell out while we still can. In th' end, we're outnumbered, by a lot. We've got technology, a defensible position, and potentially a roused and defiant populace."
She exhales after taking a sip, "...I'm willing to take those odds. Make some shooters. I'm willin' to show them how they work. If we can get some maps, I'd also like to see if we can't lay some traps or see if there's some environmental hazards on the road from Bruchenende can leverage to our advantage. It probably won't be too elaborate, but I don't see a reason t' give them an easy walk here if we can elp it.
"I also agree with Kitara's proposal - people are going to lay their lives down for th' Baron. They deserve somethin' in return."
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Post by drunkensolamnic on Jul 13, 2017 9:53:06 GMT -5
Kitara, James, Allison, Carter, and Sarah meet discussing their options. The decision is made to try to prepare to defend the castle, delaying any decision to run until they've at least tried to rally the the barony and improve the odds of the defense. They develop a multi part plan, with different members heading up different approaches.
Kitara - Will attempt to rally the common people to assist in the defense and then spend her time working to create more weapons with Carter/James/NPCs, occasionally practicing alongside any volunteers for morale purposes (as per James demand).
Emmanuel - Will attempt to locate the conspirators while assisting Allison with crossbow training for volunteers.
Carter - Will work to manufacture as many crank-bows as possible, while also attempting to following up on locating the conspirator.
James - Will work to manufacture explosives/weapons, and direct soldiers/volunteers to make a few improvements to the castle's defenses. He'll also investigate the plausibility of rigging the river-ice to blow.
Allison - Will drill soldiers and volunteers in how to use the new crossbows.
Sarah - Will drill volunteers in assisting in the medic role and getting the injured off the walls for treatment and return to combat.
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Post by modular on Jul 13, 2017 10:11:25 GMT -5
In order to maximize efficiency, set those soldiers not being uptrained on the crossbows to teaching weapons handling to select militia candidates. Rotate the soldiers through training with expedition personnel. Prepare briefings on technology and ordnance so they aren't taken by shock and awe when deployment begins.
We also need commoner work crews making the ground impassable, gathering lumber and firewood, and hunting parties to provision whatever can be gathered at the last moments.
Spears from lumber can be rudely begun and finished with capped heads if we are going to train volunteers.
We also need outriders to get out before the siege begins - compel the Baron to offer the same benefits to those who join his cause - we need at least one capable leader out there to try to rally a carrying force.
Consider deploying fake mine fields - dug up trenches and spots that will cause them to avoid certain approaches, and raise fear in their forces.
Key to preparing volunteers is getting basic responses ingrained. To respond to orders in a timely fashion. How to form up, deploy spear ranks, move from one location to the other. Set up "sergeants" to begin this training and reinforce their ranks.
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Post by ronan on Jul 13, 2017 11:03:47 GMT -5
Grayson would, after letting the others all say their peace and mulling over his own thoughts in silence, let his say be known.
I am glad you all feel as I do. This is no longer simply a case of the Baron standing against the Kaiser for independence, it has become a matter of life and death for all those who settle upon the Baron's lands. If we were to flee instead of stand in those peoples aid, then we would ALL have an ocean of innocent blood upon our hands, for we would be condemning the innocent and defenseless to certain death.
It is a noble sentiment to seek to enact change upon this lands laws, though I might suggest seeking to gain any such concessions not only from the Baron, but also from the Duke. While his influence in Stargfelson is small, in the brief time I have seen him and conversed with his son, I have become convinced that his son is a most honorable fellow and that the apple does not fall far from the tree, so to speak. If the Kaiser is, eventually, deposed, the Duke shall replace him in secession, and his influence will grow tenfold.
As to the defense, I know not what technological marvels or tactics you all can muster for such a situation. I know what you are all capable of, and that the ingenuity and resourcefulness of those gathered in this room now stand to turn the fate of an entire nation. I will stand beside whatever you choose to do, and do so with faith and without hesitation.
I think Allison is correct, whatever we can do to hamper the Kaiser's forces before they arrive will be of great benefit to the defense here. I think, perhaps, if such traps are decided upon, it should be considered that they be designed to hamper carts and wagons, and wound, but not kill, horses and men. This is going to be a conflict of wills as much as it is going to be a conflict of arms. Without horses and carts, a marching army will have no supplies, and without the morale to fight they will be that much more tempted to cut and run here.
I have forty-four incendiaries and three-hundred and seventy-five units of oil at your disposal. The most productive idea I can think of to propose to you is to see if we have the resources and time to construct more catapults or reinforce and flame-proof those the Baron already has. If we scatter marks about the field surrounding the keep for range, someone with a scope could call out to the crews to more accurately fire, and we could lob oil and flames down upon the army as it mills about below?
As to the civilians. . . Nasib should certainly flee with Kitara and Sarah's mothers, and keep the ambassador's safe from harm. If the Kaiser's army is defeated, and he can rally another one, then the Baron will be in need of any support the ambassador's can wrangle out of their respective nations. I understand the need for asking for volunteers to stand with us, and equipping and training them, but perhaps some plan can be set in place to evacuate the elderly, the infirm, the pregnant and the young? We must spare as much innocent blood as possible, my vows and my morals demand it.
I also have near to fifty first aid kits, if those are needed elsewhere. Aside from those, the oil and the grenades, all of which are at your disposal, I have only myself, my armor, and my steed.
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sparky
Chesterfields
Wishing Well Repair Man
Posts: 243
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Post by sparky on Jul 13, 2017 12:46:44 GMT -5
*Carter lights up a smoke, taking a puff*
"Grayson, we'll have far more use o' ye standin' guard over th' Baron, until th' conspirators be found. Until then, stay at his side, watch who he speaks with, and take note o' where they go, if ye can. Other than that, do all ye can t' keep him and Wolfy safe. As for myself, I see two way how I'd be useful, aside from th' whole crank-bow assembly. One be sittin' on sniper duty with Doc durin' th' fight. Th' other we workin' with some forces down in th' city t' harass th' Kaiser's troops with a small squad, and try and lead them int' traps down there. Both have their pros and cons, some more than others. But those be the only two ways I see me bein' useful when th' fightin' breaks out. Now, we'll also have t' make sure we've got th' rest o' our plans t'gether.. And get letters written up for loved ones, and give 'em t' Nasib. As much as I'd hate t' admit it... But it be quite likely that some o' us willnae be comin' back from this fight. Do your best, and if it comes down t' it, try nay t' fall with th' keep, aye?"
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Post by drunkensolamnic on Jul 13, 2017 15:42:02 GMT -5
Kitara wakes up early before dawn the next morning after a restless night and goes to seek Ser Nasib and Ser Friedrich. Once locating them she closes the door behind her and looks to the senior knights. She takes one long deep breath before saying simply, "Sers, I'm.... utterly terrified.. and I need to know I'm doing ze right zing staying to fight. I need to know, zat if I go and try to vhip up ze common people to fight in ze Baron's behalf.. zat I'm not committing some horrendous sin." She looks between them. "Ze two of you, ze Order.. is ze closest I have to family now... to advise me, I need to hear your words on zis matter."
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Post by Fuzz on Jul 13, 2017 16:00:38 GMT -5
Kitara wakes up early before dawn the next morning after a restless night and goes to seek Ser Nasib and Ser Friedrich. Once locating them she closes the door behind her and looks to the senior knights. She takes one long deep breath before saying simply, "Sers, I'm.... utterly terrified.. and I need to know I'm doing ze right zing staying to fight. I need to know, zat if I go and try to vhip up ze common people to fight in ze Baron's behalf.. zat I'm not committing some horrendous sin." She looks between them. "Ze two of you, ze Order.. is ze closest I have to family now... to advise me, I need to hear your words on zis matter." Nasib: "You have a valid and optimistic stance, and the Barony would do well to revise its social structures to also reflect modern ideals, however..." he looks to Friedrich, "I feel that, when faced with the Kaiser's well trained soldiers, a great many of these civilians would perish, even with some armaments and a few days' worth of training." Friedrich: "I'd have to agree... then again, if they volunteer, then so be it. It cannot hurt to offer them the chance to defend their home, but I think it'd only be fair to appraise them of the reality of their choice... that a great deal of them would most likely die. As it is, some of the Barons' own soldiers are getting nervous knowing that they might die, and they've trained and prepare for that eventuality. The Saderian army, despite losing to Ur decades ago, is still quite well armed and well trained by the standards of this realm... besieging castles is still a thing that is trained for around here." Nasib: "I would seek council with Grayson, if you need another opinion. This trip has been a trying one, especially for you, but ultimately he is the commanding Templar for the purposes of this expedition, as Edhart could not complete the journey. This is his Trial, perhaps he has his own ideas?"
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Post by drunkensolamnic on Jul 13, 2017 16:32:53 GMT -5
Kitara nods, considering there words. "Zank you Sers, I vill speak to him."
Going in search of Grayson's bedroom she pauses a moment contemplating what she's about to do, "I'm going to ask a man zat's had his brains blended and vho zinks zat learning how to fight before fighting is a vaste of time.. if I'm doing ze right zing to ask men vho dont know how to fight, to fight zose zat do." deciding it sounds just as ludicrous when she says it outloud as it does in her head. Having nothing to lose she bangs on the door to wake him.
"Grayson, I'm having second thoughts of if I'm doing the right thing.. both staying and fighting.. and asking common people to do what is terrifying me.. and I'm told has the professional soldiers balking."
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Post by ronan on Jul 13, 2017 17:55:03 GMT -5
Grayson would open the door at Kitara's knock, still fully armored and looking to have slept very little. He would politely offer her a seat in the sole chair in the inn's room, and listen to what she had to say.
At first he would simply nod, taking a moment in thought before he responds. "I feel much the same, Kitara. I have sworn, however, to defend those I perceive as innocent from those who would harm or oppress them, and so I... feel obligated to do what I may here, especially since I provided the excuse the Kaiser needed." He would hang his head a moment at that, dark circles about his eyes a testament to the veracity of his own recent doubts. "I think, should we do nothing, a great many would come to harm before this conflict is resolved. So long as they know the full extent of what they shall likely face. . . any who are willing should be given the chance to defend their homes and their families. There is no shame on those who think they are better protecting themselves or their families by fleeing. That is out of hands and on the Baron's and the Kaiser's head now. All we can do now is fight for the people, and end this as quickly as possible.
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