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You go about your business, writing up the short contract. Your writing is cramped and unnatural, and you wisely instruct a guardsman in the contents of the message. Your squire wanders off to ready a cart of food for the brigands.

You speak with Tor, who nods as you explain your plan to have a safe fallback. He describes a copse of trees rolling over two hills, with a game path running between them. You agree that it will make a fine fallback spot, and decide that early afternoon would give you an advantageous position of the sun.

Stepping back in, you tell Curtis that he will be returned along with the guardsman tomorrow. He shakes your proffered hand, seeming to mull over what has gone on. A bit of hope lingers in his eyes.

With your plans in hand, you retire for the night.

--------

The sun is a bit past noon overhead. You have already sent two spearmen along with Curtis and your contract for Ox and his men.  You, Tor, Alan, ten archers and the other three spearmen wait, unmounted, half your forces on each hill. You figure that your man had probably arrived by now. Time seems to crawl.

After what seems to be forever, you hear the crashing of a chase through the bush. You glance forward, and see one of your spearmen, stumbling and wounded, running in your direction. There is no sign of the other. Behind him hulks the largest man you've ever seen, carrying a spiked club. He leads a misfit band of brigands, at least a dozen of which stream out behind him. You see Curtis among them, glaring angrily at your spearman.

You have a choice... you think that your man will be run down before the mob reaches your ambush spot. You can charge out and try and save your man, or you can wait, hoping he reaches the ambush spot. What will you do?

I dabbled with the Brits for a bit, but couldn't get past the Covenanter. That thing was miserable.

Curtis frowns. "M'lord Stone, our leader is a hard man by the name of Ox. And these are hard times. I can't promise your messenger would live, although..." He thinks for a moment. "If I were to accompany him and vouch for him... I believe you could get your message to him safely."

He looks up to you, a flicker of hope in his dull eyes.

Year 2, September

Harvesting begins this month, with most of your resources devoted to the fields. The harvest goes well, with most of the fields producing as well as you expected. Your promise of a tournament next month to celebrate seems to have inspired hard work.

With your health still recovering, you decide to focus mainly on your reading this month. You progress slowly, but feel as if you are still improving. Practice makes perfect, after all.

As you are unable to train yourself this month, you send your squire to work with the militiamen. As this is the first year that you have had a standing militia during harvest time, they seem mostly distracted, and some even sneak away to ensure that their families have all the help they need with the harvest. You decide to go easy on them, but make sure that they return to their duties when you find them.

You continue to send guardsmen through town on watch. All seems well, until you are awoken one night a bit after the guards change over. Apparently, the men on patrol didn't return to the barracks on time. When they were searched for, they were found in a scuffle with some of the brigands. Amazingly, they had managed to drive off several men and capture one, without any casualties of their own.

The night is brisk as you walk to the barracks, where the brigand is held prisoner. What would you like to do?

Roleplaying, go!

Tier 4 tanks in general are relatively painful. The Lee, while difficult to play, is at least better than the Soviet A20 and the British Covenanter, in my experience. And then you get to the Sherman, which is one of my favorites.

Based on the matches I've played, most people generally end up playing mediums, heavies, and tank destroyers. Lights definitely have their place, though, but most of your experience comes from spotting other people for your team, so it seems that many people find that less rewarding than actually damaging the opponents themselves.

Year 2, July

Summer is on your lands. It is very hot this month. Work in the fields is mostly watering and weeding, leaving you basically free to do as you will. You instruct Irlof to work in the market, but trade is slow in the heat, and he doesn't expect much besides local trading. You also tell Wood that he is to construct an obstacle course out at the barracks, and he gets to work.

Armed with the knowledge that the brigands are infringing on your growing town, you set yourself about the task of clearing them out. After some discussions with your squire, you decide to start by finding a veteran to be the captain of your militia and train up some infantry to go along with your bowmen.

You ride to Sir Percival's land to begin your search, asking people you pass what they know of the rugged bandits. The general story seems to be that they keep to themselves, confining their banditry to passing barges and merchants and leaving the people alone outside of the occasional shakedown. Their size seems uncertain. You hear as few as ten, and as many as thirty. The top number would be most troublesome.

As you arrive, you begin riding from town to town, seeking out a skilled warrior. Much to your delight, you almost immediately stumble upon a man with the hard look of a soldier about him working at a local mill. You find out that he was once a soldier, and he is delighted by the opportunity to work under you as your Captain. His name is Tor Bismith, and he is a skilled spear user. After consulting with your squire, you decide that the spear will be an easy weapon to produce and train in given your relative poverty, and decide to take him on. He only asks for a homestead, food, and a small portion of pottery each year. This seems reasonable, so you agree.

The ride back is uneventful, and you spend the rest of the month trying to drum up new recruits for your militia. You tell the people that, if they join the military, their land will be worked by a neighbor, and the neighbor will receive a percent of the profit. The militia and their family will be fed off of the communal plot from now on, you decree. People seem skeptical of this new arrangement, but five new recruits show up to train as spearmen, and five of the archers you had been training decide to come on full-time.

Still, it is a start, and the training begins. You work with the men during the day, playing at the sword and riding with your squire while the new men work with wooden spears and the archers shoot and spar. The obstacle course is run. You feel as if you are getting better with the blade, and you feel well. After a few more weeks, you are much more confident than when you began, and in better shape to boot. The heat of the summer has forged you into a stronger warrior, although you still have far to go to be considered competent.

Year 2, June

June is mild and beautiful. You spend your days lounging on the docks, waving down passing merchant barges and holding long, thoughtful discussions with the captains that land here. They have been taking notice of Feroshire for the last few months, and many of them are impressed. They sample your pottery, and come away impressed. You ask them what you could do to attract more trade, and they mention two things. More goods, and more stability.

Several mention those brigands that are encamped north of you, and that they are generally skeptical of putting ashore so near such unsavory characters. Otherwise, it is simply the paucity of goods you have available for trade at the moment that seems to be holding you back. However, many of the merchants do seem to enjoy your quirky little inn and its well cooked food, which is a plus. As is, several mention that they plan on stopping here in the future, which is encouraging.

You work hard on the communal farm, improving the irrigation canals and further demarcating the plots. It is now very acceptable, and seems to be attracting attention from the parcel farmers, who come to you for ideas and techniques. The fields are flourishing.

On a whim, you decide to cast about your land for some grapes, with the notion of making wine. You've only seen grapes a few times in your life, but you are shocked and pleased to find a few bushes growing naturally across the river in your land. With care and effort, you could easily set up a winery. If you knew someone who knew how to do it.

You ask Irlof about his ship, hoping to get a lead on a shipwright. Unfortunately, he didn't build his ship, but inherited it from his father. However, he tells of a great shipbuilding industry in the Duke's capital (your lord's lord, who you have not yet met). He indicates that would be a good place to look. When you ask him about a still, he notes that you already know the Abbey has them, you just don't have enough money to make them want to sell you one. He also suggests possibly looking in the towns for enough tin, brass, or copper, and someone who could work the metals.

With your increasing literacy, you realize that your lands have a definite boundary, and it may not be wise to have your trappers wandering off your land. You give them a small seal, painstakingly written in your own hand, that indicates they are allowed to take game on your land, and have your steward explain where your land ends. An intelligent move to ward off future ills.

The miner states that setting up the mine would take a good portion of the village's population at the moment, unless you hired a crew. He will continue to survey, and await further orders.

Just thought I'd clarify: this year, you'll start gaining your own personal wealth in October, when you collect taxes. Then you can start buying some stuff, if you'd like... or saving. Your call.