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Author Topic: (SG) The Redleaf Epic (Formerly Widow: A Duchess Scorned)  (Read 61314 times)

Weirdsound

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #90 on: April 04, 2016, 05:01:36 am »

2334th Year of Man, 4th Month, 18th Day:

"Yes, Joy, its a fine treaty," you answer you daughter carefully, "the three of you did a good job looking out for everybody's interests, but I think the countess and I are going to need to have a private chat before I can agree to it."

"I concur," Charlies agrees as she shoots the mayor a nasty glare, "the general idea is fine, but I think I need to iron out a few details with your mother Joy."

Without another word Charlie, who seems to know the layout of Groghall uncannily well, leads you to your own chambers and shuts the door behind you. "Alright, listen Maeris, I'm not going to bullshit you here. My goal is to take back what your family took from us, and perhaps then some, but I have nothing against Sylvester or his legacy outside of that. None of the Kinkaids have any objections to putting the duchy in charge of you or one of your children if you work with us."

"I figured as much," you shrug.

"Listen, all politicking aside, I am fond of your daughter and want what is best for her, but speaking pragmatically, I want as much influence as I can get over her as well." She pauses for a second, as if to choose her next words carefully. "If the two of us work her together, we can get alot more of what we want than if we play tug-o-war with the poor girl's heartstrings, and even if you don't trust me, we are better off competing with each other than we are competing with each other and Redding."

You blink. "What are you getting at Charlie?"

The countess gives one of her bloodthirsty smiles that could put a caiman to shame. "I say we sign the treaty, and then kill Redding. Just convince him to tag along with me, and I'll see he 'falls in battle'. I'm going to be laying siege to Riverland Crossing, dangerous stuff, anything can happen."

"And what of his family?" You ask, fully expecting a satisfactory answer. You can't help but admire Charlie's ability to adapt on the fly. You note that the mayor would likely know the truth of what happened on account of her previously telling him that she was planning to do the same to Dean. Seeing his co-conspirator killed might just put the fear of the gods into him.

"A bit of a Gamble. There is a good chance they don't know the kid is a bastard, so they might still go along under the assumption that their blood flows through the heir. I could even round up a few girls as far along into pregnancy as Joy, and swap her child with a full-blooded human male should something... intresting... pop out of her." The Countess grins again, "And the kid might not even matter, Count Strongcurrent might just swap sides to avenge his son should Redding fall at the hands of somebody loyal to the prince."

"And what of the mayor. He seems like trouble as well. Do we get rid of him too?"

Charlie laughs, and leans against one of your bedposts, "Nah, I've been putting up with his crap since the end of our little skirmish with your husband. He will aggressively act to forward his own interests, but he isn't going to put a knife in anybodies' back so long as I have his children. Hell, if you say we can do business together, I'll even let you hold his leash. What do you say, we got a deal? Sign the treaty and rub out Redding?"

You shoot the countess a glance, "as much as you don't want to hear this, the treaty means nothing without Horton's signature."

The countess rolls her eyes, "Uggg... I can't see him signing a document as favorable to the Kinkaids as what the boys came up with. We sign it, kick the prince's ass, and negotiate with Glen from a position of strength afterward."

This time it is your turn to laugh. "Who said anything about Glen? If we do this, I could get his wife to sign it on behalf of Southjungle County."

"Alright, fine. But we should publicly announce Joy as heir at once, details of her reign and authority pending negotiation with House Horton. Things move quick enough, we could get ol' Ernie to switch sides before he finds out his son is dead." Charlie chuckles as well, and looks you up and down in admiration of your ingenuity, before suddenly becoming dead serious once again. "So do we have a deal?"

You take a deep breath. This one requires some serious consideration. The Countess' plan is decent. Not only does it remove a potential rival, but it also gives you leverage to earn more allies by negotiating a second marriage for Joy. You could even have your father make sure to scrub any incriminating memories of Redding's death while preparing his soul for your use, and keep him as a member of the household afterward - Heck, you could put him in a body with a functioning hand and he could use the bow as a weapon again.

Even taking Redding out of the picture, you are not entirely satisfied with the treaty, but you could easily use Miri Horton to re-negotiate the things you don't like or even delay the ratification of the document indefinitely.

Then again, Redding could still be an asset. Since losing the fingers on his right hand, and with them the ability to work a bow, his has learned earth magic to remain relevant on the battlefield. He is by no means a master of the craft, but more than good enough to be a threat in combat. Although he is uncomfortable leading human troops with 'commoner magic', there are plenty of Orcs and goblins to go around. He is also the person in your household closest to Glen Horton, and could be useful in negotiating with the count.

Glancing around the room, you note two things that could help you negotiate the present situation. The copy of Charlie's letter to Gregory, as transcribed by Wednesday, sits folded on your dresser; Throwing it in the Countess' face could take her out of her game plan. You also note that Wednesday herself has chosen to hide in your room while the meeting takes place, and is lurking in the shadows with a  knife unnoticed by your guest. With a simple signal, you could drastically change the tone of the meeting by having her hold it to Charlie's throat. If you feel like acting in a particularly rash fashion, you could even have the countess killed on the spot.

Duchess Maeris Bonedust Riverland:
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Geopolitical Situation:
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Weirdsound

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #91 on: April 04, 2016, 05:07:39 am »

Question to GM: is there a way to escape the whole thing of the soul going to Tiv after death?

Yes. That effect is through a Hex you control. It can be unwoven easily as long as you have access to the person you want to unweave it on, or one of their belongings or loved ones.

That said, those 'Tiv gets yer soul' hexes count as Curses. This means as long as you keep those curses active (and their victims alive), you can use 3 Blessings from Tiv or any of his minions, and that is on top of the two daddy is giving you. 
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Tomcost

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #92 on: April 04, 2016, 07:08:48 am »

My ideas about this:

-I like the idea of children swap, should this be necessary. We were thinking about this already anyway.
-Having Redding die straight away is bad. If his family has not decided yet about joining us, it will be detrimental to us gaining a new ally. Not to mention the effect on Joy tha Redding's death would have. He is currently one of the most influential persons in convincing her to not go to war while being pregtant. Should she get too reckless and dive in, she could lose her child. If the Strongcurrent may not support us if their son dies, imagine if their future heir dies too? We need Redding to prevent Joy from getting herself or her child killed.
-If the Countess wants to have control over Joy, she can have it even with Redding. We can just use our own means to render him useless.
-We can point out how bad of a negotiator he is so he won't cause many problems. We will keep a close eye on him.

To sum up, I'm reluctant to killing Redding because it would only allienate our potential allies and drive Joy into some battle frenzy that could get either she or her child killed.


Also, after this, we could have a chat with Redding, and throw it on his face how bad of a negotiator he is, scold him bad, and basically make him our apprentice in politics. We have the means to prove all that we say. We may even make him more loyal, even if we don't play the "We own your soul" card.

StrawBarrel

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #93 on: April 04, 2016, 08:18:52 pm »

Tell Charlie we can not agree with the current deal as we will not kill Redding.
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VoidSlayer

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #94 on: April 04, 2016, 08:44:45 pm »

Tell Charlie we can not agree with the current deal as we will not kill Redding.

If Redding dies we could always keep the alliance by offering to marry Joy to a younger member of the same house.

Tomcost

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #95 on: April 04, 2016, 08:51:55 pm »

Problem is: how do we keep Joy in check? If her husband doesn't contain her, she may just die in battle. She is too naive and determined, but she listens to her husband.

We will not always be near her to keep her out of trouble, but it is in Redding's best interests that she survives.

IronyOwl

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #96 on: April 04, 2016, 09:32:23 pm »

I'm getting a lot of big NOPES from all of our options right now.

-Killing Redding is bad. In addition to all of the complications already mentioned, what happens if Joy finds out it was us? What happens if Joy finds out it was us and Charlie? Even if she doesn't, how exactly are we supposed to look at her every day thinking "Wow, sure am glad she trusts us too much to realize we murdered her husband."

-Revealing the letter is bad. Yeah, it'd shock Charlie, let her know we're not to be trifled with, put her off balance. But then what? She realizes we're far too clever to harm and simply works under us as a loyal minion? Or, you know, screams at the mayor for being a jackass and starts using secure communication next time she's plotting the deaths of our children?

-Threatening Charlie is probably bad. She no doubt respects cruelty, cunning, and strength, so we could do to let her know we're not to be trifled with at some point. But revealing the presence of Wednesday to catch her off guard during a private meeting is likely to make her more cautious than impressed; she'll know she can't relax around us and that we have a sniveling kobold ghoul, not that she'd better not do anything we don't like.

-Killing Charlie is apocalyptic. We need the Kinkaids, and this would both throw them into disarray and infuriate them.


Tell Charlie we can not agree with the current deal as we will not kill Redding.
So I say we do this, but we further explain why:

For starters, sometimes three powers is more balanced than two. Also, going from a trio to a duo via murder tends to give membership in the duo some interesting connotations.

Secondly, this is getting a little murderhappy even for us. Remember, the Kinkaids didn't get beaten down by our husband because they were weak or incompetent. They got beaten down because they were terrible people for generations and people finally got tired of it. We're not our husband, but we'd like to lean a little closer to him than the Kinkaids, no offense.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we're not murdering the man our daughter loves because he might convince her to do something we don't like. Charlie should be able to appreciate the sentiment even if she's not fond of this particular implementation.


If Redding dies we could always keep the alliance by offering to marry Joy to a younger member of the same house.
Then what? We just keep cycling through Strongcurrents until we hit one that's not ambitious?

Really, this is one of the main problems with killing people in general: You can't be sure who, if anyone, is going to take their place. In the case of useful people like Charlie, that's unfortunate because their successor might not be as useful. In the case of harmful people like Charlie, that's unfortunate because their successor might not be any better.
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StrawBarrel

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #97 on: April 04, 2016, 10:56:13 pm »

Tell Charlie we can not agree with the current deal as we will not kill Redding.
So I say we do this, but we further explain why:

For starters, sometimes three powers is more balanced than two. Also, going from a trio to a duo via murder tends to give membership in the duo some interesting connotations.

Secondly, this is getting a little murderhappy even for us. Remember, the Kinkaids didn't get beaten down by our husband because they were weak or incompetent. They got beaten down because they were terrible people for generations and people finally got tired of it. We're not our husband, but we'd like to lean a little closer to him than the Kinkaids, no offense.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we're not murdering the man our daughter loves because he might convince her to do something we don't like. Charlie should be able to appreciate the sentiment even if she's not fond of this particular implementation.
Is this enough for an update or should we suggest more actions?
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Nunzillor

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #98 on: April 04, 2016, 11:12:49 pm »

PTW
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Weirdsound

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #99 on: April 05, 2016, 12:26:59 am »

Tell Charlie we can not agree with the current deal as we will not kill Redding.
So I say we do this, but we further explain why:

For starters, sometimes three powers is more balanced than two. Also, going from a trio to a duo via murder tends to give membership in the duo some interesting connotations.

Secondly, this is getting a little murderhappy even for us. Remember, the Kinkaids didn't get beaten down by our husband because they were weak or incompetent. They got beaten down because they were terrible people for generations and people finally got tired of it. We're not our husband, but we'd like to lean a little closer to him than the Kinkaids, no offense.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we're not murdering the man our daughter loves because he might convince her to do something we don't like. Charlie should be able to appreciate the sentiment even if she's not fond of this particular implementation.
Is this enough for an update or should we suggest more actions?

Kinda like a bit more to go on. I'm getting your rational, and what you want to say, but I'd like to see more on how you want to say it.
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Romans

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #100 on: April 05, 2016, 05:38:47 am »

That if Joy were to somehow find out about the plot, both of us would lose control of her. Secondly that while Redding is power hungry we can still bring him into the fold which would be far more effective, murder is the last resort. Especially since he actually has quite a few skills and insights to bring to the table.
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Tomcost

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #101 on: April 05, 2016, 05:47:02 am »

I agree with what was said before. Murdering Redding is detrimental to all of us. We can't do that to Joy, it could end the possibilities of the Strongcurrents aiding us, and generally doens't serve us any good. Not even to Charlie right now.

VoidSlayer

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #102 on: April 05, 2016, 03:01:38 pm »

Oh, don't forget to thank Wendsday afterwards for being prepared and that we now have the means to repair damage to the undead.

Tomcost

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #103 on: April 05, 2016, 03:29:53 pm »

Oh, don't forget to thank Wendsday afterwards for being prepared and that we now have the means to repair damage to the undead.

I'd even pet it, but I really don't know if it will like it.

IronyOwl

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Re: (SG) Widow: A Duchess Scorned
« Reply #104 on: April 05, 2016, 04:01:27 pm »

Kinda like a bit more to go on. I'm getting your rational, and what you want to say, but I'd like to see more on how you want to say it.
This is a good question, actually. Do we want to be forceful or understanding or what?

I'd lean towards basically friendly; she's a bloodthirsty cunt in general, but she is trying to work with us here, we're likely to be allies in the foreseeable future, and she appears to be genuine friends with Joy.


Oh, don't forget to thank Wendsday afterwards for being prepared and that we now have the means to repair damage to the undead.

I'd even pet it, but I really don't know if it will like it.
"Who's a good ghoul? Who's a good ghoul always ready to MURDER?"
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Quote from: Radio Controlled (Discord)
A hand, a hand, my kingdom for a hot hand!
The kitchenette mold free, you move on to the pantry. it's nasty in there. The bacon is grazing on the lettuce. The ham is having an illicit affair with the prime rib, The potatoes see all, know all. A rat in boxer shorts smoking a foul smelling cigar is banging on a cabinet shouting about rent money.
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