GM: Dennis Jordan
Players: Regina Joyner, Karen Twelves, Mia Blankensop, and Sean Nittner
System: Pathfinder
Adventure Path: Kingmaker
There was hardly a stabbing in this game. Well, at least none done by us!
Jubilost’s Trial
Remember that no good Pathfinder-ing spy Jubilost Narthropple who was making maps of Aldoria for some patron in Daggermark? Yeah, we had to eventually give him a trial, and we wanted to be done with it before the Lord Mayor arrived in town. Man, what a farce.
As his crimes were announced and an advocate was called for, none would stand for him. His fate seem sealed until the last moment when an advocate, Chal Fingo from Mulan stepped forward to defend him. Chal’s reputation proceeded him and it was clear that the prosecuting would not best him in combat. We squirmed for a bit, trying to figure out a way to call off the trial, to postpone it, or to substitute advocates, but all of our attempts were in vein. Chal moved through all the preliminary proceedings (which involved all the talking) quickly and in no time the “trial” (duel to the death) was upon us.
Chal killed the man, stepped out of the dueling circle with Jubilost and was met by and elf. Before we could approach them, the three teleported and vanished from our Kingdom. Poof!
In a rage of frustration at how her own laws bound her, Miquela rode a horse hard all day to travel from The Tusk to Ogelton. She told him it wasn’t personal, to follower his swordlord upstairs, and not say a word. At least not until the door was closed. Insert sexual innuendo here.
Merrowyn on the other hand, had been arguing (much to her surprise) the whole time for non-duplicitous solutions to this problem. She wanted to postpone the trial, find a substitute prosecutor, and in fact wanted to step up herself to be the advocate. All of those options were shot down, but the trails outcome just strengthened her resolve. Afterward she cornered her father and told him in no uncertain terms that he was going to train her to be an advocate! (Yay for kingdom turns taking months to justify the training)
Arrival of Lord Mayor Sellemius
Once the nasty bit of that trial was over, the entire city got to work on preparing for a feast. Alerting the Ale House, Bailing out the Barns, Cleaning the Castle, all the way down to Washing the Watchtower!
Merrowyn and Toti along with a small entourage greeted the lord mayor and his assembled nobles. There were emissaries from house Sellemius, house Strozi, house Amato (not a huge surprise as the are supporters of house Sellemius), house Aldori (Miquela’s sisters), and house Sordello! The last was a huge surprise as the Sordellos have been enemies of the Aldori since before their was a Brevoy!
As the entered the throne room, Miquela sat upon the fanciest chair tad could muster and moments before they arrived Stephano barged into the great hall and flopped down at her feet. Nice touch. The official greeting of the lords was very posh.
That evening after the feast came the mingling and the politics. Merrowyn told the lord mayor that she needed 200 men under her, er, to serve under her. She was quickly hushed away but Toti who kept her distracted by asking about her weapons. The Mayor then told Miquela that he had come all this way to tell Aldoria that we were officially being cut off. With the Strozzi’s being so open in their aggression the threat of civil war was looming closer and closer, a war that most of Rostov wasn’t prepared for yet. The mayor’s fear was that continuing to give aid to Aldoria would be the final straw that showed Restov was planning a revolt. So, there’s that.
We did however get the story of Bog and Ioseph, how they were pitted against each other as young men, and when they discovered the duplicity became fast friends, as they have been ever since.
Other things of note
Tad is training with a sword now, investing his time in more martial pursuits and starting to fill out. Also, we’re pretty sure he’s actually Bog’s bastard son. Fun times!
Kingdom Building
After that, we got to some much needed kingdom building. Kasten was pushing for an army. Giovanni for a waterfront, Toti for a cathedral. Yikes! So we started focusing on building up our resources and making sure we had enough food to feed said army.
Turn 15
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Settling Ogelton (what used to be Oleg’s Trading Post) (-26 BP)
Event: Diplomatic envoy from King Sootscale (yeah, king). He wanted to expand to the Gold Mine to the north. We agreed but said he had to make peace with the humans that lived there and let us build a road to the Silvertop Mines. Later we realized he’s up to about 5,000 or so kobolds in his mine. Damn, the breed fast!
Turn 16
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Fisheries Built (-8 BP)
Event: Outstanding success in Ogelton
Turn 17
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Event: Inquisition of Abadar in The Tusk. Zealots are somewhat supressed. Church of Abadar sends a new Inquisitor.
Turn 18
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Event: Inquisition from Gorum in the Tusk. Wondering what is taking so long to erect a shrine. Fought off but land near the waterfront is claimed as the future site of the temple.
Turn 19
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Waterfront built in The Tusk (-90 BP)
Event: Pirates attack. Shut down. Inquisition of Gorum shut down as well.
Turn 20
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Event: Pilgrimage of Abadar comes to The Tusk. The pressure is on.
Turn 21
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Cathedral to Abadar is built in it’s own brand new district! Gold and Slate. GOLD AND SLATE! (-58 BP)
Event: Good Weather
Turn 22
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Temple of Gorum built at the site of the inquisition battle (-16 BP)
Event: Feud – Giovanni and Edward want an Heir. +1 Unrest. Settled because the Swordlord is pregnant!
Turn 23
The kingdom is stable (-1 Unrest)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Expansion into G4 and G3. Fisheries and roads built
Event: Natural Blessing & Beneficial Settlement Event: Swordlord is pregnant (+4 on stability checks until next turn) and Justice prevails (+1 Law, +1 Loyalty, Crime -1, Unrest -1)
(The next two turns completed over email)
Turn 24
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Expansion into B5 and C7. Farms and roads built.
Event: Food Shortage: Spoilage, treachery, or bad luck has caused a food shortage this turn. Consumption increased by 50% next turn.
Turn 25
The kingdom is stable (+1 BP)
Support for House Aldori (-2 BP)
Expansion into E6 (between the mines) and E7 (Nettle’s Crossing). Roads and a quarry built.
Event: Squatters in The Tusk (-1 Fame and Stability, +2 Unrest) and an assassination attempt!
Kingdom Results
The Tusk
Ogelton
First Aldorian Heavy Infantry
Thoughts on this game
Going in reverse order. We were continuing the kingdom turns over email because we didn’t quite get in all the kingdom turns we wanted to do and because we wanted to continue with them through the swordlord’s pregnancy. We were going to do a few more (she should give birth around Turn 27-28) but then the assassination event came up. We’ll see how that goes. The groovy thing is that will give us time to play through a few things that have been brewing:
- Deciding who the Swordlord’s baby daddy is going to be. Stagio if he wants his son, but if he doesn’t it will be someone!
- Visiting Bog to check in on his health.
- Deciding on who will lead an army in Ogelton. A big point of contention with Merrowyn, who still blames Kasten for Marcus dying.
- Commemorating our memorial day (for the peeps that died in the owlbear attack)
- Trying not to be assassinated. Woot!
Very excited about that list. All good roleplaying opportunities for our characters.
Business with Sootscale is going to be interesting, I’m really wondering what will happen when they get too big for their current space. We got another hex that we can offer them, but not sure what will happen after that.
I realize we’ve just about paid back our starting funds (50 BP) to house Aldori now. I’m hoping we can see some development there. Who will take over when Bog dies?
During the party Savia got mysteriously sick just before everyone arrived and then recovered just after they left. Thanks Tad. Also… Tad is scary.
I’m loving that Elara is getting really into being a revolutionary. Wearing a red armband (the sign of the revolution), hanging out with the Strozi, and generally being very open about her allegiances. Excited to see where this goes.
That business with Jubilost was so incredibly frustrating. It seems at every turn outsiders are fucking with us and we don’t even know who they are, let alone how to protect ourselves from them (or better yet, how to fuck with them back). The upshot is the visceral reaction we’re all having to such fuckery is really good for the story. Merrowyn training to become an advocate, Miquela getting pregnant, and Elara going full-fledged revolutionary have all been reactions to the external antagonism.
It’s not really in the Kingdom building domain, but I think (especially given Elara’s new allegiances) that some attacks on Issia would be great. Maybe stealing supplies, cutting off their trade routes, or just otherwise messing with them would be nice. Show that we won’t take this shit lying down. That’s going on my list of shit to do next session!
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