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>>29851238
Veles and his dog have dropped by a few times, ostensibly to maintain the waypoint between here and the nexus, but you suspect it is also due in part to experience Tai's cooking. He reports that the fledgling is doing well, but it will be a while before it can begin to learn to fly. Also appearing on a far more regular schedule are the men and women of the Nitor patrols, usually led by Keel or his sergeant who's name you've yet to learn. It would seem your hospitality is something envied by them and they are more than willing to broach their expense accounts to compensate you for "imposing."

You on the other hand, have kept yourself busy, both in learning the language of the Casimiran, and in deciphering the other books you borrowed from Veles. From what you can gather, you've got a decent grasp on the language, but you have no doubt that you will end up sounding like Veles when he tries to speak yours. You've also pressed a few of the visiting Nitor soldiers on the goings on around the world. The pheonix empire's sabre rattling stances have yet to die down, but the Nitor think it is a ruse for them doing something on their own lands. As for the UFK mainland, the sighting of the so called 'Two-Hands McCain' has caused a slew of bounty hunters to come to the southern continent. More than a few have come to the ranch to look for leads, your foreman has fielded their questions, a point of great amusement to him.

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>>29851245
You head downstairs after taking a moment to practice with your claws and spines, confident you have them under control and giving thanks to the other book Veles gave you on lamia physiology. You still have yet to tackle the venom aspect, but you are confident you at least won't be as clueless as you were when you learned about your other natural defences. On the counter is a small note in McCain's hand detailing his work schedule, apparently he has a fence on the far side of the pasture to mend, and as such will be occupied for some time. You reheat some coffee and find a plate of breakfast warming on the stove. Chiding yourself on sleeping in yet again, you think about what to do for the day.

>Head into town, see about ordering anything (You have 700 isens not tied into maintaining the ranch if nothing goes wrong, so it is your own spending money.)
>Check in with Veles up in the mountains.
>Explore your lands
>Other?

-Bring someone along? (If so specify)

>>29851258
I've not got much I want on my purchasing list, other than idle shopping around, and that can be put off indefinitely until we have something we want to buy.

So, let's tell our hands we'll be heading out, and then explore around some more. I'd like to take Tai along, just so he can look for spices, or give us his read of those wild horses.
Do we have a rough estimate of how much of our land we've surveyed?

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>>29851324
To put it in map terms, you've went about three tiles out in to the east, west and south and know the hemicircle those points make.

>>29851412
well, let's expand the search area around the rivers and hot spring. That's our highest chance of spotting rare animals, and it's much more comfortable for us than searching near the mountains for any kind of ore deposit.
Tai's herb gathering is sort of a wildcard though, who knows where tasty things will grow. We'll just have to hope he spots something.

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Rolled 17

>Explore lands with Tai

You figure it is best to finally getting around to surveying your land a bit more than your cursory patrols, and while you do not relish the idea of exploring the colder highlands near Veles' mountain retreat, the areas around the hotspring you found a while back are comfortably warm. You head out and see Tai watering Greenbriar, Traveller, the other two horses you purchased, and the ones you've yet to decide what to do with after being left here so rudely by the interlopers.

"Tai, you free for some exploring? I want a herbologists eye with me while I explore the springs." you say, slithering up to him.

"No problem Miss Sasha, I'll just get saddled up and..." he falters a moment, "Ah, on foot you mean, yes, I can do that no problem."

You shrug, "If you can keep an eye out for plants on horseback, I have got no problem with that."

"No, no, would not be fair, besides, hopping on and off every time something catches my eye would be tedious."

He runs and grabs a small satchel from out of the bunkhouse and falls in behind you as you make your way to the, now familiar, path to the springs.

Roll a d20 here lower is better.

Rolled 18

>>29851782
>he's not bringing a horse
Fine Tai, but if you wind up riding us because you're so tired, we'll be peeved.

>>29851832
huh, well, what an unfortunate roll.

Rolled 13

>>29851782

Rolled 14

>>29851782
providing roll #3 since no one else is.

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Rolled 11

>13

Your trip out to the hot spring is uneventful, you you do hear Tai stop a couple of times and pluck something off the forest floor. The first such time you stop and ask him if he's found anything new.

"Nothing new Miss Sasha, just some things I was low on. They grow normally around here anyway. I just am grabbing them as I go along." He says, placing the sprig of whatever it was in his satchel.

"Okay, but give a holler if you do find anything interesting." You respond.

"Will do."

You continue on through the forest, passing familiar landmarks and come to crossing near the springs. You make it across the fallen tree with little difficulty and Tai makes it across nearly hugging the trunk as he does so. You give him a bemused look as he detaches himself from the trunk and he just shrugs. You push on and, after cresting another small hill, finally catch sight of the spring. Tai surveys the area, clearly impressed, before moving towards the warm water. You follow him as you make your way around the springs themselves, near the area where Veles appeared out of the woodlands when you first met.

>Spread out and cover more ground
>Stick together and methodically search the area
>other?
Either way I'll need another d20 roll for searching. (Best of three or best in 15 minutes, as always)

Rolled 9

>Spread out and cover more ground
>>29852417

Rolled 20

>>29852402
sorry, I just keep thinking we've dropped the 3roll system.
>>29852417
I don't mind spreading out, just stick close enough that you can hear each other yell if something goes awry.

Rolled 15

>>29852463
>>29852417
hot shit.
Anyway, a second d20 since redaeth picked up the last one. Just to roll the critfail out.

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With you heading west from the springs, and Tai heading to the south, you break off and start searching the area. There is not much to see outside of the copious number of trees, but you continue on a ways, reaching a slight incline that denotes the entrance into the colder highlands. Here you see a dead tree, split asunder by a lightning bolt from one of the storms that rolled through a few weeks back. Intrigued, you get closer and inspect it. The bark has been stripped completely off the thing and it seems to be balanced precariously On the ground around it though, you find a few curious dark rocks, and upon picking them up you are surprised to see two of them attract and attach to each other. It takes a little effort to pull them apart at that. Curious.

>action?

>>29853191
Huh. Magnetic rocks. We've got iron around here.

Let's take some time to cartograph this spot as accurately as we can on the map, and then collect as many as we can comfortably carry to show off to tai, and eventually take to a geologist or something to figure out exactly how good our stuff is.

>>29853245
oh, and while I'm thinking about it, knock over that burned tree.

Don't need any deadfalls just standing around waiting to make good on their name.

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You take the time to mark the area and its surroundings down, committing the area to memory as well. If these lodestones are any indication, there might be a source of iron here, which will no doubt be useful. Afterwards you make your way south a bit to the meeting spot you agreed upon with Tai before you set off. You find him waiting there and he has news. He claims to have found a large herd of deer off to the south of the spring, and as he was making his way around them, he caught glimpse of the horses you mentioned earlier. Though if that was true, their position is not the same as what it was when you went to Veles' place. It is likely that they range all over the highlands, and you suspect that tracking them down will be a challenge. Regardless, you make your way back to the dead tree and show Tai the lodestones. In the process you decide, that despite being a good landmark, the other half of this tree needs to come down, but how should you go about it...

>roll d20 to safely take down the tree, plans of action will effect the modifier.

Rolled 4

>>29853984
do we have any tools on hand?

The general plan is weaken it a bit in the direction you want it to fall, and then either kick it over or pull it down from a safe distance away with rope.
If we've no axe though, we'll just have to try to pull it down through muscle and weight. If that doesn't work, well, the tree isn't so much of a deadfall after all, and we can leave it.

Rolled 16

>>29853984
I'm gonna give another dice roll because my last one was just lousy.

Rolled 5

>>29853984

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>16+2

Between Tai and yourself, you manage to get a lead tied off to one of the lower branches of the dead tree, and for safeties sake, tie a second on the other side of where it is to fall. Lacking a hand axe, you opt to attempt to force the tree over with your bodily weight. You heave against the trunk sliding up further and further trying to force your weight against it. Tai meanwhile takes a step back as soon as the cracking noise starts. You feel the trunk give a bit and give it one last hard shove before bolting away. You watch as the thing topples, tugging hard at one of the fastening lead lines and trying to rotate as it falls, but is unable to. The tree falls with a resounding crash between the two markers. You ccatch your breath and dust yourself off a bit before detaching the leads. Off on the horizon you can see the sun reaching 3 finger widths above the horizon.

>Action?

>>29854635
well, we've found some neat things, and it's getting late. we should probably head back to the ranch and get some rest, as well as considering just how the heck we're going to do anything with what we've found.

We know we've got game, we've also got a potential mine and some horses. Now we need people to do things with these. I have no idea whether we should hire miners and workers or if we should rent out the mine and hunting rights for a price.

>>29854738 (You)
upon thinking, maybe it's time to change tacks to thinking about an expedition to visit the centaurs. Get a feel of how they do things over in centaur land and how hard a trip it is to make it to them, what things we could do to make the road easier, that kind of thing.
Of course, this is for tomorrow or even a few days after, not right now. We're just headed home now.

>>29854875
Alright, I'm going to want a d20 roll, lower is better for travel on heading home.

Rolled 6

>>29855027
sure, sure.

Rolled 17

>>29855027
and another, as is my custom.

Rolled 16

>>29855027

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You make it home without incident, in fact, you've pretty much got the way too and from the hotspring down pat. You slither back to the ranch, actually impressed with how Tai managed himself. You expected him to be tired after what consisted of nearly a full day of scouting around, but he just soldiers on. To be honest, he's probably less winded than you are, but you did just topple a tree so you have an excuse. Nonetheless you arrive home to find McCain and Marie warming up some of the trail rations on the stove. You chuckle to yourself as you enter the room.

"Not even a whole day without Tai and you've resorted to eating our emergency supplies?" You mock gripe as you enter.

Not missing a beat McCain responds, "They do spoil after a time anyway, and its still better than anything we would have made."

You shake your head and put your collection of lodestones in your room before joining the table next to Marie.

"What's the plan, we just going to keep on the cattle until next year?" She asks you between bites.

>Well?

>>29855863
That's a tough one, marie. We've got a lot of goodies out there.
It's a fair shot we'll keep the cattle operating at least to the end of the year, but after that things get hazy. I've got to get someone on the rocks I found, probably good money in those just waiting to be dug up. We'll need miners, and someone to tell them where exactly to dig.

Do you suppose if we just put a sign up in town, we'll get any takers?

>>29856092
oh, and I should get on out to visit them horse people on the other side of the mountains one of these days.
If for nothing else than to have a real great story to tell the schola and nitor.

long term planning is hard. The only business I really want to build other than the cattle thing is a kickass spa, but that necessitates actually bringing people and industry here first so they can enjoy the spa.

Hence our need to talk to the horsepeople, and get workers here.

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"That's a tough one, Marie. We've got a lot of goodies out there. It's a fair shot we'll keep the cattle operating at least to the end of the year, but after that things get hazy. I've got to get someone on the rocks I found, probably good money in those just waiting to be dug up. We'll need miners, and someone to tell them where exactly to dig."

"Something good then?" She responds.

You produce a pair of the lodestones and set them on the table, "Lodestones, which means there have to be iron deposits. Do you suppose if we just put a sign up in town, we'll get any takers?"

You see McCain frown at this, "Well, advertising it before we confirmed would be foolish. Not only that it might attract other 'respectable' people like that orc fellow might be take interest in us if it gets out before we can defend it."

"That's true, though we'd have to find contacts somewhere. So far the only ideas I have for us is to make contact with the Casimiran, but I don't quite know how to go about that. That or turning the springs into a resort of sorts."

It is here Tai pipes up. "Well, we do have the wild horses... and the ones the bandits left. We could try and build up capital there."

Marie chimes in at this point, "I think the resort idea would be nice, but it would require people to man it, so its obviously not something we can do right off."

>Make plans for meeting the Casimiran
>Find a contact a way to develop the iron
>Horses might be a good bet for now
>Other?

>>29857859
Let's start with the horses. They're a good source of income that we already are equipped to deal with. While they're being broken and raised, we'll have time for a long expedition to the casimiran.
Is it feasible at all to avoid the domestication problems horses face elsewhere? Could we get a fair amount while still leaving enough in the wild to repopulate?

>>29857945
You figure that if you can pull a few prize ones from the herd you can maintain the herds population each year while providing "quality" horses to rich people possibly in Snake's Landing or even the UFK. Exactly how many would require a more in depth evaluation of the herd.

>>29858107
well, horses it is then.
We'll auction a few for a high price. And maybe hire another hand or two with the money to watch the herd for, you know, horse thieves.

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>Horses might be a good bet for now

"We need capital before we can go into other things. Horses might be a good bet, though that would require us to keep an eye on the herd, I want this to be sustainable, From what I've heard of the herds on the western coast is that they are dying out, and all the horse ranches there are dependant on their own stock. This means we would have the market on truly wild horses. That, and the fact I want to keep it that way, means it would be very few horses each year, which also means we would have some exclusive clientèle. If we manage to make a name for ourselves in that, well, I imagine the contacts would go pretty far in our other projects." you say.

There is a general nod of assent, and with that settled, you finish your meal before heading to bed.

>The drifting ship
>The Burned Village
>The Tree in the Ruins.

>>29859338
why not the ship. I'm feeling nautical today,

>>29859338
>>The drifting ship

>>29859338
sure, why not
>The drifting ship

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You find yourself viewing a ship you've seen once before, only this time there are people aboard. The ship is at full sail and it is being pursued. You catch a glimpse of a smaller ship gaining on it before it pulls alongside. People from the smaller ship board the larger one and a fight ensues. A whirlind of steel and fire and smoke. Amidst the chaos you see a young boy and a man ushering him into the captains cabin. The man, bedecked in a military uniform you do not recognize turns as the door closes and hurls himself into the fray. You see the boy watch through a window as the man cleaves his way through the interloper, but even for the small ship there are too many. The crew of the ship are quickly overpowered all save for the man, surrounded, he still fights on, laying out foe after foe. The odds are too much and it isn't long before you see a blade go through his middle. This only serves to anger the man, and he fights on, cleaving and hacking, literally breaking blades only to pick more up off fallen friend and foe alike. Despite his injuries, despite being grappled multiple times, the man stays up, and despite all odds forces what is left of the interlopers off the ship. The boy leaves the safety of the cabin and runs out to him...

You wake up late again, and disentangle yourself going downstairs to see another meal lying on the stove for you. Nearby on the counter sits a letter underneath an empty mug.

>Check up on the hands
>Check the letter on the counter

>>29860578
read the letter first, then visit the hands unless it's something important.

Wonder what's up.

sorry about your captchas.

>>29860578
We sleep in an awful lot for a rancher. Maybe we should ask Veles or Tai about something for easier sleep. These frequent vivid dreams could be reason to be concerned. Maybe just a sign of stress though, what with our father dying and now managing the ranch.

>>29860578
>Check the letter on the counter

>>29860824
I had just sort of assumed we had a longer sleep cycle than humans. Good point on looking into the dreams.

>>29860578
>>Check up on the hands
No reason not to.

>>29860578
Letter and breakfast

>>29861094
well, there IS that meal just lying there.
Breakfast ensues.

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You pull up a chair and curl yourself around it, with the meal in front of you and the letter to the side. You stare at both of them a bit, before opening the letter.

"Greetings Ms. Masterson,

I apologize in not warning you about the imminent attacks on your assets. I had found out about them just as we had boarded an airship back to the UFK proper and any attempt to warn you would have tipped my hand. Fortunately it would appear that you handled them quit well, and as such you have left my employer with egg on his face. This has lead to some of the more moderates on the board dubious, and as such has increased my relative reputability in the eyes of his sycophantic lackeys via some careful political manoeuvring. As such I am now head of the southern continent operations for my organization. While his continued presidency is less than optimal for the business itself, I do have the ability to be of some assistance on the private enterprise side of things. For the time being I will be staying in Snake's Landing, if you have any developments or plans that you should wish to to share, my door is considered always open.

Regards,
Serrak."

You contemplatively chew a strip of bacon as you go over this development, just as you go to finish off the last of the eggs McCain walks in.

"Runner came from town a bit ago, said the letter was important, anything wrong?" He asks as he pours himself a cup of coffee from the pot.

>?

>>29861688
Nah, nothing's wrong.
In fact, I think we're in business. The guy funding the bandits got relocated, and we've got a contact for what I hope could be mining leases.

apparently having your hired goons fail is bad for one's career.

>>29861688
>anything wrong?
"Nope. Seems the man what hired 'Two-Hands McCain' won't be much of a pest as he was now on. We may also have a contact to help us with getting the wealth out of this land, though I'm not positive we can trust him yet. Worth a talk to at least."

Good?

>>29861853
seems somewhere close to where we need to be, sure.

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"Nope. Seems the man what hired 'Two-Hands McCain' won't be much of a pest as he was now on." This gets a bit of a grin out of McCain. "We may also have a contact to help us with getting the wealth out of this land, though I'm not positive we can trust him yet. Worth a talk to at least."

"I'd imagine so, though I want to be there when it happens, I know you can take care of youself but you know what I promised your dad." He says.

"I know, I know. You'd look out for me, I'm probably the only person in the world lucky enough to have a notorious bandit looking out for them." MThe grin goes wider, but then grows serious.

"I'm actually a little worried about that actually." He says.

"Why's that?"

"Last thing I need is to become a damned Robin Goodfellow figure for the resistance, especially now." He takes a look at your lack of understanding before proceeding, "They idolize me and turn me into something I'm not, the roles have a lot of clout, Mab, Robin, Daghda. It's old magic if I recall. Last thing I want is my name added to the list."

"Would they do that?"

"I honestly don't know anymore..."

>Keep talking with McCain
>Check on the hands
>Make plans to talk to the investor
>Focus on the horses first.

>>29862658
>>Make plans to talk to the investor

>>29862658
>Check on the hands
Ask Tai about herbs for restful sleeping if we want to do that.
Otherwise
>Make plans to talk to the investor


Does everyone have a firearm or is it something we need to pick up while in town? Does Marie even want one?

>>29862658
well, not much we can do about the elves, McCain. Hope they don't overuse your image too much.

then let's make plans to visit the investor. The horses plan will work just as well if we wait a few days, given how far out auction day is.

>>29862776
I'm not opposed to sleepytime tea.

>>29862776
The hands have mostly cattleman pistols. There is one rifle that they split amongst themselves, usually whoever is in the thick of the cattle.

>>29863498
we'll have to get another rifle while we're shopping for a contract.

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"Well, not much we can do about the elves, McCain. Hope they don't overuse your image too much."

He gives a mirthless chuckle from him. "I suppose your right."

"Meanwhile, I gotta make plans for a trip, we'll be heading out there soon. The horses can wait till we get back, also I have to ask Tai about some herbal remedies."

"Any particular reason?"

"Just some dreams I've been having, main reason I've been sleeping in so much. I don't like lying about while you all do work."

"You sure that's mot plain old malingering?" you frown and he just laughs, patting you on the back. "I'm sure its nothing, but if your worried about that, isn't that something you'd want to talk to the old snake fella about? I mean, It sounds like thats something up his alley."

"I suppose I could do that, but I'll ask Tai first, just to make sure its an option.

Catching Tai near the chicken coop with a bucket of feed, you confirm that it is in fact an option, though he's never made it personally, there was a remedy his aunt had for something like that, though he isn't sure how well it would work on someone of your body mass. You take the oppurtinity to act offended about the weight comment, causing him to panic and backpedal a bit before laughing with McCain who was listening to the conversation from the porch. From here you go and pack another set of bags, this time for heading to Snake's Landing.

>Pop by Veles first, get his opinion on things
>Head to Snake's Landing.

>>29863924
eh, we can inform Veles later that he'll be having some extra neighbors if it actually happens. What goes down on the negotiation table is all up in the air right now.

Good work on razzing tai.

>>29863924
>[x] Head to Snake's Landing.

And we're off!

>>29863924
>Head to Snake's Landing.
We can see Veles when we get back; discuss our prospects for working the land, if he'll help and if we'll disturb him any bringing in workers somewhat near to his lair. I doubt it but it's polite to ask I think.

Tai gets flustered really easily, the dork's so likable! Hope we can exploit it for laughs a while more before he catches on.

>>29864128
>working the land
I just realized that's a farming idiom, don't laugh at my ignorance ;_;

>>29864272
be prepared for farming idioms.
Working land. Sowing seeds.

And you always gotta catch the chance to make jokes.

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You head to the carriage, McCain saddling up Greenbriar and Traveller. He seems confident that Marie and Tai will have the ranch well in hand in the short time you are gone, and with a few goodbyes, you set off, bound for Snake's Landing. Hopefully, you think to yourself, this isn't just a wild goose chase.
>Apologies gents, class in the morning, provided we don't get cancelled due to obscene cold. If it isn't, I'll pick up where I left off. If so, so long till next time, and pleasant dreams.

>>29864771
Great thread Chemlab, I had a lot of fun. Thanks for running, dude.

>>29864771
well then see ya canid. It's most likely we can't count on you having a snow day.

Thanks for running!

I'm, uh, having trouble with the archives.

pre-sleep hopeful snowday bump.

Glad we're taking McCain with us to do the next contract negotiations. If for nothing else than moral support.