>>5340842

The battle had ended moments ago and you had quickly given orders to your officers. You wanted to know how many men did you still have standing, how many dead or wounded you had, that they were provided first aid, how many prisoners you had taken and so on. There were plenty of tasks to be done and by delegating them to your officers, you hoped to learn and have a better grasp of the situation. Just in case of something happening you wanted your men up and ready to fight again in a moment's notice.

But just so that you wouldn’t be standing around doing absolutely nothing while your officers worked, you had something to do.

“Stop fidgeting around.” You said as you poured a bit of medical alcohol into a small wound and attempted to hold your patient still. “I can’t wrap the bandages around it if you keep moving.”

“I’m sorry Prince Alric.” Malevus said and winced as you cleaned the wound on her right thigh. “I’m sorry I got hit. It was the spear and I tried to dodge, but it still hit me…”

“Don’t worry about it, thankfully the cut isn’t that bad, but probably requires stitches.” You interrupted her and said to her as you started to wrap the bandage around her leg. “The bandage should keep it clean before that.”

“Thank you Prince Alric. Thank the Light that nothing happened to you.” Malevus said back.

“There, it’s done.” You said and stood up, allowing Malevus to lower the hem of her robe and cover her thigh. “Now is everything else alright?”

“I think yes, I don’t think that… I mean… thank you Prince Alric.” Malevus managed to finally say. She clearly had something to say, but couldn’t find the right words. And it was plain to see how tired she was, her long red hair being messy and how her blue eyes weren’t completely focused thanks to what she had experienced for the first time.

“Malevus, I know you are tired. This was after all your first real battle in which you participated. Just sit down and rest for a bit.” You said back to her.

“Prince Alric, I can still go.” Malevus insisted.

“No you won’t. Go find somewhere to sit and rest a bit.” You said back sternly. “That is an order.”

“Understood Prince Alric, I will go and sit down.”

“And if you have something to say, we can then speak later.”

Malevus gave you a gentle bow before hobbling away to find a barrel or crate to sit on as you turned towards Sir Gravis who had been waiting for you to finish.

“What is it?” You asked him.

“Sire, you should come to see.” He said back.

1/2

>>5340846

Inside one of the larger tents within the walled camp was a group of men that had been tied down. The knights had already cut some of them free and were in progress of freeing the rest of them.

“Tell him what you told me.” Sir Gravis said to one of the freed men.

“Milord, ‘ere taken by them men. Made to work.” One of the men said. He was a sorry looking fellow, clearly having been a prisoner for a few days, maybe for a week. Being all dirty and very tired looking.

“And then?” Sir Gravis continued.

“They ‘ere speakin’, sendin’ us over the river.” The man said.

You have heard this story before. Eston, the Syndicate agent you dealt with in Stonedon, was also planning on sending the villagers to the east. Before that the Syndicate aligned bandit Redhill was preparing to do the same and then there was also the fact that the gnolls that you dealt with last year were also moving the people they kidnapped towards the east. You couldn’t say if the gnolls were just a coincidence, but it felt awfully similar to what you had seen and heard since.

You thanked the man and pulled Sir Gravis aside.

“Get these men some water, they look so miserable.” You said to him.

“Yes Sire, but then what? I think they are locals, conscripted from that small village.” Sir Gravis said. “Should we just send them back home?”


>Yes, provide water and pilfer some supplies from the bandits for them before allowing them to return back to home.
>They should be taken care of, but ask them to stay and lend a hand for a day or two. You need more workers to help you around here.
>Put them to work and enlist them for a longer period. They will be fed and paid, you don’t forcefully put them to work.
>Other, write in.

>>5340846
cutest retainer.

>>5340848
>Yes, provide water and pilfer some supplies from the bandits for them before allowing them to return back to home.
>Make an offer they'd be paid worker's wage if they stick around and help.
I'm assuming we can afford that without regard to otherwise wealth stats. Anyway don't pressure them, they've already had enough.

>>5340848
>They should be taken care of, but ask them to stay and lend a hand for a day or two. You need more workers to help you around here.
Of course we'll offer compensation for their work, feed them and treat any injured. I would however rather see to it that we can swiftly make this into our own forward base of operations for the remaining campaign as we advance westward and for that we need every hand available what with how many of our own men are likely exhausted after the battle. I'm sure these people will understand if we ask for such a favor after having freed them.
Also, I really want this place to act as a first line of defense in the case of a Syndicate counter attack/raids from the east across the river. We need it whole and manned for that.

>>5340848
>>They should be taken care of, but ask them to stay and lend a hand for a day or two. You need more workers to help you around here.

>>5340848
>>Yes, provide water and pilfer some supplies from the bandits for them before allowing them to return back to home.
>>They should be taken care of, but ask them to stay and lend a hand for a day or two. You need more workers to help you around here.
nice nice

>>5340937
we have those 20 mers incoming, and thankfully we put our paladin on healing duty so more wounded should be safe.

>>5340848
>They should be taken care of, but ask them to stay and lend a hand for a day or two. You need more workers to help you around here.
but if they don`t feel safe staying in their village they are free to stick around or bring their families to the fort.

“Pilfer some food for them, the dead bandits don’t require it anymore.” You said to Sir Gravis.

“Understood Sire, we will find something for them.” He said back and left to get the food for them.

“I am Prince Alric Perenolde.” You said to the men that had been freed. There was nearly two dozen of them and all of them watched what you were going to say. “I have ordered my men to provide you with water and some food and after that you are free to go back to your homes.”

You saw the collective relief as they realised what you had said to them. This tired happiness spread amongst them.

“But I also need help and I would appreciate it if some of you stayed here and helped me for I need every hand I can get. I need workers to help my men.” You said and continued. “After we are finished here and most of the urgent work is done, you would also be free to go.”

The freed locals looked at each other and mumbled amongst themselves.

“So how is it?”

…


Half of the locals you had freed took the food and water and started their journey back to their homes, but a dozen or so men stayed back with you. Quickly they were put to work, helping your men where they were needed.

You had called your officers to you and after quickly rearranging a few barrels and boxes, all of you had someplace to sit on.

“It is good to see that everyone made it through in one piece.” You said to them. All of your officers and members of your retinue had survived the battle, including the new sergeants that were promoted last summer. Only Raleigh wasn’t here as he had wounded men to tend to.

“Sire, it wasn’t an easy battle.” Lieutenant Cromwell said and scratched his chin. After Captain Garside, he was the most experienced soldier amongst your officers. “The Syndicate troops fought hard. You can’t compare them to normal bandits or thugs.”

“I have to concur.” Sergeant Maxwell said back. He didn’t sound that enthusiastic about the situation.

1/2

File: 08_wounded.jpg (268 KB, 852x765)

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>>5342389


“Prince Alric, do you want to hear our losses and status of our troops first?” Captain Garside asked you.

“Yes please. Sir Gravis, you can start.” You said back to him and turned towards your knights.

“All of my knights are fine. Tired, exhausted, but not wounded.” He said.

“I have two wounded.” Cromwell said. “Otherwise we are ready to go

“Three dead, two wounded. Five Stromgarde Guards are still standing.” Sergeant Maxwell said and now you knew why he seemed so unenthusiastic. His men had taken a bad beating during the battle.

“Two of my lads are dead, two wounded.” Sergeant Benedict said.

“Eight men are down, half of them are dead.” Sir Radan said. He looked absolutely dreadful, his plate mail banged up and dirty from mud and blood. “But we showed them hell.”

“No wounded, we just have to collect our arrows back.” Alfred Rover said. They had stayed on top of the hill and kept on their arrow fire at the bandits.

“Two dead and four wounded amongst the footmen, six wounded amongst the archers and seven wounded, one dead amongst the pikemen.” Captain Garside said to you.

“Eleven wounded, praise the Light that no one died.” Lieutenant Beckston said to you.

You added the numbers up in your mind. Fifty total casualties of which twelve were dead. In one battle you had lost approximately one third of your force you had taken to Strahnbrad Hills. Twenty mercenaries would be arriving in a few days and you still had twenty men being hired out to Durnholde. You had reinforcements, but you still didn't like these casualty numbers at all.

“We need to get the wounded to Tarren Mill as soon as possible. I don’t want to hear that more of my men have died because we were too slow.” You said to your officers.

“I will get the wounded sorted and ready to be moved. We can probably move them tomorrow as our men need rest first.” Captain Garside said to you.

“That sounds good. Then we also have the rest of the business to be dealt with.” You said.

“Prince Alric, our men are either resting or working so what do you want to hear next about?” Cromwell asked you.


>Enemy prisoners and casualties.
>The walled camp and whatever you could find inside. Documents and such.
>Rest of the camp, the loot taken from the enemy soldiers and what they had stored underneath the tarps.

>>5342390

Current number of soldiers: 28 Footmen, 21 Pikemen, 5 Knights, 7 Bandit Rogues, 34 Archers

Group Prince Alric:
Prince Alric Perenolde, A Prince of Alterac on foot
Lieutenant Austyn Cromwell, a lieutenant of Alterac
Sergeant Jon Maxwell, the leader of Stromgarde Guards
Raleigh the True, a paladin of Silver Hand
Sir Gravis of Knott, a knight in your service
Sir Alan Radan, a former bandit and a knight in your service
Alfred and Arthur Rover, rangers of Alterac
Malevus, an Elf squire
Eligius, a scribe and a warlock, currently spymaster in training
-5/5 Knights of Gravis, Regular Knights on foot
-8/10 Veteran Footmen
-5/10 Stormgarde Guards, Veteran Footmen
-11/15 Benedict's Blood Alley Boys, Veteran Footmen
-7/15 Sir Alan Radan's Men, Regular Bandit Rogues
-20/20 Regular Archers
-10/10 Veteran Archers

Group Captain Garside
Captain Normand Garside, a knight of Alterac on foot
Lieutenant Richard Beckston, the leader of Kul Tiran Swashbucklers
-4/10 Veteran Footmen
-9/20 Kul Tiran Swashbucklers, Regular Pikemen
-12/20 Regular Pikemen
-4/10 Veteran Archers

Let's hear about the surrendered. They'll need to be kept watch over... I was thinking Radan and his men could take care of that but after they were in bloody fight with them that might not be the best idea.

>>5342390
>Enemy prisoners and casualties.
>The walled camp and whatever you could find inside. Documents and such.

We have favours with that despicable lord, Blackmoore perhaps we could call our men there back...

>>5342390
>>The walled camp and whatever you could find inside. Documents and such.

>>5342390
>The walled camp and whatever you could find inside. Documents and such.

Best to make sure we got everything done and over with.

The walled camp and whatever you could find inside wins. Give me the rolls!


>1d10
>Best of three

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>5342887
rollin rollin rollin

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>5342887

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>5342887

>>5342893
nice

>10

You gave the orders to your officers to continue the work. As they went to work, you concentrated on the walled camp. There must have been documents or something else to be found that could be useful.

With some of your men aiding you, you went through the huts one by one and attempted to find anything useful. There were some papers about the amount of food and supplies delivered in one hut and when you entered the hut which supposedly had been held by their leader, you found what you wanted.

Letters and scrolls depicting talks between the Syndicate leader, whose name apparently was Sir Roberts, and his leader who went by the name Lord Creedy. It was clearly a nom de guerre, but at least now you had a lead and more information about whoever was behind the attempts to wrestle Strahnbrad Hills into their control.

The letters described the orders Sir Roberts was to follow. He was to wrestle the control of the region and to conscript the locals to build camps and fortifications for the Syndicate troops and local bandits that were to join him. After all this work was done, he was supposed to launch raids towards Alterac and Tarren Mill while sending the loot and the conscripted people over the river to the east, where Syndicate agents would handle them further.

Frankly you were really pissed off that this so called Lord Creedy had planned something like this, but same time you were happy that you had found the paper trail and the connection that linked Syndicate to the kidnappings and attempts to act against the Alteracis and the people of the Alliance.

The paperwork you had secured would be extremely valuable to you, but still you weren’t sure it would be enough to get the Alliance to support you in your actions against them. Was this enough? You weren’t actually sure.

…

The troops searched the walled camp for anything useful and one of the footmen found a chest hidden beneath floor planks. Inside it was the treasury provided to Sir Roberts as funds to operate and you were all happy to take it for yourself. After all, Sir Roberts wouldn’t be needing the funds anymore, because he was dead.

Gained:
>3 Wealth

1/2

>>5343040

You had been searching the huts when Eligius approached you.

“Prince Alric, may we speak?” He asked you with a quiet voice.

“Yes, in fact I would like to have you handle all these documents we have found.” You said back to him.

“Understood Sire, but I have something else to say.” He said to you.

“What is it?”

“There is a warlock amongst the prisoners or wounded.” Eligius whispered to you. “I spotted him and the archers managed to hit him a few times. An arrow into his arm and to his side.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am.”

“Then what should we do? You are the expert here after all.” You asked him.

“He should be killed. I am not saying this because of my station and being a warlock, but because we can be fiercely independent. I don’t know how we could handle a second warlock amongst us.” Eligius said and crossed his arms.

“But we could hire him, after all we do need more mages?” You asked and played the devil’s advocate.

Eligius was silent for a moment before he spoke.

“Yes, his services could be useful, a real coven of warlocks could be a really useful to you Prince Alric. More warlocks we had, better our strength against hostile magic could be, not forgetting the knowledge shared between us.” Eligius said and caught on what you were saying. “But I still wouldn’t be hiring him.”


>The warlock must die, have your men execute him on the spot. This way he cannot be a threat to you.
>Tie the warlock and gag him to prevent him casting any spells. Having a warlock as your prisoner and as a proof that there were warlocks amongst the Syndicate could prove useful to you. Still keeping him as a prisoner wouldn't be easy.
>Attempt to recruit the warlock. He must know that he is a dead man walking and allowing him to live, if he was to serve you, could be a way to gain another magic user amongst your ranks.
>Other, write in.

>>5343045
>>The warlock must die, have your men execute him on the spot. This way he cannot be a threat to you.

We already have a warlock. If we recruit more then the probability of at least one of them getting exposed will increase.

>>5343045
Interrogate him.
Can our dagger be used to deprive him of use of magic temporarily somehow? I guess that’s not gonna work that way though.
I was thinking we could extradite him to Alliance or Dalaran but I guess clean death is best we can practically offer him. He doesn’t owe us loyalty past our dubious ability to shield him from former employers and creates an image problem for us…

>>5343045
pretty much this >>5343404

Attempting to recruit this guy is really risky not only because he is a warlock but because he is a syndicate warlock, his loyalties and motivations are unknown to us. Interrogating him and the other prisoners is a no brainer and done seperately to see if their stories confirm each other of course.

I'd like to see the man speak before deciding but It's very unlikely that he'll say something that would convince me not to kill him.

>>5343045
>Attempt to recruit the warlock. He must know that he is a dead man walking and allowing him to live, if he was to serve you, could be a way to gain another magic user amongst your ranks.

>>5343045
>>The warlock must die, have your men execute him on the spot. This way he cannot be a threat to you.

>>5343045
>Tie the warlock and gag him to prevent him casting any spells. Having a warlock as your prisoner and as a proof that there were warlocks amongst the Syndicate could prove useful to you. Still keeping him as a prisoner wouldn't be easy.

File: Warcraft 2 Peon.jpg (7 KB, 247x204)

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I love my job, but sometimes I hate my workplace. Jesus how hard it is to find and hire more people to cover all shifts. Well at least the overtime pay is good. Writing is my way to wind down and relax, but sometimes you are too tired to relax after a long day at work.

The warlock will die unless he can give you a reason to stay alive after being interrogated. Give me a roll for other prisoner related stuff. I will have an update out later today.


>1d10
>Best of three

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>5345736
big money big money

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>5345736

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>5345736

“A coven? I will keep that in mind.” You said to Eligius. “But I agree, he is too big of a risk to be allowed to live. He will be interrogated if we can get something out of him and if he speaks, I will give him a chance to stay alive.”

“I don’t know if he speaks, but it is worth a try.” Eligius said back and continued with a whisper. “That being said, I don’t think my presence is required. It would be somewhat too suspicious for he recognized my presence, he knows that there is a mage amongst us.”

“I see, I will have Sir Gravis and his knights to be present, that should be enough.” You said back and scratched your chin. “Thank you Eligius.”

“I aim to serve.” Eligius said back and gave you a small bow.

…

It is worrisome news that the Syndicate was employing warlocks. If this Lord Creedy who was in charge of these men was okay at having warlocks around, it could mean that there are more of them out there. You also were somewhat worried if your sister had gotten involved in fel magic during these years or if she was recruiting or training them to bolster the Syndicate?

You didn’t know and it was a bit silly to condemn them for employing warlocks, after all you were employing one and making him your spymaster. Pot calling the kettle!

Eligius had told Sir Gravis what he had seen from the hill and given him enough details of the man. It didn’t take long for him to be found amongst the prisoners, having the arrows already being removed and wounds bandaged. When the knights grabbed the man, he realised that they knew who he was and attempted to struggle, but there wasn’t much he could do and after a bit of roughing up by the knights, he was dragged into one of the huts and tied to a chair. When everything was ready, it was your time to have a talk with him.

The warlock looked tired. The arrow wounds must have been hurting him a lot and he must have lost a bunch of blood before he was patched up. From outside he didn’t look like a warlock, he was wearing the same black leathers the other Syndicate members were wearing, he had his orange bandana around his throat and a small leather helmet sat on his head. Looking quite lanky, there was really nothing that screamed that he was a warlock or even a mage.

“You know who I am?” You asked him and made him look up.

“Yes, you are the Princeling.” He said with a tired voice. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want.”

“Information.” He said back.

“Yes. Because you must understand your situation. We know that you are a warlock and as a practitioner of dark magics, your fate will be death. We could imprison you and send you to Dalaran and I think they would love to have a warlock to be interrogated, but that would be too big of a hassle.” You told the warlock.

“Then why should I tell you anything Princeling?” He said back to you.

1/3

>>5346043

“Because I am a lenient man and I think some people deserve a second chance.” You said to him and continued. “If you speak and tell me enough to impress me, you may live. So consider that.”

The warlock was silent for a moment and you didn’t know if he was going to speak at all. You even gave a look to Sir Gravis if he was ready to drag the man out and execute him right then and there, but before you could give that order to him, the warlock decided to speak.

“My name is Otto Wanz.” The warlock said. “I have been a warlock since the Second War and working for the Syndicate for the past five years.”

“That is a start Mr. Wanz, what else do you wish to tell me?”

“I have served Lord Creedy, don’t know what his real name is, for two years and provided him with guidance related to magic. He sent me here to deal with anything magical and to help Sir Roberts.” Wanz told you and continued. “I don’t know his plans big plans, Syndicate is very decentralised, many things are need to know basis.”

“Do you know what were the plans given to Sir Roberts?” You asked him.

“To gain control of this region and to move the prisoners east over the river. There another group from the Syndicate would take hold of them.” Otto Wanz told you.

“Do you know what the Syndicate does with the kidnapped people?”

“No, I swear I don’t know. Some think it is for ransom, but what ransom could poor hill people pay us? I don’t like it, many don’t like it.” He spoke in a hurry and whinged from pain.

“Who recruited you into Syndicate?” You asked him.

“Lady Montrose, Darbel Montrose is the leader of the warlocks in the service of Syndicate. Lady Montrose taught me much that I now know.” Wanz explained to you.

That was a new name you haven’t heard before. You had somewhat expected to hear that the elusive Lady Behind The Cloth had recruited Otto Wanz, but no it was someone else. It seems that Lady Montrose had plenty of power within Syndicate if she recruited warlocks and was their leader. And the fact that Wanz spoke about warlocks, as in multiple ones was quite interesting fact.

“Going back to Lord Creedy, do you know any of the other leaders or people with power within the Syndicate?” You asked him another question.

“Yes, there is your brother, Aliden Perenolde is the leader of the Syndicate. There is Lord Creedy and then there is Lord Falconcrest. There are smaller leaders and barons, but I don’t know them.” Wanz said to you. “As I said, need to know basis.”

“Lord Falconcrest? What can you tell me about him?” You asked him.

“One of the more powerful nobles within the Syndicate, some sort of a right hand man for Aliden Perenolde.” Wanz told you and continued. “Lord Falconcrest is a rival to Lord Creedy. That I know, I have heard enough to make that conclusion.”

2/4

>>5346071

He really was telling you a lot and you couldn’t be sure if everything he says is true. He could be speaking just to keep his head, but you felt that he wasn’t lying. And the name Falconcrest seemed somewhat familiar to you, but you couldn’t at the moment connect it to anything.

“Is this enough? Do I need to tell you anything more?” Otto Wanz asked you and whinged again from the pain.

“Do you think this is enough?” You asked back.

“I could write what I know down on paper.” He said to you.

“And I would free your hands? That is not going to happen and you know it too Mr. Wanz.” You said back to him. “But maybe Sir Gravis here could write down what you say.”

“Yes Sire, I can do that.” Sir Gravis said back. “But wouldn’t your scribe be better suited for the job?”

“He is busy cataloguing all the other papers and scrolls we have found here. I think you can handle a single prisoner.” You said to him.

“You don’t kill me then?” Wanz asked you and pleaded.

“Depends what you tell Sir Gravis here, but you have bought yourself maybe a day more.” You said back and gave him a slight smile. “Thank you Mr. Wanz, it was educational.”

…

>8

You had left Mr. Wanz to the care of Sir Gravis who had gone to find quill and paper. You weren’t exactly sure if you wanted to keep Otto Wanz alive even after telling you all this, he was a warlock after all whose loyalties and motivations were unknown to you. He might have just told you all this to stay alive and the first chance he has to escape, he would do it. At least you would wait till he has finished speaking and Sir Gravis has everything written down, you would make the decision then.

As you were speaking with the warlock, your men had finished rounding up all the prisoners and counting the enemy dead. The work to collect all the loot from the battlefield was still in progress and you saw the freed locals helping your soldiers in collecting whatever useful could be scrounged and taken with you.

“We counted 78 dead of which 35 were wearing Syndicate armour and colours.” Lieutenant Cromwell said to you. “We also took 91 prisoners.”

“That is quite a lot.” You said back to him.

“It is, they started surrendering when they heard that their leader was dead.” Cromwell said back to you.

“How many of them are from the Syndicate?” You asked him.

“24 wearing Syndicate colours. Rest of them were bandits.”

So that meant 67 bandit prisoners were also taken.

“Any ringleaders or enforcers amongst them?”

“Sire, we have found four probable amongst the Syndicate troops and eleven amongst the bandits.” Cromwell said to you. “But not all of them are going to survive through the night. Many of them are wounded and some quite badly.”

3/4

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>>5346073

It was expected that many of the prisoners would be wounded and you couldn’t do much other than provide mercy to those who were too badly wounded. The ringleaders and enforcers will be interrogated, but then what? Would you execute them? What about the rest of the prisoners, would the Syndicate troops be executed for treason? You could technically execute every single one of your prisoners for banditry as it is punishable with death in Alterac as is treason, but would that be a smart choice? Then there was the fact that not all bandits here had joined the Syndicate willingly, but due to fear.

“Prince Alric, I spoke with Captain Garside earlier and he said that if we were to escort all of our wounded and prisoners to Tarren Mill, we would require all of our troops to do it safely. Alternatively we could leave the prisoners here in the camp under guard and come back to retrieve them after we have dealt with our wounded.” Lieutenant Cromwell said to you.

Well that complicates things somewhat. It would be somewhat foolish to drag the men that you were going to execute in any case to Tarren Mill, so killing them here was what you planned to do. Everyone else could wait for later for you to decide what you would do with them.


Syndicate Prisoners:
24 of which 4 are leaders
>Allow everyone to live, throw them into jail.
>Execute the ringleaders, allow the rank and file to live.
>Execute them all, members of the Syndicate have committed treason against Alterac.

Bandit Prisoners:
67 of which 11 are leaders
>Allow everyone to live, throw them into jail.
>Execute the ringleaders, allow the rank and file to live.
>Execute them all, banditry is punishable with death in Alterac.

QM: The decision of whether you will leave the prisoners under guard to the camp will come later after I know how many of them are still alive after these choices. The vote for what to do with Otto Wanz comes later too.

>>5346087
Give them all a chance to earn their second chances, bandits and syndicates alike. Especially for ringleaders however make it clear it is suspension of sentence that can still be carried out if they relapse. But they will have chance to prove themselves.

Let's not mention that technically syndicates are following the rightful heir.

big decision here. Damn that's a lot of people

>>5346087
>>5346087
Syndicate Prisoners:
>Allow everyone to live, throw them into jail.
Bandit Prisoners:
>Allow everyone to live, throw them into jail.

The more people work in the mines the merrier.

>>5346100
Hey! Aliden may have more legitimacy because he is the oldest Perenolde, but at least we are not directly at war with the Alliance yet. this gives us more chances for our rule to be more successful in restoring Alterac

>>5346087
For both:
>Allow everyone to live, throw them into jail.

If we gain a reputation for mercy, future foes will be more likely to surrender to us.

>>5346087
Syndicate Prisoners:
>Allow everyone to live, throw them into jail.
Bandit Prisoners:
>Allow everyone to live, throw them into jail.

Mercy redemption go.

>>5346087
Syndicate Prisoners:
>Allow everyone to live, throw them into jail.
Bandit Prisoners:
>Allow everyone to live, throw them into jail.

If we take all, we should leave the camp. It's not possible to move around with wounded, prisoners, loot and also guard this camp. Doing more trips is asking for trouble.
And this is still a lot of prisoners with leaders, in any hard works they are put in they need a few people to just guard them. Because they might organize and escape.
We chain them, since we are still on campaign and we can't send soldiers home we need all of them.
One way trip, then we return here or maybe we can open the way to Stonedon. For the camp, we could dismount it and bring it away. Or dismount it and put it in a nearby place. Or just destroy it.

You had thanked Lieutenant Cromwell for that information and allowed him to go back to work. There was so much to do here and with so many prisoners and your own wounded to be taken care of, other stuff like sorting the loot will take some time. Thankfully you had officers that you trusted who you could delegate these issues to.

Lieutenant Cromwell continued to herd the prisoners around and make sure they were all properly tied up and no hidden weapons or anything similar could be found. You also had told him to provide mercy to those who weren’t expected to survive through the night. It wasn’t an easy order to give, but having to suffer in pain for hours and knowing that you are dying was a fate you didn’t want even your enemies to suffer.

The ox carts and tents had been brought to the camp and after several of them had been set up, you withdrew into your tent to go through the papers you had found in the hut of Sir Roberts. You didn’t get far as Captain Garside entered the tent. Having gone through the night without much or any sleep made him look really tired.

“Normand, you look awful.” You said to him as he sat down.

“I am getting too old for this. I don’t know how you youngsters have all the energy in the world.” He said as he took his waterskin to have a drink.

“You were young once.” You pointed out.

“True, but that was a long time ago.” Normand said back to you. “But enough of that, what will we be doing with the prisoners?”

“We will bring all of them to Tarren Mill, the ringleaders and enforcers will be interrogated, but they won’t be executed.” You said to Normand. “As long as they realise that they will be watched and their actions have consequences, showing them mercy in the long run could be the right choice.”

Normand looked thoughtful as he drank more water.

“It can be difficult, we don’t know if they accept your mercy and the first chance they have to escape or attempt something else, they will do it.” Normand said to you. “At least we should watch them closely and try to pick out the troublemakers before they could act.”

“I agree, they need to be watched. But even with the potential trouble, if people see me as a merciful ruler, they might see me in a better light as a better person.” You said to him.

“But you can’t look merciful or lenient, some might then attempt to use that to their advantage. They might think you are too naive.” Normand said to you. “That being said, did Lieutenant Cromwell tell you what I said to him?”

“Yeah, either we leave the prisoners here under guard or take them all with us.” You said back. “What do you think, should we take all of them with us? What about the camp?”

“It would be better if we took all of them with us. Tarren Mill can handle them for a moment and our troops could get some rest.” Normand said to you. “But if we kept them here, we could continue our small patrols without interruption.”

1/2

>>5346862

“And we have the Lyion and his men arriving in a few days.” You said back. “Not fast enough to escort the prisoners tomorrow, but to guard them and do patrols.”

Normand Garside nodded approvingly, that was another possibility.

“What of the camp itself? There are few huts and a palisade wall around the place. It would be a shame to let this place just be abandoned.” Normand asked you.

This camp was in a good position. Next to the Darrowmere River, not too far away from Tarren Mill, it had a palisade wall and a few huts built. You could use this place to launch further patrols deeper into Strahnbrad Hills and watch that no one crosses over the river. But if you aren’t going to be using the camp, it will end up abandoned and you must do something about it.


Prisoners:
>Escort the prisoners to Tarren Mill with the wounded. All of your troops withdraw back to Tarren Mill.
>Leave the prisoners in the camp under guard and come back to retrieve them after you have moved all wounded soldiers to Tarren Mill. You can continue the patrols in the meanwhile.

Camp:
>You will continue using the camp later. Keep it standing and don’t wreck the place.
>Abandon the camp and deny its usage to anyone else. Take everything worth taking with you and burn down everything else.

>>5346867
>>Escort the prisoners to Tarren Mill with the wounded. All of your troops withdraw back to Tarren Mill.

Camp:
>You will continue using the camp later. Keep it standing and don’t wreck the place.

We already killed or captured around one hundred bandits, its not like another one hundred can appear before our reinforments come to the camp.

>>5346867
And another thing, we unfortunately cannot for the moment (until that spy arrives, from our lady "friend" ) to engage in espionage and counter-espionage (beside adding more guards, put new security practices or make it a pain to collect informations) since Eligius has still no training. This means we can't know what happens to our enemies, beside rumors or by collecting informations from papers and interrogations.

>>5346867
>Escort the prisoners to Tarren Mill with the wounded. All of your troops withdraw back to Tarren Mill.
>You will continue using the camp later. Keep it standing and don’t wreck the place.

Remember that the hills aren't just home to the hill tribesmen, bandits bands or syndicate soldiers. There is good chances that gnolls, kobolds, orcs and even ogres could be here. The land is heavily disputed, and the type of terrains (deep forest, hills ecc) don't help either.

>>5346937
this was meant to be here

>>5346867
>Leave the prisoners in the camp under guard and come back to retrieve them after you have moved all wounded soldiers to Tarren Mill. You can continue the patrols in the meanwhile.
>You will continue using the camp later. Keep it standing and don’t wreck the place.

>>5346867
I'd say let's escort everyone to Tarren Mill and then go back.

However select some skirmishers and/or archers to stick around the camp to watch if someone comes check it out after we leave.

Keep the camp for our future use.

“Making multiple trips to come back to escort the prisoners to Tarren Mill would be stupid. We will leave this place tomorrow, with all of our wounded soldiers and prisoners in tow.” You said to Garside. “But we will leave the camp up and standing. The location and the few buildings here are just too good to not use.”

“That sounds good, I will inform the officers and then I think I will have to take a nap.” Garside said to you and stood up. “We should have the loot gathered later today and moved into the carts.”

“Good, good work Normand.”

“Just doing my duty Prince Alric.” Normand Garside said and nodded before leaving your tent.

…

You had gone through the letters and papers you had found for a second time and started connecting the dots and dates. And when Sir Gravis brought you a pile of papers, you really were surprised. Apparently Otto Wanz had practically told him his whole life story.

But what he had told Sir Gravis did add to what he had said to you. More minute details of Lord Creedy, what he had been doing previously and in the Syndicate, previous missions he had done and so on. One fact was quite interesting, apparently some of the tasks he had performed were not against enemies of the Syndicate, but to cause harm and problems to other power players within the organisation. Apparently this Lord Creedy didn’t like the Lord Falconcrest that much. Still even with this new information, you weren’t exactly sure if you should stay your hand and let the man live. Having a second warlock felt dangerous and Eligius had supported you executing him, but you needed more magic users and you felt that he would behave.

You had also gone through the events of the day with your officers. How the battle had gone, what they were thinking right now, the usual. You learned from Lieutenant Cromwell and Sir Radan that they had difficulties in getting through the Syndicate shieldwall and the moment the battle turned into a melee, it became too even to their liking. You also talked with Lieutenant Beckston who told you how the moment they had gotten their pikes down, the bandits had big problems against them. Sure many of the Kul Tirans had gotten wounded, but none of them that badly. They all should make a recovery in the coming months.

The battle itself had gone nearly as perfectly as it could have gone. Having Captain Garside flanking the bandits, Rovers on the hill with the archers and Lieutenant Cromwell and the footmen with you meant that the bandits and Syndicate troops were being pushed from two directions without a way out. After Sir Roberts was dead, they could either attempt to run away and be targeted by the archers, attempt to swim over the river and drown or surrender to you.

And thankfully they had chosen to surrender.

1/2

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>>5347414


With the afternoon having turned into early evening and the sun had started to set, you stood on the rocky beach watching as several pyres were being set on fire. You couldn’t leave the bodies around the camp to start decomposing or attracting animals or worse. So you had ordered them to be collected and whatever spare wood that was around to be made into several pyres so that you could burn the bodies. The twelve dead Alteracis would be transported to Tarren Mill and then to Dawnholme, but these bandits would find their resting places at the shore of Darrowmere River.

Watching as the bodies started to burn, you found Malevus approaching you. You saw that she, just like everyone else here was dead tired, but she still carried herself with the poise you had learned she had.

“Prince Alric, may we speak?” Malevus asked you and brushed her deep red hair away from her face.

“Yeah, what is it Malevus?” You said to her and waved her to join you watching the pyres.

“I heard from Raleigh that you wouldn’t be executing any of the prisoners.” She said to you. “And I came to say thank you.”

“For if I am not consistent…” You started to say.

“How can my people believe in me and what I do?” Malevus finished what you were going to say. “I remember what you said to me in Tarren Mill and I am glad to see that you kept your word.”

True, Malevus had asked you to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and death. And allowing the prisoners to live had accomplished that.

“Prince Alric, it is an honour to serve you.”

“Thank you Malevus, but if you don’t have anything else to do today, you should go and sleep. You look awfully tired.”

“I will do that Prince Alric. Good night.” Malevus said with a tired smile on her face.

You were proud of her. While she had plenty to learn, she had done what she could. She had kept your back protected, even if she had some trouble with the two attackers.

You stretched your arms and back before heading back to your tent. You wouldn't have the luxury of going to sleep now as you still have work to do and there were still hours in the day.

…

Next morning you woke up early after just a few hours of sleep. You had continued going through the papers and looked at the map that the Kul Tiran had continued to draw and compared it to the map you had with you from before. If you returned here soon and kept your patrols up, you would have secured a small portion of the Strahnbrad Hills and managed to create a buffer to protect Tarren Mill.

Still looking at the map, it was quite clear how much work there still was ahead of you. Today you would start your return journey to Tarren Mill, but before that you would have to choose what you will do with the warlock Otto Wanz.

2/2

>>5347416


>He is too dangerous to be kept around, his fate is death. Execute him here.
>You will take the man with you to Tarren Mill with the other prisoners and hand him to Dalaran on a later date. His fate will be then out of your hands.
>Attempt to recruit him after he had given you all the information he had. You need more magic users and Eligius alone isn’t enough. The idea of a warlock coven intrigued you. It was dangerous, but the benefits could outweigh the negatives.

And give me a roll, this is for the loot.

>1d10
>Best of three

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>5347419

Give the Warlock a choice between:
>He is too dangerous to be kept around, his fate is death. Execute him here.
and
>You will take the man with you to Tarren Mill with the other prisoners and hand him to Dalaran on a later date. His fate will be then out of your hands.

In other words, let him choose either the justice of Alterac or the justice of Dalaran.

>>5347419
Can we offer him a second chance as a civilian? Let him know that warlock sorcery is outlawed, but he gets the same second chance that everyone else gets to start over and live an honest life.

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>5347506
>>5347419

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>5347419
>>Attempt to recruit him after he had given you all the information he had. You need more magic users and Eligius alone isn’t enough. The idea of a warlock coven intrigued you. It was dangerous, but the benefits could outweigh the negatives.

The warlock has been compliant so far.

>>5347416
Given that the warlock was cooperative and if we let him go he would likely be killed, I’m inclined to let him live along with the other prisoners.
Under condition that he would not be practicing magic and be under surveillance.
He is realistically a dead man walking anyway.

Alternatively we could offer him a clean death with option to see the priest first or something.

Giving a second chance and forbidding him from practicing warlock sorcery seems to be the winner. With one vote for executing him/sending away and one for attempting to recruit him, this seems to be a good middle point.

And can you give me another set of rolls.


>1d10
>Best of three

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>5348282

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>5348282

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>5348282

>5

Otto Wanz would stay as your prisoner, but be forbidden from practising warlock sorcery. Just like everyone else you took prisoner, you were going to provide him with a second chance. He would be watched and if you found anything that showed proof that he would be acting against you or illegally performing magic, he would end up losing his head.

You watched from a distance as Sir Gravis went and dragged him back to other prisoners and when the realisation hit him that he wouldn’t be executed, you had never seen such a relieved man before in your life.

During the morning last of the loot that could be taken with you was put into the carts. Swords, axes, maces, spearheads, metal bands from shields were taken by your men and put into their backpacks. Bits of armour, helmets and other heavier bits were moved into the carts. Barrels of salted fish and meat were taken with you and in some cases some of the ox carts you were using to carry your own supplies were laden so full that there were concerns of them breaking under the weight.

Sadly you had to leave some of the stuff behind just because you didn’t have enough people or carts to carry it all. They had brought plenty of food and other supplies with them and you just had to leave it behind. As much as it annoyed you, you ordered as much of the food to be taken with you and the rest of it being thrown into the river. You wouldn’t want to attract animals here. What remained behind was then stashed under floorboards or in other caches that you hoped would remain hidden if someone arrived here before you would be back.


Gained:
>9 Supplies

1/3

File: Forest Bandits.png (2.83 MB, 1884x834)

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>>5349046

>9

The return journey had started slowly and the progress back to Tarren Mill was atrociously slow. The walking wounded shuffled forward, the ox carts had problems going over the more difficult terrain, those carrying the stretchers had to carefully move forward to keep the wounded men comfortable.

But even if the progress was slow, the pace was steady and nothing you worried about happened. No broken or overturned carts or anything. Even the weather stayed good and dry, the sun was shining and there was no rain.

The first day went without issues and during the early afternoon of the second day your archers spotted people approaching you. They were the mercenaries you had hired and had attempted to reach you as fast as possible.

The familiar looking trio of men approached you and greeted you with very stiff bows. They clearly weren’t used to dealing with nobility and now you were the one being in the position of power.

“Greetings Prince Alric.” Lyion said to you and raised his head from his bow. “I am Lyion, on the left is Getz and one on the right is Netherand.”

“Pleasure to see you again Lyion, Getz and Netherand.” You greeted them. “Welcome to the service of Alterac. It seems that the life in Hillsbrad wasn’t to your liking.”

“Thanks to your help most of us did return back to their former lives, but for some of us to leave was the best choice.” Lyion said to you.

“I understand, please find Captain Garside, he will give you the orders and get you caught up with the events.”

“Yes Prince Alric.” Lyion said back and gave you another stiff bow before leaving.

You should probably talk with Lyion at some point when you have the time and less important things to do.

Later that day you reached the small village Captain Garside had checked out and from which the menfolk had been conscripted by the Syndicate. Some of the locals you had freed had already reached the village and now the rest of them got back to their homes. As you ordered your soldiers to have a break in the village, the locals came to help them. And when you continued your trek back towards Tarren Mill, more people volunteered to help you in carrying the loot and the wounded. You couldn’t really say no to more workers.

2/3

>>5349048

The second day had passed and you had sent a runner to Tarren Mill to have them send more carts, workers and soldiers to come meet with you. When the hills started to turn into the forests of Tarren Mill, your runner returned with the help. Now with plenty of helping hands and ox carts available, the rest of the trip back to Tarren Mill went without issues.

The prisoners were corralled into one empty warehouse with the ringleaders moved into the actual jail. Your wounded soldiers along with the wounded bandits and Syndicate troops filled the church and its infirmary and the locals started their work to unload the carts. Amongst all this you stood directing traffic and making sure that everything was going as well as possible. You wanted everything to be done today and get your men to rest because they deserved it.

…

It was quite late and it seemed that most of the work had been done. The carts had been unloaded and Tarren Mill started to settle down for the evening. You felt so tired, like all the fatigue from the previous days hit you all at once. Still there was a bit of the evening remaining which you could spend usefully.


Choose one:
>See if the small bathhouse is open, clean yourself and then go to sleep. You need to be as fresh as possible tomorrow for you know it will be a long day too.
>Go report to Mayor Fowley how the invasion of Strahnbrad Hills had progressed and how the battle had gone. Plan how you are going to deal with the prisoners and how Tarren Mill could help you next.
>Captain Garside was handling and organising the loot. Go see him and talk about how much loot from the camp and battlefield we managed to collect.
>Father Hampton has a large task in healing and tending the wounded. Go speak with him about the care the wounded will receive and if he could help you in any other way.

QM: The second roll was to see how well the return journey back home would go and if anything bad would happen. And it went really well.

>>5349051
well we should definitely see Fowley seeing as we brought a bunch of security hazards with us, he won't be thrilled about that. However, maybe we can afford to stop by Father Hampton first to ensure the wounded are taken care of.

>>5349051
>>Go report to Mayor Fowley how the invasion of Strahnbrad Hills had progressed and how the battle had gone. Plan how you are going to deal with the prisoners and how Tarren Mill could help you next.

>>5349051
>>Go report to Mayor Fowley how the invasion of Strahnbrad Hills had progressed and how the battle had gone. Plan how you are going to deal with the prisoners and how Tarren Mill could help you next

You really should go talk with Mayor Fowley, after all you had brought quite many prisoners into his town. He probably didn't want them to be around for that long.

Walking into the town hall, you found one of the clerks still there and asked him if Fowley was still up? The clerk wasn't sure and went up the stairs to check if he was. It didn’t take long for him to come back down and tell you that Fowley would be receiving you.

Thanking the clerks you walked up the stairs and into a study of his not into Fowleys office you usually find him in.

"Good evening Prince Alric." Fowley said to you. The small bookish man was wearing a simple tunic on top of he had thrown a purple robe. "I was just going to go to bed, but you wanted to see me."

"My apologies Mayor Fowley, I wanted to get this done and not leave it for tomorrow." You said with a small smile.

Mayor Fowley sighed and yawned before he went and took out two glasses and a bottle of whiskey.

"Well if you have something to say, we can talk while enjoying a bit of this." He said back to you while pouring the whiskey.

So you spoke and told him about the invasion and the battle itself. How it had gone, what you did after it was finished and how you brought all the prisoners to Tarren Mill.

"That was a great victory Prince Alric, Tarren Mill is grateful for your actions." Fowley said to you. "The other merchants will be ecstatic about this."

You could see and hear how relieved and happy he really was. His town was now safe from bandits and Syndicate troops.

"The issue is still the prisoners." He continued and mused aloud. "I can’t imagine the merchants or others wanting them around for that long. What do you plan on doing with them? Hanging their leaders?"

"No, they will be interrogated, but left alive." You said back.

"All of them? That sounds very lenient, people might see you as too lenient even. You could hang all of them, at least hang their leaders." Fowley said and was astonished.

1/2

>>5349486

"I have shown mercy before and I need to be consistent. I hope people see me giving them a second chance in the same way I hope they give me and my family a second chance." You said back to Fowley.

"I understand. What are you then planning on doing with them?" He asked you.

"Forced labour, they get to work in the lumber mill's, felling trees or they work in the mines." You told him. "They get to repay what they have done and mend their mistakes through hard labour and work."

"Hard labour you say?" Fowley said and seemed to be thinking something. You had seen him thinking before and you knew he was going to suggest something to you. "They are a very cheap workforce for manual labour."

"Fowley, what are you suggesting now?" You had to ask him.

"While the merchants wouldn't like to have them around, the fact that they are cheap could be used to change their minds." Fowley said to you and continued. "Tarren Mill could house half of the prisoners, allowing Alterac to save in expenses regarding guarding and feeding them. We could make use of them in our lumber mill and in other tasks."

Well that wasn't that bad of an idea, but your men had fought to secure those prisoners and you would like to benefit as much as possible from the hard labour, you needed more workers. But on the other hand, you would have less prisoners to be watched, fed and looked after.


>Suggest Tarren Mill to accept all the prisoners. You wouldn’t benefit from the hard labour, but you wouldn't have to watch after them either. No Effect.
>Agree to leave half of the prisoners to Tarren Mill. This will cut the potential hard labour workforce in half. +20 Peasants, -1 Supply per season
>Decline, you will take all prisoners with you. You are going to need all of them in Dawnholme and it wasn’t Tarren Mill who captured them. +40 Peasants, -2 Supply per season

Total Resources:
8 Wealth, +15 per season
23 Supplies, -2 per season
30 Peasants

QM: Total Resources updated. With the prisoners doing hard labour, it will free up Peasants to be used in other tasks. Technically you aren’t gaining any new Peasants, it is just easier to keep track of them this way. The Supply cost is for guarding and feeding them.

>>5349489
I have kind of mixed feelings about this because even although those people can be glad to have been spared the rope for now it still doesn't sit right to treat them as merchandise. On the other hand, giving them choice where they want to work would be too generous.

>Politely decline, although the offer has material appeal these people are our responsibility now.

>>5349489
>>5349528
support

>>5349489
>>Agree to leave half of the prisoners to Tarren Mill. This will cut the potential hard labour workforce in half. +20 Peasants, -1 Supply per season

This sounds like a good deal and it will keep our relationship with Tarren Mill positive.

>>5349489
>>Decline, you will take all prisoners with you. You are going to need all of them in Dawnholme and it wasn’t Tarren Mill who captured them. +40 Peasants, -2 Supply per season
The prisoners are ours to take care of them and we need all peasants we can free from labour, we need to replenish our casualties.

>>5349489
>>Decline, you will take all prisoners with you. You are going to need all of them in Dawnholme and it wasn’t Tarren Mill who captured them. +40 Peasants, -2 Supply per season

Declining wins, but no update today. Very busy day and this time not even work related busyness. So please choose what will Alric do tomorrow.


>Visit the church and speak with Father Hampton. You want to see how the wounded are doing.
>Go talk with Captain Garside about the loot gathered and about the hard labour the prisoners will be facing.
>Lieutenant Cromwell has taken up the task to prepare your troops for more action. Talk with him about the status of your troops.
>Mystery Box

>>5350743
>>Lieutenant Cromwell has taken up the task to prepare your troops for more action. Talk with him about the status of your troops.

>>5350743
>>Mystery Box
you are an evil evil man.

>>5350743
>>Lieutenant Cromwell has taken up the task to prepare your troops for more action. Talk with him about the status of your troops.

"I am sorry, but I cannot agree. Although they were spared of the rope, I cannot handle them like merchandise. While your offer has an appeal, they are now my responsibility.” You said to Fowley. He didn’t react, it seems like he expected your answer.

“Oh well, it was worth a try.” Fowley said back. “And I understand, they are not merchandise to be traded around.”

“Many of them are either from Alterac or from Strahnbrad Hills. They are part of my people, even if they decided to act against me.” You said to him. “I cannot turn them away, the Alteraci people are already way too splintered and spread around Lordaeron.”

“That is a good reasoning, but Prince Alric, if you don’t mind, you have to be careful not to show too much leniency. Sooner or later someone will attempt to take advantage of that.” Fowley said to you.

He was right, you had to avoid being too lenient.

“No harm and I know that. It is a tightrope to walk on.” You said back and finished your whiskey. “Thank you Mayor Fowley for the whiskey and for the talk, but it is quite late.”

You stood up and allowed Fowley to finish his own drink before you presented him your hand.

“For the prosperity of Tarren Mill.” You said as he shook your hand.

“And for the prosperity of Alterac.” Fowley said with a smile.

,,,

The morning you woke up still somewhat groggy from not getting enough sleep. Last night after leaving Fowley you had just walked to Monica’s Inn and found the room she had reserved for you. After that you had just stripped off your armour, threw it on the floor and crashed directly into the bed.

Now waking up still wearing your arming jacket, you had to attempt to wake up. Washing your hands and face with the water that had been brought into the room in a bowl, you changed into a fresh set of your normal clothes and headed downstairs. Before you left, you noticed your armour missing.

“Good morning Prince Alric.” Monica said to you with a smile. “I hope you slept well.”

“Good morning Monica.” You said back and sat down on a stool next to the counter. “And no, I didn’t sleep enough, it has been a long several days.”

“You look horrible and I am saying that as a friend.” Monica said to you while tapping her own eye bags, implying that yours are quite prominent.

“And I hoped washing my face was enough.” You said and chuckled a bit. “But I must ask, where is my armour?”

“Ahh, it was your squire. The elf Malevus, who carefully sneaked and carried it out. She said that she would be taking it to the blacksmith to be looked at and cleaned properly.” Monica explained and gave you a bowl of porridge and some apple juice to drink.

1/2

>>5351797

“She is very eager to serve.” You said back to Monica.

“She seems like a good person, very gentle.” Monica mused aloud to you.

Gentle was a good word to describe Malevus. She exactly wasn’t someone who was born to be a fighter or a paladin, but she was going to work hard to become one.

You dug into the porridge as Monica started to serve other customers who had arrived for breakfast and it didn’t take long for you to finish the breakfast. You said goodbye to Monica and headed out. You had plenty of things to do today.

…

You found Lieutenant Cromwell in the town hall. He wasn’t wearing his footman's armour you commonly saw him in and instead wore a simple tunic of black and orange. When he saw that you entered the room he was in, he stood up to give you a bow.

“Prince Alric.”

“Cromwell, how are the men?” You asked him.

“Directly to the point. Well truth to be told Sire, they need plenty of rest and some units aren’t in a shape to fight.” Cromwell said to you. “Stromgarde Guard, Sir Radan and his men, some of the footmen and Kul Tirans with the pikemen aren’t capable of combat.”

“But the archers are fine?” You asked him.

“Along with some of the footmen.” Cromwell said back.

“How many days?”

“Three Sire.” Cromwell said and continued. “Today to rest, tomorrow to maintain their equipment and day after to prepare for another foray into Strahnbrad Hills.”

Cromwell explained how Stromgarde Guards had been shaken by their losses. They were a tightly knit group and losing three of them in a one battle in dead and two in wounded wasn’t good for their morale. Sir Radan had faced similar losses, but he and his men weren’t down, neither were the Kul Tirans who had been lucky for only suffering wounds and no one dying.

“Five knights, nineteen footmen, thirty archers and twenty skirmishers.” Cromwell said to you. “That is how many we can take with us. Rest of them need more rest.”

74 soldiers, it should be enough, that is if you don’t face another battle like the one before. But was three days of rest enough, do the men need more?

“So three days is the bare minimum for rest and getting everything ready?” You asked Cromwell. “Would more days be better? More rest for the men?”

“Yes Sire, it would be. But waiting for too long could give our enemies a chance to recover too or move into the camp.” Cromwell said to you.

You had defeated the Syndicate troops. If there were more smaller bandit groups, would they pose a threat to you anymore? What about other creatures, or maybe orc raiding parties? Would you be that unlucky to have one slip in while you are away? Would waiting a few more days be harmful in the scheme of things?

2/2

>>5351799


>Three days. On the fourth the men are ready to return back to Strahnbrad Hills. Prevent your enemies from recovering and seize the initiative.
>Five days. The men require more rest and you want them to be well prepared and ready.
>Seven days, a whole week. Your men deserve this rest and a longer break. After that they all should be ready, motivated and prepared.

Current number of soldiers: 28 Footmen, 21 Pikemen, 5 Knights, 27 Bandit Rogues, 34 Archers

Group Prince Alric and capable of fighting:
Prince Alric Perenolde, A Prince of Alterac on foot
Lieutenant Austyn Cromwell, a lieutenant of Alterac
Sir Gravis of Knott, a knight in your service
Alfred and Arthur Rover, rangers of Alterac
Lyion, a forest bandit in service of Alterac
Malevus, an Elf squire
Eligius, a scribe and a warlock, currently spymaster in training
-5/5 Knights of Gravis, Regular Knights on foot
-8/10 Veteran Footmen
-11/15 Benedict's Blood Alley Boys, Veteran Footmen
-20/20 Regular Archers
-10/10 Veteran Archers
-20/20 Lyion’s Rogues, Regular Bandit Rogues

Group Captain Garside and not in shape to fight and require more rest and reinforcements:
Captain Normand Garside, a knight of Alterac on foot
Lieutenant Richard Beckston, the leader of Kul Tiran Swashbucklers
Sergeant Jon Maxwell, the leader of Stromgarde Guards
Sir Alan Radan, a former bandit and a knight in your service
Raleigh the True, a paladin of Silver Hand
-4/10 Veteran Footmen
-9/20 Kul Tiran Swashbucklers, Regular Pikemen
-12/20 Regular Pikemen
-4/10 Veteran Archers
-5/10 Stormgarde Guards, Veteran Footmen
-7/15 Sir Alan Radan's Men, Regular Bandit Rogues

QM: 4chan being down for half a day probably cut some of the participation down, but even that in account I am somewhat surprised that the good old Mystery Box didn't sweep that vote.

>>5351800
>mystery box
I was sorely tempted but as you say, there were technical issues. Anyways
>take the less exhausted part of the force back to camp so we have presence there and have the others rest for the week, then follow to the camp. We can take the time until they reach us reinforcing the camp, some field training and recon patrols

>>5351800
>5351873
Supporting this

>>5351800
>>Three days. On the fourth the men are ready to return back to Strahnbrad Hills. Prevent your enemies from recovering and seize the initiative.

The hardest part of the campaign is likely behind us now and we have to finish the rest of it before winter.

>>5351800
>>Three days. On the fourth the men are ready to return back to Strahnbrad Hills. Prevent your enemies from recovering and seize the initiative.
We have a victory, we can have more

I can work with this quite easily. Your goal is to get everyone up and ready as soon as possible.

Give me a random event roll of 1d10 please. I will also take the second roll too.


>1d10
>Best of three and also in addition taking the second roll

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>5352746

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>5352746

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>5352746

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>5352746

10 is good news, but that 4 complicates things a bit. Could I have another set of 1d10s?


>1d10
>Best of three

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>5352986
Don’t bring me down

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>5352986

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>5352986

"So three days to get our men ready and moving." You mused aloud.

"Yes Sire, that would be correct." Cromwell said back to you.

"Then we shall do so." You said and continued. "But those troops who had taken more casualties should rest for a longer time, maybe a week should be enough. Then they can follow us and join us in the camp."

Cromwell thought about it for a moment before he nodded.

"One week should be enough, but they have taken a considerable amount of casualties. Their ability to fight is heavily diminished." Cromwell explained. "But they could perform small patrols and guard the camp."

"That sounds good, make sure that everyone is informed and that we are ready." You said back to him. "Do you have anything else?"

"No Sire, nothing else right now." Cromwell said.

"Alright, I will leave you then and allow you to return back to your work." You said and left.

Three days and then you would return back to Strahnbrad Hills and continue your campaign. You knew that armies march on their stomachs and through your studies you had learned the importance of rest and avoiding overextending yourself. A short return like this back to friendly territory is a wonderful way to rest and get your mind out of the soldiering, even if only for a few days.

…

>10

You kept your ears and eyes open as you went through your business. Having checked the interrogation process which Lieutenant Beckston had started and having greeted the Rovers, who were making sure that the archers had enough arrows, you saw and heard what the locals were now talking about.

Yesterday they had been somewhat wary of your men and the prisoners, but now they had realised, probably after seeing the amount of loot brought back and understanding how many prisoners had been taken, that how big of a success your battle had been for them.

They now saw the results and understood how big of a threat you and your men had managed to prevent causing further trouble to them.

Now knowing this, you found yourself being thanked and stopped near constantly by them. Not having been idolised like this before, you had some difficulties at accepting all the thanks. And it didn't help that Sir Gravis and his knights started to be somewhat nervous about it. What if someone approaches you and stabs you? That was a distinct possibility.

Still seeing how much the people of Tarren Mill appreciated you made you happy. You had won their support before this, but now it felt that it was unbreakable. And if or better to say when the word spreads, soon the whole Hillsbrad knows about this. And then the rest of the Lordaeron soon follows.

1/2

>>5353648

>4
>8

As you spoke with a local merchant about the crops and what he has been selling here, it started to rain.

First it was just a few solitary raindrops, but soon it started to pick up and you retreated into Monica's Inn. The rain got too heavy to stay outside.

You looked out through a window and watched as the main street had become empty. Only cloaked soldiers and guards continued their business, but everyone else had disappeared inside their homes and workplaces.

The autumn rains had started.

"Yeah it will keep raining." Monica said to you as she cleaned a glass.

"I hope it will pass soon. There are things to be done." You mused and spoke loud enough for her to hear before sighing deeply. "But if these rains are just as constant as in Dawnholme, it can rain for weeks."

"Prince Alric, you were planning on going back to the hills?" Monica asked you.

"We might have defeated the bandits there but not everyone had joined the larger group. Not forgetting whatever else is out there." You said to her as you turned around. The rain wouldn't stop if you kept staring at it.

The inn was quite empty. A few of your own soldiers were sitting around the tables playing with dice, eating or having started to maintain their arms and armour. You sat down on a stool next to the counter.

"I heard the rumours that you visited Capital City." Monica asked you.

"I did, there was some business I needed to attend." You said back to her. You visiting the Capital City was not a secret at all.

"How was it? I have never visited the city, even if it is relatively close to us. Was it more magnificent than Stormwind City?" Monica asked you and leaned a bit closer. "Rumours say that you impressed many people there."

Monica leaned even closer and whispered so that others wouldn't hear.

"Did you meet any girls? You did say some had expressed their interest towards you."
>Tell her about the Capital City, how magnificent the Royal Palace was and how much bigger the city was compared to Stormwind City.
>Explain the business you had in Capital City. Helping Lord Blackmoore regarding the escaped orc.
>Tell her what you had said in the Imperial Chamber. There is no need to hide your opinion about Thrall from Monica.
>Ask more about the rumours. What are people talking about you? Has Monica heard anything else useful?
>Other, write in


>Decline politely and don't tell her about seeing Calia or anyone else.
>Mention seeing someone, but keep it vague enough. No need to reveal anything.
>Tell her that you met with Calia Menethil, but don't go into details.

QM: Please vote on both.

>>5353650
>Tell her about the Capital City, how magnificent the Royal Palace was and how much bigger the city was compared to Stormwind City.
and
>Ask more about the rumours. What are people talking about you? Has Monica heard anything else useful?

>Mention seeing someone, but keep it vague enough. No need to reveal anything.

>>5353650
>Tell her about Stormwind city, answer what she wishes to hear about. Except…
>Mention seeing someone but also that you promised to keep her confidence, and it’s in confidence to Monica as a friend you’re mentioning it at all.

>>5353664
Also, rumors would be nice if she heard anything interesting

>>5353650
>Tell her about the Capital City, how magnificent the Royal Palace was and how much bigger the city was compared to Stormwind City.
and
>Ask more about the rumours. What are people talking about you? Has Monica heard anything else useful?

>Mention seeing someone, but keep it vague enough. No need to reveal anything.

As the rain washed the roofs of Tarren Mill, you told Monica about your trip to Capital City. You didn’t tell her about your business there, but instead attempted to describe the city and the Royal Palace as well as you could.

Monica listened carefully as you spoke, concentrating on your every word and taking it all in. She seemed to enjoy you describing what you had seen and you could see it in her eyes how fascinating it seemed.

The cook of the inn interrupted two of you and told you that the food was ready. It was a bit early for lunch, but as it was raining outside and you couldn’t do much out there, you decided to eat a little. It was also a good excuse to move into the more private side room and ask Monica about the rumours.

As Monica brought you a bowl of cabbage soup and a mug of beer to go with it, you waved to her to sit down.

"I need to ask you about the rumours." You said to her. "What are they talking about me?"

"Well I don't know much…" Monica said back somewhat sheepishly.

"You did speak about the rumours, that I impressed some people?" You said back to her. "And you are an innkeeper, surely you hear about things."

"Well if you insist." Monica said and kept thinking what she would tell you. "A merchant that visited here a few days ago said that people in Capital City were talking about how you had carried yourself. He said that apparently you had spoken your mind and not attempted to avoid getting into trouble."

That was true, you knew what you said wasn't going to be liked amongst some people, but still you had said what you said because it was the truth.

"How did I impress them then?" You asked.

"They thought you would be playing it safe. That is how the merchant explained it to me." Monica said to you. "Sorry I don't know anything more about it."

"Actually that was what I wanted to know. I didn't really intermingle with the local nobility, so I couldn't hear from them what they were thinking about me." You said back to her and noticed how relieved Monica became as what she said was actually helpful. "Have you heard anything else? Anything that could be useful?"

"Hmmm, well our charcoal burner was visiting relatives and he came back from Durnholde Keep a few days ago. He said that Lord Blackmoore had been extremely furious about something." Monica said to you. "He didn't know why, but apparently the servants were quite nervous."

"Prince Alric, haven't you met with Lord Blackmoore? Why would he be furious?" Monica asked you. She didn't know about what kind of a man Lord Blackmoore really was and you weren't inclined to tell her right now.

"He is very temperamental, it could be many things that made him furious about something." You told her and had a hunch why he was furious. It must have been the trip to Capital City.

You finished the cabbage soup having said and and drank some of the beer.

1/3

>>5354587

"But the girls, you must have seen someone there?" Monica asked you.

"Oh you really want to hear about that, don't you." You said back to her with a smile. "You are very interested about it, aren’t you?"

"Ahh well, I mean… Prince Alric you are a very good man and I wish whoever is the lucky girl is worthy of deserving you." Monica managed to collect herself and tell you.

"And you like rumours and gossip like this." You said back to her with a laugh.

"And that, guilty as charged." She said and laughed too.

"Well I did see someone, but I promised her not to speak about it." You told Monica.

You saw how surprised Monica was when you said that, but it turned into pure happiness near immediately.

"I am so happy for you!" Monica said to you with a very wide smile. "And don’t worry, I won't speak of this to anyone."

"Thank you Monica."

"But if you make her unhappy, I will be extremely disappointed in you." She said to you sternly.

"I promise!" You said and raised your hands up.

…

It was a good thing that you and Monica had managed to get whatever was between you and her solved the last time you met her. Talking to her like this was really refreshing as you didn’t have that many chances to talk with people of your age who weren’t nobles or aware of your status and acting differently because of it.

To you Monica was a friend, someone without a status and now not having a reason to behave differently. She was closest to being your best friend of the people you knew.

You and Monica continued chit-chatting for some time as the rain continued to fall. You didn’t even realise how much time had gone as Captain Garside entered the inn and was guided to the side room you were in with Monica. His cloak was soaking wet as were his clothes as he entered the room.

"Prince Alric, here you are. I tried to see if you were in the town hall before I was guided here." Garside said to you before turning his eyes towards Monica. "And may I ask your name?"

"I am Monica, the owner of this inn." Monica said with a smile and stood up to give Garside a curtsy. "May I take your cloak? We can get it dry as soon as possible and do you require anything to eat?"

"The cabbage soup is pretty good." You said to Garside.

"Thank you, yes please." Normand said to Monica and passed his wet cloak to her.

With a smile Monica took it and left the room leaving you and Normand alone.

2/3

>>5354591

"We have been friends since I came here the first time. Saved her from Sir Radan and his men." You told him.

"She seems like a nice girl." Normand said and gave you a questioning look.

"And I said we are just friends." You said back to him.

"Alright, I trust you." He said with a chuckle.

"You probably didn't attempt to find me without a reason?" You asked him and steered away from the subject.

"Lieutenant Cromwell told me about your plans and I spoke with Mayor Fowley. The prisoners can stay here until we have a secure place for them in Dawnholme. A guarded camp of some sort needs to be built first for them." Normand said to you. "But that wasn’t the reason why I am here."

"What is it then? You asked him. He seemed somewhat cagey.

"It is Eligius. Remember when I mentioned that we found those four women in the cave?" He said to you and continued. "Well I saw him approaching and talking with them. It wasn’t just normal greetings, but a longer discussion. And when he saw me seeing him with them, he guided them away."

"Yes and?" You weren’t sure what Normand was attempting to say here.

"I find it very suspicious. I found the women very suspicious in the first place, but because we couldn't suspect them of anything, we couldn't do anything either." Normand explained to you. "And now they were talking with the warlock."

"A warlock, one in Tarren Mill?" Monica asked as she walked in with a bowl of cabbage soup and a mug of beer.

Oh great, she heard that.


>Tell Garside to go find and apprehend those women while you go and find Eligius to talk with. It is very suspicious behavior from him.
>Send someone to fetch Eligius here, you want to hear from him what he has been doing.
>You trust Eligius, he must have a good reason to talk with the women. You can ask about them on a later date.
>Garside needs to calm down and put aside his mistrust of Eligius. He is one of you now and Garside needs to learn to trust him.

>Tell Monica to forget everything she heard.
>Yes, there is a warlock in Tarren Mill, but there is nothing for her to worry about.
>The warlock is serving you and you keep a close watch on him. She can trust that no harm will come.

QM: Please vote on both

>>5354591
Did she also heard rumours about us and the princess, or Jaina? Or is she going to assume it's Malevus? Oh boy you're going to have fun with this OP aren't you.

>>5354593
Oh my. Could it be? Witches? That would be a tremendous boon if we could get friendly spellcaster community on our side. At least unless they turn out like the bunch plaguing Kul Tiras... ahem.

Also damn... I really like Monica but I don't want to dump all our secrets on her.

>Tell Garside we'll look into the matter. He has not given us any reason to doubt his loyalty since we rescued him.
>Tell Monica that we've found warlocks among the bandits and the people in the wilds but it's a manageable hazard. We make it our business to safeguard our people as well as allied settlements from dark magic whoever would be using it.

>>5354602
Am I going to have fun? Of course! I have plenty of fun planned for you!

File: darth vader concerned.jpg (23 KB, 640x480)

23 KB JPG

>>5354765
Not the dwarf fortress type of fun I should hope

>>5354602
Um support

>>5354593
>Tell Garside to go find and apprehend those women while you go and find Eligius to talk with. It is very suspicious behavior from him.
I want to trust him but this is something we need to look into, we spoke with him regarding a coven before.
>Tell Monica to forget everything she heard.

>>5354826
having them apprehended now without first looking into the matter more subtly will potentially alienate a valuable asset and attract undue attention to our spymaster in training on top of causing a scene in Tarren Mill. It's a horrible idea. If we're feeling paranoid we could have Garside and/or the knights nearby when we talk to them.

>>5354602
support

File: 1516478947515.gif (1.21 MB, 297x202)

1.21 MB GIF

>>5354789

You sighed and allowed Monica to serve the cabbage soup to Garside before you said anything.

"Normand, I will look into the matter. Eligius has not given me or us any reason to doubt his loyalties since we rescued him from the bandits." You said to Garside and hoped that he would understand.

"I understand and I won’t act on my own. Any issues will be yours to handle." Garside said back. "For I don't trust the man and I don’t want to be right about it."

"Don’t worry about it." You said with a calm voice and attempted to alleviate the concerns Normand had before you turned your head towards Monica who was still listening to what you were saying.

"And Monica, what you heard was correct. There are warlocks in Tarren Mill as we have found them amongst the bandits and the people in the wilds, but they are a manageable hazard. They are under our control." You said to her and continued speaking with the same calm voice.

"If you say so." Monica said to you carefully and didn't know if she was to trust you. You could hear that in her voice.

"We make it our priority to protect and safeguard our people as well as our allies from dark magic and whoever is using it. When I say that we have things under our control I really do mean it." You said back to her.

Monica seemed to think about your words for a moment before nodding and smiling.

"I trust you Prince Alric. And I think I shouldn't be talking about this to anyone else?" Monica said to you.

"See Normand, you should be like Monica here, just trust me. Everything will be fine." You said to your foster parent with a laugh.

"Alright Alric, I trust you." Normand said to you and reluctantly let the issue slide.

"And I will leave you two be. Smaller chance for me to hear something I shouldn't." Monica said and gave both of you her warm smile. "See you later Prince Alric, Captain Garside."

After she left the room, Normand turned back towards you and gave the questioning look to you again.

"Are you sure that you two are just friends? The way she smiled…" Normand continued with a chuckle.

"Normand, there is nothing between me and her. And what would Calia think about this? Or if rumours got out?" You said back to him. Now you started to be a bit annoyed and Normand noticed that.

"Alright, alright. I will stop now." He said and laughed. After you had told Normand and Maura about you and Calia, Normand who had been the more stern of the two of them had grown more soft. Or at least felt softer. Maybe your new relationship had made him feel more like a father to you instead of being just a former quartermaster.

Either way, he had never been this proud of you and it made you happy. Seeing him like this made you feel good. And if he was happy, you were probably doing the right things.

1/2

>>5355650

You and Normand continued to talk about the events of the past few days after he had finished eating before he excused himself and prepared to return back to work.

"I have something special in the warehouse for you." He said to you as Monica handed him his cloak that was dry now. "Thank you Monica. Alric, are you going to be handling Eligius or do you want to come see what I have?"


>Go handle Eligius and the whole thing with those suspicious women. Find out what he is doing and why he avoided Garside.
>Follow Garside and see what he has found. It is probably related to the loot you took from the battlefield.
>You really should visit the wounded men, your wounded soldiers. Go to the church and speak with Father Hampton.
>Other, write in.

>>5355652
Tough choice but I'm inclined to
>Go handle Eligius and the women
and I'd go see our wounded right after that. Much as I appreciate and value Garside whatever he found for us is most likely least time critical of the three.

>>5355652
>Go handle Eligius and the whole thing with those suspicious women. Find out what he is doing and why he avoided Garside.
thank you but later, it has our curiosity.

>>5355652
>>Go handle Eligius and the whole thing with those suspicious women. Find out what he is doing and why he avoided Garside.

"I would imagine that whatever you have for me won't suddenly self-combust and disappear." You said to Normand. "Am I right?"

"You would be right. Are you planning to deal with Eligius first?" Normand asked you.

"Yes and then go see the wounded." You answered his question and put on your cloak to protect from rain.

"Well good luck with Eligius. I don’t want to be right about this." He said to you and put on his hood. "You will find me in the warehouse with all the loot if you want to see what I have for you."

"Alright, I will keep that in mind."

…

You had taken Sir Gravis and Garth with you as you walked through the streets of Tarren Mill. The downpour continued and it had turned the streets into mud, dirtying your riding boots quite badly. You thought that if the streets had turned into a muddy field, the Strahnbrad Hills wouldn't probably be any better shape.

You found Eligius in one of the tents that had been pitched outside walls. He was huddling next to a brazier attempting to get his cloak dry. When you stepped into the tent, he made enough room for you and you joined him next to the brazier. The knights stayed outside in the rain, guarding you from outside threats just in case.

"Hello Prince Alric." Eligius said to you. "Awful weather isn't it?"

"Hello Eligius, and yes it is quite bad." You said back to him and continued nearly immediately. "Tell me about those women and why you avoided Captain Garside?"

"I knew you would ask about them." He said to you and stood up. "They are witches Prince Alric."

"Witches? Like warlocks that are women?" You asked and were frankly baffled about this. Witches?

"Not exactly, but yes. The four women are practitioners of a mix of druidism, shamanism and fel magic." Eligius said to you and continued his explanation. "Plenty of practical, but very crude knowledge and less about the theory itself."

"Explain in more simple terms please." You had to ask him as that didn't explain that much to you.

"Alright, so long time ago before the high elves taught us arcane magic or Holy Light became the religion to follow, the magic we humans knew was very crude and based around the nature and world around us. But with the Holy Light and the elven teachings being available, this form of crude magic was supplanted and surpassed with the followers being driven away into the wilds." Eligius explained to you and it started to make some sense. "These witches, who are wildly independent, follow the old traditions that go back thousands of years. Or at least they attempt to. So much has been lost as practitioners have died or just stopped practising their magics."

"I see. So that is why they were in Strahnbrad Hills. There they could do their thing in peace." You said back to Eligius.

1/2

>>5356336

"Correct! You are a fast learner Prince Alric." Eligius said to you.

"So why were you cagey and skulking around?" You asked him.

"Because I had met them before, visited them with my master once, and because I wanted to warn them." Eligius said to you. "Locals might see them to be dangerous, not trained in Dalaran, wild crude magic, witches. If something goes wrong, it must be because of a curse the witches did."

Eligius was quite serious when he told you this.

"If the locals learned who they were, they could be in danger because the locals don't understand them." Eligius continued. "I told them to leave and not stay in Tarren Mill."

"Are these witches harmless?" You asked him.

"No, they are not." Eligius said to you after a pause. "I did say their magic is a crude mix of druidism, shamanism and fel magic. They lack the training and discipline."

"The training and discipline you have?"

"Or what the mages of Dalaran have, or those taught by other independent teachers." Eligius continued to explain this to you. "These witches lack the theory we have to learn before we start weaving our magic. They skip that and jump immediately into the practical part of casting spells."

So they were these primitive mages with a somewhat questionable grasp at magic. You could see why they were seen to be dangerous and unwanted.

"You did mention fel magic. Are they warlocks? Could they learn the same things you do?" You continued asking questions.

"During their rituals and magic they dabble with it and most of the time they do it without understanding it or even knowing that they do it." Eligius told you. "They are not warlocks exactly and it would hurt my pride to call them as warlocks with their current skills.

"But could they learn fel magic or learn proper magic? To control it all?" You asked him. You wanted to know it.

"Yes, they could learn. Prince Alric, what are you thinking about? Hiring their services?" Eligius was now the one asking the questions.


>Yes, attempt to hire the witches. In return you'll protect them, they provide their magic to your aid.
>Tell Eligius to take them under his guidance and teach them what he knows so that they can control their magic better. You need more magic users, even if they would become warlocks.
>Allow them to move to Dawnholme, but forbid them from practising their magics in public.
>The witches must leave and go elsewhere. You won't accept their presence in Alterac or in Tarren Mill. It is too dangerous to keep them around.
>Other, write in.

>>5356344
>>The witches must leave and go elsewhere. You won't accept their presence in Alterac or in Tarren Mill. It is too dangerous to keep them around.

We already have one shady magic user with us, we don't need more. I think that these witches would be difficult to control.

>>5356344
>Allow them to move to Dawnholme, but forbid them from practising their magics in public.
>The witches must leave and go elsewhere. You won't accept their presence in Alterac or in Tarren Mill. It is too dangerous to keep them around.

Bit of both. Allow them to live in dawnholm in safety if they leave their magic behind them, but if they are unwilling, they must leave.

>>5356344
I’d suggest this sort of deal:
The ones that want to pursue their current path should be free to stay out in the wild as long as they take care to not harm any of the people with their practices.
The ones that would like to come to Dawnholme can do so but it would mean to give up on their craft at least in public and at least for the next few years - we will eventually have a community of legit spellcasters in our nation but there would be rules and we don’t currently have personal and infrastructure for it. Also this carries some risk as they know Eligius’s talents but it would be word of a suspicious hermit against prince’s loyal scribe.
And finally if any of them wish to gain formal education, we could explore possibility to sponsor their enrolment in Dalaran. Although while we are not in dalaran’s good graces yet we’d have to discuss how viable this is with Jaina first.

>>5356344
>Tell Eligius to take them under his guidance and teach them what he knows so that they can control their magic better. You need more magic users, even if they would become warlocks.
>Allow them to move to Dawnholme, but forbid them from practising their magics in public.
A mix of these two, they wouldn't be allowed to practice it in the open but learn how to control their magics behind closed doors. Have them join Eligiud under the pretense of him teaching how to read and write to aid in the bureaucracy of Dawnholme. I'd rather not have uncontrolled witches in the region, and with this we can bring them into our fold. This of course has some risk of alienating Dalaran but I doubt we can warm them up to us since we passed up on handing over the other warlock.

"Go talk to them and tell them this. They are allowed to move to Dawnholme, but they are forbidden from practising their magics in public." You said to Eligius. "I won't drive them away, if they know how to behave."

"You are allowing them to stay?" Eligius asked you, he seemed to not expect that answer.

"Yes. If they don’t want to move to Dawnholme and accept my terms, they can leave and stay away from Tarren Mill and Dawnholme." You continued.

"I will tell them that. Is there anything else Prince Alric?" Eligius asked you.

"If and when in the future I have more mages in my service, maybe then if they are still around, we could teach them to control their magic better." You said to Eligius. "But that comes in the future, no need to tell them that."

"I understand. It is good to plan for the future." Eligius said back.

"There is one more thing." You said to him and prepared to leave the tent.

"Prince Alric, what is it?"

"Why did you avoid Captain Garside? He has grown to be extremely suspicious of you and I don’t want any issues between you and him."

Eligius looked down and answered somewhat sheepishly.

"He doesn’t like me, he sees me as a threat and as someone who is dangerous." Eligius explained to you. "I tried to keep the witches away from him for their own safety and made the mistake of acting suspiciously. I am sorry if I have caused any problems Prince Alric."

"Go talk with Captain Garside. He will understand if you explain yourself to him."

"Yes Prince Alric, I will do that after I have talked with the witches." Eligius said to you.

"Alright good. I will now go to the church, if you need me, you should be able to find me." You said to the warlock and walked out of the tent.

Both Sir Gravis and Garth were soaked through. The rain continued steadily and the noise it made as it hit the canvas of the tents had drowned your discussion with Eligius. The two knights hadn't heard anything which was a good thing.

1/2

>>5357218

You were glad to be back inside when you walked into the church. Getting away from the rain, even for a moment, felt really nice and most importantly it was surprisingly warm inside the church.

What was also inside the church were all the wounded soldiers and wounded prisoners you had taken. Some of them slept on the floors and benches in their bedrolls while the more badly wounded had been moved into the infirmary that must have been full. You saw Father Hampton walking from patient to patient with his few aides having their hands full of work. Even a few citizens of Tarren Mill had come to help with the wounded.

You opted to not step any further into the church and instead waited for Father Hampton to come to speak with you. After he had finished tending one of the wounded men, he walked to you and gave you a short bow.

"Greetings Father Hampton." You greeted the one armed priest.

"Welcome to our church Prince Alric, or it would be better to call this place a hospital right now." He said to you and you could hear the tiredness in his voice. "If you are looking for your squire, she and Raleigh the True are in the infirmary tending those with the worse wounds."

"Thank you Father, but I came here to see the wounded." You said to him.

"Well here they are." Father Hampton said while looking around and seemed quite unhappy about the situation. "I didn't think I would have to relive my memories. The Second War wasn't easy time in our lives."

"I am sorry Father Hampton, but it was inevitable. There will be wounded men if a battle is to happen." You said back to him.

"I know Prince Alric, but still allow me to not like it. Price such this must be paid if security and safety is brought to the land." Father Hampton said to you. He knew your actions were just, but he didn't have to like to see all the wounded men. "Nevertheless I will do my best to tend them and to make sure that they will heal."

"Thank you Father Hampton. Alterac won't forget what you have done for us. And speaking of that, is there anything we can do for you?" You said to him and really meant what you said. Father Hampton had helped you a lot personally and now he tended your wounded.

"Well if you aren’t in a hurry, I could make use of a few free hands. We don't have too many orderlies around here and after all I only have one arm." Hampton said back to you.


>Stay in the church for the day and help Father Hampton with the wounded men. You don't have much else planned and it wouldn't hurt to help your men.
>Visit your wounded men and talk with them. It is important for morale for them to see you walking and talking to them.
>Malevus was with Raleigh the True. Go speak with them and ask how the things are in here and how her paladin training is progressing.
>Other, write in.

>>5357220
>Stay in the church for the day and help Father Hampton with the wounded men. You don't have much else planned and it wouldn't hurt to help your men.

>>5357220
As curious as I am about the loot, this seems fair request to honour.
>Stay in the church and help Father Hampton

>>5357220
>>Stay in the church for the day and help Father Hampton with the wounded men. You don't have much else planned and it wouldn't hurt to help your men.

>>5357220
>>Stay in the church for the day and help Father Hampton with the wounded men. You don't have much else planned and it wouldn't hurt to help your men.

You aren’t exactly in a hurry so staying in the church and helping Father Hampton is the clear winner. Give me a random event roll for the evening.


>1d10
>Best of three

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>5357914

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>5357914

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>5357914

You didn’t have anything else planned for today outside of going to see what Garside had found for you and whatever it was wouldn’t disappear overnight. So you nodded and allowed Father Hampton to take the lead. And to make sure he gets all the help he needs, you ordered Sir Gravis and Garth to join you.

After having put away your wet cloaks, one of the aides gave you a white apron and a handkerchief to be worn over your face. Washing your hands clean, the aide made you to follow him before giving you a pile of fresh clean bandages and telling you to start changing the old ones to the new ones.

In a moment you weren’t a Prince of Alterac anymore, but instead an assistant-orderly changing bandages.

…

One by one you changed the bandages, going from man to man. The wounded Alteracis were very surprised when they saw you kneeling beside them and starting to do your task. Some attempted to greet you properly before you told them to stay still and not move, otherwise the wounds could open.

When you moved to the wounded bandits and Syndicate troops, their reactions were way more reserved. There were no greetings or saying thanks, but they didn’t object or attempt to resist. Finally as you finished bandaging a leg of a young man, probably not older than you were, he spoke.

"Thank you Prince Alric." The Syndicate soldier said to you with a weak voice.

At least one of them managed to swallow their pride and say thank you. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.

…

It took you the better part of the day to go through all the wounded men in the church and in the infirmary. The ones who were in the church were expected to heal well and be on their feet sooner than later. Their wounds mainly were swallow cuts, deep bruising or stab wounds in non-threatening parts of their bodies.

But the ones in the infirmary, their stories were different. Many of them would be maimed or even crippled. Some had lost limbs or had taken dangerously deep wounds. For them each day was a struggle and due to that Raleigh and Father Hampton spend most of their time with them. If the Holy Light could help them, be it through prayer or healing arts, having a priest and a paladin around was only a positive thing.

You took off the apron and the handkerchief before you washed your hands again. Father Hampton had expressed his gratitude for your help and told you that what you did was enough. You were free to go, no further help was needed, at least not today.

...

The rain hadn't ceased, but it wasn't the downpour it was before. After having dealt with the wounded men, with the blood and dirty bandages, you really wanted to clean yourself properly. So you headed to Tarren Mills small bathhouse to wash away the dirt of the past week and to feel fresh and clean.

The small red bathhouse was found next to the town hall and inside you found the familiar old lady who you had met over a year ago when you visited the bathhouse the last time.

1/3

>>5358194

You asked if there was room and thankfully there were. The old proprietor of the bathhouse guided you into a private room and quickly she and one of the bathmaids prepared the bath by carrying hot water into the bath barrel. Soon it was ready and after undressing yourself, you lowered yourself deep into the hot water.

The bathmaid came to ask if everything was alright and if any further services were needed. You nearly waved her off as you wanted to enjoy the hot water alone in peace, but decided to humour yourself by asking what services were available? The bathmaid offered to wash your body and to massage the strain off the past few days away. There were also further services available if a princely person like you were interested in such a thing.

While enjoying the hot water alone in peace would have been enough for you, you wanted to treat yourself a bit and opted for a wash and a massage.

The bathmaid smiled at you and told you that she would come back in a moment after retrieving what she needed. While she was gone, she suggested you cover your private parts with a towel, if you wanted that is.

When she came back and you had retrieved one of the towels, she got to work. The bathmaid light several nice smelling candles and poured herbs into the bath water before going to work. Carefully she went through your body, washing and rubbing away the dirt and smell of wearing armour for several days and sweating in it.

At first her touch felt strange as you hadn’t had anyone washing you in a long time, but soon you realised that the bathmaid knew what she was doing as she carefully lifted your arms or asked to extend your feet so that she could wash them too. After washing your head and your long black hair, it was time for the massage.

The bathmaid asked you to step out of the bath barrel and lay on your stomach on a table next to the barrel. After the bathmaid had turned around, you carefully stepped out of the barrel with the towel on your waist and laid down on the table while attempting to keep the towel on. At one point while your back was turned, the towel slipped and you were sure that the bathmaid noticed that and saw a glimpse of what she was supposed to avoid to see.

Either way, you didn’t let that bother you and when you had laid on the table and laying your head on a small pillow, the bathmaid went to work. Again with experienced hands she started to massage you, going from a muscle to another. Sometimes she was a bit rough when handling you, but the afterglow whem the massage was over and the bathmaid had collected her things and left you alone was worth it. You felt like a new man with all the strain and aches in your body having disappeared. It really was worth visiting the bathhouse.

Having paid the old proprietor for the services and thanked the bathmaid for a good work, you left the bathhouse and returned back to Monica’s Inn. After all it was evening already.

2/3

>>5358201

>8

Entering Monica's Inn, you found most of your officers and some of the soldiers there. They had been served beer and wine and pleasant conversations were happening all around the inn.

"Why are you all here?" You asked Lieutenant Cromwell who was closest to you.

"Well Sire, the Rovers had the idea to ask everyone to come to the inn for a few drinks." Cromwell explained to you. "They apparently thought that a few beers to honour your victory over the bandits was a splendid idea."

"It is not a bad idea at all, but I didn't expect everyone to come here." You said back as the waitress brought you a mug of beer. Only Raleigh was missing as even Captain Garside had arrived and was talking with Eligius.

Arthur and Alfred Rover walked to you and seemed to be really happy to see you.

"Welcome, welcome. Prince Alric, I hope you don't mind our initiative." Arthur said to you with a wide smile on his face.

"Our initiative is a bit misleading, the owner of this inn had her own share of taking the idea seriously." Alfred explained to you. So Monica was involved in this after all. Probably thinking of profiting a bit after everything is said and done.

"Well I don’t mind, an evening like this could be fun." You said to the brothers and you really did mean it. After getting yourself fresh and clean, drinking and having a fun time with your officers could be exactly what you needed. With nothing planned for tomorrow, you could even stay up quite late.

Now just where to go and with whom you should talk with?


>Sir Gravis and the knights were good drinking companions in Durnholde. You would have a merry time with them.
>Eligius and Garside were talking about something. Join them and see if they have solved their issues.
>Malevus was talking with Monica and it seemed they were having a lot fun from the amount of laughing you could hear. Go thank Monica for the evening and see what is so funny.
>Sir Radan had joined the Rovers and they were in progress of explaining something technical to each other by the amount of handwaving being involved. Go talk to them and see what it is about.

>Just drink a few beers
>Drink
>DRINK

QM: Random event said that today you would be drinking beer, a bit of in-character fun between more serious things. Please vote on both.

>>5358221

You drive a hard bargain, OP, I kind of want to read all of them.
Buuut I suppose intruding on the girl talk would be awkward, interfering with Eligius and Garside talk might go either way. So I'm left hesitant between the knights and the scoundrels.
I'd maybe go with having some bears with the knights and then check out what Radan and Rovers are up to.

>Just drink a few beers
someone's going to have to wrangle this merry band at some point and it's looking like it's gonna fall on us.

>>5358221
>Sir Gravis and the knights were good drinking companions in Durnholde. You would have a merry time with them.
>Drink

>>5358221
>>Sir Gravis and the knights were good drinking companions in Durnholde. You would have a merry time with them.
>Drink

I would like to get a roll for Alric and it is not a roll for fighting as merry time with the knights wins.


>3d10, best of three
>DC 15, Crit 20

Rolled 2, 5, 5 = 12 (3d10)

>>5359277

Rolled 6, 6, 7 = 19 (3d10)

>>5359277
roll for the roll gods

Rolled 7, 5, 8 = 20 (3d10)

>>5359277

File: 07_knight.jpg (221 KB, 654x886)

221 KB JPG

You didn’t want to interrupt whatever girl talk was going on between Malevus and Monica and going to talk with Eligius and Normand could go either way. It would be better to leave them be and go talk with someone else.

The scoundrels, that being Sir Radan and the Rovers, started to have their discussion turn to something quite heated as all three had raised their voices in disagreement on whatever they were attempting to explain to each other. You didn’t know what it was and decided to not interrupt them either. So finally you decided to join Sir Gravis and the knights, they after all were good drinking companions in Durnholde and if you spent the evening, or at least part of it with them, you would probably have plenty of fun with them.

Taking your mug of beer with you, you took a chair and joined them. All five knights were still wearing their armours and you wondered, when they wouldn’t be wearing them? You didn’t remember seeing Sir Gravis without his trademark black plate mail before.

“Prince Alric! You decided to join us instead of the rest of your companions?” Sir Gravis asked you.

“Well… I didn’t want to interrupt whatever they were discussing or talking about.” You said back to the knight. “So I decided to join you, after all we had a quite fun time back in Durnholde.”

“Ahh, good times.” Sir Gravis said and leaned back on his chair. “But I don’t miss those days, you know we were in Durnholde Keep.”

“I understand and I take that as a compliment.” You chuckled and took a sip of your beer. “Sir Gravis, I wanted to ask you, what was that dropkick Joe did during the battle?”

“A nice little trick, wasn’t it Prince Alric.” Sir Gravis said and continued. “We had done it before and decided that hey it worked, why not do it again?”

“We did it once, during a bar fight.” Empleton said back to Sir Gravis.

“But it worked.” Joe, the shortest of the knights and the one who had delivered the kick. “They didn’t expect that.”

That definitely was true. You didn’t expect it either.

“So you did that in a bar fight and decided to do it again in a real battle?” You had to ask them. “What were you thinking? What if you had failed?”

All five knights looked at each other somewhat uncomfortably, they probably hadn’t thought this through well enough. This forced you to sigh deeply and finish your mug of beer.

“That being said, it did work, but I don’t know if it will work against a more trained and experienced foe.” You told the knights. “Take that in account if you are planning on doing it again.

“Will do Prince Alric, will do.” Sir Gravis said back to you and finished his mug of beer.

Then he ordered another round for all six of you. It will be a long night.

1/3

>>5360234

You drank with some moderation and made sure to drink water between the alcoholic beverages. When the cook of the inn brought roasted chickens out of the kitchen, you were one of the first to take a piece to eat.

You had continued talking and drinking with the knights. They told you more stories of their previous adventures in Durnholde and during their employment elsewhere.

One time shortly after the Second War, they had been tasked with dealing with an errant ogre. Knowing how difficult it would be to fight against one, they had commandeered all the booze from the local tavern and used a cart to take the beer with them. When they faced the ogre, they fled and let the ogre take the “loot”. It didn’t take long for the ogre to start drinking and when the night fell, it had fallen into drunken stupor. After that dealing with the ogre was a piece of cake, but the tavern owner didn’t like their plan at all and whatever coins they got from the job went to pay for the beer they had taken.

A smart move, that slightly backfired in terms of getting paid.

That wasn’t the only story they told you and after hearing several of them and having attracted Lieutenant Beckston to the table, they started to sink drinking songs.

One by one the knights sang their songs until it was Beckstons turn. And boy did he surprise all of you. He had a tremendous singing voice and when he started to sing the Kul Tiran drinking songs, it silenced the whole inn. Everyone listened to him sing and when the song happened to be a quite lewd one and he had finished, everyone was watching him.

Then the whole table, you included, started laughing. It had been a while since you had this much fun.

…

Captain Garside and a few others had already left as the evening progressed into the night. The knights were increasingly drunk and thanks to you drinking in moderation, but still attempting to keep up with them, you were probably one of the more sober customers currently in the inn.

Someone who wasn’t sober at all was Malevus. She probably hadn’t drank that much before and had no idea how to pace herself so when she joined your table, she was already quite drunk.

And because of that she was quite open and not the normally somewhat reserved Malevus you knew her to be. She laughed at the jokes the knights and others who had joined the table told, she drank when the drinking songs ended and most surprisingly she joined in the singing after learning the words of the few songs.

It was quite late and most of your officers had already left. You were still sitting around the same table with the knights, Beckston and Malevus.

2/3

File: Malevus the Mad Worst Ending.jpg (218 KB, 641x1136)

218 KB JPG

>>5360239

“Shho Malevush, you’re a good shinger?” Beckston said to your squire with a heavy slur. “Then shing for ush.”

All the heads turned towards the elf, who took a sip from her mug and put it back on the table.

And then she cleared her throat and sang.

You don’t understand thalassian, not really a word outside of basic greetings, but what you could understand was how good at singing Malevus was, even if she was quite drunk.

As she sang, none of you dared to do anything else other than to listen to her voice and how melodic it was. Frankly she had a beautiful singing voice. The inn was completely silent, those who remained listening to Malevus and her voice. And when she stopped, it felt like everyone wanted it to continue.

And then she burped very loudly.

“Wassh it any good?” She asked you.

“It was beautiful.” You managed to say back after thinking what words to use and got a chorus of nods in agreement from your knights.

“You beat me, Malevush you have a better voicshe.” Beckston admitted.

“Thank... you. “Malevus managed to say as her cheeks started to match the colour of her red hair and she started to lean to her left and then fell off the chair.

“And I think that is the signal for us to stop for today.” You said to your men as you stared at Malevus who was laying on the floor. “Go get some sleep, in two days we are returning back to Strahnbrad Hills.”

It wasn’t a nice reminder for them, but one by one they nodded and started to leave as you went to help your squire on her feet.

Malevus was really out, she had drunk way too much beer and as you grabbed her and attempted to pull her up, her legs didn’t carry her that well anymore.

“Monica, where was her room?” You asked Monica who had stayed up and served food and beer for you through the evening.

“The one before yours on the right.” Monica said to you. “Alric, do you need help?”

“I will be fine.” You said while you weren’t fine. Malevus was like a wet bag of wheat, difficult to lift and attempting to constantly slide away from you.

If helping her to walk wasn’t going to happen, you were going to carry her. You placed your right arm around her back and then forced her off her feet by putting your left arm under her legs and lifting her up.

When her feet left the floor, Malevus could only respond with a yelp and attempt to hang on you as you carried her past Monica and up the stairs. You avoided hitting her head on the door frame of her room as you entered it before carefully placing her down on her bed and moving the chamber pot next to the bed just in case.

She attempted to mumble something to you, but you couldn’t sadly make a sense of her words.

“Good night Malevus.” You said to her and received more mumbling as the answer as you closed the door.

3/4

File: Innkeeper_Monica.jpg (53 KB, 269x784)

53 KB JPG

>>5360241

>20, Critical success!

Next morning when you woke up you felt normal. In fact you felt refreshed and like you had slept really well. There was no sign of the hangover even though you had drunk your share of beer last night. Maybe it was because you had remembered to drink enough water and eat enough chicken?

It didn’t matter, because what mattered was that you felt fine and there was plenty to do today.

Going downstairs, Monica greeted you and passed you a bowl of porridge, a piece of bread and apple juice. It was a fine breakfast, one to give you enough strength to get through the morning. Outside of you and Monica, the inn was empty. No one else had arrived here yet.

As you ate, it didn’t take long for Malevus to clamber down the stairs and join you on the counter. After she had managed to climb on the stool, Malevus just let her head drop on her hands as she lay down on the counter.

She was suffering badly, the worst possible case of hangover you had seen in a while.

“My head… hurts.” Malevus managed to say to you and Monica.

“You drank too much last night.” You said back to her and avoided raising your voice and to which Malevus just groaned back. Her hair was messy and her blue robe was all wrinkled up. Basically she was a complete mess.

“Did anything happen? I don’t remember much or anything.” Malevus managed to say with a quiet voice, barely a whisper. “Prince Alric, Monica, please help me to remember.”

You looked at Monica who shrugged her shoulders, she wouldn’t be saying anything before you, but she clearly had something to say or ask. You could see that clearly.


>Well you didn’t pace your drinking and in the end you were completely wasted. Not much else happened last night. Save her from the embarrassment.
>You joined the drinking songs and sang for us. Beckston admitted his defeat as you are pretty damn good at singing.
>You were so drunk last night that I had to carry you into your room. And I didn’t hit your head on the door frame, your head doesn’t hurt because of that.
>Ask Monica what she has to say or ask. She clearly has something she really wants to say.
>Other, write in.

QM: On purpose I gave really low DC, but that first 12 did scare me a bit. How bad of a hangover Alric will have? And just as I was going to start writing the update, my boss called me to fill the shift of a sick co-worker. Tremendous timing I say! So sorry for a bit of a late update which is the last of the social updates before we get back into business.

>>5360248
>"You were the soul of the party. Everyone was in awe of your singing voice."
>Ask Monica what she has to say or ask

that was marvellous. Also the best elf continues to prove her merit. And Monica and the Rovers did us and the men a solid with the party.
Also I neglected to express previously but it was a nice touch with the wounded syndie in the church.

>>5360260
On second thought, also mention Beckston, the runner up, 's recognition.

>>5360260
>>5360269
Support kek

All pastebins updated. Nothing major, but I did fix few small mistakes.

And as a reminder, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to say them. I will try to answer as well as I can without spoiling anything.

>>5360260
>>5360248
support

>>5360248
>You joined the drinking songs and sang for us. Beckston admitted his defeat as you are pretty damn good at singing.
>You were so drunk last night that I had to carry you into your room. And I didn’t hit your head on the door frame, your head doesn’t hurt because of that.

We should embarrass her here, it will teach her to control her drinking better.

then
>Ask Monica what she has to say or ask. She clearly has something she really wants to say.

“You were the soul of the party.” You told her and left her to think about what it means for a moment. “Everyone was in awe of your singing voice.”

You let that sink in as you watched Malevus attempt to hide her face with her hands.

“How much did I sing?” Malevus managed to ask you.

“Well you joined the drinking songs first and then Lieutenant Beckston challenged you to sing something.” You told her. “You sang in elvish so I have no idea what it was about, other than you have a really beautiful singing voice.”

Malevus looked like she wanted to disappear and could only groan as an answer.

“Though I must say, Lieutenant Beckston surprised us all with his voice. It was a tough competition between you and him really.” You continued.

Malevus groaned more as an answer, getting several chuckles out of you and Monica.

Monica passed a glass of water for Malevus to drink and still seemed like she wanted to ask something.

“Do you have something to say?” You asked Monica. “You look like you have something in your mind?”

“Well Prince Alric, now that you said that.” Monica replied and seemed thoughtful. “You took care of Malevus last night, princess carried her up the stairs into her room. You did say that you had been seeing someone? Is Malevus that lucky girl?”

This time it was your turn to hide your face with your hands.

“No.”

Malevus just groaned as a response.

“Oh…” Monica seemed to realise her guess was incorrect. “I’m sorry, I just thought…”

“You are really curious about these things, aren’t you?” You said to Monica. “Doesn’t matter, but think about it from my point of view. Malevus is my squire and if I was just as drunk as she was, she would have done the same.”

Malevus groaned again in agreement.

“So Malevus is not the lucky girl, she is my squire and her well-being is important to me.” You said to Monica. “And speaking of well-being, could you please help Malevus to recover? I would prefer to see her alive and not looking like a wraith.”

“I can do that Prince Alric and I am sorry, I am just a bit too curious.” Monica said to you

You waved her concerns away as you finished your breakfast and stood up.

“Don’t worry about it, just worry that Malevus eats and drinks enough. Maybe send her to the bath house after she has recovered enough.” You said to Monica. “But I will go now, there are plenty of things for me to do today.”

“Alright, see you later Prince Alric.” Monica said back to you before turning to look at Malevus who seemed more dead than before.

Poor girl, but maybe she learned something about drinking. It is a great way to spend time with friends and have fun, but everything should be done in moderation. With those thoughts in your mind, you left Monica’s inn and headed out into the town.

1/2

>>5361320

The rain continued, but now was just a slight drizzle instead of something that soaked you through in moments. You walked towards the warehouses and asked directions from a guard, you found the building you were looking for.

“Good morning Prince Alric.” Normand Garside said to you as you entered the warehouse. “You look fresh.”

“You have to remember to eat and drink water.” You said back to him. “So Normand, you had something for me?”

“Yes, we went through the loot from the battlefield.” He said to you and pointed towards several barrels and boxes with weapons and pieces of armour in them. “Sorting through everything we took with us and we found something that might interest you.”

Normand walked towards an armour rack and pointed at it.

“This was the armour of Sir Roberts, the leader of the Syndicate troops and whom you killed.” Normand said to you. “This is easily the best full suit of armour we could recover and I thought that it is way too valuable to be given to some random footman.”

Normand was right as you looked at the plate mail done in the old Alteraci style. It was quite similar to the armour Normand himself used, a plate mail fit for a knight.

“I knew Sir Roberts, he was one of the knights in the Royal Guard and extremely loyal towards your father. Now it seems that he had chosen to follow Aliden instead.” Normand said to you. “Shame, terrible shame really.”

“So what do you want me to do with this armour?” You asked Normand as you checked the plate mail.

“You have your own armour being made in Dalaran, but you could give it to someone as a gift or as a sign of prestige. Or you could just sell it. Old armours like this are rarely matched by the modern armoursmiths.” Normand said to you.

That was true. The footmen of the current day aren’t on the same level as the soldiers of the First and Second War, one reason being the poorer armour they wear. The old Alteraci Knightly plate you were looking at was a bit too big for you and probably for everyone else too, but a skilled blacksmith could make necessary adjustments for it to fit whoever it was given. You wouldn’t have to worry about the armour not fitting.


Gained:
>Old Alteraci Knightly plate, worth 3 Wealth, good protection and suitable for knights on horseback


>Leave it into storage, you might find better use for it in the future
>Sell it, there must be someone interested in old hiqh quality armour
>Give it to Malevus, she requires a proper armour instead of her elven half-plate that doesn't cover her completely
>Give it to Lieutenant Cromwell, he has been serving you longest and could use the armour as a sign of prestige
>Give it to Lieutenant Beckston, the Kul Tiran has served you well and could use this plate mail
>Give it to Sir Radan, his old plate mail is quite beaten, giving him the Knightly plate would be a sign of immense trust
>Give the armour to someone else, write in.

>>5361321
>Give it to Lieutenant Beckston, the Kul Tiran has served you well and could use this plate mail
Mostly because hes a mercenary that integrated with alterac.
Could show other mercenaries that we reward those that commit to alterac.

>>5361321
>>Give it to Sir Radan, his old plate mail is quite beaten, giving him the Knightly plate would be a sign of immense trust
A knight of Alterac should be one in all aspects. And a knight that put his life on the line for the prince, should be gifted a fine armor.
In regard to others ..... man it would be good to have more. I was considering to buy some from that dwarf merchant that passed, but those personal armors will cost, even if they would provide better protection to our officers than the standard armors. Gravis, Malevus, Cromwell, Beckstone and even our other men could use one.
It will depend if we can remember and if we have the money on hand. Costly but worthed.
Uh maybe we could use one of the favours with our best "friend" of Durnholde, for get two or three personal armors. Might cut on the monetary costs if we use a favor.

>>5361321
>>Give it to Lieutenant Cromwell, he has been serving you longest and could use the armour as a sign of prestige

>>5361321
As much as I’d like them all to get the goodies it would probably be poor firm to disregard seniority, so let’s go with
>lieutenant Cromwell.

You thought about giving it to Lieutenant Beckston for his good service and joining your forces officially and stopped being a mercenary or giving it to Sir Radan whose old armour could use a replacement and he did heroically throw himself at the Syndicate assassin probably saving you and Jaina from injuries and at worst death.

But while both men were good choices, really one person was worthy of being given the armour. Lieutenant Cromwell had been serving you from the start and he had fought along your side with a great track record. Amongst your officers, you probably trusted him the most to deliver on the field of battle and outside in administrative duties so giving him the armour was the right choice.

You told your decision to Garside who agreed with you and you called Cromwell to join the two of you. And when he arrived, you told him about your decision.

Lieutenant Cromwell took the armour as a great sign of respect and promised to carry it well. In addition when at your urging you asked him to test if it would fit him, to the surprise of all three of you, the armour didn't require much fitting or changes. A few leather straps would require to be replaced and there was that. The local blacksmith could easily do that and Cromwell could then start using the armour immediately.

After Cromwell had left you continued speaking with Garside. He had heard about the witches from Eligius and while he wasn’t exactly happy about having "more of those damn warlocks" in Dawnholme, he could understand your reasoning. He also said that Eligius had been very understanding and apologised for him acting suspiciously. Garside was ready to give Eligius a chance, but he still didn't trust the man completely. A warlock to be your spymaster? And when would the person who was supposed to train him arrive? The one sent by Katrana Prestor.

Either way the things were in motion and changing the direction wouldn’t be easy. You would just have to make the decision about Wanz and the witches at some point. And what if you found more of them in the future? What would you do then?

1/2

>>5361869

The rain had picked up and it wasn’t just a drizzle anymore as you and Garside went through more of the loot and overall supply situation for your men in Tarren Mill.

With the first foray into Strahnbrad Hills not having been that long, you wouldn't require serious resupply, but the issue of your casualties did worry him a bit.

You had taken serious casualties and the combat value of the troops that had taken the disproportionately heavy number of them was questionable. Garside did agree with taking those troops with you to guard the camp and work there, but could they be deployed in a field battle? He wasn’t so sure about it.

The talk did turn into the twenty men hired by Durnholde Keep. The ten footmen and ten archers could prove to be useful as reinforcements if recalled, but then you would be forced to pay the upkeep and you would be losing way more supply than you were producing. In addition it could anger Lord Blackmoore even further and sour the relationship you had attempted to build with him, he was after all one of your only allies in Lordaeron. It probably would be better to keep them there and not recall them, but the option was on the table.


10 Veteran Footmen and 10 Regular Archers in Durnholde. No upkeep required, +1 Wealth per season.
>Recall them to reinforce your troops in Tarren Mill.
>Do not recall them. Paying their upkeep and not knowing how Lord Blackmoore reacts is not worth it.

>1d10
>Best of three

QM: Please vote and roll. This is to see if certain things will happen.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>5361872
>do not recall them
Twenty men is not insignificant amount, but not dramatic game changer either.
We’ll just have to be careful about how we deploy what we have.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>5361872
>Do not recall them. Paying their upkeep and not knowing how Lord Blackmoore reacts is not worth it.
Well we are past the worst i think.

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>5361872
>>Do not recall them. Paying their upkeep and not knowing how Lord Blackmoore reacts is not worth it.
We might want to wait more then.

7, that is interesting. Not good, but not terrible either.

Could I have another set of rolls. The voting on recalling the troops continues.

>1d10
>Best of three

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>5361916
>not good, not terrible
oh dear

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>5361916
3.6 troop recalls not great not terrible.

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>5361872
>Do not recall them. Paying their upkeep and not knowing how Lord Blackmoore reacts is not worth it.
>>5361916

>7

"You are returning to Strahnbrad Hills in two days?" Fowley asked you. You had been speaking mostly pleasantries till this point and finally he went into business.

"That would be correct." You said back to him and sipped some wine. "Faster we return, less likely it is for bandits or other threats to occupy the camp."

"And they have less time to regroup and recover." Garside said and continued. "We have to keep the initiative."

"I see, sounds similar to some more aggressive trade negotiations I have been part of." Fowley mused aloud. "I trust you in this as I am not a military person."

You continued eating and talking about more mundane things until the arrival of dessert. The apple cake looked very delicious, but as you were ready to dig in, there was a knock on the door.

"I told my clerks that we wanted to eat in peace, so it must be something important." Fowley said and was somewhat annoyed. "Come in!"

The door was opened and a man in the colours of Southshore stepped in. The man greeted all of you before speaking.

"I apologise for my sudden and unexpected appearance, but I have urgent news that Magistrate Maleb wanted you to hear." The messenger said to you and Fowley.

"Then what is it? What is so urgent?" Fowley asked him and seemed to be somewhat worried what the news would be.

1/2

>>5362166

"Queen Tiffin is dead."

"What! How did that happen?" You said to him and in a surprise dropped your fork. You hadn’t talked with Queen Tiffin during your visit to Stormwind City, but you knew that she and King Varian had just gotten a child, a baby boy.

"Riots Prince Alric. She was hit by a thrown rock and died shortly afterwards." The messenger told you.

Riots, so it had happened. They hadn't paid the Stonemason’s Guild and it had turned into rioting.

"Who were the rioters?" You asked carefully already knowing the answer, but you wanted confirmation. "Tell us more, everything you know."

"Prince Alric, they were Stonemasons. They were asking too much for the work they had done and when they didn’t receive what they supposedly deserved, they turned into rioting." The messenger told you and continued. "King Varian has banned the Stonemason’s Guild and declared the guildmaster Edwin VanCleef a traitor and a murderer. All members of the guild must be arrested if found or spotted."

You rubbed the bridge of your nose. This could mean problems to you, after all you were employing master mason Erefor Pelija and his workers who are Stonemasons. You would also have to tell him the news and you can imagine that he wouldn’t like them at all. Garside gave you a knowing look, but opted to not say anything.

"Thank you, if you don’t have anything else, I presume Mayor Fowleys clerks can arrange for you a place to rest." You said to the messenger who shook his head and left the room shortly.

"What a horrible piece of news." Fowley said to you and seemed to be quite shocked. "Leaving a young boy behind without a mother. I cannot imagine how King Varian must be feeling right now."

"I cannot either, but I have to write a letter to him. As a Prince it is my responsibility to support him in dark times like this." You said to Fowley. "And I am sorry, I lost my appetite. I bet that apple cake would have tasted good."

You used a handkerchief to clean your mouth as you stood up from the table.

"I understand, I don’t feel that hungry either." Fowley said to you and seemed to be genuinely sad. "I just hope that we don’t get more bad news. Death of a Queen, even a foreign one, hurts us all."

You could only wish the same.

QM: Second part of the update comes later. At latest tomorrow.

>>5362172
Fuck sake. I guess we were not enough to make a difference.
What a disaster. We can probably forget about Varian ever taking our side on anything as I can’t see us selling out our stonemasons. Maybe we could get them to renounce the guild as the ones in Dawnholme certifiably can’t have been taking part in rioting…

>>5362172
well, too bad. We have a campaign to win now, until we take those lands this will be not our main concern.

>8

You had briefly talked with Garside as you left the town hall about master Pelija and decided that informing him should wait till tomorrow. You would make the decision regarding him tomorrow morning and Garside agreed with that. No need to hurry, especially with night approaching.

You returned to Monica’s inn and passed your wet cloak to her. Malevus seemed to have recovered from the last night and when she and Monica realised that something was wrong, you told them the news.

Death of Queen Tiffin was a horrible thing and you told Monica that you shouldn't be interrupted as you had a very important letter to be written. With that you retreated into your room and took out quill, paper and ink and then started writing.

…

The first draft was too cheery while the second was too gloomy. You realised that you had no idea how to write a letter to King Varian that felt good or fit the situation so you decided to rely on the fact that he was a Warrior King.

You decided to be blunt.

You wrote how you didn’t know how to write a good letter after having heard the news, but that you would still attempt to do so. You expressed how sorry you were and how you couldn’t imagine the pain Varian must be feeling right now.

And then you wrote how sorry you are for young Alduin. Having to grow without a mother is one of the worst things that can happen to a child. You mentioned how you had lost your own mother while you were really young and if there was anything you could do to help Alduin, you would do it.

Finishing the letter, you wrote again how sorry you were and how difficult it was to write this. There were no words in the world to describe how you were feeling.

"What a drag." You said as you leaned back on your chair and finished the cup of mulled wine Monica had brought into your room earlier in the evening.

As you were pouring another cup, there was a knock on the door and Monica opened it.

"Monica, I told you that I shouldn't be interrupted." You said to her.

"But Prince Alric you should come downstairs. There is a lady there who has come to see you." Monica said and seemed to be somewhat concerned.

A lady? Who could it be? Was it Jaina as in no way it was Calia.

"Alright I will come." You said somewhat begrudgingly while still being somewhat interested in who the lady was. Though just in case you strapped your sword belt around your waist.

1/3

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>>5362278

Walking downstairs you found the lady who had come to see you. She was wearing a dark cloak and hood and was carrying a wooden staff while Malevus was glaring daggers at her with her hand on the hilt of her sword.

When the lady noticed you, she removed her hood and let her cloak fall on the floor.

"I am Lady Nalice, a servant to Lady Katrana Prestor." She said with a voice that was somewhat aristocratic and powerful. She was wearing an intriguing and quite exotic looking black armour, her black straight hair was cut short from the front, but otherwise left growing long. Her eyes had a red tint and seemed to radiate warmth when you looked into them.

Lady Nalice looked at you for a moment and you felt like she was staring through you in an attempt to look for something. Then suddenly she kneeled and performed a very deep curtsy.

"Prince Alric Perenolde, it is good that I found you." Lady Nalice said to you while keeping her eyes fixed on the floor.. "You have asked my mistress to send help and she chose me."

This was quite surprising really and you didn’t know what to say immediately.

"Prince Alric, Lady Nalice. Maybe two of you should go into the side room before anyone else arrives." Monica finally stammered out. She was right, the inn was otherwise empty. Only four of you were downstairs.

"Monica is right, could you please follow me Lady Nalice. We should speak in private." You said to her and waved carefully to Malevus to stay her hand. You didn’t feel like you were in danger.

"Lead the way Prince Alric." Lady Nalice said to you as she stood up.

It didn’t take long for you and Lady Nalice to have sat down in the more private side room and Monica having brought wine for both of you before leaving two of you alone. Lady Nalice seemed to sample wine for a moment before accepting it.

"Passable, just what I expected from a town like this." Lady Nalice said aloud before taking another sip and turning her gaze towards you.

"Prince Alric…" She said slowly with power in her words. "My mistress sent me to help you to train your new spymaster… and to serve you in any capacity and in any way I can."

She let what she had said to sink in.

"To serve me in any way?" You had to ask her. "I didn't ask for a servant, just help to train my spymaster."

"Yes, I hope I don't have to repeat myself Prince Alric. It is the ring my mistress gave you, it obliges me to follow your orders and do anything you say." Lady Nalice said to you. "After all I follow my mistress and if she gave it to you, then she must trust you."

Anything? What was this ring and who was she? This raised you more questions than answers, but Lady Katrana was a quite powerful and wealthy, it wouldn't surprise you if she had more eccentric servants in her service like Lady Nalice.

2/3

>>5362287

"Thank you for the explanation Lady Nalice, this cleared some of my questions." You said to her and sipped your own wine.

"But you still have more questions Prince Alric and I have these for you." Lady Nalice said and pulled two letters out from somewhere, you weren't exactly sure from where.

The first one was from Edwin VanCleef and second from Lady Katrana.

"Prince Alric, I presume you have heard the news." Lady Nalice said to you and continued. "I can tell you more and answer your questions."

For the first time since her arriving here moments ago, she seemed to smile while gazing deep into your eyes as she drank her wine. You didn’t know what to think of this Lady Nalice other than she was a quite mysterious lady and how she looked at you felt similar to how Lady Katrana had looked at you. She was something and you didn’t know what yet.


>Ask more about Lady Nalice herself. What are her skills, what does she normally do for Lady Katrana, you want to learn more of her.
>The events in Stormwind, the riots and the death of Queen Tiffin. You somewhat expected to hear a different story than what the messenger told you.
>How will she perform the training and when does it start? Does she require anything from you?
>Ask what Lady Nalice has heard about you or what Lady Katrana has told her about you. What is she expecting about her visit and being under your service?
>Read the two letters, they seem urgent and could be important.
>Other, write in.

QM: First roll of 7 was to see what has happened and it seems that it was time for Queen Tiffin to die. She survived longer than in canon. Second roll of 8 was to see if the help from Lady Katrana has arrived and who the help was.

>>5362292
>Ask more about Lady Nalice herself. What are her skills, what does she normally do for Lady Katrana, you want to learn more of her.
then
>Ask what Lady Nalice has heard about you or what Lady Katrana has told her about you. What is she expecting about her visit and being under your service?
finally
>Read the two letters, they seem urgent and could be important.

>>5362292
>ask about situation in Stormwind
>ask about herself, her skills and usual tasks
We’re going to be taking Eligius with us so I reckon the training won’t start until we return, she can settle herself in the Dawnholme in the meantime… also giving us a chance to have one more private talk with the warlock.
Wonder if we see a big black shadow blotting out the stars as it passes overhead at some point?

Also
>read the two letters

>>5362292
>How will she perform the training and when does it start? Does she require anything from you?
>Ask what Lady Nalice has heard about you or what Lady Katrana has told her about you. What is she expecting about her visit and being under your service?
>Read the two letters, they seem urgent and could be important.

Good, very good. I was thinking about how long the trip would take, but her arrival was probably more conditioned from other matters than something like travel. Unless there was a storm.
Perhaps it's not for the best but some training during the campaign should be doable, we can have Eligius starting to learn now while staying near to our side.
It Is kind of funny the difference of age between them, but Eligius can work well in spycraft; he has some experience in using an alias, sneaking around and passing for someone else. Magic can be useful in intrigues too, not just combat. You wouldn't suspect at first glance an old scribe doing this job in the first place too, which is a nice bonus.
The letters could have anything in them, but i will throw what i believe they could contain for my opinion :
- Van should be very related to what just happened in Stormwind it might be asking for refuge in Dawnholme for the masons or some far minor help like food and possibility to work more while they find a new place to live. Beside Katrana, with their riot and the death of the queen, the masons pretty much burn the bridges with all the contacts they had. Masons would be not an indifferent amount of people, since Stormwind is a capital and they would have probably not left behind their families (other citizens would have lynch them in revenge). They are also talented in their craft, making them a nice work force for Alterac and one filled with men to make soldiers out of. Of course there are great consequences with such choice....
- Katrana could be in part related to what happened in Stormwind but I think she will underline the favor she will ask back and what Alric needs to do.

>>5362859
Problem with Masons is although we can and should vouch for those who were in Alterac at the time of the riots, we have little to no reason to en bloc welcome potential regicides… reginacides, whatever. We’re freshly in love so we’re likely visualizing situation where Calia gets her skull caved by angry mob with little understanding for how justified their demands may have been. So if we end up taking any refugees there would at least have to be screening and taking testimonies in attempt to determine if any of them took part in riots and probably happily handing any such to Varian’s justice.
Furthermore as far as we can tell (maybe our further interactions or the letters will reveal something else) Prestor should be as horrified by the incident as we are, she is after all one of the nobles though ostensibly on VanCleef’s side.

It will be tricky situation to deal with especially if we are forced into confrontation with the alliance garrison, depending what authority Varian can exert over it in response to Stormwind’s domestic terrorism.

>>5362894
It depends, we do have a decent relation with the Masons and a respectable and profitable one with Van. Working and talking with them would naturally create it.
And I suspect that even something small like vouching for the ones currently in Alterac could be seen as hostile by the Alliance, even if they are passive aggressive with us already and some outright hostile.
In regard to the garrison any kind of act that isn't defensive will be considered by us, dealing with our affairs (and we already tolerate the garrison and edict, Alric never signed or said ok to that. I am surprised they didn't force him at a certain point) which is not acceptable by any means since these people are employed and under our protection.
We have to consider it, but I do agree with most of what you say, especially about Calia and that this is a tricky situation.
I mostly don't want to see Van thrown under the proverbial bus after our interactions with him, and we could use experienced men or just more men here.
Be for the growth of our principality, or to keep going with raising our army strength.

You took the letters and put them aside. You would be reading them after you had talked with Lady Nalice and having gotten a better idea of what kind of a person she was.

"So Lady Nalice, tell me about yourself." You said to her.

"Prince Alric, what do you want to hear?"

"What are your skills? What are you good at? I would like to know how you normally serve Lady Katrana and can I use those skills to my advantage?" You asked her.

"I am a skilled arcanist, a mage of great power. I could duel an Archmage of Dalaran and win." Lady Nalice said and you could hear how proud she was of her own skills. "To Lady Katrana I am an ambassador, someone who is sent to help her allies, to speak with people or to deal with them if required."

Your mind raced into conclusion and you didn’t like the implication of that especially as Nalice had a faint smile when she said that.

"Prince Alric, what you can expect of me is that I always avoid making a mess. My approach to things is very delicate, if I can avoid dirtying my hands, I will choose that path." Lady Nalice said to you and continued. "When I am finished, your spymaster will be extremely well trained and ready to do their duty."

"Anything else you wish to tell me Lady Nalice?" You asked her. She did speak with confidence in her own skills and what she does. You hadn’t seen her in action, but it didn't feel like she was lying. Her eyes didn't give that away as you looked into them and she gazed back.

"My favourite colour is black, when I am not serving my mistress I love to read old books and drink red wine of the highest quality." Lady Nalice said and had her faint smile again. "And I like bunnies… they are white and fluffy."

Now you didn’t know if she was serious or just joking and you didn’t want to ask if she was.

1/2

>>5363242

"Lady Katrana had an excessive personal library, I presume you have read some of them?"

"Oh no, my mistress does not allow anyone to touch her collection. They are hers, not anyone else's." Lady Nalice corrected you.

"I see, then what have you heard of me before? What has Lady Katrana told you about me?" You asked her and continued talking about Katrana.

"Prince Alric, you arrived into Stormwind City unannounced, you surrounded yourself with two beautiful young ladies, won a tournament and butted heads with the Alliance on top of everything." Lady Nalice told you and continued. "Then my mistress told me that you denied her twice, declined her advances, but still agreed to work with her even though you could have declined easily after that."

Nalice smiled and gazed into your eyes. She seemed to enjoy this conversation.

"Prince Alric, I find you quite an interesting person. You do what you want and that makes you irresistible to many people." Lady Nalice said to you and leaned on her hand as she smiled. The faint smile from before was gone. "My mistress described you as someone special, as someone you don't meet everyday and believe me, when she used those words, she truly meant that."

Katrana seemed to have told Nalice everything and a bit more. This discussion had started more stiff and serious at first, but now it seemed that Nalice had softened a bit as the subject turned to you.

"Someone special? That is a high praise and I need to thank Lady Katrana for her words whenever I meet her next time." You said to Nalice and gave her a slight smile. "And I need to thank you for delivering said words and having this talk with me. I now know a bit more on what to expect of you."

You stood up and finished your cup of wine. Nalice took that as a signal and stood up as well.

"It is my pleasure to serve you Prince Alric." Nalice said and did a curtsy.

"And I wish that our cooperation will bear fruit." You said to her and offered your hand for a handshake.

Lady Nalice looked at your hand and then shook it. Her hand felt warm, maybe even unnaturally warm.

"For the prosperity of Alterac and Lady Katrana." Lady Nalice said and finished her cup.

...

You had asked Monica if she had a free room for Lady Nalice and thankfully she had. When Nalice left for the upstairs, you quickly caught her and gave her advice.

Eligius was a scribe, having a mysterious lady in an mage armour following him around was extremely suspicious. It would be better if people wouldn't recognise or think much of Nalice.

She looked at you for a moment before agreeing with you. Then she snapped her fingers and her armour and clothes turned to resemble scholar's robes. Her backstory would be that she was hired to teach Eligius and you about different subjects. This way she would have a good reason to be with Eligius or with you.

You also told her that you would introduce her to Eligius the next day. Then the work could start and to which Nalice agreed.

2/2

>>5363244

QM: Second part of the update comes later, at latest tomorrow. Your discussion about the situation was good and I enjoyed reading it. It makes the QM a happy man!

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You had sat down again and put the two letters on the table in front of you. Both of them were sealed and from outside the one from Lady Katrana seemed to be a bigger one.

So you decided to open it first.

You carefully broke the seal and pulled a long letter out from the envelope. The letter had the same fragrance as Lady Katrana had when you met her and attempted to seduce you. You sighed as this was endearing in its own way, she was still trying to get you.

And then you read the letter. At first it was a typical "how are you doing, what have you doing, I have been well" style letter, but then it turned into a thinly veiled love letter. Katrana described how she missed you and wrote how she was waiting to see you again so that the two of you could continue where you left off.

You had to sigh again and rest your head on your hands as you continued reading it. Frankly you were taken about how well the letter had been written and how sincere Katrana seemed with the use of her words, but at the same time you felt like you had to laugh a bit.

Was she truly this smitten by you or was this just a way to continue her attempt to seduce you?

It didn’t matter right now and as you got past the love letter part, the letter turned into more serious one. Katrana apologised for not being able to sway the heads of her fellow nobles and when the final decision to not pay the Stonemason’s Guild a copper more, it was a huge mistake from the nobles. After Queen Tiffin had died and King Varian had ordered the army to the streets, Katrana had spirited away dozens if not hundreds of members of the Stonemason’s Guild as they were not responsible for the events that unfolded. The way the Stonemason’s Guild was treated and how this all ended was a tragedy and would be a very large dark note in the history of Stormwind.

During this she took full control of whatever side businesses the Stonemason’s had, including the silver they were buying from you. Katrana promised to keep buying your silver and use her own resources to help the business to grow. You wouldn’t have to worry about that.

After all this came what she wanted. She wants you to act neutral and not act on anything Stormwind or King Varian wants you to do. Katrana knows that you have Stonemasons working for you and she wants you to keep them safe. They are innocent in all this.

Finally she wished to see you as soon as possible, but knew that you couldn't leave Alterac that easily. Due to that she asked you to write back and that she would be waiting for your letter. She also wrote that Lady Nalice should be trusted as she is a skilled servant of hers and that Katrana chose her due to her skills suiting your needs perfectly.

You put aside Katrana's letter and thought about the situation. She hadn't asked much, just to keep the Stonemasons in Dawnholme safe.

1/2

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>>5363330

Then you opened the letter from Edwin VanCleef. It was quite on to the point. VanCleef thanked you again for lending the tournament winnings and for the silver trade as they had brought in enough profits to pay for the workers for a while. But sadly it hadn't been enough and things had escalated.

VanCleef expressed how sorry he was that Queen Tiffin had died. It wasn’t the goal of the demonstrations and that the Stormwind House of Nobles was the ones to be blamed in all this. To VanCleef it was clear who were the bad guys in this even though he knew that it was a Stonemason who threw the rock. Now though he was branded a traitor and a murderer and his guild was banned and its membership was outlawed. King Varian was on a warpath and he presumed that King Varian would attempt to act against the Stonemasons in Stormwind and through the Alliance.

Edwin VanCleef expressed his concern for the safety of Erefor Pelija and asked you to keep him and those who followed him safe. He then asked something much bigger. He asked if you could receive refugees and those who don't want to stay in the Kingdom of Stormwind or on the run. VanCleef explained that not everyone was willing to follow his plans and he didn't want them to end up getting involved unwillingly.

He wrote that he was waiting for a response through your common friend and ally Lady Katrana Prestor, who had attempted to help him and his guild before and after the riots.

Edwin VanCleef finished the letter by stating that he couldn't give you anything in return other than his eternal gratitude and friendship if you could help, but that he also understood if you couldn’t help him or his people.

You were worried that King Varian would attempt to project his power through the Alliance, but at same time the idea of not helping the Stonemasons felt wrong. They had lost their homes and your mind immediately went to your own people. Would you deny the Stonemasons and their families a second chance, a new future to rebuild?


>Accept all refugees and those who are willing to leave and move to Alterac.
>Accept refugees only, but decline accepting those who just want to move to Alterac.
>Accept only the women, children and elderly. They are innocent in all this.
>Don't accept anyone, you don't potentially want to anger King Varian
>Other, write in.

QM: Big updates done and I don’t think I should have to say that this is a quite important decision.

>>5363332
Yeah it is. A very good one
I don't feel like closing the door on them, and the Alliance can't use this for war. But they can use it for other stuff.
Ugh another edict. Poor Alric hearth.
Need to think on this

>>5363332
>Accept all refugees and those who are willing to leave and move to Alterac.

What a situation.
Well, it’s clear we can’t just cave to pressure and have to maintain integrity.

So, regarding VanCleef and stonemasons I’d propose something along those lines:
>Accept all Stonemasons that come our way…
>however, under condition that they all give testimony to what they were doing on the day of riots, and those actively participating or escalating violence will be delivered to justice, and if Alliance sends some mages or priests to interrogate them with divination or mind reading, they would be subjected to this. We will give shelter to the innocents fleeing from persecution, not someone responsible for death of innocents escaping retribution.
>also respond to VanCleef specifically impressing on him that the path he would take to escalate wrongs to address those he suffered will not help his people live better tomorrow, it will condemn them and their children to more suffering down the line. (Ponder briefly whether this is the kind of reasoning that took our elder siblings down the path of syndicate)

Regarding lady Prestor…
>Friendzone Onyxia
Oh boy this is going to be interesting. I’d like to know what exactly her goals for us are because if she’s genuinely attracted to us she’ll be… difficult. We should make excessively sure that Nalice is either unable or unwilling to learn or share our connection to Calia. Who did we tell, Garsides and Malevus… and Arthas?
Anyway returning to topic we need to reply to Prestor how we value her support and her kind words, we’ll be happy to consider her our friend especially in the trying times and those who flee from unfair persecution will be welcome in Alterac as long as we have a word in it and ability to accept them.
I’d also like to rip the band aid off and tell her our heart already belongs to another though this might call for some prudent choice of words to not hurt her ego more than necessary. She will eventually find out though that’s for sure.

>>5363332
>>Accept all refugees and those who are willing to leave and move to Alterac.
Probably damn my heart. This people will be killed or become worse in time if left to their own devices, they where denied more than once their just demands.
Will this people be hunted down across the way, will they disperse and try to move in other settlements. Alterac is still a decent amount of travel away. But it can be a new home.

Regardless
>Write-in
Get out of the inn, and in to our military camp have a soldier call for Garside immediately. We will let him read the letters and then say what we decided.
A messanger will be sent to Dawnholme where Beric will be ordered to organize a work force for begin to build houses for the incoming people. The messanger will then move north and inform Erefor of the grim news, we will also give Erefor permission to return to Dawnholme and aid Beric efforts.
Some of the wood we exported will not be selled, and used in construction instead.
Inform Beric that we will send him some gold and the prisoners gained for him to put to work.

While the messengers go we will probably make a review of the campaign and our forces, then we return in the hills. Probably opening a path for Stonedon is for the best.

>>5363582
>Friendzone Onyxia

I must say I didn't expect to read those two words when I started this quest. Your opinion is noted, but I also need to say that any decisions regarding Lady Katrana can wait till a later date, or when I actually put it on a vote. Alric knows that it will take time for letters to travel and even longer time for people to travel. People and goods don't move in an instant and if they do, you are dealing with a mage of Dalaran who knows how to teleport and those aren't that common.

It can take weeks if not months to hear a reply or see the results, so you aren't exactly in a big hurry.

Good discussion and musing yet again from all of you.

>>5363332
>>Accept only the women, children and elderly. They are innocent in all this.

>>5363332
>Accept all refugees and those who are willing to leave and move to Alterac
If the garrison or the Alliance complains, we can establish a checkpoint and filter the criminal elements - which we could convert into penal workers to potentially save them from execution.

Lady Nalice had said that you do what you want and now you are going to do the only thing that feels right. Alteracis had been without a homeland since the Second War and you knew how it feels to be driven from your home. You couldn’t let it happen again, you couldn't allow the Stonemasons to end up homeless and prosecuted for crimes they haven't done.

It just doesn't fit well with your morals of what is right. So you took up paper, quill and ink and started writing a letter to Edwin VanCleef.

You kept your letter on point as well as you wrote that you would accept anyone who would arrive, be they women and children or just those who took the offer and want to move to Alterac. You did write how you too had concerns about what King Varian could attempt to do, but still you would do it.

You wrote that you know that Lady Katrana has taken control of the silver trade and that the communication through her intermediaries can still continue. It wouldn’t be something that we would have to worry about.

You finished the letter by thanking him for his friendship and gratitude and wished everything good for his people. But you also reminded that whatever his plans are, to escalate wrongs to address those he suffered will not help his people live better tomorrow, it will condemn them and their children to more suffering down the line.

Having finished the letter, you hoped that it would reach VanCleef fast and that everything goes well for them. Outside of that you couldn't do much other than to prepare for the Stonemason refugees.

…

You started to write a letter to Jaina as you hadn’t written to her yet, but left it unfinished as you were too tired to finish it or write the other letters. You would have to write all of them tomorrow and have Malevus to mail them.

1/2

>>5364166

The next morning you woke up earlier than usually and went out to find Eligius. You found him still sleeping in his tent outside the walls of the town and after waking him up and getting the man dressed, you guided him back to Monica's inn and into the private side room. There you already found Lady Nalice in her scholar disguise sipping a cup of wine.

"Good morning Lady Nalice, I hope you slept well. As much as I don’t want to bad mouth my friend's establishment, I presume it isn't on par with what you are used to?" You greeted and said to her. "This is Eligius, he will be my spymaster and under your training and care."

Nalice nodded her head and turned her gaze from you to Eligius.

"Prince Alric, you do know that your spymaster is a warlock?" Nalice asked you curiously. "And yes I did sleep well Prince Alric, thank you for asking. Not everyone is so polite to ask."

"I do know that Eligius is a warlock. Lady Nalice, is that a problem?" You asked her and didn't let it faze you that she realised it immediately. Eligius meanwhile was shocked how quickly Nalice had realised it.

"No, not at all. In fact it might be beneficial to me." Lady Nalice said to you and the faint smile of hers returned as her gaze shifted back to you. "You are an intriguing man Prince Alric, employing a warlock and making him your spymaster. I think I underestimated you and now I know why my mistress is so interested in you."

"Beneficial? How?" You had to ask her.

"You don't have qualms in employing a warlock, even if the man hides it well." Nalice said and turned her gaze back to Eligius. "I might be delicate in my approach to things, but now I don't have to be as delicate in how I will train him."

"Speaking of training, when will you start Lady Nalice?" You asked her.

"Today as soon as possible." She said back and continued. "I have heard the news, you will leave for Strahnbrad Hills tomorrow. Prince Alric, while I could follow you there, I would prefer to move to Dawnholme. Of course it would be your decision if you instead require my aid."

Lady Nalice turned her gaze back to Eligius who seemed to be very nervous about all this.

"And I do have an offer. I could also teach Eligius in the arts of warlocks." Nalice said and sipped her wine.

"Lady Nalice, you said that you were an arcanist and not a warlock?" You had to ask her. "And very fair of you to offer to teach Eligius more magic, but why would you do it? Especially as warlocks aren't that well liked."

"Prince Alric, you would be correct, but I know enough of the arts of shadow and fel to teach him the few things I know." Nalice said with pride again in her voice and moved her gaze back towards you. "A strong warlock would have an arsenal of spells and tricks that could prove to be an immense boon for a trained spymaster. And I am here to train Eligius to be one, am I right?

Lady Nalice kept her gaze on you and smiled. "So how is it, where do you need me?"

2/2

>>5364169


>Have her follow you to Strahnbrad Hills. She can start training Eligius there.
>Send her to Dawnholme. It is after all the place where Eligius will mostly be staying.
>Lady Nalice has free reign on the training. Let her choose where to go and when to go.

>Allow Lady Nalice to teach Eligius more about warlock magic.
>Don't allow her to teach Eligius magic, it wasn’t part of the help required.

QM: Please vote on both.

>>5364171
Does sending her to Dawnholme mean we’ll be sending Eligius along with her? I was kind of hoping to have chance for one last private heart to heart with the man though I reckon we have sufficient measure of each other. And after all he’s probably smart enough to have figured what the warning would be about - this woman will not only school but also test him.

Regardless it’s probably better to keep the two close so we can respond to possible shenanigans without automatically needing to be informed of them by third party.
>ask her to come along with the campaign

>allow her to teach him
We already trust him with the magic, denying them now would make little sense I think and possibly reveal a weakness for the tutor to exploit.
Ask her to be discreet, however, and to ensure safety of our subjects is not threatened.

>>5364194
Yes, Eligius goes with her to Dawnholme and is expected to follow her unless otherwise told.

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>>5364194
>tfw Nalice and Onyxia may come to conclusion Alric is ruthless master manipulator that plays emotions of his subjects like a fiddle while secretly plotting with forbidden magic and hidden agendas

I’m sort of concerned where this will go. Trying to convince blacks to take up their original jobs is an impossible task however we don’t know that and maybe it wouldn’t stop us from trying even if we did

>>5364171
>Lady Nalice has free reign on the training. Let her choose where to go and when to go.
>Allow Lady Nalice to teach Eligius more about warlock magic.
Well thats not unexpected at all.
I do think we should show some trust in her training perhaps we should show some interest in wht they will be doing but otherwise do not intervene.
As a side note we need to earn some good will with the alliance and i sort of feel that thrall and the internment camps will be the way to do it as there is basically zero gain from being friendly to them especeally if they do something hostile.

>>5364171
>Lady Nalice has free reign on the training. Let her choose where to go and when to go.
>Don't allow her to teach Eligius magic, it wasn’t part of the help required.

>>5364171
>Lady Nalice has free reign on the training. Let her choose where to go and when to go.
>Allow Lady Nalice to teach Eligius more about warlock magic.

Sure. Just avoid attention of the locals, and we have a priest for Dawnholme but he is also the same one of Tarren Mill.
We have also a paladin of the Silver Hand, Raleigh but he is with our forces.

Probably best to go to Garside right now

>>5364218
Kek it would be kind of comical if they come to that conclusion, especially if Alric doesn't get it. He is a very good boy, a piece of bread with a fire sword.
I still remember when he was a bit dense with relationship, ah good times.

"Do as you see fit. You can go to Dawnholme and teach Eligius more about magic." You said to Nalice. "Just remember to have Eligius with you, the people know him as a scribe that has been helping me personally."

"Thank you Prince Alric." Nalice said back to you.

"One more thing that shouldn’t need to be said. Lady Nalice, I am giving you plenty of leeway on how to work and act, but what I don’t want is that people grow suspicious of you or Eligius." You told her and continued. "I have a paladin of Silver Hand serving me and the local priest comes to visit every now and then, and I do not want them to realise that something is amiss."

"Prince Alric, the trust you have placed on me won't be a mistake." Nalice said to you and her smile disappeared. She spoke in a more serious tone too. "I won't allow anything to happen to your spymaster that would reveal him. I won't disappoint my mistress."

"That is good to hear Lady Nalice. I don’t have anything else to say right now to you, but I would like to speak with Eligius for a moment." You said to her.

"Then I will make my leave. Eligius, come and find me when you are ready to leave Tarren Mill." Nalice said and stood up to leave. As she passed you, she did a deep curtsy and then left the room.

"Where did you find her?" Eligius asked you with a nervous voice. "The way she realised that I am a warlock…"

"During my visit to Stormwind City, I started a business venture with Lady Katrana Prestor. She is one of the more powerful nobles in the city so I asked her for help." You told Eligius and left the rest of the details out. "The mistress Lady Nalice speaks about is her."

"I see." Eligius said and didn't seem any less nervous than before. "Prince Alric, you aren’t a mage, but I couldn't avoid feeling how powerful she was. How intense she felt."

"I could hear it from her voice and see it in her eyes. She clearly is very proud of her skills." You said to Eligius. "But don't worry about it, I trust Lady Katrana in that she has sent us someone who knows what they are doing."

"If you say so." Eligius said and wasn't as confident.

"Besides, if you don’t think you can do this, you can back away and decline." You offered him. "I can’t force you to do this."

"No, I will do it." Eligius said without a second of thinking. "Prince Alric, I owe you too much to back down."

"Good, then you better leave and go pack your stuff. I don’t think Lady Nalice likes to wait around."

1/3

>>5365587

"You agreed to do what?!" Normand Garside asked you. You had gone outside into the rain and found him cataloguing barrels of dried and salted meat and fish that you would be taking with you. He was alone in the warehouse.

"I can’t leave the Stonemasons without help, how could I decline them when they ask for a chance to have a home?" You said to Garside. He hadn't been happy when you had told him about the content of the letter from VanCleef. "How could I then speak to other nobles or King's or hell even my own people about providing a home for Alteracis while knowing that I denied the people that asked me for help?"

"You are getting involved in the politics of Stormwind, you are getting King Varian involved. These aren't just any people, they are directly involved in the death of Queen Tiffin." Garside said to you and he had raised his voice even slightly. "This is an Alliance wide issue and we can't just barge in and insert ourselves into it."

"And that is an even bigger reason to get involved. The women, children, elderly and those who don't want to be part of Edwin VanCleefs plans don't have to suffer because no one is willing to help them because they fear the Alliance and King Varian." You said back and attempted to keep your voice down. It had been a while since Normand had raised his voice at you.

"And we should fear him too. He will demand retribution! What of Lord Uther and Silver Hand? How will King Terenas see this?" Normand said back and continued. "I am trying to see this from their eyes. How would you react if someone threw a rock at Calia and struck her down!?"

Normand Garside had gone too far when he said her name. You knew it and he knew it.

"I'm… I am sorry Alric, I shouldn't have said that." Normand said to you, having calmed down from his outburst. "I just…"

"You are just worried how they will see this and how they will react." You said back to him. "You said her name because you care about me and I understand. If I were in the boots of King Varian, I would probably be as angry as he is."

You sighed and walked past Normand before turning back to speak with him again.

"But I am not him and due to that I can make decisions like this."

"And I won’t bring this up again, not after what I said. I will ride to Dawnholme tomorrow and bring the news to master Pelija and start planning how we will receive the refugees, whenever they start coming." Normand said back to you.

"Probably will take weeks, the first might arrive just before winter, rest probably after it." You said.

2/3

>>5365589

"I also heard about your late night visitor, so the help from Lady Katrana Prestor arrived." Normand said to you. "What can you tell me about her? Does she fit the job, can she teach Eligius?"

"Her name is Lady Nalice and she is a potent arcanist and she seems to be up to the job. Lady Nalice will start the training today and they will move to Dawnholme." You said to Normand and continued. "She will also teach Eligius more about magic."

Knowing Normands distrust towards Eligius, even though they are attempting to fix said distrust, this caught his attention.

"There must be more to that? Eligius is not an arcanist, but a warlock." Normand said and realised. "He is going to be taught more warlock magic."

"Yes, I won't deny it." You said back to him.

Normand sighed deeply. You could see that he was worried about all this, maybe even too worried, but he had been like this since your exile started. Having entered the world of political intrigue and alliances, the things he has to worry about have increased as has the chance for you to end up dealing with all sorts of dangerous things. He is worried because he cares about you a lot and wants no harm to be done to you. Because he is part of your family, he worries so much.

"Alric, can you promise me that next time things like this are brought up or end up happening, you will talk to me first. That is why me and your other supporters are here, to support you and give you our counsel." Normand said and continued. "Can you promise me that?"


>Promise to speak with Garside and others before making decisions like this in the future.
>Promise that after Eligius no more warlocks are accepted into your service.
>Promise to not end up making decisions that are harmful to the Alliance or cause its members to have a reason to work against you.
>You can't make such a promise, because you don't know what will happen in the future.
>Other, write in.

QM: If you have someone with whom you want to talk with before leaving to Strahnbrad Hills, please mention that person. If there is no consensus, then I will skip to the next day.

>>5365593
>He’s right. There are people that can be trusted and we’d be making a mistake not to hear out their input when possible.
>Tell Garside we can promise we will hear him and others out when possible.
Sometimes delaying decisions might make matters worse, but the point is we do trust him and our other friends.

Interesting times ahead I suppose

>>5365593
>Promise to speak with Garside and others before making decisions like this in the future.
At the very least we should consult our closest advisors on such matters.
Doesnt mean we have to agree with them just that we hear them out first and reason our position on our choice.

>>5365593
>>Promise to speak with Garside and others before making decisions like this in the future.

Normand is right. There are people that can be trusted and we’d be making a mistake not to hear out their input when possible. As he said, one of their jobs is to give you counsel.

"You are right, I promise." You said to him knowing that both of you knew that delaying decisions could make matters worse or that you were in a position to even talk to them.

"Thank you Alric and I am sorry to even have to ask something like this." Normand said to you, he seemed to be somewhat relieved.

"It is your job to be worried and push me away from danger." You said. "Thank you."

"Alright, we still have work to do." Normand said and clapped his hands.

He was right, plenty of small things to do before you were ready.

…

Normand said to you that the supply situation was good. As long as the hills hadn't turned into complete mush, ox carts could reach the camp without too many problems. He also told you about the need of building the camp for the prisoners in Dawnholme. He would speak with foreman Davis about it and draw preliminary plans, maybe even get the work started. He then would be following you in a four or five days with the rest of your soldiers.

Your armour had been returned from the blacksmith well cleaned and checked. Malevus had then personally rechecked everything and made sure that your armour was ready.

You had talked with your officers as their men prepared for tomorrow. Your soldiers would be ready and due to the near constant rain, they had acquired better and larger rain cloaks. According to Lieutenant Cromwell, the men were as ready as they could be.

Finally you visited the church and saw the wounded men for one more time. They were happy to see you and you heard from Raleigh and Father Hampton that Raleigh wouldn't be joining you, but instead he would be waiting for Captain Garside to be ready. The wounded men still required a healer and Hampton wasn’t ready to let him go, at least not yet.

1/2

>>5366158

When the work of the day was done, you returned into your room and continued writing the letters.

Jaina's letter was a simple one. Basic greetings and then telling her what you had been doing recently. Presuming that as the apprentice of Lord Antonidas, she would be speaking with him, you told her about the first foray into Strahnbrad Hills and about the victory against the Syndicate and the bandits. Spreading the news of your victory could be quite beneficial to you. You wrote that you hoped to see her soon as the armour Melondras was making should be finished in a few weeks.

The next letter was for Lady Katrana. You thought for quite a long time what to write to her and in the end you decided to keep the things professional. You thanked her for taking care of the silver trade and expressed how sorry you felt after having heard the news. You told her that you would keep the Stonemasons safe and that you hoped to be able to come visit Stormwind City when you had a chance.

You wrote to her that Lady Nalice had arrived to Alrerac safely and that you were impressed about her skills. You thanked Katrana for sending the help and wished that everything would go without any issues. You also wished that the cooperation between you and her would continue as it would bring prosperity and profit to both of you. You did humour her a bit by ending the letter by thanking her for refreshing your memory, the fragrance was a nice touch.

Finally when your hand started to tire, you wrote the two letters to Calia. The first that was quite basic one, just telling her what you had done and the same other details you told to Jaina. Calia would probably tell her father what you had achieved in Strahnbrad Hills and it would be good for him to hear about your success.

The second letter was a more personal one, the one Malevus sends to Calia’s handmaid to keep the contents a secret. You wrote how you missed seeing her, hearing her voice and feeling her touch. As you wrote the letter, you really understood how much you missed her. So you took that feeling and channelled it into the letter, all of your feelings put into words. You couldn’t wait to see her again, you really couldn't.

The letter ended up being the longest of them all and it didn't surprise you at all. You wanted to tell Calia as much as possible about your life and what you had done. You wanted to tell her in all of the words of the world that you loved her.

When you finished the letter and put it into the envelope, you were tired and it was already late. You thought about the letters in front of you, one to King Varian, to Jaina, to Katrana and two to Calia. All of them were to important and strong people that were in your life. And just two years ago you were still in the farmstead planning the day when you revealed yourself. Plenty had happened since and tomorrow morning you would leave Tarren Mill and start your second foray into Strahnbrad Hills.

2/2

>>5366164


>1d10
>Best of three

QM: Roll to see how well the trip back to the camp goes.

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>5366166
snow hail and thunder