Choose your path to greatness, obscurity or death. A multiple choice LP

[Kashmir Slippers]

2- No need to get ahead of ourselves. We are a lord's servant, so we should look nice but not too nice.
A- He is going to be our boss for some time. We might as well get to know him. Seems like a nice chap.

Take a book or two with us so that we can keep our studies up, but leave most of them. Take our armor and rucksack full of supplies.

 

[Smashing Axe]

We should have multiple sets of clothes, it will help us blend in when we need to, and stand out when we want to. That said, I propose we buy 1, 2 and 3. 3 for formal ceremony, 2 for a night on the town, 1 when sleuthing, traveling or blending in.

Editing in light of carrying capacity:
Take the book of old stories and the book of history with us, it may be useful as a reference if we encounter villager superstition or belief, take the book of heraldry in case we need to deal with minor barons, and take the book on eloquence as a reference to aid our dealing with any shrewd, cunning types. If we are going to be looking at numbers/accounts as well for Kalz, I suggest as an emergency preparation that we go and buy the book on accounting from the kindly old man and take it with us as a reference tool. Remember that we will be riding, so unless we are separated from our horse encumbrance won't be an issue. Cue the deadly ambush...

Lastly, we will assuredly find out more about Kalz on the road, so let's ask him a question that is pertinent to our preparation. Find out more about the villages, it will help us decide all we need to pack.

C

I wouldn't object to changing my vote to B however, in fact, I will flip to B if necessary to circumvent A. Maybe ask what we can do to ease the pains of riding in the saddle for the first time.

 

[TOME]

Buy 1 and 3.
Villagers cloths when we want to blend in and good set of clothes when we want to impress someone.

B&C Ask about the trip overall and how we should prepare for it.

Take at least one book for the trip, maybe two depending how fast we can read. For the books I would say the one about healing arts or the history book.

 

[Vernydar]

Just a clarification. For the books, you have five in your backpack. You can see which ones in the inventory. You can carry those around, if you want. Else if you want to only take a few, or none at all, tell me. Unless you specify something, I will assume you will bring with you the five books in your backpack. Now off to bed I go

 

[oscar]

2 & 3
B

 

[newcomer]

1,2,3
A

 

[Kipeci]

I'd say we go with 1, two of 2 and a 3.

C.

 

[Esquilax]

I agree with Smashing Axe again. It's important not to skimp on clothes - we should get 1, 2, and 3 so that we can blend in and adapt according to the circumstances. Clothes are dirt cheap too, so money is not an issue.

As for what to ask him about, asking him personal question right now isn't a great idea:

"Captain Kalz is a seasoned, no nonsense captain who has distinguished himself for a long time. For your first task you will accompany him on a mission for maybe a couple of months. You must know that Bitak during the course of the summer receives important supplies from the villages of Strok and Nokos. These supplies are even more abundant and varied now that we plan to build stone walls around Bitak."

"Captains Kalz will, for the next 6-8 weeks, go to those villages, talk to all the involved parties, make sure that everything is in order and that every bit of those supplies is being sent to Bitak. This could also involve having to smooth things over with the various merchants, and to solve any problem that may arise. You will go with him and serve as a helper, though I am making clear here that he is in command."

He's a hard-ass veteran who probably isn't one for chit-chat. Well get to know him over the next few months very well, so asking him about himself is redundant.

1, 2, 3,

C

 

[Jick Magger]

1, 2, & 3

B

 

[ScubaV]

1,2,3

C, let's learn about the objective.

 

[Monty]

Buy an Elvis outfit if they have one, otherwise:

2 C

I agree we can't go carrying all our books around but probably worth taking one to start reading in the evenings, maybe the general history one.

 

[Zwist]

1 and 3, I do not see a use for a middleway just yet.

C

 

[Omicron]

2
C

 

[Arpad]

1,2,3
C

 

[Stygian Lurker]

1,2,3
A

 

[Vernydar]

Very well, vote closed. I'll write the update now.

 

[Vernydar]

Very well, for clothes on average you wanted to spend about 99 coppers. But most people voted one each of 1,2 and 3. That's 1 silver and 15 coppers. I feel that's close enough, so you'll get one of each those 3. Nobody voted for 4
As for second choice, 9 people votes for C, 4 for A, rest for B. So C it is.
There were not enough votes regarding the books, so you'll bring along the five books that already were in the backpack, and study them in that order unless you need some reference.

30 – On the road again

You decide to buy:

• A common set of villager's clothes
• A nice set of clothes
• A good set of clothes

(You spend 1 silver and 15 coppers. You gain these items)

You decide to ask Kalz about the villages where you will spend most of the next couple of months. He tells you a bit about them:
"Well, Strok is the first place where we're going. Cause it has the most critical items that the Lord needs. I'll give you a copy of the list later on so you can study it before we reach it. It's a village deep in the forest, about 800 people live there. Normally you'd wonder why we need to go to such a place, but it has the best craftsmen of this part of the kingdom, especially with wood. We're also going to hire a few more carpenters and unskilled labor for the construction of the walls. It's a rather rowdy place though I tell you. All those people are somewhat arrogant about their abilities, and there are often scuffles between the villagers, mostly of the black eye type. Some of the boys can't wait for that."

"Nokos instead must be the most boring place I have ever seen. A monotonous farming village about 500 people big, with not a single place where one can drink a good beer and look for some company. It's the only place up here near Bitak that has big fields, and so it's the place to buy food and such. We're going there later cause for now there's enough food in Bitak, or so Jacob said. But we're going to hire some people there as well, better have more hands for the construction work. That's it more or less. Now you better go prepare your backpack and go to bed soon. Trust me Kyoss, by tomorrow at lunch you'll hate horses."

You decide to heed his advice and after a quick dinner you retire in your room. You add your new clothes to your backpack, secure your gear, and then go to bed early. You wake up quite a bit before dawn, finish up the last preparations and head for the army's stables. Captain Kalz and six other soldiers are there preparing the horses. The captain introduces you to the soldiers, and apart for teasing you a bit about your age and the fact you are so young they all seem pretty amicable fellows. They even give you pointers on how to best saddle and load your stuff on the horse... after laughing at you making a poor job of it.

You start off just before dawn, and Kalz set a slow pace towards Strok, since you have to get used to the horse. You honestly wonder if it would not be better to just walk. The soldiers laugh at your pained face, and tell you that, after you get used to it, it will be faster that walking and you will be a lot less tired after a day of travel. They do admit that for long travels it's not as fast as most people would think. Unless you do not care about the horses, or are in a real hurry.

As midday comes you stop for lunch and you have to agree with Kalz, you are hurting all over! The soldiers are sympathetic and you're happy to see that you were right, they are friendly people. Apart from some teasing, you think you'll feel at home with them.

Now though it's time to decide your schedule for this travel and for the mission beyond this. What are you going to do in the free time in order to improve yourself? Well, you do have your books, so a part of your time you will surely spend studying them. But what about the rest? You could of course study more. Or you could ask Kalz or the soldiers to teach you something, you are almost sure they would accept. After all, Jacob did tell them you were going to study and try to learn more.

(GM's note: You will have 2 "periods" of study time per day. One is for books, you have 5 to study in your backpack alone. The other is up to you. You will be able to change option later on if needed or wanted)

So, what shall you do in this other part of your time? (Options available are based on your current gear)

1. Study some more! You have a lot to study!
2. Ask someone to teach you the sword
3. Ask someone to teach you the bow
4. Ask someone to teach you the knife
5. Ask someone to teach you unarmed combat
6. Ask someone to teach you how to dodge
7. Ask someone to teach you how to ride better
8. Other. Make a proposal, put a number on it.

Also, what shall you do mainly during the riding hours?
A) Try to befriend captain Kalz
B) Try to befriend the soldiers
C) Carefully observe everything around you
D) Other. Make a proposal, put a letter on it.

 

[Omicron]

3
C

 

[m4davis]

2
A
Its best if we make friends with someone who we are probably going to be working with a lot

 

[TOME]

1A

 

[ScubaV]

2 - This is our only combat skill currently. May as well work on making it half-decent in case we ever need to defend ourselves.
C - Our job is to help with literacy and report on any strange findings. I don't think A or B are bad choices, but a working relationship should suit us just fine for now.

 

[Monty]

3 C

We're 16 yrs old and rather weak, I think learning the bow is a must. Useful for hunting too.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

2
A

 

[Computer Gamer Refugee]

2 - This is our only combat skill currently. May as well work on making it half-decent in case we ever need to defend ourselves.
C - Our job is to help with literacy and report on any strange findings. I don't think A or B are bad choices, but a working relationship should suit us just fine for now.

I also vote 2 and C for the same reasons

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

7A

We should at least get to a point where we aren't slowing the others down with our lack of riding ability.