#sell for on the black market these days now that they’re holy relics

[vigilskeep]

sister magdalene squinting at the depiction of the herald of andraste: are you fucking with me Maker

magdalene: the maker has rewarded my faith by allowing me to raise the herald of his bride 🙏😔 i thank him each day for granting me the strength to persevere through the indignity of my trials to reach this highest of honours

toram: do NOT try that line on the seeker

magdalene: fuck you i thought it was pretty good

toram: exactly i’ll never hear the end of it

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Seven: Where Will It Be Found? ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

One of the nice things about the police force? There’s rarely a day with nothing to do. Even little menial tasks help keep him busy, and still help improve both the Uchiha clan’s standing in Konoha, and help him feel more...involved. More a part of the village he wants to help better after all the corruption that’s held it.

So while Itachi might have more glory in the ANBU, and Shisui as a bodyguard of the Rokudaime Hokage...Sasuke still finds his job more than rewarding.

And he’s not the only one.

“We’ve got a new assignment.”

Looking up from some paperwork, Sasuke sees his partner in the doorway. “What is it?”

“Apparently something of high value was stolen...from the Yamanaka, no less.” Hinata holds out a scroll that he wordlessly accepts. “It’s a vase. Apparently one gifted from a past daimyō to a past clan head.”

Reading the description, Sasuke thinks to -

“And I’ve already given warning to the ANBU. They’re watching the black market for it to pop up. They’ll send word if anything resembling it is seen.”

...do that. He can’t help a small snort of amusement. “You read my mind.”

The Hyūga softly smiles to herself. “You’ve been teaching me well.”

“No, you’re just someone who thinks one step ahead.” Sealing the scroll back up, Sasuke tucks it into his leg pouch. “So, has a scene sweep been done at the Yamanaka compound yet?”

“Yes, but they also wanted us to come verify. There’s a few Hyūga already there, and several patrols out looking elsewhere.”

“Good.”

The trip to the clan grounds doesn’t take long. Already a few Hyūga officers have taped off the room in question. Hopefully that means no tampered evidence. Ino stands nearby, arms crossed and talking to another officer before taking note of them. “Oh, Hinata-chan! Sasuke-kun!”

...he now knows why they were asked for specifically.

The blonde approaches, looking irritated. “I know it’s early, but have you found anything?”

“Not yet - we’ve got teams on the lookout, and ANBU agents checking the underground for anyone looking to sell it,” Hinata assures her. “Any idea what happened, or why?”

Ino huffs. “No. It’s not like we’re parading the thing around. I dunno who would know about it, let alone be the type to take it.”

Sasuke glances around, Sharingan active. “Any suspects within the clan?”

“No. Anyone here with any sense knows it’s worth more here than anywhere else. It’s a symbol of clan pride.”

“Have you had any guests recently who were introduced to it?”

“Mm...not that I can think of?” Ino gestures to the room. “This is a prime sitting room, so we do host guests here sometimes, but it’s not exactly a conversation starter. Typically any business held here is the main topic discussed.”

“I’d still like a list of anyone outside the Yamanaka that’s been in this room in the past few months. They may have cased the place.”

“All right, all right...I’ll get back to you on that as soon as I can. I need to check with a few other council members in case they held anything I wasn’t made privy to. Is that all?”

“For now. And we’ll keep you updated.”

Nodding, Ino takes her leave.

Hinata turns to a fellow Hyūga officer. “Anything yet?”

“No, Hinata-sama. All we know is that the thief likely came through the door, not any windows. Their locks were all still in place, and there were no tracks in the yard beyond. I believe Kiba-san was here with some ninken earlier, and there was no trace beyond the expected Yamanaka scents.”

“And on the interior?”

“There’s a great deal of traffic - leads are being followed, but nothing conclusive yet.”

“I see…” Turning to Sasuke, she asks, “What do you think?”

“I think we find Kiba, see if he’s learned anything since leaving the grounds. He might be on a trail and we just aren’t aware yet. Once we have that list, I’ll send a copy to Itachi.”

They find Kiba wrangling an entire pack of ninken, each on a different scent. “The only promising thing I’ve got is a few merchant scents that were from out of Konoha. Ino said somethin’ about them setting up trade with the floral shop. Pinning down their scents is kinda hard though, given how much in and out there’s been lately. I can’t count how many false leads we had leading up to a Yamanaka’s house slippers.”

“Well, if anything comes up, let us kn-”

Suddenly one of the dogs gives a bray before taking off at a dead run. Kiba flashes a quick grin. “I think that’s our cue!”

The trio follow, the rest of the ninken staying back on their trails. More than once they scatter groups of civilians in the street in a flurry of shouts and indignations. They follow to an inn along the outskirts of town, the innkeep leaping up atop crate to escape the hound.

“Oi! This where those Iwa florists are staying?” Kiba demands, not yet calling off his pup.

“Y-yes! Third floor, first room on the left! Please, just...shut that thing up!”

They find the correct door, Sasuke not bothering to knock. Within, several people startle. “W-what is the meaning of this?!”

The dog then barges in, earning several more oaths of outrage before growling at a sealed box.

“We’re gonna have to search that,” Kiba insists, grinning as the foreigners wince.

Within, under several layers of packing paper...is the vase. The three glance among each other.

“...Hinata.”

Heeding Sasuke’s word with a nod, Hinata offers, “You can let me cuff you quietly...or I’ll be forced to use Jūken.”

All three are soon back at the police headquarters, put into a cell as word is sent to Ino. Carefully putting the vase in question atop the main counter in the lobby, Hinata sighs. “Well, at least that didn’t take too long. Though I have to wonder why they took it...I guess we’ll find out once those three are interrogated.”

“Seems a bit like a random opportunity grab. I doubt someone from Iwa planned to steal one vase. They probably just assumed it was worth money, and snuck around to take it.”

“I suppose so...though I have to wonder how they got out of the compound with it...genjutsu, maybe?”

“Maybe. Though...I’ll admit, the ninken are useful. As good as our eyes are, sometimes a nose isn’t a bad option.”

She giggles. “I agree. It’s a big part of why my team was so good for tracking missions. We were called on quite a bit. We all have our advantages, but some are more suited than others in certain situations.”

“Hn.” Looking up as Ino enters, Sasuke handles her grateful enthusiasm well, glad to see her off with the relic in proper custody. Stretching a bit, he asks, “Think it’s time for a lunch break?”

“Yes, please. We passed some place that smelled heavenly on the way to that inn - my stomach’s been growling ever since!” Hinata replies.

“Well, we’ll have to go see if we can find it.”

“Maybe we should call the ninken back, ne?”

“Not if that means having to invite Kiba to lunch…”

“Ha!”

     Holy smokes, our first week down already!      So, in the ALAS verse, Sasuke revives the police force alongside the Hyūga, and Hinata ends up joining it as well: with her sister as heiress and Neji her advisor, Hinata decides to find another way to keep herself busy. Hence ending up Sasuke's parter. It's how they largely come to know each other post-war, which leads to them dating, getting married, and having two wee kiddies!      But for this, we're still in that first stage lol      A bit of a random drabble, but the prompt was a little strange - hopefully it was still enjoyable! As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see y'all tomorrow!

[ciathyzareposts]

Darklands: Travelogue (Part 2)

Alas, the mines proved too much for my journeyman party.

          We pick up where the previous entry left off:

      Sometime after 5 August 1401. Goslar Mines.

       Since you can’t check “Party Info” while indoors, I have no idea how much time has passed since the party entered the mines. As the session begins, we find a second ladder down on Level 4 that we must have missed earlier.

         With Maximian and Lambert so low on health, I’ve reconfigured the marching order to put Bianca first (she has the best “Perception”), followed by my NPC companion Hanse. Maximian, in ignominy, picks up the rear. Clearly, I should have waited until I had more prayers or alchemies before attempting this type of quest, but in fairness I had no idea that the mines would be so extensive. Everything until now had been a series of menu options.

          We fight one gargoyle before coming to yet another puzzle door, which challenges us to figure out the next number in a sequence that goes 27, 64, 125, 216, 343.

          I suspect either you’ll get it right away or it will take you a while. The numbers are cubes of 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, so the next would be 8^3 or 512. Anyway, beyond the door, another dwarf told me that I’d find enemies further along who were guarding some kind of holy relic.           

It would have been nice to have found this.

         On the level below, four gargoyles attack just after I get off the ladder. Hanse is seriously wounded. In a side room, Hanse is unable to disarm a chest after multiple attempts. I size up the situation and conclude that I need more skill and craft before I’m able to fully clear these mines. Reluctantly, I make my way back up to the surface, camp, and restore much of my lost strength.

          17 August 1401. Wilderness. Party Fame: 52 (barely known).

         We notice a strange darkness in the woods: twisted trees, black birds with harsh cries, the smell of smoke. Investigating, we determine that witchcraft has taken place here. We’re soon attacked by a pack of wolves but manage to slay them with minimal damage.           

Fools. Everyone knows that the wolves are the enemy of the Shadow.

            23 August 1401. Wilderness.

           Attacked by a group of bandits. Everyone is wounded more than they ought to be for a foe we’ve fought many times before.

         26 August 1401. Erfurt.

           We arrive in a city at last. Night is falling just as we go through the gates, so we immediately see about our task to steal notes from the Medici offices. When we get to the central market, we have options to sneak past the guards and custodians, bribe them, or attack them.       

Options when skulking about the market at night.

        My party isn’t very good at sneaking, but I try it and surprisingly it works. Hanse is able to defeat the lock, and we enter the Medici offices and recover the debt note that the Hanseatic League in Lübeck wanted.         In victory, we check into the Lilie and stay several days to return to full health.            5 September 1401. Erfurt. Party Fame: 62 (barely known). Local Rep: 3.         It’s time to head back east, find a way to cross the Elbe, deal with Anton Seibt, and get to Berlin. Before we leave, we buy some reagents in the main market, but are once again tossed away from Alchemist’s Lane when we try to buy some formulas.         Moving east from Erfurt, we finally find a bridge across the Elbe and thus begin angling back north.          7 September 1401. Wilderness.              On the road, a nobleman appears with knights and retainers and demands that we pay the “road toll” of 1 florin. I choose to “try to talk him out of it,” and the nobleman blanches upon hearing our names, graciously letting us use his road for free. “Such are the benefits of reputation and fame,” the game muses, as if we’d earned much of either.          

The nobleman acts like we’ve introduced ourselves as the “Gambinos” or something.

          9 September 1401. Wilderness.

The party investigates a castle, and it turns out to belong to the robber knight Rainald Nöttelheim. He’s not a high-priority target, as the only quest we have to kill him is from the Medici representative in Goslar. But there are other benefits to killing robber knights, and we’re right there.           

I have no idea how my clumsy, armored characters passed this test.

          Our usual tactic is to knock and ask for entry, then stay the night, then sneak into the robber knight’s chambers at night. We can’t do that this time because it’s already night. So I choose to sneak into the castle entirely, and it works. We then sneak into his room, defeat him in single combat, and loot his armor as we did the first two times. This is too easy.

13 September 1401. Halle.

We come to a small hamlet on the way to Berlin. As usual, the schulz is no help. We go to confession at the church instead, and something odd happens. The penance given by the priest is to slowly kill a small animal, then recite 10 prayers backwards, then drink so much sacramental wine that we pass out. Needless to say, the party declines to perform this so-called penance.           

A warning sign.

          Wondering if this oddity is something we should act upon, we return to the schulz and note that one of the options is to accuse the village of satanic practices. We choose that, and in response multiple villagers attack us with clubs and tools. But they’re just peasants, and the resulting combat is both brief and non-damaging to the party.

After the combat, one of the villagers gasps, just before dying, “We will have our revenge East of Strassburg on September 22.” Afterwards, we hike up to the top of a nearby hill and find a demonic altar. With no alchemical or saintly options, we choose to “call forth the demon haunting the site and defeat it in battle,” and we do in fact defeat him in battle. The altar is destroyed and we all gain some virtue points.            

          The cultist’s statement alarms us, but Strassburg is awful far to the southwest, and there’s no way we can make it there in 9 days.          14 September 1401. Leipzig. Party Fame: 72 (barely known). Local rep: 0.          349 years from now, Bach will die in this city. We have no luck here. The burgermeister won’t see us; the alchemists won’t talk to us; the Kloster won’t even let us study saints. We buy some reagents and move on.            

Through the woods to Wittenberg.

            23 September 1401. Wittenberg. Party Fame: 72 (barely known). Local rep: 0.

          We reach Wittenberg on the way to Berlin. We arrive at dusk. Rather than immediately head to the Goldene Weintraube for the night, we spend a couple hours on the streets beating up thieves. Maximian takes way more damage than makes sense given his plate armor. We retire to the inn and rest a couple of days to restore hit points.           Immediately on the road after leaving Witternberg, we are attacked by, and defeat, a party of wolves.           25 October 1401. Wilderness.           Huddled mass of beggars on the road. Give 2 florins.          4 November 1401. Berlin. Party Fame: 72 (barely known). Local rep: 0.

            We arrive in Berlin at last, on a mission to steal reports from the Medici representative. That has to wait for night, so we spend the day shopping, and Maximian spends a few hours learning of St. Willebald. Just as we’re about to leave, for the heck of it, we toss a few florins in the collection plate and a mysterious monk tells us to come back in the morning.             

This led nowhere. Maybe we were too late in the “morning.”

           At night, we are able to sneak into the offices of the Medici representative and steal the treason plans that the Hanseatic League representative in Flensburg wanted. We finish off the evening with a bit of the old ultraviolence, courtesy of some hapless thieves, then settle in for a night’s rest at the Alter Krug Dahlem. The next morning, we return to the Kloster but nothing special happens. I don’t know what that was about. We depart the city, heading northwest along the east bank of the Elbe.           

I’m beginning to wonder if these quests are really worth the trouble.

                    15 November 1401. Wilderness. Party Fame: 82 (barely known).           Attacked by bandits. Bluffing doesn’t work. We kick their butts. Everyone’s “Impact Weapons” go up a couple of points; the characters are now mostly in their 40s with the weapons after six months of practice.          26 November 1401. Wilderness.

At last, we come across the keep of Anton Seibt. We save the game and try challenging him to single combat. He attacks with a group of his retainers instead, and three of my characters are killed. Reloading, we try the tactic that has worked multiple times already: ask for entry, ask to spend the night, sneak out and find him in the middle of the night, defeat him in five-on-one combat.             

Seibt doesn’t fall for any of that “single combat” nonsense.

           We now have multiple people to call on for rewards, including some at Lüneberg across the river. This time, there’s an obvious bridge between the two sides. Why didn’t we notice it last time? Did it get washed out?

5 December 1401. Lüneberg. Party fame: 92 (barely known). Local rep: -9. The alchemist and the Hanseatic League are both grateful for the death of Anton Seibt. The game tells me that Hanse leaves after the League gives us our reward, but he doesn’t right away. He stays in the party while we’re still in town. Just as I’m beginning to assume it’s a bug and we’ll be able to keep him, he leaves us as we depart the city the next day.             

Our friend announces his departure. Maybe we should have avoided turning in this quest. He was worth 10 florins.

              At the alchemist’s shop, I finally find someone willing to sell me alchemical formulas. Even though they cost a pretty 16 florins, I purchase four. This almost ensures that I’ll be able to write about alchemy and potions next time.            

Finally!

            23 December 1401. Wilderness.

Horrible day. We’re attacked by giant spiders and just after we finish with them, we’re attacked by The Hunt. Maximian is nearly killed.           

What is this Hunt dude’s problem?

            30 December 1401. Wilderness.

Attacked by wild boars. Fortunately, no one is very hurt. Then we’re ambushed by thieves. Maximian manages to bluff our way out of combat.

31 December 1401. Lübeck. Party fame: 95 (barely known). Local rep: 39.

The oberste, Adam Schmidt, gives us nearly 60 florins for killing Anton Seibt, and our local reputation goes up 43 points (“a local hero”). The Hanseatic League gives us a 7-florin reward for stealing the debt note from Erfurt.

I spend a bunch of our wealth on reagents and then spend a couple weeks at the Rathskellar, healing.

19 January 1402. Flensburg. Party fame: 95 (barely known). Local rep: 80.

Eight months after we left, we return to our city of origin with three rewards to collect. The Fugger representative gives us 6 florins for Seibt. The Hanseatic League representative gives us 3 florins for the reports regarding a plot to overthrow the city. (This lowers our local reputation by 10. What?) But the erbvogt, who also gave me the quest to kill Seibt, refuses to see us two days in a row. This is the second time he’s blown us off after we’ve defeated a robber knight, and I assume it’s some bug in the game. The quest-tracking utility, which I’m no longer using, says that we need to visit the mayor of Flensburg–twice.              

The Fugger hates parting with money, even when it’s due.

              We decide to settle in for a period of learning and skill development, but this is hard to do in a concentrated way. For instance, the monastery seems to allow you to learn about one saint per visit to the city, not once per day. If you get someone to agree to tutor you, the agreement only lasts for a few days, during which there’s no guarantee that you’ll actually increase.             After a couple of frustrating weeks in which we accomplish little, we leave the city.

13 February 1402. Schleswig. Party fame: 95 (barely known). Local rep: -20.           I don’t know what happened to our reputation in this city. As far as I know, we’ve done nothing negative here, and yet the guards accosted us when we tried to enter the city. We glibly talked our way out of it, but the experience left us rattled. Maybe our growing fame in Flensburg and Lübeck hurt us here.          

Our ruse works–but we’re still not in the city.

          I’ll leave off here as the party considers a new plan and exploration pattern, probably returning to summary entries when I come back.

Time so far: 29 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/darklands-travelogue-part-2/

[ciathyzareposts]

Darklands: Menüstadt

Darklands is a very menu-driven game.

         I re-started the game and rolled up a new group for this expedition, not so much because I was dissatisfied with the statistics of the old one (although I did need someone with better alchemy skills, I think) but because I was dissatisfied with my own lack of role-playing. Darklands seems like one of the rare RPGs of the period in which you can have fun with your own imagination, and I hadn’t even figured out a reason that four characters from very different backgrounds would have gotten together in the first place.

For the new party, I took the rare (for me) approach of envisioning them all as siblings from the same noble family: the von Eschenbachs from Ansbach, Bavaria, vassals to the House of Hohenzollem. The four adventurers are:

           Viridia, 35-years old, the oldest of the siblings. Fiercely intelligent, she began an education as a teenager, studying for 10 years at Heidelburg University before taking on a role as an alchemist and then master alchemist. She is naturally most skilled in the scholarly arts, including alchemy (43), Latin (46), and reading and writing (46).

Maximian. The first son, Maximian grew up as the heir of his house. He served as a recruit and then a knight in the army of King Sigismund of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor) and learned mostly marital skills but also virtue (30), common speech (39), and riding (21). He is now 30.

           Getting the “knight” option wasn’t easy. I had to spend time increasing my virtue.

            Bianca. Black sheep of the family, Bianca displayed a scandalous amount of free-thinking and independence, even as a young girl. Given to running off into the forests surrounding her family keep, afternoons away from home turned to days, which turned to weeks. By the time she was 20, her family was likely to see her only on feast days, when she would arrive at the keep’s gates with a boar in tow or a stag slung over her shoulders. Her skills are in stealth (20), artifice (16), and woodswise (18).

Ladislaus. 25-years old and twin to Bianca, Ladislaus has always been a little . . . off. There was never any proof that he did anything to his tutor, or one of the chamber maids, or two of the castle guards, but all were seen last with Ladislaus and then never again. Concerned about potential scandals, his family hustled him into a monastery as soon as they could, where it is said he specialized in the inquisitorial arts, learning about religion (22) and healing (18) more as byproducts than as main pursuits. He also shows an un-monklike skill with blunt weapons.

           The four siblings were happy enough to pursue their own lives and careers, but disaster struck when their father, Baron Stefan von Eschenbach, was caught selling intelligence to the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I, just before the Battle of Nicopolis. By the time word of his disgrace reached his children, he had been executed and his holdings seized and redistributed. Nameless and penniless, the four von Eschenbach’s have come together to rehabilitate the family name.         

The von Eschenbachs vow to turn their fortunes around.

           I should note a couple of annoying things about character creation that I elided last time. First, if you accidentally go back to the main menu after creating some characters but before setting out with your new party, you lose any characters you created. I ended up having to start over a couple of times with errant mouse clicks. Second, the game assigns “nicknames” to each character that are a bit shorter than their real names. If you want to give your characters names of your choosing, you have to be careful to edit the nickname, too. Otherwise, you end up creating a character named “Viridia von Eschenbach” whose nickname is something like “Kate.”

This time, the game started me at the top of the map, in the Danish city of Flensburg. It seemed to have the same options as most of the rest of the towns, and I’m not sure yet if any of the towns are varied by graphics or other options. I suspect that they’re going to be a lot like towns in Pirates!, where occasionally a town didn’t have a governor or wouldn’t trade with pirates or something, but for the most part they offered the same visuals and decisions.

We’ve had menu towns in RPGs before, but none so menu-intensive as Darklands. I spent a while just mapping the various options. Some of always work and some require some kind of attribute, skill, or reputation test first. Some lead you to new locations, some to NPCs or other encounters. The lists differ slightly depending on time of day, which is something I didn’t fully map. This was the list for Flensburg, from the Main Street, although take it with a grain of salt as I noticed the options changed at different times of day, and I didn’t try all of them:

1. Visit the Südermarkt, the political center of Flensburg —-Examine the posted notices and collect the latest gossip ——–Read the official notices posted on doors and walls ——–Ask about affairs elsewhere in the Empire ——–Gossip about the situation here in Flensburg ——–Try to discover special jobs or interesting, adventurous tasks ——–Return to the previous menu —-Walk towards the narrow spires of the city’s great churches (go to #4) —-Go to the Schrongen, the main market of the city (go to #3) —-Leave the square by the Main Street (back to main menu) —-Leave the square by a side street (#8) 2. Visit the Burg, the great fortress overlooking the city —-Request an audience with the Erbvogt —-Ask to see a clerk about services desired by the Erbvogt —-Pray for aid in getting an audience —-Move away down the main street (main menu) —-Slip away down a side street (#8) 3. Visit the Schrongen, the central market of Flensburg —-Merchants selling everyday items —-Pavilions of foreign traders —-Pharmacists’ stalls —-Fugger banking offices ——–Ask for a letter of credit, converting coin to bank notes ——–Request an audience to discuss special tasks ——–Return to the marketplace ——–Slip out the side door to the back alley (#8) —-Office of the Medici representative ——–Ask for a letter of credit, converting coin to bank notes ——–Request an audience to discuss Medici tasks ——–Return to the marketplace ——–Slip out the side door to the back alley (#8) —-Hanseatic League hall ——–Inquire about special services required by the Hansa ——–Brashly proclaim our fame and ability to do great deeds ——–Chat with the clerks ——–Leave by the side door (#8) ——–Leave through the main door —-Exit to the main street (main menu) —-Exit to the side streets (#8) 4. Visit the tall spires of the great churches —-Visit the Dom, great cathedral of Flensburg ——–Attend a mass ——–Talk to a priest (day)/altar boy (night) ——–Virtuously donate one of your relics for favor and recognition ——–Ask for sanctuary ——–Leave the cathedral —-Visit the St. Nikolaikirche, a well-known church ——–Attend mass ——–Go to confession (day only) ——–Talk to a priest (day)/altar boy (night) ——–Virtuously give money to improve divine favor ——–Seek sanctuary ——–Leave by the main street ——–Leave by a side street —-Visit the Kloster, where monks study church law and administration ——–Offer 1 florin for prayers on your behalf, hoping to restore divine favor ——–Inquire about tutoring in various disciplines ——–Study about saints in the library ——–Seek aid in healing wounds ——–Seek sanctuary ——–Leave —-Stroll over to the Südermarkt, the main city square (#1) —-Take a connecting street to Burg, the fortress of the city (#2) —-Leave the main street (main menu) —-Leave by a side street (#8) 5. Visit the craft guilds and other, darker side alleys —-Go to the townhouse of a respected physician and healer ——–[character with healing] takes a few hours to discuss treatments ——–Ask his aid in healing wounds ——–Big him to allow you to be his students ——–Try to interest him in buying and selling alchemical components ——–Leave —-Go to Astrologists’ Lane, where the signs have alchemical symbols —-Go to Tinker’s Square, where there are shops of fine artisans —-Go to the Clothmakers’ Street, an important guild —-Take an alley to the arms-making guilds —-Take side streets leading elsewhere (#8) —-Take the main street leading elsewhere (back to the main) 6. Visit the Gasthaus, a well-known inn with stables —-Catch up on the local news and rumors ——–Read the official notices posted on doors and walls ——–Ask about affairs elsewhere in the Empire ——–Gossip about the situation here in Flensburg ——–Try to discover special jobs or interesting, adventurous tasks ——–Return to the previous menu

—-Relax with a good meal and get 8 hours of sleep

—-Take up residence to work, pray, study, experiment, etc.

—-Visit the stables, where you can buy and sell mounts

—-Store some items with the innkeeper

—-Reconsider the composition of your party

—-Exit to the main street (main menu)

—-Exit to a side street (#8) 7. Visit the wharves and docks 8. Visit a side street where you’re less visible 9. Visit a scenic grove where you can wait and relax 10. Go to one of the main gates leading out of the city  

That’s a lot of menu options! And that’s not even nearly all of them. In addition to a few that I didn’t explore, they seem to vary by day and night as well. For this session, I explored as many as I could that made sense.           The official notices said that citizens are prohibited from traveling the streets “after the hour of Compline, unless unavoidably required by their occupation, or by an emergency.” I think such notices are in pretty much all of the cities. Times in Darklands are measured in three-hour blocks: Matins (00:00-02:59), Latins (03:00-05:59), Prime (06:00-08:59), Terce (09:00-11:59), Sexts (12:00-14:59), Nones (15:00-17:59), Vespers (18:00-20:59), and Compline (21:00-23:59).           

It seems like nobody, in any city, is allowed to travel the streets at night.

         My attempts to pry rumors out of the citizens met with no success; neither did my attempts to learn about events in Flensburg. When I asked about jobs, I learned only that “a certain well-placed personage is hiring freelancers.”

At the Dom, it wasn’t the right time for a mass, and visiting a priest just got me a little bit of information about the Dom. At St. Nikolaikirche, I spent all day in confession and penance. At the Kloster, they wouldn’t teach me anything because I lacked “sufficient fame, reputation, virtue, and/or charisma.” However, I was able to get into the library and study saints–for a donation of 1 groschen. Specifically, Ladislaus learned something about St. Margaret. You have to know something about each saint to pray to him or her. Otherwise, “pray” options are grayed out.            

I’m still not quite sure how the whole saints/praying dynamic works, but at least I know one saint now!

       I was surprised that the party got an audience with the Erbvogt (basically the mayor) on the first try. He asked us to do something about the robber knight Anton Seibt, who raids from a castle southeast of Flensburg, northeast of Lüneburg. That seems a little above my current capabilities, but I saved after I got the quest because it’s relatively close.          

This party’s first quest.

          On the artisans’ lane, we visited a healer at his house, but after Ladislaus talked with him for a few hours, he still had no idea about the healer’s competence. When I asked if he’d trained me, he admitted that Ladislaus already knew as much as he did.           Wandering into an alley at nighttime, we faced a group of four thieves. We fared more poorly in the battle than in my first outing, but we still managed to kill them and loot their items. Bianca notably increased 4 points in her “Edged Weapon” skill. We managed to find a second group of thieves the same night. The victory screen after the second group mentioned that common folk came out into the street to thank us. “These thugs were terrorizing our neighborhood.” Our local reputation increased to 11 (“respected”).             

Viridia gets a skill upgrade.

          At the inn, we tried to get more news and rumors but had no luck, so we just turned in for the night. Another option was to take up residence at the inn for a day, putting my characters to work at different tasks. All of them had the option to “just relax,” and all could take odd jobs for a few pennies a day–enough in total to earn about 8-10 pfenniges, once the cost of the inn is subtracted. Viridia had options to mix alchemical formulas. She apparently started with four recipes: “Solomon’s Eyeburn” (blind), “African Sunset” (stun), “Sina’s Stone-Tar” (slow), “al-Majriti’s Strongedge” (sharpen weapon), and “Morienus’ Transformation” (fools’ gold). However, I have no ingredients.

The next day, we sold the items looted from the thieves in the central market. After we bartered for a while at a foreign trader’s, the trader tossed us a pouch with 3 florins and said he was hoping we’d find the Tarnhelm, “Seigfried’s magic helmet,” which is rumored to have been seen southwest of Magdeburg. We didn’t have the option to refuse him, so I guess that’s on our quest board.              

This quest might be easier than killing that robber knight.

        The alchemical ingredients all seemed too expensive. At the Fugger’s office, we got an audience with the master banker, Eckbert Koberger, who wants us to . . . kill the robber knight Anton Seibt! He promised us 6 florins if we succeed. Can we turn in the same quest to two people for two rewards? I guess we’ll find out. We had no such luck meeting with the Medici representative or the Hanseatic League (lacked charisma, reputation, etc.).

At nighttime, we had a lot less luck with thieves than the previous night, occasioning several reloads. Finally, we defeated a party of five and turned in for the night. Everyone but Maximian is struggling with low strength. My understanding is that healing per night is dependent on the skill of the most-skilled character, and apparently Ladislaus (who only worked for two terms) isn’t very skilled. The party members only recover a couple of points per night.           

Selling items looted from slain thieves.

         I knew it was too soon, but I wanted to get a sense of how difficult the whole “robber knight” thing was going to be, so I headed out into the wilderness in search of the castle. I ultimately found Anton Seibt’s castle some distance to the south, having passed by Flensburg and Lübeck. On the way, I fielded at least a dozen encounters, including:           

Traveling merchants, with options to see their wares or accompany them.

Several encounters with bandits, most of which resulted in the death of at least one character. A couple, I was able to bluff my way past. It seems that for bluffing and charisma, the game is relying on the skills of my lead character, which are decent (charisma 32, speak common 42, virtue 30, but only 5 streetwise) but not spectacular.

Encounters with monsters called tatzelwurms, which are not dragons but just giant lizards. Still, one was enough to tear apart my part.

           Remember, if medieval folks believed it existed, it existed as far as the game is concerned.

        Groups of refugees, who I could help by donating money–a lot of money. The game doesn’t give you a choice as to how much: it just offers a menu option that says something like “donate 15 groschen and 75 pfenniges.”

           The grateful refugees take almost half of my coin.

         At one point, I ran into a castle which gave me the option to check out a graveyard. I accepted and found myself on a battle map, but with no enemies visible–until I opened a door, and suddenly a horde of Knights Templar came rushing forth. Any concerns I had about not being their enemy were obviated by swift death and reloading.

Pilgrims headed to the city I had just left. I had options to donate money–a ridiculous amount, even more than the refugees–or accompany them to their destination, which costs in days.

             An entire florin! You must be out of your mind.

           I stopped when I successfully reached Lübeck and managed to get the same quest–kill the robber knight Anton Seibt–from both the town leader (Oberste Hauptmänn) and the Fugger representative Paschal of Kyrburg. Now I wonder if I couldn’t have gotten the same quest from representatives in Schleswig, too (the town between Flensburg and Lübeck), too.

Anton Seibt’s castle was about one screen to the south of Lübeck. As I entered his territory, the game warned me that I was entering the territory of a robber knight. I had a few encounters with his men, but I acted friendly, and they left us alone.            

The game tries to warn me that I’m out of my league.

          Eventually, I made it to the castle itself, where I simply requested entry and was surprised to find that it worked. “Even in our wild lands, we know of you,” Seibt said, which makes me a little suspicious. All we’ve done is kill a few parties of thieves in one city. But he invited us in to dinner. There, I had options to eat and leave, and a few other things, but one that said something like “pull a daring move and convince Seibt to surrender.” On a lark, I chose that one. Alas, it didn’t work. Seibt summoned his men and commanded them to “slay these idiots!” and we were soon put upon by Seibt and five warriors, ending in the slaughter of the entire party.            

The battle went poorly.

          Still, I have a sense now of how the process works. I suspect what I need to do is linger in Lübeck for quite a long time, perhaps months, slaying thieves, building my finances, purchasing better equipment, getting some training, and learning the alchemy and prayer systems. The only thing that bothers me about this is that, judging by comments on my first entry, it seems like that’s what everyone does.

Time so far: 6 hours

*****         

Fantasy Monarch is seeking help from beta testers.

         I’ve recently been contacted by a developer who is looking for beta-testers for his game, Fantasy Monarch, which you can learn more about on its Steam page.  It seems to be a strategy/RPG hybrid that takes inspiration from SSI’s Sword of Aragon. If you’re interested in helping, please contact Ian Leavitt at monarchdev@outlook.com.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/darklands-menustadt/