Let's play King of Dragon Pass, just as our ancestors did

Orlanth will be pissed if we axe her and she was innocent.

Conduct a divination and find out if we whack her or try to heal her.

Nah dude, you're thinking of Jesus

Outlaw and kill her. 2. We just picked up a bunch of replacements!

Option 2. That communist won't corrupt our bodily fluids anymore!

1. Conduct a Divination.

Also, maybe have whoever's conducting this divination turn an eye towards Heortarl as well, because that denial wasn't suspicious at all.

Divination: Sherlock Holmes for pre-industrial societies.

Okay, sure, works for me.

1. Divination We don't need any witch trials here. We'll just ask the gods/spirits/whatever for guidance and decide from there.

Year 1339, part 7

We've decided to throw away some of our magic to confirm what we already know.



And would you look at that!



The ancestors are always right.

Storm 2



Out of curiosity, I peek through the various tabs and stumble onto this gem from Insterid. We have no magic in Diplomacy at the moment, so there's no reason to even attempt this. Insterid's wedding obsession will get us all into trouble someday.



Anyway, this is what I actually do this season. Recent events suggest a rise in the local presence of Chaos. Urox the Storm Bull can help.



He gives us Smite Chaos, which is not what I was looking for, but if we ever find ourselves in a situation where we face the creatures of Chaos in combat, then we'll use it for sure. Sense Chaos would have been my choice, allowing us to avoid some grief by detecting problems before they become too much of an issue.



And then the Blue Jays raid us. We aren't feuding with them at the moment, but I get the feeling that's not far off.



Speaking of Urox, here's a berserker trying to kill everyone. Scary! Harran is slightly less battle-competent than Harvar, but he does have a good Leadership score.



So rallying the troops sounds like the best option, and sure enough, it gets us by without unnecessary casualties, although this doesn't look like a victory, either.



Nope, it's not. I just hired that weaponthane, you jerks! They also make off with some stuff who cares.

Sacred Time



1339 was not kind to us. 90 cattle is a significant loss, though that can mostly be attributed to the Derpy Cow Disease event we ran across.



We get a scary omen this year. Yerestia urges us to allocate magic to War so we can defend ourselves when the vision comes to pass. War magic is de rigeur for us anyway.

I also stick a point in Health this year, since there's a lot of disease flying around. I wanted to add some Trade or Diplomacy, but we can hardly spare the magic at the moment. We'll need that for later.

Next time: The Blue Jays come knocking. You won't believe what happens next!

We kill them all?

Year 1340, part 1

Sea 1



Today's update opens with a notice that would have completely escaped me. Apparently, Arene reached Heroic skill in Plants as a result of the last heroquest. The news update captures perfectly how underwhelming it is to be a heroic-level gardener.



Per Insterid's Sacred Time advice, we're going to sacrifice to Vinga for her other blessing: Fyrdwomen. This will allow our women to participate in defending the fyrd, which will come in handy if the omens were true. I have no plans to expand Vinga's shrine into a temple, so we'll have to switch from Pathfinder after the expedition returns.

Sea 2



We will expand Humakt's shrine, though, despite Harvar's reluctance. (I mean, clearly we do want to encourage more death -- just not ours.) Humakt is currently providing the Truesword blessing, which doubles the strength of our weaponthanes. With a temple, we can add the Battle Luck blessing to that, which directly increases our odds of a victorious outcome in battle.

And then

Rostalos, a thane of the Blue Jay clan, comes to you to ask for information about Fedarkos, chief of the Jenesti clan. "We intend to enter into negotiations about Fedarkos, and hope that you know something about his personality, so that we will be well prepared for our parley with the Jenesti. You owe us a favor, and we will consider your obligation discharged if you give us good information."

Yerestia: Rostalos's clan grows impatient with us. We can't afford to offend him. Recommends #4.
Harvar: Fedarkos is so honest that he does not recognize dishonesty in others. Recommends #1.
Insterid: Fedarkos is too cautious. His exploits will never be remembered in the chronicles. Recommends #1.
Iskalli: Better to give Rostalos a gift than information we are unsure of. Recommends #2.
Valensta: We owe Rostalos an answer, but a gift would be an acceptable substitute. Recommends #1, #2, or #4.
Arene: Answer his questions; it is good to give him words instead of cows. Recommends #1.
Heortarl: Just tell him any old thing. I'll roll the dice to determine our answer. No recommendation.
Mogri: The Blue Jays may be a thorn in our side lately, but we do have an obligation to them. Failing to repay our debts will make all clans look on us less favorably, not just the Blue Jays.

If we agree to give information, then Rostalos will ask us a question about Fedarkos. Harvar and Insterid have provided some insight about Fedarkos's personality, and if Rostalos asks us about one of those, then we're in luck. Otherwise, we have to use the Heortarl method.

No guts, no glory. 1.

4.

If no bloodshed is involved, might as well go for the truth.

When in doubt, go with Insterid - 1

Screw the Blue Jays. The owe us like a jillion cows by now.

For once, Heortarl has the right idea.

1

Year 1340, part 2

OK, we'll give the Blue Jays what they want... assuming we can.



Oh, oh, I know this one!

Fortunately, you can still check your ring's advice at this stage, so if you weren't paying attention, you're not left to dry.



I, uh. I'm not sure how I feel about this outcome. Fedarkos just got hustled, didn't he?

We got some goods out of the deal, so there's that, I guess.

Fire 1



Well, this is a problem. Our exploration party is still MIA, so I don't dare switch this to Fyrdwomen yet. (In hindsight, I could have sacrificed to Vinga for a temporary Fyrdwomen blessing, but since we just recently sacrificed to her, the success rate on that would be penalized.)



Since we have enough weaponthanes to manage it, let's boost our outer patrols. This will give us a better chance of spotting incoming raids.

At the time, I couldn't remember if this costs an action. For reference: it doesn't. Also pictured: we don't have the 150 goods it would take to build a wall.



So for our action this season, how about we steal more cows? To avoid provoking the Blue Jays any more than we already have, I turn our gaze to one of our less notable neighbors.



We get results.



Fire season opens up with a whale of a battle. We have no hope of winning this one... at least until I pull out our trump card. If you've forgotten it, Humakt's Raven Banner guarantees victory at the cost of a weaponthane. I haven't used it so far, but if we attempted this battle without it, we'd almost certainly lose several weaponthanes anyway.



The standard-bearer is the only weaponthane to die in this battle, although several more sustain injuries. The good news is that we managed to capture more horses, which means we can support more weaponthanes.

Fire 2



Oddly, after throwing one of our weaponthanes on the blade, we find that there's a whole line of people waiting to join the team. We recruit a whopping seven new weaponthanes, the most I've ever gotten in one month. We should kill our own guys more often?



Another update on the feud situation: the other original participant is now dead. I'm sure this is the last we'll hear of it!

But first

Offir, one of your weaponthanes, complains that he was insulted when invited to dine among the Tanaharts. He was fed disgusting, rotten food. He asked for a towel to wipe his hands, and was given one which was dirty and full of holes. "They meant to slight us," Offir says, "and I say that we punish them for their gross insolence!" Some of the other weaponthanes murmur their support for Offir's words.

Yerestia: Relations between our clans have been good. This must have been some kind of misunderstanding. Recommends #5.
Harvar: Offir holds this insult close to his bosom. It will be hard, but not impossible, to convince him to give it up. Recommends #2.
Insterid: Raid them! Recommends #4.
Iskalli: A well-phrased satire stings longer than a sword; its bite can linger for generations. Recommends #1.
Valensta: This could lead to a feud. No recommendation.
Arene: They can't have meant to insult him. Recommends #2.
Heortarl: A poem, a poem! A scurrilous poem! Recommends #1.
Mogri: The weaponthanes are in good enough spirits that we can afford to bruise their egos.

I must admit to loving the idea of poetry as revenge.

A poem, a poem! A scurrilous poem! 1.

Though Insterid's advice is tempting as well.

Poem!

Poem!

Poem!

This is great.

Stop trying to make poems happen! It's not going to happen!

4!!!!!

As Talking time's official bard, I endorse this course of action.

I honestly can't beat this logic.

Revenge? Of course. But why wound their bodies with steel when we could set their souls afire with a slanderous stanza?

(1 Poem.)

One more for the poem pile. (But isn't this kind of hard to pull off?)

The Tanaharts gave Offir a towel,
But it was full of holes.
Let us see if they're still laughing
When their heads are rotting on poles.

(#4)

(Like the food they serve.)

Year 1340, part 3

Lots of people wanted to raid, but in the end...



Poem wins the day. Haha Dirty Rag clan.

I was surprised to see that Yerestia wrote the poem and not Iskalli. Either Yerestia's Custom is a lot higher than I gave it credit for, or Leadership factors much more heavily into poetry than I would have guessed.



I take a look at our health status and decide it's time to switch to the Curing blessing. Then I take another look and realize dudes are wounded, not sick. So I switch back to Healing. Progress!

Earth 1



We have lots of feuds going on, and we can't possibly be expected to send a love letter to all of our adoring fans every year. I opt to make peace overtures to these guys, since I have no idea who they are, nor what either of us did to offend the other.

Earth 2



Then I decide I'd like to learn the Lhankor Mhy heroquest. He doesn't cooperate, but another blessing in our wheelhouse is nothing to complain about.



This, though? Heck yes, I'm gonna complain about this. Do we even have a good backup exploration thane anymore?

Talking Time

Harvar: Seven cows would be a minimum. Fifty cows would be good. A hundred would be excellent. Recommends #2.
Mogri: I don't want the responsibility for this decision on my head. That's why I have you guys.

If you want to bribe them, make sure you mention how big of a bribe.