On Thursday we got another session of the Kingmaker-campaign under our belt. The previous session was just kingdom-building as we basically race through a year expanding and building our beloved Caerberia.
As described in the previous recap we skipped the grand ball held on 31. of Lamashan. We where looking for a suitable spouse for our young count and the grand ball was a good opportunity to get in some roleplay. The session transpired in a similar way as the recruitment of Summer (see session XIV for some more details).
Jonah wandered the hall striking up conversations with various females (with Valeníthumbkhas acting as wingman) and withdrawing to discuss his options with members of the Privy Council. The GM also threw in some action, gifts and games to spice things up a little. After the grand ball Jonah finally found his betrothed and a wedding date was set (1st of Erastil) and we could skip back to present time as things again started to happen around our little kingdom. Trying something new this time the chronicle will for the grand ball be a POV recount from Shoshana before we again join Valeníthumbkhas and his diary.
31st of Lamashan
Thank mighty Erastil that thing is finally over. I haven’t seen so appalling behaviour since cousin Gregorious wedding. The Grand Ball the gnome and Jonah had been planning for so long finally got underway, and I must say at the beginning I was impressed. The hall was nicely decorated with fresh plants and autumn leaves, the guest arrived wearing fluffy and fun costumes (I can’t remember how proposed to do the thing as a masquerade?) and both the music and wine were pleasant and mellow. I was tasked with screening the female guest, but my divine magic from our lord Erastil only showed two evil auras.
It was close to midnight things started to go downhill. People had been drinking far to much. High Elk Jhod was dead drunk and in shambles with a heavily perfumed dwarf crawling all over him (I believe she’s from one of Jonah’s brothels – certainly not a guest fit for such an occasion!). A pompous ass dressed as a scarecrow went around berating people, with pumpkin-pieces dropping of and soiling the carpet. The notorious assassin “The Blade” hung around the bar frightening the other guests, a smelly old couple (a halfling and a dwarf) constantly bumped into the others on the dancefloor with their clumsy attempt at a waltz and that nerdy elf Belnil was dressed up as a clockwork golem, awkwardly moving around the room and accidentally punching the other guests with her jerky movements. To top it all of a guest brutally attacked and stab Akiros and tried to flew, only to be cut down by Jonah. Luckily nobody (except the attacker) was seriously hurt.
I had been looking forward to the ball, I hadn’t been to one since my days in Brevoy, but the male guests were ungodly people, nobody seemed interested to take about the teachings of Erastil, I bet not one of them perform the daily rituals of our beloved god! Yeah, and nobody complimented my shiny stag helmet, people just can’t see the greatness in these things…
After the guests had left Jonah gathered the Privy council, well at least the members that were still awake, and announced he had found a possible spouse. It was one of the few guests from abroad, a minor noble from Brevoy, but other than checking her basic attentions (she had a pleasant and kind yellowish aura) I haven’t spoken to her. I just have to trust he has done a wise decision. He hasn’t the best track record and my brother always feared the worse when Jonah found a female companion (the rumor it has been quite a few despite he’s just a 2 years senior to me), but we just have to hope for the best.
2th of Neth
OK, so the gnome has notified the Privy Council what we know of this new betrothed. Her name is Debbel Oric, the single child of a widower nobleman from Brevoy who makes their fortune as ale merchants. Debbel is scholared enough to do the trading house finances and Lilly also reported that she has had basic weapon training and as far as she could find out has a pretty spotless background. The gnome also reported that while she is some 25 summers old with no children is believed to be fertile and have wide child bearing hips. I’m not too comfortable medling too much in other peoples love life, but it seems that Jonah truly has fallen in love and that even the scheming gnome seem positive. Oh why can’t we all find the same happiness? I’m sure all my friends (albeit there never really were that many) back in Brevoy are already betrothed…
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1st of Abadius of the year 4712
The proclamation of Jonah’s wedding was announced today. Shoshana and Jhod pressed for a summer wedding and we finally landed on the 1st of Erastil, a date both we and Debbel’s family could agree on. It seems Jonah has matured a lot these few months, I believe the wedding will be a great asset for our common future and hopefully we have seen the last of his more wild escapades.
This also gives us a deadline to refurbish Bearwich. Debbel has already voiced her annoyance over all the visible brothels in town and I believe the best option is to beautificate other parts of town instead of closing brothels (you just can’t deny they bring in the coin and keep the male population happy and content). I have set up a committee to handle the weddin, it will be led by Oleg and myself. I plan to capitalize on Oric’s connection in Brevoy and try to set-up more breweries to export beer and local ales.
2th of Abadius
The Privy Council was approached by local merchant Edris Hanvaki today. He reported that his brother Tomin has gone missing. He was travelling to the east to Varnhold, but it has failed to return (in fact, we haven’t heard news from Varnhold for quite some time). The Hanvaki is local aristocrats so we all agreed we must put together a expedition to Varnhold to find out what has happened. This is also a good opportunity to strengthen our bonds with Varnhold so we agreed to take various trade goods to hopefully set up new trade routes.
3th of Abadius
We started travel eastwards. It feels like ages since I’ve been in a saddle, but Besha is still a comfortable ride and it wasn’t many hours before I felt rejuvenated being out of the stuffy air of Bearwich and my lungs again drawing fresh winter air. We passed a great waterfall, locally known as the Shrike Cascades, as we follow the river east. Jonah was greatly impressed and proclaimed that this place must be claimed in the name of Caerberia and that the beautiful waterfall will make a fitting wedding gift for his darling Debbel. The rest of us just nodded and moved on (we have a mission to complete, expanding our landholdings is something that has to wait). The next few days will be spent mapping the area to ease future expansions eastwards.
14th of Abadius
At the end of today’s journey we reached a abandoned watchtower. It was situated at the mountain pass and we all think it pretty ominous that we found no sign of life. We haven’t seen humans or other travelers since we passed Nettle’s crossing…
15th of Abadious
We finally reached Varnhold, but again we found no people when we entered the town. At first the only sign of life was a giant dire boar that attacked us, but my magic quickly put it to sleep and we could kill it without problem…
(WE STOPPED THE SESSION HERE SO THE REST OF THE DIARY WILL HAVE TO WAIT)
Tabletop Cave 