[tab][/tab] This is the OOC thread for any adventures. Please post all OOC comments and questions here, instead of in each story thread. Also, note in your post which adventure you are posting about and who you are referring to. Do not post OOC stuff unrelated to the stories here, they will be deleted.
Prelude is up
Stories are up. Please add a brief description of your character when you post for the first times, so that other players might have a visual. I will be sending some PMs on personal stuff, after rolling some dice.
Quick question. Since you posted a link to the die roll, let's check if I understand it correctly. It says [8]+0; what does that mean? Is it just the die (8) which is listed. Leadership is 1, + inspirational virtue should apply. Is the zero just a place holder?
It seems I made some premature assumptions. Should we post shorter steps at a time?
for 1.1 Things Go Bumping in the Night, just realized Maia is often speaking to ser Giorgios in a low voice, but he's missing an ear! She will position herself to always speak in such a way near his good ear.
I assumed you did 
And the one ear is perfectly sound and normal ...
[tab][/tab] Don't worry if you presumed stuff, its allright for the flow of the story. If there is a major inconsistency we'll correct it, otherwise we'll go around stuff, better for creative writing.
How you read the roll [die roll]+[bonus]. In this case you rolled an 8 +0. In this specific instance I used Presence and Leadership. Normally it would be Communication, but its the first time Georgios leads these people and they do not know him. Inspirational gives a +3 to other peoples' personality traits, like Brave. In this case its appropriate to add a +3 for a stirring speech imho. Disfigured reduces by -3 on the other hand. Presence is -1, leadership +1 for a grand total of +0. Sir Georgios almost got them....
OK. I misread the presence in the character sheet, don't know why. Sorry. I assumed that the disfigurement, so obviously evidence of battle experience, would not penalise a roll relating to what may be expected to be a battle situation. There is a phrasing in the flaw, about its applying to certain situations, which is open to a lot of interpretation But it is ok. Just wanted to check.
(ST EDIT) First impressions and gaining respect, I think it counts?
I think you can make a case either way, depending largely on how imminent the threat seems. When the threat is remote, and it is likely to blow over if we just sit tight, I think your judgement is good. If the enemies were at the gates, I would be more inclined to argue.
for 1.1 Things Go Bumping in the Night
It says the telonia hate the sight of the Lapatos Cross, are we anywhere near that side? Also, are there fordable rivers/streams that we might escape to if it came to that?
I am not sure where to post this - maybe we need an OOC-thread for long-term/downtime covenant development.
While Arni is doing his eaglish exploration, he sends the maid off to Vikos, to get to know the shepherds. He wants to set her up as a go-between with the shepherd, to avoid bothering them with the Gift. I have been assuming that she come from a background similar to Arni's childhood, in some herding village in Slovakia or thereabouts, so that she has some relevant knowledge without being an expert. Hopefully, she will learn something about the potential of the pastures, and how/where/how much the herd can be expanded. Should one expand Vikos, or found a second settlement? For instance.
To the question about Telonia. Your covenant is here, while Lapatos cross is here. Between the cross and the gorge is the huge block of the Towers, that huge masiff of stone, blocking all sight. Looking from the cross down-slope and to the south west one can see the village of Papigo and the settlement of Vikos, but no further. The cross is visible for a tiny fraction of the gorge, just at the exit, leaving most of it out of sight. The gorge is traversed by the Voidomatis river. Because its spring, there is water on both side and the part between the two springs is flooded but fordable. The scout indicated that the mule cross over to the other side, the side directly under the Towers.
To Arni's question...how would a maid know about expanding sheep herds. Milking yes, herding probably, if she was from an agricultural area. Herds expand by not selling/killing the young ewes and adding to the herd (or you buy new sheep). At some point you split the herds, rinse and repeat. You will need more people and more areas where your herds can graze. Or you can improve the quality of the sheep. On that note, Arni suggested it he should find a way to do it 
I was not asking her to make the decisions. She will scout out the situation. Are there unused pastures? How many shepherds are there? Can they handle a larger herd? Who is the more seasoned shepherd in the village? Some of this she will ask of the shepherds, some she can observe. Then I will take it from there.
Regardless of how much she can tell me, I need her as an ungifted go-between to talk to the shepherds, so we let her work with them for a season. She isn't a miracle worker, but some help I should be able to get from her.
Can we get the overall plan for 1.3, please? I.e. what the characters have planned for, not what your plan for the adventure is, of course
Do we have a tent or two to camp on the green outside the village (town?)? It is not a day trip, is it? Horses and mules can graze where we camp?
Or do we need to negotiate for room in a barn or whatever?
How many days does the fair last? How many days have we planned to stay?
I seem to recall that the adventure would be five days, but that's not necessarily what we have planned for
[tab][/tab] The site you are at the moment is about two to three hours from the covenant, here. The actual village (Litoniavista, now named Ano Klidonia) is situated on the mountains and to the east of you. The fair site is where the Klidonia village now is, near Voidomatis river, in the valley. The fair lasts from midday till late evening, though most visitor leave around sunset or just before while the villagers stay until late night and some sleep over. I calculated five days as your party will be doing excursions from the covenant as a central location.
[tab][/tab]Vikos is a settlement of 20-25 people, this includes women and children. They take care of the two herds the covenant owns. They could probably handle one more herd like they have, they will need additional people for more. Pastures are all over the mountains, no-one owns them. But there are other shepherds around the area (the closest are the two Papigo families) so there is competition. Still the area is pretty large. Yes there are some seasoned shepherds and there is actually a kind of village elder (though he is not that old), named Tomas (Θωμάς. Sure your grog can do some scouting/ early contact with them, and Arni take it over after.
Right. I thought I was meant to post a follow-up on «Birds of a flock», but it appears no
Arni makes sure to get a view of the pastures and herds in the gorge, probably just confirming whatever the maid tells him. I assume there is no time left for getting additional details, but one question I must ask since it came up in the council. Anastaj mentioned some ancient entities who would object to timber production in the gorge. Do I get any idea about who or what they may be? Whether they be friendly? Or whether we can negotiate use of the forest? I assume I hear news of the telonia and the companion story eventually, to correlate with what I see.
In the coming months, Arni will be digesting what he has seen and ponder a lot. Does any of the locations I have seen look like plausible ancestor sites (jargon bjornaer)? I suppose a Magic lore and/or HB lore roll is appropriate here. (I am fishing for a adventure for 1216, but I am sure you understood that.
Following up on the herd expansion. I do not know when Arni has time for this. He will not sacrifice existing plans in the Spring and Summer. He will do what he can as insignificant disruption, and if not before, he will prioritise it in the Autumn, even if that does not leave time for lab construction/work.
- Does there seem to be any sensible location for building a second village, same size as Vikos? I suppose that growth beyond a factor of 1½-2 is hard to do in Vikos alone. If I understand maps and descriptions correctly, it is about 5km through the gorge from Vikos to the covenant, and it seems that nobody wants to settle in the gorge. Maybe on the other side of the covenant? I discuss this with Anastaj and Dimitris before I make any decisions.
- Arni talks to Anastaj and Dimitris (does he speak Slav and/or something Latin-like?) about recruiting more shepherds. «I understand there is an excess of people who have fled from the East in Ioannina? Sure some would be looking for a better life than a crowded city.» I also suggest to buy some livestock to keep chicken and pigs at the covenant proper, mainly for own consumption. «Is it safe to let them graze in the gorge?»
- Dimitris probably knows all the teamsters and labourers, and I ask him if any of them shows the talent to be promoted to specialist animal handler or to teach or train animal handlers. If there are, it may be easier to recruit unskilled teamsters to replace promoted covenfolk.
- Arni will ask the maid to introduce him to Thomas, and explain that the covenant wants to increase the herd. «I understand you could handle one and a half times the animals you currently have. Could we expand both the goats and the sheep by one half this year? Then we still weed out the weakest animals for sale or slaughter, only half as many as usual. Can you manage that?» I also explain that we will try to recruit more people over the next two years, to grow even more. If it takes more manpower to manage another half-herd of each species, and we cannot recruit people in time, we will expand only the sheep, I think, but again, if Thomas has opinions, I shall listen before I decide.
Arni explores every opportunity he can see, including any suggestions popping up in the discussions with covenfolk, villagers, and the maid, to increase the herd and the shepherd population. The objective is to increase the income to £100 within about four years, but it should be done gradually.
How much do we want to play out in detail?
[tab][/tab] Ooops, sorry I unlocked the Bjornaer page. Post story things there and we do the OOC stuff here. I still need Pavo to tell me how you going to Go12y and his mentor. Plus your Tormenting Master, could you give me a bit more info please?
[tab][/tab] Pastures: First of all no-one herds in the Gorges. Its dangerous and very frightening to normal people. Sheep pastures are usually in the mild valleys between the mountains, the gentler slopes and up in the alpine meadows. Goats graze anywhere there is green. To avoid competition and overgrazing, shepherds avoid each other. Flocks have to move constantly (except for a midday break to allow beasts to ruminate), and they are watered twice a day mornings and evening.
[tab][/tab] Herd Expansion: You will need a new ram (to avoid inbreeding) purchased from a different flock This should be done in winter/early spring to have the ram ready for next fall/winter breeding. You will keep the ewes bred and make a separate flock (with a separate ram) for around two years, and you will have another flock of sheep. About the same happens with goats, though they seem to be harder to breed for some reason. This means it will take approximately 4-5 years to make a new herd of either animal and will cost approximately 10 pounds per year (this is reduction in productivity from the herd, so for 40 pounds it will drop to 30 for one herd or 20 for both herds. This estimate includes the new rams, feeding, making new pens, breaking new winter pastures, not selling ewes, lower milk productivity etc). After those 4-5 years your income will go to 75 pounds. The settlement of Vikos can handle two extra herds with some stress. Extra herds will need a different place to be taken and more shepherds than you have. It is also paramount to avoid overgrazing. Best locations would be the mountains to the west and north, as to the south and east there are already too many villages that deal in agriculture.
[tab][/tab]Dimitris speaks Greek, some Vlach and a bit Latin (badly at that). Anastaj translates. New shepherds can be hired provided you find them. Loyalty is problem. Vlachs make the best shepherds, but Anastaj knows those people in Vikos personally and they are loyal to him. He raises a brow at mention of Ioannina and the refuges ''You think city folk will make good animal handlers?'' . Dimitris asks what kind of animal handlers you need. Chickens will be a good addition to the covenant and are easy to handle, provided you can keep predators away. Pigs are a different matter. Individual pigs are kept as a living garbage machine and a source of sporadic meat. But herd of swine need special care, and are raised mostly in oak tree forests. It is too poor a country for swine.
[tab][/tab]Ancestor sites: Mum is the word, you have to find out (already hinted on one)
No problem. Should I repost the message above? As it is, it is a weird mix of IC and OOC. I shall be happy to rewrite IC it if you drop some hints to some of the questions and options...
Tormenting master. We need to bounce ball on this. My ideas for Arni's mission has drifted, and I forgot to revisit the master.
The original idea was to play Arni as a political evangelist and crusader for remaining sources of magic, at the expense of developing his abilities as a mystagogue. The parens OTOH is a hard-core mystic, who firmly believes that Arni does not have the right priorities as a member of the clan.
During character creation, due reading up on both Thebes and House Bjornaer, I drifted somewhat towards developing mystic abilities. However this does not necessarily break the original idea. Firstly, he can have made an impression which is hard to turn, during apprenticeship. Secondly, I still want to play out the evangelist and crusader ideas, it just appeared slightly harder to emphasise in the first years than I had expected. It could even be pressure (whether explicit or imagined) from the tormenting master which pushes him into pursuing a clan mystery straight away. His influence may of course work either way, to make it harder or easier to negotiate the help of a mystagogue.
Does this sound reasonable?
When it comes to the nature of the torment, I have not thought that far, but then the purpose of flaws is to surprise the player, they say
Quite plausibly, he could be put to some nasty test relating to the clan's mystic priorities. How much do you want from me?
(ST EDIT) Wait for me , I had more to post! >_<
(ST EDIT 2) Name, description, that kind of things would be nice
By the way, for those who havent figured it out yet, I post the continuation of the story after all participants have posted at least once. That way people do not get overwhelmed and the slowest poster gets to have a chance to participate as much as the others. (I still need Aristocles on the Wandering Isles to respond I think? Also what was Arni doing in Autumn again?)
If income development and adventure takes too much time to get a full seasons worth of labbish activities, he will write lab texts (spells) for the remaining time.
If he has a full seasons worth, and there is a standard, shared lab available (furnished, but not used by Raven), he will volunteer to make the stone-cutting knife for the covenant. It might be needed if Aristocle's prospecting is successful. Anastaj will decide if this is prioritised. The text is in Latin so only Raven and Arni can do it from the text.
Otherwise, he will complete the lab setup (standard size 0 on top floor).
(ST EDIT)'Income development' is just talking and directions at this point (as in 'what do you want us to do?). The Adventures are around 4-5 days each so its a full season, I put him down for the knife, using Covenant resources