House Among Chaotic Kingdoms

Votes for this Turn:

A1 - Combat - 3

A2 - Leisure - 0

A3 - Scholarly - 3

A4 - Diplomacy - 18

A5 - Language - 2

A6 - Communications - 29

S1 - Wikipedia - 0

S2 - Steam - 43

S3 - Paradox - 12

S4 - World - 0

Names: So Far

Hart Weard (To Guard) - 13

Bláfastr (Immovable) - 12

Retribution - 5

Winter's Veil - 2

Shuddered Sky - 1

Runeskrill - 1

Lanche (Avalanche) - 1

Cocobread - 1

Rūnskild (Rune Shield) - 1

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Rolls for this Turn:

Personal: Steam Games

Thanks to The Last of Us: Part I, Joel and Ellie have found themselves in Westeros, where they have sworn fealty to Davos Seaworth.

They bring with them the understanding of how to make gunpowder and rudimentary guns, though Davos and his lord, Stannis Baratheon, will take some time to be convinced of the value of this, as well as to begin gathering necessary resources to accomplish it.

(Basically, there is now a 3rd gun wielding faction in the coming war.

Stannis will have a small number, but his will be higher quality thanks to having a living subject expert in the form of Joel, rather than needing to reverse engineer, like the other two are.)

(This is the best I could do for a roll that explicitly can't happen in the North, as there is still a decent chance that Stannis will end up using these guns to help against the White Walkers at some point.)

Also, for the curious, this is Joel and Ellie as of the end of the first game.

So there are not two Pedro Pascal’s running around in Westeros at the moment.

World: Witcher Wiki

Thanks to Rad Steez, Bro!, while in the north, everybody has a moderate passive boost to learning and utilizing: CQC, Climbing, and Gymnastics/Acrobatics skills, especially regarding the footwork of said skills.

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Story:

You went back to trailing after Rob whenever he and his friends slipped off toward whatever corner of Winterfell they had decided could pass for a stage that day.

At first, Rob tried pretending not to notice you, which might have worked on a different person but had no real chance with you.

After that, he told you the whole thing would be dull, which only made it sound more worth seeing.

Eventually, he stopped, looked at you properly, and said that if you were not going away, then you might as well be useful.

That turned out to be the true beginning of it: not the part, not the lines, the work.

Rob put you to use at once, because once he had decided you were staying, he saw no reason not to get something out of it.

You helped drag over the dented crate that was meant to be the toll chest.

You hauled sticks that would shortly become swords.

You fetched cloaks, bits of rope, and one blanket that was apparently important enough to count as a forest when draped over the right bit of brush.

You even helped mark out where the road was meant to be and where the trees began, which mostly came down to everyone pointing and disagreeing until Rob said this bit here and the rest of them accepted it.

That part was more fun than it had any right to be.

Up close it all looked thin enough to laugh at, with: sticks for blades, bushes for woods, and one crate expected to carry the dignity of river tolls.

Still, once everything was laid out, it started looking like something.

Not a real stage.

Not even a proper mummers’ show.

But enough.

The play was called The Outlaw of the Trident.

It was set somewhere in the Riverlands, all roads, ferries, tolls, trees, and the sort of local tyrant children always knew ought to be robbed on principle.

One of Rob’s friends played the toll lord, or the sheriff, depending on what title sounded grander in the moment.

His whole purpose in life was to overcharge common folk, seize grain, and carry on as though every road in the Riverlands belonged to him personally.

Rob, naturally, had cast himself as the outlaw leader, and because no child with the chance to improve a title had ever once shown restraint, he was not merely some outlaw but Sir Rob Hood.

He fit it almost too well.

That should not have surprised anyone.

It still did, just a little.

He had the grin for it.

He had the voice for it.

And he had exactly the right way of standing with a stick in his hand as though it were half sword and half promise.

Once the props were in place and everyone had fussed over the order enough to feel prepared, Rob decided your reward for being useful would be a small part.

Not a grand one.

Not one that could sink the whole thing if you forgot yourself.

But a proper part all the same.

You were to be the village messenger boy, the one who runs in with warning that the sheriff’s riders are on the road and old Tansy’s grain has been taken besides.

That, Rob explained, mattered.

Without the messenger, there was no warning.

Without the warning, there was no ambush.

Without the ambush, there was no play worth putting on.

That pleased you greatly.

It also made you stand a little straighter.

Rob walked you through the lines more than once, and because he was in good humor, he did not do it as though correcting a mistake.

It felt more like being let in on the machinery of the thing.

You were to run fast.

You were to sound urgent.

You were not to stand there like a stump once you had said your piece.

And under no circumstances were you to forget old Tansy’s grain, because for whatever reason that line delighted him.

When the play finally began, it all went better than you had hoped.

The sheriff swaggered about taking tolls and grain from imaginary peasants with a joy that suggested the role suited him rather too well.

Another of Rob’s friends played the sheriff’s man and looked twice as proud of himself as the part strictly required.

Then came Rob, stepping out from the “woods” with his little outlaw band behind him, half noble knight and half cheerful nuisance, and for a moment the whole patch of ground felt bigger than it had any right to.

That was your cue.

You ran in breathless, just as planned, and gave your lines with enough hurry in them to sound like somebody who had truly come all the way from a village instead of a nearby bush.

“Captain, you’ve got to come quickly, because the sheriff’s riders are on the road and they’ve taken old Tansy’s grain besides.”

“That is not all of it either, because they’ve a cart behind them and men with staves, and they mean to strip the crossing bare before sunset.”

“I ran the whole way to find you, and if I’m late, then they’ll have the ferry too.”

You did not forget a word.

You did not trip over the lines.

You did not lose your place.

That was enough to make the whole world feel brighter for a moment.

Rob answered in full outlaw glory.

“Then you did well to run, boy, and better still to find us first.”

“No toll lord keeps bread from widows while I’ve breath left in me, and no sheriff grows fat on river silver if I can help it.”

“Back to the trees with all of you now, because the Trident has teeth yet.”

After that, the whole thing rolled on happily.

The outlaw band plotted.

The sheriff strutted.

There was an ambush that involved a great deal of shouting and a very healthy amount of dramatic falling over.

The toll chest was reclaimed.

The grain was returned.

Justice won in the broad cheerful way children liked best, where bad men looked foolish, good men escaped laughing, and nobody had to worry too much about the difficult bits afterward.

Then came the best part, because Rob had hidden a second gift inside the first one.

Once the sheriff had been beaten and the crossing set right, your messenger boy asked to stay with the outlaw band instead of going meekly back to the village.

“I can carry messages faster than any of them, and I know every path between the river and the mill.”

“Let me stay, and I’ll be worth more than another sword.”

Rob answered at once, like he had known from the start he meant to say it.

“A boy who runs toward outlaws instead of away from them has either no sense or very good sense.”

“Stay, then, and we’ll see which it is.”

That got a laugh.

It also got something warmer than that.

It gave you that clear, bright feeling of having crossed some little line without making a fuss about it.

You were not only watching anymore.

You were in it.

By the time the play was done, everybody looked pleased with the whole affair.

The sheriff had been beaten.

The grain had been saved.

Sir Rob Hood had been magnificent.

And you, for your own part, had got through your first proper little role with your lines, your nerve, and your place in the story all still intact.

Rob looked pleased too, and that mattered most.

Not only because the play had gone well, but because he looked glad to have let you into it at last.

His friends were in good spirits as well, because one more person meant more hands for setting things up, more bodies for future parts, and one more boy to laugh with once it was all over.

You went away from it all with a little more practice, a little more confidence, and the steady, happy feeling that next time you would not be hanging about the edge of the thing hoping to be noticed.

Next time, you would already belong.

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Skills:

Combat:

(3) Westerosi CQC - 75/100 (+15) (Skilled In North)

(3) Westerosi Swordsmanship - 75/100 (+10)

(5) Northern Archery - 20/100 (+15) (Skilled) ←

(3) Northern Equestrianism - 55/100 (+7) (Knack)

(3) Heavy Armour - 33/100 (+15) (Skilled)

Diplomacy:

(4) Interpersonal Communication - 60/100 (+35) (Skilled)

(2) Public Speaking - 15/100 (+35) (Skilled) ←

(4) Management - 90/100 (+60) (Prodigious) ←

(2) Stewardship - 61/100 (+7) (Knack)

(2) Northern Law - 43/100 (+7) (Knack)

(2) Westerosi Law - 33/100 (+7) (Knack)

Language:

(4) Common Speaking - 49/100 (+12) (Knack)

(4) Old Tongue Speaking - 59/100 (+12) (Knack)

(3) Valyrian Speaking - 31/100 (+12) (Knack)

(3) Common Reading - 71/100 (+10)

(1) Westerosi Runes - 80/100 (+3)

(3) Valyrian Reading - 44/100 (+10)

Scholarly: (Knack in North)

(3) Math(s) - 50/100 (+10)

(3) Accounts - 50/100 (+10)

(4) Northern History - 85/100 (+15) (Knack)

(3) Westerosi History - 30/100 (+10)

(4) Northern Peoples - 10/100 (+10) ←

(3) Westerosi Peoples - 20/100 (+10)

Leisure:

(3) Northern Hunting - 48/100 (+10)

(2) Fishing - 15/100 (+5)

(2) Swimming - 5/100 (+5) ←

(1) Sailing - 10/100 (+0)

(1) Climbing - 10/100 (+0) (Skilled In North)

(1) Acting (Lying Convincingly) - 50/100 (+40)

(2) Gardening - 25/100 (+25) (Prodigious) ←

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Earning: 3

Spending: 0

Banked: 18

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Rolls for Next Turn:

L4 = Just what's described

T6 = Personal Power/Skill

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Voting:

Main Actions: (+ = Low, ++ = Mid, +++ = High)

A1 - Train with Jon, and sometimes Rob and Theon, in the Yard. (Combat Focus)

(Reputation: ++ Jon + Theon, + Rob)

A2 - Go on Hunts With Jon and Sansa. (Equestrianism + Leisure Focus)

(Reputation: ++ Jon, ++ Sansa, + Ned, - - Cat)

A3 - Keep up your studies with your cousin, Sansa, and Maester Lewin. (Scholarly Focus)

(Reputation: ++ Sansa, + Cat, + Ned)

A4 - Act as your Uncle Ned’s page with Rob and Theon. (Diplomacy Focus)

(Reputation: ++ Ned, + Theon, + Rob)

A5 - Spend your time teaching/watching little Arya and your Wolves with Yara. (Language Focus)

(Reputation: ++ Arya, + Yara, + Ned)

A6 - Follow Rob until he shares his Friends and Activities with you. (Communications Focus)

(Reputation: +Rob, + Cat, + Ned)

Personal Rolls Sources:

S1 - Wikipedia

S2 - Steam Games (On Cooldown 1/2)

S3 - Paradox Wiki's (D30)

S4 - World Rolls List (D12)

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Information:

1 - What's up with management?

I gave management an extra boost this turn because I realised that 25 is how much it grows IF YOU DON'T TRAIN IT, but we've been training it every turn, just less if we don't focus on it.

So I gave us an extra 40 to compensate for the last few turns being 25 per turn, rather than 30 like it should have been.

It’s now on track for what it should have been, and I’ll keep to 30 going forward.

I also gave acting 40 rather than 25 because it feels like we hit a milestone here, so I’m calling this our 5/100 skill for acting.

So that we can now pass the lowest possible skill checks for acting, thanks to this turn.

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Write-In/Questions:

1 - What should we buy in the winter town next turn, and for whom?

Save the Money is still a valid vote, but keep in mind that we only have so many more opportunities to boost our reputation with people like Cat, Theon, and Yara, so it could be a good idea to get them something small while we can for that extra boost now.

Also, Sansa is only one “+” away from “Close Friends,” so now could be a good chance to push her that last little bit.