Part 64: Ducks

Hard to tell if she's just being stubborn, or if she saw our performance in the horse people/Praxian raids and went "oh god we're all going to die."





Oh well. It's still Fire Season, and...jesus christ, we have a lot of injured people. We should probably fix that before the harvest. Incidentally, that battle with the Praxians counted as a draw. Not that it did us much good on the wound front. Also, we're down to 7 weaponthanes! And the game will only let us recruit up to 9! Thank god Earth and Dark seasons don't have much raiding.


Buuuut we don't know Chalana Arroy's rituals, so we can't really do heal our people right now. Sacrificing for mysteries was one of the popular goals at the start of the year, so I'm going to be practical and try to make sure we have a way to recover from these sorts of losses other than time.


That's not a healing ritual of any sort! (the Hope blessing improves clan morale, which isn't actually needed at the moment despite our string of bad luck)




A scouting party discovers rich farmland not far from your stead. It is inhabited by strange beast folk who behave sort of like normal Orlanthi and call themselves the Beaker Ducks. For once, both warriors and carls agree: It would be a fine thing to drive these small, inhuman creatures from this fertile valley and claim it as your own.

-Approach the ducks and offer them a peace pact
-"Each year, you must give us enough food to feed 50 of our people."
-"Each year, you must give us enough food to feed 150 of our people."
-Demand that the ducks cede you half their land
-Launch a surprise attack against the puny ducks

If we don't attack them, some other clan will.

The ducks appear to practice a corrupted version of Orlanthi ways.

The ducks know their home terrain. Many a brave man has been humiliated because he underestimated his foe.

It is not as if we will lose the respect of our allies if we displace these creatures.

Demand tribute, but not so much that they feel resistance is the only option. It is better to gain something for no effort than to gain everything at too high a price.

They look like easy prey, but we don't know much about them.

Let's not be too bold. You never know what strange magic members of the Elder Races might wield.