Part 15: 1330: Dealings with the Fire Quartz

Dragon pass! It's a crowded place.



First I sent Korstardos with twenty cows and ten goods as gifts to end the feud with the Fire Quartz clan. If we're going to be feuding with anyone, I'd rather feud with someone close enough to hit easilly.



The second month of fire, I sent Brangbane to make us some new friends along our southern border. Nothing fancy, no alliance--just gratuitously large gifts and good will to show everyone how generous we are. After all, a clan that can afford to be generous is a great clan, and Kuchulainn is nothing if not great!

Note that Korstardos isn't available for the ring while he's out making us friends. If an event occurs, we won't be able to consult him for advice.



Korstardos has presented your gifts to the Fire Quartz clan, and extended an offer of peace. The Fire Quartz seem uncomfortable accepting such a large number of gifts, but do not give them back. Rostandos, their Cheif, is noncommittal. Varmand, the clan trader, seems receptive. Their ranking weaponthane Janosar, on the other hand, clearly imagines himself striking you down on the field of battle.

Arrange for a noble male of your clan to marry a noble girl of theirs, and visa versa.

Offer them wealth.

Offer to lend support to a ritual of their choice.

Offer them a treasure.

Seven cows would be a minimum. Fifty cows would be good. A hundred cows would be excellent.

Jesus he wants to give a lot of cows. I guess all Korstardos understands is money--or he doesn't know about all the FAT BLESSINGS we have running at the moment. How will we resolve this feud between our two people?

Also, what should we get up to in the coming months? More diplomatic missions can be hard on our stores, but excellent for our reputation, or we could send some explorers out to probe the world. We can also draft more people as crafters, so we have more goods to make more friends with, or swell the number of weaponthanes to 14.



There isn't a 'wrong' way to play, just a wrong way to do that. A warlike or peaceful clan with friends or alone can win at this. You tell me the objectives, and I'll gently remind you that you're stupid, and we'll get through this.

Together.



Korstardos returned to the clan flush with success. In celebration of the death of our feud, our carls drank all the night.



The Rangdani met Brangbane with open arms. They were amazed by the generosity of our clan, and could come up with no better reciprocal gift than to free us of our debts.

Right, Earth season. Bad time to go to war--we need every able-bodied man to take in the harvest, and skimping out will only starve our men. It's not a bad time to go exploring--of course, any footmen you send to hunt will also not be farming, but the clan has a few more able bodied men then it can use in the fields.



As you can see, you can select any of your leaders (even the ones on the ring) and send them out to explore. You also say how many spearmen (who would otherwise be farming) and weaponthanes (who would otherwise be patrolling) you want to go along. Finally, the pace determines how many months it takes to get there, and how far from the path you take the map is revealed... fastest only reveals the hexes you actually pass over, while slowly reveals all hexes withing two of that.



All this hardly matters as I'm ordering Elusu to explore our own tula. He's there already, so there's no travel time, and his honor guard basically has to give up a half hour of their lives.



Your explorers find an odd series of sacred stones in a forest clearing while exploring your tula. Your magicians say the stones are probably inhabited by sleeping spirits.

Brag to the other clans about this find.

Conduct a divination.

Dig up the stones.

Find shamans to awaken the spirits of the stones.

Shrug and go about your business.

If we can brag as well as Orlanth, the other clans will be impressed by our find. If we boast like Eurmal, they will think less of us.

This area was last inhabited by dragonfriends. The spirits might be malign.

The shamans will want a gift of ten cows to awaken the spirits.

If one of us wants to be king some day, we must tell others of this blessing.

Dig those rocks!

The ring is pretty divided on this issue, so I'm showing a lot of opinions. If I show less, assume that the other members are just agreeing with one of the first few.