As the Count stumbles from his chair as his body jerks and contorts, and begins the specter dance that marks Strychnine poisoning. You hear a gasp from your wife, note a raised eyebrow from the baroness, and hear the cry of the guards all in black there. If only he could have waited to drop dead until the end of the meal, as you were having such a lovely time. Still, murder is murder, and such important matters come before things like dinner conversation. As men rush to catch the falling Count a cry goes out.

"Strychnine!"

Some Knight or other who thinks he ought to be a Baron shouts. You make a note of who he is in case you need someone to point an investigator towards at a later date, or in case he needs to be taken care of by a Senate investigation into the murder while leaving your hands clean. After all, it never hurts to have a patsy, especially a dangerous one. Might as well make a show of it. Jumping to your feet you pivot to come around the table and see to the ailing old man. Such a painful way to go, but Lonor wanted to make a point and so the two of you settled for Strychnine. There on the floor of his own dining hall he thrashes and screams himself to death, his killers on either side of him.

As the life bleeds out of the Count you glance out the window and notice in the silence of the room that it has begun to rain.

Seize the moment bold Baron.

>Comfort your wife, use it as an excuse to disengage from the crowd of import personages
>Call down a hunt for the poisoner, get the wheels turning with yourself at the helm
>Call for a meeting between the Count's heir, the Baroness, and yourself about what is to be done
>Improvise a poem
>Other

>>35455568
>Comfort your wife, use it as an excuse to disengage from the crowd of import personages
Then
>Call for a meeting between the Count's heir, the Baroness, and yourself about what is to be done

>>35455568

>Comfort your wife, use it as an excuse to disengage from the crowd of import personages

>>35455568
>Improvise a poem
People burn the beanstalk to boil beans,
The beanstalks under the pot cry out,
You are born of my root,
Why should you torment me so much?

Why not pin it on the Knight now? Save us some grief later.

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Deciding to step aside from the limelight, you turn to comfort your wife, who is upset but veiling herself with a rather ornate fan. Picking up on your cue she turns up the tears and begins to grieve, which is an acceptable act for a woman of her station in this situation. Of course as the armed personal guard of the late count seals off the room and someone runs to fetch the apothecary it is only natural that you would comfort your spouse. This gives you the perfect opportunity to slip from public to a more private alcove, leaving word with the shocked butler to inform the Baroness and the Count's heir that you wish to speak with the two of them privately. Technically there ought to be a third Baron here, but claiming to be indisposed fighting off orks along the border he could not make it tonight. Away from prying eyes and ears your wife turns down the water works and looks at you questioningly.

"What is it that we do now?"

"We protect the late Count's territory of course. I shall send out my personal guard to extend security to a nearby province."

Her eyes widen as she realizes what you mean. Noblemen do not employ armies, of course, merely personal guards. Those guards protect property as an extension of a Ven's person. A third province puts you well on your way to rising up to the rank of Count. She breathes not a word of suspicion, perhaps because she doesn't suspect a thing or perhaps because she cares not. Your parents chose well.

"Is it not vital that we consider how this might be received by the young Count?"

>If he can't keep it, then it wasn't his to begin with.
>I'm more worried about the other Barons
>What will be will be, I am not concerned about it
>Other

>>35456215
>What will be will be, I am not concerned about it

>>35456215

What will be will be, let's not tell our wife everything.

>>35456215
If he can't keep it, it wasn't his. Tis the ven way.

>>35456690
Also, I'm so glad that this quest exists. HotBlooded is one of my favorite settings on the market.

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"What will come of this will come of it, I am not overly concerned."

You give your wife a winning smile, and the Butler makes an appearance.

"Sir, Count Lonor Adrente requests your presence in his study."

"Of course. I will be there momentarily, thank you."

With a polite bow the Butler leaves, keeping up the appearance of perfect composure. Turning to your wife you give her a quick kiss before taking your leave.

"No rest for the wicked. I will see you soon, I suspect that we shall depart for Castle Weatha soon. For now I must part with you my dear."

Making your way back through the main hall you enter into the private study of your new Count. The Butler shuts the doors behind you, leaving the two of you alone. At the desk is food and wine, and you two are the only ones there for now.

"The Baroness Yvarai will join us shortly. I thought it prudent to eat as we discuss our future plans."

>Sit with him, eat the food. He wouldn't incriminate himself by poisoning you.
>Sit with him, don't eat the food.
>Break out the drugs, all of the highly addictive ones. He knows you'll be second guessing yourself about the poison so change the wager.
>Other

>>35457213

Pull out the drugs. It's the only way.

Bump

We seem to be lacking voters.

>>35458319
Advertize in /qtg/

>>35458319
Just catching up

>>35457213
>>Sit with him, don't eat the food.

>>35457213
>>Sit with him, don't eat the food.
hey guys what up.

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You join Lonor at the table but don't partake of the food. After a moment's pause he smiles and proceeds to pull out a pen and map from a nearby drawer.

"Well, all of this being done and over with, let us wash our hands of it. What's done is done, and now we must continue to rise."

There is a knock, and the Butler opens the chamber door to allow the Baroness inside. She glides over to the table and offers a hand to the young Count.

"My condolences regarding your father. The Count will be missed, and he will be mourned also. We can only hope that whoever poisoned him will be found post haste. If you require any assistance in the matter please let me know."

"Thank you Baroness. I have already assigned my own men to the task, and we should be able to bring the responsible parties to justice post haste."

He favors her hand with a kiss, seeming to savor it for a moment before releasing her. She joins the two of you at the table, but likewise does not eat the food. Does she know? Probably not. Suspect? Almost certainly. Turning back to business the Count picks up the pen and gestures to a section of the map that seems to be uncharted. You know it well, as it is adjacent to your own territory.

"As you know, we are here as a result of a grant of land given by the Senate in order to open up colonization here in these places to the East. The farthest that we have managed to push so far is Forlorn Rock, beyond which predation from various orks is too terrible for villages to be established or for any expedition to clear the land out with ease. As such certain pressures have risen to the West. Namely, some of our more avaricious neighbors seem to believe that my lands belong to them. I believe that we must remind everyone of my ownership of them."

He taps a particular Caste on the map, a keep you know to be held by a Knight that once marked an Eastern border for civilization. It overlooked a particularly nasty forest from which originated a rather nasty strain of ork, ghastly things that were all eyes and mouths. You recall facing one once on the road.

"I have been hearing reports that highwaymen originating from here have been sent out to patrol lands ranging into my territory. While the assurance is appreciated I would prefer it to be asserted that we need none to roam that which we hold. I would like a report within the season of all such activities along our Western border, and I would also like more clear demarcation of property established there if you wouldn't mind."

How droll, Lonor seems to want the two of you to start raiding your neighbors, conveniently occupying your personal guard under the guise of claiming territory. Such an amateurish play is rather surprising to see.

"A question if I may?"

"Anything dear Gwanal."

"What of the ork menace that Baron Burghe seems to be facing on the frontier?"

"I'm certain that the good Baron can contain the infestation. They are, after all, merely orks. Though if you should find them crawling through your lands as well I would be happy to be of assistance."

Translation: manage your lands or I'll take them from you.

>>35459888
Playing hard ball aint he.

With that you draft a letter to the Senate and a separate letter to the Marquis informing him of his vassal's death and son's inheritance of his Title.

************************************************************************************

Parting is quick, with invitations handed out to the Baroness's Castle at a later date for a party following an Opera performance. It is almost certain to be a revel wrought with scandal and intrigue, and of course it would be quite the scandal not to attend. With promises made of your own and your wife's attendance you embark for home.

Upon arrival you are informed that your personal guard, given prior instructions to do so, have seized control of the plains Northwest of your territory, normally managed by the Count's own men. Your highwaymen stalk it's roads, and the people there understand that they are under your shadow. Heading directly up to your chambers you contemplate your next intrigues.

The Baron Burghe is a rather unknown factor. Standoffish, gruff, and reclusive he stands as a powerful figure to the North. While not openly ambitious he is noted for being rather sluggish when it comes to responding to requests from authority outside of his own family, and the new Count is likely to find him difficult to push around, but he is likely to be an unsubtle opponent.

To the East is of course open land, and provided that you explore and pacify it then it is your own for the taking. There is a ruin there, a sorcerous puzzle house. It could be yours for the taking.

West is the Baron Telanthus Adrente, a Wolf who is likely to prove both dangerous and entertaining to face. You suppose that he might have been given an offer by Lonor to have you offed in a border conflict, which is at least a moderately interesting ploy.

South is the accursed Baroness's Castle. You aren't certain as to how to resolve that particular problem yet, or if you want to.

>>35460189
Question, is our position of power in the region completely secure. I mean beyond bullying some fifthly peasants.

You have options:
>Narcotics are fun and addictive, and nobody who will be at the Baroness's party is going to turn them down. You could cultivate something like Foxwine or Attar of the Poppies for the purposes of your intrigues there.
>Your spy network, the Parcel Men, has been itching for something to do after that business with the traveling merchant trying to buy himself a Barony along the frontier. It occurs to you that gathering intelligence might be a wise move.
>You're going to have to face Baron Adrente or Count Adrente sooner or later. It would be wise to pick one and make your peace with the other. Making your peace with the Count probably means giving back his land.
>The proud dirt, the arms dealer, might have something useful for you. Certainly the late Count kept him close by for a reason.
>The puzzle house ought to be tamed by you before some upstart claims it. But the time is never right...
>What nobody else knows is that there are Spiders in the forest. Spiders who have secrets. Secrets that they might share, given a sacrifice.
>There are reports of a traveling sorcerer out in the wilds. Such rumors, if true, represent both opportunity and danger.
>Other

Utilizing any of your options eats up time and resources. You only have a short while until the Baroness's party.

>>35460283
>>The puzzle house ought to be tamed by you before some upstart claims it. But the time is never right...

>>35460279

Within the region you just captured, or within your previous lands?

>>35460299
in the new region.
also
the spy network one sounds like it needs to be taken care of.

>>35460330

Nobody has shown up to give you a hard time yet. If they do your personal guard is there in large enough numbers with backing from your Highwaymen to handle a clash well enough for you to be confident in their performance.

>>35460375
alright thanks for the info, any religious problems that need to be addressed.

>>35460419

The Suaven seem content with you.

>>35460467
Im assuming that they're not of our religion...whatever that might be.

>>35460500

Houses of the Blooded is an established setting. Might be good to google it or grab some pdfs.

>>35460533
Right until I find a more concise explanation I'm going to treat this as CK2 the tabletop. From what I've read its very similar anyway.

This looks really interesting but I'm running my own quest right now so I'll have to check it out later.

>>35460283
>>The proud dirt, the arms dealer, might have something useful for you. Certainly the late Count kept him close by for a reason.
I say we talk to the arms dealer first. He might be a time limited option and we probably need the weapons for countering other barons + claiming the ruins.

>>35461112
Fuck it going with this guy.

So:

-2 for contacting the arms dealer
-1 for sending the spy network to do something
-1 for questing to the puzzle house

This is doable in your timeframe. Is this amenable to you?

>>35461232
....why the hell not.

Going to brake for dinner, but our pace is pretty slow so we can take our time I assume.

>>35461232
You could of told us how many options we could pick. That does help alot.

>>35461574

Four.

>>35461936
>There are reports of a traveling sorcerer out in the wilds. Such rumors, if true, represent both opportunity and danger.
If possible add in this unless it would negatively effect the other choices.

Hey Dragon you still with us?

>>35462691

Tacos... bear with me for a few minutes.

>>35462761

Okay, I've got plans this evening as it is Saturday. I didn't expect the hours added to this via long pauses, but I tell you what: if the thread is alive tomorrow I'll pick up where we left off sometime in the early afternoon US time. If not then I'll start a new thread at 6PM Central US time tomorrow.

We're not off to an awful start though. We've established that there is interest and plenty to do, so I look forward to tomorrow.

>>35463690
ok later man.

Setting is neat as fuck. HotB is cool as shit.

>>35455552
looks really cool so far.
is there a twitter to announce next thread? (or when this thread is picked up again since its not autosaging)

requiring the players to read up on a setting is a bit much. you really should provide relevant info in quest.

Survival bump