*Disgruntled* ... Good morning. We have some ground to cover and I expect much to discuss.

I apologise for my curtness yesterday. I had many things on my mind. I hope that you are not well offended.

Morning...
Thoughts occur to me, your uncle declared redheads to be evil as one of his first acts... he knew your brother was a redhead and chose that as a method of further discrediting him. He has been planning it for a long time... but what of all the innocent redheads brutalized by such an edict? I suspect it was one of his tools to delay the coronation of your brother.

The regent also has been condoning slavery and brutality by local dukes... more proof of evil doings.

The regent has tried to snuff out his own family, always a black mark.

The regent is seeking to backstab a peaceful ally nation out of mere conquest lust.

The regent is seeking alliance with truly despicable people, the barbarians, in order to backstab said peaceful ally.

The regent is seeking alliance with truly despicable people, the barbarian who mutilates his "wives" for said backstabbing.

I do believe that we have sufficient evidence to conclude he is evil and needs deposing... The best way to do so would be to assassinate him, before he takes out your brother. This allows your brother to ascend to the throne without the people ever knowing that there existed any form of familial strife.

>>305220
congratulations. you have stated the obvious! now, tell us HOW we are supposed to do that. at this time, we cannot, therefor it is prudent to keep going for the neighboring kingdom.

anyway, morning nadia. and don't worry about it. people get frustrated with us all the time. what do you want to talk about?

>>305220
[also attempt to shut this voice up so nadia doesn't hear this]
god dammit, talking about how is evil is what got her mad at us before, read the entire past threads before suggesting otherwise you just make the same mistakes

>305220
*Sigh* Yes... yes... YES... I know... I know... I KNOW! There is no need to lecture me on things that I am well familiar with. I...!

>305231
Ah... well, I suppose some of you do talk sense. I thought perhaps to give you information on our travelling plans at the moment and ask your opinions on the matter at hand.

Miss Puzzle suggested that we continue along the banks of Breakfast Creek, which I understand will take us in a NorthEastern direction and closer to the border between Leen and Kai. The weather continues fine and Madam Puzzle has been eating well

Assuming everything goes to plan, we should be at the gates of Leen by this afternoon.

 

>>305292

It sounds like we're...

Moving' Right Along

>>305231

Now, with that out of the way, is Leen a city-state or a proper state? The gates you refer to, they also serve as a checkpoint for travelers right? I trust your maids to have prepared false identities already, but if the guards are on high alert that may not be enough. Have you taken steps to alter your appearance?

sounds good. and yes, if someone recognizes you it could be bad.

>>305298

"*Nina please report*"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"*Are preparations for the border crossing done?*"
"Yes, Your Highness."

>>305301
I have a cloak. It covers my face well. Also, I am wearing what the maids have assured me is a dirty brown peasant dress.

that sounds good enough for routine inspection. but if they demand all travelers to show their face before entry we may have a problem.would be much easier if we could get colored contacts, little clear circles that fit a eye and makes it appear to have a different color iris. different color eyes is a big deal, eyes are a primary identifier.

>>305234
no... she was mad (justifiably) by being told he ISN'T evil and that he somehow has a right to the throne and her brother doesn't.
Do try to keep up

>>305298
Leen is a Queendom. It is currently ruled by... Queen Andraia, who will be celebrating her ninety sixth birthday next month.

>>305369
Putting things in your eyes? That sounds very... well, very uncomfortable. Also painful.

>>305376

It can be. We have tough flexible materials that make it easier, but if all you have is glass it's pretty much only safe for a couple of hours at most. Prior to materials research catching up, contact lenses were used only by performers as special effects.

We don't have time or the facilities to make any, anyway. A spell may exist for such a thing, but we're the wrong ones to ask. No magic in our country.

Speaking of magic, what's it take to get the goddess to directly intervene anyway? I remember you guys have divinely appointed royalty, and while they pick the royal family for each region, there's got to be precedent for replacements being chosen. We should try to avoid that if we can. It'd be better to fix this before your uncle called down divine attention.

>>305390
Well, I am not extremely familiar with the conditions that need to be met to ensure a divine intervention, though I'm given to understand that the last recorded time it occured was when the royal family at the time was struck with some sort of plague that left no survivors.

>>305553
okay good, not the plague, but the fact that divine things have happened to ensure royalty is maintained. means that he MUST stay in the shadows and use puppets, if he tries to make an official grab for the throne he could get smote.

Though the thought of the High Prince being smitten by a bolt from the heavens is pleasing to me, I must admit that I do not believe that the goddess often takes notice of her kingdom's problems...

...That doesn't mean I don't think of her as gracious and all divine. I simply believe that she has... more important things to attend to than us mere mortals.

>>305610
well, that all depends on how the gods of the land operate. we have seen many kinds of gods. some get power directly from the people. meaning that without at least one person that believes in them, they vanish. gods that simple sit upon a throne and watch mortals. some that PLAY with the lives of mortals. and some that aren't even aware of their power having sealed their memory and trying to live as a mortal. current information places them somewhere between watcher and player. if you have more about them then that would be useful

>>305610

Exploring the limits of a goddess' attention, powers, and knowledge is best left as a philosophy exercise.

>>305613

We only "know" that because it is what we have been told, either by gods, those who would claim to have the words of gods whispered in their ears, or those who play gods on the smallest scales.

For all we actually know, they were lying to us.

The only way to be sure would be to observe a deity's interaction with the world, and then try to replicate it. Unfortunately, we don't have any of the tools we'd need to start exploring the fabric of the universe (to gain better insight into how beings of supreme power interact with it), and building them is both expensive and time consuming. Plus, most of them involve various sorts of ionizing radiation, and while we could teach you or a designee how to protect yourselves against it, decay products are a bag of worms I don't want to stick your hand in.

Have we talked much about what you plan to do once you're safe?

>>305613
I do not know much. Being incapable of reading has made things extremely difficult for me. I do know that each Kingdom (or Queendom) has been established by a god or goddess and that each ruler has a contract to uphold the aforementioned god or goddess' tenets. The land is tamed for the ruler and the people of that country worship their respective deities.

So long as the contracted ruler upholds the tenets, the land will flourish. It can start to rot if there is a lack of proper worship or if the tenets are not upheld, but I am uncertain as to the nature of the "rotting".

The barbarian lands are established on the rule of man. They are, as a result, unsafe.

>>305637
We have not talked about what to do when I am safe. I expect to be instated within the neighbouring castle from which I will try my best to obtain assistance for my brother.

Yeah, but princess, do you have a plan on how you intend to accomplish that? Are you going to attack covertly, overtly, or unconventionally?

The political arena is your playground. Your brother's not so good at that, but he'll learn fast I hope. We're quick studies, we've read Machiavelli, we know you'll need more than just talk and promises to win this. You're going to need some sort of force, too.

Covert attacks are possible, your maids are great, but you only have a few of them. Assassins that go up against high profile targets, win or lose, tend to not return.

Overtly attacking would mean raising an army. This is possible, and Rachel didn't dismiss the idea of leading a mercenary army equipped with weapons of our design. Funding would be an issue, as would maintaining discipline in the army. Since the lands you are attacking are your own, they would not be able to live off the land or loot. We'd need a supply train, logistics, and production lines for the consumable equipment that would be required to support a high technology army. This is the long option, and you could expect to spend several years just preparing.

When we were ready though, you would have a peerless army.

Unconventional attacks would require time too. We can describe how to make weapons that can kill a man from a thousand paces, bombs that can make even the strongest wall crumble like so much plaster, poison gasses, flying machines that can drop bombs and gas containers, and more. But most of that stuff takes some to a lot of cash to develop, and once it's introduced there's not much you can do to prevent the knowledge from spreading unless you get in the habit of crippling your craftsmen so they can't run away.

Some of the stuff I've described would be used in an overt attack, too, but the difference is in how it's used. An unconventional attack doesn't require much logistic support. It's a one-off attack, sneak in, try to kill the target, either escape or die trying. A normal overt attack means supporting all that stuff and trying to preserve your army as much as possible while still taking ground.

*Thud*

Ouch!

>"Nadia, you 'kay?"
>"*Yes. I apologise for the inconvenience*"

*Silence... THUD!*

Ooof!

>"Here, let me help you with that."
>"*I apologise.*"
>"Okay, just put your foot here... one... two... three! Now, when I push you up, you swing your other leg out and into the other stirrup. I'll help you put your foot in it. Okay. ONe... two... three!"

*Rustling*

>"*Thank you*"

*Pause*

"Okay, we all set? Let's keep going!"

That was... (embarrassing)... a less than desirable outcome. I am afraid that horse riding is not one of my best skills.

hmm, well we may have picked some up from the others, brace for a short headache.
[upload horse-riding skills]

Frankly you're probably better at it than most of us. We don't use horses anymore except for recreational riding, a sport restricted to those who can both afford to and choose to maintain a horse.

>>306312
I don't think that works unless we specifically downloaded them... but hey, it's worth a shot anyway.

>>306312

*Thud*

Maybe we should wait until I am not on a horse before attempting anything of the sort. That odd noise you just made was... loud.

I will, however, require some assistance with the...

>"Aw no, not again!"
>"*I apologise*"
>"Here, let me help you back up."

*Grunting, then scuffling sounds*

>"Now, I'll just tie you to the horse and one of us can take the reins."
>"*Yes but...*"

*SCHWING!*

>"We'll untie you when you get closer to the gate. But for now, that arrangement is okay, right? Uhm... Could you call your maids off?"

ugh, guess we don't have that. if you think it's going to keep happening then it's a small price to pay.

>>306849

Right, just wake me up when you're doing something worth talking about, or paying attention to.

((Guys, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to pull this quest. It's been too long since I had it and I'm missing all the notes that I had on the quest to begin with, making it almost impossible for me to pick up where I left off. Right now, I'm just writing filler while I cast about for ideas, which is very bad. That coupled with iRL insanity means it's difficult for me to be creative. So, thanks for playing and I'm sorry that there was no conclusion.))

golden rule of notes is to have several sets. email a copy to yourself so that you can check that, use pastebin and set a password. etc. more the better. then if you lose them they can be found elsewhere.