Everyone Wants to Rule the World - Ch. 1

A tendril makes contact with your bared chest and consciousness is made fleeting, your eyes drooping to see a long complicated series of meaningless symbols now burned into the flesh, before you collapse in a world of darkness.
---
That fateful day was one year ago on the dot. July 23rd, the year of our lord 799. You, a young man by the name of Gareth, are being discharged from the “Arbor Meadows” asylum. Thankfully when you had your… break, the police found you, according to the report force fed to yourself, mumbling in gibberish while convulsing, all attempts to wake you up futile until your arrival at the asylum. For the first days the experience was highly confusing and horrifying, coming out of it now you will never trust someone with the title “Doctor” in their name again. The white-coated spectacle be-laden men were monsters in that place, justifying every action in the name of science. As you sit with whatever meager belongings you have you shake, tears sliding down your cheeks as memories assault you. The doctors shoving needles into you filled with mind-altering concoctions of drugs that would send you though personal medicated heavens and hells, would create the unseen and replace the real, opium was pumped through you giving the sweet release of narcotic bliss, and the subsequent removal and replacement with pain, there was violation in this contract between doctor and unwilling patient, often instruments were forced into your oral cavity, ears, nostrils, and even your backside as they performed “experiments to stop the seizures”, of course you never really did believe the sodomy by one doctor in particular to be done with an intent for something much darker than experimentation, and a far more human ‘tool’ used to probe in to your body.
[cont.]

>>360426

If you could kill them all this second, you would with gusto, but alas you are frail from a year of abuse, along with an unknown condition triggering painful seizures at random times, often coinciding with a loss of verbal control many would say was speaking in tongues. The times are rough for you, Gareth, but you are strong, how will you survive in this harsh world?

You have many options, and much business to take care of in the year of our lord 800, July 23rd. Much of Europe is at war, and the upstart King Karl has conquered most of his brother’s lands, soon to be styled as Emperor of Francia. But you are a son of nobility, and the only remaining heir and head of your small house and dynasty –
• Doctor – Visit an apothecary to examine your seizures, the doctors at Arbor Meadows assuredly did not do anything proper medically to investigate this, and even if they did, you don’t remember.
• Notary – Visit your family notary and lawyer, Francis, to examine the state of your family’s affairs after your year in captivity.
• Pub – It has been a year or more since seeing the light of day, and a drink filling one hand and a whore filling the other has never sounded better.
• Estate – Your family’s estate has been run by your staff since your departure to Arbor Meadows, and it would be nice to settle back in your home before running errands.
• Other (Write-in)
To summarize – After the MC’s (Gareth’s) mother dies, he becomes the head of his house, House Brume. When examining his father’s old bookroom, which he inherited upon his mother’s death, something goes wrong as an anomaly in the room shocks him with some sort of touch – leading to a stint in the Arbor Meadows Asylum for a year. It is now the year 800 somewhere in the lands of northern France, Charlemagne’s conquest has almost reached completion, with both rebellion and war threatening everyone. Gareth must now repair his Dynasty, and his own health, in the coming days.

Feel free to ask any questions, and as a fair warning, posts will always take a little bit to write, I like being detailed in posts so don’t expect rapid fire updates, but I do try to post as often as I can. That being said, hope you enjoy!

Also just noticed a mistake, don't know where the word "American" came from in the first post. MC is french.

• Pub – It has been a year or more since seeing the light of day, and a drink filling one hand and a whore filling the other has never sounded better.

>>360499
I'll let a few posts build up while I go out to dinner/drinks, will update in the next couple of hours.
I'll still answer questions via my phone in this thread though, so shoot.

>>360432
>Estate
I don't think it'll fall in your servants' good graces to go get smashing dead drunk before coming home. Go back and see what has changed and what hasn't. Any new faces, any you expect to see but aren't there?

>>360599
More linebreaks.

>>360670
>Linebreaks
Good call, came out a lot bulkier than I thought.

>>360670
Switching to this, best to have a place to bring whores

>>360432
>• Doctor – Visit an apothecary to examine your seizures, the doctors at Arbor Meadows assuredly did not do anything proper medically to investigate this, and even if they did, you don’t remember.

>>360670
this.

>>360791
Might be putting the cart before the horse

If we get a doctor how are we gonna pay? Need estate supplies first

File: The Estate.jpg (247KB, 736x552px) Image search: [Google]

247KB, 736x552px

>>360835
>>360791
>>360732
>>360674
>>360670

You stand up on two gaunt legs and adjust your ratty suit-coat, worn and torn from months in the Asylum’s mouse-infested storage, it barely looks suitable for a homeless man, but currently is the only thing you have. Thankfully the sun is high in the sky, warming your face as you walk slowly along the cobbled paths to the outer reaches of the city. Travelers bustle about, merchants with their wares hollering from great distances trying to attract customers with their sweets, clothes and fresh bread, soldiers of King Karl’s army camped out in the town square to ensure the peace of the town after the conquest, and the peasantry with their dirty faces and sagging looks assaulted your ears and eyes from every angle.

Spending so much time in a jail cell at the asylum has made you quite sensitive to outside sounds, so you quickly bustle off to the dirt path connecting your estate with the main thorough-fair, tightly packed dirt switches to a cobbled road again and the peak of your family’s holding – Brune Castle – sits overlooking the marshy waters of the Cold-Whyne lake and surrounding bogs, air heavy with cool moisture and the sounds of insects filling the air.
Your home was quite an impressive thing, your father had gotten his start, and your Dynasty’s start for the matter, by growing a personal fleet of merchant ships, once war had come and lords were desperately seeking ships, he sold the large and profitable fleet for astronomical prices to anyone who bid higher, leveraging prices against anyone he could until the family was riding on mountains of gold.
That wealth had been depleted greatly in the acquisition of this estate, a large castle built into the side of a large hill in the swamplands, large as it was to behold, it was hard to comprehend the true size of the manor, which expanded several yards beneath the earth to create a sprawling network of water-lines and additional rooms.
For the most part the underground had barely been mapped, but the surface rooms were gorgeous. On the outside, grey and blacks stones often patchy with moss rose to form three towers, two at the corners of the massive hold, and the other on the opposite side of the large hill, creating a large triangular wall with a large keep in the center.
As you registered with your personal guards that you had returned, the sound of “Mi lord,” shocked you, who would know that a man so tortured as you would be lord of anything still?

Where do you go?
> The Kitchens – Order the head cook to make a meal, an actual, non-slop meal
> The Library – The Site of the initial seizure that started that whole mess… It’s been awhile
> The Servants Quarters – Find the Castle Steward and review the status of the estate
> Other (Write-in)

>>361490
>> The Kitchens – Order the head cook to make a meal, an actual, non-slop meal

>>361490
>> The Servants Quarters – Find the Castle Steward and review the status of the estate

>>361540
Servants quarters

>>361490
The walls of his childhood home seemed colder than Gareth remembered. Where once the braziers glowed hotly at all hours of the day, the courtyard was mostly empty, presumably from your absence over the past year giving servants the idea that they were out of work. Your mother would be ashamed to see the state of her former home – once bustling with activity as the countess would host foreign dignitaries of all kinds – The steward was about to get an earful.
After changing into a fresher colored linen tunic and pants, Gareth began his descent to the Servant’s Quarters – a large 10 room cellar that housed the dozens of maids, Harem wenches, cooks, and other rabble that was cramped on a good day, and completely empty on one as today. The Steward’s office, the largest of these small rooms, whose door sat tucked into a corner of the limestone wall, sat ajar, the sound of a quill on paper emanating from within.

Inside a low-born man of the name Edrick scrawled numbers in a thick, leather-bound ledger that kept record of the holding’s finances; he had been a faithful family friend ever sense he first came to the hold as a hired-advisor for your mother, tirelessly working day and night to ensure the holding was secure. He even went so far as to use his free-time to study new techniques of cooking, language, warfare, artistry, anything that could potentially make him more useful.

He was so engrossed in his work that despite the fact you stood mere feet away from the wax-covered candelabras that illuminated his workspace.

“Edrick. Hello.” you state, shocking the man in to proper posture with a bewildered glare. The look almost instantly softened as Edrick’s eyes landed on your gaunt figure.

“Lord Brune! You’ve returned!” The steward grinned a toothless grin as he hurriedly rang a small copper bell, a serving girl immediately appeared from one of the adjacent rooms and Edrick rattled off a list of tasks for her, namely preparing a meal and heating a bath, the young girl sped away nearly as fast as she was summoned.

“It was awful in there Edrick… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to rip the images from my mind they burned there.” You concluded to Edrick, recounting your experience at the asylum as you were led to the Lord’s Chambers. The serving girl arrived with a tray with an assortment of bread, cheeses, a large cup of wine, and some sort of roasted bird. Hungrily you tore into the decently made meal, ignoring etiquette as grease escapes the corner of your mouth. By the time the serving girl announced the steaming tub of water to be ready, much to your chagrin, the meal was gone without a crumb left.
[cont.]

>>363659
“Edrick, what is the state of the castle after only a year? How did we fall in to such disrepair?” you asked as you slipped off the tunic and pants. Edrick stood in the manner only a servant with decades of service could as he ticked off the reasons, namely a severe drought reducing the crops the peasantry produce, leading in turn to less taxes being taken – it seems that without Edrick’s hand things could have been much worse off, and for that you are grateful.
- The state of Brune Castle is weak. Fewer than 10 servants now populate the castle, leading to several areas of mice infestation in ‘abandoned’ corridors of the castle. The steward has kept the castle guarded with trained soldiers, but with the current lack of money the men are little better than indigents given a sword and told to defend the castle for food.

> What do you seek to do about the state of your castle, mi lord(s)?

We get
- Health problems as seizures
- Economic issues because of a drought
- Understaffed, underguarded, and slightly rodent infested castle
- something that nearly killed us in the library

Where do we even start? Fuck

>>360670
Linebreaks doing better?

Looks like a lack of players

>>363686
Trying to save the quest.

K so I think we should just get a check up on our seizures.

>>365172
Eh, I guess I'll just continue.

--

Edrick and Gareth sat in Edricks' meager quarters for nearly two hours, chatting about the current state of affairs, the effect of the war in Europe, and the ways they were going to get House Brune back up and running.

That being said, you were surprisingly excited to get back to work, something only imprisonment can make you desire so hotly that it takes root; it takes control. Just as you were discussing the issue of tax revenue in your county, the pain started behind your eyes, that sickening sensation of illness right in the center of your skull - an impending sign of a seizure as you and the Doctors of the asylum knew all too well.

Unceremoniously you rip off a thick piece of cloth from your shirt and bite down hard on it as the convulsions start. The confusion of a seizure doesn't focus on "What is my body doing next" but instead "What is my body doing right now?" And the answer was zero idea. Flashes of color stream across your vision, the smell of smoke filling your nostrils though the only flames were from candles.

As you came to - Edrick came into view, dabbing a small damp cloth to your forehead, still sitting at the same desk as before. In front of you Edrick had scrawled a list of the known doctors in surrounding cities, and you set to work finding a new personal physician.

- Edrick looks to you, "So how do we go about this my lord?"
> Allow Edrick to go search - There is too much work to be accomplished at Castle Brume
> Search yourself - go for a stroll through local towns and find one yourself, you could do with fresh air.
> Other - Write-in

>>366537
Let edrick go, gotta fix up our castle

>>366537
>Let Edrick search. In the mean time, we must fix things.

>>366545
Supporting

As soon as you command the frail man to head off in search of a physician, he quickly spouts out a few names and grabs his well cared for cloak and shambles out to the stables, headed for the nearby city of Till.

You begin your walk through your Servants' quarters - a broad stone hallway filled with numerous perfectly arranged pieces of furniture and artworks, one of your steward's personal projects, and ten doorways to differing bunk rooms and baths.Overall you judge the area to be quite unchanged. You glance at the wooden board where Edrick often left parchment notes to the staff and on it you glance at a small map showing detailed notes of needed repairs, no doubt meticulously recorded by Edrick himself. "May the little man rest in heaven when he finally keels over from overwork..." you mumble.

The map shows that there are several primary areas of the castle in need of repairs to restore essential functions - in no particular order.

1.) Kitchen Rodent Infestation - You squint to read Edrick's tiny handwriting: "The Kitchens are built on the lowest floor of the basement up to the ground floor, primarily storage. An infestation of rats has ruined a good majority of the space with rotting scraps, rat corpses, and feces. A team of laborers will need to be hired to scrape the disgusting filth away - as well as restocking the wine cellar, and investing in more supplies and a larger cooking staff to keep the areas occupied.

2.) Prison - The prison has been in a state of disrepair for years, not caused by the master's absence but has become unusable. A smithy must be hired to craft new cells, a mason to set the stones, and a new regiment of guards to man the jail cells.

3.) The Lord's Chambers - Many of the passageways known only to the Master and I have been collapsed upon, making them unusable. A loyal mason must be found who will keep the locations secret with his life.

4.) The Harem - The... Gallery we'll call it that your father had installed as a young bachelor was swarmed with an infestation of moths during your absence, they are nesting in the now digesting silk - it truly is horrifying. An alchemist may have to burn out the infestation or alternative methods taken. And, if his Majesty so wishes, a Madame or Sire must be hired to manage the... 'workers', and of course the workers themselves. It is always said that these... Galleries... make quite a heavy income once we have more single men or women around, sex always sells to the lesser men.
<CONT>

>>368650

5.) The Barracks - The barracks were raided and used to house King Karl's troops during the last February of your departure, the place is in a grand state of disrepair, requiring a carpenter to rebuild the wooden buildings in order to house a standing force - hiring a regiment of soldiers will increase My Lord's standing with the realms around him greatly, the Frankish and Saxon lords only respect strength - everything from income to protection may be gained. This will also require a general to help carry out Sir’s orders if thine wish to have more than 50 men.

6.) Grand Quartermaster – Our previous Grand Quartermaster fled when he realized we were going broke, he stole a sizeable sum of money, and does reside in a nearby lord’s protection. Regardless if you decide to seize him or not, the position must be filled so we can start a reliable supply chain, even start stores in the surrounding peasant towns, but someone other than myself or his Majesty must manage such complex and time-intensive matters to be efficient.
/////
The paper is torn past that point, clearly he took another half of the list with him somewhere. You glance through the ledger and find that one of these projects can be completed with the gold remaining in your treasury. You can send a page boy, one of the male children born to your servants, to carry the message to the relevant parties.

> Pick a project My Lord.

>>368650
5 and 1 seem pretty important for long term safety

>>368694
I say kitchen first, then barracks when we can feed the chap.

>>368703
Yeah Kitchen is definitely important first.

I'd like to make an addendum to this, but can we hire a head gardener and a few groundskeeper peasents to maintain a garden and the rest of the domestic plants on the premises? If we live in the swamp there's bound to be some pretty good (read: Valuable) plants to gather and grow.

Just smoking a bowl and thought that would be a fun addition to a kitchen, just my 2¢
What are your thoughts on going in the library anons? Should we just lock it down, (maybe sell some of the more valuable manuscripts to get another project done hm?) and never enter it or go in and possibly get fucked up again?