War for the Crown Gameplay

"Please just don't try to fly. You'd survive a two story fall, but that's not really the way you wanna start the day pal," Kalbio replies, straightening up onto all fours.

"It'd be awful embarrasin'," Corey nods, accepting the advice of a goat at face value. "Want breakfast?"

"Sure!" Kalbio brays back. "While we're at it, bet you're wondering why I'm smarter than your average goat?"

Corey shrugs as he heads downstairs, goat at his heels. "Kinda? Addie said ya might be a familiar, but Ah'll be honest, Ah don't really know much 'bout that 'cept magic folks got 'em, and Ah ain't no magical type, so it's awful strange."

"You've got it, mostly. Familiars are usually animals bonding to a wizard sharing in their magic, making them stronger and getting a few extra brain cells in the trade. For me, a god chose me and sent me to you because they think you're not half bad. Little on the scrawny side, but we can work on that!" Kalbio explains, giving his goat grin again.

"Wait, ya were sent by a god?" Corey asks, glancing down at the goat. Then a beat. "... wait, ya think Ah'm scrawny?"

"Well, you ain't no Kurgess, that's for damn sure," Kalbio quips back. "Getting there though, that's why he chose you!"

"Well, Ah don't know who this Kurgess fella is," Corey says petulantly as they enter the dining room. "But Ah can hold up an entire wall of a barn on my lonesome while other folks nail it in. Bet he can't do that."

Kalbio shakes his head side to side. "He's a god, he can lift entire cities up if he wants. And even when he was a man, he could lift an entire manned chariot and its horses over his head. That's what we're gonna get you to."

"... Ah think Ah'd like that," Corey nods. He accepts his plate of eggs and sausage and a fork from Jaime with a smile before taking it outside so Kalbio can eat as well. "So this Kurgess fella chose me, huh. Seems mighty strange. Ah'm a born an' raised Shelynite, What's he want me for, when Ah bet there's plenty a strappin' folks what already follow him?"

"Ey, nothing wrong with Shelyn. Sweet lady, no bad blood there," Kalbio clarifies. "Sure Kurgess won't mind if you keep paying your respects to her. But he chose you 'cause of the jousting tourney mostly. He's basically the god of friendly competition, and you kinda kicked ass, and were a good sport while you did it. That's the sorta stuff Kurgess appreciates. Too many sore losers and rude winners about."

”Now you’ve got it! Plus, any questions you’ve got about the gods and heavens and all that, just ask ol’ Kalbio,” the goat brays between munching at some thick grass.

Corey spears a sausage with his fork and takes a bite out of it, chewing slowly. "... nah." He gives a large shrug. "Mah brain's already sore from learnin' all this stuff with money an' numbers stuff, Ah ain't got room up here for no secrets of the divine. Thanks though, it's awful kind of ya ta offer."

”I wasn’t planning on giving you lessons!” Kalbio lets out a braying laugh. ”Just if anything comes up, you see a symbol you don’t know or something, ask me!”

"Ohhh, Ah get it." Corey chuckles. "That makes sense. It'll be awful useful, even though Addie or Momo'll prolly know it too."

”Seems I have my own competition! Outwit Adelaide, a laudable goal for a goat!” Kalbio announces dramatically.

Corey laughs uproariously. "Good luck with that," he says when he manages to get it down to a chuckle.

Shortly after Sarina takes breakfast, once she’s in private again, Laela knocks on her door and calls in quietly, ”Dame Karthis, may I come in?”

"Please do," Sarina says with a nod, closing the book she had been reading to pass some time before heading out to help with the tax collection efforts. "Excellent timing, I was planning to speak with you sometime today."

”Then you’ll be pleased to know that I managed to gather some information during your trip,” Laela replies after stepping inside and closing the door behind her. ”I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you that Count Lotheed is not particularly well-liked among his servants. That makes getting information easier, it makes determining the difference between truth and malicious rumour harder. One thing that I can tell you for certain is that Gul Guisarne is not Bartelby Lotheed’s right hand. At least, not only. He’s also his half-brother.”

"Oh? How interesting," Sarina comments. "Did you manage to uncover the story of how that situation came to be?"

”I did,” Laela confirms with a nod. ”The former Count Lotheed was a known philanderer - Guisarne is not his only bastard child. At the very least he also had a bastard daughter on a trip to Qadira who Bartelby expelled after his father’s death. But in Sir Guisarne’s case, the dalliance was with an elven servant - and so the Lotheeds never publically claimed the child because of the disgrace of having a non-human in the family, though that is not the word they would use. Nonetheless, Count Lotheed had a particular sense of honour and would not abandon his child either, and Gul was made aware of his parentage. However, the rest of the family made it abundantly clear to him that the only reason he wasn’t an urchin in the streets after his mother passed of illness was their generosity,” Laela pauses, taking a deep breath. ”So Gul made himself valuable to them. He feels a deep sense of obligation and gratitude to the family, and trained extensively to make himself into the man he is today.”

"Always useful to know a man's motivations," Sarina says with a nod. "Were there any other interesting pieces of information you learned?"

”There’s a deep schism in the Lotheed family. Count Bartelby blames Duke Panivar for his father’s death, but no-one knows why. All I could get is that Count Lotheed is truly terrified of the Duke,” Laela adds, frowning. ”I don’t know much about Duke Panivar save that he’s among the most powerful wizards in the country.”