War for the Crown Gameplay Part 2

Adelaide closes her eyes contemplatively while Momo goes through the final rites. After a while, she opens her eyes and adds, ”Thank you.”

Josie lowers her head and closes her eyes in respect as Momo goes through the ritual. Under her breath, she murmurs, "May peace reach you well this time."

With that concluded, the rest of the night passes without incident, and fortunately the following morning has a clean report from Athena and a lack of threatening notes.

Everyone sets to work the next day getting the repairs underway, with Corey working with the farmers to get the fields fertile again, Sarina working with the merchants, Momo helping with the pump house, and Josie going between houses in town asking what the priority work should be. Onora also helps direct civic repairs around town, familiar with the worst pot holes and sources of disrepair. By the end of the day, the work is well under way.

The following day, the group sets out early in their carriage to head to Baron Okerra's estate, half a day's ride on the other side of Pensaris. It's a smaller, but well-decorated and maintained citadel atop a hill overlooking the town. The guards at the gate are immaculately uniformed, but when told who is in the carriage, they wave the carriage through and send a runner up to the citadel to inform the baron. Okerra strides out the front doors with a wide smile, dressed smartly in a clean, dark green tunic and black pants that suit his athletic physique, accompanied by a young girl with untamed, frizzy hair, freckles, an impish smile, and a left hand missing its last two fingers. "I'm glad you could come visit!" Baron Okerra's booming voice crosses the courtyard as he strides over, giving everyone a deep bow. "And might I introduce my daughter, Selli?"
"Hi!" Selli waves and bounces up and down next to her father.

Immediately zeroing in on the child, Josie squats down to the young girl's eye level so they can have a proper conversation. With a bright smile, she says, "Hello Selli. My name is Josie. It's very nice to meet you."

Selli beams at being addressed personally. "Hi Josie! Nice to meet you too!" she giggles, offering her as-of-yet intact right hand to shake, the gesture having a rigid formality that seemed at odds with the rest of her demeanour.

Helpless against Selli's infectious brightness, Josie giggles as she shakes the girl's hand. "You've got a strong handshake, Selli. Your father must be teaching you well." She shoots a grin upwards at the baron as she mentions him.

"Oh yeah, as soon as I'm big enough, I'm gonna join the army like he did and be a hero!" Selli replies with an eager nod, which got a rueful chuckle and a sigh out of Nicolaus.

"Sometimes I think a little too well," the baron adds with a slow shake of his head.

Josie can't help but quietly snicker a bit at the slight exasperation displayed. Turning her attention back towards Selli, she inquires, "Oh yeah? What's your best weapon so far?" Getting a bit wrapped up in the girl's excitement, she adds, "Mine's a bow, wanna see it?"

"I really like swords, like my daddy!" Selli replies, but her eyes light up at the prospect of getting to look at a real bow up close. "Yes please, can I really?" she asks, eyes wide as she peers into Josie's face.

"Swords are good, my training started with one. But..." Josie whips her bow off her back and nocks an arrow in a single, well practiced motion, then gingerly holds them out for Selli to inspect. With a confident grin covering the archer's face, she finishes, "I think bows are a lot more interesting than swords. No offense, Baron." She winks up at him, grin still plastered on her face.

”If you want to get her interested in a weapon that keeps her away from foxes in the future, be my guest,” Baron Okerra replies with a meaningful stare at Selli.
Selli pauses examining the bow, poking at the arrowhead with her left hand, to look up at her father and pout. ”I told you, the fox beat me in a game of cards so he won my fingers! He cheated!”
”Mmmmhm,” Nicolaus hums doubtfully.

Very solemnly and seriously, Josie agrees, "Foxes are the worst cheats. Maybe after dinner I can show you how I shoot my bow, and we can talk about what other animals are big cheaters."

Selli bobs her head in eager agreement. ”Yeah, okay, thank you! And I can show you my sword moves!” she pantomimes a wild spinning slash.

Back to grinning, Josie replies, "That sounds good to me."

"Alright Selli, that means you need to finish reading that book for your tutor tomorrow now, deal?" Baron Okerra asks his daughter.

"Okay, okay, fiiiine," Selli rolls her eyes then dashes off inside.

After some chit-chat lulls for a moment, Okerra takes a breath. "How about I give you the tour?" he suggests, then gestures to the town beyond the hill, and beyond that, surrounded by trees, a glittering lake. "Well, these are my lands. Pensaris is a good fishing and mercantile town, we make great use of Lake Pensaris out there. In fact, there's a local legend about a giant catfish in the lake they call The General. Every so often, about one a year or so, fishermen don't come back from their trips - fishing's a dangerous profession - and we can't find their bodies. Everyone blames The General."

”These lakes seem to carry a lot of local legends with them,” Adelaide comments with a small laugh. ”A woman of Stachys was telling me just the other day about the spirit of Lauchlein Lake being on the hunt.”

"It's only natural with deep, dark waters, it's easy to come up with a more exciting story for someone going missing than them simply falling in," Baron Okerra agrees. "With that in mind, once you've had some time to get Stachys on the right track and taken care of your early priorities, perhaps you'd all like to come fishing one afternoon with Selli and I?"

"That sounds swell, sir," Corey nods eagerly. "Ah ain't been fishin' in a long while, but it's one of mah favorite ways ta spend an afternoon."

Momo squints. His beautiful lands were little more than an idyllic blur to her, yet she nods all the same. ”You’ll have to teach me how. The Myoui curriculum didn’t really include fishing outside of some uses in herbalism.”

"Please, no need for formalities, call me Nicolaus here," Baron Okerra replies to Corey, before nodding to Momo. "And of course, it's not too difficult at all, you'll have the hang of it within an hour."

Somewhat meekly, Josie adds, "I could probably use a refresher too. My father loves fishing, but I rarely went with him. Mostly because he insisted on leaving before dawn."

Momo wrinkles her nose. ”Pray tell we won’t be doing that as well.”

"I couldn't get Selli out of bed before the sun's up for anything but her sword practice," Baron Okerra chuckles, shaking his head. "Fortunately, the early evening's also very good for fish."

"I'll be a beginner as well," Sarina adds. "The geography of Whitemarch was not very helpful to fishing."