The Free Company Tavern & "OOC" Thread: Book IV

[unmerged(6777)]

Roos wasn't there to witness the exchange, nor was he privy to the rumour that seemed to be circulating so, frankly, he's mystified that someone's called a staff meeting and is wondering what the hell it's about.

* * * * *

In case anyone's windering why there hasn't been a "John" post recently, the Emperor is en route to Florence where the Ecumenical Council is scheduled to reconvene at the begining of February. Until then, he's rented a nice villa and is sitting in it, drinking wine and wondering what's going on at home.

 

[EmprorCoopinius]

Well, I think it's pretty obvious that Severus has to stick around.....the only way he's coming out of there is feet first.

 

[Faeelin]

Originally posted by MrT

In case anyone's windering why there hasn't been a "John" post recently, the Emperor is en route to Florence where the Ecumenical Council is scheduled to reconvene at the begining of February. Until then, he's rented a nice villa and is sitting in it, drinking wine and wondering what's going on at home.

Now, in my opinion, the company should pull a Sforza. The City shall be the beginning of a new Roman Empire, based on the bloodline of the Captain!

 

[Faeelin]

Yusuf's not surprised at the Mongols. Good warriors, and people of the book, in their way, but still the people who sacked Baghdad and rode over the caliph in a horse.

I think Yusuf and Laurena both feel that they have a good chance of dying in the city, but they'll go down fighting. I'm not sure what Laurena will do about her child, though. Any ships leaving for Italia?

 

[Lord Durham]

For those of you who may not be familiar with Book I to III, or may require a brief recap, the FC and Sforza effectively installed a 'shadow gov't' in Venice consisting of Guillaume (finely aged, but still there, and Syban, whereabouts unknown). Francesco Sforza is the visible 'frontman'. Doge Foscari and the Council of Ten still rule Venice in name, and as you have probably gathered, still scheme and plot behind the scenes. That explains MrT's last post.

Valdemar, your inclusion of the Venetians in some subplots has stirred the pot, so to speak, and I'd suggest you coordinate with MrT and driftwood (Guillaume) in case they have something of their own in the works.

There's another reason for this. I'm expecting another guest writer to come on board, and he's going to play a major part in the plot.

 

[Valdemar]

Originally posted by Lord Durham


Valdemar, your inclusion of the Venetians in some subplots has stirred the pot, so to speak, and I'd suggest you coordinate with MrT and driftwood (Guillaume) in case they have something of their own in the works.

What makes you think I haven't?

V

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Originally posted by Lord Durham
For those of you who may not be familiar with Book I to III, or may require a brief recap, the FC and Sforza effectively installed a 'shadow gov't' in Venice consisting of Guillaume (finely aged, but still there, and Syban, whereabouts unknown). Francesco Sforza is the visible 'frontman'. Doge Foscari and the Council of Ten still rule Venice in name, and as you have probably gathered, still scheme and plot behind the scenes. That explains MrT's last post.

To embelish that a bit...

With HollisticGod's current absence from the forum I've more or less considered him (Syban) to be in retirement which would leave Guillaume and Sforza with the two largest spy networks in Italy. Due to their previous associations through the Free Company, neither would work against Captain (they've both been highly supportive of the FC) and though they probably don't cooperate with one another very often on that level, they both have their reasons for wanting to maintain control of the situation in Venice. To that end, they are definitely in cohorts.

Sforza is currently responsible for the defence of Venice and is definitely the visible part of the operation. Guillaume's position is behind the scenes and he has a number of councilors effectively at his beck and call should he desire it. The Doge, most likely, is only secure in his position as a result of his being installed there by Captain - using Sforza and Guillaume to enforce it. Though not a puppet, the Doge would not dare to cross either of them.

Word has now reached them of the "events" on Rhodes and the likely involvement of some Venetian faction in it. Since neither of them is responsible, this represents a threat to both of them and is something that they would wish to...investigate ruthlessly. This, in essence, is what my last post initiates.

 

[Lord Durham]

Originally posted by Valdemar


What makes you think I haven't?

V

I just love it when I'm out of the loop in my own thread.

It makes things that much more fresh and challenging.

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Originally posted by Lord Durham

I just love it when I'm out of the loop in my own thread.

It makes things that much more fresh and challenging.

Yup. You might actually have to think about some actual strategies yourself.

 

[Craig Ashley]

Come on all you officers! I'm really curious to see what's going to happen.

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Originally posted by Craig Ashley
Come on all you officers! I'm really curious to see what's going to happen.

\
Roos wasn't there and wasn't privy to the gossip. If there's a meeting he'll show. Otherwise...

 

[unmerged(6528)]

Well...there was supposed to be a meeting .ld But, since it was a slow day as far as I could tell and LD said he was going to move on to troops posting today perhaps I sort of closed the option in my last post just saying the meeting hadn't really solved anything.

RJ

 

[Valdemar]

I'm no officer, so unless I'm called on to explain, then I won't do anything.

I've just posted something that takes place on the 16th morning. If that causes any trouble for anybody who would wish to remain on the 15th, please say so and I'll delete and reposte.

It had been a quite few days, nobody was posting and in this case the timedifference worked the wrong way

Oh and excellent story so far

LD I'm glad you approve Isn't it nice to have to mudlle through the plots like the rest of us?

V

 

[Lord Durham]

Apologies to all. I have some heavy do-do going down in RL, so I won't be visible for a day or two. (hopefully less)

Valdemar's post starting the 16th works for me. I'm wondering if we can assume the patrols have left. Craig, you may want to talk to Faeelin and JP, if there's anything special you want them to see/not see on patrol.

My next post will do with assigning various parts of the city to different officers for defense.

One last thing, I don't think I communicated this properly, but Severus is now back under Byzantine command. The three Muslim cavalry groups are acting independently, for the time being.

Shawng, would you be interested in taking over command of the 500 men-at-arms that Severus had? It wouldn't require much attention. I can give you details if you want.

Anyway, apologies once again. The axe is swinging, and I'm hoping to dodge it's blow...

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Hi all.

LD's expecting to be very tied up at work so I will be advancing the story for the next little while until RL eases up a bit for him. He'll still be able to post sporadically, but isn't likely to be able to do his usual spectacular stuff so you'll have to settle for my meager efforts. Until he's back, if you've got something you want to do, have PMed LD and haven't heard back in a while, then PM or e-mail me and I'll respond instead.

* * * * *

I expect to have a post ready for you in a few hours that will provide some interesting things for you to play with. Hint: think carefully about what you read.

EDIT:

Reminder: Be careful about the use of ESP.

 

[EmprorCoopinius]

Sorry about my sporadic posting all. I'll definitely have one up by tonight. Playing too much AoN into the wee hours. Heck, I might even write an AAR.

Anyways, I'll be getting back on the horse (so to speak) soon.

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Sorry about the crappy map I drew - particularly the lousy job on the City itself and the typo on the name. It should be "Rumlihisari"...don't know how I got that extra U in there. I'll see if I can fix it a bit later.

EDIT: actually, I suddenly realized an easy way to fix the spelling so at least that's done. (Map still sucks)

 

[Valdemar]

Nice post MrT, it really doesn't matter what quality the map is in, it shows what we need to know.

V

 

[The_Hawk]

Question -- are Rumeli Hisar and/or Boghaz-Kesen equipped with cannon at this point? That will certainly have some bearing on what can be done about old Ishak.

(Also: 200th post: in, of course, the FC thread. Woooo!)

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Answer: Yes.

Getting too close to either (the distance between them is about a kilometer and the navigable width of the channel at that point is about 700 meters) might prove to be a novel way to adjust the waterline of your ships. Of course maybe their cannons would miss?