After refusing to pay the ransom for Harold Kant a few times, the kidnappers release him anyway. I notice him seeking treatment at the infirmary. After that he wiles away his time hanging out at our competitor’s tavern. The bastard. Maybe he’s upset about his family hanging him out to dry. Once you release a family member from active control, you can never get him or her back again so he’s completely irrelevant.
We do try a new round of bombings. The “Leaky Kettle” is the only other inn in town and gets more traffic because it’s right next to the market. It would be very nice if we could take it down. Unfortunately, inns turn out to be a lot more durable than orchards and the owners, the Antima family, are quick about repairing any damage. So that’s one plan that won’t work.
The highlight of winter 1460 is buying into the next title tier “Free Citizen”. It costs 25,000 and opens up a new action for all family members: insult. That’s right, I can instantly make anyone hate me, as if the Kants don’t have enough enemies already. Meanwhile Bradley Kant is sent to the guildhouse school. We’re moving up in the world.
In spring 1464, we start a new round of skullduggery. This time our target is the woodcutter’s hut, so chosen because it belongs to our designated rivals the Muresans and because it’s located right next to our farm. This also means that it’s far away from the town center and the patrol routes of the guards. But this time, instead of burning it to the ground, we damage it only just enough that our fighters can take it over. It works smoothly. One of the Muresans show up with a level 1 guard, which we promptly take care of, and he runs away. Soon enough, we’re the proud owners of a woodcutter’s hut, which would have cost 10,000 to build from scratch.
By 1468 all five of the businesses we own are fully upgraded and raking in the cash. I expected the Muresans to put up more of a fight but they just went and built a new level 1 bakery on the other side of town. As you can see from the chart above, we’re totally outpacing the Muresans so it’s not even a contest at this point. So far, we’ve only had one family member, Georg, die but the other families have each lost a few members to old age. Even the King Sergiu Kiss is dead and the throne is vacant, presumably because there’s no other family in town with the Nobleman title qualified to hold that position.
Our family matriarch is getting along in years but still active and alive. I figured out that because she’s the designated owner of the family residence and all of the house guards are based out of the house, everything the thugs do is her responsibility. This has a couple of effects in-game. One, it gives her massive, massive XP which makes her ding constantly. Second, it makes her officially evil. I’m pretty sure “Walking Nightmare” is the worst disposition you can get on a character.
My evidence book logs evidence against my own family members as well. It’s so long that if anyone were to charge her in court, I’m certainly she’ll be instantly executed. Luckily since she’s not likely to live very long, she’s more or less disposable so we might as well commit as many crimes as we can under her name while she’s alive.
But events in summer 1468 make more nastiness difficult. A fire starts in town, apparently a random event rather than an act of malice, and quickly spreads to several buildings, including our residence! Most of the town’s residents drop whatever they were doing to help put out the fire. No building is actually destroyed, but several are damaged.
As we need to repair our damaged house anyway, we take the opportunity to upgrade it. We end up with the first Patrician House in town. It’s actually supposed to be for the Patrician social tier, but that title costs 100,000 to buy. It’ll take a long time to save up enough for that, but hey, new house means more house guards and hopefully more skullduggery options.
Leave a Reply