Sarshel - The Food Shortage

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Copper Dragon
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Sarshel - The Food Shortage

Postby Copper Dragon » Sun Dec 04, 2016 11:08 am

Hunger and Unrest
Sarshel has known the support of many outstanding individuals since the everwinter enveloped her, and certainly since the 7th of Mirtul. Nevertheless, with hunger, desparation, cold, grief and fear; there were horror stories of how some families fared before.

In the wake of the recent news of grain spoilage, commonfolk rallied in the streets one nightfall. People were ready to release their frustrations on two traders in the city square, ganging up on them. A few Theskan refugees, brought earlier this autumn from the east, stepped up to protect the tradesmen. Despite that, the commoners put a cart to the torch; one of the carts that held spoiled grain, meant to be carried out the city.

The guards moved in to bring order, but others who had come to see the crowd stepped up quickly. The vagabond, lithe elf Celith Galineris spotted, and under his strange, elven gaze people shirk away; the Damaran hedge-knight Merney Valroc is seen in his full battle attire, and is eyed with guarded reservations and some hopeful ones; and the orc-blood Edthin Fairbairn who has been known to work at the city square and docks is received with silent resentment for his thunderous gaze over the crowd.

But it was the voices of others than guards or watchmen that rang out to the people, to bring them reason:

Sister Kelda Adler of Ilmater appealed to the common men and women to know reason and patience, and people were quick to turn their heads her way. She is by know well-known among the populace as a, if not 'the', senior Ilmatari in the city, relentless and tireless in supplying the downtrodden with medicine, regular house visits and advice at her clinic. The gathered crowd bristled and shifted, but gave her their attention, and asked for her and her god's compassion to support their pleas of anger and anguish.

Adorned Cassandra of Calimshan stood in the city square as well, humble in her robes and emanating the kindness that some of the people started to know her for. She is a more recently arrived representative of Ilmater, often seen at Sayildi's and known to have assisted under the guidance of the local church, as well as with her individual donations of coin and time spent. While she did not hold the crowd's gazes for long with the other eloquent speakers present, her touches and words of compassion softened the harsh, hateful looks of several.

It was Louhi Laakkonen, the Lady Scion of Siamorphe, and her Hand Eycon Vangoul that were most unknown in this scene, and who stepped up with the most stern authority. She is supported also by a new arrival at the gates in the midst of the discussions, a damsel who works at The Sailor's Star, Elenne Renard. While Eycon's armoured figure brought further weight to the guards' work to bring order, priestess Louhi was quick to seize the attention of the crowd's agitators - foreign as the woman is, her sharp decisions brought the instigating men to the forefront, and made them counsel with the three priestesses present. More than that: the Lady Scion was the one to bid them all who wished to receive her god's support... to kneel.

And as alien as her god was to them, as ingrained the worship of the Triad and Lathander was in them, as foreign as she was to the reserved Impilturan people; a third of the crowd kneeled. Pride was swallowed, despair was felt; the stern Scion's gaze held something of an ungraspable power that made them believe this stranger could have the answers.

When it seemed that the crowd's moods had dulled into silent hope and obedient submission, though, the orc-blood Edthin Fairbairn climbed a wagon and overlooked them all. He is an outsider - more, he is an orc: and though people have come to grudgingly accept some of his kind not so long ago, it is still with an Impilturan's stoic distrust that he is viewed upon at first. Yet the half-orc didn't raise his voice to mock or taunt the crowd; he spoke instead of how the eastmen and eastwomen had always endured and always would, proudly, strongly. He spoke of their willpower, and let word of the Even-Handed god.

A Riot Averted
The crowd soon dispersed: some of their chins raised a little higher than before, others with shoulders straighter. Having been offered aid, food and succour and perhaps even employment, they followed in the wake of the Lady Scion, those that had bent the knee; and many of the remainder followed the Ilmatari.

Word of the Divine Right spreads. Who is the Lady Scion? What will she do next? How is her alliance with the Ilmatari?

And of the orc-blood Edthin, rumours rise too. A once-slave; an orc; what does he do here? Who is he; a servant of the Even-Handed god, as he alluded to? Does Tyr, The Third, now only deem it fit to send orcs to represent him in Sarshel?

Speculations and idle gossip all, perhaps. But the food riot has been averted, and the granary's spoilage that had pushed the people this far has been investigated by more than one party. For the time being, Sarshel's common men and women rest again a little easier, a little more hopeful, a little better helped.
Plays:
Artemis D'Assanthe, Dawnmaster
Udhana, the Kinless
Dhovainithil, Silver Elf
Jhasira of the Bai Kabor, Dawnbringer (deceased)

Bentusi16
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Re: Sarshel - The Food Shortage

Postby Bentusi16 » Wed Dec 14, 2016 8:34 pm

With the crowd more or less dispersed, Edthin was left to ponder his thoughts, which was never a good thing. The first and foremost of which was how anyone could starve in a kingdom such as this. Surely food was not that scarce.

But it was the words of another who set him on his path.

"It should be impossible for anyone to starve in this kingdom. There is more then enough food." She had said, or something like it.

Still enough to arouse his own curiosity, and suspicion.

Being a Tyrran, even a paladin, didn't always mean he could be nice. This was going to be one of those times. It was never kind or gentle, asking a person if you could examine the body of their dead loved ones.

So he braced himself and went to search for the man who had lost his sons, and seek his permission to examine their bodies, and the food they had been struggling to sustain themselves with.

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Kilaana
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Infestation

Postby Kilaana » Wed Jan 04, 2017 8:11 am

They had been rationing for months, and every fortnight Sister Teresa Derliev looked forward to the sound of carts that brought in the food that would soon be aproportioned to the hungry and the poor. When the sack of grain from Theskan shores, the slab of salted fish from Tantras, and the few barrels of ale stamped with the mark of Scardale workshops touched the ground in front of the soup kitchen, a sheaf of papers that accounted for their usage would be exchanged for these supplies with the royal constable who had brought them. The weight of the Abbot's passing had yet to lift from Teresa's heart, for she had been a young novice when she had first been inducted by him into the temple, and for many years after that Abbot Haron Aulenbryn had been there, as a father would to the children of Sarshel.

It had been a challenge to return to routine directly after the 7th, but she remembered the Broken God's lessons of endurance, and in the solace that routine afforded in times of chaos. This was the way of the Triad - of order, of service, of strength in the face of adversity. By the light of a candle that burned well past midnight, Sister Teresa made sure that the accounts for rations were kept to the Lawkeeper's standards, and that the kitchen's pantry was always free from dust and vermin.

And so when, as was her custom to be the first to arrive at the soup kitchen before dawn, Sister Teresa saw the tattered sacks of grain and rice that had all but been decimated and what little remained spilled across the floor, and the dry white bones of fish that had been hung up across the rafters to dry, she swallowed down a rising panic.

Something small and warm brushed against her ankles then. It was one of Sister Kelda's cats - this one the black one, now grown, and she saw that its whiskers were stained red as the tomcat dropped a large, dead rat at her feet. It uttered a loud meow as it turned away, and retraced its footsteps to the trail of similarly dead creatures that lay scattered in the shadows beneath the worktable.

Five, six, seven...fifteen...

By the time Adorned Cassandra arrived for her shift a half hour later, Teresa was still counting.
“Violence is the mark of the amateur.” ― Garrett, Thief: The Dark Project

Kallian | Delorwyn Lle'quellas | Wilhemina Alencar | Zalika Maszim Zartusht
Cedric Lesàre


Astral Fire
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Re: Sarshel - The Food Shortage

Postby Astral Fire » Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:16 am

When Adorned Cassandra arrived and saw the mess created by rats, would not panic not even for a single moment. Fear and scare would just create nothing but just more confusion in such cases of emergency, and she used her mental discipline to drive away those emotions, as well as the anger and frustration that followed. She'd just be very sorry and in pain for those who wil suffer the consequences of this.

Her piercing hazel eyes wound examine the room carefully looking at the beasts dead on the floor, while her very focused mind would try to see what was left of the rations to see what could be done with them. After few mental considerations, she’d approach very kindly Sister Teresa and calm her down with her usual kind attitude and she would summon Sister Kelda and Brother Jerek as soon as possible.

When Kelda and Jerek arrive, Cassandra will list some alternatives.

She’d suggest to find the other Triadics in Sarshel and their trusted allies, including
  • Lady Artemis D’Assanthe
  • Cammor Deshmrik, the priest of Tyr that was summoned and she met in the dwarven abandoned mines.
  • Lady Lynnbarr (Apologizes to Kilaana but I don’t remember well her toon’s surname :P) the unproven of Torm recently arrived to Sarshel
  • Other trusted allies the Adlers or Sister Teresa know and she’ll ask the permission to bring one herself.
She starts to make the calculations that, if all these priests accept to daily cooperate with the initiative, with the combined power of the Gods they could be able to offer from 35 to 40 meals per day, only through the use of the create substance spell, without the need of any stock. In other words enough to cover from 1/3 to a half of the total needed. She'd also try to see with the others if metamagic feats could be used to increase this production.

She’d then ask if some of them have funds available to buy more stocks from the local merchants, using Artemis’ network and contacts in order to achieve that. She'd also suggest to ask to local tavern and inn keepers to buy some meals using private funds if necessary, in order to feed the ones more in bad conditions. In other words like offering them a free meal at the inn. For example she suggests it could be good, if the situation is really bad, to create a partnership with a local inn to have a special "discount" for a number of free meals per day, paid by the Church (or funds of the priests).

Cassandra would plan to contact both Alvira Legre and people, farmers and merchants in Outentown she knows pretty well, along with Brother Garrmin and of course she’d contact her compatriot Zaffa of the local Saiyldi’s Inn if he can spare some stocks to be bought (not donated), warning the innkeepers in the city to guard their food supplies as well.

After that she’d talk in particular with Jerek for she wishes to look into this matter pretty soon with the help of the Warswords. Where did these rats come from? Did they attack other stock of food or only those stocks? Could it be related to what happened months ago before the riot at the granary? She’d then kindly ask him to interrogate the soldiers that patrolled the streets around the soup kitchen to see if they noticed something.
In the meantime, perhaps because of her suspicious nature, she also cast a detect magic spell on the mass of corpses of the rats to see if there’s any chance they were somehow controlled, summoned or the presence of any strange aura.

She’ll then start to tidy up the place, making a precise inventory of the remaining stocks and how much was left after that rat attack, aided by whoever was present to find any clues useful to identify the source of the problem. She’d also elaborate a quite efficient schedule of rations according to the available resources along with the others. Of course she'd check the quality of the remaining food itself for eventual presence of poison or disease before even thinking to serve it to the people.

She'd also ask Jerek the courtesy, if possible, of having a reliable Warsword guarding the kitchen 24/7 at least for the next days to avoid theft and keep the crowd under control.

When the service was in schedule, she’d ask the help of Sister Teresa (and the Alders if present), in order to maintain control, starting to use their prayers to create the greater quantity of food they could, waiting to serve the remaining food of the attacked stocks before it was sure it was 100% eatable and disease/poison-free, using mainly food by other sources if possible (from inns, taverns, Adlers, allies, private reserve stocks etc..). She’d also suggest to show people how she and the other priests, if they want to, would fast that day, remaining without food for themselves, in order to serve even one more customer and give the example of how the Triad sacrifices itself for its folk.

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Re: Sarshel - The Food Shortage

Postby Kilaana » Wed Jan 11, 2017 11:41 am

Rats were the everyman's bane. In a city like Sarshel, they inhabited places where men seldom looked in the day, only to emerge at night to forage for their livelihood. Yet that they had gathered in a number, in a single night, to eat. Other households, those who did linger in the city, seemed aghast to hear of such an occurence, prompting many housewives and servants to check their cupboards and their cellars. These rats that the Sisters gathered up and which now lay in a pile in a field outside the city ready to be cremated, were those of the red-eyed variety, with coarse black coats and worm-like tails - unlike their brown-eyed and brown-furred cousins of the wild. And when the scent of burning animal flesh rose into the air it was foul, carrying with it the stench of the undercity.

When the spell was cast over the pile, it returned to Cassandra an emptiness - nothing. If these rats were following orders, there was nothing to suggest an arcane source.
“Violence is the mark of the amateur.” ― Garrett, Thief: The Dark Project

Kallian | Delorwyn Lle'quellas | Wilhemina Alencar | Zalika Maszim Zartusht
Cedric Lesàre



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