Kingmaker report #3

As our initial stipend from the swordlords of Restov begins to dwindle, building projects become less ambitious. In the fourth month since the founding of the Barony of Drekmore, we decide to switch our efforts to our borders. We accept the offer from Chief Sootscale to join our fief. A mutual defense pact is signed and part of the kobold cave complex is made available to us in times of national emergency. We also build roads into the kobold territory and stake out some nearby farmland. Beckwitt is none too happy to be working road construction in kobold territory, but what can you do?

Satan! That no good, lowdown, sneaky, smelly bastard. Never trust a sorceror, especially if he's a tiefling. I go drinking with him for one night and he talks me into volunteering to build a road for a month. Do you know how much work that is? Oh and on off-days we will just help clearing the farm fields. Next time he wants to go for a drink, I'll throw him in the lake.

Those kobolds give me the willies, but they can work when they want to. It would have taken much longer to clear that land without their help. Still, I wouldn't want them in Dunwin. The Baron seems to have a handle on them. He has them sticking close to the caverns and they have laid up some supplies and fortified the place a little. The local farmers have been told they could go there in case of trouble.

In the fifth month, we attract a tanner to our growing town. Craftsmen are the lifeblood of any town and the addition of a tannery is most welcome news. We had set our edicts to include one festival this year. Since it is harvest time, this is a good time to let the people have some fun. Once again, we hear from Beckwitt:

I had a good month, work in Dunwin was slack with just some housing and the tannery going up. Out on the farms, the first harvest is coming in. The weather has been so good, the Baron thinks we will fit in another crop before winter. The harvest has been bigger than thought and most folks are happy.

Satan must have realised he pushed me too far last month. He has been real nice and even paid for a night at the Aphrodisia House, when I got back from working in the boonies. He can be a real nice guy. We have even started playing cards again, of course, only when we are playing on a team against someone else.

Tomorrow is the big harvest festival and the Baron promises it will be a great time. I'm not sure Erastil knows how to party, but I sure do. There will be some free drinks and a nice meal. I helped start the pig roast this afternoon.

A half year has past and our grand diplomat has been recalled to Dunwin. Batholomew Hester, besides being our eyes and ears in the courts of Brevoy, is also a paladin of Erastil. The Baron, the High Priest and the Grand Diplomat, all holy men in the service of Erastil, have gathered together to consecrate the first holy shrine in Dunwin. Though not all the town's inhabitants are adherents, most are and the service is well-attended. Father Jhod and his acolytes begin work immediately, producing healing potions and other items for the greater good of Drekmore. The following month, we expand our borders a little further north, before the cold winter months settle in. Anything to add, Beckwitt:

When you're busy, time sure does fly. We are celebrating our six months of existence and things are going well. None of my debts seem to have followed me from Brevoy, the boom times continue here and everyone seems happy. The crazy pace of the first few months has slowed a little.

I have a new job, and I get to hang out with Satan most days. He hired me on in the treasury department even though I don't know much about it, he says he 'll watch out for me. I know my letters and numbers and mostly I copy stuff from one book to another. There's only five of us working in the treasury, so I feel mighty important.

We built a Shrine to Erastil a month back and it has generated some economic benefits, or that's what Satan tells me. Just in the last two weeks we claimed some more land to the north and have started some roads and farms in the area. The Kobolds made a big deal of going up there and burning down some tree. Crazy buggers.

We will take a few months to consolidate or territory and build our treasury. We have an ambitious plan to build up our waterfront next year. Piers, drydocks and warehouses will hopefully attract merchants and shipbuilders, allowing Drekmore to become Brevoy's doorway to the south.

-Rognar-