The Barony Folketh

Manor House

(Mery, Modri, Merituuli, Jarnathan and Other Vogler Elders)

On 10/14/2023 at 2:54 AM, tbgg said:

"Your people have answered some of the things I've been wondering about - like what the disagreement between the Ferrohs and Folkeths was about and where Lady Michelle's mother was in all of this, but I wonder if I may ask one thing: if this Stevren Ferroh has died and that's who Lady Michelle's mother ran off with, what happened to her? Does Lady Michelle need to be prepared for the possibility of seeing her mother again?"

   “Oh . . .” Stebson muses, “You seem to have gotten bits and pieces. Lady Michelle’s mother Jeziveene, ran off with the Lord Ferroe, after his wife died. Jeziveene was an ardent socialite who rather resented having to take care of a child at home, so as soon as Lady Michelle was old enough not to need constant attention, Joziveene went right back to attending tea-parties, balls, and any other high-class social function she could manage an invitation to.”

   “Of course, unbeknownst to anyone here, until it was entirely too late, the widower, Ferroe was also attending many such events and the two hooked up. Ferroe had a son, Stevren. Joziveene and Ferroe concocted a contract to marry the son to Lady Michelle. Of course Lord Michael immediately protested, but the Knights of the Rose heard the case and determined that in fact, the contract was binding as both his seal and signature were on the contract. That was when we discovered that Lord Michael’s seal was missing. Then the assassination attempts came. When Lord Michael retaliated in the open—because he’s not some coward who hires assassins in the night!—the Knights of the Rose again stepped in and sentenced him to a year’s banishment, and three years’ worth of the barony’s revenue was to be paid in compensation.”

   “When Joziveene attempted to claim Lady Michelle, Lord Michael was having none of it. He took Lady Michelle with him off to Nordmaar. That’s when he resorted to hiring some . . . underhanded types . . . to steal back his seal. I remember him telling us he hid them somewhere in town, but he didn’t say where. Needless to say, I’d recognize the items immediately.”

   “He kept up with us on with rare letters, but those stopped and we hadn’t heard from them for quite some time. Then one day, we got a letter from him about a year or so ago asking for a status update. The letter came all the way from some place called Shalimsha way down in Khur! I hope Lord Michael didn’t mind us selling that jeweled pendant from up in the master bedroom to pay that pretty penny we spent sending him a response! Well, by that time, a plague had run its course in Kalaman and it took the Ferroes with it. Stevren survived, but he was a gambler and a drunkard. He gambled away the family fortune, the entire Farroe barony, and then managed to suffocate in his own vomit in an alleyway just outside a tavern! Good riddence to so much trash!”

   “Unfortuantely, without the seal, without Lord Michael’s signature—or Lady Michelle’s—we can’t get anything legally done. Much of the disrepair of the walls, lack of work—all of it has to do with that. Seed for the harvest is bought with the money in the coffers. Contracts to get the repair work done would all have to be done with it. Heck, we can’t even hire new folks to help work the land and harvest! What you see here is the little work we’re legally allowed to do with what seed we had leftover. It’s enough to sustain us, but there’s no way we can do 23 square miles of farmland   The Barony Folketh is a mostly hexagonal plot of land that is a total of 6 miles across (from a side the center, it can be as little as 2.5 miles, but it’s 3 miles from corner to center), giving a total area of 23.38 square miles., grazing pastures, and all the rest.”

   He considers the other things you told him. “I’m afraid that we’re now dealing with something I can’t help you with until Lady Michelle is here. And even if I could make the decision in her stead—if I had her seal—I would not. Not for something this monumental in scope. Once she is here, we can continue this. Until then, I shan’t turn away guests coming in good faith.”

   Here, he directs the staff to make you and the rest of the elders comfortable in their own guest rooms. A feat that is easily accomplished in this huge house.

   “Ms. Mery, we have a library. Sam Booker can show you the way. I would ask that you stay out of the adjoining offices, though. Just let one of the staff know you’re headed to there, and they’ll escort you.”

   The staff escorts you to nice rooms.

On 10/14/2023 at 11:21 AM, Peacemonger said:

"So. Good news or bad news first about your Lady Folketh? I mean about her as a person."

   Cap backs off, taking the disengage action from Modri and putting five feet between the two of you. He narrows his eyes a little. The crowd goes silent.

   Finally, ‘Steward’ says, “What about Lady Michelle? What do you mean, ‘bad news’? Speak your words carefully. You all got everyone’s hopes up about Mimi returnin’, so you best not be about to talk trash.”