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Baron’s Business in Tuskdale Walkthrough
Troll Invasion
When the event card “Troll Invasion” appears, return to Tuskdale to see what this is all about. If you’re following this guide closely and have had ample time, this may be after clearing the “Bridge Over the Gudrin River” area at the end of this chapter’s third expedition. If not, you may have just waited for this to begin from the start of Chapter 2 (not advised) or more likely you were caught in the midst of some adventure and had to return to Tuskdale. Either way, sell off your excess loot if necessary, then head on into your throne room.
When you arrive, Kesten Garess will alarm you with reports from various settlements across the Narlmarches: hordes of unusually organized trolls, accompanied by Kobolds, have been moving through your lands. Trolls who are unafraid of fire, at that. The reports are sketchy as of now, and Kesten doesn’t discount that the reports could be exaggerated…
Respond how you will and note the quest Troll Trouble will have updated. Whether you choose to take the reports of the Trolls seriously or not, your quest log certainly is. In any event, there’s no harm in doing your due diligence and searching for clues in the Narlmarches. Merely meeting with Kesten about this issue will give you a Military +1 bonus.
If you find yourself in need of more incentive, let’s discuss how this threat will play out if left alone. After some time has passed (for the walkthrough in the guide, it was about a week) the event “Troll Sightings” will become available, allowing you to assign a leader to deal with the problem. This event will repeat after it’s resolved, and since it takes twenty-eight days, you’ve got quite a bit of time to do what you please.
After nearly two months, however, the event “New Troll Sightings” will appear, requiring you to return to Tuskdale and talk to Kesten Garess. He’ll inform you that the troll attacks are no mere rumor, and the giants now rampage indiscriminately through your barony, with everything south of the Skunk River being dangerous due to the presence of the trolls. He’ll mention a wizard named Bartholomew who lives alone in the wilderness, whom you may have already met, which provides you with a fine starting point.
After this, the event “Troll Raids” will start appearing, which likewise requires twenty-eight days to resolve, with success mitigating a loss of kingdom stats. After a month or two, multiple instances of this event may start to appear at a time, making it difficult – if not impossible – for your general to keep up with all of them. This will slowly drain your kingdom stats (Military and Stability), along with “Trolls’ Rampage” events that appear later, which will reduce Stability and Community.
As your kingdom stats plummet, your citizens will begin to grow demoralized in your rule before eventually starting to riot, which will reduce all the checks made by your leaders. This leads to a downward spiral that can ultimately cost you your realm. That being the case, you shouldn’t neglect the issue entirely, but on the other hand you have around three months (from the start of “Troll Invasion”) before you’ll start taking hits to your kingdom stats (provided your rolls for “Troll Sightings” and “Troll Raids” checks are favorable), and six months before you’re at a crisis point.
This should give you plenty of time to fully explore all the areas listed above even if you haven’t had the time or inclination to do any adventuring yet. If you’ve managed to complete some or all of the previous expeditions, you’re in very good shape, indeed.
The quest Troll Trouble will be the next focus of this walkthrough, then, starting with the section “Troll Trouble – Seeking Bartholomew”. While it requires a good bit of back-tracking, only new events (most of which are directly relevant to the completion of this quest) will be discussed. For example, you’ll be traveling to the “Lone House” and “Ruined Watchtower” areas in the following sections, but if you haven’t explored them previously, consult the sections where they’re covered earlier in the guide for general exploration and questing, as the following expeditions to these areas will only deal with encounters relating to the aforementioned Troll Trouble quest. Any additional exploration of areas covered in previous expeditions are highly encouraged, but will be left to your own initiative.
If that’s not complicated enough, events in your kingdom will not stop just because you’re busy saving your barony from trolls. These may occasionally require you to return to Tuskdale to see to them, sometimes starting new quests in the middle of the existing engagement. For the sake of organization, the events which are likely to crop up in the near future will be listed in this section below, for you to peruse as they pop up.
That’s right, there’s a lot of skipping around to be done, but just keep in mind the following: for areas explored in previous expeditions, consult their pages in the walkthrough when you get around to them (assuming you haven’t already!), when you see a new event that requires your presence in the capital, return to this section, and when you’re pushing ahead with the quest Troll Trouble, check out the pages that start with the words “Troll Trouble”. That should help keep you on track.
Note: Other event cards may pop up depending on how long it takes you to finish Troll Trouble. Any such event cards that are not listed below will be covered after completing Troll Trouble, in the “Baronial Business after the Troll Trouble” section of the guide.
General Requests an Audience
Note: This event – and other leader-related events – will appear after your related kingdom stat (in this case Military) hits twenty. Since what events you attempt, the results of these events, what buildings you build and a host of other random factors determine this score, you could get this event card much later. They’ll all be listed here for the sake of continuity.
Your general – whomever you appointed to the task – is worried about the shape of the barony’s military, and with a horde of trolls possibly lurking in the forest, it’s a subject worth being concerned over. Unlike the “Troll Invasion” event, your response does matter here, and while the situation will be resolved whatever you pick, your general will be pleased or displeased based on the response.
If you pick the option “Open unrestricted recruitment. Anyone with the will for it is good enough for our army.” you’ll please Kassil and displease Amiri. If you pick “Select the strongest and most skillful recruits. I need real fighters.” you’ll please Amiri and displease Regongar. Picking *”Select those who have ambition. Soldiers who dream of glory and rank always serve better.” will please Regongar and displease Kassil. Finally, if you tell your general to “Make your own decision.” you’ll please all three of them, presumably encouraging them to pursue the specific action listed above that pleased them when you mentioned it. Meeting with your general on this matter, regardless of their pleasure or displeasure, will give you a Military +1 bonus.
This will also start the “Support the General’s Endeavors” project, a repeating project that you can see to when there’s not more pressing issues for them to attend to. Completing this project will require two weeks of time during which you can’t do anything else, after which your Military will be upgraded to Rank II.
Treasurer Requests Your Attention
Note: This event – and other leader-related events – will appear after your related kingdom stat (in this case Economy) hits twenty. Since what events you attempt, the results of these events, what buildings you build and a host of other random factors determine this score, you could get this event card much later. They’ll all be listed here for the sake of continuity.
Warning!: You can potentially pick up this event card well before you have access to all the possible leaders. It’ll be described below for the sake of continuity, but there will be SPOILERS. If you don’t wish to know about all the possible leaders, don’t continue reading.
After you appoint your Treasurer – whomever that may be – they’ll request an audience from you about two days after being appointed. This plays out very similarly to your General’s request in that there’s a problem specific to the position of Treasurer that needs to be resolved and each of the three possible Treasurers – Jubilost, Bartholomew and Maegar Varn – have their own preferred methods.
If you pick the dialogue option “These things don’t belong to me any more than they belonged to the Stag Lord. Order them returned to the people.” you’ll appease Maegar Varn and displease Bartholomew, and will gain Loyalty +3. If you choose “The owners of these things might be dead or on the run. We will use them to revive the villages that suffered the most under the Stag Lord’s reign.” you’ll please Jubilost and gain Community +3. Picking the option “Take these riches to the treasury.” will earn you 30 Build Points and will appease Bartholomew, but displease both Maegar Varn and Jubilost. Failing that, you can just let the Treasurer decide, and they’ll pick whichever action would otherwise please them, earning you the attendant reward.
This will also start the “Support the Treasurer’s Endeavors” project, a repeating project that you can see to when there’s not more pressing issues for them to attend to. Completing this project will require two weeks of time during which you can’t do anything else, after which your Economy will be upgraded to Rank II.
Counselor Awaits in the Throne Room
Note: This event – and other leader-related events – will appear after your related kingdom stat (in this case Loyalty) hits twenty. Since what events you attempt, the results of these events, what buildings you build and a host of other random factors determine this score, you could get this event card much later. They’ll all be listed here for the sake of continuity.
Warning!: You can potentially pick up this event card well before you have access to all the possible leaders. It’ll be described below for the sake of continuity, but there will be SPOILERS. If you don’t wish to know about all the possible leaders, don’t continue reading.
This event is similar to the other leader events, where your Counselor (whichever one of three possible choices you’ve appointed) will come bother you. Your barony is rather new, you see, so citizens of different social and economic classes don’t know exactly where you stand in relation to them. You can make the matter significantly clearer by holding a fair to benefit the people, or you can throw a swanky dinner party for the wealthier folks. While this obviously won’t change the autocratic nature of your barony, it will expose your disposition towards democracy or oligarchy.
Pick the dialogue option “We shall hold a fair for the common people. I want them to know that I hold them closest to my heart.” to gain Community +2 and Culture +2, which will also make Tristian and Tsanna happy, but annoy Shandra Mervey. The dialogue option “We will hold a luxurious dinner party for the merchants. The support of our wealthiest citizens is essential.” will earn you Economy +2 and Relations +2, but will displease Tristian and Tsanna, pleasing only Shandra. The “do it yourself” option, “I don’t care to arrange anything. We can do without festivities and feasts.” will please or displease none of your potential leaders, who will do whatever would otherwise please them. Not only will you get the approproate kingdom stats, but you’ll also get 20 BP.
This will also start the “Support the Councilor’s Endeavors” project, a repeating project that you can see to when there’s not more pressing issues for them to attend to. Completing this project will require two weeks of time during which you can’t do anything else, after which your Loyalty will be upgraded to Rank II.
Regent Demands Your Presence
Note: This event – and other leader-related events – will appear after your related kingdom stat (in this case Community) hits twenty. Since what events you attempt, the results of these events, what buildings you build and a host of other random factors determine this score, you could get this event card much later. They’ll all be listed here for the sake of continuity.
Warning!: You can potentially pick up this event card well before you have access to all the possible leaders. It’ll be described below for the sake of continuity, but there will be SPOILERS. If you don’t wish to know about all the possible leaders, don’t continue reading.
Similar to the other requested meetings, your regent will arrive and tell you of an amusing development. Apparently a local bandit still thinks the new master of the Stolen Lands is similar to the old one, and has come to pay tribute on similar terms. As usual, you’ll get three responses to which each possible Regent will react to different, along with the “You know best what to do.” response that allows the Regent to handle things as they please.
If you pick the dialogue option “Drive this bandit from my lands, and from now on do the same to any similar petitioners!” which will please Octavia and displease Lander Lebeda, as well as give you a Community +3 boost. If you respond with “Arrest this bandit and clap him in irons. The same fate awaits any like him!” you’ll make Valerie happy, but annoy Lander and gain 25 BP for your trouble. Both of these responses also hinder the activity of bandits in the area. Finally, pick “I will accept this tribute. I hope this good lad and his colleagues will continue to share their revenue in the future.” to promote banditry throughout your realm (so long as they know whose palm to grease). This will also set back your kingdom stats by Loyalty -2 and Economy -5, appease Lander and anger both Octavia and Valerie.
This will also start the “Support the Regent’s Endeavors” project, a repeating project that you can see to when there’s not more pressing issues for them to attend to. Completing this project will require two weeks of time during which you can’t do anything else, after which your Community will be upgraded to Rank II.
Letter from Brevoy
Note: This event took place two weeks after the “Troll Invasion” event card was completed.
Depending on how you handled the situation with Oleg, the Swordlords of Brevoy are either angry you took their tax base from them (you collected taxes from Oleg), annoyed that you’re challenging their jurisdiction (waived Oleg’s taxes) or happy that you rolled over. Naturally the emissary you chose also flavors the reporting of the Aldori reaction according to their own politics, with Kassil being the most pro-Aldori, Shandra being positively hostile, and Lander being somewhat opportunisticly ambivalent towards the Aldori.
It’s all pretty complicated, but the results ultimately boil down into three stances towards the Aldori. If you angered the Aldori by collecting taxes, you pay them to stay on their good side (see “Pay Aldori”, below), or send troops to Oleg’s Trading Post and turn it into a military outpost (see “Fortify Trading Post”, below), sending a very clear message of belligerent independence to the Aldori. If you annexed Oleg’s Trading Post but temporarily neglected to collect taxes you can appease the Aldori by building a road to the economic benefit of both sides (see “Build Road”, below), or fake such construction to buy yourself some time (see “Fake Construction”, below). Finally, if you left Oleg’s Trading Post under Restov’s jurisdiction you can continue to surrender your own interests in favor of the Aldori (see “Aldori Friendship”, below), or insist they build a road there (see “Aldori Build Road”, below).
Your response will start a variety of new Projects, as follows:
Response | Project | Cost | Time | Effect |
---|---|---|---|---|
Build Road | Road to Oleg’s Trading Post | 80 BP | 30 days | Economy +2, Relations +2 |
Fortify Trading Post | Return of the Past Glory | 125 BP | 30 days | Military +2, Economy -3, Relations -3 |
Pay Aldori | Diplomatic Crisis | 65 BP | 15 days | Relations +3 |
Aldori Build Road | Road to Oleg’s Trading Post | 35 BP | 30 days | Economy +5, Relations -2 |
Fake Construction | Phantom Road | 15 BP | 60 days | Community +1, Loyalty +1, Relations -1 |
Aldori Friendship | Union with Restov | 50 BP | 20 days | Loyalty, Economy +1, Relations +5 |
Obviously these vary a bit in cost, time required to complete, and overall outcome, but at this point you probably only really have two options based on your earlier interaction with Oleg. Make what choice you will with the information provided.
Visitor Waits in the Castle
Note: This event took place roughly seventeen days after the “Troll Invasion” event card was completed.
Return to your throne room when this event card is in play and you’ll be bothered by a petitioner named Jenna, who beseeches you for aid in her “darkest hour”. Melodrama aside, she’s a mother with no options left and nowhere else to turn. Apparently her son Tig ran away and hasn’t been heard from since, which might just mean he was successful at the whole “running away” bit, or perhaps got eaten by some monster or some such. Jenna’s own theory is that some “old hag in the Narlmarches” might have something to do with Tig’s disapperance. Ask what questions you wish, then either offer to look for the child or dismiss it as beneath your station. Either way, the quest Lost Child will start.
This quest will be covered after you’re done with Troll Trouble, as it’ll give you plenty of time to deal with that other, more pressing matter, and perhaps give you time to deal with the “Swamp Witch’s Hut” area and related quests, if you haven’t already.