Expedition 39: Calendar Reform

### Summary

Valorie and team convince the town council to reform the entire calendar of Port Vrall, making each week 6 days and each month 30 days.

### Detailed Writeup

**Goals:**

**Nexrin:** Develop 3 positive relationships with council members. (success)

**Marzipan:** meet Bri'ad and start planning mousefolk transportation (success)

**Jamie:** Don't let Team Calendar Reform change the months all around in order to protect the Verr's shipping business (fine with renaming the month) (failure)

**Lahont, Valorie, Clarity:** reform the calendar (success)

**Tolyr:** Get the month renamed to something not related to Gilgamesh. If conflict breaks out, prevent anyone from getting seriously injured. (success)

* Nexrin arrives early, talks to his clan. They feel out of place and awkward about how hastily they had to prepare their outfits but are glad to be there, invited by the Captain. Nexrin lets them know about Public House plan with Fern. Buildings feel like caves?
* town council arrives
	+ Farmers:
		- Madeira Waynsebottom – human woman
		- Vechezian Bartholemew Trickhand – halfling man, Baltiran
		- Ven’Cartwrite – halfelven man, local/Vidharan
		- Gram Jalil – dwarven man, Silver Valleyan.
	+ Merchants:
		- Verrlex - Bluescaled Dragonborn
		- Amadeus Arbock – Human man, he sits at the corner, watching things while sipping his wine.
		- Bri’ad – Elven woman
		- Bartholemew Eld – Human man, Capitolan
	+ Towners:
		- Mara Klein – The Captain – halfling woman. Oldest original sailor
		- Vanis Aukbern – The Rescuing Hero – Duallithy human man.
		- Ven’dara – The rescuing hero – elven woman
		- The Preachers – Dalxar in Summer, Menau in winter.
* Clarity talks to Delphi, they compliment each others’ dresses (gotta stay far enough apart that their dresses don’t clash). Delphi plans to be neutral, even evades the question of what she would prefer. Clarity intimates that she would like to see a more efficient calendar.
* Lahont mostly staying out of trouble, hears good news about crossbow.
* Nexrin talks to Verrlex, thanks him for his work for the clan and for their safety. Verrlex reminds Nexrin that he did pay for it and so he’s not just a paragon. Nexrin still gives thanks for how generous the deal was and apologizes for the speed that the loan is being paid off.
* Tolyr goes to speak with Lin’dsey, asks about what she might want the month to be called, mentions that he has plans to go after a dragon. She says she has a naming preference but doesn’t want to rock the boat. About the dragon she’d be very excited, though she wasn’t aware that any dragons had been sighted.
* Valorie tries to get a sense of the connections between people on the council, good insight check but that’s 66 connections…
	+ people within the 3 categories don’t like each other (townsfolk like each other okay, the others are in competition)
	+ Ven’dara protects Vanis, will speak with Bri’ad
	+ Verrlex negative relationship with Amadeus and Bri’ad, a triangle of negative feeling, but they are all discussing something together
		- Valorie stealths to overhear: Verrlex is telling them about the plan for major calendar reform and they’re strategizing about how to go against the plan though Bri’ad is holding back
* Jamie goes and says hi to Madeira, asks about her opinion on calendar reform, she says she sees no reason to pay respects to a dead god, wants to make Pelor the patron of this month or maybe make an 11 month year, she seems gleeful at the prospect of annoying the merchants and that all but Bri’ad are a bunch of dicks—when Jamie seems miffed, she says it’s only the council member merchants she has a problem with… the ones without dicks are fine, and she’d like to see fewer dicks in positions of power, especially ones who follow her around and beg for horses.
* Marzipan and Bri’ad talk about getting the swamp, mousefolk nation, legal haven for Bri’ad? what if they are slavers? torturers?
* Captain begins meeting, takes a shot at Valorie and major calendar reform
* Tolyr and Marzipan talk about how to handle Bri’ad
* Valorie musters her troops and gives them instructions, they go to talk to Fern. He greets Valorie as his primary employer and congratulates her on having recently gotten more sleep than usual. Clarity introduces herself, successfully flatters Fern. Valorie brings up the month name with him.
* Jamie talks to Verrsia
* Valorie goes to talk to Bri’ad about calendar reform, explains that it’s inappropriate for Gilly to keep a month when he’s not in the pantheon anymore but naming the month is less important than the mechanics of the calendar to her; Bri’ad is unconvinced; Valorie tries to lecture an elf on history, then argues that since there’s nothing efficient about Gilly’s calendar and he’s dead, it will eventually be replaced and it would be best for its replacement to be efficient (persuasion 10, Bri’ad’s position: -1 to 0)
* Jamie talks to Ven’Cartwrite who is very happy that his fields are now quiet after the shrieking has stopped, maybe a little too happy—he’s knocking back wine glasses. Jamie asks what he thinks of major calendar reform but he has no idea what he’s talking about, and when told, thinks it’s absurd. Once he’s figured out that they’re on the same page, Jamie asks what he thinks the new month should be named. They speculate about Mon’Cartwrite and Mon’Jamie.

* Lahont goes to talk to Bartholomew Eld and tells him about the printshop, offers his services. Eld says he imports stamps but a printshop might make things easier for him. Eld is more interested in preventing a stupid action by other council members: Eld believes that it would cause a great deal of trouble for everyone to change the month name and it would offend the southerners. He doesn’t think things ever change much and Windhome had less success than it thought it did. Change comes too slowly for him and his time is more limited than that of Bri’ad. Lahont says print is a great medium for making month conversions painless, shows the tool. (persuasion 15, Eld position: -3 to -2)
* Nexrin asks after Captain’s health, she thanks him. He also thanks her for inviting the clan elders to this meeting. He asks what her thoughts are on changing the month name. She thinks it would be foolish but is open to ideas, she’s concerned about offending southern countries and doesn’t see a need to rile them. The survival of Vrall is down to its ability not to make enemies. Nexrin tries to reassure her about the clan’s ability to fend for itself and eventually to be an asset.
* Marzipan brings a list to Blood and Bri’ad about things to outlaw, they are all fine with it, 50 silver to Marzipan
* Tolyr goes to talk to the 2 rescuing heroes, introduces himself, Ven’dara says nothing, Vanis seems senile but happy to talk. Tolyr asks where Ven’dara is from, she ignores him, Vanis says “I’m from Raalos originally, though I haven’t been there in quite some time…” Tolyr brings up the month naming question, Vanis is confused, Ven’dara doesn’t see the point: “he’s already faced the disrespect of dying… seems like enough for me” Tolyr says that legacy is more important than life to some. He is intense and convincing to both. (persuasion 19, Vanis: 0 to 2, Ven’dara 1 to 2)
* Valorie goes to talk to Jamie and Verrsia, asks Verrsia whether she’s in favor of changing the month’s name. Verrsia tells her to fuck off. She explains that she actually has thought it through, gives a story about why it matters to her: when she was 5 she missed a lesson because it had been rescheduled to a taxday and because of the months being inconsistent she missed the class… Verrsia interrupts her skeptically. Valorie says that so much time is wasted with the calendar because people are inured to it, just like people are inured to tyranny. This is a way to make a difference. (persuasion 22, Verrsia isn’t involved with the decision). She says, “Whatever, do what you want, if you think it’s worth it I guess I see how it could be.” Jamie admits he is in favor of the month changing. Valorie intimates that much of the council is actually against the month changing, so they need to team up to flip votes rather than sabotaging each other. Jamie would rather the month name not change than the whole calendar change.
* Dalxar announces that from that point they will be discussing the calendar and the month name. She gives up her chair to Father Menau.
* Marzipan and Blood talk about slow vs fast ways of getting the mousefolk out of Duallith, would take all the ships from all 4 merchants of Vrall at the same time to get all the mousefolk out at once (before Duallithi crackdown preventing them from leaving)
* Tolyr spies on Ven’dara, she’s just running around
* Marzipan and Blood bring Bri'ad in and value the transportation cost at 6-7 platinum \*gulp\*
* Valorie engages Menau in game of Wizard’s Tarot and surreptitiously talks about calendar reform. Menau is opposed since Gilly followed Nerulla. Valorie uses Wizard’s Tarot as an analogy for why the months should be balanced; he’s convinced about the major reform, if not the name change.
* Jamie and Verrsia talk to Verrlex. He is unconvinced.
* Valorie and Jamie has a truce.
* Lahont speaks with Bri’ad about reform, shows her the tables. Blood looks at them. They think they’re usable enough, say thank you for going to the effort of making a useful tool. Still not totally supportive but can now see it’s useful. (intelligence 26, Bri’ad 0 to 2)
* Nexrin talks to Bartholomew Trickhand about fishing, specifically whaling.
* Valorie talks to Marzipan, tells him that anything’s possible if he just believes and that she’d work pro-bono for the mousefolk. She asks for his help convincing people about calendar reform and says it’s nice to know she’s not the only idealist in the world.
* Nexrin goes to ask Menau about Wizard’s Tarot, buttering him up by asking for a lesson. He seems distant but willing to talk about the game. (persuasion 11)
* Tolyr goes to talk to Ven’Cartwrite, who is coming down from his wine. He communicates his Mon’Cartwrite idea. When Tolyr is not immediately enthusiastic, Ven’Cartwrite is offended.
* Marzipan talks to Gram Jalil, but it turns out he’s already super into calendar reform. They talk about the possibility of farming the Inkwell Mountains, though Marzipan doesn’t want to commit to too much since he wants to make sure it’s a mousefolk nation, not a nation that happens to contain mousefolk.
* Valorie casts Enhance Ability on herself and Lahont and then they go to talk to the Captain. Valorie gets the Captain to agree that Gilly’s enforcement of the calendar was a bad thing. She then asks why the Captain was on the Broken Doubloon and where it was headed, knowing that they were attempting to escape Gilgamesh. She argues that Vrall was built by those wishing to break with Gilly, with the past, and that’s the core of what Vrall stands for, breaking the traditions that hold people back, so the new calendar must come from Vrall, the place of innovation, rather than from Windhome or somewhere else where it would seem like an imposition (persuasion 16, -2 to 0).
* Lahont adds to Valorie’s speech, saying that even though they have a reputation as thoughtless adventurers, they’ve thought this through; he shows the tables. The Captain wants him to convince her that it’s safe; she fears that Vrall will anger those who supported Gilly and questions Lahont’s willingness to fight actual people to defend Vrall.
* Tolyr talks to Menau but mistakes him for Father Lumin… whoops.
* With directions from Valorie, Marzipan goes to talk to the Captain, trying to reassure her that the Ironwood Compact cares about Vrall. At her request, he agrees to do his best to convince the Ironwood Compact to swear to protect the city. (persuasion 17, 0 to 2)
* Valorie tries to butter up Ven’Cartwrite by telling him he can stick it to Amadeus Arbock if he asks for major calendar reform since there’s no way to argue with it without looking stupid. (deception 32, 0 to 3)
* Lahont approaches Madeira as dinner is winding down. He asks if she wants the change or not. They agree that they hope the outcome leads to more prosperity for Vrall.
* Tolyr gathers his wits about him and makes an argument to Menau that Gilly’s time is up and the ending should be made a true ending. Menau says the dead do not always remain dead. (persuasion 1)

* For month name change (pass)
	+ Madeira: yes
	+ Bartholomew: no
	+ Ven’Cartwrite: yes
	+ Gram: yes
	+ Verrlex: no
	+ Amadeus: no
	+ Briad: abstain
	+ Bartholomew: no
	+ Menau: no
	+ Ven’dara: yes
	+ Vanis: yes
	+ Captain: yes
* For major reform (pass)
	+ Madeira: yes
	+ Bartholomew: no
	+ Ven’Cartwrite: yes
	+ Gram: yes
	+ Verrlex: no
	+ Amadeus: no
	+ Briad: yes (at the last minute... Valorie knows, she *owes* her)
	+ Bartholomew: no
	+ Menau: abstain
	+ Ven’dara: abstain
	+ Vanis: abstain
	+ Mara: yes
* Captain announces she’s stepping down, will continue to serve for 2 months.