Chapter 3: Time of troubles

The overseer{if Pierre = true}, Pierre,{endif} has tried his best to handle the things he was tasked with. Despite his efforts, whether you have realised it or not, there was no rain this summer... The crops have suffered a terrible draught and the situation looks quite dire... You might expect the ruler to lower the taxes... But you would be wrong, as soon you will see, he has quite other plans that require a lot of money.

{if Erik = true}Erik warmly welcomes your return and gives a long and detailed report of what he has been doing from day to day at the manor. You feel like falling asleep when he finishes the first week...{endif}{if Erik = false} One of your knights approaches and would like to speak with you. He first tries to show off with his martial skills, that barely interest you...{endif} Then, he mentions there are more and more frequent bandit raids nearby, even the manor has been attacked a couple of occasions! He and the other knights have fought them all off, but the matter is still concerning... The people too see the incoming harvest disaster and many try to gather what they can before they will have nothing left to eat...

Even worse, some whisper the Vikings are back and they are raiding coastal areas, despite the Viking era having ended more than a century ago!

{if Charles = true}{if Henri = true}By not doing any decisive action against either the king or Henri, the threat of a looming civil war is still around the corner... Best not get involved in it... Or pray for the best, that you could have helped out one of them well enough at least... So you won't be targeted by both of their armies, should it come to open conflict!{endif}{endif}

All you can do is pray for a quick and lengthy rain to be able to stand against these new challenges! But will praying be enough to persuade god to help you? Or could you do other things to make him hear your pleas? {If Lands = 5000}Still, you have been granted lands elsewhere... Maybe you could ask the overseers of those parts to send you the income you deserve at the end of the harvest. But if those crops fail too, you will never be able to pay the taxes for both estates... Best do something! {endif}