Longacre - Castle Gate -
Bo's smile turns to a frown quickly as the facts are laid out for her and she reads the decree. She spits on the decree posted on the Gate, "F%+% the Archbaron and f$+@ you! You toadies! We’ve kept this town safe and this gate open—except for nights and holidays—for all the eighteen years Dent and I have minded it! No cow-pile baron or his trumped-up dung-berries are going to make us close it.”
Before she can draw a weapon the door to her house opens and a man races out, "Bo, what's all the fuss about!"
She turns to her husband, "Read for yourself Dent, these bastards are closing us down!"
The handful of people who approach are amused by Castiel's jokes but the frowns on their faces show that the ranting from Bo has them unsettled.
"Miss, please." Pelleas holds his hands up to ward the lady away from himself, trying (likely unsuccessfully) to calm her down. "You were once serving with the Royal Engineers out of Egorian, yes? You were a commander?" He searches his brain for a solution, grimacing as he does so. "I understand you're upset, but perhaps we could find you a new post that more suits your talents? We could speak to the Archbaron about it, if you wish... but I have no choice but to order you to close the gate, and to do it now."
"It's not going to help you to get mad at us," Cole adds. "We're just being paid a few pennies to stick a piece of parchment to a wall. It may not be fair, but we're not trying to insult you. But I have doubt that the next group the baron sends will be sent to enforce the decree, rather than just inform you of it."
Castiel smiles fetchingly. Please madame. We do not need such angry words. There will always be posts for your talents! Why, I can think of several, even now. Perhaps we can find one that will suit your needs.
W
Longacre - Castle Gate -
You are able to calm the couple down and they head back to their home muttering under their breath the whole way. They leave you all, and the wide open gate, behind.
As you head to the gate itself you can see there is a pulley system to control it. Two awkwar iron braces stand behind one of the gate doors as well.
"That's a fair reaction," Cole says with a sigh. "Well, someone want to help with this. I guess we're going to have to get these closed ourselves." He grunts as he slowly but surely pushes the heavy gates shut. It's almost surprising how someone so stick thin can have that much muscle. However, he struggles to lift the bars needed to seal the gate.
"Allow me." Alaric moves forward to assist Cole with the bars, having held back to let the others work their silver tongues on the gatekeepers. "My, they are heavy, aren't they? Yet another task to test our strength and will."
"Oh, let's just get the damnable thing closed so we can be done with our chores, shall we?" Pelleas huffs and grunts an unnatural amount as he helps lift the bar, clearly not a man used to manual labor. "I think that'll about do it, wouldn't you say?" He says, out of breath.
The the help of the other two, Cole hefts the bar up. "The sooner the better. I was hoping to make a better impression in town than just getting yelled at for running the archbaron's errands." The bar sets in to place with a heavy thump, sealing the gate. "Well then, on to the tavern?"
"And provided things go as well as they have gone so far, that just leaves the jail for last," Corven thinks out loud as they start making their way to the tavern. "And the Sheriff I believe?"
Yes, everything seems to be going swimingly. Impressive. Castiel grunts form underneath the bar
"Your silver tongue has been a great help in that regard," Cole says with a genial smile. The expression looks slightly fake on his face, but the compliment seems genuine. "Though I have no doubts that the sheriff is going to be about as happy as the gatekeepers when we stop by."
Perhaps silver can helps us there too. Tongue or... otherwise
Longacre - Castle Gate -
Cimri has been quiet thus far this morning but she speaks up now. "The Last Stand Tavern is next then to the Sheriff..."
Longacre - Last Stand Tavern -
The morning grows shorter as the group arrives at the next objective. Colorful wooden shields and weathered antlers hang upon the deck girdling this rustic public house. Overhead, a sign carved with crenellations bears the name “The Last Stand Tavern”—the letters “L” and “T” formed with painted greenfletched arrows.
There are certainly plenty of spaces on the supports of the porch to hang the decree. Cimri speaks up again, "Out here or inside, which is the better placement do you gents and Hel think would work best?"
"I'd think both would be best, if we have enough. If we must choose, inside is probably best--a reminder to the patrons." Alic shrugs. "But if others see differently, I could be swayed."
"Doesn't particularly matter to me," Cole says with a shrug. "If we put it outside, people will see if going by as well as the patrons, so either way has its benefits. And I have no doubt that someone will come to complain or yell at us as soon as we start putting it up anyway."
"As long as it is by the door, then it should matter little," Corven offers. "Anyone who enters or exits is bound to take a look. And once they do I am sure they will find it... interesting enough to read."
"Wherever you want to put it is fine, as Cole said I'm certain someone will come out to huff and bluster about it before giving up and living with it." Pelleas sighs heavily, pushing the door open slowly. "Probably best indoors, but if we have a spare another on the door doesn't hurt. Let's just put it up and be done with this blithering nonsense... we just need to speak with the sheriff after this."
"Let's meet in the middle and I'll put it on the front door." Cole pulls out a nail and walks up to the door. He starts pounding the notice in to place.
Longacre - Last Stand Tavern -
Predictably, as soon as Cole start hammering nails into the tavern’s front door, a man bursts through the front doors holding a sturdy wooden spoon and, under his other arm, a half-full pot of spicy chili.
As he lays eyes on Cole in the act of beating a nail into his well-polished front door, he’s visibly upset!
"Are you f!%~ing kidding me? What is this shit you're posting on my f%&*ing door?" He pauses for a moment and scans the decree. His face becomes red, obviously furious he turns back to Cole.
"You take that decree and return it to the ArchBaron for revisions, I can't run a business with these decrees if he wants me to pay those ridiculous taxes on top of it. I'll be out of business! Get off my porch and out of my sight. In fact, don't come back at all, ya Goddamned lickspittles!"
At the sound of the yelling a number of patrons get up and head to the door to see what the fuss is about.
most experienced drinker, Bolgart Caggan. He is also an experienced bar brawler.
"I should have bet money on it," Cole comments, all but ignoring the man angrily shouting in his face. He's remarkably composed, all things considered. "I'm afraid that I have no ability to make the archbaron revise any decrees. If you think he'll be impressed enough by your shouting to change his mind, then feel free to complain to him yourself. I'm sure the entire town will be quite happy."
Longacre - Last Stand Tavern -
"Maybe yer right, maybe I can't do that but you a'int the Sheriff, an yore trespassin'. Leave afore I get her ta come an haul yer asses ta jail!"
From inside one of the patrons yells, "Ya, you tell im Bolgart!"
Alicarus steps forward. "Actually, Mister Bolgart, I think you'll find the Sheriff will be in a position that makes it rather difficult to help you. And this is the law. Now, you can certainly continue to run your business, as the decree allows for gatherings of a dozen people in public spaces, and I'm certain that a tavern qualifies as such. You might even welcome as many individuals as your establishment can hold, so long as they aren't all together as a single party."
The Kuthite's brow furrows and he narrows his eyes at the man. "Or am I to believe that you will steadfastly refute the will of the Archbaron, disregard his decrees, and face punishment for flagrantly breaking the law? Not to mention assaulting servants of the government."
"Yeah, we've got one more decree to deliver... for the Sheriff, in fact." Pelleas tries to repeat his earlier luck at the Western Gate, but only manages to put on a display that might--and only might--frighten a toddler.
"I am sure there will be no actual assaulting, Alicarus," Corven says simply and matter-of-factly as he steps forward to add some support to the other men's words by his presence alone.
"Will there, sir?" The words themselves do seem courteous enough, but there is just the hint of a threat behind them. A hint, but one that is clear enough nevertheless.
Castiel plucks out a haunting tune on his harp. It's a piece of an old opera, a piece in which a paladin gets his due--a long and painful torture on the rack, and then fed to the Baron's ravenous dogs bit by bit.
It may be best, to... be more polite Bolgart
Longacre - Last Stand Tavern -
Bolgart drops his pot of chili.
"Hang yer damn notice then!"
He stalks off of his porch and into town.
The patrons inside appear surprised by his sudden absence and they come out to read the notice but none say anything about it.
"I suppose I'm not going to be making many friends in this town then," Cole mutters. He finishes tacking the notice to the door. "Well, let's go let the sheriff yell at us too."
Hel, who has been quiet and merely watching the males undertake the hassle of calming down the populace for the last two locations, turns to look at Cimri. "Do you think she'll have a problem with it?" She hesitates, frowns as she tries to remember, then generally asks, "It doesn't name a successor to the sheriff, does it? That may make things ... problematic in the very near future."
Longacre - Last Stand Tavern -
The citizens mumble but head back into the Tavern as the group sets off to leave. Considering the atmosphere in the City, so far, the task has gone well!
Cimri turns to Hel and grins, "The ArchBaron is being short sighted here. Best to have my aunt slain in an ambush that could be pinned on someone else. I agree with your assessment wholeheartedly, she will be a problem. Still, why kill her now when we can get paid to kill her later right?" Cimri winks at you.
------
Longacre - Longacre Jail and Sheriff’s Office -
As the sun is about to zenith, the group arrives at the Longacre Jail. With its unevenly mortared stones and barred windows, this squat structure looks like a miniature fortress. Despite the row of horseshoes hung beneath its sign, nothing can make the plain word “Jail” look welcoming. Two wooden pillories stand empty in front of the building.
The streets near the building have little traffic, no one wants to be near the outside much less the inside of a Jail. Neither do you see the Sheriff or any of her deputies outside.
"You might have a very good point," Cole agrees as the leave the crowd to look over the decrees. "But for now it's better to toe the line and stay in the archbaron's good graces. Plus, he can't possibly blame any mistakes on us if we follow his orders. We can eliminate her later when she starts causing trouble."
He looks at the rather sparse jail house for a moment. "Let's just get this over with." He walks up to the door and raps on the wood.
Longacre - Longacre Jail and Sheriff’s Office -
Soon after Cole raps on the door Sheriff Staelish exits the building with four of her deputies and the tavern owner Bolgart in tow. "There they are Sheriff. The ones wot was puttin' a sign on my door, a decree from the ArchBaron they said".
She raises her hands to calm Bolgart down then turns to Cimri, "What is this all about Cimri? I would expect the ArchBaron to have informed me if there were new decrees I was required to enforce. What game are you playing at?"
Cimri grins, "I think you'll find your workload significantly diminished in the immediate future dear Aunt Rhona".
The Sheriff glares at her, "What the in the Hells is that supposed to mean?"
Alicarus smiles at the others. "Well, there's no time like the present, is there? We should get this over with, I think." The man steps forward, loosening his chain to be more easily used if needed. "Knock knock, madam Sheriff? We've an important announcement from the Archbaron. And I'd remind you of an old saying about shooting messengers, if you're not in a listening mood."
Alicarus clears his throat and gives a grin, spreading his hands wide in a gesture that would be far more placating without the spiked chain hanging from his arms. "Miss Rhona, is it? The Archbaron has issued a decree to the effect that Longacre will be under different legal management in its coming days. My deepest apologies." He gives a small bow. "And again, shooting messengers. I believe the idiom advises against it."
"To cut out the bullsh*t, the archbaron didn't tell you because you don't have to enforce anything anymore." Cole hands her the last decree, along with the missive relieving her of duty. "You're fired, effective immediately. As I've told everyone else today, you're welcome to bring up your concerns with the archbaron if you think you're being treated unfairly. I'm sure he'll be very receptive and understanding."
"D'you suppose we'll be the new sheriffs in town, so to speak? I would like a nice office like this..." Pelleas strokes his chin and looks around. "I guess then your complaints would have to come to us, wouldn't they?" He gives Bolgart a knowing grin, his needle-like teeth bared for all to see.
Hel's expression tightens at Cimri's bloodthirsty comment; for the archer, you simply didn't do that to family members. That, perhaps, is because she no longer had any family members to do it to - but is more likely because the removal of her family members from her life is what turned her so thoroughly against the Sarenites.
Pelleas's quasi-lecherous leer - both at the sheriff's office and at Bolgart's potential problem - causes a flash of disgust and contempt to flit across Hel's face, but her eyes turn towards the suddenly-dismissed sheriff. "I'd leave town, if I were you," she says baldly to Rhona Staelish. "My guess is that the Archbaron isn't confident in your willingness to execute orders with which you don't agree or aren't comfortable, and those orders are probably going to become more restrictive in the near future in order to prevent the mayhem for which this 'Glorious Reclamation' of the Sarenites is shouting. I would personally find it distasteful to find myself on the other end of a fight with you, Ms. Staelish, and I would not begin any such, but it would not stop me from putting a yard of ashwood through your skull should your opinions or beliefs encourage you to oppose the lawfully-constituted authority of this demesne."
As she speaks, she watches Rhona carefully for her reactions to the 'suggestion'.
Longacre - Longacre Jail and Sheriff’s Office -
Sheriff er... Former Sheriff Staelish takes the letter from Cole's hands and reads through it a few times. Her face remains impassive. She looks up at Cole and hands him back the decree. "Give me a moment". She then enters her... the office.
Bolgart follows the Sheriff, "Sheriff, Sheriff, I. I. I..."
One of the deputies approaches Cole, "Can I see that?"
This is, in part, what she was watching for; Hel moves forward to follow the now-ex-Sheriff through the door, her strung bow in her hand (as it has been), only pausing to stop the cook from the Last Stand - either by a hard, rigid finger tapping his chest once if she gets in front of him, or with an unyielding hand on his shoulder if he's in front of her. "Go back to your stove, Bolgart," she says with quiet venom, "and leave the complex issues to the people equipped to deal with them. People will still come to the Last Stand for food and drink; they just can't stay there as long as usual, or in as great as numbers. Maybe you should make a lot of take-home pails, hmm?"
She'll step into the sheriff's office, then, as aware of her surroundings as she can manage to make herself, ready just in case something ... bad should happen.
Should bad things happen (either with Bolgart, the Sheriff, or with any of the deputies), Hel will be using nonlethal techniques with her unarmed attacks. Killing one of these people would probably be a bad idea, as would initiating violence. Hel would definitely prefer to have someone else (not of the PC party) there watching just as witness to prove she didn't take the first swing - or even the second.
Cole shrugs and holds out the letter to the deputy. "I don't see why not."
Alic moves forward with Hel, once again impressed by the woman's words. He also thinks it prudent to have more than one member of their little party follow the Sheriff inside--not to overtly threaten, at least to start, but as insurance against any potential foolishness. He smiles over his shoulder at the others. "Just a moment, please. I'm sure this is hard for everyone."
Pelleas stays outside, sneering at Bolgart when he heads back out after being sent away by the others. "It's a shame, that. Would you care to start the process of lodging a formal complaint now, then? I'm sure I could find you the paperwork." Pelleas grins and chuckles at his own joke, although whether it's actually funny to others in anyone's guess.
Corven, his back leaning against the wall, keeps his arms crossed in front of his chest as he watches the proceedings, his eyes lingering on Bolgart in case he tries anything. "I have to admit," he remarks in a conversational tone to Castiel, "I did not expect this to go so... calmly. It is to the Sherriff's... err... ex-Sheriff's credit that she has followed her orders without any unpleasantness, especially given the nature of said orders."
Agreed. It could have been much more difficult if she had decided to be obstinate. Not that I mind violence, I just prefer to avoid it when I can.
Longacre - Longacre Jail and Sheriff’s Office -
Ex-Sheriff Staelish head to her desk and removes her black vest embroidered with the symbol of Cheliax and slaps her ebony handled longsword on her former desk. She then grabs a few personal effects and a well worn crossbow.
"Come to help me carry my things out? How thoughtful of you but I can manage it myself".
---
The Deputy reads the letter and is exasperated, "Sheriff he calls out. You gotta at least appeal to the ArchBaron!" One of the other Deputies snatches the letter and reads it quickly, "Oh man Curtwyn, this is an immediate dismissal but doesn't say a thing about why!? One of the female deputies turns to Pelleas, "You think this is funny? This isn't funny. Why the hell is the Sheriff being let go!?"
Bolgart glares at Hel but says nothing further. He simply turns to the four Deputies to see what they do next.
Cole sighs. "We don't know. None of us know anything. We were hired to nail decrees to walls and hand the sheriff her dismissal papers. That's all. Please, go ask the archbaron for his reasons when you appeal this. I'm sure he'll be happy to share with you." Cole's deadpan tone makes it hard to tell if he's being serious or mocking the flustered deputies.
"Why? I haven't the foggiest idea, miss, but does it really matter? The Archbaron has made his decree, we're just here to enforce it. I've got nothing against the sheriff--I've barely even spoken to her, after all--but clearly Archbaron Fex believes that someone else needs to be in charge of enforcing law around here." Pelleas grins and chuckles again when Cole mentions meeting with the Archbaron, taking the Strix's comment as mockery whether it's intended to be or not. "Yes, I'm sure he'd be very pleased to entertain a few deputies of the former sheriff."
"You have been an exquisitely capable officer of the law, Lady Staelish," says Hel - though she is utterly ignorant of the woman's actual activities, she figures Cimri wouldn't take such delight if her aunt weren't a perfectly capable law-woman - "and I have no doubts as to your capabilites. My only concern is obedience to, and the efficient execution of, the ArchBaron's decrees. As I could not see you, of course I regarded it necessary to assure myself that you were following his instructions, as compared to preparing yourself to resist them. As you are doing the former and not the latter, please accept my condolences in regards to your dismissal, as well as my hope that the circumstances that make it necessary are brief, and that your skill at maintaining efficiency and order in the town will be able to return to its proper position - with you as Sheriff once more."
If she didn't sound so cold and clinical, it might sound like a compliment.
Castiel smiles and nods along with Hel.
Yes, madam, think of the opportunities this provides! You could see the world! Find a town to serve with a more... cooperative lord. Join the Hellknights. All is not lost!