Freya moves in closer to the Chelaxian caster, conjuring a ball of ice as she arrives and hurls it toward the caster.
(bless, inspire)
(inspire)
After the throw, the Ulfen woman whistles for Fenrir, pointing to the caster.
(bless, inspire)
(inspire)
(bless, inspire)
Amazed at the efficiency of the group he's working with, Josef struggles just to stay relevant, moving across the field to the man who can't seem to stand because of the spell . . ..
Once there, Josef goes to relieve the man of his need to get up.
While he has little trouble getting his blade past the armor, Josef seems to be having trouble finding an effective spot to put the blade.
Isabel tries to end her opponents life as quickly and mercifully as possible.
Yellow doesn't even register the killing blow and dies instantly.
Freya makes the mage shriek as she slams a nasty snowball into him. Fenrir lopes up and kills the staggering man before he can even regain his bearing.
Darian will double move to get in front of his beloved.
Just Jory's action to come.
As he doesn't make his save, yet again! The Cleric is still cursing and rolling around on the ground like a greased pig. Everybody may take their actions, I'll count Jory's 1st, but don't want to hold you up. So take yours as well.
"Excuse me, please," says Lisl as she slides past Darian. She moves around to the other side of the other foe and bashes with her shield once again.
"It is looking mighty lonely down there, demon-man. Think you can offer these fine people a reason to let you live, despite your mission to kill them? You'll need to speak fast, though . . .."
Even as he offers a chance to negotiate, Josef continues harassing the Asmodean.
Fenrir slowly walks over to the prone Asmodean priest, while Freya steps in behind the wolf.
"Easy now, Fenrir." the Ulfen woman says, restraining her companion for the moment.
(bless, inspire, flank vs prone AC)
(inspire)
Trip not applicable vs a prone opponent.
Seeing his party converge on the downed enemy, and without a clear shot, Jory moves out of the trees and prepares to support the group if necessary.
Darian steps forward, leveling his sword at the man, tha magic he channels along its blade surging and crackling. ”Its up to you, devil-worshipper. Surrender and talk, or die now.”
__________
Glaring up at you through the blood of his wounds the Cleric scoffs. "Of course a coward would expect an oath to be worthless!"
Even as your readied actions strike at him he lashes out with his unholy power.
Will save DC13 for half damage.
The party may go now, all your attacks hit, but he's still alive.
Lisl winces and says, "Kindly stab this rancid fellow."
Darian clenches his teeth, before thrusting his blade down at the man once more.
__________
Josef's head twitches to the left as the power washes over him.
"I try to be nice . . .."
- pass
- fail
- pass
"Muninn, vekk! Du vil ikke overleve en annen sprekke sånn!" she yells, as the raven flies away.
"Fenrir, attack!" Freya commands as she takes a swing at the downed priest with he staff.
(bless, inspire, vs. prone AC)
(inspire)
(bless, inspire, flank, vs. Prone AC)
(inspire)
No Trip vs. prone opponent
Lashed with pain, Jory quickly attends to his own magical healing and prepares to help the others.
You finish the man quickly, his teeth fixed in a bloody snarl of defiance as he dies.
Searching the camp turns up his journal, he and the man you dealt with back at the trading post are the only ones of the group from Cheliax proper. The remainder are mercenaries hired for their muscle as the two traveled north.
It seems that Rutilius Jeggare (The writer) believes that his being sent to these backward lands is more a plot by one of his rivals to remove him from Kintargo, rather than a sign of his being in disfavor.
So he has sent little information back to his superiors, giving his supposed rivals no chance to arrange his demise. Aside from reporting that he had found no signs of you in the River kingdoms Rutilius hasn't informed anyone of his travel to Brevoy.
Rather than a concerted hunt it seems you are regarded as a punishment mission, given to those in disfavor, or who someone wants to be rid of.
What are you doing now?
Once the Asmodeans are finished, Lisl gathers the team around to heal the wounds inflicted by the evil priest and his minions.
"It seems that the Church considers you a minor nuisance," she says to Darian and Isabel with a slight quirk of her mouth. "Regardless, sending an Asmodean to his masters is always a worthwhile achievement."
She removes her shield from her arm and polishes the spike to clear it of lingering blood.
"If I might be so bold, I would fain claim the unholy symbol of the priest, that I might destroy it."
Freya waves her raven back to her as Lisl heals the party. "Thank you, most appreciated. You'll get no objections from me as far as the symbol goes."
Darian looks around once the last man had been felled, making sure they had truly dealt with the last of the group. He then mutters ”Yes...destroy that accursed thing...”
He then walks a short distance away from the group, into the middle of the men’s camp, and thrusts his sword into the earth before having a seat. He begins reading the man’s journal in earnest, on the off chance there is any further mention of activity in Kintargo, particularly any regarding his own family.
|
Isabel, healed by Lisl's invocations to Abadar, moves quietly up behind Darian and begins to massage his shoulders gently, reading from behind him as she does so.
"Well at least we aren't truly being hunted..." She murmurs as her fingers dig in. "I guess Cristobal was able to smooth things over in the end. I said he wouldn't harm you - you are brothers, no matter what else happened."
”You never knew Cristobal like I did...” Darian mutters over his shoulder without turning his eyes from the journal. ”But, for now, things seem at an end with Kintargo...”
He closes the journal and slips his left hand up Isabel’s leg, waist, and back from his seated position. ”For now, we may have bought ourselves some peace.”
Darian’s mood is much lightened on the ride back to Oleg’s. He helps broker the sale of their findings with the trader before joining the others at the map table with a broad smile.
”So, where are we off to next?”
He then leans over the map and studies it. ”This would be much easier if we knew exactly where the Stag Lord’s base was...Isabel, Lisl, do you think you could learn that from the previously captured bandits?”
Suddenly recalling the need of the priest of Erastil to find the temple, he also looks to Freya, ” You may want to let the Jhod fellow we found it and what happened. He may be able to give us an explanation as to what was going on...”
As he waits for the women to return, he turns to Josef. ”I wanted to thank you for joining us in that scrap. I suppose it at least warrants you an explanation.” Darian sits and leans back against the table. ”Isabel and I are from Kintargo, it’s a city on the far western edge of Cheliax. It was honestly a nice place to live, until Barzillai Thrune came and imposed a tyrannical martial law. He even went so far as to have people executed for no reason. Isabel and I, we started to put together a rebellion, but his Dottari sniffed it out somehow and began taking us out one at a time. When it was down to just the two of us...we agreed to flee together rather than risk our families lives or standing. I am the eldest son of Victor and Eldonna Aulamaxa, one of the prominent Houses of the city. Clearly, they’ve learned of our involvement, are angry over a notable heir leaving their clutches, or some other reason to come all this way to get at us. Whether they’ve taken action against my family or not...who knows...but it’s beyond my grasp. For now,” he looks at Isabel across the post, ”we are just going to have to make the best of things here.”
Lisl sideways on one of the benches at the outdoor table. Somehow she has found the time and wherewithal to coil her hair into a braid.
"While I cannot compel co-operation from the captives, if they have felt sufficient connection with our little community, they may be forthcoming. But we must make it worth their while. We have upended them from a life of banditry but not given them a clear path to a better future - for the most part they are essentially indentured servants here. We must motivate their cooperation, and of course that comes in two forms: by enticement or by intimidation. I would prefer the former. We should set specific terms by which they may serve out their sentences in order to give them goals to work toward. This will remove uncertainty from their livelihood and incentivize their cooperation," she says.
She takes a sip of tea. Where does she even find time to make this stuff out on the frontier?
Once reaching Oleg's, Freya takes Muninn off to back corner of the outpost and spends the next three hours to burning scrolls and pages from the spellbook aquired before, taking the assorted ash piles and wetting them enough to become a thin paste she feeds to the raven.
(inspiration)
(inspiration)
(inspiration)
Following the rituals, she returns to her companions, she seems to satisfied with the results, but the raven seems less than pleased.
"Jeg vet at du ikke liker smaken av denne limen, men jeg gjør ikke reglene, min venn."
Darian nods in agreement, ”So long as it is reasonable and realistic. I’ll trust your judgement.”
Josef spends the time after the fight helping gather and sort through the pillage, but remains quiet as he hears the discussion about the hunting Asmodeans.
He is polite during the return trip, but spends the time watching the group dynamics, trying to adjust his initial impression that this group revolves around Darian, while he revolves around Isabel. Maybe the impression is specific to this problem? Time will tell.
As Darian tells his story, Josef nods, starting to interrupt when he mentions the horribly failed revolution attempt, and again when he mentions his elevated status back home. Finally, when he wonders about how his family has been treated, Josef actually smiles.
"I understand the concern, truly, but if your family is politically aware enough to have become a power in the city, then they are capable of redirecting Thrune's anger. Families don't become powers overnight, and it generally takes more than one angry man to take them out. Especially if he wants to rule where the family has been established."
"Honestly, I agree with Lisl about giving the former bandits a reward for cooperation. Not because they deserve one, per se, but because a free man taking care of his family works to make things better for their neighbors as well. If the goal is to civilize the area, you'll need them openly and actively working on that without any significant restrictions. Consider it a business investment."
Darian’s smile fades somewhat. ”Barzillai’s men burned the estate of one of the other families with equivalent power to the Aulamaxa’s down on the night he came to power. They haven’t been seen since...so he was efficient in his work.”
Darian shrugs, ”But hopefully that is behind us now. Tell me, you seemed at odds with your own House yesterday. Do you mind my asking why?”
Josef blurts out laughter, and spends a few minutes calming down and catching his breath. "You really aren't from around here, are you?" He waves the obvious response away. "I know you're not, but if you were, you would know almost nothing about me is acceptable. The Orlovsky's words are 'High Above.' They refuse to be drug down into the petty squabbling, or into taking sides in the minor normal political maneuvering. We hire and use swordsmen, but we aren't allowed to care about anyone else's position enough to be swordsmen. As a blooded duelist, I am one of the family's dirty little secrets. The very things that make me want to face the day embarrass my family. Nothing special. Typical teenage angst, I guess." The description starts sounding like he's comfortable with his situation, but as he rambles on, trying to find a way to make it sound more ridiculous . . ..
Darian chuckles. Josef actually...in a way...reminded him of a teenaged version of himself. ”I suppose we have frustrating our families as a commonality, then. My father was a big fan of hunting, which I enjoy, just not with his zeal. My mother, the head of the House, she was more concerned with public opinion and making sure to have a reserved box at the opera house. Needless to say, I found myself taking a stern lecturing on several occasions when I’d slip out and go in disguise to some of the more spirited taverns in town,” he says, nudging Jory with his elbow. ”Sometimes the clubs catering to the Houses were oppressively stodgy, while the taverns were always lively with some sort of excitement.”
"How about this," says Lisl. "We need to give these men and women something to work toward. Right now they are basically just doing chores around Oleg's. They need the hope of something better - some way to improve their lives. So, we should incentivize them with the chance to make a career. Become a tinker, or farmer, or carpenter - something productive. To do this we need to have some way for them to learn these trades: But we do need a carpenter to come to Oleg's to repair the palisade, anyway; and we may ourselves have certain skills that we can pass on. At the very least they can always become militiamen under Kesten Garess' command. We could send a letter back to Restov and encourage a journeyman or woman to emigrate here for pay, if we are willing to foot the bill. Even a skilled tradesperson would not be terribly expensive to support out of pocket, given our successes so far."
"In counterpoint," she continues, "We must delineate expectations of behavior: If you attempt to flee, you are a fugitive from justice, and you will be executed when we catch you - no second chances. Likewise there will be punishments if you are involved in theft or brawling - not necessarily execution, but perhaps extending the time of your, um, imposed labor sentence."
"Some will not respond well to structured lives, and to some degree that is tolerable, but they must at least have the idea that things can be better, or they will desert at the earliest opportunity," she concludes.
|
|
"Natalia is already eyeing up a roll as one of Kesten's guardsmen. I'll speak to him about it but I think she's got that all sorted out by herself." Isabel adds the general conversation. "I'll ask Ludi if there's anything she'd really like to do - if I write to my aunt she can probably send someone our way as long as Ludi doesn't want to do anything too extraordinary... They already know the rules but I can explain them again to ensure that no-one claims ignorance. I don't think either of them will try to though, they both seem happy here."
Suiting actions to words Isabel goes to find both Ludi and Natalia once they return to Oleg's. "Thank you so much both of you for your help. We found the men trying to track Darian and I down, and we couldn't have done it without you." Her gratitude is genuine and she makes no effort to hide it. "I was wondering if I could do anything for you two in return - Natalia, would you like me to talk to Kesten about your becoming one of the guard? I'd be happy to! Equally Ludi if there's anything you're interested in - a trade or skill, please let me know. I'd like to do something to make up for how you helped us today." She leaves the discussion of the 'rules' for another day - not wanting to spoil the positive tone of the discussion.
Jory listens carefully to Lisl's proposal. It is clear that she has given this no small amount of thought. "Lovely idea, my dear. Are we not in these lands to build something new, rather than to provide a sinecure for newly hired watchmen to patrol over a pacified nothing? We should encourage the trades, not to mention the fine arts once settlements take root!"
Taken up with his own enthusiasm now, Jory starts pacing. "There are a noteworthy tradesmen I know who might prefer to practice outside of Restov, and with a note to the right people, I can get them freed from...err, prior entanglements..." Jory looks around Oleg's, sizing it up as if noticing it for the first time. "What needs have we? Carpenters? Smithy? I know a fine sawbones who would jump at the chance to make his living as many miles from Restov as practicable."
-----------
Glancing about the compound, Josef simply notes "Looks like a Carpenter and a blacksmith are the immediate needs. It won't be long after they are established before we'll be wanting farmers, and maybe someone mining coal if we can find any, instead of importing it."
Before Isabel walks away to talk with the reformers, he adds ”Just make sure to ask the former bandits if any of them know the location of the Stag Lord’s base. That would be very helpful.”
Lisl nods and puts her tea to one side, delicately uncrosses her legs to stand, and joins Isabel in going to ask the prisoners about their former lives.
She waits for them to answer Isabel's question before asking her own.
Josef, you remember where you had heard the name Kesten Garess before.
Kesten is a member of one of Brevoy’s noble houses in name only. You recall the scandal when an affair between Kesten and a lowborn woman
named Tania, a weaver’s daughter, became public knowledge. His father Evan, a cousin of the Garess family patriarch, disowned Kesten, who fled to Restov to serve as a mercenary. He volunteered to lead the small group of soldiers to help guard Oleg’s Trading Post after his own depression and shame grew too much to handle.
Kesten is very interested in your offer, as trade increases and the numbers of both visitors and residents grows he has been concerned over his small command. His requests for reinforcements have been refused. Recruiting from the locals, and not having to request equipment is something he thinks can work. While you have been exploring Natalia has been training with the guards and Kesten agrees that she would make a good recruit.
Oleg is less enthusiastic, but admits expanding the old fort is going to be needed, there is no room for any new buildings at the moment. "Carpenters and building supplies are the first things to get." He suggests grumpily. "Get the fort fixed, expand to walls on one side, then throw up the new buildings there. A smithy and barracks would be the first need, then some form of inn for visitors. Farms and gardens will have to go outside the walls."
"In sight of the walls so they can retreat if needed." Kesten agrees. "If I can get a few more recruits we can run a patrol to watch for any problems before they get too close."
Isabel, Natalia is delighted to have the chance to join the guards. Ludi is less so, but is interested in the idea of patrolling, there are too many people in the trading post for her comfort.
Lisl, none of your former bandits know where the Stag lords base is. Kressle was the only contact they had, and she took her secrets with her to her death.
All are interested in employment though, watching the trading post come to life has shown them that there is a change in the air. Ivar, your first captive is now firmly in place running the stables. Which is a relief for Oleg & Svetlana, one less chore for them to handle.
|
|
After the pleasantries, and new employments have been settled Isabel heads inside and begs paper and ink from Svetlana, before sitting down to write a letter.
Dearest Aunt Lillian.
I am sorry not to have written before - life out here has been far busier than I ever imagined and far more exciting too!
We've ridden across good thirty miles of these unclaimed lands, fought bandits and strange creatures galore. When we first arrived an honest tradesman was being harassed by bandits - luckily we were able to step in and help him, which led us to an assault on a bandit camp and discovery of a bandit chieftain called 'The Stag Lord'! A very ominous name and one we'll be investigating soon I imagine!
Oleg's (the trade post) is a good place and we're helping to build it up into a fine little outpost of civilisation on the border. It is to do with this that I write to you, dearest Lillian. Expanding the post requires both skilled labor and resources, hopefully to be purchased at a reasonable price. We have a certain amount of money regained from the bandit spoils but we are not exactly rich yet. I was hoping you might be able to suggest some reputable merchants or craftsmen who might make the journey south. Any other advice you could give me about the proper running of such an enterprise would be much appreciated - my experiences in Kintargo were nothing like this.
Much love from your niece,
Isabel.
Once the letter is complete and the ink dry Isabel passes it on to Oleg, to be carried north at the next possible opportunity and goes to 'the map room', which she and Lisl commandeered some time ago by virtue of it's large table.
She examines Darian's proposed route and nods. "That makes sense. I should be able to fill in a good portion of our eastern boundary that way. We should ride out in the morning. Getting all these things in to the trade post will take some time and I don't want to stay here at the moment, just in case Jeggare has any other minions in the area."
Darian nods. ”Then the route is planned. I’ll make final supply arrangements and check with Kesten on how he feels the security is going.”
Before they leave, Josef will try to get a moment alone with Kesten.
"Should I recognize you, or leave them ignorant? Your choice. I'm not here to make life harder. Either way, we're making a safe place here. I could come up with an excuse to send for her. You could still have the relationship that cost you your family. One of us should."
Kesten shrugs philosophically, "No need to stay silent now. It's an old tale that has lost it's sting. Out here on the frontier it just seems so trivial now." Like many people Kesten has been infected by the sense of something new beginning here.
You send off letters and put aside gold, but it will take some weeks for the responses, or people to arrive. For now you can return to your exploration.
So where to now?
Lisl crafts several letters, sitting at the table outdoors and carefully scribing with quill pen and calligraphy. Her penmanship is curved, formal, obviously the result of copying books during her novitiate years in the abbey.
"I think that a carpenter shall be our first need," she explains, "to repair this palisade wall and extend it. The palisade is mostly just tree trunks, carved at the ends and staked into the ground. Even without nails or stone foundations it can be repaired, replaced, and expanded. Beyond that we will need a mason and imported stone, and a smith, but those can wait - a carpenter is our first investment. Later, possibly, a sawmill, but there's no water source here to run the mill."
"Well, those staying here could start working on expanding the palisade without a carpenter. They'll need some axes, shovels and a bunch of rope, but they could block in more territory before a carpenter could get here, so that he's got a place to start putting up new buildings. Think they should add some in front of the current gate, expand off one of the sides, or build an entire new ring?"