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The sun shown brightly in the early Gozran morning. It made the air unseasonably warm, though still too cool not to wear a cloak. The ground was damp from the dew, and the soil soft from the heavy rains the week before.
Oleg's Tradepost stood tall and proud in the open plains. It's wooden palisade could be confused for a small grove of leafless trees. Standing in the open gateway, was a tall blond man, with a fine Aldori blade on his right hip.
A half-orc approaches the gateway, keeping a noble bearing when he hails the man as he gets closer.
Ponderosa would have shown up earlier, excited as he was, but his mother's drilled instructions to show up only at the last possible moment for any event was ingrained in him. Dawn of the last day was a good compromise in his mind.
Kern brings Termach to a halt as he gets close enough to the trading post to make out individuals.
hm, a half-orc, heavily armed and armored. The one in the gate must be our employer.
Shrugging, Kern makes sure his staff is lodged in its rest, and rides forward.
Ever cautious, Grimjaw pauses at the treeline to check out Oleg's Tradepost. It doesn't look like it's usually busy, but...
Odd timing... that there should be 3 unconnected arrivals. Well, nothing for it, I guess, but to ride up with the rest. The universe makes what arrangements it will.
He clucks quietly to Surefoot, and guides him out from the shadows and toward the gate.
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His mount kicking up a dust as he rides swiftly down the plains, Brok on seeing his destination in plain sight does not hesitate but wheeling his mount, he rides to where the he can now see his prospective employer even as he notices a few other arrivals.
Riding his mount towards Oleg's, he dismounts a good 30 feet away to avoid having his potential employer covered in the dust of the road and walks his mount towards the gate. His hands fishing for the notice.
"Good day to you Sir! I am Brok Thundershams and may I assume that you thus are my contact Sirrah?"
As he rides up, Grimjaw, notes yet more people, all moving toward the gate. At the same time, he sees 4 crows flying east to west, in an arrowhead formation, like geese flying south.
Huh... a bigger confluence of fate than I first thought. This should be interesting.
Stopping a polite distance from the others, and the gate, he rumbles,
"'m called Grimjaw. Don't think it's a coincidence - us all showing up at the same time.
He gestures west, even as the crows break formation, and start acting like crows again.
"The universe has put us all together for a reason. Figure I'm t'be your tracker."
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"The universe, the gods, my uncle." The young man says as he approaches you.
"I understand you're the team he put together for this little excursion, but I'm putting the cart before the horse, allow me to introduce myself. I am Ser Nikolai Haravesch, nephew of the Lord Mayor of Restov and your liaison between Brevoy and the Greenbelt."
Nodding to Brok, "Ah yes, my uncle mentioned you. Said you were a man to be trusted. In fact, he had good things to say about all of you. Come in, come in. Oleg and Svetlana have a fine dinner ready for you and there's forage for your mounts. I'll introduce you to our fine hosts and then you can get settled into your rustic quarters."
Nikolai motions for you to follow him. A wall of a man stands with his arms crossed tersely next to a beautiful, blonde woman.
"Oleg, Svetlana, allow me to introduce you to the survey crew my uncle has sent to assist in our endeavor."
Svetlana smiles sweetly and steps forward to shake your hands.
"A pleasure to meet you and good to have a full lodge again," She beams. "It's been a while since we had tenants."
Oleg grunts.
"Don't mind my husband. He's a fine man, and hardworking, but it takes a while for him to warm up to strangers, especially with the troubles we've had lately."
Oleg grunts again.
"I'm sure they don't care about any of that, they're just mercenaries here at Ser Nikolai's beckon call."
Ponderosa nods in greeting. "No, no, you can tell us. If we're staying here, then your troubles would be our troubles, wouldn't they?"
He smiles. "But perhaps breakfast first, which I'm sure is delicious."
Kern dismounts, bowing slightly to Ser Nikolai and nodding to the others.
"Kern. Therensgard. The matronymic is irrelevant for now, just call me Kern. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Once I've seen to Termach here, I'd also like to hear of these troubles."
He turns curiously to Ponderosa and Buddara, "I've heard Brok and Grimjaw give their names, but as yet do not know what to call you..."
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"My thanks Ser Nikolai for kindly taking the trouble to welcome us here. Allow us the pleasure to see to our mounts and then head towards the fine dinner prepared by our hosts and let us hear of what aid may we be to you and our fine hosts." Brok bows towards Ser Nikolai seeing that he is at least a noble and it is at least polite to show some respect to such.
"Mercenaries we maybe but if we're going to be staying with you might it not be best that we deal with your troubles too? They after all will come down to us and this is me being practical." He smiles even as he turns and grins in an easy going manner designed to let people feel at ease.
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Oleg snorts and sets to leading the horses to a meager, yet well maintained stable.
Ser Nikolai shakes his head.
"My apologies," He says. "Oleg is a fine man. Trustworthy and hardworking, and from what I've seen through his interactions with Svetlana, he can be kind and sweet as well. But he does not take to strangers easily. Especially well-armed strangers. Still, give him time and you will come to respect him as much as I do."
Svetlana blushes as Nikolai compliments her husband.
"Ser Nikolai is kind, and correct. Give Oleg time, and you will find no finer friend than he in all the Greenbelt." She then motions you to follow her into long wooden building.
Inside there is a roaring fire, with a large black kettle hanging over it. The smell of oatmeal seasoned with maple and cinnamon wafts from the kettle. While warm, fresh milk rests on the table in simple clay cups.
"I apologize. We had a shipment of bacon arrive a few weeks ago, but ..." She pauses as if she is afraid she is sharing too much.
"It's ok Svetlana," Nikolai interjects. "The troubles Svetlana spoke of is pack of bandits, that raid their outpost weekly. I would have faced them myself, but Oleg feared reprisal if I failed. Your arrival today is fortuitous, as the Bandits typically come on Toilday to collect their "tax" as they call it. With the 5 of you here, we should be a large enough force to stop them without allowing an outrider to escape and warn the larger group. But enough of that, let's eat and then we can discuss the challenges you're sure to face."
Ponderosa nods and sits down at the table to eat.
Kern eats, watching for any reaction from the others, and waiting for Ser Nikolai to reopen the discussion.
Grimjaw starts shoveling down oatmeal like he hasn't eaten for days, washing it down with cups of milk. As he eats, he watches his companions, trying to make sense of who and what they are.
As Nikolai mentions bandits, Grimjaw perks up.
"Don't much like bandits," he rumbles to Svetlana, "Be glad to put arrows through a few of them for you."
He smiles at her, which is fairly terrifying, given the size of his tusks, and asks, "Is there any ale, by any chance?"
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"No ale," Oleg grunts, as he comes in from the courtyard. "The bandit's leader's got a mighty thirst and that's always the first thing claimed."
He walks over to a side table and washes his hands in a basin of water.
"No ale. No meat. No furs. We barely get to keep vegetables and oats. And now we've got to feed you."
Oleg serves himself some oatmeal and then leaves the room.
Ser Nikolai shakes his head.
"Again, my apologies. Oleg and Svetlana have suffered greatly from these bandits. And I guess my hope of buffering you from this situation until you'd at least settled in, is fading fast," He pauses. "Still we are blessed by the gods with fine hosts and roofs over our heads. Let us give thanks before we eat and turn our conversation to darker things."
Ser Nikolai then bows his head and evokes Abadar, thanking the Keeper of the First Vault for the blessings of law and civilization. He thanks Erastil for community and the harvest. Sheylnn for beauty and Desna for pleasant dreams of a brighter tomorrow. The young lordling finishes his prayer by mentioning several other deities, including Irori.
"Thank you for humoring my belief that the gods still care about us here in this forsaken land. But my mother was a fervent believer in the Gods' blessings and I guess I inherited her hope," Nikolai said with a hint of sadness in his eyes. "But hopes can only become reality through actions and if we wish to create a home filled with opportunity for those seeking it, then we must act bravely and decisively. These bandits are organized. They seem to have some central leader located much further to the south. Though we've only heard rumors of him. We know he likes the drink and he's got a penchant for Stags. All his thugs wear a stag head pendant, their rank denoted by the quality of the metal the head is made of. Oleg and Svetlana have been dealing with a minor group of this Stag band, though they've drawn the attention of at least one of his lieutenants — a hellcat of a woman named Kressle. Fortunately, since her first visit Kressle hasn't been paying the tradepost any visits. She instead sends six of her thugs, lead by a craven man named Happs. They often arrive on Toilday to collect their "tax" from Oleg. I'd like to end that collection as soon as possible."
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"To make it simple then, the bandits are preventing us from having better meals and it distresses our fine hosts." Brok frowns as he hears the description of the bandit leader.
"It seems to me that this bandit leader is mocking the symbol of Erastil himself and thus should be punished. Our first chance after we have eaten should be to survey the this outpost and ensure that these thugs do not get away. We maybe able to get the information from them on their hideout and end their threat forever." Leaning back while nursing his mug of cool clean water, he looks to the others.
"We seem like a mighty fine group and with Erastil's blessings upon us as well as any gods you might worship, we can end this."
Grimjaw glances sidelong at the kettle, then down at his third bowl of oatmeal. He shovels the last spoonful into his mouth and pushes away from the table.
"Goin' hunting," he says, "We'll need more than gruel, if we're going to handle bandits on the morrow. Figure out where you want m'bow in the fight. I'll be back with meat."
With that, he heads for the door, picking up his bow as he does.
I'll spend time taking 20 on a survival check - totals to 26. Depending on how long that takes, I'll do it again.
"We'd have to either end the bandits themselves or make the trading post a target they wouldn't want to pursue, then. We can't stay here forever as we need to explore the lands after all."
Ponderosa takes a sip of water. "As Brok said, it would be a good idea to get information from the thugs we'll face."
"It seems then that our first orders of business are to survey the trading post with an eye towards ambush, and to get an idea of what strengths we bring to the table."
"For myself, I am a wizard, though I tend to be in the front lines rather than hanging back. I am also a skilled rider and my mount, Termach, is fully war-trained."
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Ser Nikolai listens to the party explain their prowess, though his eye is raised at Buddara's suggestion.
"We've considered trying to poison them. But if it didn't kill all of them, we would likely have the entirety of this Bandit Army knocking at our door. And though Oleg is a skilled Craftsman and merchant, he's not a military engineer and this outpost is not in shape to survive a siege, Ser Nikolai pauses. "Perhaps our best course of action would be to pay the tax once more and follow the bandits back to their location, so that we could reconnoiter the strength of their forces. That or try to overwhelm the group that arrives to collect, capture at least one of them and interrogate him so that we know how to go on the offensive."
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Ser Nikolai nods.
"I haven't been present during these little incursions. My presence would potentially have escalated the situation. But from what Oleg and Svetlana have told me, there are typically 6 thugs who arrive around midday. They are armed with swords and bows and all ride horses. The one called Happs wears a pewter stag head and seems to be the leader."
"Six of them? I think our best option is to ambush them here and eliminate all but one. That one can be used for questioning to lead us to the others. If we can continue to cut them down in small chunks, we can hopefully have effects well above our numbers."
"Assuming they don't lead an assault onto here, which has already been stated to be unsuitable for defending from a siege. Not to mention our lesser numbers."
"If we continue with your plan, one idea would be to drag their corpses to an area they went through, make it seem like they never ended up here and act as such if one comes asking."
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"Of course," Ser Nikolai says as he pushes away from the table. "Svetlana, breakfast was as delicious as usual, thank you."
The young Lordling motions for you to follow him as he takes you on a tour of the grounds. The remnants of the Brevoy Outpost are clear in the spartan structure and functional layout of the buildings. The barracks have an exit on either side along with a central door that opens into the courtyard. The backs of all the buildings are windowless, but do have small cross sections cut out and shuttered for kill slots. The stables are nestled flush with the Barracks, so that the northern wall of the stable and the southern wall of the barracks leaves only enough room for one man to walk abreast. The main hall does the same, though it's second floor has a balcony that is boarded up to the breast so an individual could shoot down into the courtyard with partial cover from return fire from the ground.
The walls of the outpost are 10 feet high, with four towers at 15 feet high at every cardinal direction. The towers are 10 feet by 10 feet and have a large, though broken ballista on each tower. . About 7 feet up the wall is a walk way, 5 feet wide, that encircles the interior of the outpost, allowing for individuals to shoot down over the wall, but providing little to no cover from internal fire, in case the walls have been lost.
To the south is a great gate, 10 feet wide, the gate should slide back and forth under the walkway, however, it seems rusted in place. .
Ponderosa nods politely to Svetlana before following Ser Nikolai. It is soon apparent to him he has little idea how to even begin with building something defensible, let alone improving what is already here.
"Reprisal is indeed what we should worry about," Ponderosa notes, before addressing the Ser Nikolai with a question. "While we should deal with the matter of the bandits, may I ask of the original task we were given? I confess that the terms as I know them is somewhat vague and I would appreciate if were informed of anything we need to know, such as if there is a certain date we are to report our explorations and if we are given free leeway to appropriate whatever items we find for our own use."
"Oh? For what reason?"
"And I'm hesitant on calling down an entire bandit army on us, so for now I think it would best for us to remain hidden and for the tax to be paid as usual. As Ser Nikolai said, we can take the opportunity to scout their main army and know what we're dealing with while we shore up on defenses. We should keep in mind our main task of exploration, but a good base to return to is also worthwhile."
"I agree with Brok, the gates should be a relatively simple fix. I'm also curious why you wouldn't want him involved in the initial ambush."
"As to waiting...I think we need to take immediate action. Presuming we can defeat the six we expect tomorrow, we can then look to deal with the local camp. Once they have been dealt with, we should have some time to shore up defenses here as needed in case the main group to the far south decides to mount a reprisal."