The Iron Carnival - Pentor Lionsmane's Mercenary PbP - #2 Squad

Game Master Monkeygod

"Alllllright...Castle sits on a portal to the hells. The ghost of the Lords keeps it temporarily shut, we need to go to Varisia to find an old mage to shut it for good, AND Valen's in charge as the Corporal is retiring. ....Yip, yip!"

Jax stares dumbly for a second, as the fork falls from his hand. "Valen is what? The Mage?" Jumping up, knocking over his tankard of cider as he does, Jax gestures at Valen with his thumb. "That Mage? Right there? The one with the goofy face? Caydens mangy balls...!" Collapsing back in to the chair, Jax leans his head against the cool polished wood of the table.

"I'm going to be sick..."

Nine-Tails, when you pick up your the mask, you hear a voice inside your head "Greetings and well met Nine-Tails, I am your great, great, grandfather Kyrsaku. I am here to aid you in your struggles and can do so by helping you tap into the power and knowledge of those you came before you." As soon as the voice is gone you instantly know two things: One, this is the voice of your Spirit Totem and two, you know the powers of the mask.

"Oh, don't worry, Fury. With Valen in charge, I know our numbers for new recruits will grow rather quickly. Our squad will probably grow tenfold with all the female privates he brings in!"

Gremm begins to chortle almost uncontrollably.

Jax lifts his head off the table and peers at Gremm groggily, looking a little green around the gills. "But... The Mage... He will kill us all so he can have his little harem all to himself. That's it... I am never sleeping again! Constant. Vigilance!"

With a groan, Jax slumps back on to the table, shaking his head in dismay. "Torque... Be a gem and shoot your old buddy Jax full of that healy goop huh?"

"I'm afraid raw condensate won't do a lot to help, Fury. However..."

Torque seems to be talking to himself now

"I could filter it so that it was less viscous...that way it would influence your organs rather than your flesh..."

He takes out his toolkit, removes the gauntlet from his arm and start dismantling it.

"This will take a few hours, but no worries. I want to see if this works. I don't suppose you want to donate a seive to the march of progress Miri?"

Torque is removing cure light wounds from one of his first level wierd science slots and replacing it with remove sickness.This will take 4 hours.

"And, all jokes aside, having Valen in charge might not be such a bad idea. We're sellswords, and I reckon he'd make a pretty good sword salesman."

He stops working for a moment and looks over the table with concern

"Are you alright, Nine-Tail?"

Jax groans softly but nods. "I guess so... Just as long as he doesn't start telling me how I'm shootin wrong, I guess we'll be okay!" Sighing, Jax takes a deep shuddering breath, trying to calm himself.

'Could be worse I suppose..."

Nine Tail sets the mask down and picks up a big sausage that he then bites a big chunk off of, "Oh..never better. Just heard from an old friend. Yip-Yip!" He sits quite contentedly looking at Fury's discomfort while enjoying his breakfast.

@VoA Nice!

Gremm scarfs down the lasts bits of his meal and jolts up.

"Alright, fellas, we need to get moving. The sun's been up too long and I know Pa would have given me a switching by now. Grab your things. We're headed to Lastwall!"

Before heading out the door, he grabs his pack and Fury and tosses them over his left and right shoulders respectively.

Gremm, did you just say your grabbing Fury and tossing him over your shoulder??

Sure did! He's only a heavy load for me.

Valen smiles and chuckles to the various comments made about him. "I assure Jax, there's no worries needed. I'd need to keep some of you around to keep the ladies entertained while I was busy with the others. You'd make a great jester." he retorts with a wink. He counts everyone. "We seem to be missing someone. Has anyone seen Lady Acune?"

Thudding down on to Gremm's shoulder, Jax groans loudly. "Me damn shortsword is digging in to me side..." Shifting around, he lets out a sigh of relief. "Okay. Onward Big Fella! And someone grab my gun!"

At Valen's comment, Jax begins to struggle. "Lemme down. I'll shoot him in the face. Lemme down!!" Seething with rage, Jax glares at the mage from across the room.

' Just coz I aint got that perfect skin don't mean I aint good with the gentler sex... Harrumph!'

Gremm chuckles.

"Calm down, you big baby. Gods know you need some fresh air so you should be thanking me."

Valen laughs heartily. "Baby? Gremm, Fury has a face not even a mother would love. Between his smell and looks I think it's more accurate to call him a burlap sack of manure. Not to worry though Fury, I'm sure we can get you cleaned down and smelling better. I have just the thing!" With a gesture and a whispered word Fury looks clean and smells of roses and spring flowers. "Ahh, much better."

"My face? Why you...? LET ME DOWN AND I'LL SHOOT HIM BETWEEN THE EY..." Jax trails off as Gremm steps out in to the morning sun. "Heh... I do look and smell better now, but don't tell the Mage heh? Put me down Big Guy and lets go for a stroll about the village. Want to give the place a last once over before we head off. Hey we may even find Private Acune during our wander!" Patting Gremm on the back, Jax gestures towards the ground.

"Come on. I am better now. I can walk. Where's my gear? ya brought it right?"

"Your skills at tracking are amazing." Acune is leaning against the outside of building, looking collected and awake and absolutely the same as always. She takes up her place among the group as they move off. Generally ignoring the amusing antics. "I'm glad to see you well, Private Fury."

"Wotcher Acune!" Jax grins and salutes the woman, from Gremm's shoulder. "Good to be back!"

At the entrance to the town, you see Mirri and Helena waiting for you. Both girls look much different than normal. Mirri is wearing leather armor, with a bow and quiver strapped to her back, and a short sword at her waist. Helena meanwhile is dressed in a serviceable, sturdy skirt, with several pouches and pockets, and there's a ghostly white cat held in her arms.

Mirri looks up from where she was sharping a dagger "Bout time you guys showed up. Helena and I are going to be traveling with you to help guard the caravan, as your down a man (two if ya count Tok)Do not worry, we can both hold our own."

"Bloody hells we have not even left the village yet and he has started!" Jax begins to laugh, which quickly turns to frustrated tears. "If he gets me killed I will come back and haunt his pansy ass!" His expression changes and he salutes the two women. "Good to have ya aboard Soldiers. Welcome to the Carnival!"

Valen nods his head with a slight bow to both Miri and Helena. "Well, having a few lovely extra traveling companions would be wonderful. We welcome any help you're willing to give." He states kissing each of the ladies' hands. Turning to Helena, "Lady Helena, are you by chance a wizard?" Valen asks mildly curious.

She smiles mysteriously then says "Close, but not quite."

Valen arches an eyebrow, curious. "Interesting. You appear to be magically inclined like myself. I guess when I saw your cat I assumed it was your familiar. My apologies for being mistaken."

"Might still be," Acune whispers, and smiles politely at their new companions. "It will be nice to not be so outnumbered in the Carnival."

"Well, let's not sit he dawdling. Carnies, MOVE OUT!"

Grumbling under his breath, Jax shoulders his gun and takes up his position, to the left of the group.

Gremm walks alongside the front wagon, happily eating berries picked earlier.

Jax begins to relax as the march goes on. Before they had gone more than a mile, a smile was splitting his face.

"This is the life. Us and the open road. Perfect!" Grinning, he scanned the tree line, keeping his eyes peeled for any danger.

Perception-1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

"HEY BIG GUY! ANY MOVEMENT UP FRONT?"

Nine Tail hoofs out in front of the wagon. He carries his sword and shield on his back. His new mask riding high on his head. What had seemed to be a wooden human-face mask this morning, is now showing a slight snout to the nose. In a satchel, he places leftover remnants of breakfast.

Gremm scans the area, joyfully distracted by his snack.

Perception
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

"Seems fine to me," he calls with a stuffed mouth.

Laughing softly, Jax pulls his shortsword from its sheath, twirling it idly in his hands.

"Keep it up Big Guy!"

Mirri ranges out in front as well, easily keeping pace with Nine-Tails. As they run she says "I saw the tattoo you have on your back while in the village, it's quite lovely"

Meanwhile, Helena chats idly with Acune, her cat riding close to her in one of the wagons. She has a solid knowledge of the herbs and plants of the surrounding land, and points out which are useful and which could quite harmful.

Jax begins to sing, in a loud clear voice.

"And though I am far away,
My heart remains with you!
I look for you night and day,
In the clouds and morning dew!

I left my bonny love,
On a rain swept beach!
And like a pure white dove,
My love for her doth reach!

Though I may roam so far,
To you I will always be near!
My love for you burns like a star,
So you need never fear!

I left my bonny love,
On a rain swept beach!
And like a pure white dove,
My love for her doth reach!"

Jax grins as he trails off, and stretches.

I don't know if that works... Hmmm Opinions?

Turning to Torque. "So my Mwagian friend I've been thinking. If this pans out to be some sort of globe spanning quest to stop some unspeakable planar creature we're going to have to be able to travel. And although a wagon can be comfortable it's a little slow. There are spells for instantaneous transportation but I haven't yet acquired the skill to cast them. We need a way to travel. And a way to do it in style. Now, you seem to be of the sort that likes to tinker with things and I've been hearing some interesting ideas about new travel methods, some of which are being developed at the Acadamae in Korovosa. I was hoping we might have a chance to go and do some research. Perhaps we might find something of interest. What do you think?"

"Just a sec, boss, it sounds like Fury is delerious. That said, that was a surprisingly pretty song. Perhaps it's the non-zealous girls we've now got on board, eh?"

Torque calls to the next wagon

"FURY, YOU STILL FEELING ROUGH? THE TREATMENT'S UP AND RUNNING!"

He then turns back to Valen

"Horses and wagons take a bit of beating. At the end of the day getting stuff from A to B is about how much energy you can release. There was talk in Alkenstar, theories mostly, of using high pressure steam from burning coal to push machinery but by the time you factor in all the inefficencies a horse looks like a teleport scroll by comparison. Here's what I reckon. Magic is the ultimate power source, but there's no reason you can't use mechanisms to get more out of it. Exactly how that would be done, I'm not quite sure. I am all up for any research you may have planned."

Jax laughs softly, running his hand across his brow, before stopping and frowning. "I'm on fire..." He swore softly. "I'M ON FIRE! AND NOT IN THE GOOD WAY! COMING UP TOP!"

Jax moves towards the wagon and leaps up atop the back, moving towards Torque. "Hit me up buddy. Gotta bet back on my position!"

Valen chuckles and nods. "Could be. But Lady Acune has a level head on her shoulders she just knows better than to fall for Fury's 'charms.' Hopefully Miri and Helena will as well. As for magic being the ultimate power source, I'll agree with you there. I'm not sure what they're doing at the Academae but I think it'll be worth checking out."

"Whatever we do, it will need funds. I'm not saying for a second we shouldn't be undertaking Grimatar's mission - some things are more important than gold. Nonetheless, to stay effective we'll need revenue. We should keep our ears peeled for quick jobs whilst we travel."

When Fury approaches Torque takes out what appears to be the mask of his condensate syphon with a could of small vials and pumps attached to it.

"Take a deep breath through this on my count"

With that, he stirs the mechanism into motion and when Fury breaths in the fresh smelling gas that fills the mask his fever diminishes to nothing.

Remove Sickness will end the effects of Fury's sickness for 30 minutes per casting. This can be done 3 times before I have to start making wierd science checks:

DC20: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (8) + 16 = 24
DC21: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (16) + 16 = 32
DC22: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (1) + 16 = 17

Torque's device will keep Fury right as rain for two and a half hours, then the mask suddenly starts to smell foul and ceases to work.

Taking deep cleansing breaths through the mask, Fury arches an eyebrow. "We ARE a Mercenary Company there are fights everywhere. Lets lend the blade to anyone we can!" He takes another long breath. "Well... To anyone who can pay that is!" He grinned.

Jogging along he notices she shows no trouble keeping up. "I am a bit of an artist, but obviously, with it on my back, it is not my work. I had it...commissioned...back in Tian Xia. A rather good friend did the work,...as a means that he might travel with me...in a manner of speaking."

Jogging a few more moments, "You seem quite armed and prepared for waitress in a tavern?...I take that as a good thing, mind you."

Mirri nods her head at her companions comments about his tattoo. "So your from Tian Xia? I've heard a lot about it, and really wish to visit there one day." She then chuckles at her being well-armed "I am a devout follower of Erastil, and he teaches us to always be prepared to defend our community. It's why I chose to accompany you on this trip."

"Well, a number of people do make their fortunes adventuring. Hells, look at the Pathfinders! They have tons of treasure and gold and all those louts do is adventure. So as for money I'm sure something will crop up." Or I could always see if one of my brothers would be willing to sponsor us. But best save that humbling experience unless absolutely necessary.

"You're sure something will crop up? You're the head of the squad now Valen, I'm afraid you can't just wait for patrons to come to you. Don't worry, I'll happily help you with the prospecting. There's bound to be another escort gig in Vieland that'll take us east. We've just got to either find a merchant who plans to profit in taking a dangerous road."

Torque grins

"Failing that, find a merchant who'd immedately organize an eastward trip when offered such competent and reasonably priced protection. In fact...how about we go and quiz our current patron for contacts?"

"Erastil...the Stag." He turns to look at Mirri. "A powerful spirit, that one. You have chose wisely."

"Dangerous road? I thought the plan was to go through Lastwall. Who knows though. Hopefully we'll find someone willing to trust us. I'm surprised we found such a welcoming town. I've heard that generally most of the people in Ustalav are unwelcoming. If there isn't someone going the entire way maybe we can do a number of jobs along the way."

The caravan master says it's likely you'll find at least one job in Vieland.

You all make good time, covering a decent amount of ground before nightfall. Making camp on the side of the road, the caravan crew all sit together, while you all have your own fire. Nine-Tails, Mirri and Gremm manage to hunt and kill a wild boar, which quickly goes on spit over the fire. Helena adds some spices and flavoring, and soon a delicious meal is served.

Mirri begs Nine-Tails for a story or two about Tian Xia, while Helena sits her cat, which seems to softly glow as the moon rises higher in the sky and sorts through some of her pouches.

Jax sits back, cleaning his weapons with precise, practiced movements. Sighing, he stares up at the moon, pursing his lips in thought.

'Money... That is what we need. What good is a merc without money?'

Standing and speaking so everyone can hear him, "Well, we've gone a day with me leading our group and things haven't burst into flames, yet," Valen pauses a few moments for the laughs from the group. "But I can't always guarantee that. I've been thinking and a situation may come up in which I won't be able to make decisions or lead all of you fine fellows and ladies into the fray. History has shown us that all great leaders had someone to help them along, give them counsel, or let them know when they were being a right bloody arse. So, it is my decision that Fury be my second in command. I chose Fury because his talents lay in areas different than my own and I know he'll keep me honest and provide sound advice when I need it. So let's all give Fury a round of applause!"

Jax sat there stunned for a moment, before nodding in thanks to Valen. "Well... I will be glad to be your second in command Mag... Sir!" Jax stood, snapping to attention and saluting the man, before turning to the others.

"On your feet and salute the Corporal ladies and gents. I know I was his biggest doubter but... He did well today. Till he kills me, I am throwing my voice behind his. And my gun!" Jax nods at Valen once again, before moving over to talk to him in a hushed voice.

"I was harsh back in the village, that is no lie. I resented your ascension to the ranks of Officer. I thought I deserved it. I didn't. I showed that today. I'll be your arm and your voice, when you need it. As for now..." He paused, looking around the camp.

"You did well today, keep it up. But... As to what Torque was saying on the cart, he is right. We need work and money. Bored mercs get nasty. Poor mercs kill officers. We need to get us a contract and fast. I am not gonna say it ain't important who we work for, it is. We have to choose the jobs carefully. We need things, money and contacts and we have to take a job or were dead in the water. I'm sure your tongue can find us a job. Let me help and we'll get the boys money for whores wine and everything they could ever want. Not that most of them seem that way inclined..." Laughing softly, Jax clapped him on the shoulder.

"You may be a Mage and a pain in the ass but you'll do fine. Thanks for the promotion. I'll see to the camp!"

Gremm raises his hand in salute, his mouth stained from berries.