We ride!
Kalum and Rena slide onto the wagon seat, with Sarah and Icarus following closely behind.
Sarah grins, showing her sharp teeth "We go, get out package, deliver it and beat up everyone that tries to stop us"
Seeing no one else heading out the back, I sigh thinking back to our last fight. "Indeed." I say to Sarah. I hope we don't get as beat up as last time.
Kalum flicks the reins to start the wagon
"Ia!"
The horses spring into a trot and Kalum sends the carriage around the back road, hoping to avoid the mob that has formed. You drive past overgrown pastures, with no sign of the flocks of sheep featured on the tourist map. The map points out historic sites of note, such as homes of prominent revolutionary writers and architecturally significant buildings. Rena locates your destination, Thrune Manor on Rue de Sangre, which is noted as an example of "the luxurious excesses of a past era". You arrive to find a hulking gothic mansion, surrounded by stone walls festooned with gargoyles. A uniformed guardsman mans the iron gate warily.
Kalum hops down and bounces enthusiastically over to the guardsman.
"Vaylen Trade Guild. Here to pick up a package. In a bit of a hurry, if you don't mind."
The guardsman blows three times on a whistle, and an elderly man, dressed formally, but several decades out of date, in a butler's livery, hobbles out, followed by a teenaged girl who appears to be a servant. The girl is carrying a hefty bundle wrapped in blankets. She speaks out, in tears, "Please take care of little Julius--it's not safe for him here." You see she is carrying a sleeping toddler.
The butler hand you a puse of gold, and a couple of lumpy bags. He fills you in hurriedly. Julius is the last heir of the Thrune family in Galt. The mother died of sickness, the father is too proud to leave. He is to be sent to live with relatives in the River Kingdoms.
From the other side of the building, you can hear some voices yelling, and the sound of breaking glass. The butler says, "I suggest you leave with haste."
"umm, does any of you know how to take care of a toddler?"
Start by getting them away from angry mobs. We can take the girl, too.
We'll need someone to care for the child, if we're to effectively do our jobs.
"I grew up in an extended family of forty. I've been looking after toddlers since I was one!" soothes the priest of Yog Sothoth, sprinting for his seat
"Put him in the back for now... I can't look after him and drive without risking having him fall off! Just, you know, hold him. Keep the bags inside, start looking for bottles, blankets and nappies."
"C'mon! Hurry up!"
I've no doubt, but were you driving a carriage at the same time? Fending off a mob, navigating treacherous terrain?
Rena looks to the older man and extends her hand for the girl.
The girl says, "Oh thank you, I do hope he'll be safe." Then, hearing the mob, she runs away to the south, discarding her servants apron. The butler rushes back inside while the guardsman tries to hustle you out the gate. Rena takes the toddler Julius and hops back on as Kalum urges the horses forward. Julius begins crying from all the commotion.
As you leave, you can see the street to the north blocked by a group of Red Scarves. You can see them pointing at the carriage and yelling. You can try to run them down, or escape them to the east, or double back west (towards the other mob).
My face gets a cold look to it. "Run them down, it will injure some and the others will chase us rather then harass this house."
It does look like a Horse. Kalum approved, as his questing mind flicked from place-time to place-time and finally settled on something appropriate.
The creature - more closely related to a rabbit than any real equine - was a host for a sentient species of neural parasite.
There were differences; The eyes were slitted, it had black fur rather than hair, the legs were overmuscled and it could leap seven feet in the air, and it had dual windpipes. Still, the uninfected juveniles were about the right size and shape. In the dark, and without an autopsy...
Kalum's eyes - that had been rolled up in his head - flicked back. With harsh voice he called out syllables no human tongue should have been able to shape. In front of the carriage a new 'horse' joined the team, and at Kalum's shouted instructions they sprang forward toward the crowd.
Summon Monster II. Full Round Action. Augmented Summon. +1 evolution = push for Hooves. If it successfully hits it gets a free roll to push targets 5 feet away.
I've picked up the "I'm bigger" +4 bonus in the intimidate roll already.
The crowd backs up, surprised and afraid of this new apparition. However, one tall man with a face covered in stubble stands in the center of the road, torch in hand and a flintlock pistol in the other. "You're carrying something we want. 'And him over and be on your way," he demands in a thick Galtish accent.
Sarah stands up, glares at the man, with a slight red glow in her eyes"Not gonna happen, now MOVE ASIDE OR BE TRAMPLED"
The "Horse" rams into the man
Kalum's eldritch horse lowers its head and rams straight into the man's stomach, knocking him aside. The crowd, already cowed by the strange apparition and Sarah's fierce demeanor, opens up to let the carriage pass by. You hear cries of "Witchcraft!" and "Foreign devilry!" as you leave the crowd behind. The young Julius stops crying and starts laughing. "Horsie!" he points with delight at the strange beast.
Rena thinks to threaten with a knocked arrow, but the baby is precious cargo.
She watched the scene play out, keeping Julius held securely.
"Ha!" calls Kalum, snapping the reins as the occult creature he summoned distracts the crowd.
I wave at the dispersing crowd as we drive past.
It may be just the torchlight, but Julius' eyes seem to glow red for a moment. You make it out of town without further incident. Kalum oversees the feeding and changing the nappies easily enough thanks to experience with his younger siblings. Julius seems happy enough if he can see the horsies, although he has to make do with mundane ones for the rest of the trip.
Your destination is Gralton, an outpost of Galtish emigres in the River Kingdoms. You can stay in Galt and risk further encounters with revolutionaries, or cross the Sellen at a bridge nearby, and cut through the Elven nation of Kyonin.
Figure out where you want to go, and give me a geography roll and a driver roll.
Sarah dismisses the toddlers glowing eyes, as she is used to those from her own siblings.
The elfess shares what she has come to know of her homeland's attitudes of late.
Rena is not sure if the border to Kyonin will be open. She might be able to negotiate passage but possibly not.
"As long as we stay in our carriage we shouldn't have issues with revolutionaries on foot, and I doubt they range far and wide at night. If we are not sure we can go through elf land, lets just stay in Galt."
Worth a try... Anyone else? Let's go... And there's something about this kid.
The journey along the Sellen River passes without incident for a while. You pass a few armed companies marching, and some swift couriers on horses going both directions. Near the northern border of Galt, farmlands begin to give way to forests. You can make camp in the forest, or stay at an inn in the border town of Blade. Here you will have to ferry across the Sellen into the River Kingdoms, and likely pass an inspection point.
Inspection point ahead, any other options? Guess we ad lib.
"Ooooooor, we could just charge through?"
That's one form of ad lib! But, it will only intensify the chase... We was to obfuscate, elude.
"So, who's the best talker?"
I begin waving my hand about wildly in the air. "Ohhh, OOOHHH! Me pick me!!! I am super good at making people believe things, What is the story we want to tell them? Do we need papers for the inspection point?"
Sorry, gents... I've never been good with people.
" just good at intimidating people"
You find lodging without incident, and arrive at the river crossing the next morning. The guardsmen seem fairly vigilant and pepper you with questions. What are you carrying? Where are you going? Who is the child?
I begin rattling off a story to the guards, getting easily sidetracked and overly excited at different parts. Once finished I sit there grinning looking from the guards to my comrade and then back again.
It's Galt, the River Kingdoms are disorganized enough that there is no particular checkpoint on this border.
Kalum considers a hundred different strategies while Icarus talks, but soon realises letting the man talk is his best option.
Instead he tries to help: whenever he notices a guard starting to understand the story he interjects with a helpful extra addendum at the same time Icarus is speaking.
Rena clings to the babe, obviously protective. Cooing and lulling.
The two guards confusedly try to follow Icarus, but one of them interrupts the story. [b]"State your business, Miss, is that your child?" to Rena.
No, he is not mine... But, I am taking care of him. And it looks like he needs to be cleaned up. Any experience with that, Sir?
The road is not the best place for a babe. May we be on our way?
"We're on the lookout for a group of foreigners trying to smuggle a child out of the country. We could detain you and wait for the Investigators to come and search you. Or you could pay the hundred gold 'commerce tarriff' and be on your way. It's up to you."
"We are in a hurry..." hints Kalum
My face falls as I realize that the guards didn't buy my story, but I perk back up a little when I realize that all they want is money and probably are not going to detain us.
Cost of doing business, of course. We understand. And, we appreciate your efficiency, Sir. It certainly taps our funds, but we need to cross the border.
Would one of you please get the coin? She smiles as she coos, looking up from the baby.
I assist with gathering the coin, either some from everyone or all for Rena's pouch depending on which is faster and pay the guards their coin. "Let us be on our way."
The guards take the money and wave you through to the ferry. The other guard confides, "Got a little one myself. I wish you safe travel." He hands you a receipt for a tarriff on some parcels on silk with a wink.
The River Kingdom side is unguarded and parts of the area are unclaimed by any kingdom. There are some dirt roads through a mixture of dense forest and open meadows. You pass a few logging camps and similar insular settlements. As you progress, you feel you are unlikely to be pursued by Galtish militias.