Seren breaks down a litle in Grumblejacks arms, laughing in joy as she hugs the big ogre back. "Oh how I missed you grumble! This wasn't nearly as much fun without you."
"Tell me did Sakkarot treat you okay? Should I be thinking of killing some bugbears now?" Seren asks pulling back slightly to look the big ogre in the face.
After a moment pause Seren collapses back into the large ogre's arms.
"Regardless, let's go Grumble. I'm sure there is something fun to do in the city. Who knows maybe we'll find an elf hiding somewhere for you to eat!" Seren adds with a laugh, completely ignoring the discussion between Sakkarot and her acquaintances.
Nahia stands from the meal holding a glass of wine to Sakkarot and a jug of applejack towards Grumblejack. Grinning at the ogre, Nahia giggles and says ”A few good meals, but not many as I would like. No elves, clearly, but there is plenty of fat-marbled human to craft a fine enough feast from.”
Turning to Sakkarot, Nahia adds ”Indeed, things went well, overall. And I hope that this is better than what you expected, as I’d hate to disappoint… How has the horde been?”
"Many of the tribes joined my banner, things are not going to be good for the south lands." finishing his drink, he get up and continues "Making matters worse for poor Talingarde, small bands of creatures unaligned with me approach the breach. How could these beasts know already about this break in the Watch Wall? Someone must have told them. Probably best to leave. This region is about to become very dangerous."
Nahia glances at Grumblejack and Seren in their revelry.
It's good to see them happy. They deserve it.
Smiling at Sakkarot, Nahia takes a sip of her wine and coos "Come now, with you, Big'un, and your men, we're perfectly safe here, at least for the night. Besides, I'm sure that you have more stories to share with me..."
"What kind of creatures?"
”I assume this place has a prison” says Sakkarot looking at the Keep ”I’ll gladly accept the prisoners, Mysty Shadowflame. Come the morning, after the town slaughter, I’ll send them to my lieutenants.”
Then he turns to Rose and answer “I am not sure of the exact nature of all creatures. From the reports, I know there are some ogres, orcs, trolls and giants. Possible more.”
”You are right. I own you.” he anwers Nahia, then he get up from the table, and after ordering some of the bugbears to guard the place and it’s entrance he continues ”Walk with me.” he says indicating that he want to see the Fort.
"There are meals" he says looking in Nahia's direction but then he puts Seren on the ground and continues "Grumbrejack will prepare that horse." he says mentioning the Lord's horse that Rose had brought "You un' don't need to walk all the way there." he says leaving into the stables direction, and sometime later bringing a Saddle and with surprisingly agility preparing the horse.
”Come.” he says again, picking up Seren and putting her in the saddle.
Rose stood and stretched upward, arching her back like a cat and settling her armor. After the night they'd had her muscles were beginning to tighten after sitting and eating a while.
"We'll give you the tour and Nahia can tell the story."
”You are right. I owe you.” he anwers Nahia
Hound follows behind Rose
Nahia smiles at Sakkarot and Rose and says ”Certainly.” She stands from her chair and refills her wine glass before joining the others.
”Let me start with our companions. I’m certain you’re curious about Eric and Zerik. Truly, I am too. The four of us, Seren, the two of them, and myself, arrived here and set up a cover story as a traveling herbalist/healer and some mercenaries. We spent the first few days gathering information from the local townsfolk. That’s when they first disappeared. A couple of days went by without Seren or I seeing them, and we began to worry.”
Nahia leaves a pause for dramatic effect as she takes a sip of her wine. ”We were just about to try and find out if they had been captured when Rose, Mysty, and another couple you might not have met, named Fausto and Sourat, showed up. The Cardinal had sent them as reinforcements, as well as extra additions to our knot. Then Eric and Zerik arrived, telling us that they had new orders. For all we know it may be them that are telling the other creatures to head this way.”
"One called Sourat came to our camp one day, carrying armors and weapons marked for Talirean military." he stops at the keep's door and continue "We made an agreement, he told me that you sent those weapons. I would pay you for then. Unfortunately, despite of my warnings, he refused my protection, and I was to late to prevent his death, and the death of scores of my bugbears. "
Nahia frowns at hearing that. ”It doesn’t honestly surprise me with Sourat. He wasn’t one of the faithful, instead worshiping his own god of sickness. But I’m sorry to hear that about an ally. Well, a number of allies.”
Looking curious, Nahia adds ”There should have also been another with him, a man named Troost. Did he arrive as well?”
"Sourat arrived alone, and never mentioned anyone else in our brief conversations." he walks then inside the bottom level of the keep, one great open room that also holds the Commander’s Seat "This should be their main hall. What end had Lord Havelyn?"
Hmm, did Sourat kill Troost? Or did they merely decide to part ways? I'm not too sure I care either way, but it might be worth telling the others about later...
Nahia grins at Sakkarot and waves her hands towards the seat, saying ”Sit. You won’t get to stay here long, but you might as well take your place as Lord of this fortress for at least a moment...”
Nahia finally replies ”We’re jumping ahead a bit, but we faced him in battle, back in the hallway. By that point we had already defeated all of his Captains, as well has his head priest and maybe a third of his men. He was a strong combatant, but we were too much for him. We ended up framing him and the Magister of this place for being corrupted and hid amongst the soldiers until today, where we lured all of them into the chapel, before revealing the animated corpse of their previous Lord and setting all the rest of them ablaze.”
"And killing the church's guardian angels." Rose said proudly.
Turning to Mysty for a moment, Rose added, "You asked about contacting my father. I might have a way, though it is a little round about, and must be done at midnight, so it will have to wait until tomorrow night."
Nahia looks at Rose curiously. "No one told me about that..."
"It is appreciated." says Sakkarot "But this was not my accomplishment." he says gesturing that you should sit in the Lord's seat.
"Unless I am mistaken" he says to Mysty "The Cardinal gave the knot a clay seal, to be broken when the mission was complete."
Nahia nods at Sakkarot and says "True, but you're the one with the army. We may have opened the doors, but you're the one bringing the fire... Though I do appreciate the compliment."
Giggling, Nahia adds "Besides, it might be difficult for all of us to sit in one seat... though Hound may like for us to attempt anyway..."
Finally being constructive, Nahia also adds "Sorry for being distracted. Yes, Sakkarot is right, and I believe that Seren has the seal."
Nahia looks at Rose curiously. "No one told me about that..."
"You didn't hear them? Talking in archaic language and being all high and mighty with their judgements from their god? They were rather chatty right up until the point where Seren desecrated the whole temple while I held them down and Hound and Mysty put steel in them. They seemed a little surprised."
Giggling, Nahia adds "Besides, it might be difficult for all of us to sit in one seat... though Hound may like for us to attempt anyway..."
"Sounds fun to me..." Rose said with a smirk over her shoulder at her Hulking companion.
Nahia, her brow furrowed, says "I couldn't hear much of anything, and I just figured you all were having fun. Well, glad it wasn't too much trouble."
Hound quirks the side of his mouth up in return.
Hmm...Strong women, but their hips are somewhat narrow. Difficult to have children. Limit each one to just 4 pups?
"If you keep it, they will lay seige. They enjoy their seiges. Those sorts of things tend to end up being events they rally behind. This fort isn't designed to defend against assaults from that direction. Your horde would have a bad time of it and the Mitrans would turn the event into a rallying cry. I would honestly recommend razing it and continuing to pillage into the heartland. Let the orcs and giants have this place. They're better suited to enduring seiges, and it would split the Mitran's attention. If you want a fort of your very own, there are a few that I could recommend heading toward. The top of the list is Branderscar. It is currently empty and damn near impregnable. You set up camp there, let the tribes you've gathered claim territory in the marsh around it, forbid them from warring on each other, and bring them together once in a while to raid into the heartland. The Mitrans would have a really hard time routing you out. Bugbears are good at hiding, horses and knights don't do well in swamps, and you wouldn't have to try to maintain a solid grip on the horde. You'd just give them a hard point to retreat to if they needed, and a symbol of their own to rally behind. "
She realized she'd been rambling about warfare tactics and shrugged like a school girl who'd been talking about dolls too long.
"That's what I'd do, anyway."
"The purpose of this army is not to keep anything." he says answering Mysty question and moving up from the seat room into the stairs that lead to the second floor.
"We'll raze and destroy everything in our path, thanks for the suggestion Rose, but that is not my objective." going up the stairs, you happen across a hall. It's walls, names written on it. You reckon it should be about a bit over than two hundred.
"A memorial perhaps?" asks Sakkarot after looking at the names.
"Destruction is good too. I'm curious about your end goal though." she asked, not terribly interested in the Mitran's memorial wall.
Nahia looks at the wall for a moment before giggling again, saying "For a moment I thought that maybe we should add their Lord and Captains to the list. But I don't think the Mitrans would consider what we did to their bodies honoring them."
Turning back to Sakkarot, Nahia adds "That's not technically true. Not only are there the traditional spoils of war... but I'm sure you intend to keep the glory and honor that you earn. Legacy is a powerful thing, difficult to earn, and harder to keep."
”Legacy?” he asks with a sad smile. ”Mine is a bitter one.” he says giving it a last look at the names, before continuing ”Do you know what are in those doors?” he asks mentioning the two doors in the hallway.
Sakkarot is ignoring Rose half-question on purpose.
Not really. The fight didn't go to this way. Nahia?
Nahia furrows her brow and nods at Mysty, saying "I don't know for sure, but the Dwarven map made it look like some kind of jail."
Pointing to one of the doors, she adds "And these lead to a set of stairs up to the next floor."
Seren giggles in delight as Grumble places her lightly on the horse's back. "Oh he is such a magnificent beast. I'll wait on turning this one, I've been reading on a way to keep them from dying from the first blows they take. This gorgeous beast deserves something special."
"Think you can keep up Grumble?" Seren asks with a grin, kicking lightly at the horse's flank and then promptly falling off the saddle. She laughs out loud as she face plants into the ground. "I guess maybe I should figure out how to ride a horse first eh?"
Brushing herself off as she stands, Seren quirks her head up towards Grumble "Do you know where everyone else went? I suppose maybe we should catch up."
”Can’t you smell it?” says the ogre ”The horse is more afraid of you than you are of it. You un’ just keep your legs closed and hold the reins.” says the ogre putting Seren again into the saddle.
”The others un’s went with Sakkarot inside the keep.”He nodded and clucked her horse into motion.
Despite of her obvious inexperience riding horses, Seren found it was surprisingly simple. It maybe was the fact her horse was a fine breed, and It was keen in keeping her over the saddle.
Into the night, they went, and in the distance, they could see the fire in the city bellow and faint screams of the dying. The more they got closer, the slaughter noises intensified, a smoke blocking most of the view.
Before Seren the smoke parted exposing a carpet of bodies, broken bones and meat. The air was hot, turgid and cloying. She saw villagers, still bleeding; their heads crushed by what must have been huge, terribly powerful blows. She saw torn bodies, crumpled children, and limbs that had been ripped from bodies. Seren managed only a few moments of careful examination of the scene around them before she looked at the ogre at her side, unable to fully encompass the magnitude of the slaughter. Her stallion, bred of the finest lines of Talirean military stock, a warhorse trained in the blood for generations, had lost its proud, unyielding strut, and now picked its way carefully along the road. The ogre smiled at her side.
Walking into the door that lead into the hallway with the stairs to the next floor, Sakkarot asks ”And you? What kind of legacy will you leave? Traitors of your own kind, betrayers of the innocent.”
Climbing the stair, you reach another hallway lit by two torches on sconces. Looking into the door, the mage laboratory. ”There were rumors about a fire-addicted wizard defending this tower.” he says after a closer inspection ”I take he is dead as well?”
our legacy? It is commonly said that the victors write the histories. It doesn't matter though. Whoever wins, we are never going to be forgotten. We will be legends. Revenge, power and legend. We'll have it all.
Hound looks to Rose to see if she wants what happened with the wizard to be let known.
"The wizard escaped." Rose said in a frustrated grumble.
Nahia nods at Rose's statement, adding "A few days ago he managed to escape us, but not without leaving his wand and spellbook behind."
”Well, it’s not really that bad.” says the bugbear chieftain ”We’ve had the honor to make the wizard our delivery boy.”
After inspecting the mage laboratory for some more seconds, Sakkarot moves up again, ending up in the last floor. He then walks into the council chamber; the large chamber is austere and conservatively appointed. There is little more here than a heavy wooden table and a few chairs. Lord Havelyn’s personal banner hangs on the western wall – a Mitran sun crossed by sword and key.
Sakkarot spends some time looking at the symbol before saying, mostly to himself ”I’ve often wondered why the cardinal chose this place to be the crushing point.”
Military and symbolic no doubt. This fort has never been broken and thus toppling it is a great blow to morale.
”Of course there was a military reason” says the bugbear ”that however, could have been said for any other castle alongside the wall. There were others that would have put some weeks closer to the bigger cities.” and at Hound commentary he adds ”And this is not the only one that never have been breached.”
Then he enters the room and sit at one of the chairs ”This should be a good place.” he look around once more before continuing ”The terms are the same as before, he says to Mysty, Hound and Rose, a history for a history. Within some limits, I’ll do my best to any question you ask, and you answer one of mines.” he stops then, waiting for any question you may ask of him.
Rose smiled sweetly. "I already asked you one. What is your end goal for this invasion?"
"To burn and destroy, to cause fear and despair. To prove the Mitran faith is nothing more than an illusion." he answer and then asks ”Why the cardinal did not sent you with the others?”
"He meant to, but I ended up being sent to a salt mine instead of Branderscar. It definitely complicated things. Because I wasn't sent to the right prison Tiadora ended up having to show up herself and give them a handkerchief full of magic embroidery."
"It took me a while to get out of the mines. It wasn't until I found Hound that everything fell into place. By that point the Knot had already escaped the prison, gone to meet you, and was on their way to get things started here in Ballentyne."
What is your next target? Since we aided your entry past the wall we may very well be doing more sabotage.
|
perhaps we should leave that up to the cardinal. He will most likely have tasks for us. On that note, we should break the seal to summon him. He did not strike me as the quiet and patient type. Our mission is done, and successfully. We need to report that.
Mysty grinned.
And get our just reward of course
Balentyne falls with barely a bugbear slain. The hairy beasts immediately attack Aldencross and feast on human flesh in an orgy of death and slaughter. There are few survivors and little warning as the Fire-Axe’s horde sweeps down into the Heartland of Talingarde. The war has begun with a crushing defeat for Talingarde.
Once the deed is done. You break the clay seal.
Some moments later, Tiadora appears, carrying a small but heavy wooden box.
She spend some time, staring openly at Hound, but says nothing as she hands the box to whoever broke the seal.
Inside it, platinum ingots worth 10000 gp and a a small hand written note.
"Our lord smiles upon your success. Here is a token of my esteem. Use it to rest, recover and strengthen yourselves. Other commands will come when the Knot is needed. Your work has just begun. – A."
From a promontory, you can see the great bugbear horde camped south of the Watch Wall. Balentyne yet burns behind you. Tiadora remarks, "I have seen no evidence of any army gathering to meet the horde. It seems Zadaria has also succeeded at her mission and has assassinated the commanders. Truly, a great achievement."
“Making matters worse for poor Talingarde, small bands of creatures unaligned with Sakkarot approach the breach, eager to take advantage of the chaos. Probably best to leave. This region is about to become very dangerous."
“Still, this will not be enough. Balentyne may be broken but Talingarde is yet strong. Soon word will reach the south. The Heartland and the great cities of the Cambrian Bay will marshal their armies. They will meet Sakkarot on the field and it will be far too close to a fair fight. We must do something about that."
“Come, my lords, your ship awaits. Try not to burn this one.”