Sieghard, Urgrim & Elsa, 24th Brauzeit

“Aye,” said Skorgrund, seeming to begrudge the words coming out of his own mouth. “That’s what I said.”

Stiffly pushing back his chair, he lowered himself back down, bringing his head about level with the top of the table. “I’ll be staying here at least until your Prince arrives,” he announced. “I assume this town has somewhere with rooms?”

OOC:
Spoiler
Show
I’m not going to hold up the IC for it, but are you going to get involved in finding barracks for the dwarfs, or leave it to them and Sussman?

Sieghard, Urgrim & Elsa, 27th Brauzeit

The next three days passed about as peacefully as could be expected with a troop of heavily-armed dwarfs in town. Skorgrund spent the time poring over his books of ancient history and pestering Sieghard with further questions about the spear, while Grunlok made a survey of the earthworks and drew up plans for ‘fixing’ them. In the Star of Marienburg, the innkeeper quickly sold out of what he was told several times a day was “piss-weak manling barley water.”

The weather was growing colder, and dark clouds still lingered over the Dead Hills like guests determined to overstay their welcome. The sentries on the outskirts of town saw nothing worth reporting, but on Bezahltag one of the Thorns in Manann’s Keep claimed he saw a ‘big bird’ flying high over the town. By the time Sieghard was called to the scene, he had lost sight of it.

It was Konigstag when word came down from the lookouts on the fort that Sforza’s army was approaching. The townspeople gathered to greet them, many of them cheering and waving handkerchiefs as the marching column emerged from the woods - though not all. Elsa noticed Lottie Cinderhill sitting on a low knoll some way behind the main crowd, gnawing on a crust of black bread and watching the approaching soldiers with deep suspicion.

The first into town were the Iron Company, with their banner flying and kettle-drums rattling. Rank upon rank of armoured pikemen filed over Evatt’s wooden bridge, more than Sieghard had thought were in Savonne - Sforza must have recalled Caracciolo’s troops from the Shepherd’s Valley too.

Next came Falkenwald’s Falcons, some on horseback, some on foot. Next, a trio of priests - Barbaro, Hechsler and Sister Ioana, with three Shallyan initiates walking behind. Behind them, a team of mules and oxen pulled Filomena and two huge canvas-covered wagons, loaded with great timbers and iron fittings. Looking at them, Sieghard was pretty sure they were the parts of Alvarr’s siege catapults; the bridge groaned beneath their weight as they rumbled over the moat.

Last of all was a horse-drawn coach, its curtains drawn and its doors painted with Sforza’s heraldry. A small detachment of Iron Company men marched on guard duty behind it, making sure the straggling tail of camp followers that followed the column kept their distance. It clearly didn’t contain Sforza himself - Sieghard had already spotted him further up the column, riding his white horse as he watched his troops march over the bridge.

Dismounting, Sforza looked around and walked over to Sieghard, accompanied by an Iron Company honour guard himself. “Sieghard,” he said, by way of acknowledgement. His expression was one of fixed determination. “Where’s Hildebrand?”

Ludo & Adelbert, 27th Brauzeit

Valdes looked quietly amused. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

Vico’s house was out among the shelving farmland on the south side of town - a homely little cottage down a dirt road between the fields. His wife, an Arabyan woman about ten years his junior, was indeed sleeping, and didn’t take too kindly to being woken. After a few minutes’ bleary-eyed irritation at the strangers knocking at her door, and then a few more of disbelief of what she was being told, she came storming over to the Rooster, where Vico was still fast asleep in old Gill’s armchair.

Ludo and Adelbert left them to the sound of their furious, extremely one-sided argument spilling out into the street. In the torrent of strongly-accented Tilean that came drifting up the hill after them, they could make out a few fragments.

<...This was your ‘hunting trip’ with Alessio? Hm? HM?>
<...Soldiers at my door telling me you were DEAD…>
<...I’ll be as loud as I WANT, the whole TOWN is already talking about it…>

The Stubbs house stood at the very top of the road - Ludo had never been sure whether that was to be close to the mine, or just so that Odo could look down on his neighbours. Letting himself in with the spare key that Petra hid under the pots, Ludo at last pulled off his sand-filled boots, and soon surrendered to exhausted sleep.

OOC:
Spoiler
Show
I’m going off the plan in this post for what you guys are going to do next, but I’d like to hear how Adelbert’s Magical Sense fits in (is he going to be going door-to-door? Setting up a desk in the village square and getting people to queue up to be seen? Does he have any particular thing he’s looking for?), and if Ludo’s going to be going from town to town putting up the posters personally, I’d like to get an idea of his schedule (when he’ll be in Mirino, when he’ll be in Isolici) and whether he’s taking anyone with him.

With respect to getting copies of the poster made, I think it would take about 2 days in Sermena to rustle those up. With respect to Valdes’ redistribution of troops between the 3 towns, he’ll be making an immediate start on that the next morning - you can expect there’ll be soldiers marching from Sermena to Mirino & Isolici on the 28th, and from Mirino to Isolici on the 29th-30th.