Travels amongst the Border Princes (WFRP 2e) IC

[rs2excelsior]

Torendil looks with satisfaction as the foul mutants turn and run like cowards. He is on the verge of hurling more insults as their backs when he hears the merchant calling for his daughter and quietly curses instead. He shakes his head. The caravan wouldn't move until the girl was back, he was sure of that. He scowls at the vaguely muddy road, and attempts to keep the hem of his robe raised as he jumps down from the wagon. Attempting to retain an imperious air, avoid tripping, and keep his clothing clean simultaneously, he marches over to the drivers who are still standing. "The mules," he demands in the precise Reikspiel common to elves. "In what direction did they flee? Did the girl follow them?" He checks for signs of where they might have gone himself, as well.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Perception test:
vs Int +10 (53)
(1d100)[55]

[RossN]

Carl

Fighting back tears of pain and rage at his wound - even without looking he knew it was very bad - Carl sent another sling stone hurtling after the archers as they turned to go, praying to draw a little more blood in spite for his injury.

Spoiler: Actions

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If possible Carl is aiming for the mutant who hit him.

Reload Sling (Free Action thanks to Rapid Reload talent)

Aim (Half Action)
Shoot Bow-armed Mutant (Half Action): (1d100)[73] vs 68 (BS 48 +20% for Aim with the Sharpshooter talent.)
Damage: (1d10+4)[14] (+ 3 for Sling + 1 for Mighty Shot.)

Edit: Damn.

[Haval]

Gabriele wishes she still had her bow on her but will let the mutant leave. She'll pause to check her own wound before worrying about anything else. Better to rest her leg for a bit while it healed, although this wasn't the place for that. 'What are the chances they'll be back?' Looking at George, other people had it worse. She'll ask the guards, 'Where's the nearest village? Would they have anyone who can help him?'

After she retrieves her bow from the ground she'll join the Elf in looking for the mules. They were panicked but they shouldn't be that hard to find.

Spoiler

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Perception to look for the mules or Bernice
vs. Int 33 (+20 if Acute Hearing is useful here)
(1d100)[7]

[rax]

Severin

"Don't you worry, Master Linus, we'll find her - and the mules as well. They can't have gotten far. But Clark is right - your arm is in a right state, and Beaumont is in a bad way as well. Unless someone here is secretly a surgeon, we need to get all the injured to a healer as quick as we can."

"With Bertrand here, I'm as fast as the mules. If we can get a trace on the mules and Bernice, I volunteer to help round them up."

Spoiler

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If no one manages a successful Follow Trail, perhaps Animal Care would allow Severin some to use some "animal psychology" to predict the mules' likely behaviour?

(1d100)[94] vs. Int 34 ...NOPE! Damn mules. Too stubborn to even follow a predictable pattern. Yeah, that must be it...

[dojango]

The caravan had made camp in a small gully. The meager path heads south, towards Faucon Pass. The bare soil is rocky, and marked with thin scrub here and there. Not much cover, and not much to find a trail... Still, the mules aren't trying to hide. And Gabriele can read their hoofprints easily enough. They mostly ran down the easiest path, to the north, and you vaguely recall Bernice following them. Some fresh prints lead that way as well. The archer mutants are on the hill to the west. Carl speeds a stone over their heads as they disappear over the crest of the ridge.

Torendil marches over to the uninjured muleskinner, who is trying to calm some of the panicking mules. The driver doesn't look at him, but responds, "you got powers, right? Elves n' animals... like you can talk and they'll listen to you? Can you help calm them?"

The scout looks to the south. "Bout ten miles through the mountains to Faucon Pass. There was a barber there last time I went through. Don't think George here can walk... and Linus don't look much better neither. Gonna see about makin' a sledge. You can help, or maybe track down those mules. I think we bled them enough that they won't come back till we're gone, but I reckon they'll come back soon enough. They wanted meat and I ain't gonna waste time burying the dead. You don't look so hot neither, Carl. I seen big men go down from a blow like that..."

The guards, professional soldiers to the last, are looking over the bodies. One of the guards aims a kick at a fallen mutant's body. "They ain't got nuttin. Bastards."

Spoiler: Gabriele

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It's hard to hear over the braying of the mules, but was that a sudden shriek? You listen for a few moments more, but don't hear it again...

[Haval]

'Quiet.' Gabriele holds up a hand. 'I think that was a scream.' She'll move off at a run to the north in the direction that Bernice and the mules had gone.

[rax]

Severin

"Hold up, Mistress Gabriele! No need to go racing off by yourself, I'm with you!" Giving the reins a quick snap, Severin urges Bertrand onward, trotting after the hunter.

[rs2excelsior]

Torendil stares at the muleskinner with incredulity. That was his job, was it not? Did he not realize how much more important it was that they track down the girl? "No. I do not speak to animals," he responds after a moment. He looks up sharply as Gabriele and Severin head off in the direction of the sounds. Without another word to the mule driver, he takes off after the other two, still trying to avoid soiling his robe too badly.

[Ionbound]

Alyssa follows Gabriele as well, touching a hand to her head and realizing that her hair is matted with blood from her head wound. She shakes it off, muttering, "Gotta keep going...Can't stop and let them get away..." and takes a deep breath before speeding up in pursuit of Gabriele and, by extension, the mutants.

[RossN]

Carl

Carl looked up and over. The halfling soldier looked pale and was gripping his left shoulder. He'd removed the arrow but the wound looked bad.

'That was bracing,' he smiled weakly. 'I'll do my best with Linus and George but I agree we need a true surgeon - or a Sister of Shallya.'

[dojango]

Heading back north, Gabriele follows the trail of the mules. Soon, the party comes upon a mule tied to a thorny shrub. The mule is eating contentedly, the past fright gone from its mind. Footprints continue onward, along the top of a small ravine. Along the edge, there is a very messy bloodstain. Examining it, there are a few scraps of hide and fur; one of the mules must have been killed here. No bodies. The trail is somewhat confused at this point, a small group of... something was here. A few of the footprints seem human enough, but some are a little strange. The trail leads off to the west. By now, about half an hour has passed.

[Ionbound]

As they walk, Alyssa looks a little green and eventually asks, "Does anyone have a bandage or something for my head...I'm feeling a bit off."

When the reach the clearing, she looks at the ground and frowns, looking at the trail, and sighs, eventually saying, "Off to the west then..."

[Haval]

The tied up mule was a good sign. Bernice must have been here. The blood was a less welcome one. 'They shouldn't be able to move very fast if they're dragging a dead mule.' Gabriele was trying to be optimistic in spite of herself. Hopefully Bernice was still alive.

With the trail still visible at least they wouldn't need to waste any more time. To Severin, 'I'd rather know where they're going. Can you catch up to them on that horse or is that likely to get them shooting at you?'

Spoiler

Show

Perception to hear anything
vs. Int 33 (+20 Acute Hearing)
(1d100)[38]

[rs2excelsior]

Torendil trails after the group, panting heavily. By this point he has given up on not getting the hem of his robe dirty and is settling for not tripping over it. He sees the mule and lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh, excellent, she should be--" he glances around, looking for some sign of the girl. "Are. You. Serious? She isn't here?" With a long-suffering sigh, Torendil catches his breath and gets ready to continue following the trail.

[RossN]

Carl

Carl was too busy trying to patch up the wounded to go after the missing girl - and really too severely injured himself to have gone anyway. After giving Linus an apologetic look (he doubted his hasty battlefield treatment had done much good) the halfling soldier walked over to the scout.

'I'm not in great shape but I'll help with making the sled.' Carl smiled weakly. 'You seem to know these lands Clark. Are all our new neighbours going to be so happy to see us?'

[rax]

"Ahem! Don't let Bertrand hear you calling him a horse. He's sensitive about that," Severin admonishes with surprising seriousness. "But yes, if the mutants are dragging along a mule and perhaps Bernice as well, I think I have decent odds of following as long as the trail is clear. Don't much fancy the idea of presenting myself as a target, but since I'll be on ponyback I should at least be able to beat a hasty retreat. And as long as the rest of you don't fall too far behind, we might still catch them."

OOC: Severin doesn't have Follow Trail trained, so if tracking skills are required, he'll auto-fail. If the tracks are obvious or if a Perception roll will do, then he has some chance of staying on target.

[dojango]

Back at the Caravan:

As Carl checks on the wounded, Clark busies himself constructing a crude stretcher. Some canvas between two tent poles. He cuts a few packs lose from the mules. "Anything we leave behind'll be stolen by those filthy savages."
Linus protests weakly. He asks the guards to save the most valuable packs. As that's done, they trample and tear apart the packs being left behind. "No time to burn it," one mutters.
The wounded submit to Carl's ministrations, but Linus has a broken arm, and it's beyond Carl's skill to set. And George... the arrow is lodged in deep. His breathing is getting shallower and more labored. As the others work, the injured muleskinner sits beside George. After a while, he says, "I think he's gone..." he says. There is a moment of silence. "Poor bastard. One day left until retirement..."

Clark talks to Carl as he works. "Can you walk, Carl? We can make room on the stretcher. Happy to see us? I don't know. George's widow ain't going to be happy. That's Lord Bremcote's lands. He thinks he's back in Bretonnia, knights n' peasants n' ****e. But he drove off the orks out way back when, so most people don't complain too much. Least not when he's around. Guess it depends on what you want to do. Linus was gonna set up shop somewhere. Everyone likes a merchant that pays his taxes... but wandering thugs? Well, there's always that sort of work to be done, I suppose."

[Haval]

Gabriele will reach out and stroke Bertrand's nose. 'Sorry Bertrand.'

[dojango]

In the desert:

Gabriele points out the mess of tracks heading west, deeper into the desert. At one point, she thinks she hears the sounds of rocks clattering down a hill. Severin and Bertrand trot off as the others follow on foot.

Spoiler: Severin

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Severin follows the obvious path for a about ten minutes. The path winds into a small ravine. Looking down, he can see a number of figures as they disappear around a bend. Carefully following at the edge of the ravine, he sees a small group of mutants. Two of them are carrying the body of a mule lashed to a pole, while one is leading a young woman by a rope, her hands tied in front of her. She has a number of the mule's packs on her back as well. They are travelling slowly, with their burdens. It would be fairly easy for the party to catch up with them, but if they wanted to spend the time to forge ahead of the group, perhaps they could lay an ambush?

[em.]

Wertha stays with the main group and does her best to help the muleskinner with the animals and assist to the security of their diminished caravan, saying a quick prayer for the dead before getting on with things. She wouldn't be able to track somethin' faster than an elf or a trained ranger, and too many folk'd make too much noise.

[rax]

Spoiler: dojango

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At the sight of Bernice captured, Severin curses quietly. This would have been so much easier if they'd only gotten the mule...

Taking care to remain out of sight, he dithers about how to proceed. One small Halfling against three big mutants? That's a fool's bet, Severin Cinderhill. But I'll have the element of surprise, won't I? Still THREE BIG mutants, you dunderhead! Remember what dad always said? Yes of course - a heroic Halfling is a dead Halfling. Words to live by, right? Still, they're moving awful slow. Perhaps slow enough that Gabriele and the rest of them could catch up some time soon? Maybe...

Finally, he makes a decision. He will continue shadowing the mutants, keeping pace with them, hoping that the rest of the party will be moving fast enough to catch up sooner rather than later. Then they can make a plan for freeing Bernice and recovering the mule and stolen goods. Should the mutants pick up the pace, he'll try and delay them somehow.

[dojango]

The Searchers:

The ravine winds across the landscape. Severin hurries up ahead to find some way to delay the mutants. Spotting some loose rocks and scree by the edge of the ravine, he (with a lot of help from Bertrand) tries to dislodge the debris into the ravine. It's tougher (and noisier) than he expects, and after a few minutes of sweating and annoyed neighing, the bottom of the ravine has a small rocky pile across the main part of the trail. The mutants have to stop and carefully lift their spoils over the debris before continuing. As they reach the other side, they confer amongst themselves for a few minutes, before one points up in Severin's general direction. They pause some more, sharing a few swigs from a waterskin, not offering any to Bernice, who sinks into a limp pile under her burden. Severin hears some noise from behind him as Torendril, Gabriele, and Alyssa approach.

[Haval]

Gabriele is trying to preserve her energy. The desert was a bad sign. How were they even living out here? And it was far too exposed for her liking. She was really not in Ostland any more.

While she follows the trail she will try and keep an eye on the terrain around them. They could be heading for another ambush and not even know it. Seeing Severin came as something of a relief. 'Did she make it?'

[Ionbound]

Alyssa keeps up with Gabriele, and when they find Severin, she adds, "If they laid a finger on her..."

[rs2excelsior]

Torendil is thoroughly out of breath, staggering through this gods-forsaken desert, and seriously considering the merits of just going back and saying they lost the trail. However, the others show no sign of giving up, so he stumbles along, muttering to himself and gradually falling further behind, until he sees the others have found Severin. He gathers up a reserve of energy from somewhere and catches up, doing his best not to collapse from the long chase, and glances down into the ravine. He quietly spits a curse in Eltharin, and sits back to catch his breath.

After a moment he glaces over again, and quickly drops back. "Well, the mule is past saving, so it's the girl we want. I can force the creature holding her rope to drop it." He begins clearing his mind and forcing his heart to stop hammering, preparing himself mentally to try and cast again.

[rax]

"Good to see you all," Severin greets the other three, keeping his voice low. "I was plumb out of ideas for how to slow them down," he admits.

"Bernice looks fine - they've just mistaken her for a mule," he jokes. "Looks like there's just the three of them. We have cover and the high ground. I suggest we take advantage of that and hit them with a barrage of sling stones, spells, and arrows. Alyssa - how about you make as much as noise as possible when we attack. Make it sound like we brought the whole caravan with us. Hopefully they'll do a runner if they think they're outnumbered and leave Bernice and the packs behind. If they stand and fight, we'll have to hope we can bring one or two of them down and then swarm the last ones before they try any mischief against the girl. Sound good?"

[Haval]

Gabriele looks grim. She didn't want to think about whatever the mutants wanted Bernice for as a prisoner.

'Sounds good to me. We hurt them hard enough and maybe they'll leave.' Unless they're hungry enough to be desperate.

[Ionbound]

Alyssa chuckles as she replies, "That's generally the opposite of what I do, but sure. I'll try and figure something out."

[Haval]

Gabriele is going to move quietly to the edge of the ravine and try to find an angle on the mutants where she can shoot one of them in the back. She'll wait until the others are in position before opening fire

Spoiler

Show

Silent Move vs. Ag 38 (+10 Rover)
(1d100)[81]

Not shooting until the others are in a position to join in

In case it's needed
Init - (1d10+38)[48]

Half Action to Aim
Half Action to Shoot

vs. BS 42 (+10 Aim)
(1d100)[67]
Fortune point if needed
(1d100)[32]

Hits without the fortune if they count as unaware, but she did fail stealth

Damage (1d10+3 with Armour Piercing)
(1d10+3)[5]

Taal's Fury
(1d100)[52]
(1d10)[4]

Wounds: 6/11
FP:2/4
Arrows: 6/10

[rs2excelsior]

Torendil follows Gabriele up the slope, also trying to stay as quiet as possible. He also waits for the others to get into position before acting.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Silent Move
vs. 1/2 Ag (21)
(1d100)[86]

Half action to make a channeling test:
vs WP +10 (46)
(1d100)[20]

Half action to cast Drop on the mutant holding Bernice's rope
Target 4: (1d10)[2] (+1 if channeling test successful)
If the spell is successful target must make a WP roll to resist

WP test in case of nat 1 on the casting roll (36)
(1d100)[74]

EDIT: Well, made the channeling test, but still wasn't quite enough to get the spell off.