Travels amongst the Border Princes II (WFRP 2e) IC

[Haval]

'Yeah, no one will ever get angry at you for taking their money like that.' Gabriele grins. To Destiny, 'Just let me know what I can do to help.'

[rax]

"At least most of 'em won't have an army to back them up if they do take offence," Severin grinned.

[dojango]

"It's good of you to want to help," Destiny says to Gabriele. "So few of the big folk will. I need to discuss things with some people, but if we could smuggle a crate or two of daggers into the camp you described, the people there can help themselves. If you don't want to do this," she adds, turning to Severin, "I will understand. I know some others who might be able to help."

[rax]

"Hey, I didn't say I wouldn't help, just that it wasn't what I was thinking I'd be doing next..." Severin protested in embarrassment.

[Haval]

'We saw what it was like in there. If it was me I'd want someone to do something about it.'

[dojango]

"Good. Thank you, Severin. And you as well," she adds to Gabriele. "Can you meet back here tomorrow night?" Destiny leaves after a few moments, back into the kitchens, leaving the two of you to finish your drinks in peace.

Once you finish at the tavern it's a short hike back across the bridge towards the castle. The guards wave you in and a servant asks you your business. You're told to wait for a few minutes outside the door to the keep before the servant returns and takes you back through a side entrance and then through the servant's passages to a discrete parlor. Mademoiselle le Houet is waiting for you . "I am glad to see you two safe and sound. I was worried when it took so long to hear back from you. I trust that you fared well?"

[rax]

"Got stabbed hard enough that we had to do a layover in Stralwald on the way back, or we would've been here sooner. Bit o' personal business that got out of hand," Severin admits.

[Haval]

'Inselberg seems pretty lawless.' Gabriele will add. 'The good news is I feel like most of the people living there might welcome someone better running things if they ever had a choice.'

[dojango]

Le Houet winces in sympathy when Severin mentions he'd been stabbed, but says, "You look hale and healthy as ever, I wouldn't even guess you'd been hurt." Then she leans in closer to Gabriele and says, "Do tell... I asked you to find out about the town. How many men does Solomon have at his command? Where are they stationed, usually? If I were to get some parchment and charcoal do you think you could sketch out a map of the town's entrances and defenses?"

[rax]

"I think we can manage that," Severin answers regarding Le Houet's request for a map.

"As for the number of men Tollares has, it was hard to pin down. Folk we talked to reckon he had about a dozen men when he took over, in addition to five officers who keep the men in line and run his mine. He keeps some in the town and the rest at the mine. He's expanded his numbers since he took over and most recently he took in a bunch of deserters from Otto's side of the river - probably survivors of the attack on Stralward."

"On the other hand, he's been losing men to incidents in the mine. We did a job for him down there to help with that an' he collected a posse of about twenty men for the job - five of 'em didn't make it back though, and another five were wounded. I reckon as long as he's got money he can probably hire himself some new sword hands from among the local ne'er'do-wells," Severin opines.

"One o' his officers is a Halfling calling herself Gretchen Tollares - no relation to Sol, in case you were wondering - an' she's got herself a crew of Halflings that scout for Sol and "escort" caravans entering his territory. We saw about a dozen of 'em when we entered Sol's territory. Gretchen's also been pursuing a feud with the Riverhopper clan - alot of 'em are now slaving away in Sol's mine," he adds.

[Haval]

'It's not much but maybe that's enough men to have a good go at defending the pathway to get up there' Gabriele added.

[dojango]

Le Houet has the charcoal and parchment brought over and as the two of you work on the map she peppers you with questions about your time at Inselberg. Who you met there, what was on top of the mesa, what the mines were like, how your travels to and from the place were, that sort of thing. From time to time she makes notes on some paper she has at a writing desk. Once the map is done she takes it and says, "We're going to have a little council meeting soon. If you'd join me to answer any questions asked of you, I'd appreciate it. We will have dinner afterwards if you haven't eaten yet."

Spoiler

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If there's anything you want to keep from her or anything you particularly want her to be aware of just let me know.

[Haval]

'You're the boss.' Gabriele isn't sure how much she'll be able to contribute but appreciates being fed.

[rax]

"I'm not one to pass up a free meal," Severin agrees. "Uh, should we get cleaned up or something first?" he asks Le Houet, glancing down at his travel stained clothes.

[dojango]

Her ears perk up when you mention Vorgrimler. "So, the Imperator's flunky was lurking around Inselberg?" She muses. "I wonder... well whatever he's scheming can't be helped. And hopefully won't matter. And you say the locals didn't bother you much? Except for those renegade halflings?" And then at the end, she says, "I'll have the servants get you some clean clothes before dinner. But keep those on for the meeting... it will give your report a sense of, shall we say, 'urgency'? Being fresh from the field? Even if they do need an urgent meeting with the laundresses."

She leads you to the Duke's study, where Sir Denis and Sir Laurens are sitting behind their father at his desk. Joshua Carbey, the quartermaster is there, as well as an older knight that you don't recognize. Le Houet gives an extremly slight curtsey to the Duke and allows Sir Denis to kiss her hand and she says, "It is good to see you well, Nephew. And you too, Sir Laurens. Brother. My scouts have returned from Inselberg and they have an interesting report." She then launches into an extremely brief summary of what you told her, and displays the map you drew on Duke Bremcote's desk. "As you can see there are only two main access points to the top of the mesa. It should be trivial to besiege the place. With minimal farming atop the mesa, it should be a quick siege. The locals can be bought off and Sol does not have much support from the population aside from his crew of bandits and ne'er-do-wells."

The Duke responds, "This is not new information. Of what benefit is it? A campaign of this length is expensive even if victory is certain."

Le Houet responds, "What's new is that we're cut off from the eastern trade routes. Most of the merchants aren't willing to pay his tolls and with the river trade cut off it means we are lacking in a good deal of material we need. Thanks to Sir Denis's victory against the orcs we are safe enough for now but we may not be able to support our knights and warriors without trade..." The Duke's eyes had glazed over when she mentioned trade but refocused when she mentioned the soldiers. She continues, "The copper mines are extremely profitable as well. The Tileans are purchasing as much copper as can be moved out of the mines and why should that go to Sol instead of our knights and soldiers? After all, we are the ones holding the lines against the orcs..." It's clear that she's had this speech rehearsed for some time and it is tailor-made to appeal to the Duke. He is nodding along as she mentions his victories against the orcs and the need for the resources to support the war with the orcs. Eventually, he turns to Severin and Gabriele and says, "So, you've just returned from Inselberg. How well is the place defended?"

[rax]

"Ah, well, that was one of the things that was difficult to pin down, but between what the locals said and we could see for ourselves, Tollares has about a dozen men working full time for him and about as many Halfling scouts. Besides them, there's Tollares himself and his five chief officers, as well as an unknown number of deserters from Otto the Hunter - most likely survivors of the attack on Stralwald. Inselberg also seemed to have plenty of thugs hanging about and Tollares was able to hire a score of them overnight to do a job for him while we were there," Severin tries to lay out what they know of the strength of Sol's forces.

[Haval]

'The biggest problem with taking the town is probably going to be getting up there in the first place' Gabriele added. 'Tollares probably has enough men there that he can hold the path for a while anyway. Anyone who tries to go through them is going to lose people even if they win.'

[dojango]

Sir Denis speaks up. "Do we have enough food for a siege?" The others look to Carbey, who rubs his stubbled chin with the stump of his missing arm. He says, "Food ain't all the problem, the problem is gettin' it where it needs to be. I reckon we'll have enough for maybe 8 weeks, maybe more depending on how Luiz is doin' down Stralwald way."

The others consider this for a few moments, and then the Duke turns to Severin and Gabrele and gestures for the two of you to leave. A servant leads you to a small room where you can change and maybe wipe yourself down with a perfumed towel and some water. Shortly afterwards, dinner is served. You're seated at the lower tables again, although today's meal is not nearly as raucous as the last one you had here.

Spoiler

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Anything else you want to do in the castle? Otherwise you can have a training montage to spend 400 XP over the next few days. You were also pre-paid with a letter of credit, as you may recall, so if you want to do some shopping you can as well. Castle Bremcote does have a master armorer in town.

[Haval]

After they leave the room Gabriele will say to Severin, 'You reckon the Duke has the patience to starve them? It wouldn't be great for everyone else living up there.' Then there was the matter of his dreams, 'Should we see if that Elf is still around? Maybe he doesn't know anything useful but he seems like the closest to an expert round here.'

[rax]

"I didn't want to bring it up just yet, but there's another option besides committing to a siege - Destiny's plan. Sneak into the camp, arm the slaves so that they can take and hold it by force, then mount an attack through the mines. Time it right, and it might just make a siege unnecessary," Severin answers.

"Aye, maybe the Elf is our best bet for now. I'm also curious as to what happened to the crown. The Green Witch seemed really concerned about it ending up in the wrong hands. Could be it's more dangerous than we knew," he says.

[dojango]

Dinner this time is more sedate than the first time you were here, although the Duke and his family and a few close advisors fill up the main table. This time there are only two lower tables, and you find yourself sitting with Lena, the elven woman that runs the Duke's stables. Alyssa also comes and sits with you, while Laurette sits nearby but studiously ignores Alyssa. You ask about Torendil, your one-time elvish companion, and Lena tells you this, "My mother always warned me against having affairs with wizards. They are studious and quick to... well, quick. Torendil seemed very sweet, and needed a lot of... instruction. I thought things were going well, but once we got to that stupid temple he got all weird and obsessive over it. He barely said a word to me the whole time we were there. I told him off once we got back and he left the castle and I haven't seen him since. I bet he went back to that stupid temple." Alyssa chimes in and says, "He didn't say a single word to me when he got back. I went to talk to him and he was acting like I was beneath him. Guess we didn't know him as well as we thought we did."

[rax]

"Well...that doesn't sound good," Severin answers Alyssa with a worried look. "Do you know what happened to the crown we brought back from the temple? The one with the red gemstones?"

[Haval]

Gabriele grinned at Lena's mention of 'Instruction.' 'He did seem a little odd, but it's not like I've met another wizard before. Maybe they're all like that.' On Torendil's disapearance, 'I suppose it's not like we can keep him here if he wants to leave, but I hope for his sake he's not hanging out alone in a place like that.'

[dojango]

Alyssa looks around nervously and says, "It's hidden somewhere. I'll show you after dinner. Why do you ask?"

As the last course is served, Le Houet comes over and tells you, "Go out and have enjoy yourself for the next few days. Report back to me on Aubentag, in four days."

[rax]

"I...umm...heard a story about it. Might be that there's more to it than meets the eye, and not in a good way. Does Torendil know where it is?" he answes Alyssa.

[Haval]

'For that matter, how many people know where it is?'

[dojango]

"Nobody but me. It's in my room," she leads you to where her 'official' room is. She opens the door and stops short. The room seems to have been completely ransacked. She rushes to where the mattress has been shredded apart and starts digging through it. She pulls out a purse and checks it. "They missed the coin-purse. But the crown! It's gone!"

[rax]

"Oh Sweet Esmeralda!" Severin curses. "How long since you were here?"

[Haval]

Gabriele had expected a room in Bremcote castle to be more secure. 'Alyssa, you reckon anyone's annoyed at you enough to break in here? I saw the way Laurette was looking at you.'

Downtime

Over the next few days Gabriele will mostly enjoy the fact that no one is likely to try to kill her here. She will though see if she can find someone in the castle to spar with. The trip to Inselberg and what had happened to Severin had shown the importance of being prepared. Otherwise she'll see if she can get the hang of this gambling.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Doing some things to justify xp expenditures unless something else comes up

I do need to check the thread for some things, but at the least she'll see how Murillo's doing as well.

[dojango]

Alyssa is a little rattled and says, "A couple of days? I spend most nights with Laurens... the servants don't really come here too often." And then, "Laurette? She wouldn't..." Alyssa trails off. "I mean, she's petty and spiteful and jealous, but..." She shakes her head. "Only the crown was taken. What did you learn about it? Why were you asking about it just now?"