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

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It is a dark night in the shadow of the Inselberg. The caravanserai buzzes with activity as some of the men from the caravan are waking up as they realize that two strings of horses have gone missing, ridden out past the sleeping guards into the wilderness. The caravan master, a tall, thickset man, is screaming at the two guards as a few others are scurrying around examining the tracks. The men (and one woman) are ignoring Severin and Gabriele as they run about. Harman has remained on guard back at Lorenzo's camp, after all, it wouldn't do to leave it unguarded when horse thieves are about.

To Severin quietly, 'I think someone had a little too much to drink. Or they've never had to stand watch before.' It was good to feel like she knew what she was doing.'You want to see which direction they went in? If there's that many horses they shouldn't be hard to follow.'

The path the riders took south is fairly clear. With Gabriele's sharp hearing, she hears one of the guards growl, "Gods-damned goat-lovers. Pack of useless thieves." Another guard mutters back, "Might be those halflings. They're always up to no good." Although it's dark, there might be enough moonlight to get some clues from the tracks.

"You need any help tracking the thieves? It's night, but Gabriele's a good tracker and my eyesight is better than yours in the dark," Severin asks the guards.

Harman maintains a lonely guard of Lorenzo's camp as Gabriele and Severin can be seen discussing something with the guards from the other caravan. He can't make out the words but it appears that something went very wrong with their guards neglecting their duties. Harman decided to do a quick walk of Lorenzo's perimeter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rax

"You need any help tracking the thieves? It's night, but Gabriele's a good tracker and my eyesight is better than yours in the dark," Severin asks the guards.

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'Maybe I can point you in the right direction anyway. Techically we're supposed to be on watch.'

Harman does another lap around Lorenzo's camp, and is satisfied that there are no thieves lurking in the darkness. It is getting close to when the watch will switch, and his warm bedroll is calling. At the other camp, it's not difficult to see where the horse-thieves have headed, even at night; the path of the torn-up ground leads clearly to the south. One of the guards (the one who had muttered about halflings) looks at Severin and says, "I ain't riding out into the darkness to hunt thieves. If the boss wants us to go out there we'll do it in the morning."

"It's your call," Severin replies with a shrug.

"Let's head back to our posts then," he says to answers Gabriele.

'Fair enough. Easier to track when it's light anyway.' It would frankly be embarrassing if someone decided to rob Lorenzo's camp while she was distracted. 'I wonder if they're right and Gretchen has a few more horses now?'

The two of you return to the camp and consult with Harman. Another hour or so passes and it is time to wake the other guards. They get out of their bedrolls, grumbling, and nod grimly when warned about the theft in other camp. Then you turn in for the night. When you wake up there is the faint chill of autumn lingering in the air. You can see smoke rising from the chimneys of Inselberg and from the nearby campfire, where Bastien is making stock from the rabbit bones from last night. He ladles out a generous portion of stew for the three of you and the other guards begin speculating about what happened last night. Hearing the news, Lorenzo hikes over to the other caravan's camp, saying cheerfully, "It's an ill wind that blows no good." The guards shrug at that. The day is young and you all are released from your duties as watchmen.

Harman looks at the other two. Should we go lend our skills in tracking down the horse thieves of that other camp? Or should we run that by Lorenzo first? Harman looks eager at the thought of tracking bandits again.

"The other lot didn't sound too enthusiastic about it when Gabriele and me offered to help last night," Severin replies. "And I'd say Lorenzo seems quite pleased with this incident. I'm not sure he'd want his employees to be helping them out of a hole they dug for themselves by having guards who sleep on the job. Speaking of jobs, I think we've all got enough on our plates without adding this to our list. Gabriele and I still need to do some exploring and questioning up top," he reminds Harman.

Gabriele will gratefully take some stew. 'I wouldn't say no to trying, but if Lorenzo's happy enough with the situation. At the very least I think we could see if they'd pay us for that sort of thing. If they don't want their horses being knicked maybe they should have got better guards.'

Harman sits and pokes the fire with a stick. When it is just the three of them he speaks up. Since the two of you are helping me look for Lustig I've been thinking. That scum
"Tick" you pointed out up the mesa. He jumped that young lad for a pair of boots. What do you think he might try against a drunk guy with a pistol complaining about a lack of powder? Our next free night if I can act a drunk with a loose tongue perhaps I can lure him out into the woods where the two of you are waiting and spring a trap. Do you think it might work? Also what do you think about getting Lorenzo to offer the three of us guards as troubleshooters to work on any problems the mine might be having in meeting production quotas? Harman stops talking to scarf down some stew and give the others a chance to think and reply.

Severin scratches his whiskers as he considers Harman's suggestions. "It might work," he concedes of the idea to lure out Tick. "I don't know if he'll consider a pistol with no powder that much of a draw, though. There doesn't seem to be that much of a market for firearms down here - getting hold of powder is apparently tricky," he says.

"As for using Lorenzo to worm our way into Sol's good graces, that's not a bad idea either. It would help to have someone put in a good word for us, and Sol might not be too suspicious if Lorenzo offers our help as a way to get a better deal for himself. Of course, before that happens, we need to make sure Tick isn't around to identify us," he muses.

Harman nods and adds Which brings us back to that first point. Tick jumped a guy for worn out boots and even if the pistol isn't enough bait. The complaining about the uselessness of my crowns when there is no powder should entice him. If we could convince the bartender to water down my drinks for a few coins that could help the act. Harman shakes his head and mutters it's only an idea it might be dumb.

Gabriele spends some time at the pulqueria gossiping with the drinkers. For the price of a few rounds, she starts to develop a clearer picture of the cliques in the town. The locals mostly keep their heads down and their doors locked at night. As refugees and their children, they know that things can always get worse, and as long as the bandits are paying for their food and drink it beats the alternative... The caravan guards are a motley bunch and they are full of endless complaints about the crappy food and booze, having to sleep on the ground, having to hike up the blasted hill for all that, the lines at the brothel... but it makes good money for their bosses so at least they get paid. And overland travel has been pretty safe for the past few years. They have a few lurid stories of the attacks on the riverboats, whole crews slaughtered and ships left to drift down the cataracts, to be smashed into flinders by the angry river...

Finally she talks to a few of Sol's men. The newer ones, signed on in the past few years, are mostly stuck with the worst jobs, guarding the slaves in the mines, or actually going out on patrols, while a few old-timers are thrilled with their new status. She does learn that the newest hires have the worst jobs, and have to work seven days out of eight. One of them, an older man, missing a few teeth and fingers, says, "Lady, this is great. We shoulda figured out this scam ages ago. Instead of hunting down the caravans and raiding them, they come to us and give us money. We don't even have to beat them up, they just hand it over."

Gabriele will consider Harman's point carefully. 'A drunk man with a gun might be kind of persuasive if he doesn't have many mates with him. And we wouldn't need to even go to any woods. I'd be happy enough to knock him off the top of the mesa if I had the chance.' She'll look at Harman to assess him, 'I'd say if you look drunk enough around him there's every chance he might have a go at robbing you no matter what you say to him. The question would be, can we stay close enough to step in if things go bad for you, or else how well can you handle yourself anyway? We're not seen you fight yet?'

Later

For all that Gabriele was hearing about it second hand, the stories of the attacks on river boats sounded like worse then bandits. Were there any survivors?

To the older man, 'This must be how nobles happen. Tollares will be calling himself a Duke any minute.'

Harman laughs I'm not a great champion but I should be able to hold my own against a middling bandit. At least for long enough for the two of you to jump in and help. I think we give this plan a go the next night we have off guard duty.

The man laughs and says, "Of course there were survivors. The attackers made it out just fine." And at the Duke comment he says, "Ya know I saw a guy try to become a Duke once. Back in Stralwald. Otto just walked up and stabbed him in the eye. Next thing we knew there was fire all around and everyone was tryin' to settle their scores. Me and Sol cut our way out. And Beau. Nah, best to stay the way he is, we all know he's the boss."

Spoiler

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Planting bait rumors and finding more about Tick's schedule will need gossip checks from Harman and Severin

'Maybe. But they sound like the enthusiastic type to kill everyone. Why worry about leaving witnesses down here.' On hearing about the aspiring Duke, 'I didn't hear about that. I suppose neither Sol nor Otto like putting on airs. I can respect that.'

Harman spends some time drinking and showing off his piece. He finds some of the more disreputable guards while they are drinking and talks to them for a while. He definitely spots some of them eyeing the valuable weapon. When he complains about the lack of powder, they sympathize with him. Apparently Sol has a small store of it, but the only one who uses guns around here is Beauregard Scully, Sol's "troubleshooter". When he sees trouble, he shoots it, they say. He has a pair of good pistols that he keeps in spotless condition when he's not wandering around the town, looking for trouble. They point him out to Harman, a thin, rangy man leaning on a wall, keeping an eye on the pulqueria and the brothel for a while.

Severin also speaks to some of the guards and finds out about their schedule. The guards complain endlessly about it; they have to stick around the mine, working, seven days of an eightday week. On their days off the guards usually head up to the pulqueria and the brothel to get drunk, pick fights, blow off some steam, gamble, and generally cut loose as much as they can. After all, there isn't much else to spend their meager wages on. Some of the guards are having a laugh at the plight of one of the herdsmen. Apparently a few days ago one of them, some kid, came up to sell some livestock and then couldn't handle his liquor at the brothel. He somehow managed to lose a fat purse of gold while drunk and get beaten up and tossed in a midden heap. His tribe or clan or whatever is proper pissed...

Harman performing more intoxicated than he really is stumbles over to a section of the wall near this Beauregard Scully. Harman places a hand on the wall and leans into it turning his head slowly towards the "troubleshooter". Rumor has it that you shoot guns. Got any spare powder or shot.
I'm nearly out. Harman pulls out his pistol at this point and shows Beauregard frowning. It's pretty but pretty useless without powder and shot.

Gabriele has made sure she stays in sight of Harman this whole time. To her new friend, 'You said you worked with Otto? How is he as a boss? Or does the fact that you're working for Sol answer that?' She won't ask him about whether he's robbed many caravans himself because she didn't think she could keep pretending to be indifferent about that.

Harman feels the troubleshooter's eyes on him as he fake-stumbles towards him. The man is assessing Harman as a threat or not, and as Harman leans up next to him, he gives Harman a quiet nod. "Enjoying yourself, friend?" he responds. As Harman pulls out his own pistol, the man's hands twitch, but he decides Harman isn't a threat, and he rests his hand on his own pistol. "Don't take your guns to town, kid," he then says. "Especially if it's out of powder. I get it special from the Tilean merchants. Might want to talk to them, see if they can deliver some next time they come through."

The old veteran says to Gabriele, "Hah, it's ancient history. Me and Sol and Otto and Beau all usedta work for Sir Oliver. This old geezer of a knight. Ruled Stralwald from the castle there. After, uh, he died, Otto killed the captain of the guard, this pompous git, who thought he'd take over. Then ****, Otto's boys jumped all the officers and me and Sol legged it. Then, uh, we were in Stralwald for a bit, you know set ourselves up there until the Duke Bremcote chased us out. So we came here. I guess Otto and his boys went south, across the river. Can't say I miss them. Weird, vicious bastards."

Severin has been keeping a low profile, dividing his time between trying to keep an eye on Harman and Gabriele as they pursue their respective plans, but he's closest to Gabriele when the veteran reminisces about the death of Sir Oliver.

"Weird and vicious how? Ambitious sorts knifing their leaders isn't that uncommon around here, is it?" he interjects.

'I don't think I was ever going to work for Otto but it's always nice to hear about him from those that know him.' Gabriele interjects. 'And here's me never having to knife anyone. Maybe I'm just lucky.'

To the veteran, 'Is Sol hiring by any chance? What's the work like?'

Harman manages to act sheepish as the troubleshooter scolds him for his foolishness. Tucking his pistol back in its holster he mumbles suppose you're right, sir. then louder Know any good Tileans? he then laughs as if it is a great joke. Serious how long do you think it would take for them to come back with some powder?
Harman during this discussion is looking over his shoulders. He looks paranoid but is actually trying to see if he can locate Tick.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

[roll0] looking for Tick or any River bandits from my days in the Empire
spending a FP if it fails. Vs 56
[roll1] not needed

"Ah, that guy was askin' for it. But Otto and his boys... man, I dunno. They'd spend some time torturing captives because they were bored. Whipped horses to death just because. Killed a bunch of servants for no reason..." You reflect on the life of this old mercenary and soldier and what crimes and cruelties have become commonplace to him. For "Otto's boys" to have unsettled him, they must be quite sinister indeed.

The veteran says to Gabriele "Honestly I dunno if a woman like you wants to work for Sol. Newcomers haveta work as guards in the mines for a while to prove their loyalty and I don't see your type as wanting that. If you gotta try it, if I'm wrong, you can find Renn the Chiseler and he'll sort you out."

Beaurgard shrugs to Harman and says "I don't keep track of the merchants except to make sure their boys don't cause trouble while enjoyin' the town. A new caravan just came by the other day, might want to talk to them if they have any spare powder." Harman doesn't spy Tick lurking around. Thinking back, someone had said the guards only get one day week off, so the next time Tick will probably be off is in four days.

"Otto sounds like the sort o' fellow that might serve everyone best by embracing Morr sooner rather than later..." Severin responds darkly. "People like him seem distressingly common around these parts," he adds.