[WFRP] The Bloody Crown IV

[LCP]

Aisha shrugged and looked to the others. "The people in Isolici keep to themselves. They're supposed to be farmers but you almost never see them at market." She paused. "That's all I've heard."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

As glad as he was to see his friends' spirits raised, especially after the day's ordeal, Viggo couldn't quite stave off a twinge of jealousy as Adelbert and Aisha embraced and kissed. As they wandered to the Chalice Viggo hung back with Ludo a little to give the pair some space. "How do you think he bloody does it?" He pondered out aloud. "It must be the sodding beard." He reached up to self consciously stroke his own very slightly stubbled cheek.

Once settled in the Chalice, Viggo ordered some food and set to with his normal gusto. "Speaking about employment," He said, jabbing a spoon in Elsa's direction, "You should see if you can get us on the Capitano's payroll." He very obviously did not look at Adelbert as he spoke. "Me and Sieghard could be your bodyguards, couldn't we Sieghard?" The ridiculousness of half of that suggestion didn't seem to occur to the young minstrel in the slightest.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"If she needs a bodyguard so bad, there's hundreds of men already on the captain's pay," Sieghard replied, annoyed at the sugestion. "He sooner have one of them do it than hire you."

---

Before the night was through, Sieghard pulled Adelbert aside to talk in private

"You and Aisha then, eh Schreiber?" he said. "Not all that surprised, just remember what I warned you about why Filomena kicked her out in the first place."

[LCP]

The following days passed in what seemed like luxurious comfort after the hardships of their long journey to Savonne and back. Viggo reopened Hadil's hovel, while Adelbert settled back into the surreally familiar routines of living with Krucke and his cat. Somehow Adelbert's stand in the pillory seemed to have improved the old man's opinion of him - he still grumbled, cursed and called him foul names, but he seemed to mean it less.

Unfortunately, the rest of the town didn't seem to share Krucke's hatred for the Captain's authority. It was good that he had the copying of Elsa's grimoire to keep him busy, as his trade from the townspeople of Mirino had dried up completely. The Iron Company men - of who there were unfortunately many - went further in their dislike. On the first night of Sigmarzeit, someone threw a stone through Krucke's window. The morning after, Adelbert to find someone had scrawled the word BUGIARDO across his sign in red paint. He saw no sign of Kaja either - when he went looking for him, the boy's mother turned him away with a face like thunder, saying she didn't want her son working for a man who made trouble with the Captain. Both he and Krucke came to depend on Aisha to fetch and carry from the house, as the only one of them who could set foot outside without being recognised.

The transcription of the book, however, was enough to keep him occupied night and day. Deciphering de Montfort's close-written scrawl was one thing; actually understanding what he was writing was another. He wrestled with strange words, resembling no language he had ever studied. He painstakingly copied diagrams and symbols whose meaning was utterly beyond him. After an hour or two cloistered with the tome, his head would be pounding, his eyes stinging from the candle-smoke that somehow seemed attracted to the charred old pages. Still he soldiered on, slowly filling up a great stack of curling vellum with his meticulous handwriting. In between, he found time to decipher his letter.

Spoiler: Adelbert Only

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Your report received with interest. Forces described very expensive to maintain. Last Water not thought to generate this much revenue. Investigate, discover source of funds.

Be advised plans in motion against elf, expect war early spring. Advise you send future letters through Morr's Seat.

How long ago the letter had been written it was difficult to tell - it had clearly taken some time to reach him.

Viggo, meanwhile, was leading a much more energetic existence. He split his days between training with Ludo and Sieghard, and putting Magnus through his paces on the open slopes around Mirino. He successfully taught Magnus to come at his call, and set to work teaching him to work without reins as well.

In doing so, it was inevitable that he would run into Natasa the goat-girl again - in fact, on the very first gallop, Magnus took it into his head to charge straight through her herd. Helping her round up the errant goats and their kids, Viggo let her inspect Magnus for herself, and even take a ride on the great horse's back. Much to her delight, Magnus seemed to like her - maybe even more than Viggo.

From then on, Natasa was once again a regular fixture at their training sessions by the hut - and Viggo found he had an invaluable horse-shaped asset in his competition with Sieghard. Whenever Sieghard got to telling tall tales about their journeys - tales that somehow always sounded more real coming out of the scarred mercenary's mouth - Viggo only had to fetch Magnus for Natasa's attention to be instantly diverted. Perhaps sensing he had been outflanked, Sieghard grew a little sullen, and took to gambling at the Chalice again with the Captain's men. From what Viggo saw of him he seemed to be making a fair bit of money.

For her part, Elsa was much more rarely seen in the others' company. She had work to do studying de Montfort's book, which she pored over every moment she could keep it away from Adelbert. Bright flashes from her hut inside the palisade became commonplace, to the extent that some villagers would even gather on the rocks outside the town to watch them after dark. Twice Sforza's soldiers had to rush to put out a fire that had started inside the compound, until Abdul Al-Makir politely suggested that she might like to take her experiments up into the hills. From then on, only the guards that went with her up into the high rocks had the privilege of witnessing her increasing mastery over the Wind of Fire.

When she wasn't practicing, she tried to keep abreast of developments at the palace. Sforza was holding regular councils, of which she attended maybe half. The Captain's advisors seemed startlingly well-informed about the goings-on in the north: apparently Savonne was besieged on three sides by an alliance of Rorik, Alvarr and Groz. Rorik's raid had drawn the elf prince's cavalry out from Savonne for long enough for Alvarr to move an army through Pieter's Pass, complete with a train of siege engines he must have been patiently constructing for months before. Meanwhile Groz's forces had come down the Azril from Putbad by boat, bringing Clan Dwimmulson dwarfs with them.

Sforza's reaction to the whole situation seemed remarkably sanguine. He seemed content to sit in Last Water, asking Bianco about the state of the harvest and the safety of their caravans to Caerfort. Nevertheless, Elsa got the impression of grand plans in motion beneath the calm surface of life in Mirino. Not yet part of the Captain's inner circle of officers, she suspected she would have to prove her usefulness to find out what they were. In the meantime, she managed to send two of three identical letters east to Beatrix Fassbender, the third still waiting for a suitable messenger.

Lastly, she tried her best to make time for her old habit of ingratiating herself with the men. If it had been difficult before, it seemed next to impossible now - they had all seen the strange lights coming from her windows, and it set her apart like never before. There were no more ribald jokes about Beppe or the colour of her hair - instead they treated her with a careful, infuriating respect.

---

Marktag, 15th Sigmarzeit

It was another sunny day in Mirino when the horse arrived. Viggo was in the high meadow by Hadil's shack, training with Sieghard while Natasa looked after Magnus. It was to be his last day of training before he departed for a grand tour of Last Water - he had laid out his fine new clothes from Chiara specially for the occasion.

Sieghard definitely wasn't going easy on him. Sweat running down his brow, Viggo steadily retreated under his trainer's blows - then faltered as he saw something behind Sieghard's shoulder. Not about to let Viggo get away with such an elementary mistake, Sieghard put him flat on his back before turning to look himself.

People were congregating like ants around the east gate of the palace, just visible over the palisade at the head of the Winding Pass. Squinting into the noonday sun, Sieghard tried to make out what they were looking at...

~

Elsa shouldered her way through a screen of Iron Company men, the mercenaries stepping out of the way of the Captain's court wizard like Altdorf troopers on parade. Passing through the crowd that was choking the gate, she strode out to see what was drawing such attention.

The horse had staggered almost to the walls before collapsing. It was a huge beast, a real destrier - she recognised it almost immediately as the horse Bernhard had ridden out of Manann's Keep.

Half its caparison had been lost, scraps of barding still hanging around its neck. Lamed and bloody, it had three crude arrows buried in its rear left leg, and an ugly gash in its neck, black with crusted blood. From its lank mane and matted coat, it had clearly been wandering for days - somehow, it was still alive, its flanks rising and falling with shallow breaths. Of its rider there was no sign.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

The cramp in his hand from writing, the pain in his eyes from an existence in candlelight, the musty smell of parchment, ink and wax. It was almost like being an apprentice again then Krucke was a a veritable ray of sunshine compared to some of his instructors. And there was Aisha. He thanked all the gods for her presence. They had not been... as affectionate as they wanted (or at least Adelbert wanted). Magnus was always undefoot and when he wasn't his scent lingered in a way that even the other odours could not match.

For relaxation he read the Verenan book, thrilling to the tales of an adventurer priest. At nights the face of the goddess haunted his dreams... at least those Aisha was absent from.

It was lonely without Kaja. He regretted much about his defiance of Sforza but the loss of his apprentice had hurt more than he imagined, more than he let on to anyone else.

His companions were welcome to visit him, assuming they could stand Krucke's company. For obvious reasons he could not really visit them.

He intended to reply to his letter but he waited to hear of events in the east. Perhaps it was a premonition. More likely it was because of all his companions he had been the most certain the Orcs were a threat.

Marktag, 15th Sigmarzeit found him once again wrestling with Elsa's tome, oblivious to the events outside.

OOC:

Spoiler

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Based on LCP's post Adelbert probably wouldn't be out on the streets but either Aisha or one of the other PCs can alert him.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard couldn't hide a smirk as Viggo hit the ground. "Dead. Again," he said, pointing his sword at Viggo's chest. He had found a certain satisfaction in fighting Viggo... Ever since the minstrel had started bringing his horse to the practices at least. Even when Ludo joined them and he fought the two at once (which was becoming more difficult than it had been when they had first started), he had taken to focusing on Viggo first. Noticing the speechless minstrel was staring at something, he took a break from the sparring that seemed suspiciously like a beating to look for himself.

"If it's anything important, I'm sure we'll hear about it when we're finished." he said before walking to where he had set his things and taking a drink from his waterskin. "On your feet and have a drink. We're going again."

He couldn't help but catch a glimpse of Natasa and Magnus while he waited for Viggo to dust himself off. The horse was starting to become a nuisance. It had taken him a few days to realize why the minstrel insisted on bringing it whenever they sparred and the realization irritated him. He hadn't been blind to Viggo's interest in the goat-girl even before, but he had thought that had been settled the night before they left for Manaan's Keep and Savonne. Perhaps he had thought wrong. Still, Sieghard did have a trick or two of his own to try.

"By the way, Viggo," he said loud enough that Natasa would hear, "How has that young woman been? The one you met at the festival. What was her name again?"

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa seemed to change over the two weeks since her return to Mirino; she grew even more restless, impulsive, argumentative and proud, and always carried herself like she owned the place and everyone in it, except in the presence of her superiors. She worked harder and caroused harder than ever, stayed up too late, drank too much wine, made clumsily direct attempts at seduction that only scared away the various targets of her affections, and was subject to rather unpredictable mood swings that ran the gamut from triumph to frustration to soul-crushing boredom. A keen observer might have noticed that her hair was taking on an even more fiery hue and that her skin was turning darker. The changes seemed to coincide with her greater mastery of fire magic, as if the wind of Aqshy was leaving its mark on her.

Elsa did not take well her repeated failures at making new friends or lovers outside the group with which she had come to Last Water. She longed for the old days at the Bright College, where everyone was special and, therefore, no one was. Though she appreciated the fear and respect she inspired, she resented the wall it put between herself and the other people of Mirino, and wished her status was something she could put on or take off like a hat. Disguise was not an option, since her face tattoos and her Imperial accent were too recognizable. She did, however, suggest the idea to Adelbert; the poor lad should not have to hide away forever.

---

15th Sigmarzeit

Elsa was on her way out of the city for her daily practical training, two guards in tow, when she saw the people gathered near the gate. The sight of the wounded destrier made her raise an eyebrow.

<"Huh. I take it Evatt's campaign is going poorly,"> she said to no one in particular.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

"By the way, Viggo," he said loud enough that Natasa would hear, "How has that young woman been? The one you met at the festival. What was her name again?"

Viggo winced. Not at Sieghards' blunt attempt to sour things between him and Natasa, but at the pain that was spreading across his right shoulder. It's my own stupid fault! How many bloody times does he have to tell me to keep my eyes on him and to keep my shield arm up?! Taking a couple of experimental swipes to loosen his arm, he joined Sieghard by the waterskin.

Viggo shrugged watching the object of their mutual affection from the corner of his eye. "Not sure, I can't even remember her bloody name truth be told," it actually was the truth, "How's things going with you and Sforza's Fire Witch, still stealing the odd kiss eh?" His voice was light and friendly as if two friends were just enjoying some idle chit chat. "She still threatening to sizzle anyone who so much as looks at you? "I don't know who is crazier, her with her insane jealousy, or you... for taking up with her!" He chuckled as if it were that he found funny instead of his own cleverness. I'll pay for that, that's for sure he mused rubbing at his shoulder once more.

The young minstrel had thrown himself into his training and he definitely felt as though he were improving. He was becoming quicker, his reactions coming more naturally, Sieghard had warned him however that the new mail coat he'd commissioned would slow him down. He wiped the sweat from his brow with his shirt sleeve, evaluating Sieghards humourless mood. "As fun as this is, I need to head down to the smithy to collect my mail. We could see what all the commotion is about whilst we're at it if you fancy?" Curious as ever Viggo hated that he might be missing some gossip.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo had been enjoying a couple of weeks with nothing to do. He had purchased a set of bone dice and a battered pack of cards, and had lost a considerable amount of money using them, but he could tell that he was getting better, and he could even shuffle the cards without dropping them on the floor like he had twice managed to do with Viggo's. He was also getting better at sparring, even if it tended to be difficult to get Sieghards attention whenever Natasa was around. He was getting better at using his fancy Arabyan sword - Sieghard had said many disparaging things about it compared to a normal sword, but Ludo liked the look of it, and the shorter length and curved blade suited his stature and agility.

He had tripped badly while sparring, and sported a bright purple bruise on his upper arm - combined with the small nick he'd taken from Viggo's dagger, he'd been more badly injured in the the sparring than their entire trip to Savonne and back.

He stood on tiptoe to see the gates. "Maybe there's news from Caerfort?"

[LCP]

It didn't take long for word to spread back from the pass. Within a few minutes Sforza had appeared on the scene.

Stooping over the feebly breathing horse, he ran a hand over the maritime designs on its barding, seeming deep in thought. Carraciolo came up beside him, and he rose back to his feet.

<Somebody put this animal out of its misery,> he commanded. Looking over the assembled faces, he turned to his second-in-command. <Send word to Esteban. He is to strike his camp at Corpsewatch and move his force to Caerfort.> Corpsewatch - that was the name the soldiers had given the encampment overlooking the marsh. <All the gold he has brought out so far is to be sent back here.> He paused. <And send a messenger to Evatt, on a fast horse. Tell him I offer my assistance to defend his lands.> Elsa could have sworn she saw the Captain smile.

Al-Makir had now arrived too, and Sforza turned to him. <Abdul,> he said. <How long to gather supplies for a full baggage train?>

Abdul hesitated. <Two or three days, my captain.> Sforza nodded, and clapped Carraciolo on the shoulder. <Assemble the army. We march in three days.>

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa would gladly have claimed the horse and tried to nurse it back to health -- or more likely, have someone else do it for her. A mighty destrier like this seemed like a worthy mount for her. The news that they would be marching in three days made her change her mind, as it was not nearly enough time to care for horses, let alone learn to ride them. She did not feel too disappointed, however. In fact she was fighting down an excited grin.

An actual campaign at last!

After waiting to see if the Captain had any instructions for her specifically, she hurried to take the news to her friends. Now might be their last chance to join Sforza's army or its supply train. Of course, if they preferred to stay in the safety of Mirino, she could hardly blame them, but she would feel much better if she had at least a few true friends with her during the dangerous days that were no doubt ahead.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

"Maybe there's news from Caerfort?"

Viggo nodded as he grabbed his scarlet coat and cap, perching the cap on the back of his head to avoid the sweat running down his forehead. "Perhaps. Only one way to find out isn't there?" He mused, flinging his coat over one shoulder and heading in the direction of town, "You coming?"

As he started to make his way downhill, he quickly diverted over to Natasa and Magnus, treating her to a friendly smile and Magnus to a pat. "You can ride him back down to the Chalice for me if you want?" Viggo grinned broadly at the goatherd, "In fact why don't you do that and meet me there later, I could buy you some supper? It's only fair, I still owe you for nearly running your herd off remember?"

Waving over his shoulder and whistling happily he continued on his way into town, hoping to catch word of what had happened at the keep.

OOC

Spoiler: OOC

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So Viggo is off to collect his mail shirt, then up to the keep (or bumping into Elsa on his way to get info) then onto Krucke's to share the gossip with Adelbert and see if he's still up for the Last Water tour, before finally going onto the Chalice for supper and possible date.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

OOC:

Spoiler

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Since Adelbert isn't seen much around town these days I'm assuming everyone ends up at Krucke's.

Adelbert had settled down to a days work when his companions arrived with gossip. It left him almost speechless for a moment with shock.

"Evatt's men defeated...?" He swallowed, recovering. "Well, I suppose while the Captain is abroad I'll be able to decamp. Sermena or Isolici, which sounds better?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"I know it's how you feed yourself," Sieghard said, "but if you're going to tell tales, try to make them believable."

"She threw herself at me once," he continued. "A long time ago, when she thought we were both likely to die anyways. I have no interest in her and she knows it. For some reason, you're the only one who can't get that through your head - probably because you want to make up some ridiculous song about it."

By the time he looked up again, Viggo and Ludo had already started down the hill. "Where do the two of you think you're going!? We aren't finished!" he shouted after them, but it was too late and the two were already gone.

OOC:

Spoiler

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Sieghard will stick around here for a bit and continue to practice on his own before heading to see Adelbert. Largely because if he and Viggo are going for mutual assured destruction, it'd be good to see what Natasa's reaction to this last exchange is. We'll say Sieghard arrives at Krucke's shortly before the others do and he learns what happened at the same time Adelbert does.

---

At Krucke's

"Hard to say when we know next to nothing about Isolici," Sieghard commented. He hadn't been terribly surprised to hear Evatt's men had failed. The only ones who looked like they knew how to hold a sword were the knights.

He turned to Elsa. "Will Sforza be dragging you along to clean up Evatt's mess or are you staying behind with your book?"

[LeSwordfish]

"Speaking of "ridiculous songs"," Ludo muttered, jerking his thumb back at Sieghard and his exaggerations. Ludo had left himself mostly out of the rivalry, but was loosely in support of Viggo - he felt a man wearing the outfit Viggo preferred needed all the help that could be got.

---

"Sforza's going to war?" Ludo asked. "Is this what he's been waiting for, then? Building up all of this force to go and reinforce Evatt? Or is this a change of plans?"

[-Sentinel-]

"Will Sforza be dragging you along to clean up Evatt's mess or are you staying behind with your book?"

"Oh, he'll definitely want me around for that," said Elsa in an eager tone that suggested she certainly wanted to be around.

"Sforza's going to war?" Ludo asked. "Is this what he's been waiting for, then? Building up all of this force to go and reinforce Evatt? Or is this a change of plans?"

"He sure looked like he'd been expecting this any time," Elsa answered. A voice at the back of her mind whispered that he might even have engineered the greenskin attacks against his neighbor; she did her best to ignore it.

[LeSwordfish]

"Like he knew it was happening?" Ludo asked. "Maybe he's going to take advantage of it. You might end up fighting Evatt's soldiers too... or even Fassbender."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"I wouldn't be so eager if I were you," Sieghard said, "Orcs are much worse than the wolf riders we faced. They're much stronger and too stupid to know when to give up. Half the time they're too stupid to know when they should be dead. I once saw one with three arrows in its chest and another in its shoulder still trying to stagger forward and fight."

[-Sentinel-]

"Maybe he's going to take advantage of it. You might end up fighting Evatt's soldiers too... or even Fassbender."

Elsa shrugged. "That's the way of the Border Princes. I'd be saddened if I had to fight Fassbender," she admitted, as if assuming she would win that fight against a more experienced magister, "but we do what we must."

She also brushed aside Sieghard's warnings. "Savages. An Orc army is like a brick wall without any cement; far weaker than the sum of its parts. You can take it apart with a wooden mallet."

Her own knowledge of Orcs came solely from books -- in fact her brick wall and mallet simile was lifted straight from the Military History of the Empire, Volume II, written by a man who had likely never set foot on a battlefield.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo shuddered: He'd not seen the horse himself, and the discussion was the first he'd been reminded of the destruction they'd seen on the road to Manaan's keep. It seemed all too easy to imagine the people they'd joked with in Evatt's baggage train as the same burned corpses, or Elsa broken like the bodies. The vision was so vivid that he moved to sit down in Adelbert's chair, looking at the copy of Elsa's book to quell a wave of nausea and fear.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Sieghard I don't think anyone is underestimating the Orcs but if they aren't dealt with they could sweep us all away. I'd go with the army too if I thought Sforza wouldn't skin me alive if I tried."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Savages. An Orc army is like a brick wall without any cement; far weaker than the sum of its parts. You can take it apart with a wooden mallet."

"I'm sure Bernhard thought that too," Sieghard replied, "And now he's in an orc's cook pot. See that you don't end up the same." Turning to Adelbert, he said "Not saying they don't need to be dealt with. Just that it's foolish to be excited about it."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert sighed. "I suppose not. Still it doesn't solve the problem of what i'll be doing during all this. Elsa you better see what your orders are exactly, whether you are gouing with the main force or whatever."

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa did not have too many preparations to make for the campaign, being always ready to hit the road in less than an hour. She spent most of her time hurriedly copying as much as she could from the hedge wizard's journal where Adelbert had left off, but skipped the parts that seemed less important to her and did not bother with Adelbert's neat calligraphy. This way, if she met Beatrix Fassbender on the campaign and gave her back the original book, she would at least have salvaged the better part of it for later reading and transcribing.

As with the last trip, she did not pack her red dress, her spear and her copy of The Practical Pyromancer; there was enough to carry already. She also chose to leave the better part of her gold in the safety of the castle -- 20 crowns would most likely be more than enough. She thought about requesting a horse, but decided it might earn her resentment from the footsloggers of the Iron Company, whose respect she still desperately wanted. Plus, she had not ridden a horse in years and did not want to look like a fool.


OOC:

Spoiler

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How much does Adelbert charge per page for his scribin' services, including parchment? And how many pages did Adelbert transcribe?

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert mostly coninued working, though he also checked with Krucke to see if the old man had any clothes that might help conceal his features on the expedition east. The orcs needed to be dealt with after all, though Adelbert was painfully aware how unwelcome he would be in the company of the Captain's soldiers.

OOC:

Spoiler

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Adelbert's price guide is here. Realistically if Elsa's order is huge he might need to buy more parchment and ink.

LCP is Aisha literate?

Taking Aisha aside he explained to her about the terrible nature of the orcish threat, giving a watered down account of the massacare he had scene. He also admitted that despite everything Elsa was a complete idiot who would no doubt get herself killed at the first opportunity. Then he kissed her (Aisha not Elsa). "As soon as I get back we're moving somewhere nicer... maybe Sermena or Isocili. A fresh start for both of us."

What he couldn't admit even to her was the real reason he would be following the baggage train; he would be a poor sort of spy indeed if he didn't.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo sighed in frustration, taking another long swig of his ale before carelessly wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his scarlet coat. Nobody seemed to be intent on overhearing their conversation, but he still lowered his voice. "I didn't say I bloody wanted to go fighting Orcs Ludo. I said we shouldn't just let Elsa ride off without us is all. Look, I've had a little jaunt planned for weeks now, you know that. You think I'd not rather be feasting at The Rooster than...this?"


Scowling darkly over the rim of his mug at Sieghard he continued. "Without her we don't get the book and without her we don't get paid for getting the book right?" Viggo was already worried about his dwindling funds, he'd thought himself to be wealthy, he'd had more coin then he knew what to do with. Now he realised it wouldn't last. "You want to carry on working the door at the Serpent or rolling dice in here, fine by me, I have slightly more ambition." He finished haughtily.

Viggo quickly scanned the patrons to see if he could see any sign of Natasa, he never thought he'd be the one trying to convince this pair to ride off into danger, but there it was. Elsa seemed intent on going to war and Adelbert was just as intent on getting himself hung it seemed. His compatriots might both be wise but neither of them had a drop of common sense in his estimation. Besides, there might be a good story to come out of all of this.

[LeSwordfish]

"I don't know why either of you is going!" Ludo said. He was holding an empty flagon in his hands and staring down into it morosely. "We don't know what's going to happen here. The orcs beat Evatt, how do we know they won't beat us too?"

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo snorted, "Even I can see the difference between Evatts' men and the Iron Company Ludo." Still the Halfling was right, it probably was madness to tag along with Sforza's force. Viggo however couldn't see another way of keeping an eye on Elsa. "If we let her ride out there without us, maybe she'll decide," Viggo's voice took on a feminine tone which fairly mimicked Elsa's, "Actually those chaps can be replaced by these lovely lot! What's the point in having them along?" He avoided looking at Sieghard as he carried out his impersonation, "Then what do we do eh?"

Viggo signaled over to one of Marek's bar staff to refill their tankards, "That mad witch," Again a cautious glance in the mercenary's direction as he checked to make sure he hadn't caused offence. "and her sodding book is our path to fame and fortune Ludo. Fame and fortune." He rolled the words around savouring them. "We let her forget us and think she can grab it without us, then we can kiss all of that goodbye!"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Didn't say I wouldn't go," Sieghard replied, annoyed. "I said I wasn't going to fight unless there was coin involved. How sellswords have you heard of who fight for free?"

"And if Elsa tries to grab the book without us, we'll just go ourselves and snatch it first." He didn't think it was likely that she'd try something like that, but if wouldn't hurt to be ready for the possibility. "Sforza isn't the only one who would pay for something like that."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo paused. He was no expert in military matters, and Viggo and Sieghard's disdain for Evatt's soldiers had rubbed off a little.

"So we need to support Elsa. That could be useful. Okay."

"And they'll guard the baggage train? We just sit at the back?"