[WFRP] The Bloody Crown X

[LCP]

The cook lapsed into stunned silence at the force of Sieghard's words. The man who had been blocking the door let go of the serving girl, who yelped in fear as Sieghard grabbed hold of her.

Turning on the server again, he grabbed her roughly by the arm. "Tell me what you put in his ****ing drink or I'll have you thrown off the ****ing Rock!"

"I don't know!" she screamed, terrified. Tears were running down her face. "I don't know! It was just what the man gave me!"

~

Out in the common hall, Adelbert was at a loss. He knew the fundamentals of healing, but poisoning was not something he had ever had to deal with before. Burhan's eyes had become unfocused, and he seemed to be sinking into mild delirium - from his slurred words, he no longer appeared to understand where he was, or who he was with.

"He needs the Shallyans," shouted a bystander. "Someone fetch the Sisters!"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Even think about trying to run away and I'll gut you right here," Sieghard said, placing his free hand on his dagger. He dragged her out of the kitchen and back into the hall.

~

"Clear the way!" he shouted at the crowd of gawkers. "Elsa! Run ahead to the hospital! Adelbert! Urgrim! Start carrying him!"

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(1d100)[12] Command to clear a path.
(1d100)[55] Reroll

Elsa's got the highest movement. I'd still rather not rely on that alone being fast enough.

[-Sentinel-]

"Right," said Elsa, still a bit flustered by the events. "The hospital."

She spun and ran out of the building.

[LCP]

They had scarcely got Burhan out of the Duke before he began to go into violent convulsions. Though he was by no means a big man, it was all Adelbert and Urgrim could do to keep him from hurting himself as he thrashed about fit to break a limb, his unnaturally flushed face contorted in horror at something only he could see. Pinning his arms behind his back, Urgrim managed to wrestle him to the ground against the wall of a nearby house, waiting for the seizure to subside before they attempted to move him again. It wasn't long before they started up again.

Burhan was looking like a man on Morr's doorstep by the time Elsa returned with the Shallyans, white foam gathering at the corners of his mouth. Rattling down the darkened street on a cart they had commandeered from the hospital, the white-robed sisters hurried to his side. They were three in total: two young initiates, and to Adelbert's surprise, Mother Constanza herself.

Checking his pulse and breathing, the first initiate turned to them. She looked barely older than Rhadegund. "What was he given?" she asked, urgently. "When did it start?"

Constanza already seemed to think she knew the answer. Kneeling stiffly beside Burhan, she opened his eyelids wide between finger and thumb, examining his hugely dilated pupils. "Belladonna," she said, her tone matter-of-fact. "Give me some space, please."

Placing her right hand on Burhan's chest and her left over her heart, she bowed her head and began to pray. Elsa felt the Winds respond - Hysh and Ghyran gathered around the priestess, funnelling through her arm and into Burhan. To Adelbert, the words of the Classical prayer brought a sense of divine tranquility that cut through the panic in the air.

OOC:

Spoiler

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Constanza Channels and casts Cure Poison.

(1d100)[47]
(2d10)[6][4](10)

Almost immediately, Burhan stopped his trembling. Slumping against the walls, his eyes fell shut, his chest still rising and falling steadily. Though there was little light, Ludo thought he saw the scarlet begin to ebb from his face.

"Shallya has purged the poison from him," said Constanza, levering herself back to her feet and brushing the dirt of the street off her knees. "He will need rest. We can find a bed for him at the hospital." She looked over the assembled faces of the party. "Was anyone else affected?"

[RossN]

Adelbert

'Not that we know of Mother Constanza,' Adelbert replied, bowing to the senior priestess. 'There is a serving girl we believe was behind the business, she might be able to tell us more.'

He glanced at Burhan, wondering just who he had crossed to have brought on such an attack. Not for the first time he regretted not yet having picked up the skill of hypnosis, known by many of Verena's clergy. It would be useful now!

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"We don't believe it, she already admitted it." Sieghard said, "One of No-Nose's goons gave her the poison and she put it in his drink. If he was smart, he would've had it in mine instead." Apparently Dragos thought he would suddenly become cooperative if Burhan was gone.

[LeSwordfish]

"We're going to get him for this, right?" Ludo asked Sieghard, not bothering to lower his voice. "After this, no way the captain would stop us."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Tonight," Sieghard replied darkly. "You said the lights went out around midnight? We'll move an hour after that."

[LeSwordfish]

"I'll gather all the men we have in the city who aren't specifically on something else." Ludo said. "Elsa, you interested?"

[LCP]

"Who to blame is not our concern," said Constanza. "Only who to help."

She listened to Sieghard's plans coalesce with pursed lips. "If your friend survives, it will have been by Shallya's grace alone," she said. "It would be poor thanks to bring more suffering to her doorstep tonight." Turning away, she motioned for her initiates to pick Burhan off the ground and load him onto the cart.

"Goddess willing, he will be recovered by the morning," she said. "I hope to see you then, and not before."

[RossN]

Adelbert

'Thank you Mother Constanza,' Adelbert said, bowing his head in respect as the priestess took her leave.

Turning he eyed Sieghard thoughtfully. 'I know you are naturally rude Sieghard but would it have hurt to thank the woman - or at least wait until she was gone before luridly announcing you'd be out for blood?'

[LeSwordfish]

"Okay, so you're not coming. Elsa, Urgrim?"

[RossN]

Adelbert

'I never said I wasn't coming,' Adelbert drawled. 'You will almost certainly need someone to patch you up after the fight, and potentially some of them too.'

[-Sentinel-]

"I'll gather all the men we have in the city who aren't specifically on something else." Ludo said. "Elsa, you interested?"

"I'm in," said Elsa grimly. She did not know Burhan well and cared little about him, but the target of this poisoning could have been any of her friends, and that made her determined to see those responsible punished. "What of the serving girl? Should we detain her and await the Captain's justice? Or perhaps leave it up to Lady Sforza?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"I appreciate your advice and what you've done tonight, Mother Constanza, but my mind is made up. Shallya may be boundless in her mercy, but the man who did this isn't," Sieghard said. "Left to his own, he's sure to try again and harm others besides."

"What of the serving girl? Should we detain her and await the Captain's justice? Or perhaps leave it up to Lady Sforza?"

"The Captain or his wife would just have her hanged," he said after the Shallyans had gone. Publicly, as a show of force against any who would try to interfere with their business. "Let her sit in the castle dungeons until No-Nose is dealt with. I'll worry about what to do with her then."

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I do have something in mind, but Sieghard wouldn't have had a chance to think that far ahead yet.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo nodded. "She's probably not really involved. We don't need to do anything to her, except stop her panicing and leaving."

He turned to leave. "I'll gather the Militia. Dragos' place, an hour past midnight."

[Thragka]

Urgrim nodded. "The man has no honour. It's clear we have to break him, sooner or later. Let's strike while the iron is hot."

[LCP]

It was only a short run from the Duke of Aquitaine to the castle. There, Ludo roused out those of the militia not currently engaged with Sieghard’s dockside watches, or aboard the Dancing Jenny. Unprepared for the call, it took far longer to break up the late-night card tables and shake the sleepers out of bed than it had to reach them.

The night air was warm, and the city still alive with its after-dark business as the troop made their way down to the river gate. Morrslieb was waxing gibbous overhead - with only nine days to go until Geheimnisnacht, it seemed to be swelling larger every night. To Adelbert's eyes, it resembled nothing so much as a grinning skull, its half-shadowed face mocking them from on high.

"You sure about this, boss?" asked Ingwald when he caught up with Sieghard. "Charging in headlong, like. My ma always said, act in haste, repent at leisure."

OOC:

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What's the plan for approaching the Greenapple house?

[RossN]

Adelbert

'Just knock on the door,' Adelbert hissed. 'You are the lawful representative of the local lord with reasonable suspicion that the man tried to commit murder. Arrest him and we can move on to a proper trial. For Ranald's sake you even already have a witness!'

[-Sentinel-]

"Dramatic as it may be to blast the door in with a fireball," Elsa chimed in, "I'm inclined to agree here."

Using force right away would make No-Nose and his men panic. Panicking men were unpredictable and dangerous.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"You sure about this, boss? Charging in headlong, like. My ma always said, act in haste, repent at leisure."

"I'm sure the man has to be killed or captured," Sieghard said. "A few missing barrels I might've been able to overlook, but poisoning someone I can't. We've already figured out where he's running his business from and Ludo's scouted it out as close as he could without being seen. If you've got a better idea how to go about it, I'm listening."

Adelbert and Elsa's suggestion didn't give him much hope. "The two of you can't be serious," Sieghard grumbled. "Just knock on the door and ask nicely for him to let us throw him in chains and execute him?" he shook his head. "The two of you have never met the man, but I promise you all that would do is give him time to ready his men to fight or slip away. He's a crime lord who thinks he owns the docks. He doesn't give two ****s about what's lawful."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo thought for a moment. "I think it makes sense. We can surround the house and give them an ultimatum. I don't think they'll go for it but I doubt it'll be that easy to slip out - especially if we keep watch on the waterfront as well, in case there's a route out to the water or something."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Remember the missing barrels? He's using the damn tunnels below the city," Sieghard replied, scowling. "We could have a thousand men surrounding the house and it wouldn't stop him getting away if they run under it."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo didn't seem entirely happy about it. "You're the boss. Just... be cautious. I don't want to find we've butchered all his maids or something."

"I'll take some of the sneakier ones around to the waterfront, and if he tries to go that way while you take the rest in, we've got him surrounded."

OOC

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How many men do we have? Ludo will take, say, five, all those he knows to be reasonably competent stealthers.

[LCP]

It wasn't far from the river gate to the Greenapple house. Those inhabitants of the docks who were still abroad at this late hour scattered out of the path of the militia as they marched through the narrow streets, the sounds of shutters being closed and doors being bolted trailing behind them. The people of Savonne knew better than to get in the way of a column of armed men.

Running ahead with his small squad, Ludo took up position on the embankment south of the house, among the ramshackle piers and jetties of the docks. With the river running low, their supports were exposed, slicks of dried weeds clinging to their timbers where they rose from the reeking mud. In the greenish moonlight, Ludo could see the rear foundations of the Greenapple house ran down into the same mud, a dark line stained onto the old bricks by the rise and fall of the water level.

Approaching from the front with the main body of his men, Sieghard saw a single candle burning in an upstairs window. A thin curl of white smoke rose from the chimney; besides that, the house showed no signs of life.

[Thragka]

Urgrim looked somewhat more like the traditional image of a dwarf now, accoutred in his leathers and mail and approaching the point where one could confidently describe him as festooned with axes.

"Schreiber's not wrong, Commander," he said to Sieghard. It wasn't exactly a mutter - although the ranger was speaking almost as if the priest weren't there, this clearly wasn't intended for Sieghard's ears only. "Y'have the force of the law behind you. Give this dog the chance to come out honourably, before we commit to steel."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard stared at Urgrim for a moment. "You too then?" He sighed. "Fine, if you're all against it, we'll try it your way. I still think it's a damn stupid idea." He turned to his men. "Ingwald, get the Thorns that aren't going with Ludo into position where they've got a good view of the windows. Somewhere with cover if there's any to be found. If you see anyone trying fire out them or throwing anything down at us, shoot. Otherwise, just be ready to stop anyone who thinks of getting away." He picked out ten men, a mix of halberdiers and volunteers. "You lot will come with me. Soon as Ludo's in position, we're going to get up against walls of the house. Try not to stand in front of or under any of the windows, but keep an eye on them until we go in. The man inside keeps attack dogs and will probably loose them. I want them brought down along with any man inside stupid enough to draw a blade against us. If it's possible, take the man with the fake nose and his lackey with the sandy hair alive. Any who throw down their swords or never draw them as well. Let me be the first through the door."

He waited until Ludo was ready, gestured to the house, and rushed towards it, stopping before the door. Once his men had followed, he drew his sword and tested the handle with his free hand.

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I'm expecting it to be locked, but if for some reason it isn't, let me know and I'll change what's below.

"Dragos!" Sieghard shouted, pounding on the door with his fist. "Show yourself! You've got 'til the count of ten or I'm coming inside!" he paused a moment and strapped on his shield. "One!"

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If there's no response to change his mind, he tries to kick down the door after his ten count. If there's aggression from inside, he doesn't wait for the count. He does not immediately rush blindly inside. Not before I know what he sees, as I suspect that is a good way to eat a bunch of free attacks. Is anyone coming with Sieghard?

How many men do we have?

My total count from before was 50 men trained and ready to fight inside of the city. 12 are now away with the first caravan. 14 were stationed guarding the docks, ships and warehose. Leaves us with 24.

[LCP]

A chorus of barks answered Sieghard's knocking - the dogs were home. No other answer was forthcoming. In the upstairs window, the candle abruptly went out.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Proof enough for me. Sieghard thought

"We're going in," he told his men, before shouting "Ten!" and kicking in the door.

[LCP]

The door gave way with a splintering crunch, and Sieghard burst through into a darkened hallway. From a room to his right, the barking grew louder, and he heard the scrabbling of claws against metal.

The inside of the house was dark compared to the moonlit night outside, but Sieghard's eyes were quick to adjust. More than that, he didn't need eyes to hear the sudden thunder of feet on the wooden stairs. Coming down them two at a time, the dark outline of a thick-set man hove into view, hesitated as he saw the soldiers standing in the doorway, then bolted towards the back of the house.

OOC:

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If you want to try to catch the runner, make an opposed Ag test. +20 for having minimised his head start with the speed at which you broke down the door.