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Session Tagline:
Another perspective. The party moves into the town and goes looking for trouble with the Celadon Porcupine leadership, if they can find them.
Primor 7, 1671
Oracle - Did any guards posted above Caltor's keep notice the fighting at the guard house at the southern end of town? (Unlikely - 75)
1D100+1D4 (70) - No
Bram Marshal - Sworn Sword of Duke Caltor
Bram ran his whetstone along his longsword, he always enjoyed keeping his equipment keen while thinking, not that there was much else to do right now on guard duty. The Duke was sold out by his own son to these mercenaries that now occupied the town Bram was assumably sworn to protect. That's how it went, you swore your sword to a landed lord, and then you rose in the ranks through deed and honor...this felt very much the opposite.
He was seated on a wooden stool looking down on the wreckage that was Ongesa, this small wilderness village that was a foothold into the wildlands of civilization and it was held in siege by nefarious characters. Smoke plumed from where the magistrate's abode had been put to the torch, and the rest of the important parts of the town were slathered with hastily drawn green paint, shaped to look like a porcupine.
The Celadon Porcupine, what a ridiculous name for a mercenary company, and yet when their leader Lothric Hartney had offered Balath a relatively small purse of gold to hold up in the keep while they pillaged the town, Balath took it and sold out his heritage, sold out the trust of his people, and destroyed everything Lord Oren Caltor had been building here for three decades.
"You're grinding your teeth Bram." The gruff voice was unexpected but did not startle Bram as he realized he had stopped running the whetstone along the blade and was just starring at the Celadon Porcupine banners flapping near the guard house to the south.
Bram collected himself and responded. "I don't know how much more of this I can take Rogar, I am honor bound to house Caltor, but our new lord is testing my resolve."
Rogar grunted. He was a bigger man than Bram, but Bram was the better fighter. They had been friends since they both swore their oaths to house Caltor in the same summer, and they often spent the more boring guard duties together. Rogar sat down next to Bram and kept his voice low. "Careful friend Bram, you know there are some of this household that would happily sell your throat to our new 'honorable' lord for a small increase in favor with the assling."
Bram smiled but didn't change his fixed gaze. "I hate being sworn to asslings..."
Xara Qawai - Acolyte of Mother Sala
Xara and Sabaar shared a look as Kaba slumped to his knees, tears streaming down his face.
Sabaar looked pained, but there just was not time. He drove his face to a visage of anger, but Xara could see the softness in his eyes as he bent down and lifted Kaba back to his feet by the elbow.
"I am sorry Kaba, we must keep moving and get out from the open. We have managed to not raise the alarm for now. You struck well and true, think of the safety of your sister and the townsfolk these mercenaries have already hurt."
Eazim and Saleese joined Xara, Sabaar, and Kaba and the five of them moved out of sight of the castle keep at the other end of town and made to move for the church. A tithe barn loomed to the south east in the direction of wheat fields that were currently growing but not high enough to provide good cover. Primor was the time of budding and rutting animals, and it would be some months before the harvest would be ready. Xara thought to herself this might be a very bad season for the people of Ongesa in an regard if they've lost any of their farmers to violence. The townsfolk's interests were currently undefended, and now the five of them were embroiled in seeing this mercenary company slain or driven from the town.
Sabaar dragged the corpses into the back corner of the guard house and shut the door after stripping them of a small bag of gold (10 GP) and a quiver of arrows (20 arrows). "Let's head toward the church and see if we can get any better drop upon the leadership of this mercenary company." Sabaar stopped and squinted is eyes to the north. "Saleese, what is that?" Sabaar pointed in the direction of a pile of stones set as a cairn.
Saleese nodded towards the cairn. "You'll find many of those in the town long standing, they're called "apotres" they're offerings of worship to the fairies. Our mother used to tell us the fairies were elementals of growth and decay and the apotres have brought us fruitful harvests since the beginning of Ongesa as a village..."
Sabaar looked towards Xara, she could tell he wanted to roll his eyes but he stayed respectful. "Well in any case they will provide cover. Let's use them as we can. They look to be moss covered and fairly solid, but don't test them to see if any of the stones are loose."
All nodded and they go in a small formation, moving up the road but staying off of it so they could duck down in a moments notice.
Chaos factor increase to 2 (1D6)
Oracle - Are there currently Celadon Porcupine mercenaries on patrol up ahead? (50/50)
1D100+1D6 (19) No
The road leading up to the church was vacant, as well as the southern end of the field leading up to the building. It was one of the largest buildings in the town and was clearly a point of pride. Saleese informed the group the building just to the east of their position behind the church was the tithe barn where the magistrate would collect a percentage of the crop yield for the church to use in ceremonial feasts and to feed the downtrodden.
The church building itself was made of laid stone brick, and there were relatively large stained glass windows that Xara recognized as scenes from the teachings of Fysa, the Protarch of nature. This was a people obviously concerned with respecting nature and finding a way to live as one with the land, and this peaceful bent seemed to have made them a prime target for this mercenary company seeking to steal what they could for themselves.
The sun was high, the shadows short, and there was still much of the day to get through.
"I assume you have a plan Sabaar?" Eazim whispered as the group huddled near the stone walls.
Sabaar smiled. "Of course, Sir Eazim." He unfurled a length of rope and began tieing a grappling hook off on its end. "We will scale this southern wall to the second floor. Entering in through that pane-less window, it looks like there may be a bell in the towers at both the south and north sides. We'll need to again keep from general alarm being raised. We haven't seen any of Lord Caltor's men, so we should not be afraid to dispatch any resistance."
At this Saleese raise her voice. "Please do remember there are hopefully still good people of Ongesa here...I am worried about the priestess Fern Stewick, she was the one who led our people in prayer here. She was the keeper. If she is still alive, she will be wearing dark green robes and has long blonde hair she usually keeps tied back and a stern look on her face."
Sabaar nodded in approval. "Yes of course, even if we see villagers helping the Celadon Porcupine mercenaries, we will assume they are doing so at duress. The mercenaries seem to all be wearing at least leather or chain mail, I would say it's safe to assume no villagers will have the same gear. Let's stick together and be smart. Cover each other's back sides."
With that, Sabaar whipped the grappling hook around a couple times and threw it up to the second floor, letting the rope pass through his fists with a gentle guidance.
Sabaar:
STR Check to land the hook with advantage (16 - Success)
DEX Check for stealth (3 - Failure)
The grappling hook hit something and knocked it over as it sailed through the open second story window. Sabaar pulled the rope taught and it caught on the stone of the window sill and he gave an uneasy grimace as he said. "I guess I'll go first and see if I woke anybody up with that one." And he started to climb the rope...
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