The day is the Eighth of
Winter, the year 99 PB (Post Bellum)
Having
packed the requisite supplies and convinced their companions Leia and Inigo to
join them, the intrepid party bids farewell to Mesa. Goodbyes are said to
parents, and Alvaro gives his son Inigo his Guards’ Shortsword, in exchange for
the promise that he will be safe.
The
group descends into the cold winter desert: Clause, Inigo, Leia, Adam,
Roderick, and Leia’s hanger-on Eko. The meet the exiled cleric Ulrich on the
lift and agree to travel together. By the end of the first day they reach the
snowy mountains to the north of the desert and set up camp.
Unprepared
for the bitter cold, members of the party begin to succumb to illness, which
only worsens in the three day journey through the mountains. The group manages
to avoid confrontation with a small pack of wolves, and they scrape by on the
meager rations they have. Out of the mountains, they are forced to camp through
a snowstorm until morning when they can see the trade post town of Hanbei.
The
group, short on cash, spends what they can afford on warm beds for Adam,
Roderick, and Ulrich, those most shaken by illness, and the rest of the party
sleeps on the floor. Since their thief is too sick to steal more coin, they buy
a few winter coats where they can.
Ulrich,
once up and moving, spots a group of prostitutes in the town, and takes it upon
himself to shame them on behalf of the church. Finding their counter-argument
surprisingly convincing, he turns to soliciting services, but doesn’t have
enough money. Ashamed and discouraged, before leaving he reaches out for a full
two-hand grope and finds, after the initial shock, a knife slipped between his
ribs. In shocked anger, he draws his halberd as the courtesan shouts for her
companions. As the other girls round the corner, Ulrich’s polearm falls and
slices halfway through the woman’s neck. She falls, gasping, to the snow and
dies. Her backup stands, shocked, before the priest frantically brandishing his
weapon. Ulrich fails to notices the soft steps behind him, and when the garrote
seizes his neck he falls, choked, and is dragged into the wagon.
Inigo
sees Ulrich dragged into the cart and rushes to see the courtesans, who deny
knowledge. But Inigo clearly knows what happened. “Look, can I at least get a
finger or something?”. The girl disappears for a moment into the wagon and
returns to drop something into Inigo’s open palm. The Halfling quickly pulls
back and kicks snow over Ulrich’s severed member. Eyes wide, he turns and tells
the party that they have lost Ulrich. Later Clause, who has been hiding out in
the inn, goes out into the cold to intimidate the prostitutes into returning
Ulrich’s belonging to the party. Inigo leaves some coin behind as a sort of
karmic recompense.
Looking
for work to be able to afford to leave, the group encounters a small band of
gang members. Anti-imperials, they plan to attack the caravan that has just
arrived for supplies, and which is headed out to the Border Fort with a load of
rations. The party, though some are still recovering from illness, decides to help,
and they formulate a plan. The robbery is to occur on the third day the party
has been in town.
The
party and thieves station three groups of archers along the street, one for
each group of three guards around the caravan (the thieves have assessed that
there are twelve guards total, so more are likely on break). Another thief
waits to give the signal to the thieves’ wagon, which will circle and pick up
the group in the event that things take a turn for the worse. An unfortunate
situation complicates this, though: with heavy snow, some archers have been
forced to remain behind to dig out the cart and part of a path, and help will
surely come slowly when it does.
Inigo
volunteers to sneak into the midst of the carts once the guards are distracted,
to set fire to them and then run. The archers are meant to shoot to provoke the
guards into giving chase. In their heavy armor, the caravan guards will be
unable to pursue.
As an
alternate plan, the group first sends the prostitutes to solicit the guards,
but the imperial men are steadfast, and the women walk away unsuccessful. The
archers share their cue, and open fire.
As
planned, the guards rush to attack the bowmen, and Inigo, waiting for them to
run further, launches his own arrows.
When
the guards gain ground, the thieves turn to flee as per the plan, but the
adventurers decide to hold their ground and fight. Inigo, realizing he may have
less time than he thought, runs at full speed into the midst of the caravan.
The
guards take their first swings, and the adventurers too. Some thieves continue
to flee, but most, seeing their companions in trouble, stop to continue
shooting. Inigo, arriving swiftly among the wagons, realizes the mistake of his
speed: the other three guards are sitting in one of the wagons, and he has run
nearly straight into them. They draw their weapons and step down into the snow.
Things
are clearly taking a turn for the worse. Guards knock down Eko and Adam
quickly. Clause follows after felling a pair of guards. A valiant thief holds
off an imperial man long enough for Leia to stabilize Adam. In the midst of the
melee, Inigo takes a blow to the leg and falls to his knees, the next swing
cleaves his jaw off into the snow. Grasping his mangled face, Inigo gasps as
blood runs over his open hand. Everything begins to go dim as he falls for the
last time.
Eko’s
dogs rush to save Inigo, unaware that they are dragging a corpse. One of the
band of thieves rushes in to grab Inigo’s torch and lights a wagon, dodging the
swords of the other guards.
Soon
Leia too falls, and the thieves’ cart is arriving in the distance. Arrows and
blades have by this time slain numerous guards and thieves alike. Roderick
makes a run for the bandits’ wagon. The thief in the center manages to set all
four wagons ablaze before he is slain.
When
the wagon arrives, it is only in time to drop off men to give aid to the
fallen. By the time the conflict ends, Inigo, four thieves, and ten guards are
dead, and the imperial wagons all ablaze. The dead are gathered and the wagon
quickly leaves town. All the adventurers besides Roderick (who avoided the bulk
of combat) are unconscious with grave wounds.
Over
the next ten days, the party regains consciousness one-by-one, and find that
they have been nursed to health in a gang hideout in Riverstadt, and that their
companion and brother is dead.
The day
is the 25th of Winter, 99PB.
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| RIP |
