The night is cool and the moon is obscured by clouds, making it unnaturally dark as Malcolm rides North. The rustling of the leaves and the sound of the sea are his constant companions. The small huts of fishermen and a few farms dot the landscape.
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ooc: awareness check
Malcolm reins up, now some distance from the lights and sounds of Tannyr's Quay. He peers out into the darkness, and listens intently for anything out of place.
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ooc: Awareness 6,6,4,(4,2) = 16
Malcolm hears voices very faintly to the North. He would guess two people but is not sure, at a distance of about 50 yards. The trees obscure and possible view.
ReplyDeleteSer Malcolm listened intently, trying to make out words, but to no avail. It was unlikely that smallfolk would be out this time of night, but perhaps it was just men returning late from a day of fishing. Perhaps it was Riker's overdue messengers, taking their time returning from an uneventful day. Perhaps...
ReplyDeleteMalcolm hefted his shield to make sure the straps were still tight, and loosened his blade in its scabbard. Wary the trees ahead might hold more men than voices, he ushered Steuben forward with his knees. He followed a rocky fold in the earth so as to hide his form from onlooking eyes, but was painfully aware of the noise of hooves and creaking leather. He strained to hear more as he closed on the voices.
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ooc: goal here is 1) to close on the voices without alerting my presence 2) keep attentive as I move forward. to the degree possible (which doesn't seem to be much, I want to minimize noise/visibility.
Rolls you might need.
Warfare (for positioning against my potential foes): 5,5,2 = 12
Awareness (notice): 5,3,3,(1,1) = 11
Stealth: 3,1 = 4
Malcolm manages to pinpoint their position and catch sight of two men wearing the Cloaks of The Fog and carrying Longbows as they emerge from a cluster of trees. He has positioned himself well for the encounter and has higher ground a straight ride down. Unfortunately, Steuben's hooves knock loose some sediment and rocks and the men are alerted to Malcolm's presence as soon as he spies them. They whirl to face him. "Who goes there? In the name of Lord Castriati, identify yourself?"
ReplyDeleteMalcolm glowers down at them, irritated that he'd been spotted so easily. He speaks in an easy voice, so that it carries to them, but he hopes little further.
ReplyDelete"Ser Malcolm Fendry, Castellan of Tidehall and sword knight of House Castriati. Stand down, men of the Fog. Whom do I address, and who is your commander?"
From his vantage atop the small ridge, he peers at them, trying to make out faces he recognizes, and brings his shield up, in case this is some manner of ruse.
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ooc: Do I recognize either of these two fellows? Are longbows typical equipment for the Fog? I figured them to be shorter range combatants...
Rolls if I need them:
knowledge: men of the fog? 4,4 = 8
awareness: make out faces? 6,5,3,(3,1) = 14
"Ser Malcolm, beg your pardon, ser. I am Wendt and this is Scrag. Arris is our commander. He sent us to report back to you. We found the ironborn ship beached to the North. It was a deliberate landing but it looks like they're not intending to come back for it. Inland we found a fisherman's hut. They had killed the family and taken some supplies. They also left the body of one of their own there. He looked like he might be the captain, killed by their own axes too, not by the smallfolk. We thought we could catch them before nightfall, but we didn't. Arris sent us back to report to you. The rest are still looking for them. From the tracks it looks like 12 of them."
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ooc: And yes, that probably should be shortbows.
ooc: Is Arris someone Malcolm knows/knows of? While I sent Riker, there are other commanders, and Malcolm explicitly told Riker to pick up guys along the way. I'm trying to determine whether or not Malcolm feels this is a legit tale, or if something smells hinky. If additional rolls are required for this, feel free to make them on your end and let me know.
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ReplyDeleteooc: I had misunderstood the situation. I thought you had told Riker to pick men for the expedition but stay home himself. Riker is their commander.
ooc: okay then. I'm assuming for the purposes of my post they identified Riker as their commander instead of Arris, thereby alleviating some of Malcolm's healthy paranoia. Some.
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Malcolm's grip on his upturned lance softens, as they respond to his challenge with a sensible tale. "Good lads. A beached ship and a dead reaver captain? Mutineers on the run from home, mostlike. Can't have that here. Scrag, is it? Make haste to Tidehall. Tell this tale to Ser Bohemund, and let him know that Wendt and I are moving to join Riker up coast. Wendt, I hope you can track your brothers? Lead on then."
"Aye, sir," said Scrag, who continued toward Tidehall.
ReplyDelete"Alright, its not too far from here where I left them, maybe an hour. The hut is on the way if you'd like to see. We didn't take time to bury the bodies seeing as we wanted to catch them. You can see the whole scene if you like."
"Fine, let's see the hut, and pick up the trail from there."
ReplyDeleteSer Malcolm lowered his lance across his lap, so that he could follow through the dense trees more easily as he followed behind Wendt.
Wendt leads Malcolm to the shore and they pass the longship. An older ship by the look of it, with the kraken of House Greyjoy decorating its sail and a serpent figurehead on the prow. The ship is beached and has tilted on its side with the wind and tide. It looks largely undamaged but it was not a fine landing. Wendt leads on to the hut, which actually turns out to be a cluster of three huts. A small boat is tied up outside at a crude dock. A firepit lies dormant, though from the look it may have been used earlier in the day, in the center of the huts. There are long tables outside, probably used for cleaning the fish, though they seem empty except for discards now. A body lies near one of the tables with flies circling it. His modest clothes are caked with blood and he has a large gaping wound in his chest where it looks like he was struck by a battleaxe. An ironborn warrior with a long beard lies by the firepit. he has been stripped of all his jewelry, weapons, and metal armor, but still has a hardened leather vest on. His throat has been cut. "The rest are inside," say Wendt.
ReplyDeleteAs they passed the ship, a chill came unbidden to Malcolm. The kraken sails had dotted the west more than once when he was a young man, and he remembered the soft crying of womenfolk huddled together in hiding.
ReplyDeleteSeeing just a single ship was more common these days, but not like this one. Of late, the ironborn had taken to a newer, sleeker design: low in the water, with a high fantail for javelineers, a ram glistening with hooks along the front quarter. This ship was like the ones he remembered. Gilder had hired shipwrights from as far as the Free Cities to put together a fleet that could match vessels like this for speed and maneuver along the coastal shoals at enormous cost. He was glad when the rode out of site of it.
They picked their way along to the huts in silence. When they arrived, Malcolm canted his lance back into its scabbard in front of his knee, and levered himself down, tying Steuben to a nearby scrub tree. His courser wouldn't bolt easily, but it had been a warm day, and the smell of death and blood was beginning to become thick.
Malcolm walked over to the bodies, and stooped to look at the man in roughspun. His hands were still outstretched, as if he had tried to fend off the blow, but was probably dead before he hit the earth. The captain was a different story, the blood all over his hands suggested he had either done the grisly work on the peasant, or more like to Malcolm's mind, tried to hold in the gush of blood from his own throat. (awareness(notice): anything of note about bodies. 6,4,3,(2,2) = 13. knowledge: identity of peasant. 6,6 = 12 )
Malcolm stood, and looked to Wendt for direction as to which hut needed his examination. Following the man's eyes, he made his way to the low thatch and mud building, the largest of the three, and pushed open the door with his shield to peer inside. (awareness(notice) interior hut. 6,6,4,(3,2)= 16)
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ooc: as he's walking around, I imagine you've already covered everything he sees, but if there's something else outside or among the other huts, it'll be passive awareness (14).
Malcolm recognizes the peasant as Pyper. Malcolm often stopped to talk with him on his rides. Pyper was born in these lands, and he and his wife Myrna have, or had, 2 children.
ReplyDelete"Thank the seven the other families were away at the time. They came back shortly after we got here. We sent them to the town to stay for a while."
The interior of the largest hut was bloody and had been ransacked. It was as Malcolm feared, the reavers had not spared the wife or the childern. It looked as though the reavers took food and any other portable supplies. In the corner of the hut Malcolm notices a pot laying on its side, sticky black pigment stains the ground around it.
It wasn't until he saw that ridiculous sea serpent skull above the hearth, long jaws open and mocking, that he realized who's body he'd just examined. "Pyper and Myrna," Malcolm informed Wendt, knowing these names were meaningless to him. Malcolm felt a need to say them, anyway. "The girl and boy, she was, uh, Mera, or Nyra? I think. Don't remember his name. Damnable Ironborn." Malcolm pulled a thin quilt from the corner where it had been discarded during the sack, and laid it gently over the children. There was no sheet to cover Myrna, so he simply closed her eyes.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm walked to the small sticky pot, which seemed out of place. He took a sniff, but it didn't smell of food. "What's this then?" he said to himself as much as to Wendt. He remembered what Seff had said, of men with black paint blotching their faces at the shore this morning; the sea priest's followers. Had the raiders brought it to Pyper's hut, or had the man fallen in with the heretic? He hoped whatever the case, the Stranger would be merciful. He gave the pot a kick of frustration with his boot. It spun to a stop nearby, leaking out what little pigment remained.
Malcolm exited the hut, and setting his shield down, picked up Pyper's corpse. It was rigid and cool, and the blood in his clothes had become tacky. He set Pyper beside his wife, then closed and latched the hut, to keep out scavengers. He decided the reaver could stay outside with the beasts.
Collecting his shield, he said, "Let's be off, Wendt. We'll have the Silent Sisters come from the sept tomorrow, but now we need to find the men who did this." He stormed toward Steuben, and added, "about a dozen of them by the tracks, you say? It won't be enough."
Malcolm hears a branch break, he turns to the brush as Wendt shouts, "Not a dozen, sir, just four."
ReplyDeleteA raiders with an axe and three men in leather with spears are approaching. The raider appears Ironborn, the others features are obscured by black paint on their faces and their arms. The raider curses and yells "Take them!" when he sees they've been spotted.
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ooc: roll for initiative. Current order: Believer (9), Wendt (7), Raider (6), Believer (6), Believer (4).
The huts are about 5 yards behind you, Wendt is right behind you. They are about 10 yards in front of you.
ooc: initiative - 6,4,(3,2,1) = 10 (-1D flaw, 2B Quickness)
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Malcolm responded to Wendt with the rasp of his sword exiting the scabbard (FA - draw longsword).
"Tidehall and Castriati!" Malcolm set his feet, wide, on firm ground, with his sword point low to his right and his shield raised in front of him, to await the first one foolish enough to close on him.
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ooc:
GA - Counterattack. I'll interrupt the first one within reach - here's hoping they close, and Wendt can hit something with that bow of his. I'll go ahead and give you the numbers.
attack - 5,3,3,3,3,3,(2,2) = 20. pfft.
base damage, if it's relevant, is 6.
"Storm and Death!" the believer shouts as he foolishly charges Malcolm with his spear. The man is inexperienced and as he pulls back to thrust Malcolm takes a small step forward and catches him in the stomach with his sword. The believer groans and dies.
ReplyDeleteWendt steps up even with Malcom and throws a knife at another of the believers, catching him right in the throat and sending him gurgling to the ground to die. He then draws two more knives and stands ready.
The raider just screams and charges Wendt with his longaxe. He moves faster than Malcolm would have expected for the ringmail he is wearing, and Malcom can tell that he is quite skilled with the longaxe he wields. He swings the axe mightily and Wendt is not fast enough to dodge it. The blow cuts Wendt from his neck all the way to his waist and kills him instantly. "No storm, just death," the raider says as he pulls his axe from the corpse and turns to face Malcolm.
The final believer throws his spear at Malcolm but it goes wide by more than a yard. He picks up his fallen comrade's spear.
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Malcolm vs. first believer: three successes, +2 base damage for setting for a charge, 22 (24-2) damage total.
Wendt vs. believer 2: Looking at guerilla stats, he shouldn't have a bow at all, my bad. He rolls 6,6 3 which is three successes plus a level 2 critical hit for 2 sixes. Base damage 7 (agility +1+4), 19 (21-2) damage.
Raider scores a critical on Wendt for a lot of damage. He is now 3 yards from Malcolm. We are using the free attacks advanced rule so if you use a lesser action to move closer within his reach he will get a passive attack vs. your combat defense.
ooc: Well, good thing its night, I won't have to stare at all my blood. For what little its worth, my read on Free attack is they are for disengagement only. Pg. 169, is "the only way to trigger a free attack is to begin your turn when you are in reach of your opponent’s weapon and spend a Lesser Action to move more than 1 yard. Should this occur, your opponent compares his passive Fighting result to your Combat Defense." If I'm 3 yards away and reach for an longaxe is 2... whatever. House rule, perhaps? You're the boss, and I'm going to close and hit him either way.
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Ser Malcolm grimaced as Wendt fell in a heap. The man of the Fog had died quickly, at least, and his dagger had flown true. Malcolm hoped he could make his sacrifice matter.
He stepped quickly toward the Ironborn, close enough to feel his breath and stare into his wild eyes. The longblade in his hand was cumbersome at this distance, but he hoped the raider's axe was useless pressed close between the man's chest and Malcolm' upraised shield. He brought up his blade in a smooth thrust, aiming the point at the soft flesh below his jaw.
"Give the Drowned God my regards. He will remember my work."
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ooc:
FA - talk
LA - move, 3 yards, closing to range 0 with raider.
LA - attack, 6,5,4,4,3,(3,2,2) = 22 - losing 1D due to close attack at range 0. At least it was an okay roll this time.
Malcolm deftly maneuvers forward to close to deadly range with raider. The raider tries to bring his bloody axe to bear but Malcolm wards it off with his shield and expert footwork. Apparently the raider's skills are more suited to efficient butchery than matching blades with a trained knight. He is caught defenseless at such close range and the sword plunges into his neck and thrusts upward. The raider expires soon after.
ReplyDeleteThe final believer throws down his javelin and beings begging for mercy. "Please Ser Malcolm, mercy. Father made me do it. He made us all do it. I didn't want to. They're all mad." He begins to weep and Malcolm realizes that he is no more than a boy of fifteen, Bern, son of one of fishermen in Tannyr's Quay.
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ooc: We have the same interpretation of the free attack rules, I just had reach 3 mistakenly written on this guys sheet. Assuming he would have closed to 2 with both you and Wendt, his passive fighting still misses due to darkness penalties. Malcolm's attack scores 3 successes and 1 critical, raising base damage by +2 for a total of base damage 8 X 3 = 24 - 5 armor = 19. The raider is slain in one hit.
Malcolm turned to the boy, tears leaving tracks on his pigmented face. He recognized that face, and had known him since he was small enough to collect shells after the morning tide.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm shook his head, grimly. "Mercy is not mine to give, Bern. You will ask Lord Gilder for his. It may go better if you speak plainly now, boy. What was it your father made you do? Why Pyper and his family? And the ship's crew or the men I had prowling these woods? Speak all of it quickly now, as if your life depended on it. My patience left when I drew steel."
As he spoke, Malcolm strode toward Steuben, tied a few yards away. The boy watched him intently through his tears. Malcolm reached into the saddlebag, and took out a long coil of rope. He looped one end to the saddlehorn, and threw the other in a heap at the boys feet.
"You've mended nets your whole life. Your knots are better than mine, and my eyes are sharp enough to know if you've tied sound ones. Bind yourself, neck and waist, and if you carry a weapon leave it now, for if i find one on you," Malcolm gestured with the point of his sword toward the heaps of the dead. Waiting for the boy to pick up the rope and begin his tale, Malcolm mounted his steed.
Bern sobbed and his tale gushed forth as he tied the knots.
ReplyDelete"Father said it would be just like cleaning fish. That they were just fish. But its not like that at all. I never hurt a man for real before. I don't want to kill anyone. Its that drowned priest by the dock. We passed him every day. At first we laughed at him. One day father stopped on our way back in. I left him there because I had to take the catch back. He stopped every night after that. Soon he was talking about the Storm God at the table. Then he made us boys stay with him when he went to hear the priest. He made us be baptized to their gods. Then he made Mother take down the wooden figures of the Seven from the hearth. We didn't know what it was all about. Today when we came back from fishing we passed the priest and he said to my father it was time. Then we all came out here. We met a hundred more who followed the priest. Father made us put black paint on our arms and face. We didn't know what it was all about, Malcolm. But then the priest said we had to be Storm God's waves, his lightning and sweep the coast. There were others too, warriors, but I don't know where they were from."
Even if they were smallfolk, one hundred was too many for Riker and his score of guerrillas to handle alone, and Malcolm doubted he would tip the scales. He had instructed Riker to be cautious and doubted that he was brash enough to assault them head on, but it was only a matter of time before they crossed swords. He wanted to look to Wendt and the other dead, but the living needed him first. He hoped the man's ghost would forgive him.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm looked at the weeping boy, and considered what to do next. He briefly wondered what Ser Roger might do in this situation, and then shook his head. "Listen well, lad. You have one chance to save yourself. Which way did this host head? To town? Toward the Mallisters?” He tightened his grip on the rope and gave it a jerk to pull the lad out of his self-pity. The boy stared up startled. “You will run well and fast, I have no time to wait on you. If you cannot keep up, I’ll have a hand from you and call your debt paid. Be glad it’s not your head.”
Malcolm put heel to Steuben, and began making way to the beached ship with Bern trotting along behind on his tether.
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ooc: handle animal, ride: 5,4,2,(1) = 11
I’m assuming the army of 100 isn’t supposed to be headed to the beached ship.