(G204 27/06/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), Mira, Alex)

(G204 27/06/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), Mira, Alex)

DAY 216    (13th Marpenoth) cont ...

They talked to the orc lad a little more and he said:

'I was at the battle, but I don't understand it. Ask the old one over there if you want to know. I didn't fight,
I'm too small, just carried messages. My father is .. was .. a swordsman of The Hard Skull Tribe. My father says
that we are vassals of the Many Arrows tribe and that when King Obould said march then we were honour bound to
march. Honour brought my father to his grave... *sigh* .. well it was the death he would have wanted. Dying in
battle is better than starving to death in a frost covered cave in the mountains.'

Cale was adamant that they leave him there and that orcs could not be trusted although he did leave some food
and water. The lad asked if he could share his food with the old orc in the next cage but this request was
refused.

After this they traveled for two more hours. Their path passed close to a village, a few hundred yards away
through the trees. As they passed they heard a scream of pain.

Cale instantly starting running towards it, but once onto the main road a young man with a spear saw them and
yelled, 'Halt!'
They stopped and then he said, 'Now bugger off!', just as another scream was heard.
'We can hear people in trouble!, stated Cale.
The young man eyed the three adventurers. He saw a bard, an acrobatic type and a dancer.
'What are you? The fucking circus?', he asked.

They turned and conferred with Humperdink who told them,
'The village is called Govallen. It has strong walls. That lad over there is not local, he has a northern
accent. Most likely a hiresword or mercenary.'

Cale advanced on the man, who then took to his heels and ran for the village gate. As they got closer they
heard a woman scream.

Cale demanded that the gate was opened and a large armoured man with a bristly black beard and missing
teeth opened it.
'Well?'
'What's going on in there?'
'Go away.'
Cale stood his ground, 'I want to see in here.'
The mercenary leader gave a hideous smile and said, 'Well now. In you come.'
Pensato whispered a warning, but Cale resolutely advanced.

Before them was a dreadful sight. In the centre of the village the mercenaries were torturing the
villagers then slaying them one by one. The leader went over to a woman that looked like a tavern wench.
He picked her up by the neck and threatened her with a dagger,
'Where is the treasure!' he bellowed in her face.
She struggled and choked out a negative answer. The mercenary then stabbed her in the heart.

Horrified, Cale and Pensato had advanced into the village square. They didn't notice that they were
surrounded by about a dozen heavily armed mercenaries and that Mathmoss had vanished.

The chief, a human called Rankar, told them to surrender. They refused though and a fight began. Cale did
the best he could, dancing and whirling around the battle, striking with his scythe, and Pensato did his best
to help with his bardic magic, but surrounded and outnumbered the battle was not long in being lost.
(They did glance Mathmoss fighting elsewhere in an alley during it.)

Cale and Pensato were disarmed and pushed to the ground while Rankar tortured and killed two more locals.

Pensato managed to use his magical powers to 'Suggest' to Rankar that he should stop killing the villagers.
Rankar said, 'You know what. I'm going to leave the villagers alone now!'
One of the mercenaries was the designated healer, his name was Stef. He said,
'Boss! Boss! It's a bardic trick!' and knocked Pensato over the head with a club sending the poor fellow
senseless down into the road.
'A trick eh?', said Rankar, 'Well, I'll ask you circus folk then. Where. Is. The. Treasure?!'

Cale, serene and calm, answered that he did not know of any treasure.
'The orcish treasure!', demanded Rankar, 'What do you know of it? The orcs buried their loot somewhere in
this village before the army came.'
Cale ran this through his head but decided to give only the exact truth.
'I know nothing of the treasure.'
'OK, well, lets see if this makes you remember.'

As two men held his arm out, Rankar cut off the pinky finger of Cale's right hand.
'Where is the treasure?'
'I don't know where it is.' said Cale with exactness.

As Rankar's dagger pressed into his heart though, Cale decided that only answering questions with only the exact
answers was perhaps not working out that well for him,
'Uh! Um! But I do know where there is a orc that might know the location of the treasure.'

Once they had the directions Rankar sent some of his men back to the crossroads and after a few hours the
orc lad arrived at the village. It was getting dark when they returned and the first man back said,
'We killed the other orcs, but this kid was where the dancing fella said he would be...'

Rankar threatened the orc lad,
'Where is the treasure?'
'Don't tell him! He'll kill you anyway!', stated Cale.
'Shut up you!', growled Rankar.
The orc lad pleaded for his life,
'I only know it was under a tree in the orchard. I can't count, but the chief made me memorise this riddle!'
He then recited:

''
'Count from East and Count from North,
If you would dig up a bounty's worth,

Take first the number of legs on a donkey,
Then add the number of ears on a monkey,
Add again the number of eyes in my head,
And takeaway the number of wives I have wed.

Now I have counted the first number, lets go,
And counting from here the next number I'll know,

Begin with a dozen baker's rolls, tasty and hot,
Of prongs on a trident, subtract the lot,
Take off now the number when counting of basilisks legs,
And finally add the number when counting of chimera heads'
''

Rankar scratched his head. Cale didn't even try to work it out.
'A bit of a poet then, your chief.', said Rankar.
'He was a bard.' replied the boy.
'Huh, Stef, wake up that sack of dung.' said Rankar kicking poor Pensato.

Once awake though, Pensato solved the riddle with ease (or so he though initially).
'The answer is: 4+2+1-4 = 3 and 12-3-8+3 = 4'

'Right', said Rankar and lead them all out into the orchard. They then counted along three trees and up four.
His men began to dig by torchlight, but after they'd gone down six feet they gave up.
Rankar went over and grabbed Pensato,
'Guess again, bard...'
'Um!', gulped Pensato, 'Well perhaps it would be a baker's dozen, as in thirteen? That would mean the next tree
up!'
The men began to dig again and after a few feet they hit the top of a chest,
'We've got something boss!'
Rankar jumped down into the hole and opened the lid. The chest was full of coins! As he groped to get at them
though, his second in command, a man called Weynard, decided that a change of management was in order and since
Rankar was still somewhat injured from his fighting with Cale he chose this time to stab his master in the back
with his sword.
Ranker bellowed and leapt out the hole. Now it was mercenary versus mercenary as each decided who they preferred
as their master.

The orc boy fled for the village gate, Cale and Pensato not long behind him. Cale decided to get his manacles out
and at the gate grabbed the boy to handcuff him. But he only got one on before Stef and some of the other mercenaries
arrived, either chasing the prisoners or fleeing the battle. The orc lad fled into the village and was not found
again.

In a fine display of agility Cale snatched the sword right out of Stef's hand and then slew him with it.
He then injured another mercenary who then tried to ask for mercy, but Cale finished him off. All the while,
Pensato acted as an invisible helper, using his magic to be totally unseen by their enemies.

Pensato used up some of the last reserves of his magic to heal himself and Cale and they entered the village.
There were three mercenaries still in the centre though but Pensato snuck around them and finding their
weapons in a pile, took his rapier and threw Cale's scythe over to the dancer. It would have been impressive
if he had caught it, but he did not. The mercenaries, none the less, were easily defeated and they ran
for the eastern gate as the bulk of the mercenary force entered through the west, their management issues
seemingly resolved.

They caught up with Humperdink and the others and fled. After a little while Mathmoss joined them.
'Where the hell have you been?' they asked.
'Playing murder in the dark.' came the quiet reply.

DAY 217    (14th Marpenoth)

After putting some distance between themselves and Govallen they spend the night camped out in the wild.

In the morning they moved on, using the small trails between the river and the main road.

Around noon they arrived at the village of Trout Bridge.

A local warned them,
'Gah! The whole army is chasing the horde up north. After loot and glory!
But what about the stragglers left behind? There are desperate bands of orcs
scattered all the way up to Longsaddle. There are hundreds around Goldenfields.
Stick to the roads! Travel only during the day! You are as good as dead otherwise.'

'Pishposh!' Humperdink replied, 'I know better roads, the old smuggler ways. Much safer!'

That night in the village tavern Pensato told stories to entertain the locals. He also told a tale of unicorns
at the request of the little girl.

They set off again and late at night arrived at the abandoned village of Toadstone. They selected
a small hut by the river to set up camp, thinking that the tavern might be too dangerous a target for orcs
and bandits.