Day 3 – Cragmaw Caves: Back to
the Burg
The party are exhausted. With the exception of Lucien, everyone is
wounded to some degree.
They found the caves quite quickly and whilst it seemed like a long
time in reality it took less than an hour to clear the caves.
Lucien asks Kord, “Do you believe we can make it back to Liechenstein
before dark or should we camp here for the night.”
Looking at the height of the sun in the sky Kord responds “We’ll make
it back.”
“Good,” adds Talmark, “let’s get back there and rest and recover.”
In the background the men of the True Spear Mercenary Company are
recalling the day’s events. Clovis and Stein are joking with each other,
teasing about how one or the other flinched when a puny goblin attacked him.
Per stands stoically, almost like a statue watching the other pair joke. Barret
utters “Man I almost bought it on this trip. Why, why did we take this gig?” And
Freemont is congratulating the men on their performance “Well lads I just want
to say that was a great job we all did today. We stuck together through tough
times and we overcame a numerically superior force. No one shirked their duty.
It’s a great day for the True Spear Mercenary Company.”
Sildar is sitting on the ground conserving his energy. He is emaciated and
exhausted from being captured by the goblins and by being underfed for over a
month.
Talmark comes over to Sildar and asks how he’s feeling and how did he
get captured by the goblins.
Sildar recalls the attack on the caravan that he was travelling with
and how the small contingent of guards were quickly overcome. He admits that he
was carless and wasn’t armoured nor armed at the time and whilst he tried to
help he was wounded and incapacitated during the skirmish. There were more men
captured than just himself but the poor treatment by the goblins meant that the
others had died during the month. The caravan master went by the name of Gall,
not that that matters now, he’s dead as well. But the caravan was owned by the Lionshield
trading company. An old family owned trading house. They have a warehouse in Canorate,
Molthune and regularly bring goods to the Burg where they trade with their
counter parts from Elidir and Logas in Isger and Senara and Egorian in Cheliax.
Their merchandise is marked with the image of a blue lion and you can see it on
some of the crates and sacks.
As to why he’s worth 50gp? The Knights Irori will pay a ransom or
reward of 50gp for his safe return. He’ll have to pay it back of course out of
his wage as he trains and defends the Burg, but at least that’ll provide
incentive to get him back alive and as well as can be.
They pack up their things and prepare to go.
They wind down the narrow paths till they reach the main road towards
Burg Liechenstein. They encounter nothing along the way and as they approach
the gatehouse a knight appears, Knight Lorenz.
“We’ll you’re back. We didn’t expect that. And who is this that you’ve
got with you?”
DEW
From the Sildar talk... "When you say 'trade with your counterparts in Elidir and Logas in Isger and Senara and Egorian in Cheliax,' are your counterparts also of the Lionshield Trading Company?"
ReplyDeleteTo Lorenz, "Knight Lorenz, I am sorely vexed by your lack of confidence in us. And what are our men, the True Spear Company to think, that you allowed us to take them to what you thought was their doom?"
Lucien dismisses any reply with a wave, though (meant to be manipulative, to somewhat shame Lorenz and make him predisposed to be more accommodating to make up for it later), and asks Talmark to introduce, "Our new friend, newly rescued from certain death."
(Again, meant to be manipulative, this time to gain Sildar's trust.)
((As an aside, are we expected to pay another 1gp each to enter?))
Sildar says "not our counterparts, their counterparts."
ReplyDelete......
Knight Lorenz puts his hand out to collect the entry fee for the Burg, "One each for you Talmark, Lucien and Kord, five for the True Spear Mercenary Company and one for Sildar. That's 9gp thanks."
Freemont and Sildar wait for Talmark, Lucien or Kord to pay.