Once more, they are up around 7.00 in order to get a
full day's travel in. Yaz goes out from the barn to make his
devotions while the rest of them see to their weapons and eat another
of Milan's terrible breakfasts. Without any tents to pack onto the
draft horse and mules, they are away from the farm by the time it
starts to get light at 8.00.
The farm is just quarter of a mile off the Shumperk-Opava road and
so they are on it within minutes, heading northeast again so that
Opava is directly in front of them. They can see that the snow on the
road has a few cart tracks and hoof prints upon it, showing them that
the road has seen a little traffic during the past 48 hours. They
make fairly good progress along the road during the day, seeing no
other travelers along the route.
It gets to just before midday and they are all thinking about
stopping for a break when they see some travelers on the road coming
towards them. It appears to be a small convoy consisting of two
covered wagons accompanied by six outriders, easy to make out, as the
road slopes upwards. As they get to within a couple of hundred feet
of the convoy, the party can see that the outriders appear to be a
particularly mean bunch of individuals. They are swathed in cloaks,
with several of them wearing long furs and beneath that, the party
members can see that they are all wearing platemail. None of them are
youngsters, being in their forties and early fifties. The party
members can tell immediately that these men have seen a great deal of
action during their time, as not one of them is without several
scars. One of them is missing a leg, another one an arm; another has
lost an ear, while another has a six-inch long scar on his right
cheek. All of them are bearing longswords, crossbows and carry
shields upon their backs.
They notice that the party is taking a keen interest in them and
seem to be very interested in the party as well. Several of them pull
their cloaks aside in order to give them easier access to their
swords, others open their saddlebags.
Yaz turns back to Porter:
"Friends of yours?"
Porter shakes his head:
"Nope. Never seen these guys before, and I can't say I'm looking
forward to meeting them."
Yaz gets down from his horse and stands awkwardly, Gertrude on one
shoulder, petting her with one hand, holding the reins and stroking
his horse with the other. He waits; hoping that someone else will
play diplomat. Of course someone else does - Winnacer.
Winnacer loosens his lance from its holder, peering deeply at the
outriders, as he pats his injured horse to keep it calm.
The loosening of lance makes the outriders a little more cautious,
their hands wavering down to their swords. Worried about escalating
their unease, Winnacer responds by holding up his hand in the
universal sign of peaceful intent and prepares to move to the side of
the road in order to allow for them to pass. He summons Milan to his
side, placing Winn directly between Milan and the possible threat. He
also keeps an eye on the others; more prepared this time for
impetuousness of his allies than last time.
This seems to calm the outriders down a little, with the leader of
the group mimicking Winnacer's actions. As he raises his hand, the
party members can see that the warrior is missing a couple of fingers
from his hand.
As the convoy comes closer, the party all move to the side of the
road. As the convoy passes the party's position, the outriders slow
up a little, forming a line between the party and the wagons as the
pair of them roll past. As the wagons pass behind them, the outriders
don't take their eyes off the party for a moment, ready to react if
they move so much as a muscle.
As the wagons get past the party, the outriders calm a little. Two
of them break off in order to lead the wagons once more, while the
other four back off a little, still observing the party carefully.
The party looks back at the departing wagons and see some movement
from the flap at the rear. They see that someone is observing them.
Moments later, a head emerges from the wagon. It looks similar to the
others, in that the man is in his mid-forties and balding. His face
is weather-beaten and is marred by a deep scar on his left cheek.
The man calls out towards you:
"Lord Stradheim?" the voice calls out. "Winnacer Stradheim?"
Winnacer looks at the man to see who it is. At first he does not
recognize him, but then he remembers:
"Padre Lubosh Kochi," he says, quite amazed.
Winnacer looks around at the rest of the party:
"He's a Padre of Radegast from Pardubitze, loyal to the cause. I
met him along with Xavier and Faewen'il when the three of us went
first to the city."
The Padre shouts out for the wagons to stop and the wheels grind
to a halt. As they do so, the Padre slips out through the slit in the
canvas and drops to the ground and starts to walk towards them. They
notice that the priest is wearing green robes, under which is a
silver breastplate with the inverted sword of Radegast embossed into
it. The most noticeable feature about the man, however, is the fact
that the right arm of his robe hangs loose as a result of his losing
the arm at some point.
The Padre is smiling as he walks up to Winnacer:
"Well, well, well," he beams, "this is a pleasant surprise."
He shakes Winnacer firmly using his left hand. He looks around at
the others, not seeing any faces that he recognizes:
"Where is Knight Commander von Trauloft?" he asks. "And what about
that feisty young magess that used to travel with you?"
"Faewen'il is alive and well and is in Olmutz at the moment,"
Winnacer replies. "Sadly the same cannot be said for Xavier. I regret
to tell you that he died a noble warrior's death just over a week ago
at the hand of great Injustice."
The Padre shakes his head at this:
"That is grave news indeed," he says sadly. "The cause cannot
afford to lose many of his kind."
Winnacer nods and turns to the rest of the party again:
"I would like to introduce you to my other colleagues," he says to
the Padre. "They are all loyal to the cause.. ."
He scowls at Rowan:
"... or so they say," he mutters.
Porter grimaces as he's introduced as someone "loyal to the
cause." That little half-pint had gotten him mixed into more than he
bargained for. He hoped it wasn't going to be difficult to extricate
himself later.
Winnacer introduces them all one by one and the Padre shakes them
all by the hand:
"This is Aithne, and Porter, Milan, Rowan and Yaz."
"Ah, Shaman Yaz," the Padre says as he shakes the druid's hand.
"I've heard a lot about you. I have someone here who wants to see you
again."
He calls back to the wagon:
"Hrust, priyesh tady. Mam nyekdo ktery ty budesh vidyet."
There is a rustling from within the wagon and Porter, Rowan and
Aithne are most surprised to see a large ursine head appear through
the gap. The hairy figure emerges from the wagon and drops down onto
the road. They see that it belongs to none other than a bugbear. It
stands 7' tall, wearing dark robes and is carrying a staff. It starts
to lope down the road towards them:
"Shaman Hrust," Yaz says with a smile. "Good to see you again, ya
big hairy lump."
The bugbear walks over to the druid and shakes his hand, almost
crushing it in the process:
"Shaman Yaz," he growls warmly. "Good is me for you to see more."
"Hey," Yaz replies, grimacing from the pain pulsing through his
hand. "I see you've picked up a bit of Bohavian since we last met."
The bugbear nods:
"Is right. No easy is for me speak, but try I do."
While Yaz and the bugbear get reacquainted, Winnacer speaks
further with the Padre:
"So, it must be six weeks since we met in Pardubitze. You were
heading off to Silesia to obtain weapons and cadres using the
Slovenes' gold to help arm and train the citizens of Pardubitze last
time we spoke."
The Padre smiles:
"That's absolutely right, Winnacer," the Padre replies. "We're
just on our way back to Pardubitze now. We crossed the border just
two days ago."
He smiles:
"The Nyemetz have got one less company patrolling the Silesian
border now."
Winnacer smiles also:
"Apart from that, how did it go? Were you able to accomplish all
that you had hoped to achieve?"
"Oh yes," Kochi replies. "That and more. I've got someone else
that I'd like you to meet."
He calls to the wagons once more:
"General," he calls out, "there's someone here that I'd like you
to meet."
The party looks back to the wagons to see a figure emerge from the
first of them. He starts to come towards the group of them, taking
long, confident strides. As he comes towards them, they see that he
is wearing three-quarter plate, behind which flows a dark red cloak.
They can see that the man is even older than the others are,
appearing to be in his late-fifties. Like the others, he is also
grizzled in the extreme, wearing a patch over his left eye. As he
comes to stand beside Padre Kochi, the party members can see that
this man simply exudes charisma, despite his advancing years:
Padre Kochi turns to the man:
"This is Lord Winnacer Stradheim, LawBringer of Pardubitze. I told
you about him. He and his colleagues are loyal to the cause."
The man gives a little shrug, obviously not familiar with the
name, but advances his hand in any case.
"Winnacer," the Padre continues, "I'd like to introduce you to
General Yan Zizka."
For once in his life, Winnacer seems to be genuinely humbled:
"G-general Yan Zizka," he stutters upon being introduced to the
greatest living general in the whole of Svyet. "I-I'm p-pleased to
meet you."
"Good," Zizka responds.
"S-so welcome back to Bohavia, General," Winnacer continues.
"W-what brings you back here after all these years?"
Zizka spits on the ground, then wipes his mouth with the back of
his hand and fixes Winnacer with his remaining eye:
"I have come here to kick Nyemetz ass, and chew jerky," he growls.
"And I'm all out of jerky."
At seeing the General's demeanor, it is easy to see why Zizka's
name alone brought fear to the Nyemetz High Command, as it did to the
elves and dwarves before them during the Civil War.
Aithne tries to suppress a smile, but fails. She eyes the general
appreciatively.
Winnacer smiles awkwardly at the General's sentiment.
"W-well...you could not have picked a better time to return,
General," Winnacer starts.
"I know that," Zizka replies humorlessly. "I'm no fool."
"Quite a lot has happened since the Padre and I last parted and
the cause will need you to help to organize the resistance and
prevent some possible catastrophies," Winnacer continues. "Let me
explain."
He addresses the General, the Padre, and Shaman Hrust:
"Since we last parted company, the fighting men of the Holitze
valley took up arms against an elite unit taken away from the border
to deal with the rising insurrections. A combined force of Holy
Hammerers, WSM archers, and my companions defeated the force out by
Trebova, but we were betrayed by one of our own number. A second
force from Trebova pursued us back to Pardubitze after my companions
fought a delaying battle to allow our troops to escape."
"Needless to say, we had to silence those that knew of the armies
of the Orlitze Valley. We slew a number of the Nyemetz top brass,
including two Lord Protektors, but at a high price in infantry. As
far as I know, Holitze has been unmolested since, but it has been
some time since I've had any communication with them."
"I have been funneling monies to the valley in order to fund their
activities and hopefully begin a plan which I hatched up. They will
discuss this more in depth with you when you reach the valley."
Winnacer pauses:
"Since then, I have uncovered Injustices that make those of the
Nyemetz look inconsequential. It seems that the Nyemetz have ties
with the ancient Nemotz, the plague worshippers. They have plans to
poison Opava with a zombie plague, enslaving the minds of the
civilians and using them to further their nefarious plans. It is
there that I am headed, to foil their evil machinations."
"Goddamned dwarves," Zizka curses. "If it wasn't for their
goddamned greed, then none of this bullshit would ever have happened.
Damned elves aren't much better."
"Unfortunately, I cannot turn my hand to more than one task at a
time," Winnacer continues. "It must be Spravedelna's grace that has
put you in my path, for Bohavia has great need for you in Olmutz. It
seems that Hrust's countrymen have managed to break through the
Nyemetz lines and are advancing upon Bohavia's Holy Capital. While it
is a blessing that the Nyemetz forces have been pushed into a
retreat, the people of Olmutz are quite understandably nervous about
the army on their doorstep and are preparing to defend themselves.
What can entail would be the heavy loss of life, both Bohavian and
Slovene, all to the benefit of the Nyemetz. This must be avoided at
any cost."
Winnacer looks at the Padre and Hrust:
"You both are in the unique position to prevent any catastrophe
through diplomacy. It is imperative that you head to the city and see
if you can bring about peaceful resolution, and perhaps provide
organization to the city militia once the Nyemetz are forced to fall
back."
"The Holy Capital is on the verge between emancipation and
destruction. I pray that you three can ensure that Olmutz becomes the
first free city of New Bohavia."
As Winnacer finishes off his speech, General Zizka's face starts
to redden. He then starts to bellow at the LawBringer:
"Who the HELL do you think YOU are to tell ME what is or isn't
imperative?" he practically screams at the young Lord. "Who the HELL
do you think you ARE?"
"I've been leading armies since before you were sucking on your
mother's tit, sonny, and YOU'RE telling ME what I should do?"
"Unbelievable," Zizka continues, shaking his head. "I've seen some
arrogance in my time, but you, a kid barely out of his nanny's arms,
think that you're some kind of strategic genius?"
He shakes his head once more. He pauses for a moment, and then
calms a little:
"Those godbotherers will have to look after themselves for a
while," Zizka continues. "I'm banking on the fact that the Nyemetz
will consider Olmutz too valuable a prize to risk falling to the
Slovenes and so put together a field army in order to defend the
city. With the addition of the godbotherers in the city, I'm sure
that the Slovenes will be unable to break through."
"This is why the timing is right to start the revolution in
Pardubitze," he adds. "We need to open a second front. If we can take
Central Bohavia while the Slovenes have them tied down in the east,
we should be able to have half the Nyemetz army trapped between the
two forces. If we can cut off their supply lines, then they'll be
doomed."
"Pardubitze is of little strategic or economic importance and so
our intel is that it's lightly defended. Hradetz too. The revolution
needs to get a couple of easy victories under its belt to start with,
as we'll only have green troops to start with. That's why Pardubitze
is the primary objective."
He looks at Winnacer once again:
"If YOU think that the godbotherers in Olmutz need more help, then
you'll just have to help them yourselves."
The General goes silent for a moment and there is then a very
uncomfortable pause before Winnacer speaks once more. This time he
decides that it might be easier to speak to Padre Kochi:
"What have you been able to gather, besides the General's
assistance? Any luck with getting your hands on any powder weapons? I
really could use to get my hands on a cavaler these days. Speaking of
which, I have something to show you."
Winnacer walks over to his mount and unwraps the gunne. Both the
Padre and Zizka look at it with interest.
"I found this piece amongst some of the Nemotz allies, some
species of ratmen," The LawBringer explains. "The gunne has the punch
of a cannon while being man-portable. Unfortunately, the ammunition
is a bit suspicious, but I intend to see how it fares with iron
shot."
"We also found some sort of flame spraying device that can be used
to devastating effect. I was hoping we might be able to acquire more
of these devices during this sortie and perhaps figure out a way to
replicate the devices using more mundane supplies. They may give us
an edge down the road if we can produce them in enough quantity."
"We're heading back to Pardubitze now," Padre Kochi replies,
looking a little embarrassed from the General's outburst. "It's not
only the General that we were able to convince to return with us."
He points to the outriders and also to the wagons:
"These are all veterans from the Bohavian Wars. They've been
fighting for Silesia against the Russ for most of the past twenty
years."
"I've had enough of slaughtering their mangy, furry hides," Zizka
growls, with a look towards Shaman Hrust that cannot exactly be
described as friendly. "Now it's time to massacre some greenskin
scum."
"We did manage to buy some firearms too," the Padre continues,
nodding towards the wagons. "We're going to start training up the
citizens of Pardubitze as soon as we get back and start the
revolution off there. As soon as word spreads that Zizka is back and
one Bohavian city is free, the flame of revolution should spread like
wildfire."
He looks back at the ratmen's gunne:
"That certainly is a fine looking weapon that you have managed to
come by there. I think you're right in thinking that the more of
those the cause can get hold of, the better. A few of those
flame-throwing devices also sound as if they could come in handy as
well."
"Well, if you're heading to Sudeten, then you're going to the
right place to get your hands on some gunnes. The dwarves have plenty
of faults, but no one can dispute that they are the best engineers
and craftsmen from any of the races in Bohavia or around. I'm sure
that, if you keep your ear to the ground while you're in the area,
then you should be able to acquire some powder weapons without too
much of a problem. They might be able to replicate your gunne and the
flame-throwing device if you were to give them one to disassemble and
copy the individual elements as well."
He looks back to the wagons and then at the silent Zizka:
"I'd offer to give you one of our powder weapons but ... errm .. I
think the General needs them all for the Pardubitze uprising."
"You sure as hell got that right," Zizka adds. "Those damned
things weren't easy to come by."
Zizka then starts to get impatient:
"That's enough chatting now," he growls. "If we're not back in
Pardubitze for St. Vaclav's Day, then I'll be pissed."
He fixes his eye on the Padre:
"And believe me, you really don't want to see me pissed."
He nods to the party members and then turns in order return to the
wagon:
"Come," he growls over his shoulder to the Padre and the Shaman.
"Errm ... I suppose that I probably ought to be heading back now,"
the Padre says, turning to follow the General. "Radegast indeed
smiles upon us for bringing us together this day. I wish you the very
best of luck in your endeavors in Opava and hope that you are able to
provide some assistance to Olmutz as well. I hope that you can return
to Pardubitze in the not too distant future as well. It would be good
to have you and your colleagues along with us when the uprising
begins."
He shakes Winnacer by the hand, and does the same for the rest of
the party and then heads back towards the wagon. Shaman Hrust also
growls his farewells, shakes them all with his furry paw and then
lopes off after the Padre. He clambers up into the wagon and the
party watches as the convoy heads off again, heading in the direction
of Pardubitze. The outriders resume their position at the front of
the convoy, leaving the party alone on the side of the road.
Winnacer speaks aloud to nobody in particular as the convoy heads
off:
"For a legendary general, he sure is an irritable bastard. They
never get anything right in my father's history books it seems."
They quickly remount their horses and set off up the road once
more. They carry on down the road for a couple more hours, with the
ground rising all the time. Although the terrain is fairly flat here,
they can see the foothills of the Jeseniky Mountains to the north,
east and south of them. They then pass a sign that says:
"WELCOME TO SUDETEN - MIND YOUR HEAD!"
There is another inscription in dwarven written beneath it.
Scrawled over the sign in paint is some graffiti, which reads:
"LANKEES GO HOM
E"
The person responsible didn't quite get the spacing right.
They carry on riding through the afternoon. As they do so, the
ground starts to break up and it becomes fairly hilly. As the light
begins to fade, they can see several lights coming on ahead of them.
"That must be Litultovitze ahead," Winnacer says. "That's the
village where the FaithHealer whose notebook we have was last seen,
as well as the others from the Lechit mission sent to investigate the
problems in the area."
He rummages around in his backpack and produces the notebook:
"Now let's see. What did the FaithHealer have to say about the
place again?"
He thumbs through the pages of the notebook until he finds the
last page with writing on it.
Winnacer then proceeds to read from the diary, as his horse
continues to plod onwards:
"11 November 3460. Lechit truly listened to my prayers last night.
The young dwarf was true to his word. He appeared at the tavern, as
promised, and told me that they had been seen heading for the village
of Litultovitze three weeks ago. He then promptly left before I could
obtain any further information from him. Tomorrow I leave for
Litultovitze in the hope that I can meet my colleagues there."
"13 November 3460. Sadly, my colleagues are not in the village,
yet they most definitely were here up until two weeks ago. The
villagers here are very helpful compared to those in the city for the
sole reason that they are afraid. There appears to be an epidemic of
some kind here, in that all of the children have been stillborn or
are born with hideous deformities for reasons that I have yet been
able to determine. In addition, an alarmingly high proportion of the
population is ill with leukemia or cancer. More worrying still is the
fact that several of the villagers have disappeared without a trace
over the past few months. It appears that my colleagues appear to
have gone the same way as some of the villagers, as no one has seen
them for two weeks."
"14 November 3460. I was awoken from my bed last night by the
innkeeper, who informed me that there had been a scuffle in the
village last night and that two villagers were taken by someone or
something. I immediately went out to investigate. Although I am no
tracker, Lechit blessed me with the fact that it had been raining
throughout the day, with the result that the ground was wet. I was
able to locate several beast-like paw-prints in the soft ground that
I was able to follow for a distance in a westerly direction. The
trail led for around half a mile and finished at a fissure in the
rocks. Unprepared for an underground excursion, I returned to my room
at this point in order to prepare myself for investigating the
fissure tomorrow."
As Winnacer finishes, they pass a sign that reads 'Litultovitze'
and see the village before them. It is the first time that most of
them have seen a dwarven hill village before and so it is quite an
interesting sight for them. The village is located in a valley, with
the road running through the bottom. The vast majority of the homes
and other buildings are dug into the sides of the hills, forming
dwarf-made caves. The rock dug out from the cave has been piled up in
front of the cave mouth to form a front wall to it, with a slate roof
covering the section overground. In such a way, the dwarven homes are
half inside the hill, and half outside.
The village is a small one, comprising less than a hundred cairns.
The party can see that a good quantity of the cairns appears to be
neglected, either boarded up or tumbling down. Several of the cairns
towards the bottom of the hill have signs on them, appearing to be
shops of some kind, although all of the signs are in dwarven. One of
the buildings seems to be especially large and have greater
importance than the rest, appearing to be a chapel of some kind.
Along the side of the road there appears to be some more regular
stone buildings, which are also of a larger size than the cairns.
They bear signs in both dwarven and Bohavian and the party can see
that they are mostly shops catering to travelers passing through the
village, including stables and a number of general stores. The
largest building among them though is an inn with a dirty sign
hanging from it proclaiming it to be 'The Travelers' Rest'.
Being late in the afternoon now, the party can see that the
village is in the process of shutting up for the day. Several dwarves
are closing down the shutters of their shops and heading to their
cairns. The party can see that all of the dwarves seem to be in a
uniformly terrible state of health. Unlike the usual stocky frames of
dwarves, all of those that the party can see seem to look gaunt and
emaciated. Many of the dwarves are losing clumps of hair from their
heads and their beards and several of them seem to be missing teeth.
Their skin seems to be in terrible condition, with large red wheals
covering much of their exposed flesh. All of those that pass close to
the party appear to be coughing and wheezing to themselves. A few of
them look up at the party members with interest before carrying on
with their business.
Yaz can see that there are a number of animals wandering around
the village, the majority of them being sheep and goats, with
occasional cows and chickens as well, plus the odd pig or two. As is
the case with the dwarves, they all seem to be in a shocking state of
health, with many lying upon the ground seemingly half-dead.
Winnacer looks around at the village:
"We now have a choice. If we press on, then we should just about
be able to make Opava by curfew. Alternatively, we can spend the
night here and try and find out a little more information about the
disappearance of the FaithHealer and the other Lechitians."
He looks at you all:
"So which is it to be?"
"Personally, I think it would be best to hole up here and see what
we can dig up," Winnacer suggests. "From the sound of it, the Nemotz
have some sort of staging area not far from here. Perhaps raiding it
will provide us with the information about how they plan on their
operation going down."
"Although, if we do stay, I recommend using our own supplies
rather than buying those in town. We no longer can easily know what
has been contaminated by the Nemotz, and it would be prudent not to
take chances."
"Any objections?"
Everyone is silent. It has been another long, cold and tiring ride
and the thought of spending a further four or five hours in the
saddle is less than appealing.
Yaz isn't interested in talking about the day's plans, however, as
he spies a diseased cow lying half on its side, ribs stretching its
thin, patchy hide, wheezing weakly. He leaves his horse and rushes to
the animal, where he crouches to inspect it. He tries casting a minor
healing spell upon it, to no effect. Then he stands, looking serious,
and approaches another downed beast, a pig this time. After a few
moments, he turns and cries to the party:
"We stay here tonight, and we cure this place, and we don't leave
until we do. And if that means going underground again to kill blobs
of wet demon-spawning shit-piles, then that's what we'll do."
"'Again'?" Rowan repeats wearily. "Is killing blobs of wet
demon-spawning shit-piles some of which you've made a habit?"
Aithne doesn't say anything, but her eyes grow sad as she looks at
the animals around her. She seems not as concerned with the dwarves
as she does with animals' plight. As does Yaz, she immediately
dismounts, ties up her horse and starts to check upon the animals.
Winnacer watches the pair of half-elves and nods in agreement at
their gestures:
"While you two see if you can aid the animals, the rest of us can
see if we can obtain any answers about the disappearance of the
Lechitians. Let us meet up at the inn later."
"Actually, I could check out the inn NOW, while you--" Rowan
starts to reply.
However, seeing that Winnacer is not in the mood, and not
possessing the great reserves of energy it would take to carry on
this line of conversation, Rowan stops himself short:
"Lechitians. Right. Inn later."
"OK," Yaz replies, and he and Aithne continue to see to the
animals.
Winnacer then turns to Porter, Rowan and Milan:
"I would suggest starting our inquiries at the chapel. From its
size and location, it looks to be the centerpiece of the village."