It
is late in the morning when they finally awake, feeling somewhat
refreshed after their slumber, but most of them are aching badly as a
result of the wounds that they sustained during the previous
day.
They walk into the main room
to find Boris poring over a map of the city, giving orders to his
lieutenants and receiving word of the Dragons' progress from
runners.
He looks at them as they
enter. they can see that Boris' eyes are red and his face is gray -
he has obviously not had any sleep during the night.
'The rollback o' the
Diamonds' operations is proceedin' to plan' he says. 'But I'm still
not sure that the price at which it came was too much to pay.'
He is silent for a
moment.
'Still, we cannot undo what
'as been done, so I'll jus' 'ave to add it to the other things upon
my conscience that keeps me awake some nights.'
Serving girls arrive with a
hearty breakfast for them. As they eat, Boris speaks to them
again:
'So what's next for you now?
You've performed your part of the bargain, an' performed it
admirably. The deal is complete an' so yer's now free to go. 'Owever,
I'm afraid that getting' out o' Hradetz ain't gonna be as easy as I
originally thought now. I was jus' plannin' on bungin' some guards to
turn a blind eye as yer left through one o' the gates. 'Owever, after
last night's little debacle wiv yers slaughterin' a Witchfinder and a
company o' goblins, that ain't gonna be possible no more. I'm sure
that we can 'elp yers out in some way though. An' what we can't 'elp
yer wiv, I'm sure that yer'll make up for it wiv yer brains and yer
magecraft.'
'I reckons the first thing
that yer'll need to decide though is where yer goin' so I knows which
gate to get yer through. Yer'll also need to work out when yer's
gonna leave as well. Yer don't look to be in no fit state to be
gettin' into no more trouble at the moment. An' as if that's not
enough, there's still the question of what to do with Tharnald an'
Darry, plus the gnomes what yer brought wiv yer.'
At this point, Corrow enters
the room ,arm in arm with Sonya. Corrow is looking a little
sad.
'Errm…I've got a bit of
announcement to make. Errm…if it's alright with you, then I was
planning not to carry on with you on your journey. Although I very
much enjoyed your company during the three weeks we spent together,
well, most of the time, I did find the amount of trouble that you
seem to get into, such as almost getting kicked to death by bullocks,
eaten by wolves, clubbed over the head by orcs, nearly getting
stabbed in the back by halflings, getting shot by bandits, hacked to
pieces by goblins, etc., a little less to my liking.'
'During the time that I've
spent here, I've grown very attached to Sonya here and I feel that I
can't really leave her now. Boris has been kind enough to offer me a
position with the Blue Dragons, as he considers that my meager skills
may be useful to them on occasions. As a result, I've decided that
I'm going to take him up on his offer.'
'I'm sorry that I won't be
able to assist you in your attempts to further the cause, but it
seems as if you haven't had much problem in getting on without me.
So, this is where we shall have to part for the moment, although I
very much hope that we shall be able to continue to stay in
touch.'
Winnacer and Jihan say their
farewells to Corrow, wishing him the best of luck in the future that
he has decided upon with Sonya, then the party gets down to a serious
discussion as to their next moves.
Faewen'il says that the
first priority should be to arrange for a decent burial for Barra,
and that the next step should be to procure provisions for the
journeys ahead, whichever they may be. She suggests that one of
Boris' team buys the supplies that they need, using the funds that
the party has at their disposal.
Faewen'il and Jihan pool the
party funds. It currently consists of 100 gold pieces in cash and a
gem worth 500 gold pieces that Corrow was able to salvage from the
Nyemetz in Dvur, plus 50 gold pieces taken off the bodyguards and
1350 gold pieces worth of rings which were Pavlichek's, for a nice
round total of 2000 gold pieces.
Jihan says that he thinks
that the party needs little in the way of funds, simply some rations
and a cart and ox to carry them with. He asks Boris whether it would
be possible for him to send one of his men to buy them for the party
and then take them out of the city so that the party can rendezvous
with the goods later. Boris tells them that this is not going to be a
problem for him to arrange.
Then comes the difficult
decision as to where to go next. Upon this question, the party is
mixed. Faewen'il, Jihan and Yaz are in favor of setting off for the
fur farm, so as to meet back up with Darius as quickly as possible.
Winnacer, Bennett and Xavier, on the other hand, think that the first
priority is to unload the collection of followers that the party
seems to have in Holitze, then to investigate Boscobelous' Tower
before taking on the fur farm ,free of baggage.
Boris intervenes as he sees
the party's indecision:
'It's got to be one or the
other, y'know, an' it don't make sense for yers to split up, not with
the trouble that you lots keep getting' yerselves into.'
They ask the collection of
followers what they would all like to be doing next. Robert is the
first to respond:
'Hradetz is my home. I don't
know nothing about about no countryside nor villages. What would I do
there? I wouldn't be no good at milking no horses, nor shearing no
cows. I like it here, but I can't go back to the Diamonds, not after
what I've done to them.'
Boris grins and pats Robert
firmly on the back:
'Don't you be worrying about
no Diamonds no more. A lot o' me crew used to be Diamonds, but came
over to our side. What with the swing in power what's 'appenin' at
the moment, you wouldn't need to worry about no retribution from
them. They've got enough on their plates as it is. You'd 'ave to keep
a low profile until the illusion wears off an' yer gets back to yer
old self, but when yer does, there's a job for yer at The Pink Pussy.
We're always in need of some good bouncers.'
Robert smiles and shakes his
head at the thought of going back to spending his days surrounded by
gorgeous half-naked women.
Heimlin is the next to
speak:
'Yer knows my opinion folks.
I'd really like to get Granny an' Bekkah to safety as soon as
possible so that they might get better as quickly as possible.
'Owever, I'm worried about Darius. You know what an unlucky sort 'e
is. I'm sure that 'e'll be getting' himself in 'ot water sooner or
later if we don't all go and look after 'im. It ain't my decision.
I'll go with whatever decision yer makes.'
Darry is still asleep in his
room, but Tharnald is with them. He's looking sad:
'I really don't know what
the pair of us can do now. We certainly can't stay in Hradetz any
longer. The two of us were very well known in the city. We do tend to
stand out a bit. Now everyone will be talking about us. Darry and I
don't need much in life. We just need each other and somewhere where
people will just let us be ourselves. It's good that we know how to
work a tavern between us. That's one thing that you can find just
about everywhere. So, really, we don't mind where we go now, as long
as it's away from Hradetz.'
The decisions of the
followers seem to have little effect upon the party members' ways of
thinking, and debate as to the next destination continues.
During a lull in the
conversation, Yaz produces the sling that he took from the
Witchfinders' Laboratory and shows it to Boris. He asks Boris whether
he has anyone who could show him how to use it, and whether he knows
of anyone that could perhaps discover its magickal properties.
'Felnora the Fence, she's
yer girl if yer wants anythin' magickal identified. It'll take 'er a
day per item, an' she charges quite a bit for 'er services, dependin'
upon the item. It would take a big dent out o' yer funds to identify
it, but she can do it. Felnora's also the girl for turning yer gems
an' rings into cash as well. That's more reasonable. She only charges
3% for money changing. So what does yer want 'er to do?'
'If yer lookin' for someone
to show yer 'ow to use it, then yer've come to the right place.
There's plenty o' people 'ere what knows 'ow to use one. Yer can
spend the rest of the day downstairs in the ware'ouse practicin' if
yer likes. Slings ain't tricky weapons. I'm sure you'll 'ave got the
'ang of it before the end of the day.'
Yaz also asks Boris whether
he would be able to get some more daggers for him.
'No problem' Boris replies.
'What I needs off yer is a complete shoppin' list, then I'll send
someone to get everythin' for yer. Biggest decision that yer'll need
to make is about 'orses. As I've said before, 'orses strong enough to
carry you warriors about ain't gonna be cheap, an' I don't reckon
that yer've got enough to mount all of yers, not if yer's plannin' on
takin' the dwarves and gnomes along wiv yers. Tell me what yer wants
me to get yer, an' what yer wants me to do wiv it.'
Jihan investigates
Pavlichek's shortsword and asks Heimlin to take a look at the stones
embedded within the hilt and pommel.
Heimlin investigates the
gems carefully and then shakes his head:
'I thought that it was too
good to be true. If them were really black diamonds, then that sword
would be worth a king's ransom. No, I'm afraid that the stones are
nothin' more than colored crystal. They'd fetch around 75 gold
pieces. I reckon, but no more.'
Boris looks around at them,
checking on their injuries. A good night's sleep along with the power
of Yulius' concoction has helped the healing process, so that the
minor wounds received by Jihan, Yaz, Robert, Tharnald and Darry will
be fully healed after another night's rest. The warriors, however,
were more badly damaged and are still in a pretty bad state.
'Yer'll also need to tell me
when yer thinking of movin' on. I reckon that yer'll need another day
'ere at least before yer fit to move, p'raps longer. It's up to you.
But tell me in advance when yer goin' so that I can see what 'elp I
can give yers to get through the gates.'
To the sling that Yaz is
looking to have identified, Winnacer asks to add the gem that was
recovered from the Witchfinder Building, plus Pavlichek's magickal
ring also.
Boris shakes his head as he
looks at the items:
'I'm warnin' yers. Yer can
spend a pretty penny getting' stuff identified. I know Felnora well,
an' she's good at 'er job. She spends a lot o' time at the Temple o'
Kitry lookin' through the books an' speakin' with the Librarians,
tryin' to get the full S.P. on the items. She's very thorough, an'
there ain't much stuff that she can't identify, but she knows the
value o' 'er service, so it don't come cheap. I'll tell yer what.
I'll send one o' the runners off an' see if she can give us a quote
on the stuff, then yer can see if yer wants 'er to go ahead with the
identifyin' or not.'
Winnacer and Yaz agree and
give the items to Boris. He calls over one of the young lads that are
constantly coming in and out of the place and the lad departs.
At the mention of producing
a shopping list, Winnacer asks for a warhorse and a lance. Bennett
suggests draft horses for himself and Xavier and riding horses for
the others.
Boris shakes his head yet
again:
'Draft horses, medium
warhorses, there ain't much between the two of them. I jus' don't
reckon that you've got enough coin to kit you all out with 'orses.
Not if yer wants to ride about wearin' all that scrap metal. Ha! Ha!
Ha!'
'Now lets see what's on yer
shoppin' list so far - a week's dry rations for each of yer, medium
warhorse, lance an' tack for Winnacer, four daggers an' some sling
bullets for Yaz an' …a decent burial for Barra'
'I reckon that little lot
will come to abouts 360 gold pieces. Still got plenty to spend, but
it won't go that far if yer all want mounts an' all that magickal
stuff identifyin'.'
The conversation moves from
the subject of the shopping list back to discussing the subject of
the next course of action. However little headway is getting
made.
As he hears them continuing
to debate the advantages and disadvantages of each destination, Boris
interjects:
'Y'know, if the only reason
that yer ain't all in favor o' going to the fur farm is because o'
the dwarves an' gnomes, then it ain't gonna be a problem. To get from
the fur farm to the Twin Villages, or vice versa, yer've got to cross
the Labe, an' the only place to cross is 'ere in Hradetz, unless yer
fancies a long detour through Dvur or Pardubitze. I don't mind
puttin' up the dwarves an' gnomes while yer goes off an' does what
yer gots to do at the fur farm, an' then yer can pick 'em up again on
yer way back through.'
Winnacer nods as he hears
Boris' offer:
'Well that changes
everything in that case. Let's go and retrieve Darius first and then
we can carry on to the Twin Villages afterwards. Are we all agreed
then?'
They are not.
Xavier has been silent
through the planning talks thus far, which makes it all the more of a
shock to the others when he bangs his clenched sword hand on the
table. He leaps to his feet, and stands with hands on his hips as he
bellows:
"Gotten Himmel my Lord you
must be joking!!!. You are not suggesting to go through with this,
surely not!!! I cannot believe it!! Are you a knight of Bohavia, or
some bandit king? This attack on the fur farm is no act of war, but a
blatant criminal act. Rodengast forbid that a knight would stoop so
low as to contemplate leading such a venture. They are but merchants,
for Rodengast's sake. Their methods may be suspect, but in time of
peace would you put to the sword a wheelwright for a broken wheel on
a cart? No, you vould not!!! This state of civil war changes nothing.
Ve are soldiers fighting for the freedom of Bohavia, not a Bandit
rabble. Ve have a more important duty to these poor gnomes who have
suffered so much. Yar damit, me a Saxon from a nation forever stained
for its dislike of the none human races, is the only damn one amongst
you willing to demand that their care be our dominant concern. For
pity's sake, Winnacer, I consider you not only my Lord, but my friend
and maybe ever a son I may never have..... I beg you, if you have any
respect for your station, or your family's honor, do not consider
such an act. I for one cannot, and vill not, have any part of
it!!!"
Bennett's voice is much
calmer than Xavier's, but it voices agreement:
"Hell, I agree with you,
Xavier. I think the fur farm is a waste of time, even were we not
talking about the gnomes' safety. We have observed no evil activities
there, other than hunting and skinning, which certainly isn't a
crime, before or after the Nyemetz took over. I agreed with the party
consensus thinking that we would have to go there sooner or later,
but I do think that attacking the place is unworthy of us. My
understanding was that we had to go there because the rodent was
forcing the party's hand, and I do not wish to leave the company at
this time, so where they go, I go. However, I find that attacking a
merchant camp merely because we do not like the way they are doing
business is not the work of freedom fighters, but of paid assassins
such as those that house us. If you choose not to go, I stand with
you."
Bennett quietly stands up
and walks over toward the burly Saxon, facing the rest of the
group.
Having held her peace for
most of the discussion, Faewen'il finally loses her calm and raises
her voice above Xavier's.
"Can ye men stop thinkin
about killin for ONE damned minute?!?!"
"I suggested to go to tha
fur farm to RESCUE Darius, for surely one goblin ain't gonna matter
to tha proprietors o such a place!!"
Bennett interjects:
"Really? Is that all we were
planning to do? Maybe it was all you were planning to do, young lady,
but it was pretty obvious to me and everyone else without
rose-colored glasses that Darius would settle for nothing less than
an assault on the farm and THAT was why we were headed there. Face
the facts!"
"What kind o people would we
be iffin we left one o our own to his bad decision and fate?!?!"
continues Faewen'il.
"And despite ANY mention o
cockroaches.... Darius ain't a blighted insect ta be talked down
to!!" Faewen'il levels her last comment towards Bennett.
"Were I an idiot' continues
Bennett. "Who stood by my idiotic notions and was well known to seek
out death on all convenient occasions, I would want you to abandon me
to those occasions. Insect or no, Darius is forcing us to go and
pursue something that is not only illegal, but immoral because it
offends him. No offense to the elves in the party, but hunting and
skinning is, while not a noble profession, a perfectly moral and
decent one. These fellows are making a living and we, who should be
involved in opposing vicious tyrants like Reinburger, waste our time
and efforts in confronting such."
"By all that's good in tha
world" the lass in dwarven form continues. "We will get nowhere iffn
all we keep thinkin about is how ta kill tha next thing in our way!!
It makes me ashamed ta be seen with ye!!"
"Until ye can all pull yer
heads outta yer arses, I will have nothin to do with ye!!! NONE of
ye!!!"
Having gotten to the heart
of what was bothering her, Faewen'il then storms out of the room and
back to the one she shared with Sonya the night before, soundly
slamming the door behind her.
Bennett makes a dismissive
gesture with his hand as she is bolting for her room:
"With the anti-logic
argument now leaving the room, what say you, Yaz, Jihan, Winnacer?
Will you be forced to implement the wishes of one member of the
party, else he take his ball and go home? I have no wish to provoke
any arguments with any of you, as you are all good and worthy men, as
is the lass, though she is a bit confused as to her own sense of
purpose, but if we return to the farm, as the girl said, then we
surely must accomplish this immoral and illegal act to satisfy some
of your moralities. Darius will allow no different, and if we go to
get him and not act, then we might as well not go at all. If we
enforce our own moral code on others who do not live with it, are we
any better than the Nyemetz? Who watches the Watchmen, and all that?
I have no moral compunctions, and will take on the fur trappers as
quickly as I will take on any man that walks this earth, but we
should be clear on the justification of our action before taking it.
I understand Xavier's resistance to the plan and, if he pursues
another course, I will join him rather than the rest of you, but I
would very much like to see the group remain so, as our higher
purpose can only be done a great disservice by disunity at this
point."
Bennett, exhausted once
again from another lengthy monologue, sits back and waits for the
inevitable response from his companions. It is not long in
coming.
To Xavier, Jihan says:
"I for one have never seen
farms full of tortured wheels that cry all day for their freedom, nor
have I ever seen a cartwright starve or beat the wheels that he
makes. We are not talking about commerce here brother, we are talking
about LIVES!."
Turning to Bennett, he
continues:
"And yes, hunters...
HUNTERS... who take the time and effort to stalk and take down game
as any of Prirodna's own would, and who conserve each piece of the
animal that they take, these I can tolerate. But these men are not
hunters. These 'merchants' are not making any effort to work ALONG
with nature. They are twisting it... raping it... taking Her
children, breeding them and growing them and slaughtering them all
for the gold that the nobles wave in front of their faces. And these
are not 'domestic' animals, animals that never knew freedom since
their earliest days with man. These are free creatures, whose homes
have been ripped away from them. Nature is not there to be exploited,
it is there for us to live and interact in, along with all of our
brothers and sisters, great and small. You are opposed to the Nyemetz
using gnomes as slaves, yet you believe that these smaller creatures,
who are equal in existence and life if nothing else, are fit for
such!?! If I believed I was 'wasting my time' in opposing these men,
I would probably be back in the forests of Shumava, collecting dust
under a tree!!"
In a bit of a huff, the
elf/dwarf crosses his arms and looks around at the rest:
"I have voiced my intentions
for proceeding already. Darius and the fur farm have waited long
enough for me. A new disguise is in order though, if it is only a
dark robe and cloak. Waiting a day more will not bother me, but I
must go. I do not know that Darius and I alone would be able to
permanently cripple this organization, but I will find out about its
workings if nothing else."
With that he turns on his
heel, walking away opposite to the direction Faewen'il took to find a
room where he can be alone to think.
Shaking his head again,
Boris leaves them to their arguing to return to his main
occupation.
On a large table at the side
of the room is a massive map of the city. Placed upon the map are
small counters, some stones shaped in the form of black diamonds, and
others made of wood, carved into the form of dragons and painted
blue. Throughout the morning, a constant procession of runners come
up to Boris. Each time he hears word, he takes another black diamond
marker off the map and replaces it with a blue dragon, before barking
orders back to the runners, who disappear again. As noon passes, they
can see that Boris is now sporting a large grin.
'Although it 'as brought its
fair share o' sadness, yer run in with the Nyemetz last night has
brought us a lot of benefits in the rollback o' the Diamonds. The
Nyemetz are too wrapped up in their search for you lot to try an'
interfere in our plans. It's proceedin' even better than my wildest
dreams.'
Another runner enters the
room. They can see that he is holding the magickal items that they
gave for a quotation. The runner whispers to Boris and stands by his
side, waiting for further orders.
'The sling ain't gonna cost
yer much to identify. Felnora reckons 50 gold pieces maximum. The
ring an' the gem, well they're different matters. She reckons that
the ring could cost 'er around a grand or so to identify prop'ly an'
the gem more. She says it could cost anywhere between a grand or
two.'
Rather than subsiding during
the afternoon, the disagreement between the party that started as a
result of Xavier's comment that he saw nothing wrong in the fur
farmers trade and that he was angry for Winnacer in wanting to
support an attack upon their farm rapidly escalates until it reaches
a level not seen since the party left The Fox & Hounds in Mnyesto
almost four weeks earlier.
The scope of the argument
increases as the afternoon continues. What started as an argument
over the rights or wrong of farming fur rapidly turns into a flaming
row concerning the rights of animals to be treated equally to humans
and other beings, with Jihan being their biggest defender and Bennett
arguing the contrary view.
Bennett's words have a
dramatic effect upon Faewen'il, whose anger about the apparent low
value that Bennett puts upon life has been brewing up almost since
the day that she met him. Faewen'il lashes into Bennett, berating him
for his actions in casually immolating the goblins the previous
evening. Bennett gives back as good as he gets, telling Faewen'il
that she is naught but a spoilt little girl that has no place amongst
the party.
In amongst the incessant
arguing, a little progress is made. Yaz casts healing spells upon the
three warriors, speeding up the healing process. Although they are
still in no fit state to move on after he has finished, they are
greatly recovered from their previous states. The druid then leaves
the others to their bickering in order to spend the rest of the day
being trained in using a sling by one of Boris' lads.
Although Yaz's first few
attempts result in a few broken windows within the warehouse, he soon
gets the hang of the simple weapon. When Boris' runner returns with
the news that identifying the sling will cost such a small amount,
Yaz decides that it is hardly worth bothering with. He takes the
sling back and starts to practice with that, rather than the sling
that the lad had lent him. As he starts practicing with his own
sling, he sees that his accuracy is greatly improves. It is almost as
if the bullets change their direction slightly in flight and, when
they impact upon the target, the damage that they cause is
significantly enhanced.
The others have added to the
shopping list that Boris was creating. Winnacer upgrades his request
from a medium to a heavy warhorse, while Bennett orders a medium
warhorse for himself and Xavier. Faewen'il asks for a pack mule and
some writing supplies, all of which Boris arranges for preparation
the following day. The price for evaluating the gem found in the
Witchfinder Building, which was identified as being magickal in
nature, and Pavlichek's ring, they find to be too high and so save it
for a time when they have more money than they know what to do
with.
As darkness falls over
Hradetz, Winnacer decides that enough is enough and so tries to calm
everyone down, suggesting that a truce is called and that the party
has dinner and a few drinks. Jihan makes up with both Winnacer and
Bennett, but Faewen'il and Bennett leave the argument as unresolved,
with Faewen'il leaving the table before dinner is served to be alone
in her room. Begrudgingly, the others accept. The conversation over
dinner is surprisingly merry considering the arguing that took up
most of the afternoon. Winnacer recounts a story that he made up
regarding 'Tholio and Duene', while Jihan listens on, downing bottle
after bottle of wine until he is fairly merry. Boris has a lot to
talk about. The old rogue drinks heavily and relays to them the
successes that he has had during the day in rolling back the
Diamonds.
Eventually, one by one they
all slip away to their rooms, leaving the main room empty.