Robert The
Robber
As
they start to make their way back to camp, Winnacer stop briefly to
inspect the splatters of what were once bats until they met with the
force of Yaromir's belt and Kitry's sword. A look of shock fills his
features as he begins to understand just how potent Spravedelna's
gift truly is, and a low whistle escapes from his lips. Winnacer
shakes his head and mumbles:
"Too bad it's a
loaner."
On the journey back,
Winnacer announces the mixed thoughts that he has regarding
Dobroushka:
"Perhaps it would be best if
we approached the Smurtites from a position of power, not really
giving them a chance to mount their defenses. I want to make this as
bloodless as possible, but for some reason I get the feeling it will
be impossible. If Spravedelna were to have her way, the villagers
would rise up against the Priests and pass judgement on them for
their deceptions. But I'm not quite sure things will work out that
way."
Will has been deep in
thought regarding which of the two groups he plans to join. Finally,
he makes up his mind and steps over with Xavier:
"I will accompany you with
Winnacer to pay our last respects to Kesryk as he is laid to rest.
Then we will travel to Hradetz to deliver reports to Konan, and from
there to the fur farm."
Winnacer smiles as he hears
Will agreeing to come along with him:
"I would not mind popping in
to see Konan if the timing and situation was right, although we need
to discuss exactly the order in which we make our journeys, as I am
planning to go to Pardubitze after visiting Holitze. Either we could
go there first, which gives us a problem, as we would need to take
Kesryk's body with us, or else we could go to Hradetz after we have
finished in Pardubitze, although it could take a while to get back
there, as there are several duties to perform in Pardubitze."
Yaz restates his intention
to accompany Jihan to the fur farm. Bennett looks quite relieved when
Yaz says it:
"As difficult as it will be
walking around with two tree-huggers, I am grateful for you coming
with us, Yaz. I'll probably need some healing, knowing the warrior's
luck of those that accompany you into battle."
Yaz looks disappointed:
"Oh, you're going too?"
He sighs.
"I was hoping to use
Prirodna's power for things other than closing rends in people's
flesh for a change."
Yaz grins.
"Tell you what. You try and
keep away from sharp objects and I won't hug any trees. At least not
around you. Deal?"
Thinking for a moment, Will
walks over to Yaz and speaks quietly to him:
"Yaz, I have heard that
those slain by werewolves rise again with the curse. Is this true? If
so, what can be done to inhibit Kesryk from seeing such a fate?"
"I haven't heard that
story," Yaz replies, "although that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.
I know the bite of a werewolf can transmit their shapechanging
curse... And if that's the case, Kesryk might be the lucky one among
all of us. Kesryk will be well taken care of by the priests of
Spravedelna I think. I'd try to remove any werewolf curses on his
dead body, to make you feel better, but I think that only works under
the light of a full moon, which is still a full month away.
"A full month, before all of
us start changing into werewolves and killing each other. Wouldn't
that be interesting..." Yaz smirks and shivers.
Conversation stops after an
hour and Yaz takes out the glowing emerald to take another look at
it. As he does so, Winnacer eyes the stone one last time:
"I just have a rotten
feeling about that gem Yaz. Just be real careful. Maybe we should
bring it to Konan along with that book. I don't know, the thing is
just making me uneasy. Ahh...its' just probably
superstition..."
After another half-hour of
walking, dusk is falling as they finally get back to the camp. As
always, Min bounds up to Will as they get close to the camp, but the
grinning form of Robert is not with him.
A little curious, they walk
into the camp and call him. There is no answer. They check out the
tents to see whether he has perhaps got tired of waiting for them,
but he is not inside any of them. In fact, there's one less tent than
there was in the morning.
"One of the horses is
missing" notes Yaz.
"Hey, all of the gold and
other valuables are missing, apart from the tableware," says Jihan
emerging from his tent, looking mightily annoyed.
Winnacer's face goes white
as he turns to Will:
"Will, please tell me that
you didn't leave 'Ultimate Power' here"
Will reaches into his
backpack and produces the evil tome.
Winnacer breathes a sigh of
relief as he sees that Will carried the book with him:
"Thank Spravedelna for that.
Is there anything else missing?"
They all search through
their possessions, checking on the magickal items that they left
there especially. Faewen'il checks that her large collection of
spellbooks is still there. Luckily, however, everything else is as
they left it, although someone has had a good rummage through all of
their possessions. The longsword that Winnacer gave to him is also
left behind, simply lying on the ground.
"What the hell could have
happened to him?" Winnacer says to himself.
Yaz laughs:
"Ha! I guess little Robert
was a true thief after all, just like I found him. What I don't
understand is why he would do this when I'm his buddy and
all..."
He cups his hands and
hollers:
"Robert! Come back! Where
are you? It's Mister Liebermann! Come back!"
There is no answer, however,
save for the rustling of the leaves of the trees and the sound of
ripples on the lake.
"Looks like someone has made
up our minds about splitting the proceeds for us," Jihan says,
emerging from the vastly depleted treasury tent, though for some
reason, the elf isn't as forlorn as the rest of them.
"Good thing I thought to put
those gems in my pouch with the peridots from the gargoyle's eyes..."
he says, happily dumping the totality of the stash into his hands.
"That means we're only down
the coins, the candlesticks and the tree sculpture..."the elf goes
on, counting the objects off on his fingers.
"I'm sorry Yaz. I didn't
think your spell would last forever, but I thought we'd have more
time than this..."
Shrugging his shoulders, the
elf turns to the rest of them:
"Shall we go after him? No
use crying over the snake that bit you. As they say, worry about the
bite. He didn't take all that much from us, in the big picture. I'm
sure you could still track him, Will, as he couldn't have gone too
far weighed down with all that stuff. Do you see anything around here
that'd clue us into where he was heading?"
The elf does not seem overly
concerned with the situation, as the objects of real value have been
left behind.
"It must've seemed a Queen's
ransom to the poor man... I can't see how anything else could've
happened other than that spell going belly up on us. It's a little
bit more than you'd probably pay someone to risk life and limb with
you for a couple of weeks, not to mention serve faithfully to the
best of one's ability, but I don't think it's put too much of a dent
into the cause, as long as he doesn't use it for dark purposes.
Robert was a man of simple pleasures though, and I think he'll be
getting bilked out of that money left and right quite shortly. Shall
we take a day or two to bring him to justice or carry on with the
rest of our quest?"
Xavier responds not with
humor at the party's discovery. He storms from his tent, Sorrow
unsheathed in his hand, his face white with anger. Rarely has such
anger been seen upon his face:
"Betray his Lord vill he?
Steal from the very hand that feeds him? That cursed dog .... the
ungrateful rodent...... to think that his lordship trusted him....
lifted him from the shit of the streets and made him a
squire........betray his lord will he? There is but one way to deal
with this..... Gott in himmel, such an outrage shall by no means go
unpunished......Who shall ride with me?..... That little bastard
shall learn the true meaning of loyalty this day."
"Any who steal from his own
Lord is the most villainous of swine......Even our little freund
Darius was incapable of stooping so low....Damn thief...take from his
lord such possessions so sorely won....... whoreson......he shall
pay...... the cursed dog. I swear that he vill die for this damn
outrage!!!!."
Xavier storms over to his
mount Barbarossa, throwing on his saddle and tightening the straps
ready to mount. He leaps to his saddle and then turns his mount
towards the path of Robert's departure, his mind set on bloody
vengeance at the dishonor done to his Lord by an ungrateful whoreson
of a squire. He spurs his horse forward in deadly pursuit of the
fleeing betrayer.
"I can most probably track
him," Will says, scratching his chin and looking around at the ground
thoughtfully," but if Yaz or Hrust has the ability, It would be good
to gather information before we embark."
Kneeling down to Min, Will
pets the small dog and smiles at him:
"Do you have anything you
want to tell us boy? What happened here? Speak Min."
"Well Yaz? Have you the
blessing to speaking with Min today? Or have you learned enough
canine tongue to do it without magical aid?"
Yaz nods:
"I managed to learn a lot of
canine before Viirin died. I might not be perfect, but I think that I
can find out some information from him."
The druid then falls to his
knees next to Min and starts barking at him:
"Hi, Min. You see Robert?
Where he go?"
Min starts to bark his
reply:
"He very strange today. When
sun was high, he start shake his head. "Where in Zlodey's name am I?"
he start to say. Then he stop and look through all things. Find shiny
stuff and go very crazy did he. He fall to knees and hold up shiny
things and say "Zlodey be praised, I'm rich, rich, rrrrrrrrich!".
Then he take down tent, take food and put on horse. Then he ride away
fast. Then he fall off horse. Then he rub head and say many words
that Bennett say often. Then he get back on horse and ride away less
fast. He ride that way."
Min starts to walk in a
southwesterly direction, then stops and looks back at Yaz and
Will.
After listening to Yaz and
Min, Will gives the little dog a pat on the head and goes to the task
of trying to establish the trail that Robert left.
"Can I borrow your lantern,
Faewen'il?" Will asks. "It's not going to be quite as easy to track
him in the dark, but hopefully I can manage it."
Will takes the lantern and
heads off in the direction that Min indicated.
"I've found his tracks.
They're not too difficult to make out, as the ground is quite
soft."
Will returns and mounts his
horse. Bennett, Winnacer and Jihan do the same, following at a
distance so as not to spoil the tracks, while Yaz, Faewen'il and
Hrust stay in the camp. The journey is fairly slow as Will has to
keep stopping, then bending down low from his horse to use the
lantern in order to make sure that he is still on the right
track.
"Gott in Himmel, Willheim"
announces Xavier, who is getting mighty impatient. "He vill be in
Koniggratz (Hradetz in Saxon) before ve are halfvay there."
After four hours of
tracking, Will stops and shakes his head:
"He has met up with a path
now. It's going to be even more difficult to track him now, but I
think that I can still do it."
The five of them carry on
following the trail for several more hours. It is now several hours
past midnight and they are all feeling tired and miserable, not to
mention cold as well. Then they find themselves at the ford crossing
where they were ambushed by the Black Diamonds several weeks
earlier.
"Could he really have gone
this far?" enquires Winnacer, feeling a little saddle sore.
"If he was moving fairly
fast, yes" replies Will. "But I can't believe that he would have gone
a lot farther."
Will crosses the Orlitze and
continues to search on the opposite side. He spends 20 minutes
walking up and down the bank stopping and holding the lantern before
him. Finally, he admits defeat:
"I'm sorry," he says sadly,
"but there are several tracks leading in a number of directions. I
really can't be sure which are his any more. I'm sorry. I tried my
best."
Winnacer puts a hand on his
shoulder to comfort him. Xavier, however, is not taking it
lightly:
"Damn und blast! Ve cannot
let him get away, the whoreson, thieving schweinhund! Surely he
cannot have gone much further."
"I was never in favor of
embarking on the wild goose chase," says Winnacer, "especially when
we should be more focused on clearing up the injustice in Dobroushka
and moving Kesryk's body"
"Spravedelna has her own way
of meting out Justice to the likes of Robert. What he has stolen will
only cause him trouble, and I can certainly wait until our paths
cross again to demand Justice from him.
'Tis a pity, though. I guess
it goes to show that it takes more than magic to change the essence
of a man."
"Let us find our calm,
Xavier, and focus on more important tasks, such as Dobroushka. I am
sure our pockets will not stay empty for too long, as I would rather
be taking gold out of the pockets of the Nyemetz than out of the
graves of the dead. Such funds may have gone a long way to funding
our revolution, but sometimes such vast wealth causes more problems
anyway. And don't worry, we'll get an apology out of Robert soon
enough. I would bet he's headed back to Hradetz to spread his
newfound wealth and chat with his old Diamond cronies. He'll be in
for a big surprise. We'll ask Boris to pick him up for us later and
confront him then."
Xavier is not having any of
it, however:
"Absolutely nicht! The
little bastard has the mind of spineless turd who knows but one home,
the city in which we found the little creep. Dat is vhere he vill
head for. There shall I cut him off before he arrives. I shall
welcome him at the gate. I have been riding since he vas but a
lustful thought in his father's mind. I shall arrive before he. For
the grievous insult to your honor, My Lord, I shall return with his
head."
Bennett is in agreement with
him:
"The dumb bastard could not
have gotten much further, and on our superior steeds we can run him
down before he gets back to Hradetz. I certainly don't want someone
that has been that close to us getting into Diamond hands, which he
certainly would. He is an important source of information about us
and we must not let our enemies get hold of him."
Xavier is pleased to have
someone to accompany him:
"Come, let us ride, Herr
Bennett. Your company is most welcome."
Will and Jihan are both in
agreement with Winnacer in believing that the party has more
important tasks to deal with than chasing after money that they don't
absolutely need:
"It is as Jihan has already
said" adds Will. "He took little more than what we would have paid
him anyway. Let us go back to camp and rest. It shouldn't take nearly
as long to get back since we won't have to be tracking on the way
there, and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
They spend several minutes
discussing the situation before realizing that there is no way of
settling the argument. Bennett and Xavier are determined that they
are not going to give up the chase while the others are just as
determined that it is not worth the effort as there are more
important tasks to perform. Reluctantly, Will, Winnacer and Jihan
wish Bennett and Xavier luck before crossing back over the ford as
they start to make their way back to camp.
It takes four hours to get
back there and it is almost dawn by the time that they arrive to find
that Faewen'il and Hrust are sleeping soundly while Yaz is on watch.
Nothing happened at camp during the night. Offering a quick prayer
that nothing untoward has befallen Xavier and Bennett, they drop off
for some well-needed sleep.
Winnacer, Will
and Jihan sleep throughout the morning in order to rest fully after
their very long day. A short while before noon, they wake to find the
clerics have returned from their morning devotions. They gather over
a late breakfast to consider the magickal items while waiting for
Xavier and Bennett to return:
They lay everything that
they took from the Tower out in front of them and then Yaz starts to
cast upon them. They all cast their eyes towards the softly glowing
emerald, expecting it to light up as a result of the spell. But
nothing happens. Not with the gem or any of the other items. All seem
to be free of the taint of evil.
"Well that's a relief," says
Will as the gem passes the test.
"It certainly is," replies
Yaz, as he takes the gem back and wraps it up and puts it back in his
pouch.
Will is curious about the
set of clothes that were also recovered from Boscobelous storeroom
and he investigates them closely. They appear to be nothing more than
a regular set of clothes, rather old-fashioned in their design, but
of an exceedingly high quality. They are sized for a male human and
consist of trousers, surcoat and cloak. All are of a not unpleasant
dark blue color.
He shakes his head as he
surveys the clothes:
"I've no idea what could be
magickal about these clothes."
The clerics then set about
performing their healing rituals upon those that were injured by the
bats as twelve hours in the saddle did nothing to heal their wounds
naturally.
Yaz casts one healing spell
on himself and another on Jihan. Hrust has more spells at his
disposal and so casts two upon Yaz and Will and one upon Winnacer.
After the round of healing spells, just a few cuts and buises remain
upon the six of them.
With the healing rituals
having been performed, Winnacer speaks:
"It is time to release the
villagers of Dobroushka from the rule of the Death Priests. If
Bennett and Xavier really do go all of the way to Hradetz in order to
wait for Robert, then it will be a minimum of two days before they
are back here. Although their sword arms will be useful, I don't want
to wait that long in order to free the people. There are six of us
and we have the element of surprise, so I think that we should be
able to conquer Baltzarek and his acolytes should it come to a fight.
Do the rest of you agree?"
While the rest of them would
much rather that they had the warriors' muscle to back them up, they
too are keen to finish with the Tower so that they can carry on with
their other tasks.
"Good" agrees Winnacer. "So
have we any ideas as to how we should approach the village?"
"Perhaps Jihan and I should
approach the town stealthily and take up archery positions just for
safety measures" suggests Will. "I don't really expect the priest to
take the news too well. Arrogant as was his apprentice, Baltzarek
will surprise me if he accepts our ultimatum. We should be prepared
to deal with hostile resistance."
Yaz keeps silent during the
debate for he is of two minds... On the one hand, he feels that
undeath is in direct opposition to Nature and the Cycles, and has no
place in the Balance. But on the other, he can't condemn a priest
merely for worshipping Death and its god, since death is natural and
Smurt is part of the cosmic balance. As evil is. What, then, is a
Druid to do when an evil priest disrupts the Cycle of Nature by
animating dead bodies? That's what evil priests do! But he can't hate
them for it...
The decision is made to
approach the village in two groups. The majority of the party,
consisting of archers and spellcasters will get into position first
surrounding the village from a position where they can bring their
spells and bows to bear, if necessary. Winnacer, meanwhile, will
approach the village in order to speak to the populace and presumably
Baltzarek and his henchmen.
The decision having been
made, they mount their horses again and skirt the Tower as they make
their way to the village, reaching it in less than an hour. They tie
the horses to a tree and advance the last quarter mile on foot so
that the thundering hooves of the horses will not give away their
approach.
Jihan and Will scout ahead.
Upon coming closer to the village they see that there are few people
in the fields. Since the party's first visit to the village, the rye
and oats in the field has been harvested and so the majority of the
population is in the village itself. Will returns to the position
where Winnacer, Yaz, Faewen'il and Hrust are waiting and tells the
spellcasters to follow him in order to get into their positions. As
silently as they can manage, Yaz, Hrust and Faewen'il follow Will and
form a semi-circle around the southern half of the village, hiding in
bushes and behind trees where they can get a good view of the center
of Dobroushka.
Winnacer gives the others
ten minutes in order to get into position and then he advances on the
village.