A5G

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

They reconvened at... well, the name sounds like a brothel, the decoration looked like a brothel, and the way it's all closed up kinda feels like a brothel, but Sparky said it's an inn. The elf ignored the closed sign and went in, true to her words it was actually an inn in there. Hmm. Quite fancy one, if Yvonne had to say. None of those garishly pompous decor in an attempt to pander to nobility, but it's comfy and quiet and most importantly it's absurdly clean. Cant see a speck of dust or a drop of stain anywhere. As a frequent visitor to inns, the mercenary can confidently say that if the owner somehow managed to keep the common room spotless it's definitely a pleasant place to stay at.

"Food and cold drink, for starter. What you got?" Yvonne glanced around the room, considering potential defensible point and escape path should Delving try something stupid. For a moment her eyes stopped at a particular calendar, before she turned around to Sparky nearby and back at the calendar. This time she didn't hold back from cackling as she took a seat by the table, right feet almost naturally raised to rest on her left knee. "Why, I never took you for a daring sort there Sparky."

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[GM Post]

Beyond the barren hall-turned-stables was the two sets of staircase, as well as what must've been the lavatory. The path down was filled with water after the third step, but the way up remained open with some bats scattering away upon sensing movement nearby. If one were to investigate the lavatory, they'd find a recent trace of use - all dried by now, but the stench was still present.

In the current floor the only trace of metal was the band around the barrel and Matilda's equipment. There's various presence above, small things roughly gathered on one side of the room. So far nothing moved beside the orc knight.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[GM Post]

The fort by the river was, at one point, one of the various defensive installment to prevent unwanted naval presence from sailing inland and wreak havoc in the underbelly of Kindeance. As time passed and the kingdom's navy grew in strength, however, the facility gradually lost importance until a great season of deluge many decades ago caused the river to shift and engulfed most of the fort.

The wooden structures had long since decayed and swept away, leaving no more sign of the great hall. The outer wall had all but collapsed, though the two towers at the land-side still persistently stood albeit slowly sinking and tilting over time. The keep too had partially collapsed as the motte it stood on was eroded by water, but somehow it wasn't uncomfortably tilted unlike the two surviving towers.

Matilda entered through a collapsed wall, into what should be the lord or commander's mess hall. The entire place was devoid of furniture, any trace of it already taken away when the fort was abandoned. The stench of horse dung permeated through the room, coming from the far side where a pile of feed and an open barrel filled with now stagnant water.

The last bit seemed to be a slightly more recent addition to the aged fort.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[NPC Post]

The day could've went better for one Constable Aaron Delving. It was supposed to be a quick check up to ensure no trouble had come to pass, yet it turned out there's a bunch of nosey no-gooders stomping around what's arguably the most important site under his responsibility. Unfortunately he had went in expecting a bunch of scammers that could be easily hauled into the dungeons with some harsh words, and that led to the noose of various circumstances tightening around his neck.

For one, he had the mistake of acknowledging the rabid dog of Rosenving as a noble. That alone massively reduced his options, considering that his men would be very much disinclined to dip hands into nobility conflict. Then there's the royal seal that now unfurled on the ground for all to see, and he could practically feel the unrest building up behind him. Just as the soldiers were stuck between a rock and a hard place, the constable too were torn between keeping his hard stance or accepting the implied ceasefire.

"Men, escort these people off the premise. No one is to enter until I personally permitted otherwise." The constable eventually said, stomping the butt of his pike twice on the paved ground. There's audible sigh of relief from the rank, but he pretended he didn't hear those. "The court will want explanations on how these mannerless scums managed to acquire a royal seal." It wouldn't be too late to arrest these lot after the king was pressured to deny the knowledge of their existence.

With a gruff snort, Constable Delving stomped off the premise as most of guards hurriedly jogged to follow. Was it sheer noble pride that caused this behavior, or were there more sinister motivation lurking underneath? Regardless, as the marching footsteps faded into the distance, the rest of the guards politely but sternly showed the party the exit. One of them even very carefully retrieved and patted the dust off the order before handing it back to Jazdia.

With the prickly constable gone, it's probably best to not cause any further disturbance for now.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

"No, Junior. I dont think I will." Well ain't today just going real real bad. Yvonne sported a lopsided grin, something her brothers in arms would've recognized as the prelude to violence, but this far off her hunting grounds there's no one capable of noticing the threat. "What make you think I care about my family, daddy's boy? Looks like you still have no brains between that ears of yours - crown business. Maybe try listening sometimes. I'd say if you hurry you can run to father dearest to beg his majesty for some breadcrumbs before the day ends."

And the damned foreigner just went and spouted some convulted nonsense. Then he got taken down by surprise. Good fucking job man. Yvonne ain't letting that happen though, dude's about a third of their fighting strength by her estimate. The mercenary took one step forward, twice, swing her leg back, tap into her inner strength, and kicked the dumb schmuck trying to cuff her coworker. Not a big boost, she's not planning to kill the footman, but enough to lift him a foot into the air. Catching the idiot by his cuirass strap, she utilized the man as a bludgeon to knock away the other two before tossing him toward Aaron - who saw it coming and stepped aside, but all it achieved was the improvised projectile crashing into the gathering rank of the guards.

That should do for warm up.

"Up you go." She grabbed the downed adventurer by the scruff of his neck, pulling him to a standing position before retreating out of the pike's range. Yvonne escalated alright, but no steel were drawn on her part. Who knows? Maybe the show of force will get the other side to reconsider their stance. She didn't fancy the thought of fighting through the entire garrison of Rascade.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Well the jig was up, a lot sooner than expected in the form of a captain coming in with righteous fury. And now they're on the frying pan because a certain fox employed trickery to gain passage, joy. The man initially tried to weasel out of this one, too, but cap'n thin goatee here wasn't buying none of it. And then it's back to Jazdia.

Oh, wait. She recognize this fella. His name was...

"Hold up. That you, Delving junior? You look so much more like your father now." Yeah, man aged about two decades in eight years but the shape of his face and that annoying voice of his remain unchanged. Looks like he climbed up quite a bit since last time. "This should be easier to explain then. Short version, Mattie assembled us. Crown business. Your boy up front wasn't keen on that and we ain't got the time to waste, so we had to persuade him a different way. No hard feelings, yeah?" Might as well own up to it, but also play it down. Leave as few leverage as possible for the other party to make use of. "Go send a runner to the castle if you want a confirmation or something. Or detain us, and Mattie's coming for your ass sooner than later. Ain't make a difference for me."

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Yvonne stared with bafflement as the elf seemingly reached in and took out a broken arrow from the hedge as if she knew that it was there from the get go. What. How. The mercenary scratched behind her ears, still having a little bit of decency left to look sheepish at her failure.

"How'd you even- nevermind." She shook her head, more than willing to put that little hiccup behind. "Arrows shot from a longbow would punch into a standard shield. Wouldn't put it past Mattie to wield a slab of iron, but this should be a ceremonial event." Glancing around to take in the surrounding, Yvonne visualized where would one be if they were to stage an ambush. Not much spots, and what's available weren't that good, but passable. "Distance isn't an issue, I know men that could pull trick shots with longbows. They just need an elevated vantage points... I'd put archers on top of the mausoleum if I have the time, but otherwise they'll just need to scramble on top of the tombstones."

Definitely not a common skillset, but training someone to perform archery under high pressure wasn't exactly a difficult prospect. Time-consuming, yes, but not difficult. She'd wager that horseback shooting was higher on the difficulty ceiling.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[NPC Post]

"We didn't find anything belonging to the kidnappers, sans the arrows." Given enough time they'd probably try recover that too, but perhaps going into a prolonged shootout wasn't in their plan and they ended up firing more than it's possible to clean up.

Anderson really wished he had more things to show, but there had been minimum development for the past five days.

"With all due respect ma'am, the timing coincides too much with the attack on the king." Interjected the squire. They didn't wait and strike at the most opportune time. This was a coordinated strike. "Rorthgaard? I'll have people look into it."

And at the order of moving out, Anderson took out a rolled up parchment map from a tube. It depicted an area of the forest, the map itself a precious thing yet as it stood it's filled with scribbled markings. A section of it was lightly greyed out with a pencil, and there's an X somewhere near the edge of it.

"We've combed the greyed area so far." The marking splayed like stubby zig-zag roots, indicating the trails left behind by the kidnappers. Two of them were much longer than the rest. "These two were duds, we found the boot in here. They're not making it easy to follow either."

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Well the estimated time was completely inaccurate then, ranging from "immediately" to "never". Yvonne wasn't really magically inclined to know. So gotta make every second counts. As for digging through the hedge? Not sure what she'd find there, personally, but the mercenary shrugged and knelt next to the hedge before carefully trying to find anything.

....and tried. And tried.

"Is there something I'm supposed to see here or are ya pulling my legs?" She had even parted and poked at the greenery to no avail. Anything further would've damaged it, and that's probably gonna attract more eyes here.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

There should be some kind of magical bullshit at work here, because the guardsman's vigilance was slipping like a pebble rolling downhill. And the fact that she couldn't remember any sort of credentials given to the fox, yet there he went flashing one like it's the most natural thing in the world. Yvonne kept with the party, the corner of her lips twitching as she had to hold back a cackle. Why, Sparky was practically smoldering there. She's looking forward to the time they're leaving the premise later. "Geito" squirming and weaseling out of the hole he dug himself should be an entertaining sight.

"Good luck, mate." She patted the aforementioned fox's shoulder, flashing a brief grin. Then back to the job. "How long do we have?"