(1876-03-30) Ill Met By Moonlight: Part Two
Ill Met By Moonlight: Part Two
Summary: The scouting mission continues.
Date: 2020-03-30
Related: Ill Met By Moonlight: Prequel, Ill Met By Moonlight: Part One
NPCs: Lilibeth, a mercenary (NPCed by Alia)
Players:
Anrique  Jarret  

Biaret
A compact town at the intersection of Lake Sanabria and the River Meldus, it is a crucial mercantile and toll stop-over once controlled by House Hytal. Now, with the collusion of the town council and many of the freemen, it is under the sway of a significant party of bandits. The town militia is in full call-out, aiding in Biaret's defence.
1876-03-30

Anrique steps back into the common space inside the shop aka safehouse he's procured for the group. He still looks like a merchant, having forgone his equipment, but theres been moments when he's resting, and relaxed, that traces of a western arkanin accent has slipped into his voice. He's probably given his surname, Carlsen, by now too. "I've received word there will be a meet at the crossroads." He looks over the mercenary "I'd appreciate your help Lillibeth." and then to Jarret. "Are you planning to come Sir?"

-

Lilibeth had spent her time walking the town, doing the usual common mercenary things. Looking for food and fun and…that other f word that we don't say on a PG-game. All in the service of getting an idea of how the town was defended and how likely the people were to help or hinder the operation. She had passed on what information she had gathered and the random things she had bought at the market. "Of course." That, in answer to Anrique's request.

-

Jarret has spent much of the time in the safehouse, resting up a bit, and checking some parts of his gear. There's also been a few trips out into town, always with the dark cloak carefully around him. Seated now, he stands up as he hears Anrique's wordss. "Sounds good," he replies. "Would be nice to stretch the legs a bit."

-

Over the last two days, activity in the town has been high - not because it appears that they know an army is coming down, but because now that the spring thaw is nearly complete, merchants will be passing from the north to the south, and that means tolls and traffic in, and wares both in and out. Though there have been some rumours overheard in the market about a Galenthian response, many seem to believe that the example of Avrenches in Murias County might serve as a better template - after all, even with Sir Xavier Arkanin in play, they still managed to get away with vastly increased rights, and this after killing a number of people.

The brigands themselves seem exited to get out from a town which they have undoubtedly spent far too much time in; after all, you can only carouse your way through the same three or four pubs and taverns so many times. There is eager chatter about manning the toll points, and some more nautically inclined of them discuss ships preparation. Some even discuss spreading out into new towns, or at least taking some villages to ensure the food supply. There are a few seemingly higher ranked brigands about, typically in much better armour - well kept brigandine and in the case of a few, sometimes even breastplates, with good, steel weapons and well fed horses. Two of them even have war horses - imagine the expense of keeping a war horse, during the winter, in a town like Biaret!

As for the militia, there is less interest in venturing far out of town and although some have openly spoken about possibly joining the brigands for profit, most appear content to defend their newly won freedoms from any encroachment of the 'aristos'.

It's a good thing that the party, particularly the more nobly born, have generally kept their heads down.

-

The instructions passed to Anrique were to meet at the crossroads again, two days after arriving, ostensibly in order to get another shipment of cloth in. After all, market days will soon be upon them, and what better place to sell than in the midst of the Duchy?

-

"We'll plan around that then." Anrique says "Its not for two days and we've not the time to be idle. I'd like to secure a route to the gate we're supposed to be taking and then get some intel about the people manning it and likely opposition. The two men I have with me can help. Do you think you can?"

-

Lilibeth rose from where she had been sitting. She had been surprisingly nonplussed since they had arrived in town. She wandered in and out, spoke when she needed to speak, and generally seemed content to go about the business f infiltrating the town. "I think I can manage that. Easy enough to wander over that way. It's too bad we don't have anything we can use as explosives. Might be useful to make certain they can't run to their ships if they decide to abandon the town."

-

"It would be entertaining to watch their ships go up like that." Anrique says softly. "But I dont think we can target them and do our main mission just yet. We can discuss it more though. A distraction may be useful, depending on what the situation is at the gate. We only know what you can see from the street so far."

-

"I wasn't suggesting we destroy their ships now. I was suggesting that if we had the materials, we could plan ahead, so that when the time came, we might be able to eliminate both that escape route and any attempt the might make to harry the land troops from their ships." Lilibeth looked down at herself, adjusting her armor and making certain her sword was still well concealed.

-

Jarret looks a bit thoughtful. "It would be useful to trap them in here, but then on the other side, that would probably be bad for those in town that are still honest, law-abiding people," he says, before he shakes his head momentarily. "But there's another good point remaining. Where is the one in charge of all this. Because if we don't get that person, this will just go on, even if we get this town out of their control."

-

Anrique asks Jarret, "Would you like to investigate that whilst we look into the gate?"

-

"How law-abiding can they be if they agreed to allow these bandits to take over their town, rather than fighting on the side of their liege lords?" Lilibeth shrugged, settling her cloak around her shoulders, "If the Crown and the Knight Marshal considered this all 'law-abiding, he wouldn't have sent us here in the first place, nor been moving north to reclaim the town." And then she shrugged, "I'm read to head towards the gatehouse."

-

"I know it's hard to believe, but there's quite a few people in this world that does not fight, simply because they are not fighters. And in a town, that's usually a relatively large part of the population," Jarret replies. "A number of them would just want to go on living their lives no matter who the people in charge are, because that's all they know. That does not make those people criminals, it makes them people. So we're sent here to remove the fighting people, who are fighting for the bandits, not those that simply can't fight for themselves." He shrugs as he looks to Anrique. "Let's head to the gate first, and then we can come up with a good plan to find the leaders behind this after we know how to get our people inside."

-

"Aye." Anrique says as he moves to his feet and takes a moment to tuck a dirk under his merchants robes. "I think both of you have good ideas. We're just struggling for time." Moving to his feet he offers "Let me show you the route I would take to the gates as an agent and see what your battle experience tells us. Unfortunately I guessed we'd want to be in the northwest." he gives an apologetic smile. "Not the east. But it shouldn't matter to much." a beckoning gesture and he starts for the door.

-

"Actually, it isn't hard to believe at all. But my point is, that neither the Crown nor the Knight Marshal are likely to absolve those people of responsibility because they 'just wanted to keep on living.'. It also does not absolve us of the need to judge whether or not, when our forces arrive, those people will help us, or help the bandits." Lilibeth said no more, simply making her way to follow behind Anrique.

-

Jarret simply shrugs for now, moving to follow with the others.

-

"None of our plans involve hassling the locals." Anrique points out as he leads the group south. The route overshadowed by walls for much of the way. "Otherwise we'd be looking for granaries and wells instead of gates and leaders." His words carefully placed to ensure nobody accidentally overhears. "If it is possible I would like to have one of the locals open the gates for us. It is better they take the risk. Particularly as it means we will be harder to identify. For that though, we need to learn who has access. It may be quicker to plan a direct attack but I don't know how strong we are as a party." he glances to Jarret. "I've heard you are a highly seasoned warrior."

-

Lilibeth was silent as they moved. Anrique's comment simply brought a shrug of her shoulders as they walked. The main portion of her attention was on the town around her. There was an art to looking while also appearing to be entirely bored, and it seemed to be a skill the mercenary had practiced in spades.

-

The trio walks along a side street to get to the main avenue, which during the mid-afternoon is busy with people going about their business. Shops are selling wares, merchants scheming and families hanging out washing in the sun. Moving to the south, away from the gate that they will need to leave from later to get to the crossroads, the trio are in and among the main plaza, an open square dominated by the town's Church of Saint Ruth - the patron of patience, a splendid construction in the last century's vast and expansive architecture style. It's clear, though, that many are out of town working in the fields perhaps, or else on business. The brigands loll about in the main square, clearly bored. No one pays Anrique and his friends too much attention now.

-

"That's… quite true," Jarret replies to Anrique's words. "I've seen quite a lot of fighting through my years." He leaves it at that for now, glancing around as they walk. His gaze moves to the brigands for a few moments, but makes sure those looks are only in short glances.

-

Having paid special attention as their path took them close to the dock before it lead them towards the town center, Lilibeth's voice, when she spoke was quiet, pitched low so as not to reach beyond the party, "Their ships are poor, relatively speaking. Minnows for the fishermen, a fair number of those, a few leans. But that caravel is going to be a problem. None of them seem terribly outfitted though."

-

"We'll try and do something about it if we can." Anrique says to Lilibeth's concern. "But I'd rather leave it to the navy. So, seasoned warrior, what do you think we need to pull off this task?" his gaze flicks to Lilibeth. "You seem to favor an assault via the water. Is that right?"

-

Lilibeth looked, momentarily angry, "No. I do not favour an assault by water." if she had been free to, quite likely she would have pinched the bridge of her nose. "As I said when we were in the house, assessing what ships are available to them would be helpful in anticipating either their ability to escape by the water routes, OR use any ships with artillery to do damage to the troops on land and within the city."

-

On the way south past St Ruth's, a few things may pop out.

Anrique, looking at the route, it's easy to note that the Church has entrances on both sides, with its main area obviously facing the plaza to the north, but a smaller entrance to the rectory on the south end. The paths around the Church are fairly narrow, but the eastern path would be significantly easier to traverse, and there are even some side roads that lead towards the castle.

Lilibeth is clearly too angry at the interplay to notice much of anything. Well, at least it's a nice day out.

Jarret, however, can note that there seem to be a few brigands that they saw before who are clearly in charge. These are the ones in better gear, especially the lady in breastplate on a charger, who the other brigands pay some kind of respect to (not bowing obviously, but turning to face her when she rides by) and who seems to dole out orders. Once they approach the south gate, the interior staircase is clearly visible here, too, to Jarret. Not a good defensive strategy; anyone who slips in here can potentially get the gate open. He can also see the remnants of a crane that has been mostly disassembled. Probably bringing an artillery piece up onto the gate here.

-

Jarret also notices that a number of the brigands are foreign. Where from? Not sure. Some may have traces of Kentairish accent, while others are are obviously somewhat local, but with an odd twang…

-

Glancing around at the various brigands, Jarret does his best not to look at anyone in particular for too long, although the lady riding past wearing the breastplate gets a few more moments of consideration. "Weird, they sound…" he mutters, trailing off for now. The study of the gatehouse makes him smile momentarily. "Looks like it's relatively easy for someone to slip in and open the gate. We probably need a distraction to keep most people looking the other way." A brief pause, before he adds, "Looks like they're not finished disassembling the crane they brought the artillery up onto the gate with."

-

"If I distract the guards do you think you can get a better look?" Anrique asks Jarret and Lilibeth. His eyes drift to the crane. "Perhaps that could be useful. I imagine if we collapse it the guards will all come to see what the commotion is about." he smiles and then adds. "Not now of course. On the day."

-

"I can certainly try." The woman looked down at herself, "I wish I had thought to steal a dress and corset while I was out wandering." Alas, she was still dressed as a guard.

-

The complement of gate guards are on duty, and unlike the early morning they came in on two days ago, are fully alert. Again, two of the more professional brigands are clearly in charge here. Traffic seems to be lighter from the south, mostly consisting of farmers and the like from the fields surrounding the town. One man is leading a wagon pulled by an oxen, and gets cross at the trio. "Out of the bloody way, you lot; all you outsiders, getting in the way." He grumbles, slowing his cart and crossing his arms over his chest. "Move!"

-

Looking about to say something, Jarret is interrupted by the man with the wagon. "Apologies," he offers to the man, quickly stepping back to let the man pass. He keeps silent for a bit longer, making sure the man with the cart has parted. "Looks like some of them are better equipped than the rest. They look more like normal soldiers, and I don't think all of them are from here." Spoken rather quietly as he focuses on the other two for now.

-

"I still have coin for sundry like that." Anrique offers to Lilibeth just before teh grouchy wagoneer starts grumbling at them. He gestures an apology and steps out of the way. "What are you carrying good man? I'm a merchant working to open a cloth business here in town and, if we are lucky, we can help each other out today." He holds a hand out, equal to equal, "I'm Anrique, Anrique of Britton."

-

"Apologies, good master," was Lilibeth's friendly and polite reply, as she stepped out of the man's way. Clearly, when it was absolutely necessary, the rather sour woman did know how to kill them with kindness.

-

"Britton?" The farmer asks, almost rhetorically, his eyes squinting and a frown pulling his lips down. "Never heard of it. Carrying onions and the like. I don't want yer bloody cloth, rich man's rubbish. You sound like ya never laboured a day in your life." He reaches for a stout wooden staff in his wagon and thumps it on the ground. "Now out of my way, 'fore I call the guards." Whether Jarret intends for much to be overheard, the tone of his voice clearly is. "And you, like a bloody aristo's by blow. Get out of my bloody town, you wretch!"

Clearly, someone is not having a good day. Some of the militia manning the gate begin to take note. "C'mon then!" One of them yells. "Move along! Clogging the gate!"

-

Anrique moves a little further out of the way. "It sounds like we need to move."

-

Jarret steps back as he hears the man. Nodding a bit at Anrique's words. "Lead the way," he offers, quietly.

-

Lilibeth was already on her way to the side, and she simply continued along the route her feet had chosen, which was intended to get her both out of the way of the man and his cart and the militia who were taking far too much interest in what was going on at the chokepoint.

-

"Bloody foreigners, all of you to the abyss or wherever you come from." The farmer picks up the lead from his ox and keeps muttering to himself as his cart moves north, towards St Ruth's and eventually the plaza. The militia go back to their business, losing interest as soon as things get moving again.

-

"I think we best wait until tomorrow to attempt that again." Anrique says to the pair. "Lilibeth. You said you needed equipment?" He gives her some coins for that. "I think the rest of the day is best spent trying to learn what we can about the guards. Lets see if one has an unfortunate gambling habit we can take care of or something."

-

"Well, at least clothing which I can use to put on a better display. I don't imagine most men notice what you are actually doing, if the cut of your bodice is low enough." There was the slightest quick f her lips as she made the coins disappear.

-

Jarret lets out a bit of a breath, listening to the others. Glancing around once in a while again, just to see what's happening around them.

-

"Your right." Anrique says to Lilibeth. Amused. "It does get distracting." he glances once more to the gate. "Well we best head back to the house and prepare for our trip out to the crossroads."

-

Lilibeth made no complaint, as the trio returned to the house. After she was certain she was prepared for the night's adventuring, for some measure of adventure, she returned to the market, picking up a more fitting dress. A bit of fluffing her hair, a basket filled with produce and she was off, making her way along the lanes, looking for all the world like a common girl which she was, selling or sharing her wares in trade as one tended to do when coin was not readily available. And if she happened to pass by the gates, well…didn't these hard working men need sustenance as well?

-

Anrique also heads out without backup. He spends much of the day trying to learn more about the various gate guards, looking for weak points that might be exploited - the greedy and the desperate. He also makes sure there are at least three well scouted out routes to and from the target gates and makes an effort to learn who's who inside the city. Just in case one of them will be useful (or has to die).

-

After the commotion with the man with the wagon, it takes an hour or two before Jarret ventures out again. After all, being more stealthy is not his strongest suit, so he wants it to be more quiet before he heads out there. He moves to the main square, to try observing the brigands there, mostly from a distance.

-

To say that Lilibeth is appreciated would be to understate it. Of course, bored militiamen and brigands on gate duty are going to be interested in a pretty woman in a low cut dress; and she's clearly not from around here, with her accent, so it only increases the interest in her. It's all positive really, except that no matter where she goes she's crowded by so many of the guards that she's really not able to find out much more than they already know - the gates are all well manned, and they seem to have scorpions on them. And the north two ones have catapaults on platforms up atop the wall. The downside - with how much attention she's gotten, her face is undoubtedly a known factor. It's a small town.

Anrique scouts the routes out well, particularly for someone who is accustomed to tasking agents with doing the business. But if it teaches the Carlsen Lord anything, it's that sometimes one needs to get their hands dirty to get the job done. He confirms the fact that the path west of the Church of St Ruth is the best for any force, and also scouts out several small back street routes that would be undoubtedly useful if urban fighting becomes a factor. While watching the main plaza in the late afternoon, a group of local notables gather, as people do in public spaces, and begin talking loudly about the situation in town. Some of them seem less pleased at the brigand presence, and have no problem stating this loudly enough. Their position is obviously in the minority, but they're allowed to talk. After all, free men should be able to speak their minds. The brigands are less pleased at this.

From a different angle, Jarret can observe some of the higher status brigands, now in their arming clothes, move in to speak their mind. The woman who was ahorse earlier in the fine breastplate speaks in terms of liberties and the aristos oppression, to some earnest cheers. She's got a few of her lieutenants around her and a bunch of bravos, and this seems to cow the dissenting parties into capitulation. At least for now.

The sun creeps ever westward. Soon it is time to go.

-

As they prepare to leave Anrique asks "Would you mind not arming up so much this time? It wont hurt for you to have a sword, probably, but the heavy armor marks us out as something worth noticing."

-

Lilibeth, who did not have any heavy armor, simply fell into line with Anrique, quite content to make the walk with him. "I did not have as successful a day as I hoped, but at least I do know I will be good to be the distraction, of a sort, if it is needed."

-

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License