March 18th

We'll take the approach from the west. Perhaps if we hit them fast we can minimize casualties and talk to them from a position of strength after they surrender. Top priority is capturing Lefftenant alive.

I'll have the scout take the lead so we hopefully don't walk into any ambushes, followed by the front line fighters minus Javan, who I'll keep with me in reserve. Next it will be Team Squishy, comprised of me and the archer.

Do you need anything else from me?

The mercenaries will debark out of Holtburg and enter the city through the secrets Veil entrances I know of.

EDIT: before I leave, I'll go see the place where Sareth was transported. When I see one of the Aluvian soldiers, I'll tell them one of my employees was kidnapped and I had a yellow mage trace him back here. Can they help me?

OOC:

1st Action: Try as i might, i cannot find Glenden Wood on the map, but i assume it's pretty far. I assume the Crew still has their camping gear from last time, so i'll just take my newfound money and buy them all food for the trip and back (just in case).

If Jenna says there's anything else they need, i'll see about that too, and i'll tell her there are some urgent matters here in Holtburg that require my attention, so i'll be stuck here for another day or two. I'd feel better if they waited for me (i don't think any of them has made that kind of trip before, and there might be dangers on the road i'd like to be there to protect them from), but if she decides to leave right away, i'll join them as soon as i can.

After that, i think i'll put in some sleep hours if i haven't rested yet.

Higaide convinces Jenna to stick around and wait for politics to be resolved, though she's a bit disheartened by the entire thing, having just psyched herself up for this only to be told to reign it in a bit. Glenden Wood, she points out since Higaide wouldn't know where it is, is the capital city of the Glenden Wood Region in the northwest quadrant of the Kingdom.

Rory manages to get a letter off towards the Olthoi, and assists Zeiss with the Blackbrine situation. Given that any such situation would normally take like a week and a half to resolve, the GM Q-snaps some Blackbrine into Holtburg proper to speed things up. It turns out that there are a few bandit groups who like to prey on the southern market loop (which goes through Blackrust, Fairpond, Brooklake, and Highflet) who've been basically out of a job lately thanks to some interference from some organized bandit company and are willing to hire out their services for something of a more legal line of work.

Meanwhile...

Kolson and his group stage a brilliant, daring, courageous, and ultimately doomed attack on the Lefftenant's camp. Rolling single digit after single digit, it turns into a brawl very quickly as they're discovered by the very first spotter of the camp and the bandits quickly organize and try to fight back against their attackers. The bandits have a huge superiority of numbers and manage to do some real damage, Downing several of Kolson's group, but Kolson and Javan prove to be the turning point and successfully take down multiple enemies with only moderate damage taken. Seeing the writing on the wall, an otherwise nondescript Dwarf steps forward, announcing he is in charge of this group and preparing to barter for their lives from their oppressors, aka you.

Meanwhile meanwhile...

Zeiss has arrived in Janwall in the dead of night but learns, fairly quickly, that Radnaal of Highspring left the town earlier in the day. He gave no instructions on his departure, as he was in his own words 'not in charge anymore', and was last seen heading southwest.

Well, we'll hire these bandits after making it clear how they must act when working for the Exchange (don't harass civilians and be professional) and direct them towards the Veil where they can set up some barracks. I'm gonna leave Rory in charge of them. Could I get a rough number of how many of them there are? Just so I can add them to my list of employees. The player also thanks the GM for their sudden apparition.

Zeiss tells the Runners block (or what's left of them) to continue their operations and that he will send someone to pick up the task of managing the group. Also doing a quick check to see how many "soldiers the have." Then he goes southwest with his ring of light on (30 feet wide) to follow Radnaal's tracks (blow an action point if necessary). That's the way back to Holtburg anyway. If I can't find him, I'll go back home.

The bandits total to about 30 people. The 'soldiers' of the former Runners (who don't even identify as that anymore) are about 150ish. Zeiss has no problem following Radnaal's trail until it hits the main road heading to Holtburg, at which point it becomes indistinguishable from the other hundreds of foot and cart traffic on the road. Rory spends some of his evening trying to get the bandits in line with the undisciplined humans, resulting in the most half-hazard makeshift 'army' anyone has ever seen ever. Rory is pretty sure the military forces on Vesayen Lassel, whom were trained specifically not to kill people, were better than this rabble.

Oppressors. Right. -_-

Kolson laughs in his face then kicks him in the chest Spartan-style. Kolson then proceeds to stomp him to death in front of all his surviving men while laughing like an absolute loon. I of course do none of that and instead make the following demands.

1. That they will throw down their arms and surrender to my force.
2.  That he tells me who he is and what, if anything, he is trying to accomplish by taking up arms against the citizenry of Aluvia.
3. That he will tell me everything he knows about the one called Lefftenant and his bandits.

Before agreeing to surrender they demand to know whom they are surrendering to, since your people fly no colors. His name is Huldar of Ironforge, and he protests that he has not hurt so much as one of his fellow citizens in his task, appearing rather indignant at the thought. He also happens to be the Lefftenant in question.

Well, Zeiss goes back to Holtburg at full speed to sleep some more.

Kolson ignores the dwarf. "Lefftenant, I don't treat with bandit lackeys! Come out here yourself or by all 8 elements I'll tear this camp apart until I find you!"

After a significant period of time, the Dwarf, sighing, walks forward and tells the hostile Elf that he is, in fact, the Lefftenant and offers to prove it as long as the obviously evil and anti-Aluvian individual is willing to spare his men and the innocents present in his camp.

"The innocents were never my target, bandit, but I'll here you out. We'll have a truce, for now, see to our men, and then you can show me your proof." If Lefftenant agrees, Javan and I will see to our men with the priority being our medics. I'll get them back on their feet with a some Cure spells, say level 3 if possible.

The Dwarf seems confused at your statement, but will allow medical aid to both sides. It takes a few moments to get things settled before Kolson (who spends a total of 9 Mana) gets everyone up and running. The bandits in the camp seem outright terrified of your group, and a few try to make a break for it but are quickly stopped by your people, dragged back crying and screaming to the rest.

The Dwarf eventually, with an air of dread about him, approaches Kolson and demands, outright, the assured safety of the people here with him before he agrees to anything, else he'll order them dispersed into the wild and himself with them as their chances of survival will be better there. For the first time Kolson notices the demeanor the Dwarf is handling himself with seems a bit off.

Kolson is honestly confused by their reaction. It shows clearly on his face. "Only a fool would make a blind promise and only a cheat would demand one. I'm not a fool and you don't look like a cheat. That's why I swore to a truce. I gave my word not to hurt anyone in this camp until we have BOTH seen to our wounded and you get a chance to show me proof that you are not bandits. Have I not kept my word so far? If you are truly the innocent party like you imply then why are you delaying and frightening these people even further?

Doing his very best to sound reasonable and calm (Action Point) Kolson counteroffers, "Lets the two of us go to your tent. We'll introduce ourselves and you can show me your proof and answer any questions I may have. If you can do so to my satisfaction you'll have nothing more to fear from me or my force. So what happens next is entirely up to you. What do you choose, Lefftenant?"

Huldar, without further comment, heads to his tent with Kolson and Javan in tow. After gesturing for them to sit if they choose (he remains standing) he asks what demands Kolson's terrorist group has of him as he fishes around for a few bits of parchment which he hands over to Kolson to inspect. They are notes of goods taken and distributed throughout the region, almost entirely of a food and medicinal nature though some coin as well, along with detailed information on every single major trade route in the entire Holtburg Region including the Rider's routes, and what times they can be hit normally.

Javan, while reading the documents over Kolson's shoulder, will try to remember if he ever heard of anything in Aluvia that makes what the Lefftenant and his group are doing legal or at least grey zone (Know Politics roll).

Javan thinks on the matter and comes to the vague conclusion that the only way this situation could be legal is if it was an authorized movement from the government, though it'd take someone relatively high up to do such an authorization.

(Lol, terrorist group.)

"My name is Kolson of Wintersong. I'm a retired adventurer and I've been hired by Country Rider to put an end to the bandit attacks on their couriers. I put together this posse to do so. We came upon my friend Javan here, who was escorting a caravan of merchants against bandit attacks. Through strength of arms they were able to capture a good portion of the enemy force after negotiations went sour. The survivors of course gave you up and pointed us towards your camp," Kolson says, while reading the documents. After finishing, he looks the dwarf in the eye and says in what he hopes is a disarming half-joking manner, "If your goal was to keep us from arresting you and turning you over to Aluvian authorities as brigands then I have to say you are doing a lousy job of it. So I have to ask--who are you and what were you trying to accomplish here?"

Huldar, after a brief moment's thought, admits that your group is well within their rights to send him to the authorities along with however many of the refugees he has been working with here as you deem fit. If asked further about his motivations he merely shrugs and admits that with the total absence of the criminal element within this region it was easy to move in and use that to help get the desperate the food, medicine, and supplies they needed.

Well, if he isn't going to bother to defend himself then that's what I'll do. We'll round up everyone who drew arms against us and form a chain gain with rope. Anyone who resists gets added to the arrested group. Javan and I will also look around the camp for any useful intelligence that might tell us something about Huldar, the people he is working with, and what they hoped to accomplish. I'll do my best to respect people's property but if it comes down to it I'll do what I need to if I think there is something there.

Hey Javan, what should we do with their dependents? I don't want to leave them out here with no protection but I'm not sure what we can do for them in any practical sense.

Kolson and Javan have no real problems rounding up the bandits, which aside from the Dwarf consist entirely of Stoneholders. A thorough search of the camp, sadly, reveals little... except... an odd letter that Kolson, being a skilled Weaver, recognizes is trapped that if one does not open it properly will self disintegrate. It was very well hidden, but Javan managed the 19 necessary to find it, and after some thought Kolson believes he has a few options with it; he can try to Weave the correct way to open it, which is a gamble and if it fails will assuredly destroy it. He can take it to another Weaver to do the same, though at this point Kolson might be better than them. He can try to simply deduce via his massive Intellect how to properly open it. Or he can consult with Political learnings to see if he knows any similar style of thing that he or those he can consult might know about. Or maybe another option the GM hasn't thought of.

Given our current predicament I'll try my massive Weaving check. Perhaps I can figure out how to open it. Weaving +23.

OOC to Kolson:

Javan is going to try a non-combat AP-loaded Know: Politics check, hoping that if it doesn't show how to open the letter, at least it could give Kolson a clue on how to proceed with his counter weaving.

Edit: It just dawned to me, since we know they are mostly Stoneholders dwarves and we have tons of their documents, I'd say there's a good chance the documents have clan heraldry and such that could also give small clues that Kolson could use for pattern-recognition.

*whispers to Kolson*

"Use your non-combat action point."