The Road to Salaband

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Alberich
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Alberich »

Udo, having finished his beer with satisfaction, went looking for Angrist. He was hoping there'd be no more training this afternoon -- after all, they had a journey to start in a couple of hours -- but it didn't seem right to leave the Master in the dark about where they stood. 'sides, he had nothing else to do, 'specially with funds this short.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Jack Rothwell »

At the sight of the small building and the guards around it Jade stopped and withdrew to the cover of the back of the closest building. Her goods didn't appear to be under heavy guard, but that didn't mean they weren't. Being spotted would do her no favors; better to wait and see if her suspicions about the dishwasher and his bald friend were true. If they left the prison holding her bag then it would be a simpler matter to track them out of town, backshoot them, and retrieve her goods than to try fighting the local law enforcement or performing a daring break-in to snatch them from under the noses of their confiscators. She caught herself wishing her boyfriend were here; he'd have talked his way past those men in minutes and been on the road within the hour.

The blacksmith sighed and reached for her tobacco pouch.
Alberich
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Alberich »

[OOC: Going to move us there absent any objections.]

Jade had time for along, peaceful smoke while the checkers tournament ended. The one of the guards looked up at the sun and looked a question at the other. "Yep, 's'bout time," said he. "Okay, Aden."

They moved the table away from the door and went inside. Had Jade been closer she could've heard some jingling chains and a lock snapping shut. Shortly afterwards, they came back out, cleared away their game, and began laying a variety of fetters on the table -- straight-barred handcuffs and various sorts of chains. A little later, a young man came from the inn and dropped off a small pack. In fact, this contained trail rations for Udo and Angrist.

And a little while later than that, a Patroller named Hogan was guiding Udo and Angrist to the ruined watchtower. Udo was up to three days' growth of hair and beard now, and from the looks of him he'd be back to his old shaggy self inside a month, not that Jade knew or cared anything about that. He was talking to them about the prisoner.

"Waal, anyway, bottom line is Aden here killed a guy back in Egmil, and got away before they could get him in front of their quarterly courts. Big man in town, fella named Torvald, owns a lotta cattle, is offering the reward, so get him out to his place and you'll get your pay. Word is he's good with weapons, 'least with swords and sticks he is, so watch yourself. He don't run very fast but he's got a lot of wind so he can get pretty far if you let him get the jump on you. So don't let him." They were arriving now. Hogan spoke to the lazy guards, who were now on their feet. "Go ahead and bring the prisoner out."

While they did that, he hefted the pack of rations and handed it to Udo. "Rations," he said, "oughta get you to Egmil and a few days past it too, even if there's freak weather. We've laid out some chains and stuff here, so you can decide how much weight you want to put on him."

The guards emerged with "Aden," a big man in his own right, an inch or two taller than Udo, close to him in age, and a lot leaner and well-muscled. He had sleepy brown eyes and curly brown hair, and a pleasant look on his face that seemed to say, "Okay, the whole thing's a joke, and I can't do anything about it anyway, so let's go." He took in his escorts and the tableful of chains and commented in a pleasant baritone. "No horses?"

"Nope," said Udo.

He nodded at the chains (right now, his arms and legs were loosely manacled). "You wouldn't mind keeping it light on that stuff? 's a long way to walk."

"That'll be up to Sensei," said Udo, nodding at Angrist.

"Yeah, but I mean, if you haven't got a horse, I might be kinda hard to drag all that way, and given how they want me dead, 's not as if I have a whole lot of reason to walk too fast. And I have to be able to eat 'less you want to feed me like a baby."

"We have ways of making you walk," came the reply. "Don't you worry about that." Udo looked down at one of his new boots (courtesy of the unlamented Jargalan) and imagined testing it out on the prisoner, but didn't carry that plan into execution. He wasn't thrilled at the thought of beating a chained man, but if they had to show him who was boss, and what he was expected to do, well, then, that how it'd have to be.

"Well, c'mon," said Aden,"at least keep it reasonable. Could be you in the same place someday. Outsiders in a place like Egmil? Might be sooner than you think."

"Very philosophical," said Hogan, "but that's enough lessons for now. Plenty of time for talking on the road, if you really want to let him. If you gentlemen will just pick out the fetters, I'll see you out of town, and that'll be that."

"How 'bout our relief?" asked one of the guards.

"They're having supper. They'll be along soon enough. And you don't budge an inch 'til they do, get me?"

"Got it."
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Browncoat »

Angrist considered the options for a moment. He pulled out the longest chain. The monk attached one end to Aden's left ankle...and the other to Udo's right. Angrist proceeded to shoulder most of the equipment and tilted his head to suggest they go.

[OOC: Gotta admit, I love working with Udo. He's such an easy target so I can get extra creative with how I torment him :D :twisted: ]
They kicked me out of the asylum. I miss the jello.
Alberich
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Alberich »

[OOC: Well, as I've commented before, that's what he's there for! 'course I'll be interested to see how Jade reacts to the spectacle.]

Hogan bid them a good journey and waved them away. (In a little while he'd make sure the replacements came for those lazy bums - he had better men for night watch, and they'd keep things a little more secure.)

Aden half-suppressed a smirk. He'd heard in the past of prisoners being chained to a heavy iron ball to keep them from running, so he supposed being chained to "tubby" here would be the moral equivalent.

Udo totally suppressed his grumbling. The Master must know what he was doing. Maybe this was extra strength training - since he was already carrying the food and the camping gear, it was his way of saying that Udo's legs needed more strength to handle the board-balance exercise. Just as well that he'd lost most of his weapons on the last adventure. Less to carry. Complaining would get him only blank looks and, just possibly, another painful training exercise. No, better to shoulder his burden and move on.

Udo picked up the slack in the long chain and draped it around his neck. That meant he'd have to walk right next to the prisoner but at least he wouldn't be dragging the chain along the road, which would just be stupid. Anyway, the only weapon he had was a boot knife the prisoner couldn't see, plus a magic staff the prisoner couldn't use. And if he did try a sucker punch, well, then, he'd learn something about the Master. 'course it might spare him a few hurt ribs if he went ahead and established that right now.

"'evening," he said. "Udo Fujomori. On a kenpo training journey with Sensei Angrist there. He's untouchable in open hand combat -- thaumically enhanced, too. He can throw me up in the air and punch through a brick wall if he has to. Good man to stay on the right side of! Nothing personal about this. Our job's to take you back to Egmil with no fuss, so that's what we're going to do."

The prisoner ambled along amused, chains jingling as they walked. "Well, then," he said, "Aden Govonal. From Bohetye. That's in the Northern Confederacy. More lately from Egmil, on my way back there for some of what they call justice. What're they paying you for your part?"

"Food for the journey, plus a reward from this guy Torvald."

Aden snorted lightly. "Good luck collecting from that guy. Stingy bastard owns half the cattle in Egmil, but if you get more'n cow shit, you're some negotiator."

They walked along in silence. Udo wasn't really that worried - for him the point of this trip was the training, anyway, and besides they had the means to extract what they needed when the time came. After a while Aden struck up the conversation again. "So how'd you get to be on this training journey of yours?"

"I met the Master on my adventures!" - and so the conversation turned for a while to those adventures, which Udo never minded retelling in one part or another, so that passed a little time. But even Udo's throat needed a rest after a while, so it was the other man's turn. "So how'd you get on the wrong side of these Eichenyttel Militia then?"

"Easiest way in the world. I joined 'em!

"I was on some travels of my own, and wanted to settle down and raise a stake for a while, maybe settle down permanent, take in some quiet country life. I'd done enough farm work back home I figured they'd have a place. So I showed up right in time for spring planting and they set me right to work.

"Well, around Egmil, you want to be part of the community, you join the training band every week. So I got invited and I went along. Lots of hand-to-hand, clubs, practice swords, what have you, and I did pretty good. Was making some friends, starting to like it there. Trouble is, Torvald, he's the big man in town, so he's the commander for the local militia. And his boy, Evald, well, he was up-and-coming, a training leader. Trouble was, he wasn't really very good. Tried to show off by whipping the newcomer. And I sent him off limping.

"So anyway, I came around their ranch with a peace offering, bottle of good ale - most of my wages. The old man didn't want me there. Maybe 'cause he knew the boy couldn't take his ale. So we met up at the tavern later, drank the bottle, all seemed fine. I saw him there sometimes. When I wasn't too tired. Next drill, he gave me plenty of room, and it all seemed all right. Tried to visit but the old man's word was law. As I found out, not just on his ranch, but all over town. They talk about being real independent and all, but the man with the cows, he makes the rules.

"Well, anyway, one night we're having a little game he's losing, and he wants to take the air and clear his head, so we go out for a walk. Nice night out. But he's had too many. He starts telling me how I cheated to beat him before, didn't know the training rules, used a cheap move to take him down. Started saying I cheated at our game too. I kept denying it, he kept repeating it, and before it's done - he challenges me to a duel.

"They're big on their duels out there, let me tell you. They talk about their laws but reality is, clubs are their law. You get challenged, you don't fight, you're nothing to 'em. So he and I fought, and I won again, this time for real. So I got him back to the tavern and tried to tell it all.

"Well, it's not an hour 'til the old man's out there, in a rage. Boy's still alive but he's not talking, and they've sent for a healer already. The old man's looking blue murder at me and starts in on what the hell am I doing, how I didn't belong in this town, and didn't I know who he was? And I said, if he was such a big man, he should've had better control in his own household, if he's gonna take responsibility for the boy, he oughta keep him on a tighter leash. And that's what really set him off, way more than anything I did. Bad conscience I guess. He yells at 'em to grab me. They do. I'm lucky he doesn't have his gun along, anyway - you know, he's got the only gun in town? But he don't take it out that much.

"The healer shows up eventually but he's too late. Boy's dead. Old Torvald wants me hacked up on the spot. The others say, no, he's trained with us, got to take him to the next quarterly court. They bring him around, and he summons me for murder, but he's looking at me like, you're not gonna make it to court 'cept as a memory. 's not as if he'd suffer much for doing something to me. They don't try you 'less someone summons you to court, and you got no relatives, there's no one gonna summon him on your behalf. Not if you're dead. No summoner, no crime.

"Anyway, they tie me up in a barn since they don't have a jail. On the other side of town from Torvald's, anyway, but he and his men kept coming by, asking about how often they looked in on me and whether they were making sure I was still there. Didn't take a mage diviner to figure out what they had in mind. So I got to work on those ropes. You got ropes on, you got time, you're in a barn with farm tools, you'll get 'em off eventually, even if you hide it with slip knots. So I did. And then one night I heard some guys sneaking in in the dark, and I saw their knife gleaming, so I knew what was up. So I got outta those ropes, cold-cocked 'em, and got my butt outta there. That quiet country life just wasn't for me after all!

"Made it as far as Ester when the big man's long arm got there, and those Falkenrohr boys picked me up just as pretty as you please. Didn't think they worked for him too. But now they've got you guys to take me back for the mob. Or whatever the old man cooks up. For a bag of food and what you might call 'untold wealth.' 'cause they haven't told you how much you're getting. Well, you know your job best I guess."

He lapsed into silence and drank some water -- Udo was sharing the bottle. (He'd use the hygiene spell when it was time for him to drink again.) Their chain-jingling walk went on.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Jade had spotted the pack laid out by the guards and later handed to Udo with a deepening suspicion. It didn't look like the one she'd brought into town, in fact she was reasonable sure it wasn't. However the 'ration pack', as the guard declared it, was still big enough to contain the most valuable items of her merchandise, and the prisoners escort (especially the almost pantomime level of chains for him) could be a cover for them couriering it out of town. Given the captain's conduct thus far, it would hardly be surprising if he declared the halberd and Logan's payment for her work as stolen property, or subject to a larger tax, or another one of a dozen bullshit reasons which boiled down to 'We're keeping your stuff, and you can't make us give it back' after she wasting time hanging around Ester for another day awaiting their decision.

No choice then, she had to make sure her valuables were still there, and if she couldn't get inside the guardhouse, she'd have to stick her neck out and follow the prison escort out of Ester.

Jade stepped from the shadow of the building and made her way to the lock-up as the guards took their place at the door. She put on her best business-like smile and greeted them with a cheeriness which sounded a lot more convincing than it felt.

"Gentlemen! Might I have a word?" She called as she approached. "I understand that your commander is unable to release my belongings just yet, but I was hoping I might check on them? Some of the equipment is delicate, if it's stored improperly it can lead to all kinds of problems, wet powder, rusting barrels... things that could destroy the resale value."

She dropped her voice a level for the last line.

"I'd compensate you for your kindness, of course."
Alberich
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Alberich »

The one on the right felt his pulse surge as the young lady broke into a husky whisper and talked about "compensating" him (he was not a big hit with the ladies, maybe because his face was out of balance, and he totally misread what she meant, because his mind was maybe the same). But his eyes slid over towards his companion and he controlled himself. That companion shook his head. He might be one of the Falkenrohr's worst goof-offs, but he wasn't taking bribes, at least not in the daylight when Hogan might be coming back any minute with the night shift. Who were a much less goofy-offy pair of guards.

"Naw, thanks," he said, "and pleased ta meetcha, but we don't know who y'are and what's whose. What you need to do is go see Tom Odd. He sends us an order to let you in there and look at your stuff, we let you in there to look at your stuff. Ground floor, back room, over at the Flatiron."
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Jack Rothwell »

'Damn it.'

"Thanks for your help."

Jade mentally bookmarked the direction Udo and Angrist had left in as she turned in the direction of the Flatiron.

When she was out of sight, she started to run.
Alberich
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Alberich »

[OOC: Running out of town after Udo and Angrist or running towards the Flatiron?]
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: The Road to Salaband

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC The Flatiron./OOC
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