Hi, It was an action-packed night!
The Seshnelan patrol's moustached lead knight stopped, with suspicion visibly growing. He gave quick orders to his troops and they readied weapons, scanning the swamps. One looked right through Miguel; for a moment it seemed like he'd be spotted. Fraud Shaven, on the other hand, found the silent tension oppressive: the Purple Sonnet's majesty threatened to blossom within his throat. But he marshalled his Ebon Sanctuary training and went into silent meditation, to Boamund's relief. Ahappi, however, was itching for a fight. He whispered to Boamund how you could take them out with some magics and a pitched battle, but this was not very serious talk: you were outnumbered 11-to-4 and they were ready for trouble. Soon enough though, the patrol decided that they'd been thorough enough and, although something might be amiss they needed to head back to Humbertsville before twilight, so they turned back toward the town.
You waited for them to vanish, as fog cascaded over the cliffs by the Fosnoir to the distant north and the afternoon took on a biting chill. Miguel tried to lead you to a different trail through the swamp but Boamund pulled him back as he was about to walk into quicksand. Boamund had a better path and took you that way, avoiding the main trail that would turn into the Humbertsville road. Later that afternoon, a voice called out “Lord Boamund?” from the desolate swamps and it turned out to be six of the scouts that Miguel had trained. They were ready to rejoin their lord's service and pleased to see Miguel alive and well. But they bore plenty of unsettling news:
These scouts had helped many others get out of Aria's Well; Miguel's sister was now OK (in New Arv) but his father… sorry but they are not sure what happened- there was much confusion and panic. Cyroosta was taken captive; she holed up in the manor and some guards fought to protect her but were hacked down. They assume that Aria's Well is now occupied. Happily, they know where the Mraloti are hiding nearby (in swamps near the shore; a few hours distant to the northeast). Oyesteria Major did not seem to go well- they think few Perfecti made it out and most are with the Inquisition, who sought them hungrily. Toadhaven's Baronet seems to be playing along with the Seshnelans but it is not clear how well that goes or for how long. Humbertsville: yes, it's very bad there. Almost no residents left; it's mainly a garrison of troops now. Tough heavy cavalry from Seshnelan army are there, and some footmen that are fairly capable in the swamps. Tumbledown Inn has been taken over by Rokari as an impromptu Zzaburi tower (Miguel found this interesting…).
This news was a reminder that the Seshnelan presence is already strong, and broadly matched what you knew from Jett and Aym Alamyn. One scout, now emerging as the most skilled of them and showing signs of leadership talents (~70% best skills; let's call her Salima), had gone close enough one night to see the remains of Humbertsville from a safe distance and knew these things; it was brave of her to go that far but now they avoided the town and wandered the swamps between here and New Arv, looking to help people in trouble.
The scouts stayed with you as you ventured toward Humbertsville, with the plan to find a place about 1 hour's walk from town and off the main road but where Miguel could rendezvous with the rest of you after he'd done whatever he was setting out to do. He considered taking the scouts but wanted to go alone. Well outside of Humbertsville, you passed many burnt fisherfolk's shacks, perched on charred wooden stilts in the swamps, within sight of the road which ended near here (never having been completed by the ambitious, naive, late Baronet). Anger grew in your seeing this; the Dronari had been slaughtered and pillaged to clear this place so that any person passing through was clearly either Seshnelan ally or foe. Soon you saw another patrol pass along the road; 14 people. The scouts explained that the Seshnelans around here never travelled in small numbers (less than 10 or so); and if a group of dozens was moving it was likely to include Zzaburi support. The night drew near and Miguel was pleased that it was a cold, foggy, dark night to come. As that cover approached with twilight, he parted from you and traced his way through the treacherous swamps, noting your meeting point.
He made it to the perimeter of Humbertsville, eluding a patrol that was wandering outside the walls. Inside the low stone walls there were a few bored guards wandering around close to the edges, but not with high vigilance. Yet he could see dozens of soldiers further inside, lounging by campfires or guarding key buildings such as the ex-Baronet's manor (surely a leading soldiers' barrack now; or a Talar's? Paragon's?) and the towering Inn, which was well lit by torchlights from top to bottom. Miguel climbed atop a peasant's hut, noting that plenty of others had been burned down here and repairs or fortifications were still sparse. He then almost immediately spied his target: a figure in almost glowing white furred robes, tall in stature and stiff in posture, strode out of a top tower doorway and onto a stone patio overlooking the town. He was joined by a few Dronari servants and lower Zzaburi Watchers in simpler attire. As Miguel loaded his bow and took aim, blessing his arrow with Pierce magic, the Reader Cicatrose began to recite the evening prayers in a calm, commanding voice that silenced much of the town's soldiery. The Reader, who even from here struck Miguel with his poise and Rokari holiness (reminding Miguel of those he once respected and feared back home in Tanisor), read from his Grimoire as he faced the Western sky, defying the chilling fog that blew in, carrying the gloom of Dark Season.
And Miguel fired, and his arrow struck true. The Reader collapsed with an arrow between his eyes, and screams and shouts erupted throughout Humbertsville as the Watchers closed in on the body to try to help. But Miguel, seeing that Life still remained there in the Reader, opted not to flee now but to quickly reload and take a second shot. It also struck true, but he didn't wait around to see more than the Life fade from the Zzaburi's body. As he turned, an arrow hit him in his own neck and nearly brought him down but he rolled off the shack's roof and sprinted for the walls. A guard was coming his way and Miguel nimbly dodged aside to avoid engaging him, then with a quick hop Miguel was over the walls and deftly vanished into the swamps, bleeding but thrilled to have done his task… (arrow hits of 02 and 05!!!)
Fate was with Miguel as he manoeuvred into the swamps, hearing pursuers amassing and coordinating a furious chase. But it wasn't long before those sounds and distant figures faded into the night. He'd planned a route through the muddy trails and pools of the Gunge, and he ran it stealthily and vigorously. Finally, hearing hoofbeats approaching as he neared your rendezvous, he marshalled his last energy and agility and sprinted to meet you, gasping but grinning with satisfaction as he found you. You were preparing to leave; indeed the scouts had already fled ahead into the swamps to the northeast; but Ahappi stood up and growled that, while Miguel was now a man and he'd love to hear the tale of whatever he'd done, it was Ahappi's turn to earn his due in blood. There was a mounted knight leading the charge toward you and Ahappi ignored your pleas to come away before it was too late. He shouted a challenge to the knight, marching forward and evoking his grim sorceries. You sighed, seeing two other mounted soldiers coming close behind and plenty more further back, and decided to do the same.
Miguel traded shots with the two guards; his Multimissile buried itself deep in the lead knight's belly while the other two missiles wounded those guards, and their fiery crossbow bolts bounced off Ahappi's magic carapace. The knight slowed his charge as he felt the impaled arrow impeding him, so, as his longsword burst into glorious flames of St Gerlant Flamesword, he swung at Ahappi and missed. Ahappi, however, dealt him a bloody blow across his chin with his harpoon and then a second one that splattered his ginger facial hair with the ruins of his face; the knight died and Ahappi revelled in his victory. Quickly, both Fraud and Boamund unhorsed the young soldiers they faded and, with weapons to their throats (both making Critical rolls!), won their surrender. The two knights were Horali scouts of only 20 years age or so, and utterly terrified as they saw the monstrous visages of Ahappi and Shaven. They were saddened that their honourable commander Sir Mahi had been slain right before them, and soon spoke with anger at noticing Miguel and shouting that he'd killed their healer; a holy man named Reader Cicatrose, who'd saved many lives at the assault on Humbertsville and since. So now you knew what Miguel had done, and that this must be related to his meeting with Aym Alamyn. Ahappi guffawed at Miguel's slide into darkness but Fraud was stern and Boamund focused on the imminent danger of many more coming horsemen. So you plunged the flaming sword of the knight into his body, which quickly set it alight as a “burial”, and shooed the three horses away as you dashed into the swamps. What might have been a dozen mounted Horali were just emerging into view from the distant fog down the road as you did, but they didn't spot you and soon you'd cleverly escaped them.
Once you were safe, rejoining your six scouts, you took gags off the two captive Seshnelans and bound them tightly. They repeated terror that the Krjalki monsters and demons amongst you were going to eat them, much as the “frogge-men” here did, but you assured them that this was not true. Finally, you got some intelligence off of them. They'd been in Humbertsville for 2 days, since the battle that took it over, and had come from Giordane (Duchy of Bellesori) in Seshnela with the main occupying forces, led by a Talari, Baron Raduard (a name new to you), and working with the Inquisition to hunt down heretics and Put Them To The Question. Asking you angrily again why you'd killed a good healer, Boamund retorted “Because he was a heretic” and that silenced them.
Here in Humbertsville, the two scouts admitted to having killed some people and persecuted others as part of their training as soldiers and their mission under Sir Mahi's guidance. They'd been patrolling the swamps to find troublemakers and showed no remorse in needing to put down some World of Losers heretics (you recall that the Dronari of Humbertsville had problems with these; they now were gone). The intelligence you gleaned from them left you unsettled: on one hand these are hated, defiant enemies that deserve to die; on the other hand they are young, not-very-skilled soldiers just doing their caste-based duty. You kept these captives to take back for further questioning with Jett. Ahappi was interested to hear from them that a sailor/Zzaburi war-magician, Captain Bertramn Farsight, whom he'd heard of before, was at Humbertsville as one of the military leaders. They were awaiting a Talari to take residence there soon; Reader Cicatrose and his Zzaburi had been working with various Horali such as Sir Mahi to lead efforts in the meantime.
Next time: you aim to find the Mraloti and return to the camp with Jett, planning your next move (Miguel hopes/expects to find/be found by Aym sometime). The situation with Humbertsville does seem difficult: with an estimated 100 or so combat-capable Seshnelans and mercenaries there, it's not a place that can be dealt with easily, and yet it is a bastion that is the end-link in the supply-chain to St Thosos, here on the frontier between occupying, faithful Rokari and loyal Giraine peoples.
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