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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 7494267" data-attributes="member: 1210">In the Tower of Deryndradin- Karlinden's master- our heroes talk over the situation with the Double Javelins. The Double Javelins are a so-called free company- a group of mercenaries, bandits, and thugs who have banded together, offering to employ their skills for coin. They have developed a specialization involving launching volleys of javelins, with each soldier hurling one while holding a second in his or her other hand, then swiftly transfering it to hurl a second volley almost immediately after the first. It's an effective and terrifying tactic, and one that both Shar and Kane are familiar with, for they both ran with the Double Javelins before starting to adventure with the party. Of course, there isn't much of anyone left to hire the free company any more. Since the fall of civilization, there have been small battles of a few dozen or hundred people against orcs or goblins, but no wars. After all, who would one make war on? Looking at a map of the area, Karlinden thrusts a finger down, indicating the largest community in the area. “Goldwash is the real prize.” He looks up at Shar and Kane for confirmation. “It's the richest place in the area. It's where the gold is. Do they have the numbers to take it?”Kane gives a feral grin. “There are, what, maybe two thousand people in Goldwash? So make that, at most, a couple of hundred amateur fighters... They don't stand a chance.”Shar says, “According to those goblins in the brambles, the javelinsare going to move on Woodcut first. I assume that's to give themselves a good staging ground. If they can do that, they gain supplies, as well as a defensible place that they can rest at, just a quick jog away from their real target.”Bradford speaks up. “We need to start training as many defenders as we can.”“There's no reason we, as governors, can't form a bigger militia,” Shifty declares. “Let's do it.”“Those goblins said that the Double Javelins already have people here, watching,” Alkor reminds them. “We should try to track them down.”“And take them out,” Bradford says. “Hold on,” Karlinden protests. “If we take them out, then the rest of the Double Javelins will know we're on to them. Is that what we want? Or do we want to try to surprise them?”“It's going to be hard both recruiting and training people and keeping it secret,” Shifty points out. “And if we eliminate some of them now, there are less to deal with in the future,” agrees Shar. “But we can at least try to find out more about their plans first. Both Kane and I might even know the guys who are here.” “Best I talk to them alone,” growls Kane. “They might have heard you're one of the powers that be now.”***Sepia and Shifty put their figurative ears to the ground. It doesn't take them long to track the Double Javelins down. Naturally, they're in the hardest tavern in town- the Silver Fish. Alkor, Bradford, and Ozzra position themselves outside, out of sight but where they can see the doors that lead in and out of the place. Kane enters the tavern, sniffing at the smell of pipe smoke, fish stew, and beer within. He stalks over to the bar and orders a beer before glancing around. At a table in the room's darkest corner, he recognizes most of the people playing dice. They are his old compatriots. He pushes himself from the bar and makes his way to the table, pulling up a stool. “Kane!” says a man whose face, but not name, he knows. “It's been a while!”“Aye,” Kane answers.“Where've you been?”“Hunting treasure.” That gets the rest of the table's attention. “You have any luck?”“Some.” He curls his upper lip. “I'm sure I've had enough luck to join your game.” He draws a gold piece from his pouch and tosses it into the center of the table. “Be welcome,” grins the other. For a few minutes Kane gambles carelessly, letting the others win a few gold pieces to put them at ease. He listens carefully, as does a cloaked and hooded Sepia, each of them picking up a few pieces of information: the numbers of the Double Javelins, when they will attack Woodcut (soon, soon), what allies they have (a few ogres)... where they are encamped (near the damned Black Brambles still and again!). The two of them also learn something else: the identity of the leader of the Double Javelins. Thannox, Kane thinks grimly. Of course it's Thannox.After about an hour, Kane finishes his final beer and excuses himself. He exits the Silver Fish and rendezvous with his friends. After he reports what he learned, Alkor says, “All right. We let them leave, then ambush them. Let one escape, then track him to the rest.”But their plan goes awry. When they engage the Double Javelins, none retreat; all fight to the death. Between Alkor's feathered shafts and the mighty thews of Kane, that doesn't take long.  “Well, we still learned a lot,” Shar sighs.Orzza rubs his chin. “Tell us about this Thannox guy.”“He's bad news,” Kane replies. “He's as tough as any of the Double Javelins.” “He's not one to fool around with,” Shar agrees. “He's got a sharp mind for military matters. And he's got a streak of cruelty that runs pretty wide and deep. So we definitely don't want him in charge of things around here.”“Hey, we're in charge of things around here,” Shifty declares. ***Over the next week, the party starts recruiting volunteers. Soon they've gotten 25 citizens from Overland and a dozen dwarves, gotten them some degree or arms and armor, and begun training them to fight. Reports begin to come in of an ogre lurking around the outskirts of Woodcut. Clearly, the Double Javelins are getting ready to make their move. Just as clearly, our heroes need to move fast to intercept them and prevent them from gaining a foothold. “Our guys aren't ready yet,” Shifty complains. “They need weeks or months of training before they're really ready for a fight. Not to mention how few of us there are compared to the javelins.”“We can't just do nothing,” Shar counters. “We're the governors now. We're responsible for this area, husband. ” “Gods damn it!” Shifty swears, running his hands through his combover. One of the recruits, a woman as wiry and tough as a strip of jerky, shows both more natural talent for battle and more charisma than the others, and our heroes grant her the rank of Corporal. Once they are sure that she can handle running the basic training programs for the rest, they leave her in charge and strike out toward Woodcut. ***A day up the creek toward Woodcut, our heroes meet up with a man named Whiz who is driving a hay wagon. He is also going toward Woodcut. Bradford suggests that they ride under the hay to hide their presence as they approach the little village. Whiz is happy to help, especially after Orzza slips him a handful of gold coins. Whiz' eyes fairly bulge from their sockets; he's never received so much money at once in his life. Ah, adventurers. Unseen, the party reaches Woodcut. Unseen within a barn, they emerge from the hay. Unnoticed, Sepia, Shifty, and Alkor slip out into the dusk and begin to search around, while the others prepare for battle and wrap themselves in dark cloaks or rub soot on their faces to aid their attempts and stealth. Soon Alkor espies one farm house whose fields look as though they've not been tended in a couple of weeks, yet one that is lit up from within. Scanning the ground near it for tracks, he finds signs of the ogre. This is it, he thinks with satisfaction. The scouts return to the barn where the others await. Soon, the entire party moves as stealthily as possible back to the suspect farm house. Sepia sneaks forward and manages to peek inside, then returns to report, “I saw the ogre and three javelineers. There could be more deeper inside, though.”“They haven't taken the village yet,” Karl states. “This is probably as good of an opportunity to take the ogre out of the picture as we're going to get.” “We could light the house on fire,” Orzza suggests eagerly. “There might still be a farmer around that owns this place,” Shar objects. “Bah,” says Kane. “I'll show you how we do this.” He draws his sword and marches up to the door of the house. “That's one approach,” admits Karl, “although perhaps not the one I would have elected.”Kane tries to open the door, but it's locked, so he pounds his fist on it instead. “Hey!” he calls. “Come out here!” The door doesn't open at his call, so with a snarl, he throws his shoulder into it, smashing it open.A surpised-lookikng Double Javelin stands just about two feet from him, frozen in mid-reach for the door. Before he can move, magic missiles shoot into him from Karl, and Shifty hurls a dagger into him, as well. The ogre roars and shoulders past the wounded man, pushing Kane back as it barrels through the door. But that only opens it to the rest of the party, and it gives a squeal of pain as Sepia's whip cracks across its face. Tough and strong as it is, the ogre can't withstand the focused attacks of the whole party. It swings its club in a great arc, clipping Bradford across the shoulder, and delivers a pair of terrific blows to Kane and Orzza; but between the steady increase in the number of arrows sticking in its body, the deadly precision of Sepia and Shifty,  and the enraged strength of Kane, the ogre is soon defeated. Meanwhile, Karl and Shar have used their spells and prayers to finish the three Double Javelins in the house. “Quick and deadly,” Alkor says, plucking arrows from the corpse and discarding those no longer suitable for use. ***The party finds the corpses of the farming family and buries them, Shar performing the appropriate rituals. “I guess we could have burned the place after all,” says Orzza.Shar still demurs. “The town can use these fields, harvest those fields, put someone else in the house... We didn't need to burn it down.”“Still!” he says.***Back to Overland. The party knows that they need to be ready to defend it alongside their soldiers. Otherwise, the untrained, unblooded, inexperienced defenders that they're trying to form into a militia will simply break and run at the first sniff of misfortune. So they turn around and march back downstream. They are both surprised and gratified to find that, upon their return, they are intercepted by their own soldiers. On the other hand, the news isn't good. “There's a group of Double Javelins not far from town,” Corporal Coral reports. “A large group. I think their main force. They just arrived yesterday.” She pauses, then admits, “I'm really glad you made it back when you did.”“So much for Woodcut first,” grumbles Sepia. “Maybe they figured out we were on to them,” Karl says.Shiftly rubs at his chin. “Whatever the case, we need to figure out what to do about them.”“We're not ready to take them on, my lord. Especially not when they outnumber us.”“You may have to.” “Husband,” Shar says, “I think you may need to make a speech.”***While Shifty shores up the morale of the troops, Kane and Shar discuss the situation. As the two members of the group most familiar with the Double Javelins, it falls on them to tailor a strategy to oppose them. For several hours they turn various options over. If there were more time, they could build defenses- dig a ditch, force the javelins to fight their way up a berm, construct a wall around the town, something. If there were time, but there isn't. If they had more troops, they could try a frontal assault while the party itself struck for Thannox. But they don't have more troops. Still-“Cut off the head,” says Shar, “and the whole problem goes away.”“Thannox.” Kane cracks a knuckle, then another and another. “Thannox,” Shar agrees. “If we can kill him-”“The whole problem goes away,” Kane nods.“So how do we get him away from the rest of them?”A sly grin begins to spread across Kane's face. ***Just outside of Overland, the Double Javelins strut like cocks crowing at the morning, laughing, drinking, eating, showing no fear. They sometimes form up as if for battle, march a few hundred yards, then break apart laughing and singing, all under the watchful eyes of the scouts who are keeping track of them. They seem to be mocking the town, as if they were saying, You belong to us as soon as we want to take you, and there's nothing you can do about it. Just wait. At out leisure, we're going to take you. Already, the javelins have impacted the amount of game available for the town. Already, they have stolen fruit from the town's trees, vegetables from the fields, grain from the mill. They are already acting like they own the place, their hunting parties roaming at will, their foragers dancing just out of reach of the town's meager defense force. Always a little closer, though- every day, infringing a little deeper toward the town's core. “And that's the key,” Kane says with a feral grin. “I know just what to do.”Next Time: The return of Dolorous Pete!</blockquote>

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