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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rhael" data-source="post: 479467" data-attributes="member: 5269">Player's Perspective (015)Birth of The HammersThe next evening we told the government officer of our decision and he directed us to the Registrations Office in the government quarter the next morning to pay our registration fee and sign in.I’ll admit that when I went to bed that evening the idea wearied my slightly, I thought it to be needless bureaucracy and a government-based money making exercise to get funds out of adventurers who otherwise might just leave town.  The next morning I thought about it – I was going to be a registered captain of a mercenary company in the Dallarn Freeholds, albeit a small one.  It was not an exclusive club, but it was a position that should be taken seriously and I planned to do just that.Mareth and I headed off, to sign the requisite papers as early as we could the next morning.  The registration process was relatively painless (aside from handing over two thousand gold pieces) – all my companions names had to be recorded on the register and Mareth and I were required to take an oath of sorts.  I was informed in no uncertain terms that, as captain, I was responsible for my ‘men’ and their behaviour and was required to remember that I represented the Freeholds when I presented myself and my company.  We were we could return in two days when we could collect our flag and symbol.The clerk went on to explain what being registered as a mercenary company actually meant – the summary being that we were now eligible to take out crown contracts and earn commendations for our actions, which would be displayed on our standard.  Since it came up, we asked if there were any contracts going that could be handled by a company of seven.  The clerk shuffled through some papers and came up with some patrols that sounded fairly boring before pulling out a set of papers describing a police action – I was initially disinterested, but at one point he mentioned the word ‘Orcs’ and my interest was awakened.  When asked to explain more fully, the clerk explained that there had been some unconfirmed reports of orcs terrorising some villages to the south-east of Taureth and that they wanted someone to investigate and possibly remove the threat.  The job paid two thousand gold and had to be completed in the shortest time possible – a fortnight was the maximum.  No further information was forthcoming until after the job was accepted.We thought about if for a few minutes, and discussed whether any of the other guys would have any objections to it.  Terjon would jump a the chance to protect villagers, Warramayl would look forward to the fighting, Hejkan and Taklinn would never take a backward step from the possibility of killing some orcs and Shadow would be thinking about loot.  Coming up with no objections, we accepted the contract.We were told to report to a Lord Thomast at his keep to the south-east, just to the west of the villages at which the disturbance was reported.“Remember, Master Everard,”  The clerk cautioned as we left, “you are representing Taureth and the Freeholds now.”I nodded once in acknowledgement and Mareth and I left the building to return to the Drum and Sword.“Sounds good, Rhael.”  Hejkan gave me a hearty slap on the back, when I told them of our plan.  “Kord will be pleased that I may show strength in his name destroying orcs.”“If they’ve been looting, they could have all sorts of fat loot!”  Shadow was probably the most excited of the lot of us, but for different reasons.The reactions were as we expected and we quickly packed the necessary gear, retrieved our horses from the stables and set off toward Lord Thomast’s keep.On the way we had a discussion about leadership in combat.  The guys were thinking that since I was the named leader of our troop, perhaps I should be the battlefield leader also.  I didn’t have a problem with this, as most of our fights had become almost uniformly disorganised and we did need some leadership in combat.  We resolved that they would listen to me when in combat and we would try to stick together as much as possible.Gotta love the aristocracy.I find it difficult to describe Lord Thomast’s demeanour, suffice to say, he gave me a bad feeling about this task.  He was notably guarded, rude and definitely unhappy at our interference in this matter – even though his own forces – numbering eighty or so soldiers, as far as we could tell – did not appear to be involved in stopping the orcs.  Of course Shadow couldn’t hold his tongue during the discussions and I feared severe repercussions if a report of misconduct was brought against our company before we had completed even a single mission.  Lord Thomast was justifiably furious at whatever he thought Shadow said, even if it did act to solidify by opinion that he was a fat, useless blowhard.His evasive answers to our queries about what he was doing about the orcish incursions made me believe something was ‘up’, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.I attempted to remain polite and apologised profusely for my men, before informing Lord Thomast – who seemed disinterested to the extreme – of our intentions to investigate and report back when the situation was found to be not as reported or when it was dealt with.  “Yes.  Yes.  Whatever.”  Was his reply.“Protection racket!”  Shadow stated defiantly when we were out of earshot of Lord Thomast’s guards and back on the road.“I agree, Rhael.”  Hejkan echoed Shadow’s sentiments.“Maybe.”  I responded, thoughtfully.  “Maybe that is the case, but it doesn’t really make much difference, does it?  I admit, I found Lord Thomast to be a fairly disagreeable man, and he is definitely up to something –““Of course he’s up to something!” Shadow seemed exasperated. “ – but there’s very little we can do about it right now.”  I finished, looking at Shadow.  “Let’s just conduct this investigation and see what we find.”“Yeah, alright.”  The rogue appeared as if he was going sulk right up to the point where he shoved his sword through Lord Thomast’s neck.  He perked up somewhat when we were heading in the direction of several villages which were the subject of the investigation.The first village we came to was a burnt out ruin with no-one in sight.  I found tracks leading everywhere, including some that resembled that of a giant lizard, but most were just of booted feet.  There were too many to tell anything meaningful, but even a child could tell that this village was attacked and torched.  I guessed that this could have been up to two weeks ago.  There didn’t seem to be any bodies, but I guessed any survivors would have returned and buried their dead before departing, probably for Taureth.The next village was the same.  This was quite upsetting, as I felt like we had failed before we had begun.  Obviously the news of this destruction had not reached the ears of officialdom in Taureth soon enough, and I couldn’t help but think that any local lord worth his salt would probably want to prevent the villages near him from being burned to the ground.  All was not as it appeared.It being very late in the day, we decided to find a place to set camp.  We headed north-east from the second blackened village into a forested area that was nearby – thinking that it would provide good cover during the night.  Once in the forest, we came across a path hewn into the forest, leading away from the road.  I was becoming more and more angry at the situation – not only were villagers being killed and their homes burnt, but the forest was being destroyed by these orcs.  And Lord Thomast appeared to be doing nothing to prevent it.There were footprints everywhere, ranging from small to large and including some of those lizard-like prints we found at the village.  The path ended at what appeared to be an abandoned campsite for a large group and did not appear to have been used in at least a fortnight.We moved a little further down the road and into the forest on the other side of the road to set up our own camp.  We set a staggered, two-man watch and bedded down for the night.The night passed uneventfully and we woke to a clear, but crisp morning.  We knew that the next village was to the south and we headed in that direction.  When we emerged from the southern edge of the forest, we saw something that made my heart sink even further.  A plume of black smoke rising from a point to the south – probably five hours ride away.  “Let’s go.”  I pointed to the smoke.  No further words were necessary.Unfortunately, after the half-day of riding, we were greeted with a similar vision to the last two villages – except this site was far more recently ruined.  Smoke still rose from the debris that once were houses and there some fires still clung to the wooden beams.  The lack of wind during the day meant that a smoky pall hung over the village, obscuring vision and making it difficult to see anything approaching – that made me nervous.“There you are.”  I head Shadow say quietly, and probably to himself.  I turned and saw him draw his bow, aiming at something he’d spotted through the smoke.“Shadow!  Wait!”  But I was too late, he had already loosed his arrow before I called his name.“Yeah!”  He exclaimed – obviously celebrating another true shot.“What was that?”  Mareth asked.“An Orc.”  The rogue replied.  “Probably.”“Probably?!”  Mareth started off in the direction Shadow had fired and drew his rapier.  “You should try to verify your targets!”  We all drew our weapons and Shadow nocked another arrow as we advanced.I have to give him credit for spotting the target, and for the shot, but not for the target.  We emerged from the smoke to find a man crouched over another man with tears in his eyes.“Damnit!”  I muttered under my breath.The man stood defensively as soon as he saw us and looked ready to flee.“Our apologies, good sir.” Mareth said quickly.  “My companion here mistook you for an orc.”  He motioned at Shadow who tried his best to look chastened.“I am – um – skilled with herbs.”  Hejkan said to the man as he stepped forward.  “Perhaps I can help him.”I was impressed with the barbarian – he knew that actual healing magic would probably scare the hell out of this simple man and made quite a show of mashing up some herbs he had in his pouch and placing them in the stricken man’s mouth while saying his prayers to Kord.The other man looked a little concerned at the magic-sounding words, but Mareth stepped forward to reassure him that the words were merely incidental to the herbs and were more of a concentration measure than anything else.  Good old, quick-thinking Mareth.Fortunately, the man had not been killed by Shadow’s arrow and soon after Hejkan had applied his healing magic he was sitting up, groggy but alive.The other man seemed to forget that we had just almost killed his friend and started blubbering.  Once he calmed down I thought we might be able to get some information out of him.When asked what happened here, he spoke of a mist seeming to rise from the ground itself an hour or two after the sun had set  Then some tall beast-men riding demon-steeds with flashing teeth rode forth slaughtering and devouring all in their path.  More of the beast-men came on foot and some other smaller ones too.  They were ferocious and the two men claimed they were very lucky to have escaped by hiding in a copse of trees near the village while trying to ignore the screams of the dying.  Since the attackers left, the two had been burying the dead, intending to head to Taureth when they were done.After attempting to extract as much descriptive information from the pair as possible, and realising that it would not be forthcoming, we assisted them to complete their task and then took our leave.There was one village left in the area, as far as we were aware and I fervently hoped that we would reach it before it was attacked.  It was already late in the day when we left but we made it to the forest to the east, on the other side of which was the last village, and found a decent campsite – a clearing within the forest - before it became too dark to continue travelling.We set our watch and went to sleep.</blockquote>

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