Miklos read the sign and raised an eyebrow. “Providence? Am I wrong? Let us see if this…ahh, ‘horse trader’ has to offer. Hopefully useful information about the road ahead. Lets hope she hasn’t suffered at the hands of the clans.”
“Yes, hopefully she is unharmed. But the thought that undisturbed folk in the path of the goblin clans might mean some sort of collusion?” added the cleric darkly.
“Ahh Maruc, you have a suspicious mind.” replied the mage, “The words are also written in elvish, this suggests an educated human or an elf. And with that surname I’d be surprised she’d be a human. Elves don’t collude with goblins, to my certain knowledge and are very good at hiding in woodland.”
“She is advertising.” said Maruc simply, “She lives in a land overridden by goblins trading horses? Assuming you are right, even with all that elven magic, also assuming she could protect all her inbound and outbound trade and her stock all at once. If she is still alive she wouldn’t have a great trade here, would she? I suspect we will find her dead or gone. There would be no reason to stay otherwise. Unless you were trading with the goblins.”
“The raids have only occured recently.” said Miklos patiently. “I’d agree with you if this place was in a goblin heartland. She may well be holed up somewhere secret until she feels it is safe to come out. She wouldn’t have much of a reputation if she traded with goblins for stolen horses now would she? Stop being so negative. And lets see if she’s alive and in need of help.”
Feldard was more akin to Maruc’s thinking… he felt it more than coincidental that the goblins, would make track straight away from the homestead to a horse-trader. This was no raid. This was a business deal.
Yet after a long night of battle, and a longer day of decisions and traveling, the dwarf was for once not keen on another fight with the goblins, but he hefted his axe and kept a sharper watch as he followed the group.
Hasan was intrigued. The name was indeed elvish, but he knew his racial brethren little. While the humans questioned her proprietry, Hasan questioned her flamboyance. He knew outlander elves were more accustomed than he to the hurly burly of relations with humans and beyond, but he couldn’t imagine the kind of elf who would simply hoist a sign on her cottage trail. He led the party down the track, more wary now of the strange elf than of the goblins he had recently hunted.
Stephan had been eyeing the skies through the surrounding trees. “There’s no smoke. No major burning currently aflame. At least.”
He started following the elf. “Hasan,” turning to the others, “and the rest of you, perhaps, one of us, and I think Hasan may be best suited, should not show them self. If the rest of us are in trouble, Hasan could be yet free to act.”
The group continued down the trail. “If the gobs be there, they are dead.” Stephan spoke with a smoldering rage. “The horses, or proceeds from them, go back to Pyotr.”
Through the trees, the group saw the camp of the horse trader. It consisted of three old, broken-down covered wagons and a rough corral. There were 32 horses in the corral, included the 24 white riding horses that were unmistakably those belonging to the Sukiskyn clan. Four rough-looking men in leather armor could be seen in the vicinity of the camp.
Spotting the group approaching, one of them whistled and a tall female elf emerged from one of the wagons. She wore a blue robe over chain mail. All of the group were armed with swords and Fyodoryll was additionally equipped with a longbow. She eyed the approaching strangers, and, while speaking softly, made a few subtle gestures. Miklos, and Hasan from his hiding spot, could tell that she had cast some sort of spell, but it had no visible effect.
6 Comments
June 13, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I assume Hasan would follow Stephan’s suggestion. But, I’ll leave it up to you guys to determine the details in your next post.
Maruc: 10xp+10xp
Miklos: 10xp+10xp
Feldard: 10xp+10xp
Hasan: 10xp+10xp
Stephan: 10xp+5xp+10xp
TOTAL:
Maruc: 18,275/24000
Miklos: 18,350/20000
Feldard: 18,355/34000
Hasan: 17,445/32000
Stephan: 17,265/32000
June 13, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Stephan mutters to his friends as they cautiously approached.
“Methinks something foul here. If this one deals with gobs, her profits are forfeit.”
His hand was instinctively on the hilt of his scabbarded sword. Keeping an eye on the ruffians, Stephan looked over the three wagons wondering if more were concealed in them. He hoped Hasan was at a good vantage for all this.
“Good day…Fyodoryll, it is? How is business?”
Stephan started off with some banal talk to assess whether the elf bode evil or no.
[I'm not going to fill in Fyodoryll's words right now...]
“Have you been in these parts long?” The wagon’s and rough corral had clearly not been there long. Stephan wondered if this elf was profiting from goblin raids. The strategy was simple: provide a mobile market for the goblins to make quick sales of loot. Just follow the clans around on raids and make a tidy profit without having to dirty ones hands. She’d have to pack some formidable defences, however. It wouldn’t be long before the goblins figured out that this elf must have an ample supply of silver and gold.
“And have you heard of any troubles? Or had any?”
“Those are some beauty horses,” Stephan said, nodding to the corral. “They look a bit wet. Have they been run recently?”
[I want to add more but will hold off for now...]
June 14, 2009 at 7:41 am
Feldard eyed up the 4 men while Stephan talked to the elven horsetrader. Didn’t matter what the female said, Feldard didn’t trust her or her men. Anyone in business with goblins couldn’t be trusted.
The dwarf remained in his position at the back of the party where he could keep an eye on each of the 4 men. If there were more, he couldn’t tell so didn’t concern himself with them, that was Hasan’s job.
June 14, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Miklos eye’d the elf with a mixture of concern and doubt. Elves in general were not selfish or driven to shady deals by trade. He had no doubt she felt the party was a threat and if she had been a horse trader for a while she would have traded with the Sukiskyn clan. She may well recognise that Stephan was of their kin and be tempted to some rash pre emptive action. Especially if he pressed her early in the conversation.
The spell casting was another concern. It could be anything, illusion, divination… charm? It was pointless guessing, but it showed she was used to dealing with potential enemies. She obviously felt that we, being strangers were such. He could hardly blame her. If she had dealt with the goblins then they would have told them some details about the raid. Maybe even our descriptions. She has four mercinaries but what she was doing now is gauging us as opponents. If she had any hint of our reputation she would do well to give up the horses, but it all depended on her skills and arrogance. Sadly, elves are known for their arrogance …and their skills.
Miklos looked like a mage. Not the ‘covered in stars and moons’ mage but the travelled introspective mage. He pointedly made no offensive spell casting gesture in response to her fumblings. But he did allow Denetiata’s wand to cross from one palm to the other in such a way that a keenly observant individual might notice it.
Subtle. But it would serve as a sufficient warning.
Being well versed in casting his sleep incantation at short notice in stressful situations Miklos stood ready to take down all five of them. With a word.
June 14, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Maruc was relaxed. Horses were horses, he had no idea if white was a common colour for horses out here. In his experience of elves so far, they were friendly so he was surprised at Stephan’s somewhat anagonistic approach. But then again perhaps this was how horse traders dealt with each other. Life in a cloister had shielded him from all this comercialism. He watched with open interest as the conversation progressed, his hand slowly resting on the hoop of his flail when he read the faces of the warriors as Stephan continued.
June 15, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Hasan cast the little cantrip he learned long ago, ventriloquism, then circled to the left on the outskirts of the clearing, his subtle movements as innoculous as the waving forest ferns. The humans would never see him, but he could not be sure his skill would defeat the elf’s greater sight.