Teaser Episode Ten: The Devil You Know...

Season One, Episode 10: The Devil You Know...

Wherein our heroes find themselves in the smoldering, besieged town of Manc.  Will they find the persons and answers they seek, what terrible dangers wait for them in the burning rubble of Manc?  What fresh betrayals will they uncover?

 Opening Credits: Sunn O))) & Boris "Etna" from Altar

Summary - Episode Nine: “ Smoke and Siege”

Season One, Episode Nine: Smoke and Siege

Wherein our heroes arrived at the Ashen Kingdom town of Manc and found it besieged by the XXIII Legion.  After entering the military camp in the guise of ale sellers, the company engaged in some   reconnaissance and discovered that they were the subject of some intense interest.  The interested party turned out to be a teenage boy, Gerrard Lackland, who knows Duchess Karin Locklight and has sought out Sir Henry Fullspring, seeking to become his squire.  Norah then encountered Lt. Aiden Caskwell, an old childhood friend who invited her to dinner.  Accepting the offer, Norah, as well as Mercutio, Hardwick and Sorina, who accompanied her, found themselves knocked unconscious by poison as part of a Frumentarii plot.  Luckily, Gerrard knew where they were being taken and led Hinrik and Trent there to break the others out of prison.   Gerrard arrived in the knick of time and soon the company was fleeing through the darkness.  Once they were sure of their escape, Hardwick called upon the Night Hunter's Art, howled to the sky and discovered a sewer tunnel the company could crawl through to gain entry into Manc while avoiding the besieging soldiers and zombies.  Once in the city, the company fought off a pack of giant rats and then barely avoided being swept into a pool of sewage by a flood of smaller rats before they climbed, filthy but mostly unhurt, into the smoldering city above.

Closing Credits: Wire "Time Lock Fog" from Change Becomes Us

Episode 1.08 - Character Journal - Hinrik

Jarl,

I've recently gotten information from a our common acquaintance in the desert that your nephew has aligning himself with the dastardly Oswald Locklight in ways that may prove detrimental to you.  Keep your eyes wide and let me know if you believe our interests in the matter align.

Hinrik

Episode 1.08 - Character Journal - Hardwick

So, today, I learned how to stay quiet...and I hated every moment of it.

After leaving the big city we set off on "official business" under the guise of bringing libations to the army stationed around the city. On the way, we were to stop by a cache of weapons and supplies left for the resistance.

We were being careful as we approached the spot we thought the supplies were hidden. We spotted three men digging in the general area, obviously searching for something. The first was a mountain of a man. Over 9 feet tall. The second, as normal as can be described. The last, was a short man. He was doing most of the talking.

I stayed and watched while the others decided what to do with them. They decided to talk with them to try and find out who told them about the cache. I hung back in case a fight broke out. I targeted the big guy first.

As the others brought them back to camp, I stayed back in the woods... silently waiting. That was the roughest time of my life. I had to be so quiet... how do those hunters do it?? Next time I'm just staying with the group or shooting the big guy in the head as a precaution. It wold be better than being quiet.

By the way, they were apparently on our side the whole time... figures.

Episode 1.08 - Character Journal - Corrie

Caro Diario,

Thankfully we keep South and are heading towards a true and just endeavor there. Or so I dare hope. Who knows what folly may come of it with this mercurial crew. Who are these comrades? Though we live together bosom close and spend months of hard travel, I seem to know them not.

Praise all the Heavens that this encounter with the Diggers was a mild one. I fear I am the only one in this company worried about how we get in the besieged city. How formidable are the defenses? How to avoid the red heart patrols? Should we attempt disguise? Och! And then once in, how do we get out? This merchant plan can only take us in so far, unless the watch of these dark Legions falls far short of its repute.

And this is just our most pressing task. The secrets and rumors we've heard, especially of my late kin (Deities protect their souls) are maddening me when I try to rest. And yet to fly off and investigate will not revive them. If this latest whisper is true, the architect of their woe is long dead. Should I just let this lie and feed my heart with the honey of forgiveness rather than bitter vengeance's gall? How can I do this and stay steady when I am in the land of sorrow and want? But that's just the most dear and personal of these rumors. If the foretelling of war and treachery is true then our work is monumentally hard.

Heavenly Host, every day I need your help and wisdom more. May you protect and guide this Company towards the right action. Leaven us with mercy and sagacity. Protect us from hubris, folly and malice. And send down sorely needed luck and Providence for the tortured souls of this mean and pitiless land.

Corrie

Teaser Episode Nine: Smoke and Siege

Season One, Episode 9: Smoke and Siege

Wherein our heroes arrive at the besieged town of Manc and attempt to locate the members of the Everburning Cinder they have come to find. Will they attempt to break the siege, to sneak in? Which of their past (mis)deeds might come back to haunt them?  Only time shall tell...

Opening Credits: Earth "A Plague of Angels" from Hibernaculum

Summary - Episode Eight: “Down the Perimeter / Ringing the Bell…”

Season One, Episode 8: "Down the Perimeter / Ringing the Bell..."

Wherein our heroes found themselves sidetracked, tracking down a cache of goods and treasure that Earl Oswald Locklight provided to the Zwaardgeesten.  They obtained great quantities of Ale and planned to provide said ale to the legion laying siege to Manc in order to sow drunkeness among the besiegers  Upon reaching the forest where the cache was supposed to be, our heroes found it had taken on a sinister quality and soon encountered Ealisaid, daughter of the Elf Bearach, who told Hinrik the following:

Simon Neville intends to have the Wizard Zordan Capodevin scry out the identity of the “Patriot” who is blackmailing him.
Simon’s wealth comes from the Deerhurst Wool, that his father, Albion, obtained the rights to sell.  Albion Neville accomplished this by arranging for the dishonor of the Glendower family who originally held Deerhurst county and then persuading the Bosworths to transfer the rights to the Nevilles.

Tryggvi has been unifying the Mountain tribes in order to raid the Free Valleys when war comes, which he thinks will be soon.

Olaf Stangbern has been in the pay of Oswald Locklight and was promised Oswald’s support when he murders his uncle Trggvi.  Oswald told Olaf that he could take the Mountain tribes south and take the mountains in the Ashen Kingdom.
The Ruby of Elagablus is in the possession of Varius, who leads the Zwardgeesten.  Commander Lucian Skaros also seeks the Ruby, which is why he has come to oversee the Seige of Manc personally.
That she recognized the sword Hinrik bore as the sword given by her father to Gerard, the hero, after he made a deal with Bearach to "live forever".  Gerard took the sword and left the Wyrd Desert instead of taking Ealisaid's hand and living forever in the forest as her husband.

Having completed the first part of her dread father's bargain with Hinrik, Ealisaid disappeared.

The company then came across two strange individuals, one a veritable mountain of a man, the other small, pale and sickly, who were digging and searching in the very creek-bed that our heroes had been told the cache was to have been found.  Their search having been less than fruitful, these two unlikely looking companions were surprised by our heroes and then variously questioned, suspected, bribed, threatened, given hospitality, interrogated and so forth on the subject of the cache and their allegiance  all the while the company gave very little information about their own intents and purposes.  Our heroes learned that the companions found out about the cache from a man talking out of his mouth at a nearby inn, the Roasted Rooster.  Pushing further, our heroes discovered that neither man wished to yield up any more information until they cracked and the smaller man, referred to as "Alby" by his companion, told our heroes that "The fire was coming that would burn and cleanse".  Shortly thereafter Alby and his large companion were permitted to leave, vanishing into the dark night, unafraid, while our heroes made camp and prepared to journey on in the morning, towards their true destination...

Closing Credits: Current 93 "Twilight Twilight Nihil Nihil" from All the Pretty Little Horses (The Inmost Light)