"Enough. The lady may not be working with us, but she is a noble and you will hold your tongues and your filthy magics, and refrain from involving yourselves in the affairs of your betters. Interfere again and you may face repercussions.
“Well brother earlier said that she should be tied up and left for the mistwolves, but his temper was dreadfully lost at that point. But in any rate I know he is not at all happy with helping this lady Mildred. Not to mention her appalling lack of charm, more importantly is the fact that wives should not be allowed to leave their husbands on a whim, even if their union is based on a sham. The lady has offended her honor, and it would be just for her to go back to Lord Ironhall. Unfortunately, my brother has the wisdom of an eagle, and he realizes that bringing her back in an act of noblesse oblige would most likely result in ourselves being labelled as kidnappers, and furthermore it would not behoove our station in life to hold her for ransom. Did I get that all correct brother? …Brother?”
Baldur gently takes Týr out of his pocket. He is curled up tight in a ball. His head is down and he appears not to be moving, but his chest can be felt moving up and down on the palm of Baldur’s hand. "Oh for the love of Sif, he’s asleep. "
“I’m sorry to wake you brother, but we still have more to discuss. … Yes, our fight tired me too. I’m dreadfully sorry. Will you forgive me? My desire to see you restored overwhelmed my reason. Ah, if this was back in happier times, we’d settle this with a mock swordfight, of which you would surely win. Although, not all is gloomy, for I must say now you are much easier to beat at tickling!” Before the words are done leaving his lips, he begins to give Týr a vigorous belly rub.
Cutter gives Walter a stony look then nods and flashes a disingenuous grin. “'Course, m’lord.”
Belly-rubbing was followed by ear scritching, which was followed by chin-stroking. Then the squirrel could be constrained no longer and started rapidly running up and down and all around Baldur’s body. He picked up speed until all that could be seen in the dark is a brown whur and flash of tail. “Oh-ho, refuse to give in, do you? Oh, oh, that tickles! OK, OK, stop, truce!”
After a few seconds to recover his breathing, “So, did you hear Henry’s plan earlier? No? Well, it went like this.” Baldur summarizes the plan. “Well, what do you think?” “Mhmmm.” “Mhmm.” “Mhmm…”
This goes on for a little while. About after the time it takes for a cock’s call to fade into the sunrise, Baldur turns to Henry and says, “Well, he still doesn’t like it, but he must confess to not having any better plan. Here Henry, you were always had the more silvery tongue. You try to talk to him briefly.” Baldur holds up Týr roughly a foot away and at eye level in front of Henry.
Not really understanding what this noble-versus-noble squabbling, bickering and infighting is all in aid of or likely to lead to, Hrothgar runs a whetstone over the edge of his axe to rub out any notches or burrs, and sits well away from the fire watching the darkness.
OOC: No. Doesn’t mean you can’t ask him, but there’s no guarantee he’ll tell you.
True, but how long does she think she’ll be safe? Not knowing Ironhall very well, there’s no telling what he would do in recompense for the trick that’s been played on him by the sisters. Since it was Shedlund who was largely responsible for the marriage, Ironhall no doubt knows, or at least strongly suspects, she’s in on it and his wife would run to her. For all we know, he may already be moving against Shedlund and we’re going to have considerable difficulty even getting Mildred to her sister. At the very least, he no doubt has placed eyes an ears in Shedlund’s lands. My question was more of a “How safe is it?” rather than a “Why is it–in theory–safe?”
Howard is apparently in the employ of Shedlund, and was chosen to aid in the extraction of Mildred, so he likely is familiar with Ironhall’s lands. It’s possible he acted as an attache or even ambassador between the two houses. Ironhall might not know him from some random peasant, but even if he doesn’t, it’s much easier to convince someone of your story by bringing some form of evidence than coming in empty handed.
Well, it may do us well to get the opinions of those in the party who know more about the other noble families than we do.
In a louder voice so that all can hear: Walter; Naimur, could you come over here, please. I need your counsel on something.
Upon their arrival, Henry fills them in on all that’s been discussed so far. He asks if their knowledge of nobility gives them any insight into the situation and if they see anything that Henry is overlooking.
Lord Henry, I don’t mean to be presumptuous or out of my place, but if you need any help with any kind of interrogation/questioning, you might find I’m rather useful in that. Not sure what your plan is, but if you need to learn anything from Lady Mildred, I humbly suggest you let me have a shot first. She’s rude, but I did pull the bracer information from her.
:Sohan combs her hair gracefully:
All right, guys. We’ve been treading water for a little while now, let’s try to move things along. Once Naimar or Walter gives a response I’d appreciate making a decision.
“Well Ironhall is wealthier, from the mines on his land. Lord Ironhall is considerably honorable and lawful. Shedlund isn’t as rich but she’s got a lot larger population and greater range of influence and land.”
“I say we go with your plan, Henry and see what happens.”
Cyrus seems anxious. “Henry’s plan involves delivering Mildred to Little Shedlund. We’ll deal with the consequences of killing their soldiers when we get there. Let’s move quickly, as I am sure Lord Ironhall will have sent a party to look for Mildred.”
To Sohanux: “Give the lady a set of clothes to change into. We’ll tear Mildred’s clothing and leave it strewn about. With any luck, Ironhall’s search party will assume she was slain by her captors, and has been carried off and eaten by animals.”
To Henry: “I hope you haven’t bitten off more than you can chew, little cousin.”
“Should I burn the bodies?” Asks Cutter. “Are we taking their gear and horses with us?”
“The fire would attract any search parties in the area.” Warns Choke."
“But just leavin’ all the bodies here; won’ they think it’s strange that out of all these corpses it’s hers that’s missin’?”
“That’s assuming they even find this camp. Whatever we do, we should do it quickly.”
“Leave the bodies. If wolves happen to eat them, so much the better for our plan.”
To Choke: “Take the gear and animals. No reason to waste anything of value, and Ironhall would just assume that whoever killed this group was motivated by robbery.”
Of course. Love to.
:Sohan offers her worst dress to Mildred, smiling the whole time:
To Mildred.
“Take off your dress, give it to me, and wear this one. You’ll love it.”
:Sohan smiles widely:
“There there Týr. No, I don’t really like it either, but it does seem the best of our options. Like you said, if it was the case that we were on better terms with Lord Ironhall… But enough meandering talk. Go back to sleep brother, and in the morning I’ll try to make you a nice breakfast.”
“Righto.”
Mildred is pleased to learn she’s being taken to Little Shedlund. “Finally you see reason.”* She leaves the camp to change into Sohanux’s offered clothing, Sohanux taking her old dress when she returns. Cutter kneels beside the pile of corpses and cuts through one of the body’s flesh with his sword before using it to cut a gash into the dress, leaving it in bloody tatters.
Choke ties the horses together and loads the gathered spoils onto his donkey.*
*The mounted party with its animal train more closely resembles a merchant caravan. With all the camp’s fires extinguished the group begins moving north from the valley, leaving the scene of battle behind them at last. Hours pass as they march through the dark, soon passing through farmland, barren for the winter. Eventually dawn breaks and the Sun begins its lazy ascent through the sky. The storm clouds that had been gathering since the previous afternoon finally begin dropping rain. The rains intensify and decline in cycles throughout the day, finally reaching their peak at around noon.
Shortly after noon, while picking their way through a lightly wooded area, the group hears what sounds like the roar of a crowd carried from the north over the rain. Passing the treeline a pair of squat buildings is visible in the distance. It’s not quite a town, but likely rather a small general store and tavern that services nearby farms. On a muddy cattle trail winding between them is a packed crowd of peasants, perhaps fifty of them, facing a small wooden stage, all of them shouting. Separating them from the stage is a thin line of line of about half a dozen lightly armored men with spears trying desperately to hold the crowd back. Atop the stage is an unarmored man in a fine purple gambeson wielding a long sword, desperately shouting to the audience, and a bound and hooded prisoner kneeling at his side. It’s impossible to make out what anyone’s saying over the rain at this distance.*
Mildred is quick to speak. “Those are Shedlund men, we’re assisting them.”
Cutter cuts in. “By the looks of it things are gonna get ugly fast. We need to keep movin’. We can circle 'round.”
“What?” Mildred shrieks at the mercenary. “They’re just peasants!”
“You,” Cutter turns in his saddle, pointing a fat finger at the Lady, “keep your mouth shut. A pack of dogs can kill a lion, Faramonds. This ain’t our fight.”
“Let’s see what’s going on.”
Cyrus nods. “I agree. This may be the opportunity we need to get in Shedlund’s favor, after killing the last squad.”
To Henry: “It would be a gamble to help these men against the mob. What do you think?”
:Sohan is confused and curious:
“What do you suggest exactly? How do you think we should approach this?”
**Actually, I’m not quite sure I follow. Who are Shedlun, how do they relate to the people we just killed, and what does helping them help us? **
Shedlund is where Mildred’s sister lives. It was Shedlund soldiers attempting to help her escape Ironhall who we just killed. Mildred married Lord Ironhall in an attempt to steal an item of value from him, and left (with the fake kidnapping) when she could not find said item.