“My Lords(and Lady), if he harmed an eleven year old, is it not our duty see justice done?”
“Well now that I know what’s going on I’ll provide cover from a rooftop if a fight brakes out.” Naimar said before heading to a building close to the mob.
After climbing on top of the building Nairmar waits with an arrow drawn for anything to happen.
“Yes, won’t somebody think of the children?!” Baldur says in such a way that it’s hard to tell whether he is being serious or not.
Agreed on both points. Mildred, there is unlikely to be many negatives to staying this peasant’s execution, and the guards will no doubt be much appreciative to have the rabble disperse. You’re the only one here with the authority to do this.
How far you want to take this is up to you, though. If you really want to get in good with the crowd, tell them the peasant will get a fair chance to air his grievances and Sir Frederick will be punished if the allegations are true. You don’t actually have to follow through with it if you don’t want to, though, in the long term you’ll probably enrage the peasants further if you don’t, but it all depends on how you want to play it. Besides, depending on your relationship with your sister, it might be good to get some peasants and guards on your side who remember how you cooly diffused a situation that could have led to significant deaths on both sides. But I just throw that out because you did spit at her name when you mentioned she made you marry Ironhall.
Regardless, at the minimum you should stay this execution, because nothing good is going to come out of it if it goes down now. No party is going to win here regardless of outcome.
:Sohan interrupts any discussion, combing her hair while talking:
“OK, so are we doing this thing? Are we approaching them now or discussing it more?”
I think she actually spit at Ironhall’s name.
You’re right. She just referred to her sister bitterly when she fingered Shedlund as being responsible for her marriage.
That’ll teach me to not be lazy and not double-check the thread.
:Sohan is tapping her foot:
“My Lords, are we waiting for something?”"
:Sohan stares at those around her:
“Serfs of Shedlund!” Mildred cries out to the crowd from atop her horse, the rain and the cries of the rabble drowning her out. “Serfs of Shedlund!”
Wilfred comes to her aid. “Peasants! You will go silent when the Lady Primrose is addressing you!” Mention of the family name immediately silences the crowd.
“Serfs of Shedlund,” Mildred continues, “After careful consideration I have decided to grant this man a stay of execution.” The crowd erupts into cheers until quieting when Mildred goes on. “I’m taking him into my custody for transport-” The crowd boos loudly at that. “For transport to Little Shedlund! You may check on his status by sending a representative to the castle in a tenday. This is the best deal you’re going to get. Clear a path for my men and be grateful I’m not ordering the lot of you put down.”
The guards push back the crowd, clearing a path between the party and the stage. Wilfred grabs the prisoner by the neck and shoves him towards the waiting horses. Cutter hefts the still bound and hooded prisoner into a saddle. Wilfred and his six guards back away from the mob and make for their own horses, mounting up and riding north, away from the crowd alongside the party.
“My thanks, m’lady. I didn’t think they’d make such a noise over one man. They’ve been restless lately. Some of them have been complaining about missing livestock.”
“You’ve been too soft on them, Wilfred.”
“Yes, m’lady.”
“These are the Faramonds. They’re escorting me the rest of the way to the castle.”
“What happened to Howard?”
“A misunderstanding.”
Wilfred Delacroix introduces himself to the party. He’s a minor noble in service to the Lady Shedlund. Normally the bailiff would be responsible for disciplining the peasantry but this incident involved an assault on a noble. The rest of the way to Little Shedlund cuts through miles and miles of hilly farmland. The journey will take about two days, with the party likely arriving tomorrow evening.
Cyrus speaks gruffly to Wilfred: “You should have come more prepared to make this arrest. How could you have imagined a public execution would be the right course of action under these circumstances? You created that mob with your incompetence, and if we hadn’t arrived when we did, you would have been torn to pieces.”
“I didn’t find out what had happened until I’d arrived. The only one who has to worry about being torn to pieces now is Davies. I’ll kill that bastard. Had I known what he was sending me into I would’ve taken a damned battalion.”
“Anything on the missing livestock? Not that we have much time to spare for it, I’m thinking, but a cattle thief is no-one’s friend at the best of times, from lord down to churl, and less than ever at this time o’ year.”
“Not that I know of, no. Occasionally we get a peasant who makes the trip to the castle to accuse someone of stealing a horse or practicing magic but lately we’ve been getting a lot of complaints about animals gone missing. Probably just an increase in the local wolf population. It’s been a while since we’ve had a bounty of wolf heads; that’ll likely fix things.”
“We were attacked by wolves in the Greatwood.” Offers Mildred. “Howard suspected they might be mistwolves.”
“M’lady, he must have been mistaken.”
“Mistaken? Why? How can you know that?”
Unless anyone objects, I think the party will depart for Shedlund. With all the NPCs tagging along, I’m glad we brought the extra horses.
“Mist hasn’t been seen in this region for… it must be centuries. Before the founding of the Eastern Provinces. Maybe there are mistwolves where you’re from[sup]1[/sup], but there aren’t any in Pordeaux, I assure you.”
1 - Hammerfall had occasional problems with mistwolves but for the most part they were confined to the eastern wilds, especially north in the Badlands near Hrothgar’s homeland. The further east you go the more you encounter.
Agreed.
“Well something made those bodies deteriorate much faster than would be the norm. I think they were mistwolves.”
All NPCs in the party are currently riding their own horses.
Surely not the man we just saved from execution?
Oops, quite right. Everyone except the newest prisoner is riding their own horse. Including Howard’s corpse!