>>29317819

'And what, Ephidel?' Stella crosses her arms, frowning. 'Are you going to talk to them and tell them to maybe be charitable and give us some rice? We're no longer under the King's Law, such as such a law ever was. Look, if you're not going to go ahead with the kidnap plan, I'm going to raid those grain caravans because I see them being loaded up. You can do something else that's peaceful if you want.'

'I hate to say this, boss, but I'm with the lady on this one,' Sarius says. 'Our winter grain is going to be pretty important...'

But a raid on the grain caravans would be even more dangerous. To be honest, you aren't sure what exactly you're trying to preserve at all. The lives of Stella, Orvo and the rest - that is your first priority, isn't it? But there doesn't seem to be a course that is without risk...

> Authorise Stella's raid on the grain caravans. (What do you do?)
> Go ahead with the blackmail, bring the entire tribe to the meeting/ambush spot.
> Only bring the men. Send the women up to Tiger Rock first.
> Other.

>>29317830

> Only bring the men. Send the women up to Tiger Rock first.

Tell them to help the men under those soldiers, and to keep their heads down.

We bring all our weapons and be ready.

>>29317830
> Authorise Stella's raid on the grain caravans.
> All capable soldiers join in, we raid and hole up in Tiger Rock with all the food and loot

No point in being subtle or nice at this point.

>>29318026

Why are we putting people at risk when we can get the grain by being subtle? That's just idiotic.

Blackmail costs nothing. A raid can cost many lives.

We go with blackmail.

>>29318060
And back to the namecalling...

Because we have a horde of rapists within a day's walk breathing down our necks? If we take our supplies now, we can hole up in an easily defendable position and outlast them for the winter.

>>29318083

Or, we could lose half our men raiding a caravan that's bound to be heavily guarded, because no noble likes losing his taxes to a bunch of yokels with weapons. In fact we will probably lose those men. Then we cannot defend ourselves, and everyone gets raped to death.

>>29318100
>>29318060
>>29318026
>>29317859

'So?' Stella says, and you snap and get to your feet.

'If you wish to consult with me and give advice, woman, then consult and advise. If you are going to give orders as if you are the chief around here, then I recommend you fuck off alone and try to raid that grain caravan.'

'Wha-'

'Do you think I don't care about your safety? Or that of all of you?' You raise your voice, the red mist descending across your vision - anger, but also frustration and not a little fear. 'We are caught between starvation and raids and the laws, do you think I'm not aware of that? Why don't I just decide to pick up sticks and go raid a fucking village? Why don't we raid the fucking Barony while we're at it? They've got gold and grain in large amounts, haven't they?'

The group, surprised by your outburst, falls silent as you glare around them. You must appear a *lot* more enraged than you thought, since even Stella is looking away, a little awkward.

'I am the chief of this band. NONE OF YOU FORGET THIS! And because I am the fucking chief, your lives are in my hands, and I AM NOT THROWING THEM AWAY LIGHTLY. We will take the diplomatic course if it takes longer. The women will go up to Tiger Rock. They'll be safer there.'

It's a long time before anyone answers, then Zawadel answers. 'We'll head up, then. Is Tiger Rock up?'

'No, mate, it's underground,' Orvo says, which makes a few people laugh nervously. Well, that eases the tension a little. You'll need to determine the escort, and what you will do now with the camp.

> Bring the treasure with the women (up to Tiger Rock and Maruin and Kuredel.)
> Take your treasure with you, but escort the women personally.
> Lead the ambush party. The ambush should be tomorrow.
> Other.

>>29318100
Do you want the guarantee of supplies in exchange for a few casualties, or risking no supplies if our blackmail plan fails or doesn't get done in time?

>>29318151

And how is a raid any guarantee? Do you want the potential of a massacre without getting any supplies? Or do you want to risk a blackmail plan that would fail, but leave us alive to do something else?

>>29318172
We'll never know if there would be a massacre, as the QM has moved the plot forward.

>>29318142
> Lead the ambush party. The ambush should be tomorrow.

>>29318260

The treasure is staying with you and Stella, you figure. Eight or ten men ought to be enough to ambush the elders; the other half of your fighters will escort the women, and their food, up.

'How about this?' Sarius gives a suggestion. 'Once we both leave for our respective goals, we'll set a great big fire and burn all the hides here. Seeing as it will happen at night, it might gain the attention of the raiders for a while, and then we can make our escape while they're preoccupied...'

That sounds like a plausible idea. Sarius and Orvo lead the upward party, and as Zawadel acquaints himself with the men you will be leading, you move to Stella, who seems a little... intimidated by you.

'We'll need to go and prepare the site soon if you're holding a meeting there,' you say quietly.

'Yes. Of course.' She nods, walks on a few steps with you following behind her, and then turns around so you accidentally bump into her.

'Oh. Sorry.'

'No. I'm sorry.' She looks down. 'I, uh... yeah...'

> What do/say to Stella?

>>29318404
"I've already said all I wanted to, for my part. All of us are a bit worked up. Aside from that, do you want to share any concerns regarding less recent events?"

>>29318404
"What is in your mind? Say it."

>>29318563
This we don't have a lot of time to spare

>>29318622
>>29318563
>>29318518

'I've said what I wanted to say,' you mutter, while wondering if you might be sounding a bit too hard. Well, nothing for it. 'Was there something you wanted to say?'

At that, Stella's face hardens a little as well. 'Nothing. Let's look at the site.'

It is a pretty good site she's chosen, you have to admit. The two stands of alder trees on either side of the clearing grow so densely, around a little brook that flows across the clearing, that it almost makes a natural cage locking people in once they enter. And yet there are some gaps for people - your people - to cover.

Your men, armed with bows as well as their axes and swords, scout around the area while Stella barks out instructions, having clearly thought out the arrangements. You stand there for some minutes while she points out areas.

'We need to fence this area off. And this bit.'

'How do we fence it off?'

Stella grabs a few alder branches. 'The thick ones serve as posts,' she says, sticking two in the ground. 'The thin ones are for weaving. Got it?'

There's a certain curtness in her voice now, the confidence and strength of a woman who's clearly in charge. Even Zawadel does not say anything, simply nodding along and occasionally pointing out things...

'Ephidel,' she turns to you. 'We should probably build something to make this place look like an inviting meeting spot. Before it becomes less inviting.'

> Agree, leave it to Stella.
> Push the point on leadership. She seems to be forgetting again.
> Other.

> It's late afternoon now. What do you want to do for the evening? Building the hdie won't take long, and boredom is a constant danger.
> Roll d100 for the night watch.

Rolled 67

>>29318756

Let Stella do her thing.

Let's do a little sparring exercise once things are in place. And make sure later we get some alone time with Stella.

Rolled 92

>>29318756
> Agree, leave it to Stella.

She's technically our second in command, so no harm done. And it -was- her idea in the first place.

> It's late afternoon now. What do you want to do for the evening?
Ask Zawadel to tell war stories. Those are always entertaining.

Rolled 53

>>29318756
>Agree, leave it to Stella.

Rolled 92

Leave it to stella, also make sure to look authoritative

>>29318864
>>29318844
>>29318795
>>29318900

> 92, 92: twins?! Really?

Well, you're not about to argue with that. Maybe about many things, with Stella...

'Fair enough, that's true. Maybe a big hide? Something that could hold a few of the main elders, you know, make them feel good about being here.'

'Could work,' she says, looking around. 'Guys, let's get to work.'

You get down to work as well, putting your bow to one side and helping to weave the branches. Now that you're making a hide as well, there's a lot more weaving to do, and as the grey afternoon light begins to give way to darkness, you suddenly hear people singing as they no doubt pass quite closely.

'The fuck is that?' You turn to Zawadel, who listens out a for a few moments, then shakes his head.

'War song,' he says quietly. 'Well, a marching song.'

'Fuck,' Stella says. 'Orvo and Sarius better fucking make it up to Tiger safely-'

'No, wait. It's coming from downhill, though.' Stella blinks, then realises you're right; quickly you grab your bow, tell Zawadel to help out with the men and the hides and move to the entrance of the clearing where she's gone. She nods.

'Zawadel,' you say. 'What could be singing such a marching song?'

'You're asking me?' He laughs, but also softly. The hide behind him is taking shape, and the singing is still going on, passing slowly below you... then suddenly there's a loud' WAHEY AHEY!' and it stops. 'Sounds to me like old conscripts though. They sound like westerners, from the way they sing.'

'How do you know that?'

'You try spending five months with marching westerners, all belting it out,' he says. Stella looks at you. You've not heard this come before or after a raid in the past...

They can't be too far away now. And they're not far downhill, since this place has a pretty gentle slope and is quite far into the foothills...

> Go and investigate.
> Get back to hide-building and laying low.
> Other.

Rolled 3

>>29318958
Go and investigate, we need to watch out for anything that could ruin our plan.

>>29318958
>> Go and investigate.
We need to be aware of what and who is around us.

Rolled 26

>>29318958
>Go and investigate.
silently, small team

>>29318958
>> Go and investigate.

>>29319074
>>29319054
>>29319121

'Zawadel,' you say again. 'Keep track. Guys, keep it up.'

'Eh?'

You simply gesture to Stella, and she shrugs and follows into the darkness. Sometimes it's almost worse to be travelling in the evening gloom than it is to travel in the forest at night; at least at night the darkness shadows *everything*, protecting both you and your enemies.

This time the little trudge is eased, though, by the fact that the people seem to be quite relaxed. Indeed, they are laughing and talking, and from the volume of the talk alone you guess they must be new to the hills - anyone who's been in here more than a few days, or come across the aftermath of a loot and rape party, knows better than to laugh and squaw-

Stella suddenly grabs your shoulder and drags you off your feet, falling onto leaf litter, and you twist around just as she's crawling behind a tree. You do so as well, rustling the leaves while closing in on her, and just as you enter cover two men approach.

'Well, looks like a fine place here, sergeant.'

'You reckon? It's a pretty big stretch of forest.' Their talk is half drowned out by a torrent of piss pattering on leaves, but you pick out enough. 'Any number of rivals might be hiding here.'

'Yeah, but, think about it. It's near the East Royal Road, it's near towns and cities, there's villages all around the few valleys around here leading up to the mountains up north, and yet it's quiet and hidden. We'll be safe here. The armies will pass underfoot. We'll hunt and grow vegetables. The brothers might even find bitches down on the flatlands.'

'Deserters,' Stella mouths as you sidle up to her. Yeah, that makes sense... certainly you're not taking them. There sounds like fifteen or twenty men who're not pissing.

> Right. Let's leave.
> This is a recruiting opportunity. Approach.
> Other.

Rolled 57

>>29319194
>This is a recruiting opportunity. Approach.
they sound like deserters, and not the most bloothirsty of deserters. send stella to get backup, then we approach

Rolled 12

>>29319194
Let's leave we figured out who they are and there plans that's enough we got work to do.

>>29319194
>This is a recruiting opportunity. Approach.

>>29319194

>This is a recruiting opportunity. Approach.

I smell people who share the same aims as we have. Safety and loot.

Get Stella to approach. A girl might appeal to them.

>>29319194
>Leave

>>29319194
We've done what we wanted

>let's leave

>>29319194

>>This is a recruiting opportunity. Approach.

>>29319288
>>29319287
>>29319277
>>29319274
>>29319268
>>29319250
>>29319221

> Typing.

>>29319194
>> This is a recruiting opportunity. Approach.
And appeal to their desire for peaceful times by sharing our rapist raider situation.

We might also want to rethink our approach to the elders if they do join.

>>29319299

'Let's go,' Stella mouths, but then her eyes glance over you and she frowns just as you smile. Damn, well, there's a reason you teamed up with her. She's sharp. 'No.'

'Yes.'

'Let's go!' She mouths, but more intensely. Then the two dudes finish their piss and chat, and once they wander out of earshot she starts hissing. 'We can't take them!'

'We aren't going to take them. Unless you mean take them in.'

'But- oi!'

You grin and pat her on the head, and then remove your bow and pass it to her. It's pretty clear what you mean by that, of course - overwatch is important. Then, before she can do much else, you get to your feet and appear from behind the trees. Holy shit. There's quite a lot of them, and to one side you see something quite heartening - backpacks. Full bags on bamboo frames! They must have provisions or something!

'Hey!'

A sudden silence strikes the entire group as a few, then all of them, turn to regard the sound and end up staring at you. It's a pretty long 'uh...' moment, though one or two of the more alert ones quick scan elsewhere to make sure you're not just distracting them. But then you aren't. There's just one of you.

Well, two. Stella emerges beside you, and the eyes drift towards her, as well they might. 'Hey!' She calls as well. 'Uh. Are you new here?'

'Who's asking?' One of the men replies.

> What do/say?

>29319363
Tell them our name. Tell them we are not here not fight them. This area is under our protection, both from the army, and the marauding savage bandits.
Ask them what happened to them, why have they ended up in our backyard

>>29319363
''were just a couple from a local hamlet out for some alone time, and when we figured you for not raiders, we throught we'd introduce our selfs'' let's just be friendly tell them about the raiders. Then later when we burn our hamlet we tell them it was the raiders there be a lot more inclined to join us then, and make sure to tell stella.

>>29319525

> Right. Unfortunately this will be it for the evening.
> If the thread is still up when I'm up tomorrow I'll run it.
> Sorry for the short length, but thanks very much for playing.

'Ephidel,' you say. 'And Stella.'

'And are you here to beg for scraps, or sell yourself?' Laughs echo from the crowd.

'Neither,' Stella replies. 'And we're not here for a fight either. Just that, well, we live in these hills.'

'Oh right. So are we accidentally trespassing in your backyard?' The man who's talking gets to his feet, and so do a few others, hands moving for their axe shafts and spears. 'Are you here for an apology?'

'No. We'd like you to join us and protect these hills. If you knew who else lived here, as you were telling your men just now while pissing here, you would do that.' This guy must be the sergeant. 'So what's your story?'

'What's our story? Ever seen an army collapse? Because it happened five days' ride from here. 60,000 Royal troops. Poof! Now there's half again that number of the damned rebels running around. And we figure the only thing they won't destroy are the forests, if we don't fuck with them in here.'

'Five days' ride?' Stella's shocked. Well, so are you. That's not far at all.

'Yep. And what's *your* story?'

> How do you make your offer, Ephidel? What do you want to bring up? Be detailed. The more detailed, and the more aspects you cover, the more likely they are to join you. And 20 fighting men is no small matter.

>>29319652
After the Army burned down my home and slaughtered my family in front of me, I took to nearby hills where I kept happening on people with similar stories. The nobles have gotten too fat and callous to give a damn about anything other than their purses or stomachs while the rest of the kingdom starves. We had enough, so we started a band with considerable success. After a few months, the band had recruited and earned enough people and resources to found a village, so we decided to set up here. But I fear that worse things than winter need to be dealt with; have you seen the remnants of any hamlets? There are monsters roaming these hills. Monsters who hang people by their intestines, who castrating honest men, and rape anything they can hold down.

>>29319652
We intend to raise a force capable with dealing with them.
And doing a healthy bit of profiteering on the side, filled with ale and riches.
Do you like ale and riches, Sergeant?