>>3651616

I dreamed a dream.

In the dream was a diminutive people wearing green and brown and all the shades between, the colours of the earth and the forest. They were reading a great column with inscriptions on it. I could not tell the words though it was carved out in High Imperial, because there was insufficient light. It looked like a gravestone.

I shared my dream as we broke fast. Sergeant said nothing. He said very little these days. Sister was more talkative.

"It means we're all going to die in the forest," he suggested. "Our fallen bodies will be worshipped as those of gods by midgets."

An oracle, Sister is not.

Runesinger only sniggered. She couldn't talk. Trevain had lopped off her hands and her tongue. Prevents spellcasting, you understand. We were not savages doing it out of vengeance. I was taking measures to prevent her wounds from getting reinfected.

That was part of the reason I'd decided to go north. Lee didn't know this part of the Scrivener training yet. I cleaned her still-seeping wounds, wiping the bone. Sores were starting to form, the bubbles containing within them pus. We were riding too hard. A fever was going to form if we continued.

Sergeant ordered us back on the saddle. We rode. We ate on the move when the pale wintry sun hovered over our heads, not breaking for luncheon. Evening fell.

I started the fire. It was getting harder to find dry firewood as we went north. Snow had found plenty of target practice in these lands. In the distance was the Forest.

"We'll be in the boundary of the Forest before we know it," Sister said. He was trying to cheer himself. "And hey, you never know, there might be pockets of resistance."

>"Black Company didn't survive all these centuries just to collapse in a forest. We'll find survivors." I am a liar. What reason had I to give voice to such thoughts when I knew, heart of heart, that it was a futile gesture?

>"We'll see what we'll see." A calming, if repetitive refrain. There are precious few certainties in life. I try to hold on to the little things.

>>3651624
>"We'll see what we'll see." A calming, if repetitive refrain. There are precious few certainties in life. I try to hold on to the little things.

>>3651624
>"Black Company didn't survive all these centuries just to collapse in a forest. We'll find survivors." I am a liar. What reason had I to give voice to such thoughts when I knew, heart of heart, that it was a futile gesture?

Getting soft are we? Women and children can make that happen.

>>3651624
>>"We'll see what we'll see." A calming, if repetitive refrain. There are precious few certainties in life. I try to hold on to the little things.

>>3651624

>"Black Company didn't survive all these centuries just to collapse in a forest. We'll find survivors." I am a liar. What reason had I to give voice to such thoughts when I knew, heart of heart, that it was a futile gesture?

The past feel happyness that we found cursed us with hope.

>>3651624

>"Black Company didn't survive all these centuries just to collapse in a forest. We'll find survivors." I am a liar. What reason had I to give voice to such thoughts when I knew, heart of heart, that it was a futile gesture?

>>3651715
>>"What's the point of a dead hostage?"

>>3651715

>"One more day. After that, we have to pace ourselves."

One day could mean more people

>>3651715
>whats the point of a dead hostage.

>>3651688
>>3651714
>>3651720
>"Black Company didn't survive all these centuries just to collapse in a forest. We'll find survivors." I am a liar. What reason had I to give voice to such thoughts when I knew, heart of heart, that it was a futile gesture?

"That's the spirit," Sister smiled. He was a handsome lad in his early twenties, brass-coloured hair against sun-browned skin. "I still can't believe you're going to be a father. You look younger than me."

"Older, though." I told him my age. Sister stared at me like I was a decrepit geezer.

"Guess there's some Emperor magic in your veins. Your dreams are getting more and more bizarre as we go closer to the Forest. Reckon it's prophetic?"

I shrugged. I did not control my dreams. Maybe Runesinger was intruding in my head, forming images and sounds unwanted in my somnic weakness.

Runesinger moaned. She was shivering in her sleep. "She's going to die," I said. She was in no form to control dreams.

"We all die." First three words Sergeant had spoken in as many days. He was feeling fatalistic lately.

"We're already near the Forest," Sister said. "We'll have to slow down once we get in."

>"What's the point of a dead hostage?"

>"One more day. After that, we have to pace ourselves."

>>3651730

>"One more day. After that, we have to pace ourselves.">>3651730

>>3651724
>>3651725
>>3651727
Sorry about that, prematurely updated and had the losing option. Fixed it with a delete as quick as I could, but 4chan hates rapid deletes.

>>3651738
Well my vote stays the same

>>3651738
Post when you start writing so as to prevent late voting to change the tide, that way we know itd no use to vote anymore.

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>>3651730
>"One more day. After that, we have to pace ourselves."
I wonder if we can cannibalize the hostage if they expire too soon.

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>>3651738

>>3651730
>"What's the point of a dead hostage?"

>>3651730

>"What's the point of a dead hostage?"

I swear if we find brothers recently dead just because we stopped a little I'm gonna be mad.

>>3651724
>>3651727
>>3651771
>>3651786
>>3651835
Writing

File: Officer.jpg (407 KB, 1280x1920)

407 KB JPG

>>3651844
>>"What's the point of a dead hostage?"

"A body to honour. Bones to bury. Funerals to conduct." Sergeant stared at the fire. His voice was hoarse from disuse.

"Happy thoughts, Sarge," Sister said. "You're the acting-Captain now. We need that morale boost." The loss of the Company had hit Sergeant the most out of all of us. Sister and I were relatively new, and had little of the network of friendship that Sergeant had outside of the platoon.

"We'll get more out of the Rebel if she's alive," I said. "Even damaged like this, she's one of the Sixteen. They might find ways to regenerate her limbs and tongue. Life is what keeps her value high."

"No value if all brothers are dead."

I couldn't argue against that.

"We'll reach the Forest's edge by tomorrow noon, looks like," Sister observed. "You can survive for that long, can't you, Singer?"

Runesinger mumbled. Our conversation had woken her up. "Uuhk ooo," she warbled.

"And we'll find some use for you," Sister said brightly. "Even if you die. Some people are into that, you know." If anyone would know, it was Sister. He had joined the Black Company to run from his crime of incest.

I tended to her wounds. They were clean. Cut with a single swing. Trevain knew his job, but travel was not kind to wounds such as these.

>Medical DC65
>3d100

>>3651730

>"One more day. After that, we have to pace ourselves."

>>3651795
I'm gonna be even more mad if the rebels have a group of company brothers but we have no way to free then with our hostage dead. We also don't have mages so no glamour.

Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>3651850

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>3651850
SATAN GUIDE MY DICE!!!

>>3651871
This must be the work of Shaitan Ahriman

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>3651850
Comon give us a 1 i want runesinger to live.

>>3651877
Nah i just forgot you can only use satan for quest were you need to roll high. Satan, doesn't do low dcs.

>>3651882
Nice dude

>>3651871
Fuck.

>>3651898
Don't worry its best of 3 and that is not a adouble

>>3651882
>Pass

The wounds were not infected. I breathed out with relief. Sister handed me the pail of melted snow. Benefits of winter: colder climes reduce insect population, and make for a ready source of water as long as you have the means to start a fire.

"She's not going to die on us," I said as I rebandaged the nubs. I was rather proud of my handywork. "Soon your wounds will begin to itch, but you shouldn't rub them. Your sores might burst."

"Uuhk ooooo!" Runesinger answered. She was in good spirits for an Ensorcelled bound up and unhanded. "Uuhk! Ooo!"

"No need to thank me, just doing my job." If she could have flipped me the finger, she would have.

"We're running low on dried meat," Sister said wistfully. "Wish I knew how to hunt."

"Winter is a decent time to start," I told him. "Tracks on the snow, leafless branches. And no insects. Once we're in the Forest..." I fell silent. The Forest felt nearer than ever tonight. Of course it was. We'd been riding towards it all this time. But it loomed into our minds. The Forest where our brothers were ambushed. Killed. Slaughtered by enemies within and without. Lieutenant had mentioned treachery.

"I'll take first watch," Sister offered. I shook my head.

"I don't feel sleepy. Go get some rest."

The fire cackled against the winter wind. It seemed to mock me for even trying. The Forest will kill you, Goldeneye, I thought I heard it say through the popping sound of branches splintering under the heat.

>"Some things are worth dying for," I replied. "Black Company is family. And family means no one is left behind."

>"Fuck off." I was not in the mood to converse with an imaginary fire spirit.

>>3651934

>"Some things are worth dying for," I replied. "Black Company is family. And family means no one is left behind."

>>3651934
>"Fuck off." I was not in the mood to converse with an imaginary fire spirit

Shit anyone know an exorcist.

>>3651934

>"Some things are worth dying for," I replied. "Black Company is family. And family means no one is left behind."

>>3651949
>>3651977
>"Some things are worth dying for," I replied. "Black Company is family. And family means no one is left behind."

Your children. Orphans. Left behind. Like you. I must be tired indeed if I was starting to anthropomorphise a fire. I thought back to the moment of departure. I wished I'd seen Shamaness before we departed. She was the most mature of the three women in my life. The least broken. Strong, in ways Hood and Dumpling weren't. She would be a great mother.

Carelesstaker, the flame licked its tongues. Bold. Foolish. My imagination was growing vivid. Like fools. Entertaining. Call me when need comes, Uncaringtaker.

I woke up from the almost-sleep of the dozing sentry. The fire had nearly died.

Something stirred beyond the circle of the ember glow.

>I didn't want the others needlessly exhausted. Taking up my ancestral sword, I approached.

>"Hello?" I called in Sinaean. Then in Old Parthian, Coin, and High Imperial.

>>3651991
>>I didn't want the others needlessly exhausted. Taking up my ancestral sword, I approached.

>>3651991

>I didn't want the others needlessly exhausted. Taking up my ancestral sword, I approached.

>>3651991

>I didn't want the others needlessly exhausted. Taking up my ancestral sword, I approached.

>>3652001
>>3652004
>>3652019

>I didn't want the others needlessly exhausted. Taking up my ancestral sword, I approached.

I took care not to wake them. They had enough on their minds. As I passed the fire, I fed it more branches. The stirrer shifted further away, but not fast enough to hide its form. It was something canine.

"Good boy," I said uncertainly, feeling foolish as I did so. It sniffed, pawed the ground, and then slowly came forward.

Mars the Avenger. It was a wolf. In the darkness of a late winter's night, its pelt had almost a bluish colouration. There was something bloody in its maw.

Runesinger mumbled in her sleep.

>"...Good boy?" I said one more time.

>I attacked before it could attack me.

>>3652020
>Scratch the ears!

>>3652020
>"...Good boy?" I said one more time.

guard up

>>3652020

>"...Good boy?" I said one more time.

Something bloody? What is it? A piece of a brother or runesinger's hands?

Youbare fast today

>>3652020
I smell spirit fuckery. Best not piss it off.

>"...Good boy?" I said one more time.

>>3652036
>>3652042
>>3652046
>"...Good boy?" I said one more time.

It snuffled, looking warily at my sword, as it gently placed the bloody thing onto the ground. There were other lumps on the ground of varying sizes. Bodies. Animal bodies.

It retreated back into the night before I could get a better look at the wolf. I have never seen a wild wolf do such a thing before. I don't think it was entirely wild, or wolf.

"You weren't kidding when you said winter hunting was easy," Sister said the next morning. "How did you manage to catch them in the dark?"

"I didn't." There were bite marks on the animals. Two rabbits, one young doe, and a male quail. "A wolf came in the night and brought them here."

"Asena," Sergeant said. "We are blessed by the gods." I didn't know Sergeant was into religion. "She will want a husband from one of us." So it was a good girl.

"I'm a happily married man," I said quickly.

"I'm too old," Sergeant added.

"Just because I like my sister doesn't mean I'm into every other fetish imaginable," Sister said.

>"Close your eyes and pretend it's your sister."

>"Technically she isn't a wolf, but a god. Goddess. Imagine it - Sister, consort of the She-Wolf Goddess."

>>3652049

>"Technically she isn't a wolf, but a god. Goddess. Imagine it - Sister, consort of the She-Wolf Goddess."


We should help our degenerate brother into something more wholesome, said the degenerate polygamist.

>>3652049

>"Technically she isn't a wolf, but a god. Goddess. Imagine it - Sister, consort of the She-Wolf Goddess."

>>3652049
>>"Technically she isn't a wolf, but a god. Goddess. Imagine it - Sister, consort of the She-Wolf Goddess."

>>3652049
>"Technically she isn't a wolf, but a god. Goddess. Imagine it - Sister, consort of the She-Wolf Goddess."

>>3652049
>>"Technically she isn't a wolf, but a god. Goddess. Imagine it - Sister, consort of the She-Wolf Goddess."

>>3652049

>"Close your eyes and pretend it's your sister."

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286 KB JPG

>>3652059
>>3652063
>>3652065
>>3652071
>>3652075
>"Technically she isn't a wolf, but a god. Goddess. Imagine it - Sister, consort of the She-Wolf Goddess."

"Fuck off," Sister said. I laughed. This was the most talking we were having that wasn't all about doom and gloom Forest. Divine visitation has that effect on people.

"She'll take her pick," Sergeant said ominously. A few animals seemed a tiny price to pay for performing that deed. We got to skinning the animals.

After a while, Sergeant said, "Could be her paying her respects to the dead. We are heading into the Forest, after all."

"I think I like the wooing theory better," I said. Sister didn't seem so sure.

After we prepared the meat and washed ourselves, we began to move. The unexpected boon of fresh meat had taken us some of the early morning hours. We arrived at the boundary of the Forest in late afternoon. The sun looked bloody.

"Maybe we should wait until we have more light to get into the Forest," Sister tentatively suggested.

"No time. We go now."

"I haven't had a chance to check Runesinger's bandages yet," I said.

"She'll be with her friends, soon enough."

>"Listen, Sergeant. I know you are impatient for your friends. But we won't be any help to them if we lose your footing in the dark and break our necks."

>I accepted our continued descent into the belly of the Forest with a resigned sigh. Who was I to stand between him and his vengeance?

>>3652049
>"Technically she isn't a wolf, but a god. Goddess. Imagine it - Sister, consort of the She-Wolf Goddess."

>>3652106
>I accepted our continued descent into the belly of the Forest with a resigned sigh. Who was I to stand between him and his vengeance?

>>3652042
I'm in that sort of mood, I was pretty fast with updating for the first thread too

>>3652106

>I accepted our continued descent into the belly of the Forest with a resigned sigh. Who was I to stand between him and his vengeance?

Oh damn, we better help sister groom himself each morning so the she-wolf will pick him

>>3652106
>>I accepted our continued descent into the belly of the Forest with a resigned sigh. Who was I to stand between him and his vengeance?

>>3652106

>I accepted our continued descent into the belly of the Forest with a resigned sigh. Who was I to stand between him and his vengeance?

>>3652118
>>3652142
>>3652146
>>3652149
>I accepted our continued descent into the belly of the Forest with a resigned sigh. Who was I to stand between him and his vengeance?

We dismounted. The footing was uneven here, slick with the melt of old snow. Leaves covered slippery rocks from view, which could prove hazardous to a rider. This was going to slow us.

No birds sang. Of course, it was winter. Gnarled branches greeted us in all their denuded glory.

"What kind of name did you have in mind for your children?" Sister asked.

"Children?"

"One per each broad- I mean girl, right?"

"Next time you call one of my girls a broad is a clip round the ears." I thought about it.

>Name suggestions

>>3652164

I'll let the mothers decide, but nothing from the capital

>>3652164
Fury, from Hood
Sage, from Shamaness
Hope, from Dumpling

The gender doesn't really matter for any of the names and black company names for black company kids.

>>3652189
Damn Anon I like these. Seconded.

>>3652189

+ 1

>>3652207
If Dumpling kid is a girl we could also play a homage to her dead sister, I don't remember her name

>>3652189

"You got no naming sense. You think a kid would like to be called Fury?"

"Quoth the man named Sister."

"The Half-Blind wrote that in, I didn't get a choice!"

"And rightly. Our names describe our selves, more than our old ones do." Some chose to keep the names of their old lives, before they joined the Company. Like Sergeant. His actual Annals-name was Iacob. My old name was too long to put to use.

"My name is actually Iacob," Sergeant offered.

"Sure it is, Sarge."

"I believe you, Sergeant."

"Fortuna damn the day I took you miserable jokers into the platoon." Sergeant hid a smile. That was the first crack on his moody exterior since Lieutenant shared the news.

We ate fresh meat for dinner. It was Sergeant and Sister's turn to take watch. I lay snug in my portable blanket.

>And I dreamed a dream.

>Falling into a deep and dreamless slumber.

>>3652231

>And I dreamed a dream.

>>3652231
>And I dreamed a dream.

>>3652231
>>And I dreamed a dream.
in times gone by

>>3652231

>And I dreamed a dream.
Clues!

Also, watch as fury becomes a scrivener and healer...who am I kidding? Hood will give him a bow and take him to hunt before he can even walk

>>3652238
>>3652240
>>3652248
>>3652243
>I dreamed a dream.

In the dream was the same diminutive people. They wore the colours of moss and stone. The Forest was different. Brighter, livelier. Filled with a life that seemed to thrumm the air with innate excitement. Every colour was intense, reminiscent of the jungles of Nanman.

And the forest people danced around a tall man, whose back seemed noble and strong yet weary and careworn at the same time. Father. He turned around. A flash of gold.

"Dreams again?" Sister asked when I woke. He was making something that smelled like bacon.

"Dreams again," I confirmed. "Do you know if there are legends of little people in the Forest?"

He shrugged. "Never been this far north, not before joining the Company." Sister and I had signed up to the Company in Jian'an, a southeastern region of the Empire. It felt like years had passed. In fact, it was almost my one year anniversary of joining the Company. "You look terrible. Don't you have medicine to help sleep better?"

I did.

"Maybe you should take them, then."

I considered it. The dreams were leaving me exhausted, more and more. Like I was trekking through the forest all night long. Another one of the insidious Forest magic?

>I decided to start taking the sleeping medicines.

>"Maybe they're important dreams," I said. I wasn't sure myself. "Not prophetic, but... premotions."

>>3652231
>And I dreamed a dream.

>>3652255
>"Maybe they're important dreams," I said. I wasn't sure myself. "Not prophetic, but... premotions."

>>3652255
>>"Maybe they're important dreams," I said. I wasn't sure myself. "Not prophetic, but... premotions."
If they can help us find even one brother they are worth it.

>>3652255

>"Maybe they're important dreams," I said. I wasn't sure myself. "Not prophetic, but... premotions."

>>3652255
>>"Maybe they're important dreams," I said. I wasn't sure myself. "Not prophetic, but... premotions."

>>3652255
>>I decided to start taking the sleeping medicines.

>>3652258
>>3652259
>>3652269
>>3652271
>"Maybe they're important dreams," I said. I wasn't sure myself. "Not prophetic, but... premotions."

"So prophecies."

"Not as strong as those, but sure. Prophecies."

"Not the best of times to go cuckoo right now, boss." I didn't blame him. I thought I was going crazy, too. And I didn't know if my earlobes vibrated while I was asleep.

Sergeant popped out from behind a tree. "We're nearing the main trail. I scouted ahead a bit, and the river is where it is supposed to be. We should start finding bodies soon."

"And river means a bath." Running water would do Runesinger good.

"Bloodbath," Sister joked. None of us laughed. "Okay, oldskaters. Should we really be following the river? That's what armies would do. You know, the Rebel army?"

>"It will get harder to find a good source of clean water. There's less snow in here, now that most of the old snow has melted away."

>I had to agree. As important as water was, the Rebel would be camped along the river.

>>3652293
>>"It will get harder to find a good source of clean water. There's less snow in here, now that most of the old snow has melted away."

if we find the Rebel we may find prisioners too

>>3652293
>"Where the rebel is camped so are the POWs."

>>3652293
>"It will get harder to find a good source of clean water. There's less snow in here, now that most of the old snow has melted away."

>>3652293
Now, the question is, would the survivors go near the water and risk the camp or stay away and thirst


>I had to agree. As important as water was, the Rebel would be camped along the river.

We can go for the prisioners after we find the survivors

>>3652309
hmmm
I can change to this, we should check the battlefield first

>>3652293
>>"It will get harder to find a good source of clean water. There's less snow in here, now that most of the old snow has melted away."

>>3652331
>>3652303
>>3652301
>>"It will get harder to find a good source of clean water. There's less snow in here, now that most of the old snow has melted away."

"And Rebel presence means prisoners."

"If they have any," Sister said doubtfully.

"We'll find survivors," I said. We finished our fried meat and began moving.

"Wish we could have brought a wizard."

"Sorry I got them all pregnant."

"Braggart."

"Jealous."

"Shush," Sergeant said. The sound of rushing water was loud now. We quietly made our way down to the river. The shores were empty. Daylight was rapidly fading away with the characteristic curtness of winter. We camped by the river for the evening.

>I tried to catch some fish.

>I cleaned and re-bandaged Runesinger.

>>3652340
>>I cleaned and re-bandaged Runesinger.


also, we didn't got them all pregnant, Marion isn't part of the harem

>>3652344
Morion is also not a wizard, being a wizard is not 100% genetic

>>3652340
>>I cleaned and re-bandaged Runesinger.

>>3652347
oh shit I was sure she was

>>3652340
>>I cleaned and re-bandaged Runesinger.

>>3652340

>I cleaned and re-bandaged Runesinger.

>>3652340
>>I cleaned and re-bandaged Runesinger.

>>3652344
>>3652351
>>3652360
>>3652361
"You're never going to behave, are you?" I asked after the third time Runesinger splashed the freezing river water on me.

"Uuhk ooo," she answered.

"The cold water should feel good against your skin," I said. "Fever is receding, too. I wish we had some fruits. That would help greatly." Now that we were moving slowly, her sores were less prone to bursting. I suspected she wasn't big on horseriding. She seemed like a carriage-and-couch type of person.

"It's nothing personal, you know," I said. "And besides, you almost killed me that one time."

"Oo 'ook my irginity!" she replied indignantly.

"No, I didn't. Your hymen broke because you fell on your arse."

She rolled her eyes. "'ame 'ing." But she remained still this time when I rebandaged her nubs.

"Be happy it's Aurelius taking care of you," Sister called from his seat where he was stirring the everything-soup. The remnants of the meat that we'd gotten from the wolf were there, as well as random herbal plants we could find nearby. "He is chronically weak to women. Especially lookers, like you."

I rolled my eyes.

"Time for me to have a good night's sleep," Sister declared later. Sergeant and I took the night's watch in turns.

>Listening DC30

Best of three, and also I'm also about to get knocked out by sleep so I'll continue tomorrow if the rolls are there

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>3652390

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>3652390
fuck this dc is hard

>>3652396
thanks for running

Rolled 6 (1d100)

>>3652390

>>3652406
ANON!
ANON!
YES ANON!

>>3652340

Wait, I was sure only Hood was pregnant. Are really all three off them pregnant?

>>3652406

You're the hero we need!

>>3652412
looks like it

I'll try to come up with some alternative names tonight

>>3652406
yey

for Hood, Delius, greek name

for Shamaness , Tuya, mongol name, ray of light

for Dumpling , Rafa, arabic like hers, a tenderhearted girl

they can choose their black company names after they join, if they join

just an idea

>>3652418

I think the names we already had are ok.

>>3652443
I just felt like giving them some real names before they can adopt company names, like I said, just an idea

>>3652442
Tuya is such a pretty name

>>3652412
The seed is strong

>>3652406
I took second watch. Fog was clouding the night sky. The trees looked like shadows of brothers dead in the murky soup of grey. I added more branches on the flames and watched them blacken.

A-relly!

I was tired. Waking up every hour or so wasn't very restive. It took me at least twenty minutes just to fall asleep.

A-relly!

And now hallucinations plagued me. I couldn't talk about this to the others. There was no time for them to get a replacement Scrivener, and Lee was still an apprentice. Yesugei was catatonic from his loss. The gods are cruel to take what they freely give.

Fear, fire, foe!

I couldn't ignore the voice anymore. "Who is there?" I whispered. I was not going to wake Sergeant before his time.

Fiend. Blood feed trees. Her voice was like the clear waters that tumbled in the gorge down the river. She spoke too rapidly. Old men with grudges. I could not understand the rest.

The fire cracked, jolting me awake. This was the second time I'd fallen during my watch. My blood was pumping. I strained my ears to hear. Footsteps shuffled almost unheard among the rotting leaves.

"Five men," I whispered to Sergeant, waking him with a touch. "Could be more. They saw our fire." He nodded. The fire was too important not to have. We would freeze to death without it. Rebel scouts must have smelled us out, somehow. We'd our surroundings sufficiently well to prevent the light from being too visible.

"Mmmmhwu-?" Sister said. Sergeant clasped his mouth and quieted his panic.

"Swords?" I asked.

"Swords." This had to be done close and personal, lest we scared them off too early with crossbow fire. "No survivors."

We spread out. Our shortswords were blackened with mud to prevent glinting from the moonlight, and we were wearing black. Sister immediately disappeared from view. He'd always been the best of us three when it came to forests.

"-should be around here," a voice said, startling me with its closeness. I hadn't heard it come.

>3d100

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>3654066
An update late at night for full immersion, eh?

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>3654066

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>3654066

>>3654096
>>3654075
>2 Successes
The dagger slid into his vital as comfortably as if it had belonged there, all this time. The darkness was a great aid. I do not like seeing the face of dead and dying men. Did he have children? Had he joined the Rebel because of a purge or a crucifixion? The Black Company had the Annals — the least of us would be remembered. But the Rebel had nothing.

How I admired the Rebel in their fearless anonymity. To deny yourself a legacy, remove any trace and imprint in the world of your self. A passing fancy - fatherhood softened me. I finished the deed with a swift turn of the head.

He fell, legless, an almost inaudible sigh the only sign of his soul's departure from the world. "Aexes?" a voice behind him asked. It really was too dark.

Now the dead had a name.

>3d100

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>3654122

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>3654122

>>3654125
>>3654130
Twins, they were

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>3654122

Rolled 78 (1d100)

Your AV

>>3654138
>>3654125
>>3654130
I could not get the gladius out in time. As easily as it had gone in, now something held it from its egress, the corpse petulantly holding on to the murder weapon like a clinging lover.

The Rebel was quick. He didn't wait for the body to drop to unsheath his knife. The glint of moonlight against his dagger gave his position away. I watched in detached fascination as the light faded, the metal parts sinking into my flesh. The pain came shortly afterward.

Aurelius: Wounded
>Combat = +90DC [Wounded -5DC, Skilled II +10DC, Unnatural Strength +5DC, Unnatural Endurance +5DC, Unnatural Will +5DC, Divine Bloodline: Imperial Scion +20DC, Elite II +20DC, Dirty Fighting +15DC, Legionarius II +20DC, Chainmail +15DC, Darkness -20DC]
>Armour Value = 15AV [Chainmail +15AV]
VS
The Rebel
>Combat = +?DC [Obscured by Night]
>Armour Value = ?AV [Some cloth, possibly gambeson +?AV]

>Personal Combat DC?
>3d100

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>3654157

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>3654157

>>3654158
oof

Rolled 31 (1d100)

>>3654157
Don't die on me! Think about Honey

>>3654158
>>3654159
>>3654166
>1 Success - 1 hit dealt and received

Ichor flowed freely. I grit my teeth as my senses returned to earth, temporarily disjointed was I from the flow of time. With consciousness came the pain. Ungodly pain. I'd thought myself dead. The Rebel was dead, my left hand clutching his windpipe. I'd broken both his throat and my hand with the desperate strength that came to dying men. We were sprawled on the ground, him above me. Something wet and warm flowed from his groin. I smelled urine. I couldn't push him away - there was something lodged in my chest. I looked down.

I should, by all rights, be dead. Praise the Emperor, I thought, only half sarcastic.

The forest floor of rotten leaves rustled as they approached. Now I was going to die.

"Aurelius?" came the whisper. Ah. The others had made it. They must have heard the death rattle of the Rebel. Or myself. "Is it you?"

"I'm going to die," I told them. Blood flowed free, glinting moonsilver and aurum-gold.

"Don't be such a crybaby," Sergeant said, and knelt. He pushed the Rebel on top of me away. Sister gasped. "Shhh," Sergeant said.

>"I'll only slow you down," I said with the calm of a corpse. "Go on ahead. I'll stay here to recuperate." Travel was only going to slow the rate of unnatural regeneration.

>"Maybe you can tie me on one of the horses," I suggested.

>>3654182
>"Maybe you can tie me on one of the horses," I suggested.

>>3654182
>>"Maybe you can tie me on one of the horses," I suggested.

>>3654188
>>3654195
Every canter, every jolt, I relived the stab of the Rebel dagger. Sister tried not to look at my ruined chest, the leaking gold. A reminder of my alien heritage. "I won't bite," I told him when he peeked next.

"Do you feel pain?" he asked.

"Do I look like I am not in pain?" I retorted. Pain is a necessary component in life. It signals that something is very wrong. Unfortunately, our primitive ancestors never bothered to evolve that pain into something more specific. It would have been great if we could acknowledge the pain and dismiss it once we were fully informed of the wrongness.

I bore the wound with ill-humour, characteristic of men in godawful pain. Sister cleaned my wounds whenever we stopped, his unsubtle fingers finding ways to amplify the agony. Runesinger snickered.

Two days passed before I could move my hand reliably. That was also the day we met our first dead.

Sergeant stopped the horses. He walked as if in a trance and turned over the face-down body in black. "Shepherd." he said. I didn't know him. "We'll start finding bodies."

And start finding bodies, we did. Many of them were cut down in the back. Strategic retreat or a fear-fuelled flight for safety? The toll of names grew. I started using my left hand to write down the names. It is the one consolation of the Company, the Annals. A kind of immortality, the only thing that will remember us when we are far gone. Mercenaries like us do not take root in a small village in a valley to sire children and see grandchildren and so on. The Annals was their tombstone, their final epitaph.

So much more then the reason for me to find the rest of the Annals. It had to be with the Captain's train of luggage. Had it been looted by the Rebel? I found that likely. The Annals are unassuming documents, mostly filled with names of the dead, but also with tales of our past campaigns and victories and defeats. Even if the common Rebel could not read or write, the Sixteen would see value in the books.

Therein rested my faint hope. That they would not have simply burned and destroyed the venerable documents.

We started finding legionary bodies. Their red undershirts gave them away, though they had been stripped of their armour. The black bodies were untouched, unplundered. Superstition, perhaps. Cold kept their bodies in amazing condition.

"It's like they're sleeping," Sister said. I wished they would wake.

>>3654221

We camped at the top of a small hill for the evening. There had been a small watchtower built here, in the olden days before the Emperor came and the land was filled with warring kingdoms. Only a ring of its foundation remained to crown the hill, eerily barren of trees. The stones were black with fire and soot, bearing their wounds centuries - or millennia - after their death.

"What is the plan?" I asked. Sister fed me dried biscuits ground and mixed with water.

"Negotiate a release of hostages for one of their Sixteen," Sergeant said. He was looking more and more like one of the dead as the list of names grew.

"They might just kill us and be done with," I said. "Rebel are factional. The one in charge of their group here in the Forest might be even happy to kill Singer."

"Then we die," he said indifferently.

>"I've had it up to here with your apathy. Do you think Captain would approve of the way you are slinking around with that wounded expression of yours?"

>"I want to see grandchildren before I die," I said. "Maybe great-grandchildren. So many that I can't fit them all in my hands."

>>3654182

>"Maybe you can tie me on one of the horses," I suggested.

>>3654223

>"I've had it up to here with your apathy. Do you think Captain would approve of the way you are slinking around with that wounded expression of yours?"

Tough love

>>3654223

>"I've had it up to here with your apathy. Do you think Captain would approve of the way you are slinking around with that wounded expression of yours?"

>>3654234
>>3654248
>"I've had it up to here with your apathy. Do you think Captain would approve of the way you are slinking around with that wounded expression of yours?"

A haunted face, wracked with guilt. It faced me with unmutable defiance. "They were better than me, Goldeneye. Mentors. Teachers. They'd lived through all, from the sieges of Vrax to the coastal invasions of Houguan. They'd done everything and more to keep their lives. And in a single moment, everything falls. The greatest soldiers I know, dead while on the run."

We weren't soldiers. We were mercenaries. "They knew what they signed up for. Wiser men would till the soil and watch their grandsires grow." I was irritated. Sergeant was acting as if he was the only one who was a member of the Black Company.

"We should have been here," he said sullenly. The last of the wolfmeat was cooking to a perfect brown. We would return to eating dried jerkies and marching biscuits. "We should have died."

So that was what had his knickers in a bunch. Survivor's guilt. And maybe, just maybe, a little bit of injured pride. Injured because the best he knew had tried to run. Injured because his teachers and mentors were dead.

It is easy to laugh at mortality amidst the throng of friends. Less so, when you are alone. That is the origin of cities.

>"Captain would have wanted some of us alive. To pass on the torch." I knew I lied as soon as I'd said it. Captain would not have minded a death by ambush. She was fearful like that. Fearful that her life would not go out with a bang, but with a whimper.

>"There is hope for a sick man, as long as there is life. Captain is not the Company. It will live on." Many times the Black Company faced extinction. The Annals were clear on that. It had also risen once more on the back of new recruits. And once, it had returned to mythical Khatovar.

>>3654298

>"There is hope for a sick man, as long as there is life. Captain is not the Company. It will live on." Many times the Black Company faced extinction. The Annals were clear on that. It had also risen once more on the back of new recruits. And once, it had returned to mythical Khatovar.

>>3654298
>"There is hope for a sick man, as long as there is life. Captain is not the Company. It will live on." Many times the Black Company faced extinction. The Annals were clear on that. It had also risen once more on the back of new recruits. And once, it had returned to mythical Khatovar.

>>3654298

>"There is hope for a sick man, as long as there is life. Captain is not the Company. It will live on." Many times the Black Company faced extinction. The Annals were clear on that. It had also risen once more on the back of new recruits. And once, it had returned to mythical Khatovar.

She probably ordered some of them to run, Lt. Would never leave her side unless ordered.
That's why I still believe some of them lived.

>>3654321
>>3654327
>>3654328
>"There is hope for a sick man, as long as there is life. Captain is not the Company. It will live on." Many times the Black Company faced extinction. The Annals were clear on that. It had also risen once more on the back of new recruits. And once, it had returned to mythical Khatovar.

Khatovar of the obsidian walls. Khatovar, that loneliest of isles. The Annals said little of that homeland of the Companies save for poetic platitudes and cryptic descriptions. The oldest books of the Annals were lost to us, perhaps from a similar near destruction long ago.

"They might want assurances that we won't attack them back," Sister said. Even thus ruined, the Black Company had a fearsome reputation. I could see Rebel leaders refusing to negotiate purely out of superstitious fear. After all, that's how the Rebel recruited. They spoke of prophecies, the downfall of empires, symbols and signs and stars. Eager recruits flocked to their underground recruitment cells, tired of taxes and corvée labour and dreaming of a new kingdom to come.

That is how every empires end. That is how every empire begins.

>"We have to try and find survivors, those who weren't caught. Just the two of you won't get them impressed enough to make a deal."

>"Tell them to buy our commission, then," I said off-handedly.

>>3654376
>>"Tell them to buy our commission, then," I said off-handedly.

>>3654376
>>"We have to try and find survivors, those who weren't caught. Just the two of you won't get them impressed enough to make a deal."

>>3654376

>"We have to try and find survivors, those who weren't caught. Just the two of you won't get them impressed enough to make a deal."

People

>>3654376
>"We have to try and find survivors, those who weren't caught. Just the two of you won't get them impressed enough to make a deal."

I bet there is already someone at the camp fire talking about the five dead scouts

>>3654376
>"We have to try and find survivors, those who weren't caught. Just the two of you won't get them impressed enough to make a deal."

Company don't die easy

>>3654376
>>"We have to try and find survivors, those who weren't caught. Just the two of you won't get them impressed enough to make a deal."

>>3654376

>"We have to try and find survivors, those who weren't caught. Just the two of you won't get them impressed enough to make a deal."

File: dmitry-vishnevsky-3-3.jpg (315 KB, 872x1406)

315 KB JPG

>>3654383
>>3654384
>>3654405
>>3654410
>>3654422
>>3654475
>"We have to try and find survivors, those who weren't caught. Just the two of you won't get them impressed enough to make a deal."

We had to find more people if only to make the Rebel take us seriously. The only brothers in black who would have remained free would be those who excelled in forest lore. Some might even have escaped the Forest entirely and began making the journey to Bath. We hadn't seen anyone while we rode to the Forest, but that did not mean much.

The rest, we knew, would be in the heart of the Forest. Where the Rebel in their great numbers would be hindered by their one advantage. Trees grew thick there, and dark. It would be almost impossible to bring the horses.

We began to move by night and sleep by day. Rebel patrols were getting frequent, and more than once we were almost sighted. Sister proved quite able in distracting them, often slipping out from our group to make noise elsewhere and returning once more. "Forests are forests, north or south," he boasted.

The division between the truly old core of the Forest and the ones that grew after the destruction of the old forests was as clear as day, demarcated by an invisible boundary. On one side was the relatively average woodlands. Trees, rocks, traces of wildlife. On the other was the Heart. The trees looked meaner, their barkskin darkened stiff with age. There was no visible trail, not even one left by animals. Here the arboreal kings crowned in all their branched glory ruled without mercy, with no sunlight left for secondary and tertiary plants.

"Aurelius, you stay here," Sergeant said. "We're close enough to the Heart that the Rebel won't bother us."

"The fuck I am." I came here for a reason. I needed to find the Annals.

"You are in no shape for the trek ahead. We can't bring the horses."

>"I'm going with you if it kills me."

>"But you're taking Runesinger."

>>3654489
Clarify the second option for me please? Who is taking? Are they leaving her here or are we protesting that they are taking her but not us?
I want to go but not say something as dramatic as "even if it kills me"

>>3654495
Protest, the second option, write-ins will be considered

>>3654489
Ah shit...
>"I'm going with you if it kills me."
Yeah this seems like the right one, I assume we're bringing Singer regardless

>>3654501
Not necessarily
>Can't bring the horses

>>3654489
>Listen Sarge, of the three of us I'm the one that knows how to take care of wounds, if our brothers escaped then it won't be unscathed
>>3654501
Swap to write in

>>3654489

>"But you're taking Runesinger."
And if she goes I have to go too to make sure she is ok, don't worry I'll manage.

>>3654509
this is a good argument, the survivors will certainly need medical assistance, he can't afford to leave us behind

>>3654489
>"I'm going with you if it kills me."

Besides we already died once an returned. Surely we can do it again.

>>3654513
That's a very interesting hypothesis, if you want to test it out I won't stop you

>>3654509
>Write-in

"Listen, Sergeant." I put on my most officious Scrivener voice. I wasn't about to let them leave me behind without a fight. Sure, I could barely lift my sword and my stitches were barely holding from all the jostling the horse ride gave, but they needed me. "Of the three of us I'm the one that knows how to take care of wounds the best. If our brothers escaped then it won't be unscathed. There's going to be wounded and sick to take care of."

"If they're wounded that deep in the Forest, they're good as dead." There he went being pessimistic again. "It's not just because of your wounds, Aurelius. We need you to watch over the prisoner."

"You're not taking Singer?" I asked.

"Can't bring the horses. And she would slow us down too much." You would slow us down. "She'll be your insurance. Keep your crossbow loaded, and put a dagger on her throat if you hear footsteps."

>I insisted on coming. This was too important. We could butcher the horses for meat if we had to leave them behind. Sister was strong enough to carry her on his back. And I was fifty per cent sure I could manage walking on my own.

>"Fine. But I'm going to go in if you don't return in three days." I estimated that three days of rest would restore me to moving condition, though it would take much longer for me to be in top shape. That Rebel really did a number on me. Internal organs take longer to heal.

>>3654530
>"Fine. But I'm going to go in if you don't return in three days." I estimated that three days of rest would restore me to moving condition, though it would take much longer for me to be in top shape. That Rebel really did a number on me. Internal organs take longer to heal.

And if you die i'm gonna find a way to bring you two back so i can kill you two again.

>>3654530
>>"Fine. But I'm going to go in if you don't return in three days." I estimated that three days of rest would restore me to moving condition, though it would take much longer for me to be in top shape. That Rebel really did a number on me. Internal organs take longer to heal.

if only because if we slow him down it will be harder to find our people

"leave no one behind, even if wounded our sick, if you bring them here I can do something"

>>3654530
>>"Fine. But I'm going to go in if you don't return in three days." I estimated that three days of rest would restore me to moving condition, though it would take much longer for me to be in top shape. That Rebel really did a number on me. Internal organs take longer to heal.

>>3654530
>"Fine. But I'm going to go in if you don't return in three days." I estimated that three days of rest would restore me to moving condition, though it would take much longer for me to be in top shape. That Rebel really did a number on me. Internal organs take longer to heal.
>I am telling both of you in my official capacity as Scrivener, do NOT die on me

>>3654530
>>"Fine. But I'm going to go in if you don't return in three days." I estimated that three days of rest would restore me to moving condition, though it would take much longer for me to be in top shape. That Rebel really did a number on me. Internal organs take longer to heal.

>>3654553
+1. "No One Gets Left Behind Quest" by "Survive !!L7hVJqp0bqY" would love you on board for his quest.
>>3649797

>>3654533
>>3654553
>>3654566
>>3654624
>>3655194
>>3655677
>>"Fine. But I'm going to go in if you don't return in three days." I estimated that three days of rest would restore me to moving condition, though it would take much longer for me to be in top shape. That Rebel really did a number on me. Internal organs take longer to heal.

Sergeant left without another backward glance, like the emotionally stunted man he was. I am being unfair to him. He had a lot on his mind, what with the destruction of the Company and all. But he could have at least said "bye". It was like he was going off to get some goldberry leaves and disappearing forever from my life.

"Bye," Sister said. It just wasn't the same coming from him.

The next three days passed in a breeze. Standard Black Company doctrine calls for a minimum of three Companymen in a combat unit. That would extend the survivability of said unit in a hostile land, allowing for better nightwatch schedules and quickened command decisions from the odd-number. I was alone in the middle of gods knew where with a member of a Sixteen with a week's worth of rations and four day's worth of water. Nowhere near enough people to put up night watchmen duty with. And my wounds were such that any movement was highly inadvisable. Tagging along on horseback had reduced the healing.

So I slept. You might think that I would be too nervous to sleep without anyone watching over me, but I knew my situation. I was fucked if any Rebel patrol consisting of more than one person saw me.

Crossbows are very useful things. They let an injured man shoot from a lying position. The reloading bit was not so simple. I would get one good shot before I was overwhelmed by someone kicking my crossbow out of my hands and reopening my torso wounds. There was nothing to do but try and help my unnatural body along in its quest for regeneration. It was very boring.

>"I'm bored," I told Runesinger on the third day. She was a terrible conversation partner, what with her lack of tongue and all, but maybe I could tempt fate into conjuring some entertaining scenario for me.

>I sat tight and recuperated for the entire three days. By the morning of the fourth day, I was mostly whole again. The wonders of the Emperor's bloodline.

>>3657498
>I sat tight and recuperated for the entire three days. By the morning of the fourth day, I was mostly whole again. The wonders of the Emperor's bloodline.

>>3657498
>>I sat tight and recuperated for the entire three days. By the morning of the fourth day, I was mostly whole again. The wonders of the Emperor's bloodline.

>>3657498
>I sat tight and recuperated for the entire three days. By the morning of the fourth day, I was mostly whole again. The wonders of the Emperor's bloodline.

>>3657498
>>"I'm bored," I told Runesinger on the third day. She was a terrible conversation partner, what with her lack of tongue and all, but maybe I could tempt fate into conjuring some entertaining scenario for me.

Rolled 91 (1d100)

Something

>>3657498
>>"I'm bored," I told Runesinger on the third day. She was a terrible conversation partner, what with her lack of tongue and all, but maybe I could tempt fate into conjuring some entertaining scenario for me.

>>3657539
>>3657540
>>3657545
>I sat tight and recuperated for the entire three days. By the morning of the fourth day, I was mostly whole again. The wonders of the Emperor's bloodline.

I was doing my second exercise of the day when I heard first heard the bird call that the Rebel used to communicate with each other in the forest.

Idiots. It was still too early for birds to be singing. Old snow lay fetid on the ground and branches, refusing to melt, aided by the tightly wound canopies of the ancient trees above that blocked the sun. But they didn't need stealth to capture me. Our horse print must have rightened their tracking after all this time. Speed had been a greater concern for Sergeant than speed.

A summer thrush cooed in the distance. They were closer now.

"Your friends are here," I told Runesinger. She didn't look amused. She knew I would rather kill her than let her leave freely.

A scouting group of five, the Rebel's usual. And here I was, a mere Scrivener, all alone with naught but a loaded crossbow and a shortsword. I considered my choices.

>I could repeat the nocturnal performance that got me nearly killed, sneaking around with my sword to assassinate the patrol as they stomped around the Forest. My wounds were almost healed, and though I wasn't in top form, it was going to be easier to deal with Rebel one by one.

>I decided to set Runesinger up as a decoy, covering her with a cloak so her face couldn't be revealed. After making sure she couldn't dislodge her costume, I grabbed my crossbow and ten bolts, climbing atop one of the trees. I waited.

>I surrendered. Did you think I was going to ninja my way with five Rebel rangers, when I'd nearly gotten killed dealing with just two? Think again. Besides, it was Sergeant's fault that he was late. I hoped the famous Rebel naivete would make them take me as prisoner instead of killing me on the spot.

>>3657571
>I decided to set Runesinger up as a decoy, covering her with a cloak so her face couldn't be revealed. After making sure she couldn't dislodge her costume, I grabbed my crossbow and ten bolts, climbing atop one of the trees. I waited.

>>3657571
>I decided to set Runesinger up as a decoy, covering her with a cloak so her face couldn't be revealed. After making sure she couldn't dislodge her costume, I grabbed my crossbow and ten bolts, climbing atop one of the trees. I waited.

For the Company.

>>3657571
>>I decided to set Runesinger up as a decoy, covering her with a cloak so her face couldn't be revealed. After making sure she couldn't dislodge her costume, I grabbed my crossbow and ten bolts, climbing atop one of the trees. I waited.

>>3657574
>>3657580
>>3657582
"Don't fail me now," I whispered to my leg as I clambered on to the tree. I knew it was a little crazy to do that. But being alone - and Runesinger was hardly what you would call a conversation partner - had driven me nuts. I was used to listening to other people and writing them down for the Annals. The unwelcome silence was making me revert to my habits of when I was a single traveler.

How would I write of that on the Annals? 'In the last days of the winter of 1639 F.C., Scrivener Aurelius went mad.'

An unlikely epitaph. Unlikely in that I did not like it, not that it was impossible. I wanted to see my wives. I wanted to see the children that I had helped create. I missed Honey.

"This is stupid," I said aloud. Nervousness was hastening my devolution. Get a hold of yourself, Aurelius. In the end, it was the thought of never seeing Honey again that compelled me to do something very stupid.

The birdcalls stopped. I killed my breath and cradled the crossbow. They'd found the camp. The lone figure, hooded and cloaked, was giving them pause. They knew it was something alive, because she was moving, though much more like a furious larvae than anything human. My training with Dumpling on the esoteric arts of rope tying had paid off.

One of the Rebel decided to investigate the curious bundle closer. One by one, they appeared from behind the trees. Bows and arrows. A dead deer slung on a strong shoulder. Two hares dangling limpy on a feminine hip. It was a hunting party, not a patrol. There were three of them, tall and well-proportioned that was easy on the eyes even from this distance, and looking for all the world as though they'd just stepped out of a bath despite living in the Forest. Their yellow turban was tightly wound around their long hair. They could have been on the recruitment posters for the Rebel. Knowing their aptitude for propaganda, they probably were.

>>3657587

"You there, identify yourself!" The leader's voice rang clear and strong in Coin, the language of Eskhatans. I couldn't see the details of his face from this distance. I bet he was handsome, too. The gods are too generous. Rare, but it happens. I waited. Runesinger intensified her struggle.

"Could be the one that killed Aexes, Wick," the woman of the group cautioned. What kind of a name is Wick? "One of the Foresters?" So the woman was jumping to the conclusion of this being a Forester trap. I'd never heard of them before. It came as a surprise to me that Rebel might have someone they feared in their own stronghold. Then again, I hadn't known that Rebel presence was so strong here that they could manage to overpower an entire legion and the Company.

"Horses," the third man said. He was blond instead of raven-haired like the others. Decidedly not Eskhatan. "Foresters don't use horses."

They were walking to the camp now, striding in that arrogant way of theirs in thinking that there was no one else here. I could smell the self-righteousness from way up here. The elimination of Foresters as a possibility had made them confident.

>This Forester business was a new development. I waited to see their reaction to Runesinger.

>I aimed for the blondie, the easier target of the three against the black-and-white snowed in backdrop. I fired.

>>3657592
>I aimed for the blondie, the easier target of the three against the black-and-white snowed in backdrop. I fired.

I'd rather not bank on Rebel infighting to give us an opportunity

>>3657592
>>I aimed for the blondie, the easier target of the three against the black-and-white snowed in backdrop. I fired.

>>3657593
>>3657604
They were wary, I'll give them that. They were expecting something. A trap on the ground, perhaps, or a sudden burst of magic from the hooded figure. They approached Runesinger, arrows nocked.

What they weren't banking on was a crossbow bolt to the face. Or at least, that was the plan. I hadn't done my weapons training for a week. My fingers felt around the unfamiliar grip, the unremembered trigger.

Mars, god of my divine ancestor. Don't fail me now.

>3d100

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>3657610
Just think of Hood's tips for shooting.

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>3657610
Won't be talking our way out of this one, huh

Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>3657610

>>3657619
>>3657625
>>3657628

A second bolt was being latched before the Blond even dropped. I hadn't forgotten my lessons after all. They didn't waste their time. An arrow went through my left shoulder, pinning me to the treetrunk.

It hurt like fucking hell. It had also not hit anything important, unlike last time. I fired one-handed, and saw the black-haired man's head explode like a ripe melon. The woman screamed then. She dropped her bow and ran to her lover's side.

I was stuck. With my left arm immobilised, I couldn't reload the crossbow. I tried anyway. The pain made me black out.

When I came to, I was on the ground. My head ached something fierce.

"I should kill you where you lie," Ravenhair said. I angled my head to get a better look at my opponent. She was cradling what remained of Wick's head with no regard for the bio-matter that seeped into her clothes. Her eyes were puffed up and red. She had been crying.

How long was I out? "How long was I out?" I asked. My left shoulder was bandaged. Endlessly idealistic, the Rebel, though not enough to let me keep my weapon. My dagger was not in my belt.

"Why did you kill him?" she answered with a question. Her voice was dull. "What did we ever do to you?"

>"Everything." Hatred enflamed me, helping me ignore for a moment the cold and the pain and the dizziness of blood loss. "You killed my brothers. My Captain. And now, you will kill me."

>"Him?" I asked. "Don't you mean they?" I was beyond caring about angering the woman who currently held sway over my continued existence.

>"Don't take it personally," I said. It really wasn't, not for me. These particular Rebel trio hadn't personally caused the downfall of the Company, even if they might have butchered my brothers. They were fighting for their lives. We had been fighting for our commission. Personal feelings didn't come into it.

>>3657650
>>"Everything." Hatred enflamed me, helping me ignore for a moment the cold and the pain and the dizziness of blood loss. "You killed my brothers. My Captain. And now, you will kill me."

we better let her know it wasn't for nothing

>>3657650
>"Everything." Hatred enflamed me, helping me ignore for a moment the cold and the pain and the dizziness of blood loss. "You killed my brothers. My Captain. And now, you will kill me."

>>3657650
>>"Everything." Hatred enflamed me, helping me ignore for a moment the cold and the pain and the dizziness of blood loss. "You killed my brothers. My Captain. And now, you will kill me."

>>3657650
>"Everything." Hatred enflamed me, helping me ignore for a moment the cold and the pain and the dizziness of blood loss. "You killed my brothers. My Captain. And now, you will kill me."

>>3657650

>"Everything." Hatred enflamed me, helping me ignore for a moment the cold and the pain and the dizziness of blood loss. "You killed my brothers. My Captain. And now, you will kill me."

I just want to say we lost a great opportunity by attacking these guys, their superstition of the foresters could spread to the rebel camp and give us an edge on negotiations

>>3657654
>>3657655
>>3657656
>>3657657
>>3657659
>"Everything." Hatred enflamed me, helping me ignore for a moment the cold and the pain and the dizziness of blood loss. "You killed my brothers. My Captain. And now, you will kill me."

She regarded me with glassy eyes, not comprehending. Grief had made her slow. Then in her pupil, a flicker of recognition. "You're Black Company."

"Scrivener Aurelius, at your service." At your mercy.

I was shivering. The bandage was soaking gold, leaking precious warmth to the melting snow on the ground. Hunger clawed my belly as my body began cannibalising itself. Even Alexandrians do not spontaneously regenerate. We need to eat and drink for the body to find the necessary material. I had been carefully rationing my food. I must have been out for a while.

Damn the compulsions of the flesh, I thought. I was going to die. Let me at least die with the purity of my hatred intact.

"We didn't do it," she said. "We were in hiding in the western parts of the Forest. We just wanted to be left alone."

Lies. All lies. Who else would have a grudge against the legions that represented Imperial control? Who else but the Rebel would hate the Company enough to so effectively annihilate the two-thousand strong brotherhood?

>"Save your lies for your propaganda posters." Posturing. Always the posturing. The self-righteous Rebel, the self-sacrificing Rebel. They thought themselves noble by protesting the ongoing annexation of the Peninsular Kingdoms, and the planned Eastern Expedition against the islands of Wae. I'd had enough of it.

>I sneered. "I am glad I took two of your kind before I die." And I really was. It's a twisted thing, to take joy in the taking of life. Some of my brothers of the Company were into such things. Battle rage, they called it. White Bitch was particularly renowned for her bloodlust. This was different. This was vengeance.

>>3657667
>>"Save your lies for your propaganda posters." Posturing. Always the posturing. The self-righteous Rebel, the self-sacrificing Rebel. They thought themselves noble by protesting the ongoing annexation of the Peninsular Kingdoms, and the planned Eastern Expedition against the islands of Wae. I'd had enough of it.

>>3657667
>"Save your lies for your propaganda posters." Posturing. Always the posturing. The self-righteous Rebel, the self-sacrificing Rebel. They thought themselves noble by protesting the ongoing annexation of the Peninsular Kingdoms, and the planned Eastern Expedition against the islands of Wae. I'd had enough of it.

>>3657667
>>"Save your lies for your propaganda posters." Posturing. Always the posturing. The self-righteous Rebel, the self-sacrificing Rebel. They thought themselves noble by protesting the ongoing annexation of the Peninsular Kingdoms, and the planned Eastern Expedition against the islands of Wae. I'd had enough of it.

we apparently made a terrible mistake

>>3657667

>>"Save your lies for your propaganda posters." Posturing. Always the posturing. The self-righteous Rebel, the self-sacrificing Rebel. They thought themselves noble by protesting the ongoing annexation of the Peninsular Kingdoms, and the planned Eastern Expedition against the islands of Wae. I'd had enough of it.

File: all according to keikaku.jpg (37 KB, 466x324)

37 KB JPG

>>3657673
Keikaku means plan.

>>3657668
>>3657670
>>3657673
>>3657676
>>"Save your lies for your propaganda posters." Posturing. Always the posturing. The self-righteous Rebel, the self-sacrificing Rebel. They thought themselves noble by protesting the ongoing annexation of the Peninsular Kingdoms, and the planned Eastern Expedition against the islands of Wae. I'd had enough of it.

She was furious now, furious that I'd called on her load of drek. "There are five thousand of us in the Forest," she said, her voice trembling with anger. "Five thousand. Half of them civilians. Refugees from the iron fist of your Imperial overlords. We have barely enough weapons to go around. Yes, we were scouting your soldiers, but it was to make sure we could run away in time. We would not have launched an attack."

"Terrain advantage. Traps. Ambush is a force multiplier." Did she think I was born yesterday? I may have been merely a Scrivener, but I'd lived for a good long while. The Rebel excelled in guerilla attacks, nipping at the heels of Imperial forces.

"Look at my sword," she demanded. I braced myself for the execution. Instead, she displayed her weapon. Shit tier iron made brittle with cold, forged by someone who barely knew what he was doing. I wouldn't have given that sword to a child. Not that I gave children swords. It was heavily chipped along its blade with much use. "Does this look like something I would have looted from a legionary?" she continued. "Do I have anything on me that might have once been owned by your brothers?" Her armour was simple and piecemeal, homespun gambeson and crude woolen cloak.

Was it possible that I was wrong? Lieutenant hadn't actually mentioned any Rebel, just an ambush. And treachery of the legionaries.

>No. It was the Rebel who was wrong. "Congratulations. You are as terrible at looting as you are at lying." This harpy seemed intent on convincing me of her precious Rebel innocence before gifting me with blissful silence. "Kill me already. Or do you plan to let me bleed to death like your comrades did to mine?"

>"Legionaries wear heavy armour. Not good for foraging." Of course, the brothers in black moved in something more mobile, one that would suit scouts and huntsmen just fine. I didn't see fit to mention that.

>>3657684
>>No. It was the Rebel who was wrong. "Congratulations. You are as terrible at looting as you are at lying." This harpy seemed intent on convincing me of her precious Rebel innocence before gifting me with blissful silence. "Kill me already. Or do you plan to let me bleed to death like your comrades did to mine?"

we are loosing it, breaking

>>3657684

>No. It was the Rebel who was wrong. "Congratulations. You are as terrible at looting as you are at lying." This harpy seemed intent on convincing me of her precious Rebel innocence before gifting me with blissful silence. "Kill me already. Or do you plan to let me bleed to death like your comrades did to mine?"

If she actually tells us that they have some survivors and even helped them I'm gonna feel real bad.

>>3657684
>No. It was the Rebel who was wrong. "Congratulations. You are as terrible at looting as you are at lying." This harpy seemed intent on convincing me of her precious Rebel innocence before gifting me with blissful silence. "Kill me already. Or do you plan to let me bleed to death like your comrades did to mine?"

>>3657684
Hey what happened to Singer

>>3657689
>>3657691
>>3657713
>No. It was the Rebel who was wrong. "Congratulations. You are as terrible at looting as you are at lying." This harpy seemed intent on convincing me of her precious Rebel innocence before gifting me with blissful silence. "Kill me already. Or do you plan to let me bleed to death like your comrades did to mine?"

She set her lips together in a grim line. She was a determined sort, one who didn't linger overlong on things she couldn't fi, only what she could do about the circumstances. I was reminded of Hood, my beloved Eskhatan.

"I won't kill you," she said at last. Coward that I am, I felt relief then. I'd been unconsciously holding my breath. Now that she confirmed the stay of execution, the cold and pain and hunger that had been shored up set upon me like warhounds.

Ravenhair got up to her feet and lay the grotesque corpse of her partner on the floor. After a small prayer, she began to systematically strip him of his weapons and clothes.

"That was a beautiful shot." Another voice. I painfully turned my head. It was Blond, very much alive, holding gingerly the goosefeather bolt that I had planted in his throat. The neck had been bandaged with the same skill that had tended to my shoulder.

His voice was hoarse from the extra hole in his throat, but the shot hadn't silenced him. His eyes glowed golden. "They taught you well, brother. The Black Company always was the best of the best. If you had known of my condition and aimed for the head, no doubt I would be truly dead by now."

Alexandrian. "You're Alexandrian," I said numbly, temporarily forgetting my anger. That was not possible. What was a member of the Imperial family doing among the Rebel? The gold in his eyes were strong, indicating strong inheritance of our common ancestor's blood. Most Alexandrians sported gold of a paler sort, non-glowing. Diminished.

His eyes were positively blazing.

"Just like you," he grinned, stretching the neck wound. "Knowing our curse, you should be feeling mighty hungry right about now. Raven will bring us food once she is done dispossessing her brother. The dead have no use for things, eh?"

An Alexandrian helping the Rebel. Now I'd seen everything.

>"I'm hallucinating," I said. I would have pinched myself, but I was tied up. "This is all a dream. Of course it is."

>My head was spinning. Too much was happening, too fast. "You're far from home," I managed.

>>3657715
I haven't forgotten her

>>3657722
>>My head was spinning. Too much was happening, too fast. "You're far from home," I managed.

>>3657722
>My head was spinning. Too much was happening, too fast. "You're far from home," I managed.
So we weren't the only ones Intelligence was after.

Dollars to donuts he's part of the Sixteen

>>3657722

>My head was spinning. Too much was happening, too fast. "You're far from home," I managed.
I guess we found a new commission

>>3657722
>My head was spinning. Too much was happening, too fast. "We're far from home," I managed.

>>3657730
>>3657734
>>3657736
>>3657740
>My head was spinning. Too much was happening, too fast. "You're far from home," I managed. I was far from home.

"So was our beloved Emperor," he replied. "No one seem to mind him." A joke. He was a Rebel, and I a captive of a Rebel. If there was anything they minded, it was the Emperor. "Now that you are awake and lucid, I'm afraid I have to take on the role of the interrogator. And trust me when I say that I do not relish the idea. But I also want you whole, and I am not sure Raven would not take liberties with some of your... non-critical extremities."

I was drained. Confused. I wanted to sleep. My stomach reminded me that was not going to happen anytime soon. "Ask," I said. My mouth felt dry.

"What - or who - is in that bundle of cloak and cloth?" So he hadn't risked finding out what was beneath the cloak. He must have sensed magic.

>"One of you. Runesinger." [Truth]
>"Why don't you go and find out?"
>"Runesinger. I was hoping to trade her for survivors of the Company." [Whole truth]

>>3657751
>>"Runesinger. I was hoping to trade her for survivors of the Company." [Whole truth]

no point in hiding I think

>>3657751
>"Runesinger. I was hoping to trade her for survivors of the Company." [Whole truth]

>>3657751

>"One of you. Runesinger." [Truth]

>>3657751
> whole truth

>>3657751
>"Runesinger. I was hoping to trade her for survivors of the Company." [Whole truth]

>>3657751
>>"One of you. Runesinger." [Truth]

>>3657751
>"Runesinger. I was hoping to trade her for survivors of the Company." [Whole truth]

>>3657755
>>3657763
>>3657828
>>3657832
>>3657839
>"Runesinger. I was hoping to trade her for survivors of the Company." [Whole truth]

He raised an eyebrow. "Yet you shot at us. Not something negotiators are known for." His voice was soft, mellifluous. Like the gold in his eyes.

"There were three of you." My voice sounded croaky compared to his, even with his throat wound. The bastard was everything I wasn't. Handsome, calm (even with his throat pierced), in control. The gods are cruel to gift so lavishly in one what they do not in the other. "I had only one of me. I had to make sure she was secured. She was the only thing we had to barter with."

"Your words ring true." They rang desperate. "I mourn the loss of Wick. He was a most understanding brother-in-law, and in truth, much more brotherly than my real brothers."

I was startled. "Are we naturally predisposed toward Eskhatans, do you think?"

"You don't mean to tell me..." a funny look came on Blond's face. "Your wife, is she...?"

"Eskhatan." Some of the guarded look that I realised was prejudice lifted from his face.

"So you are not married to one of your...?"

Gods above, no. "No. I am a polygamist, though."

"Ah, well. We must take what we can get. You are the first relative I know to not be, a, well."

"A sister-fucker," I helpfully provided.

"That." His face contorted to something like polite disgust.

Yet even as we meandered into casual conversation, an alarm sounded in my head. He was polite, charming even. When Raven finished feeding him, he gently reminded her that I needed to be fed as well. He was the perfect image of a gentleman, save for one defect. The man's callousness toward the death of his brother-in-law disturbed me.

It was a classic sign of the Alexandrian madness. The detached view for lives some of those in the Capital gained as they saw more and more deaths of non-Capitalists in their long lives. Brother, he had called the dead man. But he showed little outward signs of grief in his death, unlike his lover. Something was broken in him.

Or was something broken in me, to feel so strongly about the death of my comrades? People whose names and faces I barely remembered?

>>3657845

>Maybe I was the abnormal one. I wasted time and strength by thinking about consequences, the well-being of those around me. There were many cases where I could have achieved more by being less circumspect. Even if it paled beneath the accomplishments of the Emperor, there had been those among my relatives who had attained feats martial and political that was far beyond any mortal men. Detachment had given them the long view necessary to accomplish such things.

>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction in their majestic thrones.

>>3657853

>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction in their majestic thrones.

>>3657853

>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction in their majestic thrones.

We like to love, if pain is consequence, so be it.

>>3657853
>>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction in their majestic thrones.
Detachment is useful definitely but not to this guy's extent.

>>3657853
>Maybe I was the abnormal one. I wasted time and strength by thinking about consequences, the well-being of those around me. There were many cases where I could have achieved more by being less circumspect. Even if it paled beneath the accomplishments of the Emperor, there had been those among my relatives who had attained feats martial and political that was far beyond any mortal men. Detachment had given them the long view necessary to accomplish such things

>>3657853
>>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction in their majestic thrones.

>>3657853

>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction in their majestic thrones.

>>3657853
>Maybe I was the abnormal one. I wasted time and strength by thinking about consequences, the well-being of those around me. There were many cases where I could have achieved more by being less circumspect. Even if it paled beneath the accomplishments of the Emperor, there had been those among my relatives who had attained feats martial and political that was far beyond any mortal men. Detachment had given them the long view necessary to accomplish such things.

>>3657853
>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction in their majestic thrones.

>>3657853
>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction in their majestic thrones.

>>3657845
>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction in their majestic thrones.

>>3657863
>>3657864
>>3657867
>>3657883
>>3657922
>>3658120
>>3658150
>>3658164
No

>>3657879
>>3657968
Maybe

writing

>>3658777
>No. Whatever the benefits of being a cold-blooded reptile like those under the influence of the familial curse, I wanted no part of it. I had run away from the Capital to live, and live fully. I wanted nothing more than to embrace both the pains and the joys of life - to be able to cry when those I cared about died and rejoice in the birth of a child. Let others take their turns becoming unfeeling automatons of death and destruction on their majestic thrones.

I rejected him and all he stood for. Ambition without restraint, desire for the sake of desire. That sort of attitude would plunge all of Empire to war, all to sate his unending thirst. And at what cost? Nations destroyed, entire people annihilated. Khulan and its Varangian Diaspora. The sinking of Alexandria Eskhata. The Goebie Desert, where the last of the true Sinaean dynasties fled before the march of the Emperor's legions. They had all been the result of a single man's will. Each life prematurely ended, a story left unfinished. I could not in good conscience support such a thing as a Scrivener, who existed to chronicle the accounts of the living.

Hypocritice, you may scoff. A mercenary with a heart of gold. What a played-out story! It is understandable. I was a man of the Black Company, after all. Death was our trade, lives our currency.

Hark then, the difference that lies between the armchair general and the grimy footsoldier.

We fought our own wars in our own terms. We looked at the men we killed in the eyes, knowing that we risked our own in the minute clash of lives. Ours was a measured murder, a moderated murder, killing knowing we would be killed in turn. We had understood the fact that each and every conflict costed us dear comrades, lovers, sometimes even children.

Were we the good guys? Hardly. It had nothing to do with honour or chivalry, like some khitar-playing fools sang. Death is a nasty business, and we are fools to have made our bed in it. In a saner world, I would have liked to be a farmer. It had everything to do with the fact that we lived and died the same as our once-enemies and circumstantial rivals did, unlike those marble-throned psychopaths who saw armies as gilded chess pieces, cities as blank squares on the board. And there lay all the difference.

Black Company - Murdering Responsibly. I should put that on a poster somewhere.

>>3658885

"I haven't introduced myself," Blond said. Raven was untying Runesinger, who was looking at me with undisguised glee in her eyes. If she could talk, she probably would have given me a lecture about the inevitability of the triumph of righteousness over evil. As it was, she merely made some unintelligible vocalisations, its underlying meaning comprehensible even for the shortened tongue.

I wondered if she was in any position to talk, what with her precious Rebel working with an Alexandrian more twisted than I. "You don't have to share your name with me," I said. "I killed your brother in law."

"Oh no, I insist. I make it a point to introduce myself to every acquaintance." That may prove useful. He flashed a likable smile, and in that smile I saw the Aurelius that might have been, had I not had Honey to anchor me and my conscience. It really was unnatural to be so cheerful after losing one's brother-in-law and close friend, after all. "My name is Throne. It is a pleasure to meet you, cousin."

Of course the bugger was one of the Sixteen. He had to be an Ensorcelled on top of being one of the most potent Alexandrian I'd ever seen, didn't he?

"Aurelius. Likewise."

---

The wound I'd inflicted on Throne was grievous enough that he had to rest for a few days. For all his vaunted magic, healing was evidently not his forte. "Fleshcrafter is, as his name suggests, the most prolific of our number in regards to healing," he said, almost apologetically. As if I would ever subject myself to Fleshcrafter's tender ministrations. The name gave me the shakes.

The good thing was that I was healing along nicely, faster than his throat was doing. And we were staying put until he could move without his head falling off, which meant that I had more time to wait for Sergeant and Sister. But what would I do when they arrived? Throne knew that I didn't come here alone, ignoring Runesinger. The number of saddles and horses had given up that much.

>I decided to try and prevent a conflict between Sergeant and Sister when - if - they appeared. There were too many unknown variables. Mind you, I didn't believe Raven when she said that they had nothing to do with the ambush. Alright, maybe I did. Like I said, too many variables.

>I resolved to overpower Throne when I could. My body was practically whole, while Throne was still rejuvinating from the partial paralysis from my bolt scratching his spine. I hoped that would be enough to get to him before Raven or his magic could nail me.

>>3658895
>I decided to try and prevent a conflict between Sergeant and Sister when - if - they appeared. There were too many unknown variables. Mind you, I didn't believe Raven when she said that they had nothing to do with the ambush. Alright, maybe I did. Like I said, too many variables.

>>3658895
>I decided to try and prevent a conflict between Sergeant and Sister when - if - they appeared. There were too many unknown variables. Mind you, I didn't believe Raven when she said that they had nothing to do with the ambush. Alright, maybe I did. Like I said, too many variables.

>>3658895

>I decided to try and prevent a conflict between Sergeant and Sister when - if - they appeared. There were too many unknown variables. Mind you, I didn't believe Raven when she said that they had nothing to do with the ambush. Alright, maybe I did. Like I said, too many variables.

We may be looking at this wrong, better prevent further bloodshed

>>3658895

>I decided to try and prevent a conflict between Sergeant and Sister when - if - they appeared. There were too many unknown variables. Mind you, I didn't believe Raven when she said that they had nothing to do with the ambush. Alright, maybe I did. Like I said, too many variables.

>>3658895

>>I decided to try and prevent a conflict between Sergeant and Sister when - if - they appeared. There were too many unknown variables. Mind you, I didn't believe Raven when she said that they had nothing to do with the ambush. Alright, maybe I did. Like I said, too many variables.

>>3658936
>>3658934
>>3658931
>>3658919
>>3658914
>I decided to try and prevent a conflict between Sergeant and Sister when - if - they appeared. There were too many unknown variables. Mind you, I didn't believe Raven when she said that they had nothing to do with the ambush. Alright, maybe I did. Like I said, too many variables.

The next day found Runesinger dead. She had expired in the night, apparently of natural causes. Her face was a masterful mimicry of peaceful composure. Raven blamed me for her death. Said that I had let her wounds fester and sore.

"What a pity," Throne said sadly. A perfect teardrop rolled off his perfect cheek. "She was an excellent ally. I owed my life to her many times over. If only I could have given her my own life..."

Raven stroke his arm, the comforted becoming the comforter. I did not mention the distinct tingle of magical aftereffect. It was so heavy that I could almost taste the actinic tang while I buried her corpse.

"We believe that the Forest killed your friends," Throne said as we ate dinner. He'd decided that I wouldn't run, not when I clearly had people to meet here, and only tied me up at night. He was very confident of his magic during the day when he was awake. "Foresters, to be precise. They were here when we first arrived, too, five years ago. That's why we mostly keep ourselves in the western quadrant."

"The Forest." Have I mentioned that wizards are often insane?

Throne nodded seriously, not detecting the sarcasm in my voice. "Scouts have gone missing. Hunting parties. Entire families when they lagged behind. Only a few days ago we found that Aexes and his team was not going to return. He was one of the best of us."

"And these Foresters are what, minions?"

"Something like that, yes. They seem perfectly content to share the woods, as long as we keep away from proscribed regions. It took some trial and error to find out which they were. Foresters don't exactly build walls."

"I'll need to see the battlefield." I wasn't going to believe him just because he said so.

"Of course. Would you like to do that before or after we meet with your brothers? I don't mean fellow Alexandrians," he added. "We took some of your men and women under our care."

Relief flooded me. I'm not too proud to say that I cried.

>"The Annals. Do you have the Annals?"

>"How many survived? Is Captain okay?"

>>3658985

>"How many survived? Is Captain okay?"

>>3658985
>>"How many survived? Is Captain okay?"

>>3658985

>"How many survived? Is Captain okay?"

Man, what a shame, he killed Runesinger, we will have to kill this dude before long.

>>3659015
Yes, such a shame Runesinger expired in her sleep peacefully with no sign of poisoning or foul play.

>>3658985

>"How many survived? Is Captain okay?"

>>3659021
Nah it was the dude, I wonder why he killed her, maybe for the same Mindbreaker wanted to

>>3659005
>>3659007
>>3659015
>>3659030

Senior Scrivener Xavier would have tanned my hide if he knew I was neglecting my foremost duty, the preservation of those almost holy documents. I didn't care. What mattered to me was the people that made up the Company. Old books could come later. "How many survived? Is Captain okay?"

"I don't think a hellhound could keep that woman down," he replied. Be still, my heart. It was unreasonable for me to be so happy when so many had died. "As for survivors, around three hundred. It's really put a strain on our food supply this late in winter."

Three hundred. And a week ago we'd thought the entire Black Company destroyed. More than three fourth of the Company was lost, but that was three hundred more than I expected to find. I take what good news I could get. They were rare enough in these troubled times.

"We're not going to meet our hunting quota," Raven said. She glared at me, as if it was my fault they hadn't been out hunting. That is because it was.

"I'll be fine," Throne said. Raven looked sceptical.

"He's Black Company. And he skewered your neck."

"And I'm still alive, see? He got the drop on me that time. Not likely to happen again."

Raven left, reluctantly. I think she would have liked to cut my hands off, as Trevain had done to Runesinger.

Throne stretched his legs. "So, tell me about yourself, cousin. I have not been in the Capital for many years. Being a Rebel makes it difficult to do so without attracting the attention of the censors."

>"I haven't been there in eleven- no, twelve years, now. It probably hasn't changed much."

>"What's there to say? I had a generic childhood mostly spent in the Bibliotheca, went through the cursus honorum, was married off to a woman I did not know and vice versa."

>"It's always the same in Capital. Now, the life of a swashbuckling Rebel Alexandrian! That is bound to be more interesting."

>>3659047
>>"I haven't been there in eleven- no, twelve years, now. It probably hasn't changed much."

>>3659047

>"I haven't been there in eleven- no, twelve years, now. It probably hasn't changed much."

>>3659047
>>"It's always the same in Capital. Now, the life of a swashbuckling Rebel Alexandrian! That is bound to be more interesting."

deflect!

Ok guys, remember that tale about the First Friend, the golden eyed dude that first was nice and then came back to fuck them up?
This guy is the second coming of that dude, he is going to betrayvthe shit out of these poor rebels, that now that I know more about, they just want to be left alone and away from the empire bulshit, which is very reasonable in my opinion, he is probably here to make them all die. I would like to stop him if that is the case.

>>3659047
>"It's always the same in Capital. Now, the life of a swashbuckling Rebel Alexandrian! That is bound to be more interesting."
Story time!

>>3659116

We'll see.

>>3659116
IC we really cant claim to suspect that level of treachery just yet.

He is suspicious.

>"I haven't been there in eleven- no, twelve years, now. It probably hasn't changed much."

>>3659224
Oh yeah, its like that Varus situation.
But he is already giving us sone tips, we felt magic related to Runesinger's death and he is the only mage around

>>3659047
>>"I haven't been there in eleven- no, twelve years, now. It probably hasn't changed much."

>>3659047
>>"I haven't been there in eleven- no, twelve years, now. It probably hasn't changed much."

>>3659238

Maybe some forest spirit killed her?

>>3659270
Well, I don't believe A-really is THAT naive.

>>3659047
>>"I haven't been there in eleven- no, twelve years, now. It probably hasn't changed much."

Glamoured into a woman to capture a sorceress and carried her all the way here only to get her killed by the people she's to be bargained for lmao.

>>3660526
Also as far as we know they were not hostile

No internet at home today, hopefully the DNS error shenanigans will cease by tomorrow

And before you ask, no, i cant update via mobile, that would kill me with how annoying it is to go back and edit

See you soon hopefully

>>3660917
no problem, thanks for the heads up

>>3660917
Appreciate the dedication to quality good luck with the DNS stuff

After what felt like a century, my internet is back and I can write again

>>3659061
>>3659066
>>3659224
>>3659247
>>3659262
>>3660427
A

>>3659082
>>3659121
B

Writing

>>3663990
>"I haven't been there in eleven- no, twelve years, now. It probably hasn't changed much."

Capital. Even before the Empire was founded, native Sinaean dynasties had made it the centre of their lesser empires. It had a proper name back when it was founded nearly ten thousand years ago by the Emperor, but everyone just called it the Capital. Too much history had pressed down that place, giving it a thousand and one names.

Why had I fled? It had seemed important then. It must have been. It was hard to remember. Throne's eyes were distracting. He had an unnerving habit of looking at you fully in the eyes when speaking. It made you feel important. Like you were someone worth paying attention to.

"I never had a family there, unlike most of our kinsmen," he said. "My heart was always in Alexandria Eskhata. It was a beautiful island." Before it sank. How long ago was that? Two centuries, at least. "Cousin, did you know that Eskhatans are the most resistant to our gift? All my children with my successive wives - all of them Eskhatan - bore no children with the characteristic golden eyes. Raven is my twelfth. Not all at one time like you, of course."

I wasn't annoyed at the way he subtly insulted me. It was even charming. Why did you engaged in polygamy? His eyes seemed to ask, reproachful, but also understanding.

"But there was another reason I did not stay in the Capital," he continued after a pause. "The censors coddle our kin overmuch in that city. Kept in a stable of marble and studded for sires. And even the greatest of our relatives cannot defy them, for they execute the will of the dead Emperor. Dead!" He barked out a bitter laugh. "And he still holds sway over us from beyond the grave."

"An empty grave," I said. No one saw the body.

"All the more reason that power and authority should be returned to us," he said fervently. "It is we who are the children of the Emperor. The divine right of rule lies in our blood!"

For a Rebel, he was awfully authoritarian. "I thought you Rebel were against all things Imperial."

He smiled. "The Rebel is not a monolith. The Council of Sixteen is a battleground of ideas, ranging from anarchs to the religious fanatics. There is no one way to conduct a Rebellion, after all. While the paramount foe stands, needs compel us to remain united. But once the Empire fragments, I foresee rifts forming within us all."

Rebel ain't a monolith. You start seeing them as one group, that's where you fuck up.