>>3704451

I blinked. And it wasn't the whale oil candle, whose fumes were acrid. "I am a danger to the Company."

"Everyone is a danger to the Company," Captain said. "You think you're the first person to attract Intelligence's interest? Don't be so full of yourself, Aurelius. The world does not revolve around you."

"Redhair died-"

"And died well. I saw the bodies. They had no wounds on their backs." Captain smiled tightly. "They died well. That's what the Company wants, one and all. If they didn't die today, they would have died in Wae, or in the next theatre. Death is our business, murder our duty." She stood up. Lieutenant deferringly stood back to give her space to move through. She stepped over to the window, looking out to the ever moving fleet around the flagship.

The Ice-Queen of Khulan, they called her, on account of her snow-blue hair and snow-blue eyes. A Varangian nobility, if nobility they had. I had saved her life, once. It was something I had over her. But that was personal. This was business.

"The hunters will come again," I said.

"I have studied them," Captain said, staring at a point of light. It was night. Mariners were using torches for the lookout. "Imperial Intelligence. Censores. They are not a monolith."

Not a monolith, I remembered Raindrops' giggling voice. Oh no, never a monolith. Rebels are not nearly as unified as they want everyone else to think.

"Factions vie against each other, constantly challenging their neighbour's doctrines. Watchers made to watch the watchers, their own limitless authority cockblocked by the ambitions of others' within their ranks. You've bloodied the nose of whichever group it was that wanted your children, sergeant. And venators are very expensive. No, they won't come. Not to Wae."

>I fidgeted. "But after Wae?"

>"Not if half the things I've heard of Wae is true," I conceded.

>>3704453
>"Not if half the things I've heard of Wae is true," I conceded.
She's not budging and that's final. Once we survive Wae then we can bring it up again.

>>3704453
>I fidgeted. "But after Wae?"

>>3704453

>I fidgeted. "But after Wae?

>>3704453
>>I fidgeted. "But after Wae?"

>I fidgeted. "But after Wae?"

>>3704453

>"Not if half the things I've heard of Wae is true," I conceded.

So, corporal Hood is a thing? Will we form a platoon?

>>3704490
>>3704492
>>3704494
>>I fidgeted. "But after Wae?"

I heard the smile in her voice. "Why, sergeant. I didn't take you for an optimist. I thought you would have subscribed to Lieutenant's school of thought." Which was that we were all going to die before we even landed.

Lieutenant huffed. He had been violently against the campaign. He much preferred the contract with Belisarius. It was conventional. We would be among allies. A war of oases kingdoms and Imperial might. But by the time I'd led the rest of the Company back to Bath, it was too late to change course.

Wae was different. Wae was... odd. The people there weren't quite right. All they produced was shit for iron and bizarrely beautiful architecture, as far as the rest of the world was concerned. And much of it wasn't for sale. A strange cult that was even more notable for their unwillingness to proselytise was flowering in those secluded isles.

The only other thing they were known for was the piracy.

"The Wae control the sea around their isles," Lieutenant said ominously. "Their priests sacrifice virgin boys captured from Peninsular villages once a year by the thousands. The women, they keep. Only those accepted by the gods of Wae are allowed to land in those gods-damned isles. That is why only Waelander merchants come in and come out from the eastern sea."

Captain did not turn away from the window. She didn't need to to let us feel her displeasure. "The reason only Waelanders go that far east, Lieutenant, is because nobody wants what little they do have to give. It is a waste of sail. They would have been left alone, if they weren't a nuisance in the trade routes with all their piracy." Rapers, vagabonds, pirates. Those were the Wae that everyone else knew. "The astrologers predicted a rainless weather. They are usually not wrong."

>>3704503

"I maintain that we do not have a complete understanding of their capabilities," Lieutenant said. "We don't have maps. We don't even know their political system, aside from the fact that there is a King - or, at least, a king. They call him the Emperor."

"Kings, emperors, khagans. Different words for the same thing."

"Not this one. He is supposed to be divine."

"Are you suggesting that the Emperor threw everything away to go east and rule a few patches of dry land?" Captain said with some amusement. "That does not sound like the Emperor that I know."

"Not that anyone knows what the Emperor was like," I commented.

Captain ignored that. "You can protest, but the fact remains that the commission has been taken."

That made Lieutenant back off. The Black Company never broke our contracts. "That, incidentally, concludes our discussion on your premature resignation. The answer is a no, Aurelius." She whirled, a dramatic effect when you have hair as long and startlingly blue as Captain. "Not when I need my veterans the most. And most definitely not when he is married to all of my sorcerers."

>"What can I say? My golden eyes brings all the sorceresses to the yard."

>I stayed quiet. Polygamy was frowned upon in polite societies. Black Company was not polite society. But it was a society its very own.

>>3704505
>I stayed quiet. Polygamy was frowned upon in polite societies. Black Company was not polite society. But it was a society its very own.

>>3704505

>I stayed quiet. Polygamy was frowned upon in polite societies. Black Company was not polite society. But it was a society its very own.

Yeah yeah, we get it, the sorceress are invaluable the two others non magical people of the relation are just collateral, I wonder if she wouldn't kick us out herself if it wasn't for the mages...she can't even get rid of the babies and move on since it would upset her mages too...suddenly we became a weak link of the company.

>>3704518
All of a sudden that armor became even more useful in keeping us alive.

>>3704505
>"What can I say? My golden eyes brings all the sorceresses to the yard."

Damn right, it's better than yours

>>3704505
>"What can I say? My golden eyes brings all the sorceresses to the yard."

>>3704505

>I stayed quiet. Polygamy was frowned upon in polite societies. Black Company was not polite society. But it was a society its very own.

Nice "break" op

>>3704505
>>I stayed quiet. Polygamy was frowned upon in polite societies. Black Company was not polite society. But it was a society its very own.

>>3704512
>>3704515
>>3704534
>>3704540
>I stayed quiet. Polygamy was frowned upon in polite societies. Black Company was not polite society. But it was a society its very own.

But I hadn't quite married all the Company wizards. We'd managed to recruit an Ensorcelled in Reed. He had been an entertainer before joining, and managed some glamours, but he couldn't even light a cigarette with witchfires.

If there were grades to sorcerers, Shamaness would be a Three, while Dumpling was an upper Two. Truncheon was a mid-One. All the halfway decent ones tended to be enrolled in one of the scholae, or hired help to some prefect or another. Rare resources, sorcerers. I doubted the entire population of Waelanders had more than a single Ensorcelled.

I was between a rock and a tight place. "At least double the guards from now on. Twenty men per patrol."

"Your concerns have been duly noted," Captain said, in a voice that said otherwise. "There are things you need to do, I believe. Picking members of your platoon, for example. Dumpling and Corporal Hood are with you already, I believe?"

"And Mulberry."

Captain's lips curled. "Ah, yes. Trevain's bastard." Lieutenant managed to look surprised despite his face-enclosing helm. I didn't exactly go around shouting about it. "He'll be useful when you land, no doubt. Knowledge of the land and the language."

"She's never been in Wae, not after infancy. One of the reasons she joined was to see the land of her forefathers."

"You seem to attract children wherever you go, Aurelius." She shrugged. "That has its uses. It's easier to blend in when you look like a family."

"Not in Wae."

"No," Captain agreed. "Dumpling certainly would stand out. As would Hood. And everyone else in your platoon, in fact... except you and Mulberry."

"Ah. Eye glamour?" I nodded. "Dumpling can manage something, I think." Partial glamours were much easier to fashion than complete ones.

"Yes. As a ranger, you will be one of the vanguards. As soon as we see land, we will have your platoon - among others - make way via boat. Do not attempt to make contact with the other rangers. They will be scouting the shores to find a good place to make a landing. The fleet will similarly be off limits to you. We can't risk grounding the vessels."

"What about my men?" I asked. I'd heard the exclusive they. Which meant that there would be a separate you.

"You are blessed with a uniquely Waelandish feature," Captain said.

"Peninsular."

"Same thing, after the centuries of rape." Southern Peninsulars were not known for bravery. They were quite good at long-distance running-the-fuck-away. "What is important is that you and Mulberry can blend in. Father and son."

>>3704543

>"Daughter." I sighed. "You haven't seen Mulberry, have you? She has a thing against fathers." Still, the plan had merit. We looked like the locals, and as long as they didn't start talking we might even make it deep.

>"We'll speak again of my resignation after Wae," I said. The talk was not finished.

>>3704546
>>"Daughter." I sighed. "You haven't seen Mulberry, have you? She has a thing against fathers." Still, the plan had merit. We looked like the locals, and as long as they didn't start talking we might even make it deep.

>>3704546
>>"Daughter." I sighed. "You haven't seen Mulberry, have you? She has a thing against fathers." Still, the plan had merit. We looked like the locals, and as long as they didn't start talking we might even make it deep.

>>3704546
>"Daughter." I sighed. "You haven't seen Mulberry, have you? She has a thing against fathers." Still, the plan had merit. We looked like the locals, and as long as they didn't start talking we might even make it deep.
Oh boy, will we get into a pissing match with Not!Samurai? Get pranked by Not!Kitsune? Accident into the graces of a Not!Daimyo?
Find out on the next Dragonball Z!

>>3704546

>"Daughter." I sighed. "You haven't seen Mulberry, have you? She has a thing against fathers." Still, the plan had merit. We looked like the locals, and as long as they didn't start talking we might even make it deep.

Should we start teaching med to Honey on our downtime? We are without an apprentice and it's a useful skill to have, but maybe she's still too young

>>3704555
you are way too optimistic, you are counting that we will be able to make landfall at all and not drown at sea because of Not!Kamikaze

>>3704558
That's to be expected Anon. Everything else that I mentioned might not actually exist.

>>3704546
>>"Daughter." I sighed. "You haven't seen Mulberry, have you? She has a thing against fathers." Still, the plan had merit. We looked like the locals, and as long as they didn't start talking we might even make it deep.

>>3704550
>>3704553
>>3704555
>>3704557
>>3704565
>"Daughter." I sighed. "You haven't seen Mulberry, have you? She has a thing against fathers." Still, the plan had merit. We looked like the locals, and as long as they didn't start talking we might even make it deep.

"Do not let me detain you from your duties, sergeant," Captain said. And that was that.

Hood - Corporal Hood, I corrected myself silently - fell into step after I closed the door to Captain's quarter (which was confusing, because the captain of the ship also had his own quarter). "Go well?" She asked.

"Hrrrm."

She smiled sympathetically, "That bad?" She gave me a quick kiss. Suddenly the torches seemed much brighter. How different she was from the murder-psycho that used to leap for my life! "You spent a long time in there. What did you talk about?"

>I told her about my wish to resign. And the thing about needing to take the babies away. It was for their own good.

>"Received new orders. We're going to do some proper Ranger stuff. But before that, do you have the personnel dossiers?" I hadn't made a final choice yet to fill the three empty slots. Ranger platoons were allotted fewer men per, owing to their need for fast travel speed.

>>3704570
>>I told her about my wish to resign. And the thing about needing to take the babies away. It was for their own good.

time to dodge I guess

>>3704570
>I told her about my wish to resign. And the thing about needing to take the babies away. It was for their own good.

>>3704575
She needs her exercise too.

>>3704570

>I told her about my wish to resign. And the thing about needing to take the babies away. It was for their own good.

The plan was to take her with us in wae was it not?

>>3704570
>>I told her about my wish to resign. And the thing about needing to take the babies away. It was for their own good.

Oh my, I guess I didn't need to draft up the Trooper list after all. Looks like anons want to go rogue and leave the Company. Do you guys plan to leave Shamaness behind? She isn't with your platoon since she's the chief Ensorcelled in the Company. And because you already have one in the form of Dumpling.

Also what do you guys plan to do with Mulberry? Tie her up and leave her with the boat? Ditch her even before you get to the boating stage?

>>3704590
wait

I'm not voting to go rogue, I was just voting to come clean to our wife and tell her what we considered, but still stay around now that we were denied

I didn't understand your options very well it seems

>>3704593
>>3704590
This

I just wanted to tell Hood, not actualky leave

I change to the other one to stay then, but still want to tell her about it

>>3704593
Ohh, then it is my fault. Write-ins are always welcome, and can often serve as a source of inspiration for me. I'll add a third option:

>I told her a summary of the conversation. My offer of resignation. Its rejection. And the new mission. An honest marriage is a happy marriage, or so an ancient adage said. I didn't put much stock on old people's sayings, seeing as they tended to leave the world worse than it was when they were young, but this was one I was willing to gamble on.

>>3704598
>>I told her a summary of the conversation. My offer of resignation. Its rejection. And the new mission. An honest marriage is a happy marriage, or so an ancient adage said. I didn't put much stock on old people's sayings, seeing as they tended to leave the world worse than it was when they were young, but this was one I was willing to gamble on.

give some more time to anons consider this one please, since it was a late addition

>>3704593
>>3704596
I'm with these two not what I read into that at all.

Still, I'm for
>"Received new orders. We're going to do some proper Ranger stuff. But before that, do you have the personnel dossiers?" I hadn't made a final choice yet to fill the three empty slots. Ranger platoons were allotted fewer men per, owing to their need for fast travel speed.

Lying to spouses is part and parcel of marraige

>>3704598
+1

>>3704600
Sure sure, gives me time to think out characters for the bloody troops anyway. Characterisation is my greatest weakness. Together with writing. And conversations. And descriptions. And typing.

>>3704598
>I told her a summary of the conversation. My offer of resignation. Its rejection. And the new mission. An honest marriage is a happy marriage, or so an ancient adage said. I didn't put much stock on old people's sayings, seeing as they tended to leave the world worse than it was when they were young, but this was one I was willing to gamble on.
Also QM, that choice really did come off as just saying what was going on rather than actually going through with the plan.

>>3704608
Yeah that was my bad, I should have clarified it was going to be absconding option

>>3704598
>I told her a summary of the conversation. My offer of resignation. Its rejection. And the new mission. An honest marriage is a happy marriage, or so an ancient adage said. I didn't put much stock on old people's sayings, seeing as they tended to leave the world worse than it was when they were young, but this was one I was willing to gamble on.

>>3704618
Worst comes to worst you could always steal Forgotten's method of putting specific actions in brackets as their end result. On the brightside regardless of personal skill, you're at least talking with your players to figure out what went wrong in translation.

>>3704598
>I told her a summary of the conversation. My offer of resignation. Its rejection. And the new mission. An honest marriage is a happy marriage, or so an ancient adage said. I didn't put much stock on old people's sayings, seeing as they tended to leave the world worse than it was when they were young, but this was one I was willing to gamble on.

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15 KB JPG

>>3704606

>we tell Hood the plan
>she misunderstands it too
>"sure when are we going?

>>3704644
>We tell the others the plan
>They misunderstand it too
>"Wait, we're backstabbing the Prefect?"

>>3704600
>>3704608
>>3704605
>>3704620
>>3704628
>>I told her a summary of the conversation. My offer of resignation. Its rejection. And the new mission. An honest marriage is a happy marriage, or so an ancient adage said. I didn't put much stock on old people's sayings, seeing as they tended to leave the world worse than it was when they were young, but this was one I was willing to gamble on.

But I didn't tell her about the part I was willing to steal the babies away from her and the others. That... could wait. I was sure. Could it? Yes it could.

Hood held my hand and squeezed it tight for a brief moment, secure in the privacy of the darkness in the ship's corridors. "I know the attack was a shock," she said softly, "but you have us now. You're not the only member of the Black Company, you know." She smiled wryly. "You're the weakest one of us, in fact."

"My strength is here," I said, tapping my brain. "That's what made me the sergeant." She rolled her eyes. "Speaking of sergeancy, do you have those personnel dossiers? About time I finished choosing."

"Where would our mighty leader be without his trusty sidekick?" she said sarcastically. "Here. All of them wanted to join your platoon, specifically. I'm guessing they saw you during that feast."

"If you were there, you wouldn't say I was a bad fighter," I said petulantly. The one time I do so stunningly well in battle, and I couldn't impress my wives.

"If I was there, the baby would be dead. Unless the Prefect happened to have midwives on standby."

Right.

>>3704669
THREE PICKS

>Trooper Bishop
His skin is covered with religious tattooes and old battle scars. A Parthian sellsword, Bishop is a soft-spoken man who prefers to spend his time reading scriptures from his ancient homeland to whoring or drinking like the rest. He also talks to his pet rat.

>Trooper Major
Trooper Major likes the finer things in life. He knows his (rice) wines, smokes the finest lho-sticks, and can get dressed for every ballrooms from Honggou to Golden Pass. AND he's not a prick! Wonders will never cease.

>Trooper Yossarion
A former child soldier first conscripted during the Ben-Schaemin Revolt, Yossarion has seen more wars than half the Company. He claims that They are out to get him, and that this predation from Them is the only reason he continues to work as a soldier. Such paranoia is not uncommon among mercenaries. He distrusts any weapon larger than his combat knives for being too difficult to hide.

>Trooper Fox
It's a fine thing to be a legionary. Good pay, lovely medical program, and high standing among the commoners of the Empire. Not to mention the fact that they're mostly garrison troops these days, only mobilising for the annual Circuit in their stationed Commanderies. Only a madman would swap a life in the legions to that of a mercenary. Fox is that madman.

>Trooper Albanos
A Celtish Eskhatan, young Albanos' ancestors fought for the Emperor on the big bad barge when he was not the Emperor. His face, open and handsome in a common way, reminds you of Sister before he became sergeant. You wonder what dreadful past he has to have gone through the initial recruitment screening. Surely not the same circumstance as Sister? It would be much too played out.

>Trooper Lee
He used to be a scholar-noble back in his home country in one of the Peninsular Kingdoms. The southern one, whatever its name is. He was visiting Reed to purchase some Confusing Books, but joined up when he heard that Prefect Tan was leading an expedition to attack Wae. Not because of the historical animosity between his people and the Waelander, surprisingly enough, but because he's fascinated with the topic of Wae gods in general and soulbinding in particular.

>Trooper Chatal
A Magal, this former Marcher has eyes like a hawk and is very good with his compound bow, mounted or on foot. He doesn't talk much, but is a devil in the gambling table. Do NOT get him drunk.

>>3704687
question, any of them could pass off as a Waelander?

>>3704688
>>3704687
This man gets it.

>>3704688
Lee can, since he's Peninsular. Also he can speak Wae-accented Sinaean.

>>3704687
Fox, Yossarion, Bishop.

Fox for a heavy hitter, Yossarion to watch for glow in the dark censore niggers, Bishop because someone needs to be wholesome in this squad of philanderers, polygamists, and murderers.

Also reminder the Ben-Schaemin control the capitol's entertainment industry.

>>3704687
>Trooper Fox
>>Trooper Chatal
>>Trooper Lee

Fox because we are the only tank on the squad at thye moment
Chatal to have another bow besides Hood's
Lee will probably be the most reliable source of info on the island

>>3704687
Fox, Yossarion and Lee

>>3704687
Lee, Yossarion, Fox
Please Yossarion, tell us about how they're putting dark magics in the water that turn the friggin Magals Trevain-like.

>>3704720
I admit that a paranoid can be very useful, especially now that people are, in fact, out to get us

>>3704728
Who knows, maybe he'll develop an OS that talks to The Emperor.

>>3704687
>Albanos
>Surely not the same circumstance as Sister? It would be much too played out.

he a 100% fucked his sister, didn't he? or was it a brother?

>>3704768
Reminder to keep Sister away from our children

>>3704687
>Trooper Fox
>Trooper Chatal
>Trooper Lee

Unusually exhausted today, I'm going to have to fold the cards for tonight. There was an altercation with my sister getting sexually harassed by a kebab shop owner. I wish I was joking. Have to go do police stuff.

See you gents tomorrow.

>>3704821
shit dude, good luck with that, be safe you two

>>3704821
That's so stereotypical I believe it entirely. Hope she's okay, thanks for running.

>>3704687
>>Trooper Fox
>>>Trooper Chatal
>>>Trooper Lee

>>3704821
Tyche you know what you must do.
You must remove Kebab.

>>3704821
Time to start the crusade

>>3704687
Bishop, Major and Fox

Looks like Chatal and Yossarion are tied for the last place, Fox and Lee are in.

>>3704824
>>3704850
Thanks, filled the police report and they said they'd give a call. I doubt anything will come of it since such things are hard to prove without, you know, beating marks and other physical signs, but I thought I might as well do our civic duty and put in a report.

>>3705144
>>3705363
Wrong side of the continent for that!

Is there anything you want to do before leaving the main fleet to boat into Wae?

>>3707374
>Wrong side of the continent for that!
Christendom is inside of you brother. Therefore crusade is right in every corner of the world.

>>3707374
Just roll for the last person I guess

Rolled 2 (1d2)

Yossarion or Chatal

>Sergeant-Scrivener Aurelius
>Corporal Hood
>Sorcerer Dumpling
>Trooper-Scrivener Lee
>Trooper Fox
>Recruit Mulberry
>Scout Chatal

We boated out on the third day before the first gloomy outline of the island was visible. Fog was thick here, making everything look hazy as it does in an opium den. The sky was still black. Captain wanted the rangers to go ranging under the cover of the night.

Five hours from midnight. The hours just before the first crack of dawn is usually the darkest. With Wae, "usual" was not reliable. No outsider had trod in their islands for a century. They were a very private people who only sent out merchants from a specific caste to purchase iron and leather, in exchange for whale fat and silver.

I looked back. Captain watched us from the crenalted tower of the prefect's ship, a pale blue figure against the backdrop of the black wood. This was the Ranging. We were the first contacts. Many of the men in the quiet boats gliding out now wouldn't return. Nine boats spread out, heading to their assigned beaches.

Chatal stared wordlessly, fixated on where the island was supposed to be. I looked. There was only uniform darkness. He was our watcher. Hood and I were on one oar, Fox and Mulberry on the other. Dumpling huddled in a trance. She was focusing on keeping my golden eyes to be mundane black. Glamours are deceit and lies, tricking the mind. Those with bright enough souls find that they can tweak the fabric of reality enough to distort the truth, though they are ever in danger of tearing it wholly. That would be a disaster. It would also end with someone getting Husked.

That is why we didn't go around full-glamouring all the time. For every action, a risk.

Our objective - find village. I signalled. Water carries sound far and away. It was something Sister was teaching me since we were in the Forest, but I was not very good at it. None of us were.

Peasant - family? Lee questioned. He was dressed as a merchant, while I was made to look like a sailor assisting him. Mulberry was the tomboy daughter. Everyone else was to stay hidden wherever they could find, together with the boat.

>"Find village, pretend to be Wae," I whispered. Damned pre-morning chill was stiffening my fingers, making it harder to make the signs.

>Objective - Find - Village, I tried signalling again. [DC50]

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>3707434

>>3707435
Please don't roll before option is locked next time, it does predispose people toward voting this way or the other depending on its success or failure

>>3707437
so we keep rolling?

>>3707440
Nope, I'm currently writing

>>3707437
Fuck. I didn't notice there was a choice. I will delete my roll. Sorry

>>3707443
No need on this occasion, I just want to make sure people feel the risk factor while picking choices. There's one that doesn't require a DC, while another may result in misinterpretation.

>>3707435
>Objective - Find - Village, I tried signalling again. [DC50]
>Pass

Lee nodded, passed it along to Chatal. The only indication of acknowledgement from him was an almost imperceptible nod that could have been mistaken for the background motions of a boat on the move.

My shoulders burned. The oars churned water. Three more hours of this, if we were lucky. Captain had scheduled us to make landfall half an hour before dawn. "But that's only the plan," she had said to the assembled ranger sergeants, Sister and I among them. "Plans change. Objectives are what matter. Adapt to changing circumstances, and you may just return to us alive."

Some laughed. Others smirked. Veteran rangers, they, who had survived the Ambush by luck and woodsmen skill. I wasn't so confident. I was just a scrivener.

All the old maps drawn from the time when Alexandrians tried to invade the isles conflict with one another, even in their names. The only thing they agree on is there being four isles, with many smaller rocks scattered like breadcrumbs around them.

Lee attracted my attention by tapping my knee. I squinted. It was fething hard to tell sign languages in this dark.

>Interpreting Sign [DC60]
>3D100

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>3707446

Rolled 54 (1d100)

>>3707446
shit

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>3707446

>>3707449
>>3707450
>>3707451
>Pass

Land - Query - Terrain?

Types? I signed back. Lee consulted briefly with Chatal, whose hands flowed easily to form the symbols. I couldn't tell what they were in my seating by the left oar. Lee turned back to me. Forests. Shore. Watchtower.

A forested region to the left, shore directly in front. And a watchtower to the right. No village, from the sound of it. I strained my eyes to the distance to see if I could catch anything, a glimpse of the watchtower's torches or some shady patch in the dark to indicate land. Nothing.

I was instructed to go to a settlement. Usually that meant a village. Even Captain wouldn't want me to stroll into a military position willy-nilly. On the other hand, melting into forests were the other squads' assignments. The shore was empty. Chatal would have seen fishing boats, nets hung out to dry, and small shorehouses in which fishermen warmed themselves. Most obviously, we would have seen fishing boats by now.

I rested my hands for a second to squeeze the oar-holding shape from them.

>Forest. Steer. Continue.
I hoped that made sense. My sign vocabulary was not as large as Chatal's. I wanted us to continue coasting along the shoreline and see if there was something beyond the forest.

>Shore.
First, I wanted us to land. Maybe I could find an inland village further from the sea. Most Wae villages I know of were fishing ones, but that didn't mean there might not be small farming communes or even mining ones. I thought back to the crude silver the Wae merchants back in Reed bartered with.

>Watchtower.
Lee's islandish was up to par. At least, it sounded like gibberish just like Mulberry's accent to my untrained ears. They would have fire in the watchtower. Local currency. Maps. And hopefully, spare armour. The ones the guards were wearing now was probably going to be unusable after we went through them.

>>3707458
>>Watchtower.
>Lee's islandish was up to par. At least, it sounded like gibberish just like Mulberry's accent to my untrained ears. They would have fire in the watchtower. Local currency. Maps. And hopefully, spare armour. The ones the guards were wearing now was probably going to be unusable after we went through them.

clean up

>>3707458

>Shore.
First, I wanted us to land. Maybe I could find an inland village further from the sea. Most Wae villages I know of were fishing ones, but that didn't mean there might not be small farming communes or even mining ones. I thought back to the crude silver the Wae merchants back in Reed bartered with.

Would we be able to hide the boat? And with a watchtower here there wpuld probably some place to watch

>>3707462
>watchtower here means there's something worth watching
Galaxy brain anon, and yes you can hide the boat. Would need to drag it a long way inland from the shore, it's easier to hide in Forest.

In Watchtower, you don't need to hide it at all.

>>3707464
About the watchtower

Judging by it's size and what we know about garrisons, what would be a reasonable number of guards to expect?

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>3707468

>>3707469
I can Change to watchtower then, it's too risky to leave that thing the way it is

>>3707458
>>Watchtower.
>Lee's islandish was up to par. At least, it sounded like gibberish just like Mulberry's accent to my untrained ears. They would have fire in the watchtower. Local currency. Maps. And hopefully, spare armour. The ones the guards were wearing now was probably going to be unusable after we went through them.

>>3707472
That's the minimum amount, by the way. The "reasonable" number, as it were. Now to find a watchtower art...

File: grady-frederick-final-thu(...).jpg (744 KB, 1920x965)

744 KB JPG

>>3707460
>>3707474
>>3707472
>Watchtower. Lee's islandish was up to par. At least, it sounded like gibberish just like Mulberry's accent to my untrained ears. They would have fire in the watchtower. Local currency. Maps. And hopefully, spare armour. The ones the guards were wearing now was probably going to be unusable after we went through them.

The small rocks that dotted the shoreline slowed our ingress, but it was still dark when we landed. I silently thanked Captain's foresight in choosing the coldest and darkest time of the day for the insertion. Up where the watchtower stood were lights, the promise of fire and closed doors against the cold. The wind was starting to blow into the sea. Mixed with the almost-snow flurrying against my face was the faint sound of drinking songs. Alcohol and singing was a universal constant, even in Wae.

It was going to take a bit of a climb. The watchtower was not built tall. Its builders had decided to save work and material by building it up a rising hill - not quite a cliff - that oversaw the waterline.

Chatal had gone ahead after we landed. Fox and I dragged the boat upshore. I sweated despite the freezing cold. Every scrape, every creaking of timber, could be the thing to expose us. Hood was carrying Dumpling on her back, who was in a spellcasting coma. Lee and Mulberry carried the supplies. A days' worth of food. Two days' worth of water. Honey.

I didn't trust the astrologers. She was as safe here as anywhere else. Lee moved carefully to stop Honey from waking. She was wrapped up in a thick blanket. It was already covered by a thin film of snow.

Stop, Fox signalled. That was one of the easier ones to learn. Snow - Cover. I nodded. Whoever saw the boat would probably think it belonged to the watchmen up the hill.

I loosened my fingers from the boat's edge. They ached from the cold and the work. Weapons, I marked.

>Deception
Lee took point, Mulberry in hand. They looked like a fairly wealth merchant and his daughter looking for refuge from the unexpected late autumn squall to me. I hoped it looked the same to the watchmen. I quickly exchanged my warm coat for a thinner, waterproofed oilskin one that mariners used.

>Destroy.
We crept up as one, weapons bared. Mulberry stayed with Honey. She was the most important disguise of all - a "defenceless" child. It wouldn't do to scar her so early in the game.

>>3707511

>Deception
Lee took point, Mulberry in hand. They looked like a fairly wealth merchant and his daughter looking for refuge from the unexpected late autumn squall to me. I hoped it looked the same to the watchmen. I quickly exchanged my warm coat for a thinner, waterproofed oilskin one that mariners used.

>>3707514
This means we distract while the others fuck them up? How well can our disguise hold I wonder

>>3707511
>>Deception
>Lee took point, Mulberry in hand. They looked like a fairly wealth merchant and his daughter looking for refuge from the unexpected late autumn squall to me. I hoped it looked the same to the watchmen. I quickly exchanged my warm coat for a thinner, waterproofed oilskin one that mariners used.

>>3707511
>Deception

>>3707514
>>3707536
>>3707546
>Lee took point, Mulberry in hand. They looked like a fairly wealth merchant and his daughter looking for refuge from the unexpected late autumn squall to me. I hoped it looked the same to the watchmen. I quickly exchanged my warm coat for a thinner, waterproofed oilskin one that mariners used.

It was a four-man watchtower, I told myself as we ambled up the steps. Less would open it to sudden attacks. Any more than that would necessitate a daily resupply. Not very practical, if the watchtower was far from a village that could support it. Four was a good, solid number. Besides, it isn't as if they were expecting an attack. Waelanders kept to themselves even in Reed. They looked pained every time they had to talk to foreigners. Four. We could handle four. Four was doable between the three of us. I missed my bloody armour.

Lee knocked, and then started talking. I tried to sort out the garbled filter Waelanders used on Sinaean. It didn't work. It is an oily language, not unlike their whale oil that their merchants sold by the bucketful. But I got the gist of it from the context and the tone of the voices. Asking to be let in from the cold, and a story about his child.

The door opened, and the watchman waved us in without looking. He barked out a command. Probably something like "Don't stand there, hurry up in!" He didn't want to let in the cold.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light of the fire, lit in the hollowed out square that acted as both an open fireplace and the cooking fire, right on the ground floor. Five watchmen were seated in various states of relaxation. The sixth who had let us in had evidently lost some sort of a game and was muttering something in his language. They didn't suspect anything from us. But they were evidently watchful. This was not the languid passivity of a guard doing his daily duty. They were lying in wait. They were in their armour, lamellared leather things. One of them had squares of iron mixed with. Their sergeant, I ventured a guess.

Four. Whatever happened to reliable, comfortable four? Something was up. More relevant to the present time, we were outnumbered. The watchman who had opened the door asked me something. Maybe he was asking if I would like some tea. Or telling me to throw away my sea-smelling oilskin. I never stopped to find out.

I slid the dagger out of my hand and jabbed it against his throat. Relinquishing the weapon to the now earthbound man, I drew my sword. The watchmen were surprised, but not enough to stay frozen long enough. They began drawing their weapons.

"Five versus three," I said cheerfully, breaking silence for the first time in what seemed like a century. "Now that is much more survivable."

>>3707565
Sergeant-Scrivener Aurelius: Healthy
Trooper-Scrivener Lee: Healthy
Recruit Mulberry: Healthy
>Combat = +88DC [Healthy +5DC, Veteran +5DC, Skilled II +4DC, Elite (Legionarius) +10DC, Dirty Fighting +3DC, Unnatural Strength +1DC, Unnatural Endurance +1DC, Unnatural Will +1DC, Divine Bloodline: Imperial Scion (Major) +10DC, Iron buckler +5DC, Gladius hispaniensis +10DC, Lee +18DC, Mulberry +15DC]
>Armour Value = 5AV [Iron buckler +5AV]
>Special = Gladius hispaniensis (+1 Reroll per battle) (2 Success = Bleed), Divine Constitution (+1 Wound regeneration on DC33)

VS

Watchman Sergeant: Healthy
Watchmen x4
>Combat = 87DC [Healthy +5DC, Bloodsworn +10DCD, Veteran +5DC, Skilled II +4DC, Trained +2DC, Iron-lined lamellar +5DC, Chokuto +8DC, Surprised -10DC, Watchmen x4 +48DC]
>Armour Value = 5AV [Iron-lined lamellar +5AV]

Personal Combat DC63
>3d100

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>3707565

Rolled 8 (1d100)

>>3707566

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>3707566

pls kill me

Rolled 76, 91 = 167 (2d100)

AV

>>3707568
>>3707569
>>3707572
>2 Success (Mulberry, Lee)
>Enemy AV failed
>Watchman - KILLED
>Watchman - KILLED

They knew someone was coming. Not us specifically, but the Enemy. They had expected Sinaeans, who were swarthier, more loaded in shape. They met a merchant father and his daughter, plus a sailor who was showing him around instead. And they died.

Lee was the second to score a kill. He had been hiding his longsword by carrying it in plain sight - as an ormanental weapon. The hilt was an extravagantly gilded thing. Centuries of trade had turned the southern Peninsular Kingdom that he came from in being culturally homogeneous with the Empire, where ostentatious display mattered.

It was a good disguise. The watchmen hadn't commented, aside from eyeing it jealously, thinking it an ornament of a successful merchant. Jealousy turned to anger, then anger to fear as he drew the longsword from the scabbard expertly, showing that it was not, in fact, merely for show.

Mulberry was using a Company-regulation shortsword. She hid her original blade away, thinking I might do something to it to remove the soul bound to the metal, if I could get my hands on it. She was right. One of these days, I was going to find it. Her new weapon, much better balanced and suited to her smaller figure, swung - I told her to stab, but she never listened - to snick against one of the watchmen's knees, where armies usually don't bother issuing armours for. Soldiers didn't usually fight children, for one thing.

The enemy sergeant paced carefully around me. He must have thought me to be the biggest threat for some unfathomable reason. The daggering, maybe? Either way, he was seriously overestimating my capabilities. I was just a scrivener. So was Lee, come to think of it. I should have told Fox to jump in the moment the fight begun. What was Hood doing?

"You are... vermin," the sergeant said, finding a means of communication outside of the clanging of blades in Sinaean. He locked eyes furiously with me, his straight longsword trembling with... disgust? "Vermin-heretic. Die like filth you are."

>>3707584

Sergeant-Scrivener Aurelius: Healthy
Trooper-Scrivener Lee: Healthy
Recruit Mulberry: Healthy
>Combat = +88DC [Healthy +5DC, Veteran +5DC, Skilled II +4DC, Elite (Legionarius) +10DC, Dirty Fighting +3DC, Unnatural Strength +1DC, Unnatural Endurance +1DC, Unnatural Will +1DC, Divine Bloodline: Imperial Scion (Major) +10DC, Iron buckler +5DC, Gladius hispaniensis +10DC, Lee +18DC, Mulberry +15DC]
>Armour Value = 5AV [Iron buckler +5AV]
>Special = Gladius hispaniensis (+1 Reroll per battle) (2 Success = Bleed), Divine Constitution (+1 Wound regeneration on DC33)

VS

Watchman Sergeant: Healthy
Watchmen x2
>Combat = 63DC [Healthy +5DC, Bloodsworn +10DCD, Veteran +5DC, Skilled II +4DC, Trained +2DC, Iron-lined lamellar +5DC, Chokuto +8DC, Watchmen x2 +24]
>Armour Value = 5AV [Iron-lined lamellar +5AV]

Personal Combat DC75
>3d100

Rolled 6 (1d100)

>>3707587

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>3707587

Rolled 89 (1d100)

>>3707587

Rolled 67, 62 = 129 (2d100)

>>3707588
>>3707590
>>3707591
Enemy AV

>>3707588
>>3707590
>>3707591
>2 Success (Lee, Mulberry)
>Enemy AV failed
>Watchman - KILLED
>Watchman - KILLED

"So, you seek to fight me on unequal grounds." The sergeant backed into a corner. "Coward! Fight me, one versus one. Then perhaps you will find blissful nonexistence instead of an afterlife of agony, by the grace of the Heavenly Sovereign."

I exchanged glances with Lee. "What is he going on about?"

"The Wae are supposed to be a deeply spiritual people," he explained. "Everything revolves around religion, which is itself centered around their king."

"Religion!" the sole surviving watchman spat. "No, not religion. Nothing like the heresies of you... foreigners. It is the Way of Life. But what would you know of that sublime existence beyond existence? Everything you touch becomes corrupt. Pollution is your mother." His Sinaean was a little unorthodox.

"Surrender," I told him. This was what was wrong with military nuts. They got too into being a soldier, when real professionals knew when to shut up and fight or give up. "You don't have to die. We take prisoners." Wae prisoners might be useful in acting as translaters later down the road.

He barked out a laugh. "My men upstairs will already be lighting the bonfires that will alert others to your presence. I die, knowing that I shall go to the place of my ancestors. Filthy-foreigner, can you say the same?"

He turned the point of his sword away from us, and then stabbed himself. I covered Mulberry's eyes. She swatted it away.

"Don't worry about up here!" a voice came from upstairs.

"Hood?" I asked.

"The one and only. Chatal got us up with a rope while you were warming yourselves with new friends."

>"Right, Lee. Show me why I picked you and help me treat that man's wound." Getting that complicated-looking armour off him was going to be a bitch and a half.

>"Disarm him and stop the bleeding," I instructed Lee. "Don't worry too much if he dies. It's a crapshoot if he lives or not. I want to see this bonfire system for myself."

>>3707612
>>"Right, Lee. Show me why I picked you and help me treat that man's wound." Getting that complicated-looking armour off him was going to be a bitch and a half.

>>3707612

>"Disarm him and stop the bleeding," I instructed Lee. "Don't worry too much if he dies. It's a crapshoot if he lives or not. I want to see this bonfire system for myself."

>>3707612
>"Disarm him and stop the bleeding," I instructed Lee. "Don't worry too much if he dies. It's a crapshoot if he lives or not. I want to see this bonfire system for myself."

>>3707612
>>"Right, Lee. Show me why I picked you and help me treat that man's wound." Getting that complicated-looking armour off him was going to be a bitch and a half.

on one hand, prisoner information
on the other hand, the guy stabbed himself so I don't think he would cooperate

can any of the mages get answers magically?

>>3707632
Only one mage with you, Shamaness is back with Captain. Are you sure you wish to drain Dumpling further? Currently, she is on battery saver mode.

>>3707634
you make a good point, if she is preserving energy we need to keep him alive for longer so she can rest

>>"Right, Lee. Show me why I picked you and help me treat that man's wound." Getting that complicated-looking armour off him was going to be a bitch and a half.

>>3707636
So heal him, wait until he recovers then wait until dumbling can interrogate him and then wait until she recovers.

>>3707640
you make a good counterpoint

>"Disarm him and stop the bleeding," I instructed Lee. "Don't worry too much if he dies. It's a crapshoot if he lives or not. I want to see this bonfire system for myself."

>>3707640
IMO the entire point of this choice is he might not make it until that period.

>>3707653
There's the problem of us waiting all that period too, and any surprises at the bonfire

>>3707668
hehehe

>>3707679
>>3707668
I say this because I heavily suspect magic fuckery and something wrong with upstairs so we should get on that quickly

And the fact that Shamaness and the babies are still on the water makes me want to not stay around or move slowly because of the wounded prisioner and wait god know how long for the information(village) that we can het from documents and maps already here

Shammy is the kind of gal that would husk herself to save the kids and I rather that not happen, specially since the Waelanders were already expecting us so speed is essential

>>3707690
well I already change my vote but just to be clear

>>3707649
>>3707636

my vote is
>"Disarm him and stop the bleeding," I instructed Lee. "Don't worry too much if he dies. It's a crapshoot if he lives or not. I want to see this bonfire system for myself."

>>3707702
>>3707622
>>3707621
>"Disarm him and stop the bleeding," I instructed Lee. "Don't worry too much if he dies. It's a crapshoot if he lives or not. I want to see this bonfire system for myself."

"Yes, your Imperial Highness."

I sighed. "I'm not royalty."

"No, of course not, sire. You are imperialty."

Peninsulars were head over heels on this sort of thing. They didn't have any Alexandrians there, not quite being part of the Empire yet - no small thanks to their northern brother - and it seemed he associated my golden eyes with being related to the Emperor. Technically, not wrong. Practically? I was part of the Black Company, same as he. I told him that. "And call me sir, or sergeant. Scrivener also works."

"Yes, sire."

Some men you just can't teach.

"Upstairs" was actually not the bonfire. This was where the watchmen slept. Three bodies lay unmoving, reddish brown stains staining deep their blankets. I whistled. "Chatal?" I asked. Hood nodded. "Guess we know why he was taking so long."

"They've got a nifty brazier thing upstairs," Hood said. "It's oiled up so it won't be quashed by the wind and snow."

"How close was it?"

Hood grimaced. "You don't want to know." There were no stairs for the uppermost layer, just a ladder. I climbed up.

My first thought was regret. It was freezing up here. Windbreakers had been set up to defend those in duty from the worst of the elements, but it was a rude awakening, coming from the cozy and warm ground floor. My second thought was relief. There were five men in duty here. Five. Counting the six below and three who were asleep, that was more than I'd been expecting for a watchtower this size. A quick look inland told me the reason. There was a settlement. And it wasn't a village. It was a city.

>>3707730

Chatal saluted. "Bayatur Aurelius." His Sinaean was thickly accented, but intelligible. "Bonfire is ours." Fox was on his knees, examining the dead.

"You did this?" I asked.

The scout shrugged. "I only killed two. Your behi and the Imperial got the rest."

I stepped carefully over to the bonfire, making sure not to slip. The spilled blood was starting to freeze. I sniffed the brazier. Oil had been spilled very recently. "Whale," I decided. "Everything is about whaling with these guys, isn't it?"

"We'll sort out the inventory of the dead," Fox said. "But for now, permission to get the fuck under, sir."

"Permission granted." My teeth were chattering already, and I was all warmed up only a minute ago. Fox began gently lowering the sleeping Honeybundle down the floor, with Hood receiving. Then they did the same to the meditative Dumpling. "Aren't you coming?" I asked, two rungs down the ladder.

"No," Chatal replied. "I will take watch."

The wind was worsening, and with it, the snow. I was shivering violently at this point. But I had my pride as a man. "You need two for a watch. Do you want me to stay up?" I asked.

The taciturn Magal shook his head. "Head inside, bayatur. You will need rest for tomorrow, with the city. Rest. Sleep. Maybe fuck your behi, for more children." He smiled slightly. "We all have our ways of platoon-helping, no?" He meant no offence. In Magal culture, children are the treasures that ensures the continuation of the clan. They were also the only ones who actually preferred polygamy, in my experience. They called it a harem.

Damn officership. If I was a common trooper, I would have run inside like Fox. But I had to make a show of it. I climbed up. Every freezing cell in my body screamed at my brain. The brain reminded everyone else who was the boss by taking in the view of the world from the vantage point of the towertop.

>A Blinking Thing DC80

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>3707737
[Urge to Blink Intensifies]

Rolled 54 (1d100)

>>3707737

Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>3707737
Shit, good thing we came up, but fucking behi was not a half bad idea Chatal

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>3707737

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>3707612
>"Disarm him and stop the bleeding," I instructed Lee. "Don't worry too much if he dies. It's a crapshoot if he lives or not. I want to see this bonfire system for myself."

>>3707744
A flicker, right beyond my range of vision. I turned to the point of darkness where I thought I'd seen light.

There was the flicker again. And it grew bigger. I tried to orient my head to the geography of the area. That was... the forested place, to the right, when we were boating in.

"Forest fire," I mumbled. Chatal was by my side in a moment. He exhaled sharply. "That is not forest fire. It is bonfire."

So, there was another watchtower there. It was logical. You can't have solitary bonfires. There must be a chain to support each other. My ice-rimed brain took a moment to connect the dots. I whirled to face Chatal. "There's-" the words didn't come. My tongue felt heavy with cold and shock.

"Captured," he said gravely, unblinking, staring at the fire. Other points of light appeared like terrestrial stars. "We are found." He grabbed one of the torches that protested feebly against the wind, and dumped it into the brazier.

"What are you doing?" I thought I said. What came out was more like "Wha'r do een?"

"Prevent inquiries. Other towers would have noticed our slow response time."

Oh. "O."

"Good eye, bayatur. Now rest, before you freeze to death."

>"I can't let another ranger stay there," I said. It could be Sister. Or Trevain. Oh gods, Morion. Dumpling might lose another sister.

>Rest. Sleep. Fatigue was rolling in like the Wae seaside fog. Rangers were supposed to operate independently of each other. I couldn't drop everything to rescue whoever it was that got caught.

>>3707767
To the left* not right

>>3707767
>>Rest. Sleep. Fatigue was rolling in like the Wae seaside fog. Rangers were supposed to operate independently of each other. I couldn't drop everything to rescue whoever it was that got caught.

>>3707767
>Rest. Sleep. Fatigue was rolling in like the Wae seaside fog. Rangers were supposed to operate independently of each other. I couldn't drop everything to rescue whoever it was that got caught.

>>3707767
>"I can't let another ranger stay there," I said. It could be Sister. Or Trevain. Oh gods, Morion. Dumpling might lose another sister.

Always the romantic

>>3707767
>>"I can't let another ranger stay there," I said. It could be Sister. Or Trevain. Oh gods, Morion. Dumpling might lose another sister.

>>3707767
>Rest. Sleep. Fatigue was rolling in like the Wae seaside fog. Rangers were supposed to operate independently of each other. I couldn't drop everything to rescue whoever it was that got caught.

Unnecessary risk. Send someone to give Homeboy up top something warm to wear that isn’t caked in blood.

>>3707767
>"I can't let another ranger stay there," I said. It could be Sister. Or Trevain. Oh gods, Morion. Dumpling might lose another sister.
orders be damned

Anons really going to run out into the cold hostile night, against orders, with no plan, alone

Moralfags, Everytime.

>>3707767
>>Rest. Sleep. Fatigue was rolling in like the Wae seaside fog. Rangers were supposed to operate independently of each other. I couldn't drop everything to rescue whoever it was that got caught

>>3707883
Thought we’d seen the worst of it when we let Throne butcher our squad mates attempting to save one gut shot bloke.

>>3707767
>Rest. Sleep. Fatigue was rolling in like the Wae seaside fog. Rangers were supposed to operate independently of each other. I couldn't drop everything to rescue whoever it was that got caught.

>>3707778
>>3707831
>>3707876
>>3707892
>>3707978
>>Rest. Sleep. Fatigue was rolling in like the Wae seaside fog. Rangers were supposed to operate independently of each other. I couldn't drop everything to rescue whoever it was that got caught.

We laid out sheets in the first floor, designated as the sleeping area. The ground floor was much too bloody to make for a restful night. I dropped onto the floor. I was vaguely aware of Hood joining me, hugging me from behind. "Chatal will need relief in an hour," I said sleepily.

"Shhh," Hood stroked my hair. "You need to learn to delegate more, you stupid man. Look at yourself. You're near death from exhaustion."

"Bonfires lit," I mumbled. "...captured." Thick as woolen blankets, sleep crushed me under its voluminous nothingness. My eyelids turned to lid. Only my brain of all my body parts feebly resisted. What if? What if? Of course all brothers of the Company mattered. But some people mattered more equally to me.

Hard fingers, calloused from years of gripping the bow, slid gently down my face. "I heard through the trapdoor. But none of us will make the trip there and be in shape to fight."

"'cept Chatal."

"He's a scout, not a stormtrooper. He can't rescue them all by himself."

I imagined Chatal, alone, running through the blizzard and scaling the watchtower. Two, definitely. Maybe three. But after that his presence would be known. Fourteen men had manned this tower. The odds were worse than bad. It was nonexistent.

There was wetness on my face. It was from my eyes. My voice tore from my lips, hoarse, the last gasping breath of a man claimed by Somnus. "I want to help."

The fingers stopped. "I know, Aurelius. But we are also part of the Company, aren't we?" Sympathetic Hood. Soft, caring Hood. People changed, truly. Aurelius became responsible. "Soldiers follow orders. Right now, you need to focus on getting rest for tomorrow. Sleep. The rest of us will figure something out."

I'm not a soldier, a tiny voice squeaked inside my skull. Her fingers locked together around my stomach. I felt her breath against my spine.

Then I slept.

File: Trooper Lee.jpg (493 KB, 1711x3027)

493 KB JPG

>>3708040
---

Something pointed entered my nose. There was a giggle. Another wooden textured thing explored the other hole. "Sergeant," I groaned. "Raindrops is being a shithead again."

"You're the sarjent now, silly A-relly," a voice said above my head. I squinted one eye open. "A-silly! Also that was a very bad word. Bad!"

"Oh, it's Honey." I sat up sleepily. "Sorry."

She considered my apology, accepted with a nod. "You owe me," she whispered into my ear. Then just as suddenly as she had entered into my waking world, she ran off.

"Are you sure she isn't yours?" Lee preening on the bed. The bodies were no longer in the room, together with the mattresses.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"Adding makeup, sire. It's a thing Waelander merchants do, if you haven't noticed."

My brain sluggishly started churning thoughts. Words. Wae... merchants. Ah, yes. They did so love making themselves as effeminate as possible. Such is the price of civilisation. "I don't need them, do I?"

"That depends." He perused me with a critical eye. "The sailor pretense won't work here. No fishing villages or ports nearby. And there's bound to be questions if I, a father of a child, goa round with another man. The locals won't stand for it. Although... you could pass for a kagema."

"Plain Sinaean, please."

"Male prostitutes, sire. Ah, that is not to say that you are, well, I mean," he stammered. I was beginning to form a suspicion. A suspicion suspiciously Trevain-shaped. "Well, it's a refined, high-culture thing in these parts. At least, according to Wae literature. Precious little of it comes out of the islands, of course, but there's much mention of them taking prestigious positions in-"

>"Why do you know these things?" Why couldn't he just stick to reading Confuse-Youse and his endless treaties on how to be a wise ruler or somesuch?

>"I think I get the picture, scrivener." Too vividly. "Let's try something less insulting to my sexuality, shall we?"

>I stared with judgemental eyes at the increasingly reddening scrivener.

>>3708048
>"Why do you know these things? Scratch that, let's try something less insulting to my sexuality, shall we?"
Because Confuse-Youse doesn't write treaties on how to get free ass.

>>3708048

>I stared with judgemental eyes at the increasingly reddening scrivener.

Where's Hood?
My fear of losing her made the website crash

>>3708048

>"Why do you know these things?" Why couldn't he just stick to reading Confuse-Youse and his endless treaties on how to be a wise ruler or somesuch?

>>3708048
>I stared with judgemental eyes at the increasingly reddening scrivener.
Is this one gets A-relly to dress as male prostitute?

>>3708084
Uh, no, none of them are options that- you want to pretend to be a male temple prostitute?

>>3708075
>>3708048

I change to


>"Why do you know these things?" Why couldn't he just stick to reading Confuse-Youse and his endless treaties on how to be a wise ruler or somesuch?

But Hood whereabouts concern remains in my mind

>>3708097
On further consideration, I shall provide an adjusted option for allowing that travesty. Because Aurelius is very confident in his sexuality. But I doubt anons would go for this.

>I stared with judgemental eyes at the increasingly reddening scrivener. Lee began, "It really is an honourable profession-" "Just do it," I growled.

>>3708075
>>3708101
>Examine Room
You are in a Room. The Room is dirty. There is Blood on the floor. A Man sits on a Bed. His name is Lee. A Man is sleeping on the floor. His name is Chatal. A Woman is sitting still on the floor. Her name is Dumpling.

>Search Hood
You do not find object: Hood.

>>3708107
Find Person: Hood

>>3708102
>I stared with judgemental eyes at the increasingly reddening scrivener. Lee began, "It really is an honourable profession-" "Just do it," I growled.

>>3708102
This harem anime is getting *spicy*

>>3708102
>I stared with judgemental eyes at the increasingly reddening scrivener. Lee began, "It really is an honourable profession-" "Just do it," I growled.

>>3708060
Shall I count this as one of >>3708081 and >>3708101 ?

>>3708102
>I stared with judgemental eyes at the increasingly reddening scrivener. Lee began, "It really is an honourable profession-" "Just do it," I growled.

>>3708429
I can break it for you qm

>"Why do you know these things?" Why couldn't he just stick to reading Confuse-Youse and his endless treaties on how to be a wise ruler or somesuch?

>>3708429
Well, it counted as not getting in male prostitute regalia

>>3708440
>>3708438
>>3708081
>>3708101
>"Why do you know these things?" Why couldn't he just stick to reading Confuse-Youse and his endless treaties on how to be a wise ruler or somesuch?

"Art is art, my primary mother told me."

"Primary?"

"Peninsular, sire. We don't go for that monogamy business." Good grief. "And, if I may say so, you are a shining light in this darkened age of stuffy morality."

"Thank you, Scrivener Lee." I did not feel very complimented. "But why male model- prostitutes?"

He shrugged. "It's a thing their samurais - that is, their warrior-nobles - do. It started when they were isolated in their fortress-monasteries a little too long, their only source of fraternising between new initiates and their personal... mentors. I think you wouldn't be the first person in the history of the Company to pretend to be those within the servicing industry, if you get my drift."

Of course, there were records of such things happening. Precedents tended to accumulate when an organisation was as old as the Black Company's. A certain Lieutenant had, long ago in a continent far, far away, dressed as a paramour of the Prince of Ajiyimad and lounged in luxuries while waiting for the assassination attempt on his life. The difference was that the Lieutenant had been a she. I was a man. I am a man.

"Of course, sire," Lee said mildly. "So are the kagema."

I gave up trying to argue with the Waeboo. I asked instead, "Where are the others?" It was a more productive avenue of discussion.

"Corporal Hood left to scope out the locality."

"No mention of watchtowers?" I asked sharply. Lee looked nonplussed. "None at all, sire."

"That's... fine, I suppose." She was a big girl. She could handle herself. A corporal, to boot. "You are certain she did not mention watchtowers?"

"Why would she go to the watchtower?" Chatal sat up. He looked like a jogger who had finished a run. Tired, but refreshed. Of course he looked tired. He was up all night. Last night's event was making me attribute some rather superhuman traits on the scout. "I did not tell her."

I deflated. "Oh. Good."

"I pointed the direction to her," he continued. "But I did not speak of it."

I am surrounded by morons.

>But I knew Hood. She wouldn't jeopardise the mission by attacking the watchtower all by her lonesome. She hadn't even taken Fox. I knew that because I heard him shout "You're it!" outside the tower. At most, she would be scouting. [Go on with Mission]

>"Right, we're moving out." Fox could stand guard here for Dumpling, who couldn't be moved. "Chatal, you are with me. Lee, gather your things. Your weapon things." [Rescue Ops]

>>3708487
>>"Right, we're moving out." Fox could stand guard here for Dumpling, who couldn't be moved. "Chatal, you are with me. Lee, gather your things. Your weapon things." [Rescue Ops]

fucking hell Chatal

also

>Waeboo
kek

>>3708487

>But I knew Hood. She wouldn't jeopardise the mission by attacking the watchtower all by her lonesome. She hadn't even taken Fox. I knew that because I heard him shout "You're it!" outside the tower. At most, she would be scouting. [Go on with Mission]

She's fine, she's fine......oh gods I hope she's fine

>>3708487

>But I knew Hood. She wouldn't jeopardise the mission by attacking the watchtower all by her lonesome. She hadn't even taken Fox. I knew that because I heard him shout "You're it!" outside the tower. At most, she would be scouting. [Go on with Mission]

Best girls here is our wife and our corporal, we have to trust her to not tonthrow her live away not that she has others that care for her, and people change, she changed, Aurelius changed, they will figure something out.

I must say tho, if she tries something, with or without the other rangers in our platoon this would be a very nice time for a short POV change that you were considering before

>>3708487
>"Right, we're moving out." Fox could stand guard here for Dumpling, who couldn't be moved. "Chatal, you are with me. Lee, gather your things. Your weapon things." [Rescue Ops]

>>3708487
>But I knew Hood. She wouldn't jeopardise the mission by attacking the watchtower all by her lonesome. She hadn't even taken Fox. I knew that because I heard him shout "You're it!" outside the tower. At most, she would be scouting. [Go on with Mission]

>>3708690
Hood view would be awesome

>>3708487
>But I knew Hood. She wouldn't jeopardise the mission by attacking the watchtower all by her lonesome. She hadn't even taken Fox. I knew that because I heard him shout "You're it!" outside the tower. At most, she would be scouting. [Go on with Mission]

If we are constantly running after our wives like they are lost children we are a shit nco and a worse husband.

>>3708575
>>3708690
>>3708973
>>3708946
>But I knew Hood. She wouldn't jeopardise the mission by attacking the watchtower all by her lonesome. She hadn't even taken Fox. I knew that because I heard him shout "You're it!" outside the tower. At most, she would be scouting. [Go on with Mission]

"As planned, the three of us who can look like Waelanders will head for the city. But I still need my role."

"Bodyguard is another option," Lee suggested. My face brightened. "But we do not have local armour aside from the watchmen's, and theirs is rather distinctive." My face fell.

"An armourless bodyguard?" Chatal mused. "A man with a sword. Desperate, cheap, and hireable. You would have to swap to one of the watchmen's swords. The officer's one is in the best condition." The suicide officer had expired in the night, I learned. Couldn't be helped.

"The clothing of the kagema is most voluminous, sire," Lee said innocently. "One could hide many things in those folds. Like chainshirt. And knives. We could even pretend that buckler is a ceremonial libation-dish."

"Couldn't I be some kind of a servant?" I asked.

Lee shook his head. "Swords are a status symbol here. Only those of a higher strata will plausibly have them. And I cannot recommend the bodyguard role, sire. Ronin have such poor reputations. Merchants are technically a lower caste to the warrior-nobles, after all. It would draw... attention."

>Bodyguard (desperado) - unarmoured, wields the chokuto looted from the dead officer

>Sacral prostitute (male) - regulation chainmail underneath, knives hideable, sword carriable (sufficient status)

>"Here's an idea. You be the male prostitute."

>"I'm going in my plate," I said decidedly. "And you can't stop me."

>Custom suggestion

>>3708966
I wrote up one and then realised I didn't have the necessary player choice input for the following scene after that, so I'll post it after this vote or the next

>>3709098

an important question to decide the role, what are we to do while inside?

>>3709104
nice, thanks

>>3709109
My question is because, I imagine people will want to talk with the male prostitute, since he is prestigious, and we can't talk waelander for shit.
while the desperado bodyguard will be promptly ignored

>>3709098
>Sacral prostitute (male) - regulation chainmail underneath, knives hideable, sword carriable (sufficient status)

>>3709109
Any and every scrap of information gatherable. Maps (unfortunately lacking in the watchtower) would be top priority but difficult to get since they're hand drawn at this time and things of value, both militarily and cosmetically. Rumours, to get an unreliable (but still better than nothing) idea of troop strength in the area.

Wae has been closed off for pretty much the entirety of its existence. Also the islands seem to... shift around, somewhat, so it would be nice to know which bloody island this is. Is it Yezo, Iyo-shima, Kyuukoku, or Honshu?

>>3709112
I am open to other roles, can't think of any right off the bat

>>3709122
Mostly because I really need to sleep. Feel free to continue discussing what kind of role you might ape, I'm going to try and sleep in the heat. I wish it was winter.

One I just thought off is Scholar. Basically, so snobbish that he refuses to speak Wae dialect, only Sinaean. Sinaeboo?

>"Here's an idea. You be the male prostitute."

>>3709130
No I got sothing

A mute male prostitute maybe? Is that a thing?

>>3709098

>Sacral prostitute (male) - regulation chainmail underneath, knives hideable, sword carriable (sufficient status)

I find the idea kind of ridiculous but if its prestigious maybe we can get near some maps

>>3709098
>Sacral prostitute (male) - regulation chainmail underneath, knives hideable, sword carriable (sufficient status)

>>3709098
>>Sacral prostitute (male) - regulation chainmail underneath, knives hideable, sword carriable (sufficient status)

We just walked into Lee's magical realm, we should warn him that if he tries anything Hood will quite literally kill him.

>>3709098
>Bodyguard (desperado) - unarmoured, wields the chokuto looted from the dead officer

>>3709151
You could choose to pretend to be mute, yes, probably someone's fetish

>>3709115
>>3709231
>>3709338
>>3709606
>>Sacral prostitute (male) - regulation chainmail underneath, knives hideable, sword carriable (sufficient status)

"Wow," Mulberry breathed. "So you can be pretty cute if you try!"

"Shut up." I wasn't in the mood to be hit on by a pipsqueak. Honey sniffed. "Smells nice," she said uncertainly. "Not A-relly?"

"It's a disguise," I told her. "We're going to pretend to be... someone else."

"I'm not," Mulberry said. "I'm going to be a girl."

"You're pretending to be a good daughter."

"Well now you're asking for the impossible."

"Good thing the watchtower had a stable," Lee said brightly. "We can load some clothes, make ourselves look like light travelers. Horses are a good status symbol, too."

"And pack our armour," I muttered. This flowy robe was cumbersome. "Hey, Lee?"

"Yes, sire?"

"I'm not actually a prostitute."

"Of course, sire."

"And I'm married."

"Oh!" Lee got the hint. "Oh, no, sire. I'm strictly heterosexual. But there's just something quite exciting in seeing someone dressed in the way I've imagined those characters to be."

An elegy to my masculine pride. I grabbed my buckler - libation disk - and strapped my sword. "Let's get going, then. Half an hour's walk and we should be in the city."

>>3710582

---

It was freezing here. Wherever this was. Hood carefully stepped over fallen branches, crumbling leaves. She didn't know the name of the island, but the forest was her home. Eskhatans were gifted in woodsmanship, more than anyone else. Gifted by the Emperor, when they had been His favoured people.

She relaxed her face from the unconscious snarl that formed when she thought about Him. He's dead. Even someone like that does not come back from death. Focus was required for this. Just a look, she'd promised herself. Just a look. And if it was Trevain, or Morion, or Sister...

She smelled fire, whale oils, heated iron. Blood. The watchtower was just there. She counted five men manning the brazier on top. The rest were within. And she smelled blood.

She waited amidst the leaves. Just a look. Waited.

And waited.

Horses. She felt their hooves before she heard them. Hood lowered her hood. The black served her well. The forest was more black and white with the snow. She would appear a boulder, or a blank patch of darkened soil.

Two riders appeared, riding harshly. Exhausted horses. Sinaean breed. They couldn't run far in the first place, so they must've been nearby. Or exchanged horses, she corrected herself. Not enough information to make assumptions. They could come from the ends of the earth, for all she knew.

Both riders dismounted at the foot of the watchtower. One was a young man, tall for a Waelander. The other was older. She couldn't see his face well from this distance. So she crawled closer.

The younger man knocked the door. While waiting, they conversed. She couldn't understand them. Wae dialect was almost like an entirely new language, even though it felt so close to Sinaean. Now that she was near, she could see that the younger man was better dressed. No, wrong scale. It was more that the older, stockier man was more shabbily dressed. As if he didn't care about the weather. He left his bare flesh, almost rippling with muscles, open to the winter wind. Hood shivered involuntarily. Looking at him made her feel cold.

The door opened, and they exchanged greetings with those inside. Then they entered. Hood scrambled off, knowing that it would be too dangerous to enter the tower itself. Those two men looked important. Too important to be here so soon after the Ranging began.

---

>>3710605
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FESJUA0_KR8)

"Mercenary," the godly man said thoughtfully in Sinaean. He lifted the prisoner's head, examined his wounds. His hands traced years-old scars. "You are a warrior. I can see that."

Behind him, the executioner swung his sword. Something heavy fell onto the woven mat floor.

"You trained your whole life for this," he continued, unperturbed. "And you have won battles, that lesser men would have called unwinnable, yes?"

"Oh, fuck this! I don't want to die here!" a man cried. "I'll tell you everything!"

"But while you were sharpening your sword, you know how I prepared for today?" He leaned forward. "I learned."

There was a difficulty with that one. He screamed, and he moved. The blade had to be lowered a second time. The man died a coward, which is another way of saying he loved life. The godly man ignored the commotion. "I know your language. Your traditions. Your beliefs."

Another swing. Iron chipped bone.

"I know how you heretics think. Clever. Intuitive. You think your tactics, your stratagems can save you. But you do not put your mind on the higher things."

There was a blood-choked gurgle. Then that, too, fell silent.

"To the gods. That is why you will fail."

A younger man, dressed in fineries, examined the armour looted from the prisoners. It was good iron. They would be repurposed, after being purged from the heretical stench of the foreigners. Reformed in fire, in the hallowed way of the great ancestors.

"So I ask you once again, mercenary." The godly man knelt to the prisoner's eye level. "Do you surrender?"

Wenjek Venner of the Company of Rats jutted his head forward, cracking his forehead against his interrogator. The godly man staggered back. Watchmen raised their swords, but he raised a calming hand, even has he cupped his bleeding nose.

Wenchiek Venner had been thinking of a good last word. Something suitably cheeky, or maybe grand, that the enemy might appreciate it enough to give record it in their books for a literary immortality, seeing as his physical mortality was about to come to its final page. But he couldn't think of anything.

So, he grinned, blood staining his ruined teeth pink, and said: "Fuck you."

You couldn't go wrong with the classics. The executioner's sword sang.

---

>>3710644

It was in fact three quarters of an hour to the city. We met a carter walking alongside his oxen-driven supply wagon on the way. He moved out of the way for his social betters. He was going to resupply the watchmen. Poor man. I have nothing against soldiers, but they make easier targets. Not that they are easier to kill, of course. But they choose to hold weapons, and turn it against us. Civilians do not have the same amount of determination, nor the privilege of even owning weapons, most of the time. He was going to get killed. Fox would see that the carter would not return home tonight.

It was a walled settlement, complete with gates and the unusual complement of two guards. There was not a lot of traffic in and out, much of it confined within itself. They probably didn't post any guards at all, under ordinary circumstances. So what we feared was true. They knew. The guards didn't comment on the merchant and his daughter, although they did ogle me. They kept a respectful distance. Only the wealthy or the nobility had the right to acquire the service of a male prostitute, who, it turns out, held some sort of religious significance as well.

Part of their chivalrous code of conduct. I'd never heard of knightly orders requiring prostitutes. I thought it was a step forward, actually. Now if only they would bugger women instead.

The inn we'd chosen was appropriate to our assumed social station. We had a three-room dwelling entirely to ourselves in the third floor. A servant came when we pulled a bell-rope that extended all the way to the ground. We paid with the money looted from the dead watchmen. Silver was silver. We would need more, sooner than later, but our stolen finances sufficed for a week of maintaining our current lifestyle, I calculated. I couldn't use my Imperial coins, for obvious reasons.

"The walls are thin," Lee said when we were settled in.

No talk? I signed. Lee nodded. Do not call it bad luck. Consider it an opportunity for practicing the language of the hand. We began debating with excruciating slowness.

>Military
There was a military garrison here. Lee might pretend to be an important person and call in. Lee explained that it was considered respectful to announce yourself to the governors when you are of a higher social station, moving between the regions. For the lower classes, traveling far was forbidden.

>Market
Desire - Market - Rumours - See/Hear Lee signed. Merchant - Cover. I acquiesced. There might be good rumours brewing in those public places. Apparently it was perfectly fine for a kagema to walk around with his, er, patron around in public places. Flaunting to make others jealous.

>Temple
Records - People - Birth - Deaths, Mulberry signaled. She was younger, and had a good head for this stuff. After some difficulty, they told me the fifth sign stood for Depository. So the temples fulfilled clerical and bureaucratic functions, just like in the Empire?

>>3710702
>Temple

>>3710702
>>Temple

>>3710702

>Military

>>3710702
>Military

>>3710702
>Military


Thanks for the Hood vision, damn those guys don't take many prisioners

Fuck, I finished typing out the Temple version and just reloaded the page to see Military winning

>>3710927
Don't switch your votes, going to start writing Military

>>3710917
>>3710921
>>3710922
Mute and deaf, that's how I felt. The Waelanders spoke something like Sinaean. Almost. But quite different, as if one had rubbed the words with the ubiquitous whale oil and set fire to it then scrubbed up the ashes to redistribute it in bizarre ways. A difference of linguistic texture, you might say, if you were the kind of person to say that gobbledygook.

Lee greeted the Governor. To be more precise, he prostrated himself in front of him. The Governor was seated on his magisterial seat which was situated outdoors, despite the cold. Lee's expensive costume dirtied as he bowed and scraped. He looked disinterested at Lee. He looked very interestedly at me.

I shifted on my feet, feeling the comfortable weight of the gladius on my side.

After a few more minutes of that public display of subservience, the Governor flapped his fan. That seemed to be the cue for Lee to scramble away. He dragged me and Mulberry by the hands. The gate to the magisterial mansion closed ominously. He turned. He almost said something, then thought better of it. We were still in hearing distance from the guards behind those doors.

"That went really well," he said firstly, when we were suitably alone. He didn't whisper because that would attract attention. Just mumbling something pleasantly to his hired spiritual... advisor. The streets were empty, most people being indoors for a midday meal. "As I have mentioned before, sire, the warrior class lords over the merchants, despite being, well, poorer. It's a nobility thing." Nobility of the sword. Nothing noble about a sword. "They also hold the political positions. Again, a nobility thing." Politics. Nothing about that, either. "Usually, the governor would try to wine and dine us to extract some concessions or gift out of the merchants. At least, that's what led to the orgy in The Daimyo's-"

>>3710931

I gave him a Look.

"-anyway looks like they are mustering all the troops they have, and that is the reason he was so brusque. They didn't want non-military types wandering around inside their garrison. They're preparing for war, sire."

"Against who?" Mulberry asked.

I gave her the Look. She sighed. "Against whom?"

I beamed.

"He wasn't in the mood of talking," Lee said sadly. "I'd been hoping to experience the traditional kaiseki-ryori. Alack and alas, my culinary wants have not been satisfied."

"The inn we're in has good meals," I offered.

"Just not the same, sire." He looked up mournfully. "You won't understand. They don't have the women."

Ah. So he was a man, after all. Now to decide what to do - after lunch.

>"Shall we head to the market, then? Tongues tend to wag in places of commerce." And where men sold and bought their wares, there were bars and pubs and drinking dens to relieve tired farmers from their temporarily enriched pockets. Nothing made people more talkative than alcohol.

>"The temple seemed promising. A center of breaucracy, they might have notes and orders from their version of the Capital lying around." And I was going to fit in there, more likely than not. The male prostitutes were supposed to be something spiritual, not only carnal.

>>3710932
>>"The temple seemed promising. A center of breaucracy, they might have notes and orders from their version of the Capital lying around." And I was going to fit in there, more likely than not. The male prostitutes were supposed to be something spiritual, not only carnal.

>>3710932
>>"The temple seemed promising. A center of breaucracy, they might have notes and orders from their version of the Capital lying around." And I was going to fit in there, more likely than not. The male prostitutes were supposed to be something spiritual, not only carnal.

ok, so they are coming in full force

>>3710932

>"The temple seemed promising. A center of breaucracy, they might have notes and orders from their version of the Capital lying around." And I was going to fit in there, more likely than not. The male prostitutes were supposed to be something spiritual, not only carnal.

Maybe a map, and the bars should be more favorable later when people are more willing to drink and talk

>>3710932
>>"The temple seemed promising. A center of breaucracy, they might have notes and orders from their version of the Capital lying around." And I was going to fit in there, more likely than not. The male prostitutes were supposed to be something spiritual, not only carnal.

Oh joy an amphibious assault against a prepared force

>>3710940
I'm sure the people's militia will handle it, they will be at the vanguard of course, to have the most glory and prestige in battle hehe

>>3710933
>>3710934
>>3710937
>"The temple seemed promising. A center of breaucracy, they might have notes and orders from their version of the Capital lying around." And I was going to fit in there, more likely than not. The male prostitutes were supposed to be something spiritual, not only carnal.

To my surprise, the monk, who had put it on himself to escort the visiting merchant on a holiday around the temple (after a generous donation, of course), spoke Sinaean. "We are not all philistines," he said with a marked lack of humility. "All our books are in that venerable language. It is, shall I say, the sacral tongue." Then he leered at me. I unconsciously rubbed the pommel of my gladius with my thumb. It felt reassuring.

"Certainly," Lee said, who looked a bit disappointed. He'd really wanted to have a go at a full-fledged Wae-dialect tongue-wagging. "What kind of documents do you keep? The seminal works of Kitagawa Utamoro, for example?"

"Ah, I see you are a man of culture!" The monk rubbed his hand appreciatively. "We have the complete The Rascal's Soulmate in our collection, second edition. Then there's a woodcut of Tales of Moonlight and Rain."

"Have you a clean copy of The Great Mirror of Male Love, by any chance?" Lee asked hopefully.

The monk nodded. "No library would be complete without it."

"Yes, quite." Lee shuffled uncomfortably.

"All in very good condition, if I may say so myself," the monk continued. "Our temple has this revolutionary atmosphere control system by way of using the confluence of the wind from the mountains to adjust for humidity in the air." Mulberry stifled a sigh.

"Say, on The Great Mirror... I happen to have misplaced mine."

"Sir!" He acted as if someone had burned the first-edition copy of the Emperor's Commentarii de Bello Sinica.

"Yes, yes, a travesty," Lee sighed. "And I'm sure some rotten old peasant with no idea how to read is using it as firepaper by now. Would you happen to have a spare copy, by any chance?"

"Ah, sir, there you are in luck!" the monk exclaimed triumphantly. "First-rate scribes we have here. Better than the ones other temples up in the mountains have, and don't you forget it. Oh, they say they are all better, of course. More ascetic. As if eating grass and shitting in the woods makes them holier than us city monks. If you will forgive my Sinaean."

"Forgiveness already given, like the great Dai-Shutra did to the poor Monkey Warrior," Lee said benevolently. I repressed the urge to roll my eyes. "Seeing as I'm such a generous patron to the gods... do you think they might permit me to receive another...?"

The monk got the hint. "So generous, yes. I'm sure one copy would not be amiss."

>>3710944

"And of course, the others too," Lee said quickly. "In fact, one of the reasons I am making a tour of the Four Islands is to compare and contrast the quality of the works put out by the different temples. I'd only planned to get one per temple, but if your scribes are up to par..." How many hearts had this man broken back in his provincial little kingdom? Of boys, maybe. He claimed to be a lover of women. I wondered.

"I'm sure the Kannushi would not mind," the monk said, sounding like he thought the kanooshi would mind. "But papers and inks and gold leafs, they all have... costs. Books, quite the expensive things, aren't they, sir?"

"No doubt! Changing the topic completely and arbitrarily, I'd only given the first greetings-offering, didn't I? It's nearly noon. I suppose I should do the Rite of Decency Before Meals." Then he jangled his somewhat lighter pouch of money.

"Oh, that would be entirely unnecessary." He paused. "But it may make the gods more amenable to your situation."

Lee half pushed the monk back to where the offering box was situated, making his coin pouch make pleasing metallic sounds all the while. He winked at me, and signed, Check Inside.

"Come on," Mulberry whispered. "They probably won't mind you rummaging about. Probably think you're the chief priest's guest's plaything."

"I'm not-!"

"Do you want to see the inside of the temple, or not?"

But what about my dignity as a man? Woe be to the indecent clergy who would grab my nether regions! I glowered at the initiates who were staring at me like a piece of meat, and not the chopped liver variant which nobody likes. They quickly lowered their heads and went back to sweeping the temple grounds. So they did think I was the consort of someone important.

Gods damn it, Captain. Why couldn't I be the father? Because you don't know the Wae dialect, a reasonable voice said in my head. I mentally glared the source of it down. Reason was the last thing I wanted right now.

>Taking advantage of my disgraceful costume and Lee's dragging away of our guide, we made our way in to the temple.

>"Absolutely not!" I hissed. "If we're going to infiltrate the temple, we're INFILTRATING the temple. Like proper sneak-thieves." It was no lark trying to climb the walls of the bloody pagoda in this get up, let me tell you.

>>3710945

>Taking advantage of my disgraceful costume and Lee's dragging away of our guide, we made our way in to the temple.

Let's learn how hard can it be to be a pretty woman

>>3710945
>>Taking advantage of my disgraceful costume and Lee's dragging away of our guide, we made our way in to the temple.

>>3710945
>Taking advantage of my disgraceful costume and Lee's dragging away of our guide, we made our way in to the temple.

>>3710945

>Taking advantage of my disgraceful costume and Lee's dragging away of our guide, we made our way in to the temple.

>>3710947
>>3710948
>>3710949
>>3710955
>Taking advantage of my disgraceful costume and Lee's dragging away of our guide, we made our way in to the temple.

I find that it helps to pretend. Pretend as if you belong. Pretend you are supposed to look offended when an initiate who wasn't looking properly bumps into you, instead of running away because you know that you are entering the unhallowed halls of governance and if captured, would be killed. And killing wasn't the worst of it, knowing these Waelanders. A relatively low population of females, I decided, had made them go nuts.

Oh, it wasn't as if they kept women indoors. I'd seen women by and by. They were working in the fields, or serving drinks in the inns, or driving carts or selling wares. But there was such a dearth of them.

Mulberry acted as if she was a serving girl. She was not very good at it. I continued being the thing the name for which I'd already forgotten. No one challenged us. Evidently, I was convincing enough for two. We wandered ever upwards, firm in the belief that whatever was stored so high up must be important enough. We were rewarded when we reached the fifth level.

Beyondn unguarded and not quite fully closed door was a living quarter for someone with extravagant tastes, hastily arranged for. The furnitures were new, as were any signs of habitation. It had been a place of meditation, if the religious iconographies shunted off to the side held any indication. Now, it was the living quarters for a prestigious guest.

A messy, prestigious guest. Papers and letters and books were flung about the room carelessly. The bed was unmade. There was the distinct musk of sex. I looked at the suit of armour ceremonially mounted on a portable armour mount. So he was one of those warrior-nobles I'd heard about.

"Orders for... bundles of three hundred arrows," I read off a randomly snatched page. "Armours, spears, horse armour? Oh, phew, just leather. We won't have to deal with heavy cavalry." Watching two thousand pounds of equine muscle charging toward you is one of the fears of the infantryman.

"I'll keep a look out," Mulberry said. She didn't know her letters, which was not unusual. Most didn't.

I nodded. This was no place for a tender-hearted girl to be in. A girl, in any case. I looked in distaste at the sweaty mattress where some passionate - and not at all hygienic - activities had taken place.

Unfortunate that Lee isn't here. There was too much papers here for me to sort out, all by myself. And they were strewn about chaotically. I'd have to try and read the important ones first. I looked for the ones with titles.

>Correspondence from the Head of the Kikuchi Clan of Yezo

>Imperial Rescript - An Exhortation to All Loyal Subjects of the Heavenly Sovereign to Defy the Foreign Heretics

>Kitahotaka Monastery Meteorological Report

>>3710978
>>Correspondence from the Head of the Kikuchi Clan of Yezo

>>3710978

>Kitahotaka Monastery Meteorological Report

Kamikaze!

Guys, we'll pribably have to risk interacting with whatever leecher is here to grab more things, the report and the correspondence seem very important

>>3710978

>>Correspondence from the Head of the Kikuchi Clan of Yezo

If the weather has tactical impirtance it will probably be mentioned in the correspondence

>>3710986
Whatever we don't grab now we try to infiltrate at night to see whatever we can find, it seems all the information we nees is here
>>3710987
And if the weather is to be dangerous we can see with the merchants too, they probably would be warned to not set sail

>>3710978
>>Kitahotaka Monastery Meteorological Report

>>3710978
>Correspondence from the Head of the Kikuchi Clan of Yezo

>>3710978
>>Kitahotaka Monastery Meteorological Report

>>3710978
>Imperial Rescript - An Exhortation to All Loyal Subjects of the Heavenly Sovereign to Defy the Foreign Heretics

>>3710978

>Imperial Rescript - An Exhortation to All Loyal Subjects of the Heavenly Sovereign to Defy the Foreign Heretics

>>3710978
>Correspondence from the Head of the Kikuchi Clan of Yezo

>>3710980
>>3710987
>>3711041
>>3711206
>Correspondence from the Head of the Kikuchi Clan of Yezo

It took a bit of puzzling out. Waelanders used the Sinaean script, yes, but they had repurposed the hieroglyphic letters (which were, at the best of times, ornamental, and at the worst impossible to tell apart) to their own accentuation and bastardisation. I stuttered through the letters with a slightly foolish feeling one gets as a student in a schola, struggling through an arithmetic problem taught the day you were home sick. It went something like this:

My son,

your reports on the unreadiness of Iyo-Shima was acceptable. The Imperial Court has already sent a headsman to collect the former daimyo's head. His domain may be the smallest of the Four and the most shielded from western barbarians, but that is no excuse to be lax. The Shogun was of same mind.

I am sending you to the city of Iwari-Ginzan in Honshu to oversee the ritual, and to keep an eye on the military draft. The local magistrate was an admirer of Iyo-Shima's former daimyo and his pacifist ways. He is unlikely to buckle against the Shogun or the Kikuchi Clan, but I have ever placed importance in distrusting the dice. He may act foolishly, trusting in the wealth of his silver mines.

You will be the Imperial liaison. Your eyes are the Shogun's eyes. You do not have official command in the place, but much unofficial authority will be expected of you. Take your friend. He may restrain your excess. A marvelously zealous man, that Suenaga. If only you could learn from him.

"No how-d'ye-do's or Loves and Kisses," I mumbled. "Just headmans and dice." I got the feeling the daimyo of Yezo was not a fun man to be around. So the island we were in was Honshu, eh? And the son of the daimyo - which I assumed was something like their prefect - was here? Things were brewing, and no mistake.

Exactly what? Mobilising the military, sure, that was clear enough. But did they know what they were against?

"Uhh, chief?" Mulberry called. "Someone's coming upstairs."

"Everyone comes up and down some stairs, Mulberry."

"Yeah, but this one, he's up to third floor now, sounds like."

>"Just one minute," I whispered. I wanted to read one more letter. [DC40]

>I sat primly, pretty as you please. I had already thought up a cover. Maybe I would say I was sent here in a professional capacity. Then I would shank the man before I was molested. Then I would proceed to run the hell away.

>>3711450

>I sat primly, pretty as you please. I had already thought up a cover. Maybe I would say I was sent here in a professional capacity. Then I would shank the man before I was molested. Then I would proceed to run the hell away

>>3711450

>"Just one minute," I whispered. I wanted to read one more letter. [DC40]

>the ritual
Oversee the ritual, that is the Kamizaze, they have magic fuckery being prepared, we will need more info

>>3711450
I'm not sure if we would be able to hide the body or incriminate the temple well enough if we went for the other choice


>"Just one minute," I whispered. I wanted to read one more letter. [DC40]

>>3711450
>"Just one minute," I whispered. I wanted to read one more letter. [DC40]

>>3711485
>>3711551
>>3711556
Rescript or Kitahotaka Monastery?

>>3711571
>Kitahotaka Monastery

>>3711571
Monastery

>Intrusion of Privacy DC40
>3d100

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>3711587

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>3711587

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>3711587

Welp, time for a high stakes escape from the city!

>>3711589
>>3711590
>>3711593
'One more.' The eternal refrain. 'I can stop whenever I want.' 'Curiosity didn't kill THIS cat.' I could hear the footsteps now. I grabbed the monastery report with the speed of desperation.

Jiro,

blessings of the All-Mother be with you. Things are proceeding as expected here. I have just received report from the other three isles that they have finished with the preliminary

Unfortunately, not fast enough. The footsteps on the staircase was being too loud. I threw it away - the owner was not going to remember where he put it, not in this madhouse of papers - sat politely, my back to the door entrance. That was why I didn't see his face when he met Mulberry waiting on me, the very picture of an overdressed girl-in-waiting.

He said something in Wae dialect. Mulberry said something back. Apparently that confused him. Mulberry said something quickly. I smelled blood and sweat. The latter was from me. The former was definitely from the man. He finally stepped into the room and sat across me. The way he moved reminded me of a big cat. All muscle tension, stalking, prowling. Sniffing for anything suspicious. He sat opposite me in what I could only assume was a polite form.

"I am a retainer of the young master," he began in Sinaean. I was beginning to get the feeling anyone who was anyone spoke Sinaean, as a sort of language of the court. That or they were doing it for my benefit, seeing as I was a member of the temples. Somehow. "The servant girl tells me that a kagema was sent here." He was a swarthy man, who looked like he killed very big fishes for a living. The arms were those of a sailor. "But I do not remember my friend taking in male... consorts."

>When in doubt, sword.

>"I would have you mind your tongue. I am not merely a pretty face and a-" (Oh Lee, I am going to strangle you, I thought in a brief flash) "-luscious ass. I was ordered here to advise restraint to the young master." [Threatening]

>I merrily ran away.

>"A retainer? You are too humble, Master Suenaga. The daimyo had nothing but praise for you back in Yezo." [Charming]

>>3711637
>>"A retainer? You are too humble, Master Suenaga. The daimyo had nothing but praise for you back in Yezo." [Charming]

we need to finish reading that thing

that is the ritual
whatever it takes, even if we have to kill the fucker

>>3711637
>"A retainer? You are too humble, Master Suenaga. The daimyo had nothing but praise for you back in Yezo." [Charming]

We can charm a Magal shamaness and someone who actively tries to kill us, we can do this

>>3711637
>>"A retainer? You are too humble, Master Suenaga. The daimyo had nothing but praise for you back in Yezo." [Charming]

>>3711647
>>3711672
>>3711681
>>"A retainer? You are too humble, Master Suenaga. The daimyo had nothing but praise for you back in Yezo." [Charming]
>Correct Response

The man looked uncomfortable. "He is too kind. I only do my duty."

"But those are the greatest of men," I purred. An Aurelius in my head shouted and stamped and raged at the deception. Another Aurelius that cared about what my sainted aunt would have thought, fainted straight away. But the liar in me - the swindler, the Aurelius that got me through thin and thinner during lean vagrant times, woke up. "It is difficult to find reliable men in these times, when every samurai is a ronin at heart." A touch of Wae dialect, just to make myself sound that much authentic.

"That is true," he replied gravely. "I must apologise. I thought that perhaps you had been sent to spy on the young master. He is," he looked around the room, "indiscreet."

"I imagine that is why my master sent me. The Rite must commence without interruption, All-Mother willing."

Recognition. "You are from Mount Kitahotaka?" And I knew I had him.

People like to see what they think. Preconceptions are, as far as all of us concerned, conceptions. That is why the beginning was the hard part. The song and dance to disorient and confuse, make them unsure, put them off the trail of lies. Now he had me all figured out. He'd found a convenient Aurelius-shaped hole to plug me in.

I nodded gracefully, not deigning to even answer the question. "Things are going as planned back there. Master Jiro will be pleased to know that-"

"There is no need to tell me," he said, stopping me. "I am only a humble retainer. Such things are only meant for my lord's ears." He touched his forehead to the ground lowly, bowing thrice (custom? I hoped it was a custom. And I definitely hoped there was no counter-bowing required.) and said, "Forgive the young master for not being present himself. I shall seek him out immediately."

"There is no need for that," I said gently. "It appears his dwelling place is in disorder. I shall take it upon myself to organise his place. For is it not said by the poets that a man's room is the picture of his mind?"

"Despite being a wakashu, you are gifted with penetrating insight," he answered. "But there is no need to sully your hands with such housework. I will have the young master come and personally apologise for this horrendous mistreatment." He hesitated. "Will you be traveling with us tomorrow, for the Rite? I could send a monk for another mattress in the room."

Uh. This was more than I'd bargained for. Mulberry inhaled sharply.

>"That is why I am here." At least, I wanted to get to read the rest of the bloody letter.

>"I have already prepared separate lodging before arriving in the temple." I couldn't take too long here. There was a limit to how much Lee could distract the other monk.

>>3711744
>"I have already prepared separate lodging before arriving in the temple." I couldn't take too long here. There was a limit to how much Lee could distract the other monk.

>>3711744

>"That is why I am here." At least, I wanted to get to read the rest of the bloody letter.

We NEED to know where the rite is to disrupt it guys

>>3711744

>"That is why I am here." At least, I wanted to get to read the rest of the bloody letter.

>>3711744

>"I have already prepared separate lodging before arriving in the temple." I couldn't take too long here. There was a limit to how much Lee could distract the other monk.
But il come with you on the way there

>>3711744

>"I have already prepared separate lodging before arriving in the temple." I couldn't take too long here. There was a limit to how much Lee could distract the other monk.

Can we attempt to infiltrate the place at night?

>>3711794
>>3711817
We can just get up in time to go with them to the place, we dont need to sleep with them to do that

>>3711895
I'd prefer not to go with them but follow with the platoon and whatever other rangers we can gather

>>3711891
Sure, you could try arranging it. It's a government building so it will be guarded, though. Are you thinking of a bloodless run, or maximum carnage? Somewhere in between? How far in between?

I'll be on the train from dawn to evening tomorrow so I likely won't be able to make updates. Just a PSA!

>>3711920
Yeah, it was one of our first options, I think we can try bloodless until we can but do not shy away from blood since they know that the foreigners are around

>>3711920
I would say bloodless if that ends up hapening.

>>3711779
>>3711872
>>3711891
>"I have already prepared separate lodging before arriving in the temple." I couldn't take too long here. There was a limit to how much Lee could distract the other monk.

I made excuses, of waiting engagements. Promises of later meetings. The retainer nodded. His place was too low to insist I stay. Reading the rest of the letter could come later. He saw us down to the fourth floor, and then returned up. Presumably to grab whatever it was he was sent for.

"That went surprisingly well," Mulberry said as we reached the ground floor.

>"A product of my masculine wiles," I said. I was an Alexandrian in another lifetime. Deception came to me like second nature. "Let's find Lee and get out of here."

>I didn't answer her. Something wasn't right. He'd let his guard down much too rapidly after the most basic of conversational deflection, spiced with information that could be gleaned from rogue letters within that very room. [Paranoia]

>>3714445
>>I didn't answer her. Something wasn't right. He'd let his guard down much too rapidly after the most basic of conversational deflection, spiced with information that could be gleaned from rogue letters within that very room. [Paranoia]