View Full Version : In the Name: the advance of the Baron (solo)
This takes place while Konnal is in the Alerar army, and he is equipped as a foot soldier see Alerar-The-basics (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?7369-Alerar-The-Basics)
The Advance of The Baron
"You see something wrong Baron?"
the question came to Konnal from from his second in command. Alton, as they entered the base of a watch tower near the Raiaeran border along the Valinatal Pass. Konnal had been assigned leader of a watch team consisting of himself, and three Dark elves, Alton , Ryltar , and Mourn who were supposed to guard the Valinatal Pass from opposing forces by looking official. The guard post itself was capable of halting an opposing army when fully manned but current diplomatic relations stipulated, at least informally, that nothing more than a show of force be visible.
Konnal had selected Alton and Ryltar to be his right and left hands while he was at the post. Alton because he had the ambition and formal pretence of a Graf, Ryltar because he needed someone imposing enough to keep unwanted guests at bay while he counducted buisness. Mourn was a late adition taken on out of necessity. Under Konnal they had become the center of the posts undrground trade market. Not nessesarily black but definatly in the grey area according to army regulation. The kind of thing everyone either knew or suspected was happening, and as long as certain officers didn't have proof and others were paid to look the other way, was likely to remain operating indefinitely.
"Just eyeing the cargo, might have found something to make this watch worthwhile." Replied Konnal. The cargo in question was part of a caravan headed through the Twilit Peaks to some unknown destination.
The Valinatal guard post was initially concived as an emergency stop for Alerarian forces in preperation for Thoracis Rakarth's ill fated march on Raiaera. Had the Battle of Valinatal gone the way Thoracis intended the post would likely never grown beyond that purpouse, but during the failed war effort and subsequent political turmiol it had seen numerous refitings by whoever happened to control the area. This led to a haphazerd design where one general's unfinished modifications meshed with anothers and certain things got tacked on in a hasty attempt to accommodate some novel or nessesary function. Whether the single watch tower on the edge of the road was deemed novel or nessesary by its builders, it was definitely not part of any origonal plan. The structure rose four stories from the ground with what should have been the ground floor cleverly dug out below ground from inside the tower. At the subteranian level a passage led to the more defencable and less prominant areas of the guard post. The top of the tower was accesed by way of a wooden ladder built into the towers central collum and from the top one had a clear view of the Raiaeran border, beyond which a keen eyed individual could glimps the fort the other nation had constructed for similar observational purposes.
The "meeting room" in the visible base of the watch tower was designed for holding reserve weapons and was therefore relatively secure and out of the way, which made it useful for covert discussion as long as someone kept a close watch for anyone passing by. Ryltar and Alton entered the room and positioned themselves at opposing far corners while Mourn moved just inside and waited for Konnal to enter, the casualness of their actions almost making the routine look like an accident.
Konnal stayed by the tower door and watched as the last of the caravan left Alerar and descended into Raiaera, then headed inside to tell his crew what he was planning. When traveling east through the pass the road allowed for a large group of travelers to set up camp about six miles from the official border and the caravan would have to hurry to reach the spot before nightfall. Konnal and his men had been given the night watch for three weeks straight and none of them were looking forward to the inevitably dull routine of staying alert while nothing more sinister than the night air attempted to invade Alerar's borders. So Konnal, or the Baron as he prefered to be called, decided that a night of covert activity would be good for morale, and more importantly he was getting bored.
"I expect one out of every five crates they were carrying contained illicit contraband." Konnal said as he and the others waited to be called for a pre-watch inspection. The way he said illicit and contraband made the words sound like synonyms for grand prize or beautiful women.
"And how do you figure that?" asked Ryltar, the informally third ranked member of the quartet.
"I figure that, based on my keen observational prowess, and almost god-like ability to divine when some worthless Raiaeran scum is depriving Me of My countries goods." The retort was more for the interruption than the question. What Konnal had seen was a pattern of crates, subtly marked with a frayed red string denoting them as containing either gunpowder or firearms mixed in with the rest of the caravans goods, which would presumably have other items purchased on the black market. But the source of that knowledge was not one Konnal cared to elaborate on, even if he had time to do so.
"After dark, Mourn and I will make our way down to the camp and see if we can relive our unkind guests of any unnecessary burdens, meanwhile you two will keep the officials here from being to suspicious if they decide to check on us while we're gone." Mourn was, according to Konnal's command, the lowest ranking among them but he was also the quickest on foot except Konnal and capable of moving quietly at speed better than any of them. Alton as the most straight laced, would be able to handle most of the talking if the higher-ups wanted to be nosy, letting Ryltar follow his lead.
Seeing the pause in Konnal's outline Alton commented "So Baron, what happens if while you and Mourn are doing your thing the watch captain comes by and doesn't buy our cover story? I'm all for relieving these bastards of whatever but if we get too much attention how do we deal with the fallout?"
"If Omareth isn't going to eat whatever crap you throw at him play along but don't mention where we went, for all you know we could have sprouted wings or stepped out of sight and dropped dead. I'll smooth things out when I report in the morning." Omareth was the least likely of the possible captains at the post to tolerate discrepancy between the prescribed watch duties and their execution. The three Dark Elves considered the implications of this, each realizing that if this plan went the wrong way they'd each be out for themselves. There was a brief silence as they weighed the risk of one of the others cutting a deal with the Grafs to avoid being killed or otherwise made an example of, against the possible benefits of moving black market goods back into the country.
"All right, we've got time to kill before sundown." mused Ryltar "Let's make the guard change as painless as possible."
A tower watch unit consisted of four foot soldiers, one to watch the border, one to watch the pass back toward the Alerar lowlands, and two in reserve to provide relief, run messages, and hold the outside entrance if opposing forces tried to gain control of the tower. The changing of the guard consisted of a pre watch inspection of the oncoming team and then the members of the teams were cycled out in theory providing constant vigilance over the pass. The whole affair was usually truncated and the inspection was almost always a quick glance at a soldier as they went up to relive their counterpart and after the new guardsmen were in place the overseeing officer would head back to the main post until the next shift was due to start. This time however the command was performing a full inspection as each squad went on duty.
"All present." the phrase was given as a mixed question, observation, and order as Omareth entered the subterranean guardroom. Omareth looked bookish, more akin to a professor than a military commander. However, his percise movements and piercing gaze were enough to convince anyone of his authority and martial ability.Konnal and his men stood at attention with their rifles shouldered, it was a point of pride for him that he and those under him excel under official scrutiny. Omareth looked each of them over in turn, meticulously comparing each detail against the official standard in his head. The examination went silently and smoothly, and the team were just about to relax their posture when, instead of exiting, Omareth turned and addressed them.
"It has come to my attention that performance has, of late, been declining. To assist in remedying this I will be conducting a post shift inspection of all watch teams as soon as the oncoming shift has fully replaced them." The soft monotone of his voice made it seem as if he was reporting the weather or a mundane list of cooking ingredients, only the most attentive would catch the menacing undertone in the proclamation. Having made the announcement Omareth turned and left.The rest of the guard change passed without incident as konnal Mourn Alton and finally Ryltar replaced the previous watch unit.
When night fell, Ryltar came to replace konnal who was keeping watch with Mourn. "Meet me by the door in a quarter hour. And don't get too comfortable up here" Konnal said, first to Mourn, then Ryltar, as he descended to the lowest floor to meet with Alton who was casually .
"Have you given any thought as to how we're going to move the goods after getting them into the post ?" asked Alton
"Standard procedures, if we treat this any different than usual someone will notice."
"And what about Omareth's 'surprise inspection', we can't move whatever you bring back into the post with him around."
"We'll keep the goods hidden here for half a watch, Ryltar and Mourn will move them after the morning watch settles in."
"I don't know how that's going to work."
"Well what you don't know is a lot. Any other questions?"
"No, I'm just looking forward to seeing you and Omareth finally clash, might even take bets on the outcome."
"Ha! Don't hold your breath, this place isn't big enough for that showdown." Konnal then left for the ground level, leaving Alton to his fanciful schemes.
In the so called meeting room Konnal moved aside one of the large weapon chests on the far wall, revealing a hollowed out section of the floor from which he took two almost black sets of cloths. After replacing the chest Konnal changed out of his armor into the set of sloths tailored for him and recalled everything he could about the landscape from the maps he'd seen.
The layout of the surrounding area across the Raiaeran border was, according to the maps, mostly barren rock formations surrounding the fort, with sparse vegetation growing farther down by the rest stop. The Alerarian side of the border was marked by more rock formations with the Valinatal Pass moving around the contours of the mountain range. There wasn't much cover other than a hillish rise between the tower and the fort, so getting past he fort unobserved would be the hardest part of the affair.
Mourn came down and changed into the other sneaking outfit Konnal had acquired for them.
"Ready when you are baron." Mourn said, and headed towards the door. Mourn almost had the same subdued menace about him as Omareth, but he was obviously more used to athletic feats than the Watch captain. His use to Konnal was as an informant, and message carrier, due to his obvious background in thieving, and not so obvious connections with nearby criminal outfits. If Alton couldn't move the nights spoils through military or government channels, Mourn would find other outlets.
Konnal and Mourn left the tower and silently made for the higher terrain in an attempt to circumnavigate the opposing fort, speed would hopefully remain less important than stealth until they were back inside the watch tower. The only mark of their passing was Ryltar's grin as he noticed Mourn outdistancing Konnal.
Konnal and Mourn crept around the mound that was blocking the fort from their view. Mourn was more adept at moving quietly and quickly than Konnal, and was soon almost out of Konnal's sight. Then he stopped at the far side of the hill just before coming into the fort's line of sight. Konnal reached Mourn and they watched the fort for a moment to see if they could decipher any of the guard's movements.
The perimeter of the fort was almost square, with watch posts at the four corners, and a walkway along the top of the wall between them. A guard was stationed at all of the watch posts, in addition four guards patrolled along the walkways. Konnal counted out the time it took for a guard to walk from one watch post to the next, and realized that he couldn't count on the guards to have a blind spot. The most efficient way to get by the fort would be to crawl along the edge of the light provided by the fort's torches or lanterns. Konnal motioned for Mourn to go first and they began the tedious process.
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At the far end of the fort, Samuel looked over the rocky field, not expecting to see anything. Never, Never go for broke against the Sergeant. He thought recalling the losing through of the dice that had landed him this unpleasant watch. The Sergeant was known to be exceptionally lucky but he'd been on a winning streak and couldn't resist taking the bet. Now he had to stand watch all night and then face his regular duties in the morning. The monotonous landscape taunted him with it's lack of salient features as his mind wandered. Wait, what? A shadow moved on the edge of his vision and then stopped and the ground returned to normal. There it is again. Further along the shadow moved, this time he concentrated Nothing? No there. Maybe? A patrol guard walked by "Hey I think theres something out there."
"It's just a lizard, don't get jumpy."
And the guard walked by. But the shadows kept moving, in short irregular bursts, across the fire-lit horizon till the next guard came by. "I told the other guy but theres definitely something moving out there"
"Probably just your eyes, don't worry about it."
by the time the third guard walked by the shadows had made it a significant distance. "Tell me I'm not going crazy, look." and he pointed the guard toward the moving shadows. The guard stared for a moment and the shadows stopped "Did you see that?"
"It's probably nothing, but I'll check with the others."
The fourth guard walked up and asked "Have you seen anything moving along the perimeter?"
"Yes, it looks like something or someone is crawling across the field." Relived by the conformation Samuel took his eyes off the landscape. "Command isn't going to be happy but we have to send someone to check it out." the patrol guard said dejectedly. And climbed down the tower to raise up a "volunteer". Back on the watch Samuel searched for the moving shadows again Now where are they, should be about, there. But nothing moved. The shadows had moved across well over half of his field of vision, and he waited for further movement. Behind him a groggy soldier protested, as he was roused from sleep and forced to make the trek into the field. Samuel watched as the recruit crossed the open area, torch in hand cursing the whole way, then the soldier stopped looked around and turned to walk back.
"Next time some unlucky mush-head starts jumping at shadows throw him off the edge instead of asking one of us to sing him to sleep." was the report. Samuel looked again but couldn't find any trace of whatever of whoever had been there earlier.
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Mourn almost slithered along the ground, ahead of Konnal. The crossing was going well, as far as he could tell. Then he heard the sound of approaching footsteps and an elf cursing loudly. He and Konnal moved as fast as they could without exposing more of their profiles. Fortunately the elf was being careless enough that he didn't hear them scrambling for better cover. Whether it was speed born of desperation or a trick of the light making the distance seem father than it was, He and Konnal reached a large group of rocks an scrambled behind them just before the advancing elf's torchlight would have reviled them. Mourn was hardly able to breath until the elf had walked almost the entire distance back to the fort.
Nodding to Konnal, Mourn resumed his snakelike movements. They were able to move more freely now, the rocks they had found provided a more concealed path past the fort. As they made their way towards the camp both of them realized that it would be almost impossible to repeat the trek on their way back.
Alton waited in the guard room, mulling the current situation over. If this all goes to crap that arrogant bastard will be roasted alive, along with me unless I play this right. The commanders will be on a head-hunt and mine's too high to escape notice. Where is the axe going to swing?
*tap-apt-pat-tap*
The sound of footsteps coming from the passage to the main post interrupted Alton's thoughts. The door opened and a message runner stepped through.
"Umm... I'm looking for The Baron."
"He's indisposed at the moment. What is this about."
"Well I was told to only speak with Konnal... um... would it be okay to wait."
"Not really, who sent you and what did they want."
"I really don't mind waiting-"
"Apparently you aren't following along here. The Baron isn't going to be available. I'm running things for the night. If this is important you either tell me or whoever sent you will have to deal with whatever it is themselves."
"It's, It's about Omareth."
"Did he send you!?"
"N-no, I was told to tell the Baron that Omareth was asking questions and wanted to know if the 'supply chain?' needed to be adjusted. Umm.. that was it."
"Hmm.. tell them to redirect through the north market, If they ask tell them I was the one you talked to because the Baron refused to see you. Got it?"
"O-okay, yes."
Alton waited while the messenger hurried back down the hallway, then he climbed the ladder to see Ryltar.
"Omareth is finally starting to stick his nose into our operations."
"Do we need to slow things down? If Mourn and Baron bring in something we don't want to hold on to..."
"Don't worry I'm taking care of it."
"Are you sure? I don't want to risk more than I have to, things have been pretty good lately."
"That's why I'm telling you. We need to be sure that Old Omar doesn't find us at the bottom of whichever barrel he looks into."
Ryltar considered this for a moment and then answered "I'm in."
Alton nodded in reply, and went back to the guard room, Now I just have to wait for the dust to settle. If the axe starts to fall in this cloud it'll be swinging blind. Alton congratulated himself for his work. A blind headsman would be easy enough to avoid, and with enough luck the axe would sever the strings tying him to the post.
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The message runner walked to the end of a side hall, rapped on the door in the left wall, and nervously waited for the door to open.
"Who's there?" came a voice from inside
"It's me I gave them your message."
"What do you mean them, I told you to talk directly with the damned Baron." Said the man as he opened the door allowing the runner to enter.
"He wouldn't see me, his front-man said to redirect through the north market."
"Of all the- That'll set us back by a day at least."
The door-man angrily did nothing for a moment then sent the runner away with a few coins.
~Previously as the last rays of sun faded below the horizon~
Jeremiah barked orders at his compatriots. "Get those animals tied up, and get a fire going."
After obtaining his cargo in some backwater trading post, Jeremiah had pushed his associates for a quick exit from Alerar. Smuggling rifles was risky enough, but when you were also transporting valuables, that were in all probability stolen from the Kachuk mines, through the Niadath Pass a quick exit was prudent. The rest stop provided a brief respite from the quick jaunt to the border.
After seeing that the mules were secure, Jeremiah joined the others near the fire.
"Eat up, we'll be leaving early."
"Aw come on we've been pressing hard for three days. We made it throughthe border with no problems it'll be all downhill from here."
"That's likely so, but I'll feel better when we have a days travel between us and them instead of a few hours. And I wont call anything downhill until we unload the goods and get paid."
"Yeah. Yeah. But nothings going to happen tonight. If someone was going to try something they'd have done it before we crossed the border. And this isn't the place to try an ambush."
The back and forth continued over dinner and Jeremiah finally conceded to his fellows reasoning. They were practically guaranteed a safe journey from here unless their buyer decided to do something stupid. One by one the men found suitable places to sleep for the night. As Jeremiah drifted into slumber the only thing on his mind was how he'd spend the small fortune he was promised for making this particular run
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Konnal and Mourn crept through the brush along the edge of the caravan's camp, searching for a suitable entry point. The brush was dry, and moving in complete silence was impossible for either of them. Fortunately everyone seemed to be asleep, and the pack animals were thus far undisturbed. Konnal figured the chances of anybody trying to pull off what he and Mourn had planned were unfathomably small.The campsite was located near a stream useable for watering animals and filling water skins. The generally east and west sides of the site were hemmed by leafy bushes, the road to the northern edge and a rock wall provided the southern border. The layout of the camp was haphazard, but it was to be assumed that the crates they wanted to search would be near the center or southern edge of the camp. A dying campfire provided dim light allowing Konnal to see the twelve drivers that made up the sentient portion of travelers.
At the edge of the brush Mourn moved into the open towards the fire, while Konnal remained hidden. Now the fun begins. Thought Konnal as he recovered from the strenuous creep through the bushes. He'd made surprisingly little noise, but as he was unaccustomed to woodland maneuvering the slow careful crawl had been taxing.
Mourn approached the campfire, slowly surveying the layout of the of the carts and wagons. As he reached the fire he saw a bundle of wood, alongside a few unadorned cooking utensils on the back end of a sparsely loaded cart. While avoiding the human sleeping next to the cart's right wheel mourn removed a stick from the bundle and used the campfire to light one end. The dry wood caught flame easily and Mourn proceeded to gingerly move towards the rock wall at the southern edge of the camp, causing the animals at the eastern edge of the camp to stir at the tension building in the air. Mourn identified one of the crates that likely held rifles and ammunition, and lodged the makeshift torch between the carts left rear wheel and outer frame.
After seeing Mourn move away from the fire, Konnal left his place in the brush and approached the nearest of the twelve sleeping individuals. The human was dressed in functional travel garb, and was still wearing a saber. Konnal clasped his hand around the mans throat with a jab while covering the mans mouth to prevent his short struggle for air as his neck broke from waking the other smugglers. After the man ceased struggling Konnal drew the mans saber and moved under the nearest wagon.
While waiting for the cart to catch fire Mourn moved towards the pack-mules.The mules were loosely tied, either to a wagon containing their feed or the brush on the edge of the camp and were pleasantly sedate. Mourn quickly untied the ones affixed to the feed cart and then the rest. The sound of a stifled gasp heightened his urgency. A lot of things were about to start happening all at once. The mules caught his mood and began to stamp and pace, as he hid himself as best he could in the feed cart.
One of the sleeping bandits woke to the sound of the restless pack-mules. As he sat up, his sleep addled brain took a split second too long to realize that the burning cart contained volatile munitions.
"Oh shi-" *BOOM*
The blast flung wooden shrapnel throughout the camp as the eleven smugglers sprang, almost in unison, out of sleep and into chaos.
From underneath the wagon Konnal watched the smugglers begin to scurry about. At the sound of the explosion the mules had fled either into the eastern brush or to the road. The smugglers seemed to be dividing between going after the mules and trying to put out the fire six to five. Before any true semblance of order could be established one of the bandits noticed the cadaver, which had failed to wake with it's former comrades, and ran to the corpse to confirm the apparent death. As the man was about to kneel over the body Konnal advanced towards him, quickly planting the edge of his saber's blade into the man's neck. Having exposed himself to the group, Konnal turned to the remaining four he'd marked as firemen, who immediately rushed towards him, along with two of the men Konnal marked as horsemen. The six humans were armed similarly with sabers, And two of them look like the type to throw daggers, Konnal observed.
~
In the feed wagon Mourn watched as six men ran by after the frightened mules, then two of the six turned back at the cries of their fellows. Mourn leapt at them as the passed back by the wagon tackling one, knocking his sword away , and rabbit punching his face out of alignment. The other bandit made a slash at his shoulder as he rolled away toward the saber. Mourn picked up the sword and defended himself against a wild thrust aimed at his rib, and countered with a lunging cut at his opponents wrist. The man drew back avoiding the cut and adopted a defensive posture. Mourn held his saber ready and advanced.
~
Four against one was Konnal's idea of a good workout in an unarmed brawl, but as his opponents were armed and not incompetent he was forced to retreat. Konnal ducked around a cart, keeping his assailants from surrounding him while bringing himself closer to the burning wreck. Two of the smugglers headed around the carts west side a third to the east, the inventive fourth climbed onto the cart then leapt at Konnal as the others were about to round the cart. Bad move. Instead of retreating further as the flying smuggler had intended, Konnal maneuvered forward and to the right, drawing his saber across the mans side and shoving him at the two coming around on the west, then turned to move around the fellow on his right. The eastern smuggler lunged at Konnal, scoring a cut to Konnal's sword arm. Konnal leapt back at the thrust and tripped rather ungracefully over his own feet, collapsing backwards in a heap. The western smugglers started to flank Konnal as the other stepped in to press his advantage. Konnal rolled back over his right shoulder, narrowly avoiding a cut at his midsection but receiving a nick on his left leg. The three bandits advanced while Konnal moved backwards closer and closer to the ex-munitions cart. Once Konnal felt the heat of the flames on his back, he chanced a look at the terrain on his right and left. The bandits grinned as they fanned out, cutting of any avenue of retreat.
~
Mourn relentlessly assailed his opponent. The human was quick enough to block or parry every strike, but the persistent onslaught left little room for any counter offensive. Sweat glistened on the duo's faces in the firelight, Mourn's elfin features contrasted with the backlit human form. As the duel progressed fatigue set in, and the smugglers movements became forced, while Mourn's fury of blows showed only minimal hints of strain. The bandit began to fall back, seeking respite, into the center of the camp, where he thought to join with his comrades and finish the drow whelp. Mourn followed the mans lead, shifting clockwise so as not to expose his back to the road.
A smirk crossed the smuggler's face as he saw his three compatriots surrounding a stalky man, presumably the drow's ally, If I can hold just a bit longer...
~
The three men closed in on Konnal, eyes gleaming with bloodlust. The coward couldn't run anymore, vengeance would be swift and brutal. Immediately before the triad came within the range of Konnal's sword he raised his sword over his head and, with a circular motion, threw the weapon at the leftmost human's head. The man raised his own sword to guard his head as he cringed. The split second delay was enough for Konnal to side step around the man, while grabbing his wrist and twisting the sword out of his hand. Having secured control of the man's arm, Konnal pulled the smuggler in front of himself as a shield against the other two. Then with a turn Konnal pushed and threw the man into the burning wreck. The enflamed human screamed as he leapt away, rolling on the ground to smother his burning cloths. Konnal picked up his saber and stuck the burning bandit in the gut, then ran behind a wagon, reinitiating the cat and mouse pursuit with the smugglers.
~
At the sight of his associate being thrown into the fire Mourn's opponent became desperate, adrenalin revitalizing his limbs and giving force to his wild strikes at the dark elf. The human was now mostly on the offensive. Mourn hesitated at the scream, scarcely deflecting a strike at his head. I have to end this now. Mourn leapt backwards and held his sword low, with the point away from his body almost touching the ground. The smuggler took the bait, lunging at Mourn with abandon. But before the thrust could connect, Mourn brought the point of his sword up to meet the mans wrist while stepping aside. Then aimed the blade at the bandit's torso, and stuck him in the chest. The bandit drooped his sword and collapsed. Mourn picked up the smugglers sword and left him to bleed out.
~
The four smugglers chasing down the mules heard a scream from the camp, and turned back at a sprint.
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