Breakout! part II

My Dear Kirstin,

We travel through the frigid lands of Pösen and the only thing that keeps me going through the day is the sure knowledge that there will be a steaming heap of porridge at the end! While I still believe I serve the will of Theus, and having met Montegue I know him to be a great man, I find myself wondering what my life will come to. Following the Battle of Freiburg I find there is almost nowhere I am not recognised and it eats a huge abyss in my soul that people are filled with such hope when they see me, yet all I see ahead are even more, and more difficult, struggles than those that lay behind.

Following our encounter with the cannibals we paused while Dandelion tended the wounded - for once I was not counted in their number. While I was thankful for that small mercy from Theus, it meant that I had to stand watch and the cold bit into my shoulder most sharply. And yet for all that pain it was the only time that day I felt alive.

We took to the saddle eventually and for the next couple of days we proceeded without incident while a light snow fell gently about us. We strayed not far from the forest for it was our only guide to our destination.

In good humour of sorts, we had started to discuss possible strategies for approaching the hunting lodge when a patrol of Pösen's soldiers crested a hill. They drew their pistols and approached as we dismounted, hoping to talk our way past them but they would have none of it. They insisted we lay down all our weapons but that was not the way we wanted to enter the Hunting Lodge - in the blink of an eye we were standing with our swords covered in blood as the patrol lay dead or dying around us. Only one did we save, and after we had questioned him closely about the Lodge, its occupants, and what other information we thought useful we tied him in a tree. I pray that he froze to death before the cannibals found him.

Again, while there were some serious wounds to be tended I found myself curiously unscratched. I could not help but think that Theus was holding some special terror for me. Listen to me - I think I have spent too much time listening to Eisenfürst Trägue and his theory on Theus and the nature of suffering!

As my comrades gleefully pulled on the tabards of the soldiers, we were assaulted by a party of Montaigne. Demanding our newly acquired tabards it was clear they meant to enter the Lodge and find Montegue themselves. I would have been more than happy to leave them to it but something about them disturbed me, and I found myself unwilling to trust them with Montegue's life. Instead we explained that we were known to Montegue and were here to rescue him, but would welcome their help. They agreed to our plan to open the main gate for them at moon rise, and we proceeded onwards.

We entered the Hunting Lodge under guise of a party from Fauner Pösen to advise the castellan of her imminent arrival and that he should ensure that Montegue was fit to travel. The castellan assured me that Montegue was in good health and could be made ready in short time, and so we set ourselves to dinner.

I was able to persuade the castellan to bestow extra porridge rations upon my companions, but for my generosity I was forced to choke down a rich roast beef dinner with various vegetables to accompany them.

After dinner I told the castellan an edited version of the Battle of Freiburg, of which they had apparently had no news. While we spoke news arrived o the missing patrol, and I made up a story of having possibly seen them traveling South some time in the late afternoon. This apparently put them well outside their patrol area, but I said we had not spoken and they had seemed intent on some mission and the castellan let it rest.

Eventually I retired to bed, and as the moonlight started to creep in through my window I readied myself for battle. I waited for the occasion that the stein should be locked that I could assault the guards from within and hold the entry for my companions to enter.

In the meantime, as the story has come to me, the others enjoyed vast bowls of porridge before Pistol brought out the Cask of Endless Ale. While they could not get the guards drunk, they did manage to get enough down to challenge them to contest of manliness from the parapets (which, while of little consequence, it appears that Borstenn won). Pistol managed to knock one of the other contests to the snow outside, and when the gate was opened to retrieve him, the assault began.

Pistol cleverly placed a rain-water barrel beneath the portcullis so it could not be fully closed, and the rest of my companions took on what men they encountered and tried to make their way to the stein.

I had finally realised that the stein would be left undefended and had started to move to help my friends when I saw the Montaigne running across the courtyard. They didn't stop to lend any aid, making straight for the stein. Downstairs I saw them cutting down servants who unfortunately found themselves blocking the path of the Montaigne, even though some of the servants were but slips of girls obviously trying to get out of the way.

The Montaigne caught me at the top of the stairs, and I tried to lead them astray but the stein was small and the opportunity for deception small. We finished up in the castellan's quarters just as he finished donning his armour. Neither of us had a chance to launch any attack before the Montaigne had cut him down. With his last breath he threw his keys from the window to vanish down the cliff that formed the rear defence of the Lodge. As his eyes glazed over they locked on me with the look of one betrayed, and I wryly thought how appropriate Trägue would find all this before I shook it off and gave thanks to Theus that I had not had an opportunity to aid the castellan as the Montaigne would surely have cut me down with no more effort than the castellan.

However with their actions within the stein I felt my earlier fears confirmed - these men were not here to rescue Montegue, they were here to make sure he never left alive!

By this stage the rest of the guards had been killed or subdued and I joined my companions as the Montaigne prepared a ram to break down the door to the tower where Montegue was held.

Pistol scaled the tower to find Montegue in the top room secured by a locked steel harness about his waist that was chained to the walls. We sent Eduarde back up with Pistol to see whether there were perhaps some fault with the lock that could be exploited, and Dandelion used his sorcery to gain the room. Unfortunately for Pistol he was too large for the window and was confined to watching proceedings from his vantage outside.

At this time the Montaigne broke through the door and we followed them up the stairs. Two of their number turned to halt us with some feeble excuse of their leaders needing a private word with Montegue first, but Giancarlo and I made short work of them.

While their leaders did indeed gain some lead on us, they were taken by surprise by Montegue and our companions in the room, and some telling blows were landed before they could recover. Everyone managed to get into the fight and the Montaigne did not have much chance - even Pistol managed to throw a knife through the window to good effect!

Emerging again unscathed, I was once more pondering the occasion on which the scale would be balanced, when from the courtyard a huge bellow erupted. More prophetic than we would have liked, Fauner Pösen had just arrived with a sizeable guard.