To Escort a Lady part III

by Giancarlo

From the Journal of Giancarlo Lucani...

I have tried to keep up with writing this thing but it is not easy for me to do. I must keep pretending that you will read it someday in order to keep going. Yes, I know it is doing me good, but damn, even finding paper in this place is hard. Anyway, Lucinda you were right. I am slowly getting better. I am nowhere near as angry as I used to be, and I am slowly beginning to gain more confidence. Hard as it is for me to make friends, especially male friends, the group I am travelling with seem to have accepted me rather easily. They ask no questions of my past and are only interested in my present intentions, and that I stand beside them when we battle. It feels good to fight the good fight and not be the one who is the cause of the trouble, although my reputation can sometimes come in handy.

So, when last I left we had just killed the werewolf who turns out to be the tinkerer. Don Carlos has been bitten by the werewolf and is now lying unconscious. My companions and I look at each other in unspoken horror realising what this could mean. Carlos' brother Ferdinand is uncharacteristically subdued, looking genuinely worried for his brother. Still, all we can do right now is bundle him up and take him back to the inn.

As we left the werewolf's den, we were told by one of the Eisen guards that the Eisen mercenary group has decided to attack the Montaigne soldiers, whom they believe are responsible for the attacks. Oh Good, more senseless fighting and killing. That is really going to help the situation. Anyway we quickly decide on the best course of action. Dandelion will go to the Montaigne camp and keep them calm, while Franz and Hadu will go to the Eisen camp and explain to them that the culprit they seek has been dealt with. Hmmmm. If I had to go and convince a group of angry Eisen mercenaries to keep calm I'd want someone like Hadu behind me. She is one of the biggest and strongest looking women I've ever seen - also incredibly fast on her feet. Quite attractive too - or maybe that's because she's not fawning over me. Actually she seems rather disinterested. I also get the feeling she has had quite a bit of pain in her background as well.

Anyway Borstenn, Jill and myself will keep on with Don Carlos to the inn. Once there we will extract Eduarde from his amorous pursuits and get him to help his fellow Montaigne, besides we will need Doña Claudia to help with Carlos's wounds.

Dandelion managed to use his courtly influence to convince the Montaigne Captain to keep his soldiers at bay. Franz and Hadu - after having to convince the duty sergeant as to their credentials - managed to talk to the Eisen soldiers, and after one of Franz's speeches - he is very good at those - convinced them of the Motaignian's innocence.

Meanwhile at the inn, Doña Claudia had bandaged Don Carlos enough for him to regain consciousness. I then - rather stupidly I must admit - asked the local friendly barkeep if she knew of anywhere we can find help for someone who had been bitten by a werewolf. Well, that changed her attitude pretty damn quick. Suddenly we were no longer welcome in the town. The only reason she didn't scream for someone to kill Don Carlos immediately was because of the help we had already given.

We quickly gathered everyone and our gear and headed once again for Frieberg. Our hasty exit (and the fact that he was still recovering from previous wounds) didn't seem to dampen Franz's spirits though. As a matter of fact he made up a little ditty to cheer us on our way:

When Fritz the tinker came to town
He gathered all the children round
And taught them all a little tune
To lure them out by the light of the moon

Now if he keeps cheering us like that, I think someone is going to shoot him.

After a few days travelling we began to notice a distinct improvement in the state of the road. Someone seemed to actually be looking after it. The paving was complete with no pot holes and the grass had been cleared along the sides.

Soon we came across the inevitable toll gate for the road. I guess someone has to pay for the road and since we were using it we should contribute. But something made me instantly suspicious. There were an inordinate number of soldiers on guard at the gate. Maybe I've been in Eisen too long but anything at all suspicious will get my guard up.

The guards seemed friendly enough. They invited us over to meet their captain, a certain Herr Adolph Von Gutrig over at the fortress like guard house. Herr Adolph himself met us and invited us to dinner with him, (of course, no weapons were permitted at the dinner table) and as we entered the fortress the large, solid doors clanged ominously shut behind us. We were then shown to our rooms where, after a few minutes, I met up with some of the others to voice my suspicions. The others seemed to think I was perhaps a bit too quick to jump to conclusions. This even after we found a red stain in one of the rooms that was definitely blood.

At least Jill seemed to share my suspicions. She used her charms on one of the guards (and endured a couple hours of detailed accounts on boot polishing) to finally find out we were indeed being held hostage. And that the money for our ransom will be used to maintain the road. It seems that Herr Adolph lost his wife and daughter during the war and has since become completely obsessed with the road.

We quickly came up with a plan. Dandelion will use his magic to summon some of our weapons once we are at the table. The rest seemed pretty confident they could handle themselves.

When supper time came Adolph's personal assistant Lurch came to fetch us. Leaving the still wounded Don Carlos behind with his brother in their room we made our way to the dinning hall. Once inside a quick glance around the room showed trouble. There were guards with pikes lining the walls on either side and a whole line of musketeers on a landing in front of us. The door was quickly locked behind us. Hadu and I made sure we stayed close to Dandelion as he was the key to our weapons.

Sure enough Adolph quickly dispensed of any formalities and told us we were beingheld hostage. Franz tried to point out the stupidity of this action but it was useless. After this pointless banter went back and forward a few times Franz's temper got the better of him and he strolled across and punched Lurch in the face. I think he was more embarrassed at Herr Adolph's bad manners than anything else.

And so it was on. Dandelion gave Hadu and I our weapons, Jill pulled out her hidden knife and Eduarde just walked up to one of the guards, punched him out and took his sword. Nice. What I thought at first was going to be a tough fight turned out to be fairly easy. Hadu ran up the landing to get the musketeers (who missed completely when they shot), Borstenn ran up the other side of the landing to get one the decorative axes, and the rest of us took care of the floor. Soon most of the guards were lying dead or wounded.

Adolph realised he was losing and took off to one of the side door. I noticed Franz had slumped to the floor, the crazy bastard was already injured when he took on a group of guards without even his sword. What bocce! I was also treated to a comic moment when Borstenn, realizing that Adolph was making a run for it, tried to swing down using the chandelier. Unfortunately his timing was off and instead swung wildly a few times before dismounting rather ungracefully to the floor.

Eduarde and I took off after Adolph with Hadu following behind. Through the door we saw a narrow winding stairway leading down. We descended as quickly as we could and ran into a dungeon with more guards. These we also quickly dispensed of and caught up with the bleeding Adolph. He was clearly panicking now and tried to offer us a deal, that if we left him alone he would call the rest of the guards off and let us free. I was furious but I managed to speak calmly (you would have been proud of me, Lucinda) "We could cut through your guards like butter," I told him, "You are going to have to stop taking people hostage, instead you will ensure safe passage for all travellers" (During this conversation I heard a tremendous crash from upstairs, but I could not let it distract me)

"But the road," he cried, "How will we maintain the road? It is very important to all the cities around here".

"Petition the authorities of these cities. If the road is as important to them as you say, they will have to give you the money you need to maintain it."

"You think so?"

"Yes, besides you have no choice. If I hear you are still kidnapping people we will come back and skin the lot of you!!"

"Alright"

Well, I think I was more surprised than anyone. A year ago I would have just screamed and skewered him in the heart. It seems it is possible to change some things.

By the way, that crash I heard upstairs was Jill getting a little carried away with Adolph's desk. It seems she wanted to get inside it, couldn't open it so threw it off the landing and smashed it open. Shame really, it was a beautiful desk and all it had inside was some precious crystals that belonged to his dead daughter.

After releasing the rest of the prisoners we again made our way to Frieberg. It looks like we're finally going to get there. It figures. I finally learn how to ride a horse properly and we probably wont have to use them again. Still, I am looking forward to Frieberg. I have always felt more comfortable in a city.