2.01 Caravan of Criminals
GEMulator New Adventure!
Adventure Summary
For Ren and the Dusk Razor Gang to leave Rae and Maferagul
Shipwrights alone, Rae has agreed to guard a caravan.
From: Highbridge to The Burrow
Transporting a person - an aristocrat
Their disposition to the caravan: Unfriendly
UNE:
passionate bum
work happiness
he/him
Ortisse - this a quest run by dodgy people, so he's using a
fake name, Lord Colhast
Heading to a settlement? likely: No, but new NPC - hand over
to another caravan - an agent of the Queen.
Heading? SW - along the coast.
Number of hexes (6 miles): um, 2d4: 7 hexes
People in caravan: Rae, Ortisse,
Wagon driver: Annone Gray, they/them - human - bandit
UNE:
Destitute pioneer
persecute the law
Annone is poor, anti-authority
drab clothing, missing their left hand. Short and
malnourished.
How many others? 1d4 + 2 = 3
Is Ren one of them? Unlikely: No, Ren left town in a hurry
the night before.
3 general bandits.
Arbi - she/her - human - uneducated burglar, slightly
weaker, communicate sensuality
Linny - she/her - half-elf - Level2 - affluent serf,
abuse myths
Barber - he/him, level2 dwarf elderly professor,
encourage vigilance
Also retroactively adding a valet for Colhast:
Othwin she/her
obnoxious soldier
slightly stronger
report moderation
halfling
Scene 1
Location: South road from Highbridge
Date: Feastday, 1st of Talamisie, 107
Goal: Make it safely through the day
Start: Sitting with the wagon driver, Annone Gray
Scene Transition: Positive Replacement: Campaign Goal
No current goal really, so coming up with a new one
Help Annone Gray with her debt
Rae, refreshed after a week with her family, slowly atoning for her wrongs, was very apprehensive about this caravan guarding gig. Of the 100gp she had left over, she commissioned some plate armour, and bought a crossbow and bolts.
She heads to Ren Rajeorn's place - a boarding house taken over by the Dusk Razor Gang years ago. Before Sir Redgrave arrived. Count Torwain's answer to the gang problem was just to take their bribe, and build a new boarding house for the poorer citizens of Highbridge.
There's a horse-drawn wagon waiting out the front, and several people milling around, and packing it up. An older dwarven man, grey hair and cropped beard narrows his eyes as she approaches, and calls, "You Rae?"
"Yeah"
"Ren's not here, but you're to come with us, help look after his lordship" the dwarf sneers, and jerks his thumb to the wagon. "I'm Barber. I'm to tell you that you'll get paid 1gp a day - which is a damn sight more the rest of us - and a bonus if we get the chap to where he's going, safe and sound. Ren also says 'whatever the outcome, assuming she doesn't kill him, then we're square, tell her that'. Consider yourself told. We'll be gone a week, give or take. Anyways, stow your bag in the back. No horse? You can ride up front with Anno. They don't bite."
Rae looks up to Anno, a short skinny person settling onto the bench, looking more like a beggar than a gang member, or a wagon-driver. They wave their left arm, which is missing a hand, but their smile is warm in their tanned & freckled face, with a halo of wild brown hair.
"You're a big one!" Anno says loudly, holding their right arm out to help Rae up, her left elbow hooked around the reins post to brace themselves. Rae takes their hand, and a grunt and a lurch later, thumps down on the seat next to them.
"Hi, I'm Raeba, or Rae" "And I'm Annone, or Anno, or Ann" Anno shrugs and smiles. "Take your pick!"
Two women complete the rest of the caravan guard, One is lithe, tanned, with long chestnut hair loose, and her leather tunic showing a lot more skin than is practical. She gives Rae a look of recognition before disappearing behind the wagon to jump on the back. The other is a half-elf like Rae. Thicker of build, pale, with red curly hair, dressed in rough leathers, looking like a proper bandit, except for the big gold hoop earrings and flashy rings on her fingers. She sits on a piebald horse, holding the reins of Barber's grey mare steady as he carefully mounts, seeming to have a bit of pain in his knees.
Anno sees Rae looking at the others. "That one back there is Arbi" - Anno frowns slightly, thinking of adding more detail, but stops. "And her on the horse is Linny. She's a good one. A good head on her shoulders. You know, for a criminal". Rae takes that to mean Arbi is not a good one, or does not have a good head on her shoulders.
Rae scowls "Yeah, they all look familiar - but Linny and Arbi? Didn't know their names - but seen them about town, and they were guests at the shipyard last week. Haven't seen you before though - you been in the gang long?"
Anno snorts "Gods no - don't lump me in with those lot! I think you and me have something in common, in that we owe Ren. She needed my wagon, yet again, so here we are. Apparently some adventurers bought the only spare wagon in town a week back. Lucky me. Did I overhear you're clear of Ren after this job? Luck!"
"Luck, and the 500 gold I repaid"
Anno's eyes go wide. "Fuck. That'd do it". Anno slumps back, looking glum, thinking on her remaining debt to Ren.
"Alright!" booms Barber in a gravelly voice "let's head out!"
The wagon follows Barber through the streets of Highbridge before leaving the South Gate, and down the road - the road that leads to the Tomb that appears in many of Rae's nightmares of late.
The morning is sunny and the sky is blue. At the first stop, Rae finally sees their passenger - and actually there's two! A man calling himself Lord Colhast, a nobleman of some sort, and his valet, Othwin, a halfling woman. It would seem quite a feat for the halfling to look down on everyone, but she manages it just fine. Colhast in particular seems ill-at-ease - showing obvious discomfort at having to "rough it". They're dressed in their version of inconspicuous - freshly made leather armour and unstained or torn cloaks.
Back on the road, Rae gets anxious as they get to the spot where a small dirt track on the left leads to the Tomb of the Evil Witch. She frowns as she notices deep wagon tracks in the dried mud heading that way. Opportunist treasure hunters scouring the place for anything not bolted down? The tightness in her chest loosens as they continue past, and the road veers right, towards the coast.
"What are you going to do, once you're free from Ren? What are your goals?" Anno asks after a comfortable silence.
Rae sits looking lost for a while. After a long silence she says "I'd like to do some good I reckon. At least not make things worse. And get filthy rich" she finishes with a lame smile.
Rolled random events: none for the 3 hexes traversed
Scene end - goal met: +15 to next scene transition roll.
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