Session Eight: The Reeve’s Tale

 CONTENT WARNING: Loads and loads of intestinal distress.

A Farewell to Armor

Squire Henri has done very good work as apprentice to the town blacksmith, so much so that the smith has completed his backlog and has repaired Henri’s helmet besides. With a firm handshake and the promise of a new job should Herni turn aside chivalric pursuits, the smith turns Henri loose on Berjols. Henri remembers that the rest of the company planned to meet at the Shrine of Saint Gwen, and so goes there to meet them.

Unpleasantness Ensues

The company’s visit to the Shrine of Saint Gwen is interrupted by the sudden intestinal distress of both Ambrose--Sir Jean-Marc’s horse--and Bartholomule. In addition to the odorous mess, Ambrose lays down on his side and does his best to look pathetic.

Fearing that Ambrose is dying, the company roughly levers him back to his hooves—at the expense of some of their clothing—and leads both him and Bartholomule down the street to a water trough. While both animals drink deeply, the company discusses what has occurred. They suspect that the bread in Berjols—and Roland the Miller—are to blame for the onset of flux that plagues both man and animal.

It is at this moment that Squire Henri arrives on the scene, freshly polished helm upon his brow. His insistence that he ate Berjolian bread without suffering any ill effects is soon discounted when a sudden stab in his stomach sends him fleeing to relieve himself in a nearby alley.

The Bounties

While Squire Henri holds his churning guts and Maurice scratches himself all over, Renee and Sabina discuss the numerous bounties offered by the town guard for various criminals, including the “discreet” one involving the missing guard and the miller.

The company splits into two groups, with Garnier, Maurice, and Magnus planning to locate and slaughterthe bandits at 1 Crown a head, while the rest will return to Montressor to investigate the miller.

Among the Green

The company part ways at the crossroads, and Magnus, Garnier, and Maurice venture into the forest after the bandits. They quickly pick up the trail and follow it to a small clearing, where the trio beholds a truly unpleasant sight.

A man dressed similarly to the other bandits squats in the midst of his relieving himself, his face in a rictus of agony, and his legs covered with excrement and blood. Garnier suggests killing the man immediately, but Magnus demurs. He approaches the bandit and exchanges a few words before the bandit dies on the spot of the Bloody Flux.

Alas, Giorgio, You Were a Cool Character They Barely Met

The trio divide up his belongings, which includes a finely made set of tarot cards, and then follows another pathway into the bandits’ camp. Here they find Etienne and Elroy flopped on the ground in agony, their stomachs distended and rumbling.

The trio springs upon the bandits, who are easily overpowered and hogtied. Etienne, happy to still be alive, answers the trio’s questions and tells them where he has buried the bandits’ purse of coin. The trio take that, while noting the numerous trade goods (bolts of cloth, jugs of oil and wine, etc.) the bandits have acquired. They pay particular attention to the  baker’s tray of bread that has been mostly devoured.

It is at this moment that Maurice’s rash attacks his skin in fury, overwhelming his body all in an instant before hardening into greenish black scales. The two bandits scream “mutant!” and “Chaos!” until Magnus and Garnier put them both to the sword (and hammer).

The Lady favors Maurice, however. Despite his agony, he is able to anoint his skin with the blessed water from Annecy. This immediately causes his scaly growths to slough off, leaving pink, newborn skin behind.

The trio vow to keep Maurice's brief mutation a secret that they will take to the grave. They then bury what plunder they wish to keep for themselves and send Garnier to Berjols to report to Captain Julien. Magnus and Maurice then travel to Montressor to rejoin the others.

Elroy the Bandit, in Healthier Times

The Miserable Mill

The rest of the company reaches Montressor. They find the miller at his stall in front of his mill, selling baked goods. They realize that they will not be able to get inside the mill without a distraction.

Both out of indignance and to make the necessary distraction, a pained Squire Henri stomps up to Roland’s cart and accuses the miller of trying to kill him--and his master’s horse--with tainted bread. Sir Jean-Marc tags along for moral support, but lets his squire do all of the talking.

Roland is unimpressed by the squire’s threats. When Henri says that he will go to Berjols and return with an angry mob of Flux-affected people, the miller all but goads him into doing it.

Squire Henri’s demands are cut short by another urgent call from his intestines. To pay injury with injury, he immediately drops trou and anoints the miller’s baked goods with the contents of his insides.

This is the distraction that the others need to enter the mill, after Frieda easily defeats the lock with a well-placed hat pin. They find a layer of flour evenly dusting everything, as well as numerous footprints marked in the same flour throughout. After a careful search, they find the following:

• Remains of scuffle in the mill’s topmost chamber, which seems to serve as Roland’s bedroom. 
• This was achieved by a careful study of the various footprints in the flour.
• A guards’ tabard hidden inside of a barrel of flour.
• A strange, unpleasant smell whose origins could not be traced.
• A basket filled with purple-black mushrooms on a table in the uppermost room, next to a large mortar and pestle. These exhibited the same smell detected elsewhere, and were also white on the inside when broken open. One of them is taken for further study.

The company escapes the mill with their discoveries and locks the door behind them. From their vantage, it seems that the miller, at least for now, is unaware of their snooping.

Blaise, One of the Missing Guards

Into the Woods

Squire Henri finishes up at the miller’s cart only to discover that Roland has left. He looks around Montressor and sees the miller disappearing behind the common hall. Suspecting that the miller is up to no good, Squire Henri follows him.

The miller takes a winding track through the forest to the west of the town before turning north and heading into the hills behind the mill. It is here that the miller stops, turns, and looks back in the direction that he had come. Squire Henri slips back into the trees and is certain that the miller can’t see him. This doesn’t stop Roland from turning abruptly and walking down the hills back toward Montressor.

Squire Henri suspects that the miller was heading to some bolt hole where additional evidence might be found. He continues on in the direction that Roland was heading in the hopes of finding this bolt hole. Alas, his woodcraft skill is not as great as some of the others in the company, and he quickly becomes lost.

Session Seven: The Reeve's Tale

To the Crossroads

The company departs from Annecy and travels along the shores of the River Brienne. They spend some time and some coin crossing a tributary of the Brienne by ferry. Several of the company haggle with the ferry master, who gives discounts to two of them. When he realizes that they all want discounts, he yells at them and orders them to pay up.

Night falls as the company reaches a crossroads by a wood. Eastward, through the wood, lies Berjols. Southward, skirting the edge of the wood, lies the village of Montressor. Garnier and Magnus are loathe to enter the wood at night, and the rest want o save their coin, and so the decision is made to head to Montressor.

At that moment, Pierre spies a person hiding in the wood. Pierre shouts a warning  as the figure steps sheepishly from the trees, holding his bow away from his body. The figure turns out to be a scruffy man name Etienne, who seems a hunter by trade. After some light banter, he invites the group to eat and rest in his nearby campsite.

While Etienne talks, Garnier slips away from the group to do a little scouting. He runs straight into a mountain of a man who is also lurking in the shadows. The man is introduced as Elroy, a companion of Etienne’s. He is not particularly friendly.

The company suspects the two men are not hunters, but bandits, and politely refuse the invitation. Etienne and Elroy say their goodbyes and melt into the forest as the company continues to Montressor.

Etienne, a Trustworthy Fellow

Montressor

The village is quiet, though candlelight flickers in the windows of many a home, as well as of the common hall. On the far side of the village, a windmill towers above some nearby hills.

The company is hailed by a villager, who abruptly excuses himself partway through introductions. The man’s son hurries out to finish them as the first villager runs pell-mell into the nearest privy. It appears that the village has fallen prey to the flux, a very common ailment.

The villager’s son directs the company to the common house, which they visit after they stable their animals. The locals greet the company warmly and serve them stew and ale that is both good and cheap. The company ask after the pilgrims and receive dissatisfying answers. They also mention their encounter with the bandits. A villager, Pertolette, offers to accompany them to Berjols on the morrow to inform the Captain of the Watch about the two men.

The company sees a large, unpleasant looking man sitting by himself. When they ask around, they learn that he is the miller, Roland, who rarely visits the village. He is not well liked, largely because he has shorted people flour in order to use the surplus to make and sell baked goods—though he has recently stopped this practice. Perhaps overhearing their words, Roland leaves. Maurice sneaks out into the darkness and follows him.

While the rest of the company enjoys their dinners and catches up on the local gossip, Maurice shadows Roland all the way up to the mill. On his way, he sees several villagers in intestinal distress fighting over a nearby privy. He presses on, and watches as Roland lets himself into the mill and locks the door behind him. Maurice waits and, after gaining no further information, rejoins his companions in the common hall.

The company pays a small fee to sleep before the common hall hearth. Maurice, who arrives after the fees are collected and leaves just before dawn the next morning, skips out on his payment.

Roland, the Miller

The Baker of Berjols

The company, along with Pertolette, arrive in Berjols. As they step through the town’s main gate, they are accosted by a baker who has set up shop nearby. She is most pleased when the company spends quite a lot of coin on cakes, muffins, and loaves of bread. Squire Henri feasts immediately on his purchase, and both Bartholomule and Ambrose, Sir Jean-Marc’s horse, each get some baked goods as a snack.

The company splits up: Pierre, Sabina, Renee, and Frieda follow Pertolette to the Watch Garrison. Maurice, Garnier, Squire Henri, and Magnus go shopping. Henri the Innkeeper and Sir Jean-Marc travel to the Shrine of Gwen, the Saint of Cats.

Adventures in Commerce

Squire Henri asks a blacksmith to repair the helm he scavenged from the skeletal sailors, but the cost proves too great. Undaunted, he promises to aid the smith in his work for a day in exchange for the repairs. The smith accepts.

Garnier and Magnus try to buy armor and arrows, only to learn that such custom far exceeds their purses. They hatch a cunning plan, where they will try to sell the sword Garnier stole from Sir Charles du Theobard. Though it is an ordinary weapon, the pair plan to describe it as a magical artifact that once served a member of the knightly household, who recently, but nobly, died in terrible battle.

They first attempt to sell the blade to Berjol’s Lord Mayor, but she is a woman of discernment and unmoved by their tale. After some refinements to their tale, Garnier and Magnus offer up the holy, enchanted blade to Captain Julien (see below), who is profoundly moved. They trade the blade for a quiver of arrows and a studded leather helmet, which Magnus promptly dons.

Maurice, who has picked up a rash (likely from his salvaged, barnacle-covered armor), shops alone. He speaks to several blacksmiths about removing the barnacles from his armor, only to find the task too expensive. He then drops into a cozy alchemist’s shop run by an extremely elderly couple. The couple is happy to sell him some “strong water,” which should remove the barnacles with all due haste.

Maurice then shows off a blue gem and a green gem that he pried off the deadship in Annecy. The couple becomes very excited, and offers quite a good price for both. Ultimately, Maurice sells one blue gem and three green gems (which the elderly male alchemist picks up with a pair of tongs and puts into a lead-lined coffer). In return, he obtains the strong water and a jar of poison that he asked to purchase, “for foxes.”

Bounties

Renee, Sabina, Pierre, and Frieda study the bounty board outside the garrison as Pertolette goes inside to inform the guard about the bandits. Renee, a bounty hunter by trade, is eager for Pierre and Frieda to read the bounties to her—some of which fetch reasonable prices. Frieda, however, seems discomfited by the bounties, and soon goes quiet.

"Let's Not  Bother Simon. He is Either Having the Worst Day or the Best Day"

Pertolette brings out Captain Julien, who thanks the company for their information. He promises to have his guards investigate the crossroads soon, though he does explain that he is rather short-handed at the moment. He soon learns that Renee is a bounty hunter and, after a moment, quietly invites the company into his office.

The captain explains that he has a “special” bounty that he wishes Renee and her companions to undertake. Several months ago, he sent two of his guards: Blaise and Mirette, to investigate Roland, as he had reports that the miller was cheating his customers. Blaise and Mirette went to Montressor, but never returned. A few days ago, Julien sent out one of his corporals, Tristan, to find out what happened, but he has not yet returned either. Julien fears foul play, and asks the company to locate the missing guards and find evidence against the miller. The group accepts.

Out of Business

Henri the Innkeeper and Sir Jean-Marc spy a woman nailing boards over the windows of a small bakery. Concerned for her welfare, Sir Jean-Marc dismounts and asks her what’s wrong. The woman seems annoyed, at first, but becomes quickly taken with the knight.

Sir Jean-Marc learns she was once a prosperous baker, but has lost all of her customers because her goods now have a foul aftertaste. She gets all of her flour from Montressor because it’s the only place where grain can be milled. Roland used to skim her grain—and the grain of other bakers—but seems to have stopped, for what little good it's done.

Sir Jean-Marc inspects the flour in the bakery but finds nothing wrong with it. By way of experiment, he feeds one of the bakery’s croissants to Ambrose, his horse. Ambrose seems untroubled by the bread. Apologetic that he cannot help, Sir Jean-Marc goes to the Shrine of Saint Gwen.

At the Shrine

After all of their various activities, the company (apart from Squire Henri) once again comes together at Saint Gwen’s shrine. They learn about the miracles of the saint, play with the cats that have taken over her courtyard, and purchase pilgrim badges that are, of course, in the shape of cats. They also learn that the pilgrims visited the shrine yesterday, and are given the names of several inns where they might be staying.

Gwen, Blessed Saint of Cats