Session Twenty-Five: The Squire’s Tale

Hubris

The company continues to make the acquaintance of the pilgrims while the GM curses his desire to have all of these NPCs in the first place.

Honestly, What Was I Thinking?!

Dinner is served. Brother Martin, of the Abbey of the Lady’s Grace, excuses himself and takes a plate upstairs to his superior, the Prioress Justine, who has been secluded in prayer in her room since the morning. During dinner, Andre becomes reacquainted with several of his traveling companions, including the Gentlewoman Alisoun and Arnaulf, a cook. They appear to be his drinking buddies as well, and Arnaulf seems to have started without him.

A pinch-faced man, who introduces himself as Dunray, a manciple for a girls’ finishing school in Brionne, politely asks Sir Henri about the cost of the meals. When Sir Henri replies and Garnier confirms, Dunray flies into a barely disguised rage and begins paging through a small journal he is carrying. He begins railing at another of the priests among the pilgrims, Father Loutrec of the Church of the Bleeding Heart, that Gascon has been soaking them for coin this entire time.

Magnus, being surprisingly supernumerate, goes over to both sooth the fires of wrath and to check Dunray’s numbers. When Dunray ignores him, Magnus snatches the accounting ledger out of his hand. Dunray turns on Magnus and, cowed by the mercenary’s terrifying visage, relents. Things simmer down quite a bit in the common hall after that.

Dunray the Manciple

Bounty Hunting

Renee briefly excuses herself from dinner to run over to the local watchhouse and ask about claiming a bounty on Gascon, who seems to be a criminal of one stripe or another. The constable on duty says that Renee can, of course, claim a bounty if she brings in both the culprit and proof of their crimes.

Renee returns to the Hungry Mice with a song in her heart and her net at the ready.

Further Discussions

Pierre checks in on Gascon and finds the pilgrimage leader no better. Pierre unwraps the dressings and discovers that Gascon’s wound still bleeds. He convinces Guilbauld and several of his companions to hold Gascon down while he salts the wound. Gascon screams, but the bleeding finally seems to ebb.

Downstairs,  Andre suggests that the company recover any cash that Gascon has been hoarding for redistribution to the pilgrims. The pilgrims are all delighted by this idea. They mention that Gascon has a wagon parked by the stables, and they suspect that their funds are hidden inside. Andre collects several of the company and offers to “have a look” and see what can be found.

Meanwhile, Sir Henri and Sabina question Dame Britolette about her missing daughter/squire, Charlotte. The knight provides them with a description. Sir Henri promises to search the town immediately, to see if Charlotte can be found, with a promise to search the surrounding areas in the morning.

The Wagon

Gascon’s wagon is hard to miss. With a little help from Frieda (using the lockpicks gifted to her by Garnier), the company unlocks the door and climbs inside.  They find the interior very neat and tidy, with all of Gascon’s sundry possessions stored on shelves with gated fronts.

A quick search of the wagon reveals a loose floorboard beneath a throw rug. When this is pried up, the company discovers something wrapped in sackcloth resting on top of a coffer. Maurice unwraps the parcel and reveals a well-worn hammer. In the coffer, the company finds a large quantity of money in various denominations and a small pouch containing old fingerbones.

Andre crawls under the wagon, but finds nothing. Maurice lifts the seat of the buckboard to find that Gascon has stowed away the vestments of various different religious faiths underneath, along with a weighty pouch of coin. Meanwhile, Sabina, who has been looking over Gascon’s horses, finds that several gold crown have been carefully sewn into hidden pouches in the tack.

The Search

With sufficient evidence that Gascon is, at the very least, a suspicious person, the rest of the company joins forces with Sir Henri to search Vierzon for Squire Charlotte. They find that the town is both small and relatively quiet at night. The company passes by the Shrine to Saint Eloy, which is surrounded by goldsmiths’ and jewelers’ shops, all of which are closed.

The company hears some strange cries in the distance. Following the sound, they come upon a very large, very unusual bird perched on the corner of a building. Maurice notes a glint of silver on one of the bird’s quite formidable talons just as it beats its wings and flies away. Driven by curiosity, most of the company splits off to follow the bird, while Magnus and Sir Henri continue the search for Charlotte.

An Unusual Bird

The Bird

The company follows the strange bird back to the Hungry Mice, where it alights on the roof of the stable and peers into one of the second-floor windows. After some discussion, Maurice runs inside and pays a few coins for some fresh fish, which he drops on the ground by the stable. The company takes cover as the bird descends and begins eating the fish. While it is distracted, Renee springs from cover and nets the bird.

What follows is a protracted effort by the company to take the silver object—which turns out to be a ring with the head of an eagle—off of the talon of the bird, all the while trying to avoid losing eyes or fingers. Pierre finally throws a saddle blanket over the bird, which calms it enough so that the ring can be safely removed. Garnier very quickly makes the ring disappear.

As the company studies the ring, something very odd happens to the bird. It changes proportions and enlarges, until it takes on the form of a young woman. The company frees the woman, who caws as them in confusion for several moments. She then recovers her wits and introduces herself as Idelinis, a shepherd who is accompanying the pilgrims.

A Ring

Idelinis says that she bought a ring from a nice Tilean merchant and soon realized that, when she wore it, she was able to understand the language of animals. She also thinks that, after a time, the ring turned her into a bird. Since the ring can’t be found (Garnier coughs), she supposes it must have fallen off, returning her to normal. 

Sabina, sighing in irritation, questions Idilinis and discovers that, yes, she met a nice monk in Brionne who wrote her wish into his book, which she still has. Pierre takes the slip of paper from Idelinis and reads it to group.

Oh, Lady, Gentle Idelinis desires little other than a greater understanding of the beasts of the world.

The company brings a still bewildered Idelinis inside the inn to recover.

The Camp

Sir Henri and Magnus discover that someone has used a rope to scale Vierzon’s inner wall. They immediately travel to the nearest gate and convince the guards to let them out, so that they can have a look around. The guards permit them to leave, but warn them that there have been strange sounds in the forest of late.

Traveling along the wall, the two men discover that a second rope hangs down the outside of the wall as well, and that footprints at the base lead into the nearby forest. They follow the footprints a short distance before seeing firelight in the distance.

Suspecting danger, Magnus suggests that Sir Henri ride his horse into the encampment as a distraction, while Magnus sneaks through the forest to get the jump on any potential enemies. Sir Henri agrees, and rides toward the camp with lamp held high and armor clanking noisily through the night.

The two men reach the camp at roughly the same time. Studying it, they find that the tents and goods are crude and poorly cared for, and that, other than snores issuing from a nearby tent, it seems deserted.

Sir Henri dismounts and approaches the camp while Magnus creeps closer. An instant later, a goblin leaps from behind a tree to strike Magnus down, while an arrow flies from some other quadrant of the forest to ping harmlessly off of Sir Henri’s helmet.

While the concealed archer continues firing, Magnus and Sir Henri close in on the goblin and, between the two of them, quickly dispatch them.

This altercation rouses the sleeper in the tent, who steps out into the firelight and reveals themselves to be an ork of prodigious size. The ork hefts a huge, meat cleaver-like axe and charges at Sir Henri, letting out a wild roar.

“GORK AN’ MORK! GORK AN’ MORK! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

Idelinis the Shepherd