Burstwick Orecrushers vs Rise Roaches (Dreadball)

 Steve and I have started a little Dreadball league to give our games more colour. I have set up a separate page for the league where the current standings will be recorded. The league will be intermittent because of my working away most of the year, but it gives a framework for our games and offers a more organic option for team building, as our teams gain Megacredits and experience, get injured and buy new players. We played the first game in our league and it was a tight game between two quite tough teams.

In the inaugural match of the Tripe Marketing, Mining and Management Board League based in the East Thirding of the galaxy, the Burstwick Orecrushers hosted the Z'zor at their arena, The Quarry.

The Burstwick Orecrushers are a Crystallan team from the Eddon subsector of the East Thirding. A semi-crystalline race, they are strong and tough but slow. However, they work particularly well together and that teamwork compensates for their disadvantages when used properly.

The Rise Roaches are a Z'zor team, an insectiform race endemic to Bevvehleh subsector of The East Thirding. They are also quite tough, but scuttle much faster than the Crystallan can. Their chief advantage is a decentralised nervous system, so they do not feel the pain of being hit. This is a significant advantage when facing a team like the Crystallan, who hit like a ton of granite, because that is pretty much what they are made of.

The first rush begins and the Orecrushers charge the Roaches

The Orecrushers set up in a single line to cover all approaches to their scoring zones. The Roaches deployed in depth. The ball was launched into the arena and the Orecrushers moved. Their guards slammed the Roaches and one of their jacks went for the ball, but fumbled the pick up. The Roaches took the initiative and began a rush that saw them score a single point. The ball was launched again and the Orecrushers slammed the Roaches some more. Several Roaches were knocked flat and one was sent to the medbot for treatment. It would be a couple of rushes before the magic sponge had fixed the poor Roach.

An altercation between two of the substitutes on the benches ensued and the ref gave the red card to a guard from the the Orecrushers and a striker from the Roaches. This seemed to rile up the crowd and suddenly a streaker raced across the pitch, causing one of the Orecrusher's guards to fall over in surprise as the naked entity raced past it.

The Roaches make the first score despite being down a player and two of them being knocked over.

Order was restored and the match continued with the fans yelling for blood and the Orecrushers doing their best to appease the crowd's bloodlust. The Roaches were soon reduced to half their numbers on the team while the other half had their injuries treated. Despite the hammering they took, only one Roach went home in an ambulance. Their powers of survival were amazing! (Literally!! I rolled three heavy hits on three separate players where they should, but all normal odds, have been carted off to hospital, but Steve rolled so many sixes that all his armour saves worked and the Roaches only suffered minor injuries.)

Injured Roaches awaiting their turn with the magic sponge

Suddenly, the Orecrushers got their act together in the mid-game. Working properly together they got the ball and moved up to the scoring zone. A pause as the jack lined up the shot with the two guards supporting it. They launched the ball at the goal. Score! The crowd went wild. The jack had scored from the bonus zone and suddenly the Orecrushers were ahead by one point.

At this point, the Orecrushers tried to shut the game down but hammering on the Roaches and they succeeded for most of the rest of the match. But, in the final rush a Roach substitute came on and sprinted up the pitch to pick up the ball. They charged towards the open strike zone and, in the dying seconds of the match, they shot. The ball sailed towards the goal. It hit. The Roach had scored from the bonus zone. As the final horn sounded, the Roaches won by 1 point.

Only three Roaches left on the pitch versus six Orecrushers but that was enough to seize victory with a last second shot with the last possible action of the game.
Sorry for the blurry mobile pics by the way.

After the match, as we totted up cheers from fan checks (things that the crowd particularly liked, like smashing up your opponents or scoring) and experience, it quickly became evident that the crowd loved the Orecrushers more than they like the Roaches. The Orecrushers' assaults on the Roaches and their willingness to sucker punch them had netted the Orecrushers three times as many cheers as the Roaches got. The Orecrushers also dominated on experience gained, mostly from knocking Roaches over. However, the Roaches begin the league in the lead, despite all this. The crowd cannot wait for the return match at the Roaches' home, The Permethrin Arena.

This was a great match and very close. I should probably have focused more on trying to score, but honestly I played to my teams's strengths, which is knocking their opponents over. Despite that, it was a very tight match with several missed scoring opportunities, and a lot of potentially nasty outcomes avoided by good dice rolling. I need to learn to use the Orecrushers' Harmonics ability (bonuses for starting an action close to other team members) better, because they are not particularly skilled at scoring, but I was having too much fun hitting things. Next time, eh.

For a relatively simple game, Dreadball offers great game play and a lot of meaningful decisions that will have consequences later in the game as you try to keep your players in the right position for the next rush, as well as in the right place to help you succeed in the current one. It rewards planning, and you cannot just rely on special abilities, at least not with the teams we have used so far. It's a shame Mantic is no longer supporting it, as far as I can see. Still, we have a good range of teams and star players already, so it's not like we actually need more stuff and neither of us is the sort of person that needs a game to be actively supported for us to remain interested. A good game is a good game regardless.

If in doubt, accessorise!

 I've been very busy for the past month or so, and have had little motivation to set up and play a game or to paint figures. It happens every so often. Also, the weather is nice here, so walking in the hills and visiting fjords I have not previously visited is higher on my list of things to do. However, I managed to stimulate my interest in gaming once more by buying a packet of foamboard!

One of my gaming goals is to focus on the figures I have rather than buying into new things. I've been quite successful in this. I've bought new rules like Five Leagues from the Borderlands to use with existing figures, and I have bought new figures to expand existing collections, but I have not been distracted by entirely new projects. Obviously, stopping expanding existing collections and ceasing to buy new boardgames would also be a good thing, but I have not quite managed that yet. One way to slow these processes down is to accessorise existing projects. This is where the foamboard comes in.

Over the past week I have cobbled together a dice tower and card holder for Warfighter, and a dice tower for Five Leagues from the Borderlands. They are built from foamboard and decorated with artwork from the respective games that I printed out and glued on. I could have spent more time resizing the artwork and making the images fit better, but, honestly, I just could not be arsed. The Warfighter dice tower was the first one I made, using a pattern from Instructables and it is a bit wonkier than the Five Leagues dice tower. If I make another, I am sure it will be less wonky still. Doesn't matter though. I have new dice towers and am satisfied enough with them. Also, dice rolling through the foamboard baffles sounds really cool. I need to stop rolling the dice to hear the sound long enough to actually play a game!

The card holder is from Adventures in Creative Software:

I needed to cobble together an insert for the Warfighter action deck using boxes the cards came in, because this card holder is not large enough for the 100 or so cards in the action deck, but it is functional and keeps the cards together better than just placing them on the gameboard. Like the first dice tower, the card holder turned out a bit wonky, but it is still satisfying to have for the game, and keeps the cards together.

Aberrations: The big, bad monsters of Five Leagues from the Borderlands

 Aberrations are the big, bad monsters of the Five Leagues from the Borderlands world. You only ever encounter one of them at a time, but they are tough to take down. Remember the Hulk-esque fight against the giant on Turn 5 of the campaign? That was an aberration. I loved that turn, by the way. In my head, it was the scene where the troops all pile onto the big guy and it looks like he is buried under them all, but suddenly he stands up and they are all thrown away to land twenty feet from him. Great stuff!

So, my general approach to aberrations with a few exceptions is that they should be imposing. That means that they should have Ray Harryhausen monster proportions where they are meant to be big critters, so I am using a lot of 28mm models for them. I have also taken some liberties with the descriptions of the monsters with a view to using figures I already owned rather than buying new. While a few are new figures, some have sat in my pile of shame for decades and are just grateful for the chance to finally be used. So, here are my aberrations listed by the name given them in the rule book.

Ogre

The ogre is a basic bad guy. It is kind of tough but not the hardest foe to defeat. I chose a Gloomhaven Cragheart to be my ogre. In Utavoll, ogres are born of the earth, so a rocky-looking miniature seems appropriate.

Gloomhaven Cragheart

Troll

Trolls are also born of the earth, but are tougher than ogres because they regenerate. They are living rock, so I chose a Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame Stone Elemental to be my Troll.

Gloomhaven Stone Elemental

Minotaur

The minotaur is a normal 15mm minotaur. Nothing fancy about this guy but he is still tough enough to give the heroes a hard time.

Alternative Armies Tabletop Fantasy Minotaur 578

Werewolf

This guy is a fairly normal werewolf who is drawn from those I painted as The Corrupt for the Synod of Reason faction. No point painting extra figures if I do not have to.

Ral Partha Europe 4506 Wolfmen

Golem

The golem is a Doppelganger from the Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame. It has clearly lost its programming and is on a mad rampage ... or maybe it is just trying to live a quiet life, but other people keep interrupting its contemplation of the works of Saint Julius of Rhino, and it gets annoyed. Who knows? Either way, it's really not something you want to be on the wrong side of.

Temple of Elemental Evil Doppelganger

Giant Lizard

Five Leagues from the Borderlands suggests a Giant Lizard for this monster. I did not have a giant lizard in my collection so it is being replaced with a giant armoured bear from my Gloomhaven set. The giant lizard is big, though not as big as the monsters with the big trait and it is tough. Nothing about these traits requires it to be a lizard though, and this is a thing I like about Five Leagues. It gives you a lot of flexibility in deciding which minatures to use for what.

The armoured bears are magical constructs that occasionally appear in Utavoll. No one is certain who created them or how, but it is rumoured that they come from the island near the coast where the twisted vivimancer Moreau is supposed to experiment on animals and people with equal enthusiasm. If it is he, his motive is unknown and none have ever dared sail out there to ask him.

Gloomhaven Armoured Bear

Spitting Lizard

This medieval wyrm looked cute and I figured that a spitting lizard need not be huge because it relies on its ability to spit venom. They come in a pack of two, so I have two painted up in case I ever need them for something else or maybe I'll just field them as a pair and remove one when the monster gets down to half hit points.

Alternative Armies HOT110 Medieval Wyrm

Manticore

Nothing much to say about this. It is a 15mm Manticore and represents the monster in the book exactly as described.

Alternative Armies HOT28 Manticore

Griffon

This is where my rule of bigger is better has been completely ignored in favour of these incredibly cute griffon hatchlings. They are just so cute! Man-sized bundles of feathery fun that will rip your head off in a second if you let them. The Griffon has 3 hits, so I shall use all three of these to represent the griffon as a flock of small griffons that are fast and vicious. Each figure removed represents one hit on the flock, which will save a little bookkeeping.

Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures Gryphon Hatchlings

Giant

We met the giant before when it caused the locals, and thus the party, some problems. It's a giant. It's big and it's tough. There is not much more to be said about it. The only difference is that I did a little work on the figure since that last encounter. I could not be bothered doing too much, but I did paint parts of the miniature that did not appear to have had any colour applied before that, despite apparently being a Mage Knight prepaint.

Mage Knight Murderous Berserker

Wraith

Wraiths are wraiths. We all know pretty much what they are and why they will come after you if you steal rings from strangers. They came in a pack of four, so my plan with these is to field multiple wraiths as the one monster. That way, I can remove figures as the monster takes hits and save on some book-keeping. These are perky wraiths, not like your more common goth wraiths.

Alternative Armies HOT114 Wraith

Wight

The wight is another fairly tough undead monster. It should make life quite difficult for the party if they encounter it.

Alternative Armies HOT12 Wight

Death Knight

The death knight is an especially tough skeleton warrior. Maybe it has magical weapons and armour, or maybe it was created by an especially powerful necromancer. No one knows. All that matters to the party is that it has defeated many other parties of adventurers, and that means that it is standing on a massive pile of unused beer tokens just waiting for the right group to plunder and spend them.

Alternative Armies HOT12 Skeletal Knight

Fiend

The fiend is a creature from another dimension. There seem to be a lot of those around in Utavoll but this one is quite senior in the hierarchy and not one that an unprepared group would want to tangle with.

D&D Miniatures prepaint Gargoyle

Undead Construct

Once upon a time, there was a necromancer whose name no one wishes to remember. They were a powerful necromancer. So powerful that eventually they lost their mind and disappeared into another dimension, but they left behind a terrifying undead construct pieced together from the bodies of a hundred heroes. The construct is said to roam Utavoll looking for its master, and any that try to impede it get torn apart.

Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures Boneclaw

Elemental

So many elementals to choose from. I picked a water elemental because it rains a lot in Utavoll. I have others in the pile that I can paint for future games, so expect to see a fire elemental in the desert at some point.

Temple of Elemental Evil Water Elemental

Giant Spider

I already have giant spiders for other uses in my games, so I chose this giant scorpion that I have had lying around for years to use as my excessively large and fearsome arachnid.

Reaper(?) Giant Scorpion

Wyvern

This is a totally standard wyvern apart from being a bit larger than the average. I figure this 28mm wyvern should look imposing enough to count as a terrifying beast for the Thrappled Lemmings to fight.

D&D Miniatures prepaint Wyvern

Hydra

I nearly bought a hydra, instead of using something I already had, but my wallet refused to open. The white dragon represents a specific breed of hard-to-kill dragon. It may not be the biggest of its kind, but its progenitor supped from the Well of Life, and some of that healing power has been passed down through the ages, giving this dragon the power to regenerate.

D&D Miniatures prepaint White Dragon

Monster Lizard

I was looking around for monster lizards to buy, but suddenly remembered this Scarab-ogre that I have had for absolutely ages. It has sat in the unpainted lead pile until now, so it is grateful for my desire to play Five Leagues. The monster lizard is a huge, very tough opponent, and there is nothing in the stats that prevents it actually being a forty foot high, heavily armoured, semi-intelligent scarab.

Crocodile Games Scarab-ogre

Drake

The drake is an enormous, massively tough dragon. This green dragon seems to fit the bill.

D&D Miniatures Green Dragon prepaint

4-11 Klarmont - The sweet smell of being crushed by predatory plants

 Broneslav leaves the room he was in and heads back to the corridor with the sweet smell coming from it. The smell gets stronger as he goes down the corridor and there is some vegetation or root matter on the walls that appears to glow faintly. The light gets stronger the further he goes down the passage. Suddenly, he realises that the vegetation has moved. The passage is blocked in both directions. As the roots swing closer to him, he swings, severing several (2 DAM), but it is not enough to stop the others closing fully on him. They begin to crush him (1 DAM). He cuts again but his movement is too restricted and the plant continues to squeeze (1 DAM). His next attempt is better and several of the squeezing roots are severed (2 DAM). This eases the pressure temporarily, but his desperate attempts to cut free are not yet enough and he feels a rib snap (1 DAM). The pressure continues and he starts to weaken badly as the roots crush the breath from him (6 DAM cumulative). Finally, he manages to get a better grip on his sword and slices hard. The roots fall away and he falls to the ground, his breath coming in tight painful gasps. The damn plant had nearly done for him where warriors and monsters had failed!

He binds up his wounds and heads back up the passage towards the meeting hall. It is now empty, and he is able to search the area. He finds two secret doors. One leads to the passage that Anton Radu had followed to his doom. The other leads to a cell where an elf is chained to the wall. The cell stinks and is unlit apart from the light from Broneslav's shield. The elf looks half dead, but his eyes open and blink hard in the light that Broneslav brings.

Broneslav quickly learns that this Elf is Estaish, a member of the Duke's Elvenguard and a witness to the evil perpetrated by the Veiled Society. With Broneslav's help, he is able to limp back to the room where Zweis Radu lies bound but no longer unconscious. There Estaish reclaims his gear before he and Broneslav make their way outside with Zweis as their prisoner. Battered and bruised, the pair take their captive to the nearest Watchhouse. The pair are soon telling their tale to a Tribune of the Watch, while Zweis looks on them with hatred in his eyes. Unfortunately, the testimony of a member of the Elvenguard and the papers that Broneslav has brought with him are more than enough to condemn anyone, even someone as wealthy as Zweis. The verdict is clear and is confirmed when watchmembers have searched the underground meeting room and its associated rooms.

Broneslav (Level 4)

Epilogue

A week later, most of the Veiled Society members have been arrested. Some escaped, but their power is broken and the most important members of the Society are dead or in irons. The court case will take a while, but there is little doubt that even the surviving members will soon face the headsman's axe. Moreover, the entire Radu family has been declared anathema for their leadership of the Veiled Society and their incitement of the riots in the city. Their wealth has been confiscated and those that could not be proven to be directly involved have been exiled with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

A week later, Broneslav has recovered from his fight thanks to the ministrations of the family healers and a week of total rest. Milka, she of the white skin and rose red lips, has been round to see him several times, her eyes wide with wonder at the change wrought in him in just four months. It was clear that she believed he was now a man and not the boy she had challenged to take the Shearing Ceremony. Unfortunately for her, he had changed in other ways too, and the soft pleasures of her prattle were no longer for him. He had a goal in life now. He saw that he could make a difference and that his interest lay with those who sought to do likewise, rather than those who chattered about how the neighbours wore last year's fashion. And he was going for a drink with the Tribune of the Watch this evening. Who knew where that might lead?

Postscript

That's the end of B1-9 In Search of Adventure. I really thought the Sirenflower was going to do for him just as he had succeeded in taking down the Veiled Society! However, Broneslav got out of its clutches and saved the day. I can't believe it took me this long to get back to these adventures, but I just stumbled over a mapping issue and it stopped me in my tracks. I finally just ignored the issue, so the maps in the last few posts have not been precisely what I wanted but they are serviceable. Perfection is the enemy of done, as I am wont to say, and it is true.

So, where next for Broneslav? Answers on the back of a £10 note to the usual address please. I'm currently thinking of moving on to the X-series adventures with X1 The Isle of Dread being the first. I'll need to spend a bit of time putting together the maps for this, but it particularly appeals because I still have my original copy from when I first got D&D but I do not recall ever playing it. The other option is to head off to The Temple of Elemental Evil. I recently got the Goodman Games reprint of ToEE that comes as a 2-volume hardcover set in a slipcase with a reprint of the original adventure plus a 5th edition updated version. It is glorious and makes me want to run the whole thing, although I feel like it is a campaign that I should begin with a new character from level 1 so that I can experience it properly. We'll see which option I feel like, when I stop being swamped at work and have a brain to think with again.

The Ruin Within: Bandits and brigands for Five Leagues from the Borderlands

I've been a bit distracted from playing my Five Leagues from the Borderlands campaign, because I got into sorting out and painting figures. Some of the figures here were first painted in the the early 90s. Some others of them were bought then and have languished in the Unpainted Lead Pile until now. Thank goodness the desire to play Five Leagues from the Borderlands took hold, as it means I am really making progress on clearing up the unpainted figures of the past.

The Ruin Within

The bandits and brigands who seek an easier life than one of honest toil tilling the land to provide for their families can be found in Utavoll too. Not everyone who came here came with good intent or for an opportunity to improve their lives. Some were fleeing the judgements of the Thing, the parliament in their homeland, or the vengeance of those they had wronged. These people are The Ruin Within. Even in Utavoll one can gain bloodstained gold for the bounties on their heads or bribe one's way out of a fight with them. As long as they get gold for carousing and wenching, they don't really care, and they will happily milk you for gold another time, if you do not annoy them too much now.

I did not really need to paint up these guys as a faction. They are the dregs of all the other factions so I can happily mix in any suitable figures from every faction to represent them on the tabletop. However, I needed to push myself into painting a bunch of figures from the Unpainted Lead Pile, so here is the result of that. The figures are from Two Dragons Productions. As usual, the humans are all Viking Age humans and the force mixes Vikings, Normans and peasants. As the forces for this are fairly generic, I have simply divided the bandits into unarmoured, light armoured and armoured groups and will field the appropriate ones according to the armour and toughness of the hostile force. The numbers present here are based on the maximum number of hostiles I can encounter with a party of 6 heroes.

So, who are these poor souls, who never got a break and could have been someone if only their village leader had not been jealous of their talents and pushed them out? The Desperate Mob and Sneaky Thieves are peasants whose abilities were not appreciated in their homes so now they roam the countryside and take what they need. Some of these are people who lost everything to other raiders, while others are just malcontents. They have no armour and carry an assortment of improvised weapons.

Unarmoured melee troops (Two Dragons peasants)

Next up in the pecking order are more organised group of Slave Raiders, Outlaws and Blood-stained Renegades. They have proper weapons and light armour or shields. They may have been peasants at one point, but now they are moderately experienced practicants of the idea that wealth is for circulation and redistribution, especially when it is circulated in taverns by them and redistributed to them.

Light armoured melee troops (Two Dragons Vikings, Normans and townspeople)

At the top of the tree are the Grim-faced Rebels, Deserters and Well-armed Brigands. They have good weapons, armour and shields, and have prospered at the expense of those that spurned them in the past. Some are leaders of communities who went too far. Others were members of local and invading armies, who tired of being told what to do by the nobility. All are focused on enriching themselves further.

Armoured melee troops (Two Dragons, Vikings, Normans and Rus)

Finally, there are several groups who don't really belong in the other categories. The Hired Murderers are assassins and killers, who are in it for the blood and gore. Their business is killing, and they are killing it. The Murder Cultists and the Order of the Snake are similar to the Hired Murderers, but they are in it to appease their nameless god with the blood of those that reject it. The last group to mention is the Penitent Zealots. They are going to save the world and everyone in it, no matter how many they have to kill to achieve their goal. They don't really have a uniform but can be recognised by the tin stars they were as pendants around their necks (conveniently not visible in 15mm!).

I may swap out the various assassin and cultist types with more berserks and ulfhednar figures, once I get them tarted up, because that will mark these guys out more and the mythology that has built up around berserks since they became a part of popular culture kind of fits these groups.

Penitent Zealots (Two Dragons Vikings and townspeople)

A selection of missile troops are available to provide ranged fire support. Slings and bows are most common, but the assassins and cultists have a thing for throwing knives.

Unarmoured slingers and archers (Two Dragons Vikings and Normans)

Light armoured archers (Two Dragons Vikings)

Armoured archers (Two Dragons Vikings and Normans)

'Knife' throwers (Two Dragons Vikings)

The brigands also need their leaders, so I have a small selection of command figures to throw into that role when the dice call for them.

Leader figures (Two Dragons Vikings)

4 Klarmont - The light at the end of the tunnel

 As Broneslav starts to open the door ahead of him, he hears footsteps rushing past. He pauses and lets the person get a short headstart before he carefully puts his head round the door to see what is going on. He sees the man with the wooden mask opening a secret door in the wall. Broneslav decides that he has a good chance here, so he quickly removes his robe so that he can move more freely, before stepping through to follow the man.

He hears loud voices raised beyond the secret door. As he reaches the door, there is a familiar strangled cry. Someone has just been stabbed! He draws his sword and pushes the door open hard. The scene that confronts him is a familiar one by now. A middle-aged man holds a sword to the chest of a younger man. The man with the wooden mask lies dead on the floor, his lifeblood pooling around him. Some of that blood is still on the middle-aged man's sword.

"Stop him!" the younger man yells, "He has killed our father!"

At this point, Broneslav realises that the man on the floor is Anton Radu, head of the Radu clan. That means that the other two must be Zweis (younger) and Cartha (middle-aged) if he remembered correctly.

"Put the sword down, Cartha," he ordered, "the jig is up."

"Pah," scoffed Cartha, "I'm done with your meddling in this. Your time is up, not mine!"

He swings his sword away from his younger brother and launches a frenzied assault on Broneslav. Cartha's sword cuts Broneslav (2 DAM) before he can react. Broneslav returns the favour with a long cut down Cartha's arm (2 DAM). Zweis takes this opportunity to try to stab his brother in the back, but is knocked back. With a swift stab, Cartha slices a gash in Broneslav's leg (2 DAM). This is enough to put Broneslav off, and his next blow goes wide. Cartha uses this opportunity to slice another chunk of flesh from Broneslav (2 DAM), while fending off yet another attempt at fratricide by his brother. The three then settle into a series of attacks and ripostes that are easily blocked, before Broneslav finally gets through Cartha's defences again (2 DAM). This is enough to slow Cartha down, but not enough to put him down. Meanwhile, he is easily able to fend off Zweis' attacks until Zweis lands a lucky blow (1 DAM) that is quickly followed by another lucky blow (1 DAM). Cartha falls lifeless over the body of the father he had murdered.

Breathing hard, Broneslav eyes Zweis, wondering if this brother will now turn on him.

"So," says Zweis, "thank you for helping me out of a sticky situation. Family is absolutely the worst, dontcha know. I'm guessing you know about the Veiled Society, what with being here and all. What I'm wondering is if you could see your way to joing us. With my brother and my father out of the way, there are several opportunities available within our command structure. As a scion of a merchant family (Yes, I recognise you, Torenescu) I'm sure you can see the advantages for both of us. What say you?"

"Yeah," replies Broneslav, "That's not going to happen. I see you for who you are."

Zweis looks disappointed.

"Well, how about I give you this box of gems, and you walk away from here?"

"Nope, I have all the wealth I need. Now, put down your sword and come peaceably to the guard with me."

Zweis looks defeated. He hunches his shoulders slightly and begins to crouch. Then he launches an attack. Broneslav is not caught out at all. He hammers Zweis on the side of the head (2 DAM) and steps easily to the side, to avoid Zweis' attack. A follow-up blow with the pommel of his sword smashes the young man to the ground unconscious. Broneslav checks he is ok and then ties him up. No point in taking chances.

When he searches the room, he finds papers detailing the Veiled Society's doings and their contacts. Looking at some of the names, he realises that this will rock the upper echelons of Specularum society. He also knows it could have been much worse if the Veiled Society had spread its tentacles further afield.

Further searching of the room nets the box of gems that Zweis had promised as a bribe. Cartha's and Zweis's swords are both good quality, so he takes those and a fancy ring that Cartha is wearing. Furthermore, there is a pack containing a mail shirt, sword and bow). These do not look like the sort of gear that the Radu family leaders would wear, so it suggests that someone else has been taken by them.

Deciding that he needs to see if this person is still alive, Broneslav makes sure that Zweis is properly secured and sets off to search the rest of the tunnels.

4 Klarmont - All robed up and nowhere to go

 After stuffing the unconscious men into the cupboard, Broneslav took robes and a hood and put them on. It seemed reasonable to him that anyone coming through here was probably part of the group he was after, and that he would gain the element of surprise by wearing the clothes they expected people to see others in.

The question, though, was where next? The door he had just come through would not open again, and there seemed little reason for anyone to return to the mead hall wearing the robes, so that meant there must be another way out of here. He searched carefully, noting dirt and scuff marks on the floor leading under the wall opposite the way he had come in. It did not take too long to find a way to open a secret door in that wall. Beyond was a tunnel under the houses beside the mead hall.

"These people must really like tunneling!" he mused as he reached a junction. From ahead, he could hear faint voices. The passage to his left was apparently silent. Now, why would there be another tunnel here? And should he find out or should he see what was up with the voices ahead? Broneslav mentally flipped a coin, and followed the passage ahead of him towards the voices.

As he reached the end of the passage, it opened into a larger chamber with a couple of dozen people dressed in red robes and black hoods in it. Broneslav stayed back in the darkness of the passage and watched. A man in a red and gold robe was standing on a dais at one end of the room. Unlike the others, he was wearing a wooden mask instead of a hood. His voice echoed hollowly out of the mask.

"Now is our time! We shall take back the city from the traitors while they are still reeling from our campaign against them. The people will side with us because they know we are right! Our enemies will be crushed and the Duke will be forced to kneel before us. Those who oppose us are weak. Those who betray us are traitors. Like that one!"

The man in the mask pointed to one of the assembled people.

"That one must die for disobeying our orders!"

With that, the crowd of robed people fell on the unfortunate individual. Distracted by their brutal death, Broneslav did not see the man in the wooden mask leave the room. There must have been a secret door behind him, but Broneslav was not about to try to fight his way through twenty people to find out. Well, nineteen now, but the point still stood.

He backed off down the tunnel and decided to try the other branch. It ended at a door with a tunnel off to his left. A sweet, sandalwood smell drifted down the corridor to his left and he felt a strong desire to head down there. He tried the door. It opened easily and he went through.