Present
Abellinut "Able" Ugwistan, 31, Moor Arian Fighter from Septum – JeffFabius Cato - Brave Jose, 22, Arian Visigoth Fighter from Astigi – Jamie
- Fabius Cato, 26 Roman Nicene Temple Fighter from Rome – Richard
- Luigi Abundus Bertolini, 23, Roman Nicene Priest from Ravenna – Chris
- MARMALADE Merkel, 24, Vandal Arian Temple-Fighter from Gades – Kevin
- Hawk-Eye, 22, Arian Visigoth Barbarian from Astigi – Shane
- Velito Rosso, 24, Roman Nicene Barbarian from Venice – Darryl
- Victor Koshenko, 24, Alan Arian Thief from Gades – Ian
- Sister Sarah, 22 Arian Visigoth Priestess from Hispalis- Steven
by Richard
We are on our barge awaiting the new guards to arrive. Brave Jose (known as "BJ", not "blow job"), Hawk-Eye and Sister Sarah all board [ these are Jamie, Shane and Steven's new characters – Steven joins the campaign for the first time, and Jamie and Shane chose to retire their characters before they either were burnt at the stake or caused a major schism in the party. ]
Luigi, standing with his jug of honey mead and looking rather pleased with himself for no good reason, welcomes the newcomers, embracing them as they board. A little too much mead has made Luigi overlook he fact that they are all Arian Visigoths – heretics all of them.
In fact, it doesn’t take long for the man all the men know as "BJ" to make his religious and ancestral claims well known, irritatingly so, to the Nicenes on the barge.
After some verbal jostling we get moving again. "These people make Velito look good" thinks Fabius.
The barge is travelling to Corduba. On board is the Lady Florinda, her ten ladies-in-waiting, seven handmaidens and six slaves, Centurion Rodrigues, seven guards and us lot. Velito is "ship's captain".
We are travelling west, upstream, along the left side of the 60m wide Baetis river. Next to the river, there is a well-trod path for the four heavy horses to pull the barge. Along the opposite bank there is a similar well-trod path.
The days travel goes fairly uneventfully with the only thing of minor note (at this stage) is six women dressed in black walking the same direction of us, but on the far side of the river. Occasionally they go into the trees on the opposite bank and, we soon realise, that this is clearly to avoid meeting barges going the opposite direction.
"Strange" muses Luigi "they seem to be following us"
Luigi, Able and Marius, a guard and boatman, decide to take the barge's rowboat and go over and talk to them. As they get within 15m of the opposite shoreline, Luigi notices the women all have glowing red eyes. He looks at Able.
"We've seen that before" says Luigi "with Elia, Owl and Vanker"
They stop rowing and call out "why are you flowing us?"
"Where is Vanker?" one calls out. "Where is Aulius? Where is Elia?"
"Luigi calls back "they have left us some time ago, they took some horses and travelled south from Astigi. Why do you want them?"
The women huddle together and then turn back calling "what are your names?"
"Luigi and Able" Luigi answers foolishly "What is yours?" [ WTF – why would you give your names and ask that? – we think out of game ]
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| Sisters of Mercy (but only one spear) |
At this point Luigi and Able also take note that Claudia is carrying a large black spear.
"Do you see that?" whispers Able.
Luigi nods and murmurs "Let's go"
They quickly row back to the barge and tell their tale.
"We go, we go" yells Velito as we get the barge moving. The rest of the day passes uneventfully albeit the six women continue to follow us.
That night we set camp near the bank at a side tributary river. We set watches.
- Sarah, BJ and Marius.
- Luigi, Fabius, Justina and one of Florinda's guards Alejandro.
- Victor, Able and Velito.
On the second watch, Luigi and Fabius note the campfire on the far side of the river grow in scale, and can see the women outlined against it. As they watch, they are sure that one slips into the river and, as they listen, they can hear the gentle strokes of a swimmer.
The rest of the group is awoken and we wait in darkness with the only slight illumination coming from our own campfire on the banks of the river.
Fabius whispers "I can hear her. Do you have a net Velito?"
"No no sorry"
"I will hit her with an arrow – it will only wound her but should allow us to grab and question her" Fabius states with certainty.
With that he lets a shot off. [ A 1 is rolled and Fabius' critical does 10 points of damage. ]
A thud is heard and then silence.
"Ooops sorry," says Fabius knowing he had hit very well.
"Why you kill her?" questions Velito.
"Sorry" repeats Fabius.
10-15 minutes passes without incident. The second watch is finished and the third watch is uneventful. Morning dawns, and after a hearty breakfast, we continue our journey - with five black-robed women following us.
"What happened to the sixth one?" questions Victor who isn’t that smart (7 mind).
"Shut up," says Fabius.
The day passes and the women continue to follow along the banks.
On the road, we see smoke and as we come around the bend in the river we can see that there are FIVE coaches burning on the road
"They look like our ones" says Able indignantly
"Si si, I agree" mirrors Velito
"What about the guards?" says Centurion Rodrigo.
We stop the barge to continue our conversation / debate. The women similarly stop and stare at us.
After some time, it is decided that we need to go and see what's happened to the five guards, and if they are dead give them a proper burial. In fact, Rodrigo insists (given they are his men). Marius, Rodrigo, Sarah, BJ, Able and Victor decide to go.
Marius rows them over in two trips (the rowboat can hold four). By this time the women have turned and are also making their way back to the burning coaches. As the group follow, they turn and await their approach.
Claudia steps forward and points the large black spear at the group. Able and Victor cower at the back, knowing its power.
"Did you destroy our wagons?" Rodrigo asks
"We had to – were told Elia was with them"
"But we told you they had left"
"Our lord has told us" Claudia states
"Let's get out of here" whispers Victor, wanting nothing more to do with Geryon.
The others agree and quickly go around the women who now head back to the river bank.
The coaches were definitely ours and the guards and horses all dead. In fact, the guards are charred to be unrecognizable. Shallow graves are dug and Sister Sarah says a few heretical words to ensure their souls will forever live in purgatory.
When Able and Co return to the river, the five women are there staring at the barge. The rest of the party on the barge had, by now, pulled the rowboat back to them.
As is normal with our group we had now effectively split the party in two. The shore party (consisting Able, Victor, BJ and Sarah) were trying to convince the women and the barge party to allow two women to go across and search the barge (supposedly for Owl and Vanker). Their cunning plan was to split the women and deal to two of them thereby leaving only three on the bank. Of course, the barge party knew none of this
The barge party (Luigi, Velito, Fabius and Hawk-eye) had no intention of allowing these women on the barge, but were happy to send the rowboat back for the rest of our group. The shore party were having none of that.
Much confusion reigned with shouting across the river.
"Tell them to get fucked!" yelled Velito to Able.
At this, Claudia stepped forward and threw the spear at the barge. Her throw landed half way and into the river, but moments later the spear was back in her hand.
Fabius stepped forward and shot an arrow at her (2-dice roll due to distance, a 4 and a 5, hit for …. wait for it ….. 1 point, a graze only)
BJ draws his sword whilst Victor, Able and Rodrigo run like buggers, fearing the spear.
BJ seeing that he and Sarah are alone, grabs Sarah by the arm and also runs as fast as the wind.
Will he and Sarah get away?
Will the two parties rejoin?
Will the black-robed women find what they are searching for?
Tune in next week to find out!
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