Dinner with the Girls, and Infiltrating the Camp

What the girls came up with was fairly simple - they were going to pose as mercenaries. They already looked a little ragtag, so with the addition of some liberally applied dirt and dust to their clothes they could pass for even more road-weary than they were. Renee, as the least mercenary-looking of the group, would be the magical leader while Olivia, Jade and Fergus were her bodyguards. They considered putting on the tin howling wolf amulets that they’d taken from the dead bandits on the King’s Way but decided it would be bad if someone from that group saw them and knew they weren’t part of the gang.

Olivia also thankfully remembered to hide away her Sheriff’s Shield pin.

Once they were ready to go, Rhia had Elyse, Tori and I stand up to the side of the table and hold hands. She cleared her throat and smirked at us, then put on a serious ‘Olivia face.’

“We’re risking our lives here,” Olivia said. “If they find out we’re not who we say we are, horrible things could happen not only to us, but to the village, and to the realm. That’s an army down there. An army of thieves, murderers and cowards. We need to find out who their leader is, and what they want. If we can find the bastards who attacked Tremulous Crook and pulled down Pretty, we might need to try and just remember their names or faces. The first priority is finding out what’s going on and getting out of there alive. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Renee said.

“Hell yeah,” Jade nodded.

“Yarp,” Fergus agreed.

“Good. Then there’s just one thing I want to do,” Olivia said. Then she turned to Renee and put a hand on her chest over her heart. “I bless you in the name of Revelry, who protects those that party with good intent.” Renee, after a moment, put a hand on Olivia’s chest over her chainmail as well and they shared a meaningful look. Then Olivia pulled her in and kissed her forehead, and then her lips firmly for a good three seconds.

When Elyse pulled away from Rhia she was blushing just a little and licked her lower lip.

Olivia turned to Jade, who stepped a little closer and mimicked Olivia’s motions as they felt each other’s hearts. “I bless you in the name of Revelry,” Olivia intoned. “Who strikes down those who commit the most heinous party fouls.”

Jade grinned, and leaned forward a little for Olivia to kiss her forehead, then tilted her chin up to accept the firm kiss.

Lastly, Olivia turned to Fergus, who mimicked the ritual motion as well. “Fergus,” Olivia said with a soft smile. “I bless you in the name of Revelry, who sees the work of party hosts and rewards them.” She pulled Fergus down to kiss his forehead again, and then his lips.

I was a little surprised when I felt Olivia’s tongue tease my lips for a split second. It wasn’t even long enough for me to decide whether to deepen the kiss or not. The fact that her words had also felt more for me than they had for Fergus was also hovering in my mind.

When we separated, we all stood there for a moment before Elyse chuckled. “Now I get why there was a Satanic Panic way back when,” she said. “Roleplaying rituals is fun!”

“Acting certain things out definitely heightens the gameplay, as long as you’re with the right group,” I said, heading back to my chair. “But I think this is probably a good place to end the session.”

“Wait, no,” Rhia said. “Things were just about to get tense!”

“Yeah,” Tori said. “You can’t cockblock us like that.”

“Ladies,” I chuckled. “We’ve been playing for over four hours. It’s dinner time.”

“Well, what if we order pizza?” Elyse suggested. “Could we keep playing then? I don’t have anything else going on tonight.”

“Me either,” Rhia said and turned to me. “Please, Shane? Can we keep going?”

“We promise to order the toppings you like,” Tori added.

I was suddenly faced with three gorgeous college coeds each giving me the sad puppy dog eyes routine. Rhia was definitely the best at it, but Tori wasn’t far off and Elyse wasn’t a slouch. I sighed and checked my watch again, then pulled out my phone. Only three emails were waiting for me.

“Alright,” I said. “You ladies order pizza, good pizza, and we can keep going.”

“Yay!” all three of them cheered, and then I was getting hugs from each of them in turn. The pizza was quickly ordered from one of the local mom-and-pop shops in town that we knew was quality, and then I acquiesced to them each having another beer with their meals. I went to the kitchen while they chatted and put together a small veggie platter to go along with pizza. As I was coming back from the kitchen I hesitated in the hall when I heard what the girls were talking about.

“Have you ever kissed him before, though?” Elyse was asking quietly.

“Not before today,” Rhia whispered back. “I dunno, it’s not a big deal, right? It’s like doing it on stage or in rehearsal. It’s playing the role.”

“Well, I gotta find a way for my role to kiss an NPC now,” Tori joked quietly, making the other two chuckle quietly.

“I dunno, that was a pretty good kiss, Rhia,” Elyse said. “Maybe I need to find a reason for us to make out.”

More giggles, and I decided that things were headed in a good direction for Rhia’s plan, so I went in and interrupted before things turned too jokey between them. The girls all gravitated to the munchies immediately - they were supposed to be bringing the snacks themselves, but so far that hadn’t happened. I’d probably need to remind them before next week.

We settled back around the table and I described their approach to the camp. It was a ramshackle collection of tents and lean-tos built around what looked like the ruins of an ancient fort. Only two of the actual structures remained and were covered in moss and ivy, while most of the stone had either collapsed over time or been carted off to build something else, somewhere else, in a time long ago. The smaller, temporary structures seemed to be clustered together in groups, hinting that there may be divisions between the various people who had gathered, and as they approached they saw a variety of different species represented. A trio of dark-skinned dwarfs, bare of face and sporting large black mohawks, eyed them warily as they passed by. Then they were hissed at by Lizardfolk with lean muscles and a bright blue and orange colouration to their scales.

I had the girls roll a group Performance check to see how well they pretended to bandits; Elyse and Tori rolled well, while Rhia’s roll was on the low end of medium - that felt like it fit, considering Olivia was a member of a Knightly Order so she would probably be the least likely person to be seen with this sort of group. Thankfully for them, it was more successes than failures.

Once they were deep into the camp, realising there were probably double, if not triple, the original guess of how many people were among the tents and buildings, I had them roll perception checks. Renee rolled the lowest, so I gave her the information that the larger groups seemed to be camped closer to the centre and the two ancient stone structures covered in ivy. Jade was next, with a good bonus but slightly lower roll on the die, and her keen eyes noticed several of the ruffians near the smaller of the two stone structures were wearing medallions around their neck proudly. They were the same colour tin as the ones they had looted, but she would need to get closer to double check they were actually the same stamp as well.

Lastly, with a natural nineteen on the die, Olivia spotted a much more specific issue. A man, dressed in rough leather and smudged with dirt, was looking at them like he’d seen a ghost. And he had a large crossbow slung across his back and had a tin medallion hanging out of his shirt.

“Fuck,” Olivia grunted.

“Get him,” Jade said, low and threatening. “Before he can warn anyone else.”

“I’ve got this,” Renee said confidently. Shooting the other two ladies a look, she strode forward as if she were going to pass right by the man as she headed towards the larger of the stone buildings, but at the last minute she veered to the side and the purple sigils on her scalp flared slightly as she cast a spell.

“Alright,” I said. “What are you casting?”

“Charm Person,” Elyse said with a grin. “I wasn’t sure what I’d need it for, but I figured being able to turn someone into a temporary friend had to be useful at some point.”

“Nice,” I chuckled. Charm Person, and Charm Monster, had been used a lot over the years in The Game for both innocent and dirty purposes. Not to mention the Hold spells. “And it’s always a good pick. You just need to remember that when the spell wears off the person will know that they’ve been magically charmed.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem this time,” Tori said with a smirk.

“And remember that the person you cast it on gets to try and resist it,” I said. “What’s the Spell Save DC at the top of your character sheet, Elyse?”

It wasn’t high, since they were 2nd level, but the bandit didn’t exactly have a good Wisdom save either. I rolled behind my DM screen, dragging it out just a little to tease the ladies. “You cast your spell,” I said. “Since you got so close to him your magic words and hand motion don’t draw any extra attention to you, thankfully.”

“Shit, I didn’t even consider that,” Rhia murmured, looking relieved that they hadn’t just pulled the entire camp down on themselves.

“What do you say to the man, Renee?” I asked.

“So it worked?” Elyse asked.

“Well, he isn’t fleeing from you, but you’re not entirely sure. Once a spell leaves your mind you only have the physical clues to know if it did what it was supposed to.”

Elyse nodded and blew out her breath, then straightened her posture a little as she assumed her Renee roll again. “Hello, little friend,” she said.

“Um… Uh…” the bandit stammered. “Hello.”

“You recognize me?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Good,” Renee said. “You and I, we have a connection. By blood and combat. Here and now, that makes us friends, doesn’t it?”

“I… I guess so,” he said.

“Lovely,” Renee said, circling around him as she looked him up and down like a drill sergeant examining a new recruit. Then she slipped her arm through his. “Come,” she said. “You’re going to give me a little tour. You owe me that much before I meet with your leader.”

It was a smart play - it was also leaning a little heavy on the Charm effect since the person was just supposed to see her as a ‘friendly acquaintance,’ but I wasn’t going to quibble. Instead, I justified it in my head that the guy was scared of her and her friends, just like he would be of any bandit war leader or his own boss, so doing what he was told came naturally to the coward.

The move also netted the girls some extra information, though the Bandit (they never asked his name) couldn’t give them the ‘big plan’ that was being worked on.

He was part of the Risen Wolf Gang, who weren’t the largest or the wealthiest of the various cutthroats and bandits that had gathered for the ‘big meeting’ that was supposed to happen, but the meeting had been called by their boss and was happening on their land. The other three largest groups were the Tentacles, a large bandit group from much further north who were led by a woman that could control plants and use them like, well, tentacles; the Red Bronson Family, a collection of nearly two dozen men and women all named Red Bronson and identifiable by their fiery orange hair; and the Burnt Men, a group of nearly twenty soldiers who had abandoned the war in the west. Supposedly they escaped the army unscathed because they were presumed dead in the magical explosion that killed the rest of their regiment of 100 pikemen. The other smaller groups were various bandit groups, mercenaries and other criminals that had been interested in hearing what Alexander Houndsfang, the leader of the Risen Wolf Gang, had to say. And his promise of wealth.

They got the tour, staying away from the major gatherings and just getting a look at the different groups, along with the history of the place as far as the Bandit knew it. The place was said to be the site of some sort of ancient Orc Fort that had been torn down and rebuilt by Men when they drove the Orcs out of the area. At some point, the man guessed during the Dragonstorm, the place had been destroyed and forgotten. A history check from Renee gave her enough insight to know that the place must have been destroyed well before the Dragonstorm and didn’t show the right signs of damage that would have come from a concentrated destructive effort by a dragon. The site itself had been used for years, if not decades, as a place for bandits and other outlaws to gather for meetings, but this was the largest that had ever been organised before as far as he knew.

The Risen Wolf Gang was occupying the smaller of the two stone buildings, using it as their barracks. The larger of the buildings, meanwhile, was being used as a disjointed Tavern Hall where the various groups were able to drink, mingle and trade.

The Charm spell lasted for an hour, but they’d only used about twenty minutes of that on the tour, so they had the Bandit bring them close to the Red Bronson part of the camp. He’d explained earlier that the Red Bronsons had been in competition with the Risen Wolf Gang for a few years, and there had been open conflict between the two groups several times.

“Anything else I should try to get out of him?” Elyse asked the others.

“Does the Risen Wolf Gang have a second-in-command?” Tori suggested.

Renee asked, and the bandit nodded. “His name is Jack Empire. He’s Parnassian and has six **** marks on him from the City Cartels, which is why he’s out here. Only reason he’s Second is because he’s the second most deadly man in the group next to Houndsfang. We all know they’ll fight eventually, but my bet is Houndsfang’ll kill him easy enough. There ain’t no hurting Houndsfang when he gets going.”

“Must be a Barbarian or something,” Rhia murmured to herself.

“Well, my friend, you’ve definitely done well in trying to make amends for what you did on the King’s Way,” Renee said. “But, to be frank, I think you’re more trouble than you’re worth. Jade?”

They weren’t completely hidden, but they’d wandered between Red Bronson camp and one of the smaller groups and with Olivia and Fergus blocking one direction and Renee standing in the other they were decently out of view. Jade stepped up behind the man and punched him in the throat, intending to break her trachea.

I asked for the attack roll, noting that there would be a penalty since they were trying to do this quietly and with a called shot to the throat. Tori rubbed her d20 between her hands nervously, then looked at Rhia. “I hope that blessing really does work,” she said, before releasing the die to roll on the tabletop before coming to a stop. She stood up to look at it, and so did Rhia and Elyse.

“Holy- Natural Twenty!” Tori crowed.

“Yes!” Rhia cheered.

“Awesome!” Elyse grinned.

Tori, smirking widely, laughed as she looked at Rhia. “I guess the kiss really did give a blessing. Nice! I’ll need you to give me a smooch before auditions in the fall.”

That got some laughs out of all of us, and I briefly described the **** of the crossbow sniper as he suffocated and couldn’t call out for help. They left him there between the tents to be found hopefully much later.

They made their way back out into a main thoroughfare in the big camp and huddled close together.

“So we know who is here, but not why,” Olivia said quietly. “What are we thinking?”

“Well,” Tori said. “We either try to join one of the groups, or we keep pretending to be our own group. We can try hitting up the tavern, see if we can get any information there.”

The girls agreed with the plan to go get drinks, and just as I was about to describe their approach to the big stone building the doorbell rang.

It didn’t take long for the pizza to get paid for, and I acquiesced that the girls could have another beer with the meal so new ones were fetched out. We paused a little while longer to all finish our first slices before we got back into playing.

“You approach the big stone building. Its walls are made of blocks that look like they belong in a castle wall, and they are worn round and smooth with time. Ivy covers about two-thirds of the structure, and while you can’t see them you know there must be a couple of holes in the roof because two thin streams of smoke are rising from fires lit inside. There are two men stationed at the door, big and burly. One is wearing a Risen Wolf Gang medallion, while the other has the bucket helmet of a soldier of the King’s Army. They eye you as you approach, the soldier in particular leering more than considering how dangerous you might be, but neither says anything as you walk through.”

Elyse snorted. “Even in fantasy settings, bouncers have big heads.”

I sighed apologetically and continued. “Inside is one massive room, with a ramshackle collection of tables, chairs, stumps and rocks arranged into the semblance of tavern seating. The very middle of the room, however, is open in a sort of circular sand pit, with a fire blazing on either side of it to give off lots of light. Two men are currently fighting in the circle. There’s also a bar at the far end of the room, big barrels of ale stood up and being managed by a group of women.”

“Ale?” Olivia asked the others.

“Ale,” they all agreed, even Fergus. Or maybe especially Fergus.

“As you move to head towards the bar,” I said. “An odd-looking man with a burly physique and a long face with an even longer beard steps forward and interposes himself.”

“Oi,” the man said, his voice rough and gravelly. “I ain’t seen none o’ use here ‘afore. You new to the Meetin’ Grounds?”

“We are,” Renee said, filling her role as the leader in their cover story. “I-”

“I ain’t care ‘oo yous is,” the man interrupted her forcefully. “We only got two rules in at the Meetin’ Grounds. A first one is no fightin’ except in the pit.” He thumbed back towards the sand pit.

“What’s the second rule?” Olivia asked.

“Someone from every gang, party or group ‘as to fight in the Pit,” he said, eyeing each of them up. “So, ‘oo’s is gonna be steppin’ in fer a round with Big Red Bronson?” He gestured over to the left of the pit, where a big, muscled man was currently shirtless, glistening with sweat in the firelight. He had a shock of red hair on top of his head, a red pair of mutton chops, and he was grinning savagely as he watched the current fight going on while another Bronson was stitching up a cut on his cheek.

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