The Dark Marches (Retired RPG blog)

A Portrait of the LADY KATERINA MERRILOCK,
Daughter of SIR RUPERT MERRILOCK of HAM, a Knight of the Noble Order of the Ivy
Painted by Misteline of Takshendal, 1623

The previous year had been somewhat mixed when I received a letter from Silas. At first sight it seemed that he had done rather well for himself, gaining the position of Lord High Sheriff of the Marne Territories; bringing great responsibilities and rewards. There had been problems around Overmore for the last few years, though; bandits in the woods and marshes, and the Earl of Overmore had used the bulk of his taxes to combat them, rather than pass them to the Takshendal exchequer. The previous Sheriff had been killed by bandits, or, according to some, a great Dragon.

Silas had put on a bold, almost brazen face as he travelled to Overmore; all but inviting attack upon himself. This happened on the 14th Mae although the details seem somewhat confusing. There was an ambush, no Dragon of course, but there seemed to be 2 types of Human assailant.
Bandits came first; for the most part they were typical ruffians using light weapons and bows. However, several were larger and brawnier men, clad in animal skins but using heavier weapons to great effect. These pulled Silas from his horse, but he survived. So did they.
The second wave of assailants were southerners, and these were more or less annihilated. The main point of Silas' letter to me was that the corpse of their officer bore all the signs of the black stone. He sent for me to investigate.

In turn, I contacted Drake and Rufus.
Drake had his own problems; he had had a brother once, who had a son; Nathan. Drake's brother died, and I get the impression that he had sent some support to the widow and his young nephew. Nathan is now an adolescent, or a young man, and it seems that he has disappeared. His mother had written to Drake, who had agreed to come and find him, good man that he is. Conveniently, Nathan lived a a few villages away from Overmore castle.
Rufus was much changed. It seems that he had been shot and badly wounded. He felt betrayed and double-crossed, but was somewhat reticent about the whole incident. Still, he agreed to come with us.
We travelled on the north road, by carriage without incident.

18th Mae. 1623.

At Nathan's village; a collection of hovels with the appropriate name of Knowle's End, we met Nathan's mother. She was old, and obviously worn down by a life of grinding poverty. I sketched Nathan according to her description, although I fear that my work lacks artistic merit. She said that Nathan had departed after an argument, possibly with a suspiciously nondescript man called Amos Granger. Young Nathan had a book; essentially a rural equivalent of the writings of the Strugglers (I have some sympathy of course; the life of a peasant is short and brutal, and our rulers are generally both grasping and corrupt, nevertheless such writings are generally ill-thought out drivel). It certainly looks like Nathan had picked up some revolutionary ideas and gone to join the bandits.

Drake left some monies with the woman, and a promise to do what he could to find Nathan, and to protect him from his folly if possible.

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19th Mae. 1623.

On to Snoad and Overmore castle. The place was in disarray, as the old Earl, who is the most likely successor to the Grand Archduke of Takshendal, had disappeared a week or so ago, the night after Silas arrived. The overt signs suggested that he had been taken from his study, in the middle of the night, by a Dragon. Any slightly less cursory examination suggested that this had been faked.

• The Earl looked likely to succeed the ruler of Takshendal. Unless he doubted this, or had another overwhelming motive, it is very hard to see why he would have done anything other than behaved as a loyal subject.
• For several years, bandits, possibly revolutionaries, and perhaps foreigners have been raiding from the forests and marshes (2 regions, but with ready access between them by water). There may be a whole hidden city out in the marshes.
• The Earl had kept taxes payable to the Crown back for this time, claiming to be using them to counter the threat. Actually very little money had been put into this; a ship (the Viper) had been endlessly outfitted, and Overmore castle was in a terrible state.
• The Grand Archduke has been using the Takshendal armed forces to fight foreign wars, for his personal profit.
• The Earl has / had 2 sons, one abroad (on campaign, and presumably still alive), the other was in the castle and genuinly surprised at his father's disappearance. He had also remarried to some southern Woman, who had borne him a young daughter.
• On the night of his disappearance, a lad with a harelip had called on the castle, spoken to him, and (I believe) left.
• Soon afterwards, fire was started in the study (probably with lamp oil), the window and part of the rickety outer wall pushed out, and dagger marks resembling great claw scratches were carved in the walls. The door was normally open, but had been locked from the inside (the person had presumably left via the window / hole).
• The fire destroyed the accounts (or they were removed under cover of the fire). The previous Sheriff kept his own accounts though.
• There was a suspicious scratch on the parapet above the window / hole, possibly caused by a grapple (though I suspect a rope was lowered from above).
• Several powerful horses had come and gone on the north (study) side of the castle.
• The wife is up to something, and Rufus told me that she is sister to the man who shot him. It is a long feud, but if I take Rufus' word for it, her family are particularly vicious schemers.
• Although it is possible, it is very unlikely that someone could have got into the castle at night, without help. There had to be someone inside the castle to start the fire, and such.

A tentative conclusion is that the Earl had been up to something for years, received a message to meet 4-5 horsemen, fixed a rope over the parapet, went to his study and locked the door / faked the Dragon, abseiled down the wall and dislodged the rope.
But why?

There is also the whole business of the black stones and Renas Kosta. So far we have seen cultists and madmen, but used by a political organisation that appears to favour local revolution, but with considerable involvement by southerners (who are, admittedly, mercenaries).

In addition, I have notes about a hidden temple, which is probably somewhere fairly close, in bandit-infested forests.

Pages copied by Misteline from the notebook of Albrecht di Spear

Up the River:

From the 20th of Mae 1623, Silas redoubled his efforts to take over the area. As I understand it, the Earl is the ruler, but his current status undetermined. In the event of his death, his son assumes the title (there are 2 sons). His wife, Jacinta isn't really an heir, but she is effectively untouchable, and no doubt she wields considerable influence. If the Earl returns, he simply resumes his... rule, unless Silas declares him a traitor (and he survives long enough to justify his charge).
Meanwhile, Silas is de facto in charge of the local bureaucracy, so the Earl's ambiguous status suits him very well.
He is not at all certain about anyone's loyalty, though.

Silas summoned me from the Stork and Toad, and asked me to investigate the Earl's disappearance. I demanded some sort of warrant, and received the dubious status of Deputy Sheriff, and a pouch with 100 crowns to cover expenses. Scarcely ideal.

The Earl had held back about half the taxes due 2 years ago, and 9/10ths of those from the previous year. These monies have disappeared.

During the day, Drake investigated rumours of the mysterious horses, although unsuccessfully. He visited the houses near to Meklsbeg Road, where the trail had gone cold. He talked with various people including the Yeoman Baldwin Foxbrush, and saw some fine horses belonging to Sir Bohemond Dashfern (one of the names from Albrecht di Spear's notebook, the other identifyable one being Gravelock). These horses had all been shod recently. I do not assume that this was to confuse Drake, although it is odd. Possibly it is something one does in Mae, but I suspect that the horses are being readied for something over the next few weeks. Drake could not track down the farrier.

He did, however, see Mortimer Dogmoss, a priest and younger relative of Captain Dogmoss. The Dogmoss family is local.

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I decided to see quite what was going on upriver, and asked Silas if he knew of a smuggler who would be willing to cooperate (for whatever reason). An underling, Tarquin Mossbank (a nice man, although I didn't like the way he looked at Drake), recommended Old Sam.

Old Sam, who had sailed the river for much of his youth, was willing to hire a boat, guide us by night, and keep it to himself afterwards, for 3 crowns (which I thought rather generous, but the man proved his value). We left at dusk, to catch the tide upstream; Old Sam, Rufus, Fabian, and of course Drake rowed.

Sam told us that few fish, or travel on the river now. There used to be people on the banks and islands, but everyone has moved out because of bandits, the marsh people... and the people of the forest, of whom one does not speak. About 20 years ago, people started moving away.

Just then, Old Sam warned us to be quiet, and we hid the boat amongst reeds. A few minutes later, a great merchant galley swept past, her lights unlit despite the dark. Such a vessel could have a crew of a couple of hundred, and a hundred or more tons of cargo. Her colours were not clear, but I thought that I saw an 8-pointed sunburst, or star.
We resumed our journey.

A few hours later, Sam beached the boat amongst more reeds, claiming that there was less cover ahead, and probably sentries.
Drake went through the reeds on foot, alone. A sentry heard him, and, discretely raised the alarm with an odd owl sound. Drake encountered, ambushed and captured a young sentry, and returned to the boat. Other sentries were beating the reeds, but Sam heard another vessel approaching from downstream. We hid for a few minutes, and a small ship, her lights ablaze, passed us. We heard southern voices raised in song.
We departed, and arrived back at Snoad soon after dawn.

21st of Mae. 1623.

We took the prisoner, with a sack over his head, to Silas' holding cells.
Rufus was the main interrogator.
The prisoner is a young mercenary Adolpho a condottiera of the Company of the Star. Their symbol, and captain's colours, is an 8-pointed star. The company was great until a recent defeat, now it is somewhat reduced.

Adolpho had been taken to the hidden camp by galley, arriving 2 months ago. He had been recruited in the normal way, and expected the war to be over within a year (which means that it should start when the sowing is complete, which is very soon indeed). His unit was infantry, mostly pikemen, but there are also cavalry units, including armoured cavalry. He reckons that the camp numbers 10 000 in all, although most are peasants. The leader is The Falcon, who appears to be a peasant himself.

I suggested that Silas send a couple of men to observe traffic on the river, perhaps based in the ruins on a small island.
I also investigated artillery to interdict the river. The Earl had 2 catapults and 3 ballistae. I am not sure how effective they could be, hurling fire. The Viper should be made ready in any case.

All of this doesn't help us find the Earl, although I suspect that we may have located Drake's nephew Nathan.

Ambush at the Blue Barn:

Silas informed us of one Samkin, who had been importing cattle and other livestock from the south, and selling them to a local buyer; Horace Thistlecote. Horace had not been waiting to receive the cattle as usual, so Samkin came to Snode / the Castle seeking instructions and payment.

An urchin delivered a letter to Rufus; Meet me at the Blue Barn tonight - Basilico. The Blue Barn is a local building which no one appears to own, and Basilico is Rufus' old enemy.

Silas had also received a letter [which I assume you will attach] showing that some of the local nobility were not prepared to accept Silas' effective takeover. They had invited themselves to a meeting with him at the Castle tomorrow. Silas and I have to discuss this.

However, we were all very tired and retired for most of the day.

In the evening, Rufus explained that the meeting at the Blue Barn was a matter of honour, and that should we interfere, he would kill us (even if he had been slain in the inevitable ambush). Logic is not Rufus' strength I fear, nor even military tactics, though perhaps I should not be the judge of this. I noted that Rufus was observed by a tough looking man in the Stork and Toad for much of the evening. Anyway, Drake, Fabian and myself determined to interfere anyway, even if it was a distraction rather than an ambush.

To get the attention and cooperation of the locals, I sketched a likeness of the barmaid, and donated it to the establishment. I was quite pleased with the results, I must confess.
Later, I drew a likeness of Horace Thistlecote, from Samkin's rambling descriptions. Scribes may be able to copy it, though we do not have time to seek this man ourselves. This took much parchment as I had my inks, but had somehow mislaid my silverpoint. I must seek some debased silver and work it into a stylus.
Samkin had been bringing in livestock for some months now; enough, in my opinion, to feed and supply several thousand soldiers. Whatever is due to happen is imminent.

At dusk, Drake, Fabian and I left to work our way through the woods behind the Blue Barn. The tough man had left a short while before, and Drake would approach along the road later.
Drake went ahead, moving silently through the dark undergrowth. I followed with Fabian, and seemed to find every dry twig. There were men lurking in the woods, and in the barn, although I am unsure when they went into the building. Rufus entered the building fairly early (I saw the familiar plume of his hat, swaying from an upper window). Fabian borrowed my crossbow and shot several of the men in the throat and head. Drake attempted to capture one by shooting him in the legs. I hung back, as I had given up my crossbow, and cannot avoid noisy branches as Drake can. I could see so much more, and wished to communicate with the others.
Light can be split by a crystal prism. The colours we see are not the only ones; beyond blue is a colour that agitates bees (whilst they do not react to red). Perhaps I could make a devise to flash the bee colour, and soldiers could carry trained signalling bees. Alas, lantern light cannot be split into all the colours, so I have to think on this matter. It is strange that burning pigments does not always colour the flame as it would colour paint, but then the principles of alchemy do not all hold true.
As I lurked at a corner of the barn, a man circled into me. I drove him back with my blade, and he fled. Fabian shot him.

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The villains had set fire to the barn, but Rufus escaped. All the assailants died (Drake's arrow had penetrated one of the great vessels of the thigh). They were dressed as woodsmen, though well armed. Silas arranged for them to be taken off, such that whoever sent them would not know if we had taken prisoners to question.
The Blue Barn burned to the ground. I suspect that it had been prepared to burn around Rufus.

It was a decoy as well, as someone stabbed Silas' assistant Tarquin, whilst probably attempting to examine, remove or destroy papers.