Thursday, March 31, 2005

WFRP Update 20

The wee man seemed to grow in stature as his eyes lite up as he describe the melee.
"The dirty, stupid bastards didn't have the sense that the gawds gave a rock...they actually though that they could defeat us. They started by demanding something from us, but I can barely stand to look at the dirty things...only a complete fool would learn their language.

"They came rushing in the cave mouth at us, although for once, Elpham's stubbornness was a boon and he kept them bottled up in the entrance. And that gave me the opportunity that I needed...I was letting fly with the crossbow..but them chaos blessed beasts take a lot to put down. Elpham was managing to finish 'em off after I softened them up. Too bad that the long hair forgot to get out of the way of their swords as well...I think he ended up wearing more blood than hair that night.

"And even Rudolpho and Magdelaine proved helpful...something that Magdelaine was summoning was causing the rats to drop their swords, shields, damn near everything. And Rudolpho's girlish cries alerted us to the other rats that managed to circle around behind us. They got dropped to the ground mighty quick.

"The only strange behaviour was that Corobath fella. The second the rat bastards rush us, he takes a swing at me. Needless to say, I avoided his feeble blows. He came to his sense real quick once a rat-man opened up his leg. I always kept an eye on him after that night.

The wee man smooths his cloths back into place and retakes his seat. After a long draw of beer he continues.
"You would think that that type of fighting would be enough excitement for a body in one night, but it seems that Magdelaine and Rudolpho just have more energy than is right for a body. After we kicked the rat bodies into the river we gathered up all their gear...well, the stuff that wasn't covered in crap and stashed it in the cave and then we walked back to the camp again. Even for the long shanks it was a long walk. Now we get there and crawl back into bed and had barely closed an eye when we hear Magdelaine and Rudolpho making a ruckus. I don't claim to know too much about the mating rituals of the long legs, but I do know that they involve a lot of noise, wrestling and keeping of civilized people awake when they should be resting!!

"We managed to get through the night...even with Elpham screaming that the grass was eating him. What kind of madness is that!! The grass!!
"So we treked back to the boats, hauled all the skaven stuff with us and traded it for some food back at the village. Corobath done beg us to become part of the crew and we finally let him join up with us. As long as he was willing to take orders on my boat I'd be happy. And he done his work and didn't back talk or laze about either. A pleasant change of pace from the others.

"Somehow we had been convinced that we should betaking this strange wand that we done find all the way back to the signal tower where we met them dwarfs. So, it was another of them long, boring boat journeys. We managed a stop in Kemperbad again and we're amazed that some Britonian
brandy managed to make it's way onto our boat. Now, remember that in those days, the emperor had outlawed Britonian stuff, so we was taking a chance, but we needed to take a chance to get some big money coming our way.

"Oh...and then we run into THAT noble.
"It was getting close to night when we came to a coaching inn that seemed to have a bunch of activity going on. Too many people in fancy dress for a normal day. It seems that some fancy noble lady had done show up and was putting the place in a frenzy. She was on her way to defend herself against some sort of legal wrangling and had hired herself some mountain of a man to do her fighting for her. Elpham seemed to get along well with him. I spent a good deal of time losing some coin to a fellow halfling. I just look at it as the price to pay for some GOOD conversation. And Rudolpho seemed to be up to old tricks again. A pair of boat men sat down next to him and started talking up a storm. Next thing I know is that they is all heading out to the docks.

"And what happened next you ask? Well, buy me another beer and I'll tell ya all about it.