125: The Picket

Hello, mum. We had a look at the bodies of the sewer jacks who had attacked us. Many of them had tooth necklaces of their own teeth. We could tell this because they still fitted into a hole in their upper jaw, just like the burglar who had raided the Dwarf Engineers’ Guild we had investigated in one of our first missions for KITUM.

We also talked about whether these might be members of the Yellow Fang, the cult that we had discovered (I wasn’t there, mum) among the students who had hired Bors to steal similar things. That made us think that perhaps the rat-men supporters in Middenheim were all in it together and working towards some grand scheme. And we wondered whether, and why, they had followed us all the way to Brass Keep.

Meanwhile, Guido was doing the best he could with Fred’s eye, but it wasn’t going very well. And then Fred threw away his helmet and skull cap saying it hadn’t done him any good, anyway. And he looked a bit like one of those Ulrican fanatics.

We went through Raina Mus’ stuff, because she was obviously the leader, but it didn’t help us much. We salvaged her lantern, and Blume grabbed her dagger and her mail shirt (even though it smelled and it didn’t fit properly). Guido told Blume off and said it was a bad omen to wear the armour of a dead person, and that she should sell it and buy new stuff.

Actually Blume was suddenly looking a lot tougher. I think it might have been the recent fight, and the way she had been nearly killed twice. Perhaps the peril had put her more in touch with her mortality.

And after throwing the cultists’ bodies over the side of the cliff, we made our way down the track towards the picket. Just before we got there, however, we were met by a bunch of soldiers coming out of the wood, on horseback. They didn’t look much like soldiers, though, as they didn’t have much of a formal uniform. But they wore long hair tied in knots on their head and they wielded long, curved cavalry swords.

Blume seemed quite impressed with them and greeted them gregariously, and said she now understood why Vinny had been so impressed by the Kislevan landlady at the Fifth Finger, back in Middenheim. Their leader invited us to follow them and said we were expected. Erina explained that they were Ungol horse archers, and said they were good, fierce soldiers, and as Kislev was a good ally of the Empire, they often fought with Imperial armies.

Blume introduced herself to the leader, who was called Tylik. But I told Blume that if you gave your real name to a Kislevan then that was as good as marrying them (although now I’m not sure that’s actually correct, mum) and that she might soon find herself living in a yurt on the steppe. But Blume said she wouldn’t mind that.

But anyway, the Kislevans mostly addressed Fred, because he looked the most like a soldier. Fred told them to keep an eye out for the cultist who survived our fight, and they said they hadn’t seen him. Then Guido told them to get a move on, because Fred needed urgent medical attention. And they told us we were the most interesting thing to happen at the picket for months.

We could see the picket was a great earth work spanning the valley with a wooden palisade on top of it, and a load of buildings behind it. To be honest, mum, it didn’t look like it was in very good repair. I think if all the soldiers here had to do was to man the picket then you would think they would have time to repair it a bit and keep it in a decent state.

But as we rode into the settlement, we got the feeling that we weren’t very welcome. Everyone looked at us with disdain. Blume said it was like being back at school and she was home-schooled. We thought it might be because we had a wizard with us, and Erina was probably getting the worst of the looks, but we were all getting them.

And then we were introduced to Sergeant Brantner. He welcomed us pleasantly enough. And we told him how we were ambushed by the cultists. I think Brantner went out of his way to have a little word with each of us, and be nice to us.

Then he brought us to the camp commander, and on the way apologised for being so talkative. Blume pointed out that no one else seemed to want to talk to us, and he said it was a remote and dangerous posting, but I’m not sure that explained it.

And then he brought us to Hildegund, a priest of Myrmidia. Hildegund told us that the commander was busy but she would be able to answer any of our questions. Guido told her that the camp did not seem to be in the best of spirits. And we talked about exploring beyond the palisade a bit. Hildegund warned us that anyone caught by the enemy would be tortured and then returned to the camp, diseased.

And in a bit, Emmiline von Kaerzburdger arrived. Fred reported to her and informed her of our ambush, and explained that we were here to warn her that the rat-featured beastmen might be planning on breaking through the picket. And that we were also here to investigate whether they might be operating in the area.

Emmiline didn’t seem that concerned and said that if they wanted to get to Brass Keep then she would let them, and the two factions could fight among themselves. He asked her how far from the picket the scouts ventured. And she said they just kept an eye on the picket to make sure nothing broke through, but they didn’t venture close to the keep. And Fred told her to let us know if they needed any help with that.

Emmiline assigned Hildegund as our liaison and Hildegund took us to Willus Habicht, the quartermaster. Apparently there was no room in the barracks for us (I think the soldiers just didn’t want us around, mum), but he got some bunks moved into a storeroom for our makeshift sleeping quarters. And we gave our armour to him for repairs, and he arranged for Fred to see the camp surgeon. And he said he would come back to see if our needs had been met, later. But we got the impression he wanted to have a chat with us when Hildegund wasn’t around.

While we were talking to Habicht, a dwarf pushed his way into the room and, ignoring us, started berating him for the quality of the black powder that he had to work with. Meanwhile, the camp surgeon managed to tidy up Fred’s wound and found an old eye patch for him.

I wandered up to the earthwork to have a look at the palisade and Brass Keep. There were a few soldiers manning the wall, and they mostly glared at me as I passed them. They had been glaring at us the whole time we had been in camp, mum. Then one of them finally spoke to me. He said he had heard we were loose cannons. And he mentioned something about us being the butchers of Wittgendorf. That was a weird thing for us to be famous for, mum, because almost no one knows about that. Anyway, I asked him when was the last time they had seen daemons from Brass Keep and he said it had been a while, but he thought he knew someone who had and who was still at the picket.

Blume and Guido went to find Degni Rulsson, the dwarf who had been complaining about the black powder. We had found Kaerzburdger black powder at the mine in Unterfraus so wondered whether the black powder here could have anything to do with that. They had a chat about guns but couldn’t really get to the bottom of the issue, with Degni simply insisting that Habicht was an idiot. Blume suggested someone might be cutting the black powder with something else and swiping the good stuff, and Degni agreed that was possible.

And he was getting along so well with a fellow gun nut that he invited Blume back to his workshop where he showed her the project he had been working on. He had been making bombs from kegs of gunpowder, and he had four bombs already prepared. But he said he hadn’t tested them yet. Blume checked and the kegs were definitely not the same ones that had been used to blow up the mine in Unterfraus. Then Blume remembered the kegs on the back of Valeria’s wagon in Felangst and wondered whether they might be the same.

Fred went for a wander around the camp and tried to talk to some of the garrison about why we seemed to be so unpopular. Most of them didn’t want to speak, but he found a couple of the greener troops and managed to corner them for a friendly chat. They told him they had heard that his band had cavorted with beastmen, destroyed a Sigmar-fearing noble’s castle, had killed a noble in Middenheim, and blew up one of the viaducts. Some of this was technically true, mum, but not in the way they thought it was.

When pressed they told Fred that they had heard it at a dice game. And Fred tried to track down the source of these rumours, but no one seemed to have heard it from the primary source. He worked out the rumours had started a few days ago. That was after we had been charged with our mission, so it was hard to work out how that news could have travelled ahead of us.

Meanwhile, Blume and Erina headed for the Ungol camp. Erina primed Blume on the way, explaining that the only things these soldiers respected was skill at arms, horsemanship, and holding their drink. And as they didn’t consider black powder arms to be proper weapons, and neither of them were great riders, they only really had their drinking prowess to fall back on. And Erina explained they generally liked people to be direct and boastful.

So as they entered the camp, Blume grabbed a bottle of Kvass and downed it in one. All the Ungols were impressed by this and they welcomed them into their camp. The Kvass was home made, and Blume could see that their still was a bit primitive from an engineering point of view, and so she made a few adjustments to it, which they appreciated, too.

Unfortunately, Erina wasn’t up to the drinking, and after a few sips of Kvass was the worst for wear. But, Blume ended up having a great time partying with the Ungols, and invited them all back to the Heaven’s Lament. Who knew that Blume would find her people here. But she didn’t find out anything very useful.

When they got back to our quarters, Fred was telling us what he had discovered about how someone must be trying to undermine us. We thought it might be someone connected with the Yellow Fang, but as far as we could find out, our ambushers had not come into the camp.

Habicht turned up with our armour, and told us a few times that he hoped he might be able to help us. We worked out that he wanted paying, so we handed over a couple of crowns and he said he would be prepared to give his testimony against the commander. When we looked surprised, he explained that he thought that that was why we were here. Fred stepped in and told him we were here on behalf of Middenheim to inform the commander. But Habicht said that everyone knew we were here to humiliate the Kaerzburdgers.

And after a bit more money changed hands, Habicht told us that Sergeant Brantner had been spreading the rumours. Habicht had assumed that Brantner must have heard about us from Emmiline or Hildegund, as no one else knew we were coming. And he offered to give us a list of all the ways Emmiline had mismanaged to picket.

When Habicht had gone we discussed what to do next. We were in a tricky position, but really we had already fulfilled our explicit orders and we could head back to Middenheim the next day. But I think we all wanted to find evidence of rat man activity around the picket, and even take a closer look at Brass Keep. And I think it would be a good idea for our own safety to get to the bottom of the rumours that had been spread about us.

Fred asked Guido whether he might have another word with Hildegund, and whether she could be trusted, and Guido said that her cult required her to tell the truth.

But then we had to go to bed, mum. And instead of feeling safe in the middle of a great military camp, and getting a good night’s sleep, we took it in turns to keep watch like we were still in the wilderness.

Anyway, mum, I’ll let you know how we get on the next day at the picket and whether we can get to the bottom of who had been spreading nasty rumours about your son.