Would wonders never cease? An honest Lord. Perhaps leaving Altdorf has been a blessing in disguise.

Outside, Bert turned to Ulyseo, Rhubeo and the other mercenaries. "I've got me a pretty acceptable place to stay. Owner is a bit stiff, but his grub is good, and the matrazenlager is pretty clean. If we group we might shave something off."

If there was still daytime available he would see if he could get himself some caltrops or order a dozen from a smith - if you needed to flee it was better if the other group was slower.

In the inn he would enjoy his food, pay extra for a heavier stout beer, and go to bed early. He didn't even notice Gustav coming up much later - some things were easy to get used to.

Next morning he was already there when Johannes entered, drinking a small* beer, and munching on some dark bread with cheese. He nodded resignedly as Johannes stated his case. "True. See but not been seen," he glanced at Rhuobhe, "killing them will need to wait." He finished his beer and waited for a moment of silence.

"In case things go haywire, do we go bait and switch, razzle dazzle, horn call, cascade, or even a cunning plan?"

*) small as in low-alcohol, not in size.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:38, Sun 05 May.

"What do we know of the rituals of beastmen and mutants?", Johannes turned to Rhuobhe.
"Where do they gather, where do they pray to their depraved gods? Where do they sleep, eat and drink? How are they organized?"
"The only thing I have heard is "herdstone'."

He turned to Bert.
"I am having serious doubts that we can enter their turf and not be noticed. Except for Rhuobhe here I don't think we have skills of stealth."
"I guess, all we can do is try to find their herdstone."
"And hope that it is truly just a small herd."
"They are likely to detect us before we do them.", he mused.
He grinned without mirth.
"If things go haywire, we all run and hope to survive."

Bert gave Johannes a look that he might recognize, that of a more experienced soldier looking at a new recruit.

"As me captain always said, 'if you don't know how to reposition, you shouldn't move forward'."

He gestured at the table, breaking of pieces of the bread to create a setting.

"Bait and switch," he moved a single piece forward and put the rest in a kind of \ / shape. "One looking, when seen usually only a few follow, which we ambush."

Scattering the pieces he said "Razzle dazzle, one pops up, hides, the other takes over. Helps if you have the same equipment."

Moving two back, pointed "Horn call, suggest we're only the vanguard, best if their morale is shaky."

Moving the bread pieces on a trail, "Cascade, first flees, toward a waiting man who fires his bow, then retreats as well. After the third shot most mobs stop running and start looking."

"And if everything else fails, the first person who has an idea, we do that."

Johannes looked pointedly at Bert's mug, raised his right eyebrow.
"I see."
"And you believe this works with beastmen, yes?"
"It's worth trying."

"Bait and switch works good with macho guys." Bert using a Tilean word without explaining it. "I was never in the army, but I did my stint patrolling Altdorf. If those guys have solid leadership, well... we're ratsfood. But if it's more a mob with the strongest guy being the boss... That I know."

He swept the bread together and chewed it down.

"We've got somebody who knows them, so... do the like day or night? Sneaking is best done if the other side is asleep."

"Have you heard of Elven Runestones? They are ancient artifacts crafted by high mages in times past. And serve to help regulate the magic around them to not cause harm to animals, plants and people. Otherwise we would have Geheimnisnacht every full moon, and that would be bad. Beastmen are as close to embodiment of evil as a mortal creature can be without being possessed by daemon. Their shamans are everything Witch Hunters and priests warn about dangers and evils of reckless witchcraft. They kidnap people to sacrifice their souls to daemons. Or do worse things I will not speak of since learning of the depths of depravity those Things wallow in eagerly, gave me nightmares. Herdstones perform several functions for them, guessing from the name alone, and what I learned about those hateful monsters over time fighting against them."

Elf paused on his lecture, sounding very passionate about the subject of beastmen extermination, while his countenance remained grim.

"How Runestones guide magic to be less harmful ... Herdstones are demonic altars and serve only to spread beastmen curses more. Woods become known as cursed woods with people dissapearing regularly around them? Can be a Herdstone polluting the land with cursed magic there, and beastmen performing vile rituals they learned from daemons. The more Herdstones around, the more cursed magic is invoked causing more people to be cursed with Beastman vileness. Noblest among those unlucky just die away from people since even carcasses of beastmen are full of evil magic. Majority run into the woods, where other Beastmen await ready to beat them up into their own ranks."

He looked at the Baron, then at Johannes and spoke again.
"Unfortunately despite acting like worst image of sick beasts people know and believe in? They do have a primitive tribal society. Shamans act as conduit to the daemons they worship and make even smallest warherd dangerous beyond compare. Most common among them are the mutants who ran away from human society or poor children cursed before their birth to a horrible fate. Called not-beastmen because they lack impressive horns and are cowardly things used as arrow fodder by their social and tribal superiors. Or as food, because cannibalism is one of less horrible sins they wallow in. Then we have the animal faced, cloven hooved brutes with horns on their heads. Those are the superior caste of beastmen society. Led by biggest, most dangerous combatants of all of them called best-beastmen I believe and acting as top of their society. Purely based off twisted beastmen beauty standards, combat power and how many of his lessers he can intimidate into obedience. Shamans are beyond these struggles, treated with fear and awe as conduits of things the beastmen worship."

He looked the Johannes into the eyes and spoke, slightly afraid.
"My friend, I sincerely hope it is not a shaman stirring those brutes for a ... invasion."

Bert blinked, and tried to keep up as the elf... talked? fomented? explained?

Runestones? Wha? Did they become Herdstones? Or a chaotic mutated copy? Horns tell ranks, shamans are worse... To much. He tried to get a grip on the important stuff, the high and mighty could consider the reason why.

"So, do they prefer day or night, or don't care?" He felt at his nose, then tapped his cheek. "Would a mortar load of gunpowder destroy a 'herdstone'? If we take 4 block-and-tackles could we pull it out? Rope is going to be heavy, though, so perhaps not."

He shook his head, those herdstones were a problem after the beastmen were gone.

"Shaman is boss, so shoot him first. Big guy is next. So if he dies, will they start fighting or first munch us to bits, and then pick the next leader?"

"Wait, the Shaman is the smart guy. So if we create a fire with some odd effects, he might very well go and have a look. Nicely shown by the fire while we wait in cover."

Bert shook his head, he had used a lot of misdirection as guard, because one needed to enhance the paltry salary, but he wasn't to sure it would work on Beastmen. They sounded like the type that like brawn over brain, so it might.

Johannes listened to Rhuobhe's agitated elaboration. As they had learned before this was a most passionate topic to the Elf.
Admittedly it bordered on Johannes' attention span and it took some concentration to unravel actual content.

"So you don't know whether the beastmen are night active or day active either?"

"Sorry, you lost me there: what have Elven Rune Stones to do with beastmen or Herdstones?"

"I was not aware that mutants and beastmen threaten the Empire together."
"But since we had that birdfooted mutant among the beastmen it does make sense indeed."

"And you're saying that the size of their horns mark superiority? And with mutants not having horns, they are clearly treated as inferior? I would have assumed the mutants to be more intelligent or rational than beastmen. You know, them being humans before mutation."
"The beastmen we fought were rather bent on mayhem and destruction, less tactics or strategy. Certainly cunning."

"So you say it's their shamans that are the true leaders of a herd?"
"And they derive their power from their unholy altars which are the herdstone? So destroying a herdstone would deprive a shaman of its power?"

"Looks to me we definitely need to learn whether a shaman is at the heart of this. And if there is, then there's bound to be a herdstone we would need to destroy, too."

Johannes then listened to Bert's musings.
"It's not as if each and every herdstone is the same, right? Only when we know its size we may determine what it takes to destroy or topple or remove."
"Either way, unless you have experience with gunpowder... and the crowns to purchase.", he trailed off as he remembered those bombs of the smugglers.

"A lure for the shaman only? No doubt a good idea. I think magic would be a good attraction. After all, as I understood there's only one shaman per tribe, right? So essentially any other magic is direct competition that requires his full attention."

Bert's question about how the beastmen would react if their leaders were put out were to the point and he looked at Rhuobhe for the Elf's assessment.

It is night by the time you leave from your meeting with the baron.  The next morning you find a blacksmith who doesn't have caltrops exactly (and, to be fair, it's an unusual order for a small town like this), but agrees that he can save up any broken bits of metal over the course of the day and you can check back with him at sundown to see what he has for you.

A caltrop is two iron nails bent in the middle (60deg) and spot welded together. Most smiths have nails in storage, because people buying them is a 'when', not an 'if', and it's a handy thing to do when business is slow.

Bert even mentions that he's quite alright with low grade iron: if it breaks because somebody steps on them, they are harder to extract :-)

Perhaps I play Berthold slightly to knowledgable, but as I see Altdorf it is one of the more 'industrialized' cities in the Empire. So the idea of using tools instead of pure manual labour is ingrained. In case of the block-and-tackle, would he /know/ how to use them? No. But he knows they exist and allows one man to move a far bigger load than normal the more you use them. He just hope somebody in the unit would know or would figure the exact rope use.

At that moment Ulyseo walks down the stairs, bleary-eyed, groaning, and completely oblivious of the discussion so far. He seemed worse for the wear, as even though he was spared a beastman's soiled blade or mangy club, he was aching all over from the adrenaline and the exertion. Sleeping in had mitigated it somewhat, but there's so much a straw bed can do.

Grabbing his breakfast of stale sausage, staler bread and cheap beer, he sits down next to them with a grumble, but doesn't join the conversation yet, trying to get his bearings. He is intrigued, though, by Bert's bread arrangement. The little man was always coming up with weird plans, and he enjoyed his cunning, quite refreshing considering the general lack of intelligence inherent in the mercenary life.

"I am not sure. Despite it being my goal, their extermination, reliable knowledge is lacking ... and they change, too. That's why I only say things I'm certain of. But good guess would be looking at them, if they have night-time animal eyes, they see in the dark. Their natures are mockeries of natural order, after all. Some mimicry may exist."


Elf raised finger, then focused inwardly trying to remember and translate again what he knew.
"Elven Runestones serve similar purpose as water-gates on rivers serve in Empire. Regulate flow of magic in the world, so it's less harmful. Geheimnisnatch only once per year instead of every full moon. Some serve as seals on ancient undying evils, I guess. Like human prisons for those you can't just execute and get on with life afterwards. The goal and concept is to protect, regulate and suppress the worst of what magic can bring. This is the explanation from a priest of elf god of magic I understood. Destroying them causes trouble of the magical kind and some elves are as vengeful as dwarves, since nobody in Laurenorn can build them anymore."

His face soured at the last admission, then he continued speaking.
"The Beastmen Herdstones? Outside of being demonic altars, like you said good priest, they serve as totems, graves of respected war-leaders ... generally a monument to some foul leader's memory. Magically they are a mockery and danger. They make magic twist the surroundings with more beastmen taint, warp the land, trees and animals nearby. Beastmen generally erect those in places where they defiled a temple, toppled a Runestone or their demonic masters told the shaman to erect in particular location. They amplify, warp and curse the magic flow ... almost like a poisoner who drips poison in the community well. Cursed things they are."

"I don't know much, just read about how humans abandon cursed children in the woods and how sometime later a beastman resembling that cursed child may lead a warband to burn that village down. Evil using people's kindness to cause more harm, basically. Beastmen raising these mutants as one of them seems like logical point, right?"


"They live as savages, envy and hate everything that isn't them ... including civilization of elves, humans or dwarves. Why would they value intellect? And some of those mutants were abandoned infants. I doubt they managed to learn much."


"Certainly in some cases. But it's like a priest performing also the duties of a mayor. I think. More typically the strongest in a tribe leads it, while a shaman advises the current leader. Then next leader ... after the previous dies or is replaced less brutally."


"Would destroying a temple of a dedicated priest deprive him of his holy blessings? They are foul mockery of all we hold dear, that includes virtues like piety. Destruction of those unholy altars is certainly advisable, but it would often be easier to kill the shaman first. Like shaman not being a house-sized slab of stone for example."


"And call human army for that. With witch hunters from your main temple, trained in destruction of unholy artifacts. I don't wish to cause harm with well intentioned but wrongly done destruction of such an altar of evil, to for example invoke a curse on the land that'll kill every plant from horizon to horizon or set the forest on fire with us inside."


Elf nodded.
"Some are nothing more than statues to the glory of evil, yes. But I'm afraid that I lack knowledge and experience on how to tell the difference. I only read about those things ... most of not-beastmen who see these do it as victims and sacrifices."


"I wish I had the crowns to learn more human alchemy. It's a fascinating study and may lead to even more interesting prospects. When alchemists don't blow themselves up, or poison someone with shoddy concoction."


"I believe that may be true. Especially if we have people ready to shot the shaman dead before it casts magic. I heard of only one beastmen shaman that's immortal. It ressurects every hundred years or so."


"They are savages, of course that they'll do as greenskins do in such situation. Mess it'll be."

Johannes had not been aware that Rhuobhe was literate and he nodded appreciatingly. Few citizens of the Empire were able to read or write.

"Yes, it would. Without a temple or a holy site a priest cannot truly uphold the bond with the gods and cannot express his devotion sufficiently for the god to grant him the power to evoke miracles in the name of his god."

Whoaeee! Those Altdorf wannabee mages need years and I'm getting this for free!

Bert's was interested, Very much so. His head went back and forth to follow the question and answer volleys between the priest and the elf. Then he frowned. All this was so interesting, but it skipped the most important one.

How to kill those beastmen, without getting killed themselves.

Johannes sighed.
A lot of knowledge shared with the need to restrict to applicability to their situation.
"Anyway."
"I would assume that any knowledge about beastmen magic is theoretical at best. Definitely chaotic, but we have no clear picture whether destroying the herdstone would in any way be helpful to enfeeble a shaman we do not even know is present."
"So let's discard all that until we have facts."
"If we do find a herdstone we will try our very best to topple it, damage it, whatever."
"For now, however, let's just consider its location as the herd's meeting place."
"If we somehow manage to kill all the beastmen in its vicinity we shall rightly assume that the immediate threat to trade is ended."

"As for entering the forest wilderness we shall do so in daylight. If only to allow us to see and not be limited to torch or lanternlight which would be more to the benefit of out enemies than to us anyway. We shall also endeavour not to make a campfire, or inly a very small one, for the same reasons: not to draw unwanted attention."

"We will be able to identify the worst enemies by the size of their horns. Coordinated effort to bring these down as quickly as possible must be our aim."

"If we do encounter a shaman after all do note that I can probably thwart its unholy magic. This, however, will occupy me and thus I may not engage in melee."

"All right. Since we have no better clue, I guess we have to set out again to the ambush site and take it from there."
"Let's rally everyone and set out."

"Well, what I know of beastmen magic is simply what was written about what they did during wars with the elves. Dark magic, similar to human shamanism or elven Amber Magic. But twisted for evil purposes. But your plan is good, Johannes. We scout them first. Find what we can, then we retreat if needed to prepare. I propose leaving few men with the horses to wait for us near the road. If we need to escape hastily and are lucky enough to reach them? We run on horses faster to warn the Baron that raiders will come."

He looked at Berhtold and Ulyseo, then remembered the former's enthusiasm about learning whatever he can learn about magic.

"Bert. I don't know if you have talent for magic. But there are forms of magic that anyone can learn, even me, the most talent less elf that my former elven tutors ever saw. For elves it mean learning human magic. For humans, who rarely have magic talents from birth, it means learning engineering, alchemy or like our priest here did, find their faith and devotion towards the god answered with miracles of divine magic. Unfortunately for me, I lack such devotion to elven gods. I respect elven god of magic and elven god of crafting, but am unwilling to dedicate my whole life to one of them. But one lesson anyone should learn about magic is very simple. Collect knowledge, it's the least harmful part. Be careful, because even the safest magic is dangerous. Just try remembering all these stories about how Nuln Gunnery School blew up time and again when alchemists were conocting new and more explosive black powder recipes."

OOC: Yes, it's a folly of my elf because elven engineering is inter-mixed with magical stuff (using specialized spells instead of precision machinery) he sees advanced technology as magic. :)

"Horses? We have horses?", he asked in surprise.
"My dear elven friend. It may be that your kin are natural riders. I sure am not."
"When a horse smells blood and gore it will bolt and throw me off. Remember the driver trying to control those horses."
"No, I am afraid I cannot ride."

The elf looked back at the priest and blinked rapidly, surprised heavily by the spoken words. He weakly asked.

"So, human horses are dumb animals without a decade of training ... or how to carry an inept or disabled rider to safety ?"

Bert stared at Rhuobhe. It was like an Altdorf mob. One moment singing happily about how their team had won, next moment an all consuming animal because...

Horses? Learning magic? Had he never heard of of costs? And witchhunters? Of course he was an elf, with no understanding of survival. When you were happy eating rat-on-a-stick, because the day before you had nothing. The fact that Maria's dad would not even look at him, unless he had a townhouse in the better part of 'dorf.

Stop. Back to basics.

"So we sneak in? Moving at dawn and dusk? Gustav and me know a bit of how to move around unseen... Anyone else familiar with casing a joint?"

"I'm only good enough at sneaking to notice when something dangerous is nearby in the forests. Small birds shut up. Beastmen are shit at climbing trees, too. Hooves. People rarely look upwards. I always lost hide and seek games as a kid. Bert, Beastmen live in forest. We don't. Except Gustav who knows how to track. I know not. Glade Guards is elf militia, not forest rangers. Those are the elite. Don't miss their shots like the best hunters. Can hide so well that even dogs can't smell them."

He shook his head. And spoke seriously to the city-rogue guy of the group.

"I know that sneaking in city and sneaking in forest are two different things. And I believe Johannes advices to go into the forest in the sunrise, so we get a whole day of good light to try tracking these Beastmen, and time enough to fuck off back here if we find more than we can safely kill. Especially if there is a big warband or a shaman guiding those attacks."

Johannes had some difficulty understanding the Reiklander lingo. Or was it Altdorf urban drawl?
He did briefly wonder what or who had lead Bert so far to the east. Then again, they all had an uncommon past or else they would probably never have ended up in Männerholz.
He discarded the question. Urban or rural, it did not matter, he had no skills at stealth.
Or rather: he believed they had no chance to sneak up on the beastmen.

"That is a good piece of advice, Rhuobhe. Hooves, trees and not being able to climb one. That definitely has an effect on their watches or scouts.", he commented instead.

He nodded again.
"That's my proposal, yes. We may camp near the road once we are back at the ambush site so we have a complete day to enter the forest proper next morning. And hope they don't attacķ at night."

Bert winced when Johannes said 'hope'. He really wasn't a believer in fortune.

"Can we at least sleep a bow shot from our official camp site? Half a dozen horse blankets and a bit of padding might do the trick. We've got bows, they don't, so I'd like to use them. If we do a double there single back a few times, then any watchers will proly think us all in the original spot."

As he spoke he fingered a tin symbol hanging from his neck. On closer look it was a shield with a spear in low relief.

This whole back and forth between Johannes and Rhuobhe, with the occasional addition of Berry, was not how he envisioned his morning, but he should have known better. Sighing, he finished his last bite by mopping up some sausage juices with bread, and after swallowing it down -no mean feat- he simply replied, "Morning is better, yes".

Then, giving it some extra thought, added "I can potentially notice the flow of magic if it would help us locate this herdstone. And keep us safe from whatever spirits they command against us. Potentially."

He winced. Mornings were hard.

"Good ideas, good. Ulyseo and I can notice if there is magic ... Berthold have good idea with fake campsite to lure eventual ambush into a trap and I admit that we should probably prepare food and water for week or two. So we don't have to pause if we run into trouble and have to run. Just eat and drink on the move. Everyone happy with Johannes as the leader for this expedition, I vote for him."

Rhuobhe then proceeded to give some tea, in a mug of boiled water, to Ulyseo who obviously isn't a morning person.

Johannes' brow furrowed at the suggestion.
"Well then. Rations, surplus blankets for a mock camp, restocking of any first aid kits. Light sources and ropes."
"Anything else?"
"Set out tonight.", he summarized instead.