Iron Kingdoms: War and Glory

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2007-04-22 10:15pm

"Alright," he said at last. "You boys know how to live up north?"

The Nomad · Post by **The Nomad** » 2007-04-23 09:22am

Arkady remained silent, looking at his companions, but in fact unraveling the surface thoughts of the trapper, looking for any sign of deceit.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2007-04-23 07:20pm

"We can manage some what. But there is a reason we're looking for a professional."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2007-04-23 09:17pm

Konrad nodded to Auric's comments, then asked the trapper,
"How soon can you be ready to leave? Also, what is your name?"

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2007-04-24 12:50am

"I am Oleg and can be ready to leave in an hour," said the trapper. "When do you wish to go?"

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2007-04-25 09:02am

Before responding to Oleg's question, Konrad looked over to Arkady with an unspoken question on his face; what had the mage's spell told him?

Well, I've already told that guy 'Longshot' enough that he could figure out where we are going. But I'll be damned if I'll give away more operational details to someone if I can get some magical assistance on determining his loyalty first.

Most likely Oleg would just think Konrad was asking Arkady if they should hire him.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2007-04-25 11:40pm

Arkady found considerable trepidation and more than a little greed, but no deceit.

The Nomad · Post by **The Nomad** » 2007-04-26 04:33am

Arkady nodded his approval to Konrad: the trapper sounded correct, at least now. Complications could arise from the trapper's greed, but that was a risk they had to take.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2007-04-26 08:26am

"Well Oleg, we're heading to a northern village, Korovo. So far we've been thinking of using horses for a quick in and out recon. We just have to swing by the Troll's Head and collect our last man and we'll be off."

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2007-04-26 12:13pm

"It couldn't hurt for you to check our gear over, make sure we are not missing anything. We would not want to be turning back for a forgotten trifle now would we?" Auric added.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2007-04-27 01:53am

"Dress warmly," said Oleg. "Sometimes we get early snow this time of year. Bring fire starters and food. You eat more than you would think. The body needs fuel, like a 'jack's furnace."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2007-04-27 12:45pm

Not bad advice. I should be alright as I picked up some extra supplies. Time to get this operation moving.

"I'll go get Guren, and meet back here in an hour."

Konrad then set out the short distance towards the Troll's Head Tavern. He was weary as ever for tails, but wasn't expecting any trouble. He then entered the tavern , went up to Guren's door, knocked, then said,

"Guren, we found the man we were looking for. You finished with your ammunition?"

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-04-27 11:08pm

Soloman Guren was staring intently at the surface of his latest rune-bullet, carefully etching in his personal rune-letter. Unfortunately, the sudden knock on his door made him jump, sending the sharp tool over the surface of the bullet, through the thick material of his glove and into his finger.

He gave a long, if quiet, howl.

He opened he door, stared for a full fifteen seconds at Konrad, then smiled. "Yes. Yes I'm finished." he rubbed his eyes.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2007-04-28 01:15pm

Auric parted ways with the tracker, arranging a meeting time. From there he went and requisitioned a goodly amount of food, ammo, as well as picking up some warmer clothes. His great coat was plenty warm between the padding and armor. On his way out he stopped for a few words with those in charge.

"Make sure to keep a lid on this. There is no need to let tales spread, especially at a time like this."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2007-04-29 10:34am

Konrad frowned when he saw Guren's cut up finger.
Must have been an accident.

"Well, nice to see you got your ammo ready. Sorry if I'm responsible for the finger, though. We got about an hour left to get supplies for the trip if you still need anything. Our new man, Oleg, recomends cold weather gear and exttra food for the conditions we'll face."

Konrad figured he might as well stay with Guren until the team reconvened to leave town.

We got too much exposure on this operation. It's my fault as well, damn it. I've operated in worse circumstances than this though. The time, method, and direction of our approuch is still secret. Even if the target has informants in town, all he knows is someone is coming for him. He probably figured that would happen eventually anyway. A company of troops can't disapear without someone looking into it. Our fieldcraft will simply have to be perfect on this one.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-04-30 03:16am

Guren put his lucky hat on and rubbed the back of his head. Konrad held out his purse. "How thoughtful!" the gun-mage exclaimed, as the pair headed back into the market. Counting his gold, Guren wondered if he could get away with just his heavy, armoured greatcoat, as he did elsewhere. Not willing to risk it, and seeing as his sheepskin had been burned in the last great battle, he bought a thick wollen jumper with a long neck. Picking up provisions of smoked meat and the like, he leaned in close to Konrad.

"So, this man Oleg. Can we trust him, or shall we have to be on the lookout for a double cross?" he laughed uproariously, thanking the vendor as he handed over the victuals.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2007-04-30 08:37am

Once they were outside the shop Konrad said,
"We can trust him as much as any other unproven man. Arkady cast a spell to check his thoughts, and gave a thumbs up on hiring him. Best not to tell him that. Most likely he's in it for the money."

The Nomad · Post by **The Nomad** » 2007-04-30 11:44am

Arkady's clothing was reasonably warm for Khadoran climate, but he nonetheless asked the trapper for a few more precise recommendations before parting from a few more coins.

"Boss, you look like a big squirrel with that hat,"

"The squirrel would kick you in the nuts if they were not so small a target," he whispered. "Best try a fireball for a guaranteed hit."

"Yeah, the others looked a bit fried after that run-in with da Trolls."

"Oh shut up." He handed the hat back to the vendor and chose more reasonable complements to his clothing.

He bought a small piece of fur which he had made into a pouch. His familiar would need someplace warm if the climate was really foul - "Try to not crap into that", followed by "Darn, you're some big motherfucker, that's a wonder you manage flying!". He bought more food, and a small phial of ale which he hung around his neck. He also bought some food adequate for his familiar, which would help it if it had trouble finding sustenance in the north.

He resupplied his healing kit as well.

He resented not having the time to look for a couple of offensive spells, but at least he had spared enough alchemical accumulators from his time with the Wolves.

He followed Auric once they had finished their trip to the market.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-04-30 07:23pm

Raj Ahten wrote:Once they were outside the shop Konrad said,
"We can trust him as much as any other unproven man. Arkady cast a spell to check his thoughts, and gave a thumbs up on hiring him. Best not to tell him that. Most likely he's in it for the money."

"It was a joke lad." Guren said, patting Konrad on the shoulder. "I'm not even mildly worried about this trapper double crossing us."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2007-04-30 09:03pm

As they headed back to the rendezvous Konrad said to Guren,

"Heh. Hell, I'm just being extra carefull these days. Especially after what happened to the Company."

I'm not even sure what caused that disaster. Been high strung ever since. Had too much time to think of all the posibilities. It'll be much better once we're out on this job.

Edit: grammer.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-05-01 04:53am

"Sometimes bad things happen." Guren said, master of the obvious. "But we on the other hand, are extremely lucky bastards. Speaking of!" there was Arkady and Auric. "My word, the Kaptain sure look like a squrriel." he tugged at the enormously long neck of his new winter clothing.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2007-05-01 07:02pm

"All we have to do now is wait for Oleg and then we can be off."

It is good to be lucky. But I've been in this bussiness so god damned long, my luck has probably just about run out.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2007-05-02 10:48am

The big trapper was waiting where they had left him, growling impatiently when disturbed and chewing on a piece of jerky.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2007-05-02 03:54pm

Konrad addressed Oleg and the others,

"We got more supplies, as you recomended. Time to get started. I believe the plan is for a quick mounted recon taking the back way into Korovo. Routes taken and so forth will be Oleg here's speciality. Personally I'd prefer if a bit later you could brief us on various routes back to town so we can formulate an evasion plan if we get outnumbered or something and need to get back to town individually. Once we're closer and get some actual details on what happened we can decide whether or not to just head back in and report or continue on and kill whatever the problem is. I know the plan is sketchy, but this is a recon job. We'll have to be flexible and plan as we go."

What recon really means is you creep around having no idea where the hell you are waiting for someone to take a shot at you.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-05-02 08:45pm

"Plans make life too complex anyway!" Guren said, clapping his hands together. "We need to get out there, get messy and make mistakes, then kill them."