The middle-aged Knight Guardian had only recently relieved the guard and assumed the marching drill as he began his patrol in Silent Hill. It was his first day after several days off duty, and the recreation period had charged him with good spirits and vigor.
Not long thereafter his vigilant eye caught some suspicious movements in the coppice just in front. The region he had to stand guard at had a bad reputation of a Thief nest, so no wonder the Knight decided to call for reinforcements prior to checking the coppice rather than charging at it alone.
Minutes later a pack of guards were rummaging the possible ambush spot. It turned out, the thief had realized that his ambush was blown and had already fled, but unbeknownst to himself dropped a long scroll rolled from two sides. The guardian became the first person outside the Thieves' Guild to get to know the contents of the secret thief missive.
"Hail, companion!
Since joining my Guild you have been loyal to its ranks by
doing what we do best - ransacking and brigandage. Cheers
on that!
We have not met in person, but through many praises from
higher ranked thieves I have come to conclusion that you
may be relied upon, so I'm sending you a copy of this missive.
I have had this in my mind for a long while now, but the
situation was never suitable enough - as distinct from now.
Verdant Dell, the latest territorial acquisition of the
Empire, is famous for its herds of wild animals which never
proved any use except for greasy succulent flanks on the
hunters' campfires. We can get some better use than that!
The Packmasters, druidic protectors and members of the East
Bay society of Living Nature and what not, have recently
arrived at Verdant Dell to nurse those beasts, and guess
what! They are tameable!! (the beasts, not the druid
spongers) This got me thinking: If we tame the herd animals
and teach them to understand our commands, we can use them
as mounts, and no need to bring out how greatly this will
benefit our Guild.
That's where you step in. You need to head to Verdant Dell
and challenge the Packmasters. They will be bumping off
some Chaos magic at you, so be prudent or wear protection.
(Holy Twin Gods, I sound like my mother!)
Your task is to capture the herd animals. You may keep one
for yourself, sure thing, the Right of Plunder has been
observed since the Guild creation.
The rest of the animals will go to the Guild stables, but
that's not your duty any more.
Luckily, those Packmaster foresters are cowardly, they will
admit defeat if you demonstrate enough power. You will not
have to defeat the entirety of the herd: leave one stack of
animals, and the druid will likely flee. Slay half of
animals in that stack, and the druid will flee almost for sure.
Now, see here, I'm putting it on the line. You must not
disclose the contents of this message to non-thief Lords.
The longer we remain unspotted, the more time we have to
fill the Guild stables, and for that, the least number of
Lords must be aware of our plans.
The Empire Court will eventually find out, and send their
guard dogs after us... But we'll be in the saddle by then.
Literally! :-)
One last thing: you are either one of us, or one of them.
When they challenge us, don't you even think of backing
them up. One word of your treachery reaches my ears - and
my trust will go bye-bye, as well as several limbs of your
body, sure thing.
Without further ado, get set to Verdant Dell immediately.
The faster you get here, the more mounts you can procure
for the Guild.
Reverence,
Thief Guild Leader"
"Unbelievable, why does it always have to be me?" - the Knight guard sighed to himself in vexation. "I got this, I shall deliver it to the Central Square," - he volunteered aloud and separated from the other guards. |
