Black Horse mercenary interrogation
Having accepted the surrender of one of the Black Horse mercenaries, the party then proceeded to interrogate the horseman. This was handled between sessions via email, with skill checks rolled by the Game Master (me). Here are the results of those exchanges. They might help someone who is handling this suddenly in game, rather than having time to consider on all of the responses.
Note that the answers in this use the expanded encounter numbers I used to adjust for my 6 person party.
Q: How many more are positioned down the road?
A: There were six men down the road, and the new lieutenant, Danava. Renard's plan was that you would all run down and let everyone take a pot shot at you before Danava blocked everyone just before the icy spot; if you didn't run, the scouts would blow the horn and they would roll you up. He even had a different signal supposed to be given if we had beaten our group and they needed help. He and his damn fancy plans. Didn't want to listen to Danava or anyone else about keeping it simple.
Q: Are there any more positioned down the road?
A: I couldn't see for sure, but it sounded like everyone came in after the horn got blown.
Q: How many total in the Black Horse company?
A: Only a dozen of us right here, plus the Lieutenant and Captain Woodsman. There are another thirty are in the town, rolling up bounties. Lt. Danava was the only one who could get out; something about a lock down in the town with the Ragesians showing up. Pissed the Captain off when he got the letter back saying he was honor bound not to try and take any of them out, and that he couldn't anyway.
Q: Where was the staging area? Where was their camp?
A: We made camp about two miles back this canyon path. Captain Woodsman got one of his mysterious messages again day before yesterday, and moved us further into the passes over to here. We left our original camp to the west of the city's gates a week ago. It's still got a dozen men or so there, but it's nearly impossible to get there from here without going through Gate Pass.
Q: Where would those that ran regroup to? What do you think the ones that ran will do next?
A: Albert and Butch? They're going to run back to camp, get there stuff, and move on! They turned yellow and ran, and they ain't going to wait for you to show up and cut their heads off. Or wait around for Renard to show up and cut their nuts off! I doubt they'll even take the prisoner off with them, and he's just money waiting to be cashed in.
Q: How and when did they get informed we were coming?
A: The Captain got another one of those mysterious messages, voices talking to him from afar. Told him to stop messing around with the witch bloods and sorcerers, that we should commit everything we could to watching for a group with a gnome, and elf, a dwarf, and a white blonde woman. He told us that the Inquisitors were going to pay us 10,000 gold for you! What did you guys do to be worth that much? Every spell caster is only worth 100 gp each.
Q: What were their orders for combat?
A: Renard went on and on about his detailed plan. None of you was to get away. If we could take the gnome or the elf or the woman alive, that was fine, but not the most important thing. We were supposed to kill the rest. Lt Danava was pretty pissed about that. He may be a better rider and swordsman than anyone else in the company, but he's got a thing or two to learn about Renard Woodsman, that's for sure! Or, he did, I guess...
Q: Any other units in the area?
A: No one I knew of. I know the Inquisitors often lead small detached units to take out selected targets, but haven't heard of any in the area. I assume if there were they'd have gotten the orders to get you guys instead of farming it out to a mercenary company like us.
Q: Where were your previous station and assignments?
A: We just got back from Sindaire late last year. After Coaltongue showed up to put down that little uprising from the city mayors for the Exarch, she no longer needed to hire groups like ours to put things in order. Once Renard heard Supreme Inquisitor Leska calling for the collection of spell casters and paying good gold for 'em, he figured Gate Pass's "School of War" was going to be a big pay off for us. Then maybe we could join up with 2nd Army.
Q: What is your chain of command?
A: Captain Renard Woodsman. Then the new LT, Kathor Danava. He only joined us a few weeks back. Then Lt Buhrnikoff, but he's holding down the old camp. Then whoever Renard puts in charge of a work detail. Danava wanted to start making that a regular status, and tighten up the units, but the Captain wanted to rotate people around.
Q: What was the plan if you did capture or kill us, and get the box?
A: Not sure. Take it back to the 2nd Army and cash it in, along with the prisoner, and any of you guys we captured.
Q: What's the scuttlebutt on Coaltongue?
A: I heard that the elves killed him! Pulled some kind of black magic to swallow his soul because he broke the heart of some bitch leader of theirs, then bury it deep in the earth. Lt Buhrnikoff said that was foolish, and he was pretty sure that the General Revulus and Supreme Inquisitor Leska had arranged it, then eaten his heart. But I don't think that's likely. Whatever is going on, without Coaltongue, the First Army is stranded in Sindaire without the Emperor's Torch to move them around!
Q: Who is in charge now?
A: From what I can tell, Supreme Inquisitor Leska seems to be calling the shots right now.
Having accepted the surrender of one of the Black Horse mercenaries, the party then proceeded to interrogate the horseman. This was handled between sessions via email, with skill checks rolled by the Game Master (me). Here are the results of those exchanges. They might help someone who is handling this suddenly in game, rather than having time to consider on all of the responses.
Note that the answers in this use the expanded encounter numbers I used to adjust for my 6 person party.
Q: How many more are positioned down the road?
A: There were six men down the road, and the new lieutenant, Danava. Renard's plan was that you would all run down and let everyone take a pot shot at you before Danava blocked everyone just before the icy spot; if you didn't run, the scouts would blow the horn and they would roll you up. He even had a different signal supposed to be given if we had beaten our group and they needed help. He and his damn fancy plans. Didn't want to listen to Danava or anyone else about keeping it simple.
Q: Are there any more positioned down the road?
A: I couldn't see for sure, but it sounded like everyone came in after the horn got blown.
Q: How many total in the Black Horse company?
A: Only a dozen of us right here, plus the Lieutenant and Captain Woodsman. There are another thirty are in the town, rolling up bounties. Lt. Danava was the only one who could get out; something about a lock down in the town with the Ragesians showing up. Pissed the Captain off when he got the letter back saying he was honor bound not to try and take any of them out, and that he couldn't anyway.
[This is of course speculation on my part, but I imagine the total company size to be large enough to operate as a useful mercenary company, but split up in an attempt to act as bounty hunters collecting bounties in the area, rather than intended to act as a military unit.]
Q: Where was the staging area? Where was their camp?
A: We made camp about two miles back this canyon path. Captain Woodsman got one of his mysterious messages again day before yesterday, and moved us further into the passes over to here. We left our original camp to the west of the city's gates a week ago. It's still got a dozen men or so there, but it's nearly impossible to get there from here without going through Gate Pass.
[Once again speculation on my part. It needed to be long enough in place for the prisoner to have frozen over night from neglect, but also needed to make since in terms of where a group would come from. Until recent revelations of the plan to travel through Innenotdar, there is no reason for anyone to on this path, except to go after Haddin. Since I didn't want this group to warn the party about the Inquisitors, and I didn't see the inquisition telling a small mercenary company what they were doing, I thought the time frame should be short for their movement. Having a larger camp in a position where horsemen could do more good as an original position and to cover the number they had inside of Gate Pass made sense to me.]
Q: Where would those that ran regroup to? What do you think the ones that ran will do next?
A: Albert and Butch? They're going to run back to camp, get there stuff, and move on! They turned yellow and ran, and they ain't going to wait for you to show up and cut their heads off. Or wait around for Renard to show up and cut their nuts off! I doubt they'll even take the prisoner off with them, and he's just money waiting to be cashed in.
[Here, I intentionally let slip the idea that there was a reason other than treasure to investigate the Black Horse camp. My party was considering skipping the camp because what they carried was more important, and the desire to avoid a location the enemy knew about. The prisoner's death seems more from negligence than malice on the part of the Black Horse; he was worth more to them alive than dead after all.]
Q: How and when did they get informed we were coming?
A: The Captain got another one of those mysterious messages, voices talking to him from afar. Told him to stop messing around with the witch bloods and sorcerers, that we should commit everything we could to watching for a group with a gnome, and elf, a dwarf, and a white blonde woman. He told us that the Inquisitors were going to pay us 10,000 gold for you! What did you guys do to be worth that much? Every spell caster is only worth 100 gp each.
Q: What were their orders for combat?
A: Renard went on and on about his detailed plan. None of you was to get away. If we could take the gnome or the elf or the woman alive, that was fine, but not the most important thing. We were supposed to kill the rest. Lt Danava was pretty pissed about that. He may be a better rider and swordsman than anyone else in the company, but he's got a thing or two to learn about Renard Woodsman, that's for sure! Or, he did, I guess...
Q: Any other units in the area?
A: No one I knew of. I know the Inquisitors often lead small detached units to take out selected targets, but haven't heard of any in the area. I assume if there were they'd have gotten the orders to get you guys instead of farming it out to a mercenary company like us.
Q: Where were your previous station and assignments?
A: We just got back from Sindaire late last year. After Coaltongue showed up to put down that little uprising from the city mayors for the Exarch, she no longer needed to hire groups like ours to put things in order. Once Renard heard Supreme Inquisitor Leska calling for the collection of spell casters and paying good gold for 'em, he figured Gate Pass's "School of War" was going to be a big pay off for us. Then maybe we could join up with 2nd Army.
[This was an interesting chance to start dropping elements of the larger world into the narrative of the game, and give the party some clues to put together with later rumors as to what is happening.]
Q: What is your chain of command?
A: Captain Renard Woodsman. Then the new LT, Kathor Danava. He only joined us a few weeks back. Then Lt Buhrnikoff, but he's holding down the old camp. Then whoever Renard puts in charge of a work detail. Danava wanted to start making that a regular status, and tighten up the units, but the Captain wanted to rotate people around.
[Note that the horsemen gets the order here backwards, but that was supposed to be a clue to the party that despite the leaders intentions, the group was not as disciplined as the oncoming armies are. Buhrnikoff is an original name, for the one in charge of people still at the 'old camp.']
Q: What was the plan if you did capture or kill us, and get the box?
A: Not sure. Take it back to the 2nd Army and cash it in, along with the prisoner, and any of you guys we captured.
Q: What's the scuttlebutt on Coaltongue?
A: I heard that the elves killed him! Pulled some kind of black magic to swallow his soul because he broke the heart of some bitch leader of theirs, then bury it deep in the earth. Lt Buhrnikoff said that was foolish, and he was pretty sure that the General Revulus and Supreme Inquisitor Leska had arranged it, then eaten his heart. But I don't think that's likely. Whatever is going on, without Coaltongue, the First Army is stranded in Sindaire without the Emperor's Torch to move them around!
[I enjoyed the fact that there is an element of truth in both of these rumors, though distorted enough to not give anything away early.]
Q: Who is in charge now?
A: From what I can tell, Supreme Inquisitor Leska seems to be calling the shots right now.
[There is no reason a mercenary company isolated in the mountains around Gate Pass would have any further insights into power politics coming into play in the wake of Emperor's death.]