Hugh set up camp right next to the road and very close to the marsh path that led to the Crypt occupied by the thieves.
“We are far enough from their hideout to start a fire, a small one,” he announced.
“Is it safe to set up camp so close to the path?” asked Bron.
“We’ll keep a lookout while Lovell is gone. Honestly, I’d rather fight them here than at their camp. I’m glad that none of their men got away to warn their camp, during the ambush.”
Bron left briefly to grab some firewood, Rhunal got up to help him, but Hugh waved her over.
He had a fair section of leather pulled out of his pack. “Lets fix you up some new clothes.”
“Do you always carry that much with you?” she asked.
He nodded, “It’s the same leather that most of our packs and scabbards are made out of. I’ve had incidents happen in the past that caused damage to them. Now I carry some with me for repairs. I carry enough to craft a new bag, to carry more loot back if needed at the end of a quest. It won't be comfortable, but it will do the job well enough."
He took out a sharp knife and a sturdy pair of scissors and began to cut long strips from his square of leather.
“How many enemies do you think are at the crypt? We took out four, so they must be thinned out by now, right?” she asked.
He shook his head, “I’m not hopeful. Your old enemy Taino has made quite a name for himself out here. He mostly left us alone in Refuge, he rides the line between a mercenary and a bandit. I’m not sure what tipped him off to your manor or how he got into the city in force, but it seems he’s settled on the latter trade.”
“Why did you take a quest to take on such a dangerous group? Now that you know who you are dealing with, shouldn’t you try to get more reinforcements?”
He shook his head somberly, “I don’t expect I would find much in the way of reinforcements at Refuge. Besides, the thieves will have packed up and left by the time we return.”
“How did you know where the their hideout was in the first place?” she asked.
“The client, your master Carinus knew and added it to the quest information.”
Rhunal frowned, “How did he know?”
He shrugged, “You’ll have to ask him that. It was a stroke of luck that he did. Without that information, I never would have taken this quest. It gives us quite an advantage.”
She was silent for a long moment, something about that seemed very off to her.
Finally, she decided to change the subject, “You said that you wouldn’t expect reinforcements from Refuge. Is it a small village?”
He shook his head, “No, for a frontier town it is quite large, with over three hundred souls. Refuge has not been doing well lately, because frankly the whole frontier is in a grim state.”
“Is it that bad? Besides the thieves gang, we didn’t really see anything threatening on the way here.”
“We didn’t see anyone on the way here at all. This road used to be well patrolled, both by the Greihold army and the Adventurer’s Guild. Bandit attacks have become common along that road. Monster raids have been rumored north of the villages.
“What? What kind of monsters. You said the orcs were trading with the villages. So surely my people aren’t involved.”
“Occasionally an lone orc will find themselves as a member of a bandit crew. But they aren’t satisfied as being anything but the leader. You’ll never find more than one in a single group. The monsters I’m referring to are headless, durable, and slow. They look almost like a scaled up, thicker human, and they have have their face built right into their torso.”
She made a face, “Are these things common?”
He shook his head, “No. But until recently we didn’t even know they existed. So far they have been completely hostile. Every year the Turbulent March throws something new at us.”
“Your people becoming mercenaries for Greihold and trading with the villages is one of the few things that have gone right in recent years. It worked out well for both. Food isn’t the easiest to grow out here, but good metals are everywhere. Orcs visiting to trade always brought a great quantity of fantastic pelts and fresh game. In return we traded them our excess of refined metal.”
“Before all that, did you ever have to fight against the orcs?”
He laughed, “Is talk of peace too boring for you? You are an orc through and through, just more polite. It's alright though, I'll tell you. It was rare to encounter orc raiding parties. The orc homeland is far away after all. Though nobody knows exactly where it is.”
“If you had to fight an orc raiding party, how would you do it?”
“As an adventuring party like ours here? You wouldn’t, you’d run the hell away. It wasn’t a job for the Adventurer’s Guild. It was a job for an army platoon of sixteen men with long pikes with heavy longbows in support. And even then it was best done from a defensive position.”
“All that for one raiding party? You said that they weren’t usually larger than four.” Her eyes widened a bit, clearly pleased that her people were considered so powerful.
“At a bare minimum, and even then it was possible for the orcish war party to make a mess of things by turning it into a close range brawl. Fortunately, Refuge was never attacked. The main target of these raiding parties was the well-guarded caravans carrying refined metals to Greihold. Not to insult you, but the orc warriors in these war parties were much much bigger than you are.”
She frowned, and did not answer.
“Those were dangerous times, but the frontier was stronger than it is now. Shipments up the frontier road were protected by a whole platoon of soldiers."
Now it seems, the city takes our shipments through the Turbulent March for granted. The only time we see soldiers anymore is the yearly tax collection."
The Adventurer’s Guild did its best to fill the void, but it is dangerous out here. More and more good people lost every year. Many of the more unruly youth from the villages either go to the city to seek their fortune or go bandit themselves. Few wish to join the Adventurer’s Guild anymore, and I can’t blame them.”
Bron had returned with the firewood and heard Hugh’s words. “The payout for this quest is a good one. Are you intending this to be your last mission?”
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