Gwain's Solo Adventures

As Gwain surrenders he can hear the galloping of horse hooves coming towards him. Soon enough three figures on horseback with gleaming breastplates and one carries a standard with a blue background. The individual at the forefront removes his helmet and despite his ravaging looks glares down at you with malice. The lordly individual speaks to the injured scout in the native language and the exchange goes back and forth for a few moments before he turns his full attention to you. You can't help but notice the golden symbol of a falcon clutching a sun and moon in its talons hanging from a chain around his neck.

In a thick accent (imagine it has a Russian accent for dramatic purposes) the man speaks "What is your name scout? Your attire marks you as more than a mere dog of Griswald. Answer me and you may just live to see your fellow men slaughtered in battle."

Gwain can't help but suppress a smile when he sees the knight is easy on the eyes. At the sound of his thick foreign accent, Gwain's heart lifts. "Perhaps this isn't so bad after all," he muses.

"I am Gwain Griswald, Arrow Splitter, and Bradford's Bane. You have done well to capture me, but I suggest you keep me under close guard. I can be quite... feisty."

The knight's expression doesn't budge even remotely from what you suspect may be a permanent scowl "One of the foxes pups has fallen into our hands then has it? My father Czar Larionavitch will be pleased by such luck. The goddess has seen fit to bless us with this opportunity and we are not the types to waste it."

The knight who's really more of a prince equivalent speaks in their native tongue to the knight not holding the banner. The knight descends from his horse and pulls chains and manacles from a bag on it's side. You are stripped of your possessions and put in irons. As you are dragged through the enemy armies camp spoiled fruits and what you suspect may also be feces is thrown at you as you are pulled along by the men's horses. Soon enough you find yourself approaching a unit of cavalry and you can see the flag flying above their position. The prince stops in front of an individual mounted on an enormous warhorse with a gilded raven stretching across his breastplate. An ornate cloak drapes around the individuals armor and you can see the individuals hair has grayed. Again the Prince speaks in the foreign language before you are yanked in front of the ornate individual and forced to kneel by a pair of knights.

In the same accent but a little more easily understood the gilded man speaks "The silver fox was not able to slip through our scouts then and find our position. Truly the Griswalds have lost their touch for when we're done here we may just send our armies into your lands to raid you for a change. I am Czar Larionavitch, ruler of these lands until the northern snowy peaks that prevent the eternal winter from spilling into these territories. Tell me why I should spare a fox and not simply send your head back to your father as a warning?"

Covered in grime and rotting organics, Gwain's usual cheerful demeanor has faded, though not left completely. "Unfortunately you will have some difficulty with that. The old man croaked some time ago. You could try my eldar [heh] brother though. However he's not the kind of person to be dissuaded by such things, if anything he'd come all the faster and fight all the harder."

"I don't mean to impose on your authority, but if you ask me, you're much better off keeping me as a ransom. That, or you could sell me as a slave. There are men who would pay quite the bounty for me where I come from.

"As for invading our land, no one has ever captured Heretic's End. You're certainly welcome to try though."

[are you attempting to engage the Czar in an intrigue? If so, roll initiative (status)]

[Intrigue time? Okay, I guess this guy is getting seduced xD. 7 initiative.]

[Gwain's disposition is indifferent btw. He doesn't have anything against these people after all, he's more here to support his brother.]

Unsurprisingly your status is not quite good enough to allow you to beat his for initiative. The Czar is unfriendly disposition and will attempt to shield of reputation you against your defense to increase your disposition towards him to amiable (10, calculate your combat defense and compare for results).

"I am ruler of this lands pup and as such my wealth is already beyond your imagination so you needn't fear being sold to slavery. I am renown among my people for my fairness and obligation to the farmers. Any attacks on my people are attacks on me and it is my sovereign right to do what I deem necessary to you if it would protect them."

[Disposition is now amiable.]

"As it should be. I can tell you have ruled well. Your age becomes you and you clearly posses wisdom and the might to back it. Your heirs must be powerful men and beautiful daughters. You have nothing to fear from me, but I believe you might find it quite... 'useful' to keep me close at hand."

[Intrigue. Persuasion (Seduce) gets 19 with 5 ranks of persuasion.]

While probably not attracted to you the Czar takes on a much more friendly tone probably because you stroked his ego. He attempts to bribe you (11)

"The silver fox certainly did teach you how to speak didn't he? Though I suppose by the time he died he was more a grey fox than silver. I will show you the mercy your house would never show you mine. You will be spared and when the battle comes should your brother see fit to send an envoy to speak to us savages then I will leverage your freedom against his demands. In exchange you will tell me where your houses army is and what it composes of"

[An 11 is two degrees of success. Not sure how much influence that is, but unless he has 7 or greater persuasion, Gwain still has some composure left. Now that we're swimming in destiny points, I'll use one to bump the Czar's disposition by one.]

"Ah, so you knew my father then? I sincerely hope you never had to suffer the misfortune of speaking with the man. He was as negligent a father as he was cruel a husband. But I digress, if I tell you what you wish to know, my brothers will know it was I who betrayed the army. If that were the case, I would be seen as a heretic and no longer considered a son of Griswald. My life would be meaningless as a bargaining token. So I ask you, would you rather have my outdated information about the army's position, or a trump card in the battle to come?"

[Gwain uses influence and gets 23 on his convince attempt.]

[He's influence 4 so you take 8 minus the DR for being amiable towards him so you take 5. I also was wrong about seduction, the dramatic increase in disposition doesn't come until you defeat him with seduction so he is Dislike towards you.]

Drawing an ornate longsword the Czar points the tip of the blade at your forehead (he's intimidating you) "If you are of no use to me alive then you're no use to me dead! Unless you have something truly worth sparing your life over than your head will be separated from your torso in the next moment!"

(11 again on the intimidate. Unless you happen to have a composure of 12 I doubt you will be able to resist spilling whatever info you can in order to save your life)

Genuine fear enters Gwain's composure as he realizes is life is really on the line. Clearly the Czar is not one to play games, "Alright! Alright. I was a half day's march from the main army when I fought your scouts. The army marches towards the city and it numbers....." Gwain proceeded to provide the Czar with enough information to mollify him.

The Czar puts his blade back in its sheath and yells some orders that you can't understand before speaking to you directly again "Thank you for your help pup. For the information I'll let you live and I will offer your freedom to your brothers before any blood is spilled. Until then you'll enjoy the company of two guards while being dragged along to our destination."

With that, the Czar, his son and the cavalry ride away from your position. As you are dragged along you see that the army is moving in the direction of Griswalds army.

If the Czar truly intends to offer Gwain's freedom before the battle and get something in return, he does not know Leewan. Whatever deal the general makes, Leewan will gladly accept to get Gwain back before just as quickly turning around and fighting anyway. Still, it's always good to have an ace in the hole, so Gwain starts looking about for other ways of attaining freedom.

He looks at one of his two guards. They probably don't speak his language, but it's worth a shot. "I'm Gwain, what's your name?"

You get punched in the face and have a black eye now

"Ow!! Well that was rude." Talking to the guards was a long shot to begin with, but perhaps Gwain will try again once their boredom has set in. Gwain scans his immediate surroundings to gauge how well-organized this army is and the morale of the fighters. He then tries his bindings [if he has any] to see how difficult they might be to undo.

Your bindings are metal bands about your wrists connected by a metal chain. As to the army they appear to be in good spirits as best as you can tell. Many of them give you dirty looks as they walk past you. The two guards hoist you up onto the back of a horse (they lay you across it on your stomach) and they guide the horse alongside the army with a rope tied to one of their horses. It is beginning to get dark though breaking out of the shackles is practically impossible without colossal strength.

[you may attempt some kind of escape overnight as the army travels. If you don't try transition to main thread. It should be noted that if you are caught trying to escape you're liable to be killed on the spot (though it'd likely just result in you burning a destiny point)]

If any women come nearby, Gwain will try his darndest to seduce them, but unless anyone stops and has a prolonged interaction with him, he'll just wait out the night.

[you unfortunately can't seduce anyone who doesn't understand you and when smelling like feces ]

Alas, Gwain sleeps sad and alone tonight.