The Black Hand were a group of mercenaries that worked out of Redmarsh. This was great news for three reasons; one, they were always a group that the PC’s could work for and eventually run, two, they were dim witted and no different than other NPC’s and three, they were one of the last things I added to the game. This meant that not only were the main NPC’s within the faction on the top of my mind but the layout and building was second nature. I knew exactly where they would be holding our friends and exactly where the carriage would be. There were many ways to play this but, as Jessica had pointed out, this didn’t need to be played like a game, so we left our horses tied along the road and walked up to the large double gate doors of the encampment to knock.
After a long wait a head popped up over the said,
“Who goes there?”
“Lucius’s wife’s brother Renfrew.” I said. I turned to Drew and said in a hushed tone, “I wrote a lot of backstory for this dude and he’s always been keen to meet his wife’s brother. He doesn’t know he’s dead in a cave beneath a bridge two days west of here,” I laughed and turned back to the man above the gate, “I wish to speak with my brother in law!”
After a few moments the gates opened and Lucius; the greying, dark skinned leader of the Black Hands embraced me with open arms,
“Renfrew? How can it be!” he said with pride,
“Oh well, I fell down a hole off a bridge and into a cave but, ya know, I got out and stuff.” I said.
“Of course, always the warrior, your sister spoke so highly of you and I had always wished to meet you. I’m so glad you’ve arrived but how did you find us?”
“Oh, luck probably.”
“Yes, yes! The Gods are lucky.” He said comfortably to himself as I quietly rolled my eyes to Drew, “Come you are welcome but I’m afraid I have bad news about your sister.”
I turned to Drew and mouthed the words she’s dead too and nodded as we entered the large gates of the Black Hand encampment. We were in fact greeted warmly and as we were led through the open ground beyond the gated walls I saw the house which held the carriage. We moved upstairs and through the hallways of the main house until we arrived at a long wooden table in the dining hall. We were seated and I waited anxiously for a chance to interject.
After a particularly long diatribe Lucius finally took a sip from his wine, “You got any things you’re working on right now? Jobs? Maybe transport stuff?” I said eager to get to the point. I felt like I was trying to skip the dialogue in a video game, only in real life I couldn’t press spacebar to make it go faster.
“Now let me think,” he said in a remarkably slow was and I rolled my eyes. Killian had been happy to sit down and eat while Sarah sat uncomfortably looking at the roast in the center of the table. Drew was the only one trying to edge me along in the conversation but was getting equally frustrated.
“Maybe we can look around or something…” Drew suggested just a scream sounded out in the courtyard below. I stood up and ran to the window to see a group of men running towards the carriage house. I shot a look to Drew who was beside me at the window and I turned back to Lucius.
“Thanks for the bite we better go help.”
I was halfway out the door before Killian had even gotten out of his chair and Sarah was still eyeing the roast, but time was not our friend and I rushed out to the courtyard with Drew on my heels.
We reached the courtyard in time to see a number of Black Hand members arrive at the doors to the Carriage house. They had approached it as if it were a sleeping dragon; nervously walking towards with their arms outstretched. Though Drew and I were too far to hear their words, I could see two of the men that had arrived were debating back and forth. We slowed to a jog about fifty feet from the building just in time to hear voices shouting from within. Drew and I shot each other a curious look just an explosion sounded throughout the yard and the wooden doors of the carriage house flew out into a sea of splinters.
The explosion threw the Black Hand members that were at the door to either side and knocked the wind out of Drew and myself, tossing us back onto the muddy yard. The carriage shot out from the building through the white smoke of the explosion like a horse at the races. The stallion’s that led the large prison carriage bucked and wailed into the night air as both Drew and myself saw Silas sitting in the driver’s seat. He drove, frantically rattling the reigns as the court suddenly became a buzz of activity. Men poured out from within the Carriage house and started fighting the Black Hand. Through the thinning smoke I could see the plaid leggings, the red coats and Tricorne hats of The Goodberry Brigade fighting.
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The clinking of swords echoed against the stone courtyard walls as the Black Hand scrambled; some fighting the men that had burst through the Carriage house, others dodging behind bushels of hay and as the Carriage tore past us I saw both Jessica and Kappa firing arrows out through the metal bars of the cage on the back. Drew and I jumped behind a rusted barrel to shield ourselves from the fighting as the few Black Hands now engaged in fighting the Goodberry Brigade began to fire back at the carriage.
Suddenly I became nervous they would hit my brother, I began to shout, but over the wildly neighing horses and the screams of the two fighting factions my voice was lost. I turned to Drew panicked and with a nod that said I got this he raised stepped out from behind cover. He stepped out into the open and with his hands outstretched above him, he began speaking. I leaned back nervously as blue light began to grow from Drew’s hands and in a flash, a sea of lightning fired down from the sky.
Everything was frozen. The carriage; the Black Hand, the Goodberry Brigade, the horses… everything was still and unmoving, stuck in a momentary stasis. However, unlike the frozen reality I had visited, they were all looking around and aware of what had happened. Pirates and mercenaries alike were locked in combat, their eyes nervously dancing between each other. The carriage and horses were mid jump having hit a stack of fallen shields second prior. It lingered, frozen in the air maybe two feet from the ground; the horse manes locked in a gust of wind that caught them mid jump. The scene was like an action tableau, a picture taken at the perfect time.
I stood up slapping a bit of the caked mud from my knees and turned to Drew wiping the nervous sweat from my brow, “Time-lapse, good call.” He nodded in appreciation and I cleared my throat, “Ladies and gentlemen of the Black Hand and good… err… pirates of the Goodberry Brigade, you are all on the same side.”
The silence was deafening but against the sounds of battle that had existed moments before, it was welcomed. “Black Hand; these people are no longer prisoners. We have been assigned to take them unharmed. Thank you for your cooperation.” I could have done it in a more diplomatic and roguish way but I didn’t know how close behind Hestle and Ergon would be and frankly, I was tired of beating around the bush. “Goodberry Brigade?” I nervously looked around as if calling on someone in a classroom, “Thank you for your help you have aided your captain.” As the spell began to wear off everything came back and Silas pulled hard on the horses as the carriage stuck its landing and skidded to a halt. Lucius who stood at the balcony called down and waived his guards off, reinforcing my request as Killian and Sarah came down the side steps and joined us at the carriage. Slowly, the Goodberry Brigade sheathed their weapons and one who had just lit a bomb casually licked his finger tips and put it out.
Silas was the first to see me obviously, having somehow snuck out of the locked carriage and taken the reigns and to my surprise he climbed down and hugged me. He was never one to touch and this felt monumental as I held him close. After breathing it in I moved towards the back and saw Kappa and Jessica in the back. I unlocked the metal gate with my key and opened it wide for them to climb out. Jessica came out first and avoided eye contact and Kappa followed but stopped in front of me,
“I missed you,” she said and gave me a half hug, than we turned towards Jessica who was heading for the carriage house, “you two need to talk.” She said sympathetically and turned to see Drewhilda and Sarah. I hesitated at the group but decided to trust Kappa and headed towards the direction Jessica headed.
I entered through the large splintered doors that lay on the dirt of the courtyard as saw Jessica with her back to me holding herself. Unsure of what to say I started with, “We found Sarah,” she turned only slightly and said,
“I saw,” She seemed unfazed by it, maybe because it was less important to her right now or perhaps because she had to deal with this first but either way I pressed in.
“She doesn’t seem to really be phased by all of this, didn’t really even think there was anything going on.” Jessica laughed an honest laugh and it felt good to hear. She turned around but seeing my face made her smile fade.
She waited a moment and said, “I like that you look like yourself again,” I nodded and said,
“I know what I did was wrong…”
“Do you though?” she interjected, “Do you fully realize not just the trust you violated and how sick and twisted that is but how it feels to know that I’ve been changed? That I don’t know if the choice I’m making is mine or yours? Is it something that I want or something that’s been decided for me? Do you understand how confusing it is to even begin to think about?” She was yelling, “Do you understand how it feels to love you and realize that it’s not my choice to? That even now as I’m looking at you, I feel so strongly towards you but I have to fight that feeling because I know it’s a goddamn lie?”
I stood there wanting to look away, wanting to stare anywhere but at the tears that formed in her eyes but I knew I had to. This was what I did, this was my penance. After a long pause I said, “No. I don’t.” Her face dropped a bit, “I don’t think I ever will.”
That was it. No but, no however, just admission. I had nothing to offer, I had no promise to make. I stood there in the destroyed opening of the carriage house with nothing to offer.
After a long pause she drew in a quick breath and said, “We’re no longer friends. I’ll be amicable to you until we beat this game and if that works then we’re done. If not you can find your own way around this world.” She went to move for the door and I said,
“Well, actually…” I could see her face tighten as if she was about to get angry but I said, “I think we found a way out.”
She stopped and with a confused look said, “Who is we?”