Between the end of the pay parade and the start of the party, I was rather busy. A party to end all parties after all takes a lot of organisation and since it was meant for the rest of the company Captain Walker couldn’t have them deal with it. Thus outside help had to be called in and they needed to be supervised.

There was an alcohol tent run by one of the taverns in the town on the right side of the parade ground, a food tent run by one of the restaurants in the town on the left side and the stage from earlier remained in the middle but this time it would be used by local bands and other performers who would be entertaining us all night long.

As the junior lieutenant even if only by less than an hour I of course was given most of the work and it turned out that the people from the tavern and those from the restaurant didn’t get along with each other and thus I spent most of my time mediating between the two. Eventually however even with the extra challenge, all was ready and it was soon time for the party to begin.

Once everyone had a drink in their hands Captain Walker walked over to the stage which had not yet paid host to any of the acts that would be entertaining the partygoers and called for silence before continuing.

“Don’t worry I don’t intend to give any kind of speech but as is customary at such occasions there are a number of toasts that we all have to get through before you can really get this party going. First, let us raise our glasses to all those who have gone to the great beyond and are no doubt now basking in the glory that is Telondian.”

Once everyone had taken a drink and after a while things quieted down again he moved on to the second toast of the night.

“May next year be as glorious as this if not more so and a lot more one-sided at that.”

The gap between that and the last toast of the night was much shorter than between the first and second.

“May those leaving us tomorrow for greener pastures never regret having done so unless it’s on a day ending in y.”

“Alright men since that’s been taken care off and silence reigns one last time tonight you might as well forget all your worries and party.”

Since throwing it was a way for the captain to show his appreciation for all their hard work during the campaign season and our presence at the party might prevent the men from truly letting their hair down and possibly negate all the hard work that he put into organising it the captain, myself and the other lieutenants only stayed at the party for half an hour.

Instead, the captain had invited us all to his quarters for drinks and we were joined there by Lieutenant Morton who would officially be leaving the company, to get married and raise a family, late the following day. Besides a bedroom, the captain’s quarters at the camp also included a separate bathroom, a small sitting room, an office and another space he used to hold meetings and if necessary entertain clients.

It was to this last room we retreated to after leaving the party. Over drinks and some light snacks, we discussed all the contacts the company had undertaken this year and critiqued them. There had been seven of them altogether and other than the last casualties had been light.

The first had been a bandit suppression one where the size of the bandit group they had to face proved exaggerated. It had easily been destroyed in a single action that wasn’t much to write home about.

The second involved a succession dispute that had been settled in favour of the company’s employer after the Ebony hyenas had assaulted the manor of his rival while he had been holding a birthday party for his wife.

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The Third had been another bandit suppression one, this time against three different small bandit groups the last of which had proved a bit of a challenge. The hyenas had finally tracked them down after weeks of trying and they killed or captured every last one of them.

The fourth contract had been a complex affair involving the kidnapping of a bride-to-be by a besotted neighbour that ended in a standoff on a cliff face which the kidnapper after all his men had been dealt with had threatened to jump off it with his victim in toe.

The fifth one had involved protecting a manor which was caught in the middle of a feud between two others that they feared might spill over into theirs. In the end, nothing came of it as the two feuding manors had come to some kind of understanding.

The last one before the long bank job had been a disagreement between two neighbouring manors over some pasture land and a watering hole that in the end after two months of back-and-forth manoeuvring had been resolved without bloodshed.

Our discussion on these contracts and some of the others the Ebony Hyenas had undertaken over the years lasted half the night and only really ended after we had drunk most of the good stuff the captain had set aside for the event. Before I retired for the night I had a quick glance at the men’s party in the parade group which was still going strong and then vomited on the way to my quarters.

I somehow managed to get to sleep despite the state of my head and awoke much later than planned with a splitting head and problems concentrating on what I had planned for the day yet I somehow managed to hold down my breakfast and was there to witness Lieutenant Morton and several others permanently take their leave of the company. The turnout for this event was rather disappointing but if those who didn’t attend were feeling half as bad as I was by this point I didn’t blame them.

I thought of consuming some Hair of the dog but I decided against it, I wanted to be in good condition for the belated wake I was holding this, this very night, though I was sure I would likely be the only one amongst the Hyenas contingent who might be that way inclined. Thankfully neither I nor anyone else in the company had to clean up after the party, the captain had paid for others to take care of that.

All I had to do was to try and make sure all the scouts were ready and in a fit enough state to attend the wake that night. Sadly despite my best efforts by the time it came to depart no one else other than perhaps Young was in my opinion capable of riding a horse into town but I had expected that might be the case and thus I had hired a carriage for the night. It would take us straight to the inn I had arranged to host the wake and would hopefully be around later to take us back.

I was determined to only have a single drink that night, after all a wake is a more solemn occasion than I simple party but my resolve quickly came to nought. The attendance at the event exceeded my imagination, everyone who hadn’t left the profession was there and for the most part in good spirits to boot. I was of course sad to hear about their captivity especially what happened to some of those who made it out of the last contract alive but much Diminished.

Of the forty-one who had been taken prisoner or thirty-nine if you don’t include the two who invalided out of the profession a further four of them had voluntarily left the profession. I and Richard Barncastle were surprised to learn that our good friend Daniel Harper was one of them, he had apparently returned to the village he was born in and the family he had left four years ago. I would like to have been able to say goodbye to him but the decision was his to make and that was that.

All but five of the remaining ones I learnt had found a new company to join. I of course mentioned to these five who hadn’t that the Ebony Hyenas were recruiting but no surprise they were already aware of it. All but one of them were considering applying and I promised to recommend them to the captain.

The subject of the money those members of the company who had not been captured by the Bloody Clock Mercenary Company myself included had contributed to paying the ransom of those not covered by Mercenary Guild ransom policies did of course come up.

After much discussion and some disagreement a tentative consensus was reached among those on both sides of the equation and I was hopeful that the money I had contributed or at least most of it would find its way back to me, eventually.

With that matter taken care of the wake really got started and I once again went to bed worse for wear but I thoroughly enjoyed myself as did everyone else involved.

I had planned to head out on my visit to my sister the following morning but Richard who was joining me for the first part of my journey had received a slight head injury during a brawl that had broken out the night before so it was decided to wait until the following day. At the same time I swore off drink forever, not that I imagine that resolve would last all that long.