Flying Crime Ponies

The Freelancers who'd slain the cassowary fiends two nights before might have been somewhat discreet about it outside the tavern, but they were abuzz with energy the evening before and their conversations had been inspirational.  This morning found a group of Freelancers trooping up to Arnari's office to discover what missions there were to be had.

The dark-skinned half-elf's office looked much like it ever had:  shelves with various musical instruments around the wall; two large maps, of Duquesne and Cliffshadow; and the large mahogany desk with various sloppy piles of papers on it.  Her office could easily seat a dozen guests, and she watched the Freelancers with interest as they positioned themselves as they saw fit.

Hanno, the half-orc, picked a chair with a nice straight back, and sat on it, his own back straight.
Broo'an, the tall, gangly human, leaned against the wall, careful not to interfere with his bowstrings.
Kaelani, the Rock sagani of dwarven extraction, chose a moderately cushioned chair, because of course he could feel that through the plate armour.
Ondar, tall even for a quinametzin, sat on the floor.
Nix, looking like an old human woman, sat on the chair with the wooden scrollwork, like she always did.
Lorcan, the quiet Pastoral gnome, sat in a chair off to the right and steepled his fingers under his chin.

Arnari opened with the three "standard" missions:

• Pollution by Pirates Dream river
• Hippogryph egg hunting for House Aldous
• Gryphon egg hunting north of Three Rivers for House Liona

"I don't think you will be devoured by gryphons, if you are moderately careful," she added, and then explained the pay structure for these.  "There are two other issues," she added.

• Strange disturbances along the road between Cliffgate and Haven; travellers are reporting food supplies stolen.  100gp/person
• Go to Hindmarsh and find out who and where Jamie's boss is.  As a reminder, Jamie was responsible for vandalism last year; we have since discovered he has two other compatriots, working for the pirate ship Osprey.

Arnari paused, then looked at them all sternly.  "Be careful, information only," she admonished them.

Broo'an:  ah'm leanin' towards food supplies stolen
Hanno:  this, too
Kaelani:  similar
Ondar:  Hindmarsh.
Lorcan:  I like the food supplies
Arnari:  this one is paid for by Mayor Kaiea because he wants the trade route to be clear.
Ondar:  Ondar can carry Kaelani and Lorcan so we move faster.
Lorcan:  we could rent a cart, and just be bait.
Nix:  I actually have a mule we can use.

This surprised everyone but Hanno, and they filed out of Arnari's office, with Nix explaining to the others her mule was grey, with a white forelock and one white sock on the left forehoof.

Renting a cart for the mule was 5sp/day.  They took some thought to rations and feed, and Broo'an announced he could provide the group with goodberries.  Lorcan was very happy with goodberries, and so was Hanno, but Ondar made a strange face, and uncharacteristically mumbled something about camping on the roadside having eaten nothing but berries.

Since they had the cart, it was not a problem to get plenty of rations (Lorcan bought 7).  They realized the cart had a lot of carrying capacity, and at Broo'an's urging, decided to turn it into an investment opportunity, to cart items to Haven.  Ondar invested 300gp, Kaelani 250gp, Nix 100gp, and Hanno 50gp.  Lorcan made a dark face about the entire affair, but said nothing and pitched in 50gp as well.  They got spices as their goods to cart to Haven.  They also bought mule feed and a couple barrels of water.  Thus loaded, they set out for Cliffgate.

The road to Cliffgate was mundane as always, with the weather calm but overcast.  Keeping in mind the recent missions involving Roberto Wendehals, the Freelancers looked for anything out of the ordinary, such as carts pulled by undead oxen, but saw nothing of the sort.

They got rooms at The Sleepy Dog Inn for 8sp/night each, and 5sp/night to stable the mule & cart.  Then as normal, the Freelancer hit the taproom, but this time listened in particular for any road stories from the Cliffshadow-bound.  They didn't have to listen long!

Next to the nearby fire were a couple of halflings, with pints of drink looking big in their hands.  They were on their way to Cliffshadow from Haven, and were talking about how glad they were to be inside walls.

After a glance at the other Freelancers, Hanno leaned over and gently inquired if they were willing to talk about what happened.  One of them drained his drink, then said, "Buy me another pint, and I'll tell ya!"  The half-orc smiled, said "Sure," and got pints all around.  The halfling then said, "They were stomping, flapping, creatures circling around our camp.  Every time we tried to get a fire going, it was put out.  Almost had our mules stampeded away!  We did not lose the cider, but we did lose our fodder, which slowed us down as we had to let the mules graze."  His companion was silent, but nodding along emphatically..

Hanno:  does sound terrifyin'.  Any noises familiar at all?
Halfling:  snorting, flapping; a bit of screaming
Broo'an:  a bunch of creatures, or one big'un?
Halfling:  noises all around!
Kaelani:  a talented mage.
Lorcan:  why would a mage steal fodder?
Kaelani:  why would a mage dump potions in a river?  Being a mage doesn't make you smart.

Now, Lorcan had no idea what this portended, but Broo'an thought it might be feral pegasi; stallions scream as part of dominance displays.  "We should get extra provisions," he told the other Freelancers.

"Should we get extra harnesses?" Lorcan asked.  Broo'an nodded, then added "and rope.  Don't wanna use trap."

The next morning, everyone chipped in another 5gp, and the Freelancers picked up 6 nets, 6 bridles, 6 extra ropes, and some feed.  Lorcan checked around Cliffgate quickly looking for some tranquilizer poison, but found nothing.

The Freelancers set out on the road to Haven under overcast skies with drizzle making the road a little muddy.  Traffic was less than the road to Cliffgate, but it wasn't empty.  Most of the road traffic was in the opposite direction, and the Freelancers noticed the groups were larger than one would expect, and appeared tired.  Really tired.

About ⅓ of the way to Haven the road sort of opened up with places for people to camp, and Broo'an started looking for a camp spot with lots of hoofprints.  Such was not hard to find, he saw some indicative of both walking and flying.  A thought struck Lorcan.  "Any claws?" he asked, as hippogryphs would have both.  Broo'an shook his head.

As they set up camp, Ondar started digging holes.  He put a lariat around a bucket, the bucket in the hole, with feed at the bottom of the bucket.  Lorcan realized Ondar intended for each rope to be a lariat the Freelancers would hold, and pointed out there was no way he would have the strength and mass to hold fast a pegasus with a rope.  At that, the Freelancers started planning in earnest.

They setup 4 such bucket traps, the rope attached to nearby trees with knots that only tightened.  These were away from the fire, and the mule and the wagon were nearer; Nix cast an alarm on it.  Lorcan would have sleep, and Kaelani would have entangle, if the pegasi clumped up.

Then Broo'an pulled a giant goat out of his Rust bag'o'tricks, and put that next to the wagon too.  At that, Lorcan bitched, becuase if the mule & the goat were caught by the sleep, the pegasi wouldn't be.  So the camp was rearranged to keep the two creatures away from the cart.

By then dark was upon them, and the Freelancers decided to pair up for long watches:  Broo'an & Hanno, Ondar & Nix, Lorcan & Kaelani.

Broo'an & Hanno heard nothing nearby, but perhaps half a mile down the down the road they heard the screaming the halflings had described, and angry people shouting.

Hanno:  think we should wander over that a way?
Broo'an:  think it's too far

Hanno listened to extremely loud and creative swearing, in Primordial, Halfling, and Trade, but heard nothing else during his watch.

Ondar & Nix had a relatively quieter time on their watch.  Nix was enjoying the night, but Ondar and Mercury heard a small stampede.  It was in a different direction, but still half a mile away.  The stampede didn't go on for very long, but then it was quiet, and loud flapping noises followed.

Lorcan & Kaelani took over the watch, and the ground was vibrating.  Like several pegasus galloping on the ground, coming towards the camp from the southeast.  Lorcan gestured to the others, and they also heard it, and took their positions.

Nix flew up on her broom, and Mercury also at the knob of it.
Ondar became large.
Kaelani cast ensnaring strike on himself.
Lorcan climbed up in the nearby tree.
Broo'an & Hanno were asleep, because nobody thought to wake them up.

Lorcan used message on Hanno: "Psst, sleepyhead.  Wake up."  Hanno's eyes opened, "Unnnnh."  That would not do.  Lorcan used mage hand, and Hanno woke up.  He cast light on the tip of his spear, and woke up Broo'an.

Nix thought that was a good idea, and cast light on the knob of her broomstick, just in time for 5 feral pegasus to charge in along the ground from the south east.  One was a pony with black & white wings.  One was black, and noticed the feed bucket trap, and headed there.

Another 3 were winging in from the northwest!  Mercury immediately prepared to dodge.

Large Ondar turned, and forgetting that the pegasi were here to raid the fodder, saw instead three flying pegasi coming for Ondar.  He pulled out his longbow and shot the closest one, piercing it with an arrow, then invoked his fire rune on it.  The pegasus was halted midair by the burning chains, and fell to the ground, dying of burns and broken legs.  The sound was horrifying.  Large Ondar immediately turned and shot the next closest pegasus.

Kaelani reached down and grabbed the ends of his Cloak of the Bat, and was able to fly towards the pegasus next to Broo'an.  However that brought him into the light cast from Hanno's spear and the Rock sagani fell to the ground with a tangle of armour.  He turned to the pegasus and struck it with his rainstick, trying to apply the ensnaring strike, but the creature easily avoided the snare.  So Kaelani hit it again, in the neck, killing it.

Broo'an stood up, exclaiming "Oh mah goodness."  He couldn't see the pegasi near Large Ondar, so he put hunter's mark on the nearby large white pegasus.  He shot that one, then shot the pegasus next to it, then moved behind a tree.

The mule, awake by now, had started fussing and braying.  Lorcan, from his tree, saw it starting to pull on its tiedown.  Then he cast sleep under the four pegasi near Broo'an.  The two injured pegasi succumbed and fell asleep, as did the pony.

Hanno called for Te Mārie to bless Nix, Broo'an, and Kaelani, then Nix also cast sleep on the black pegasus that Lorcan did not.  It sank to the ground, snoring.

That left two pegasus in the air; they flew to the supplies.  In the light of the fire it became obvious one was palomino coloured, with blue underfeathers, and the other reddish, with white spots; they wore no tack, and were not groomed at all.  They each grabbed a bag of feed and started to fly off, but Large Ondar used his stone rune on the palomino, which dropped the feed bag, and floated gently to the ground, enthralled.

Mercury flew to the reddish pegasus and buzzed it, then flew off.  It kicked Mercury, who poofed out.  Large Ondar shot it in the flank with his longbow, and it fell, dying, to the ground next to the palamino.  Then he put up his bow, and calmly walked up to the enthralled palomino and bound it.

The other Freelancers moved like they were just waking up, and started to apply bridles, and use the nets and rope to bind their wings.  The two Broo'an had shot were in tough shape, but would recover.  Hanno cast spare the dying on the spotted one Ondar had shot, and the one Kaelani had smacked with his rain stick; but the initial pegasus, still bound with Ondar's fire rune, was dead.

They looked at the bound pegasi.  The large stallion was a destrier, three others were courser, including the pony; the other three were riding pegasi.

It was still 4 hours til dawn, so the Freelancers fell into an uneasy sleep, other than Lorcan and Kaelani, who finished their watch.

Once the morning came, the Freelancers decided their job was done, but that they should continue on to Haven, pegasi in tow.  While travelling there, they got some looks from the other groups.

They all tried to befriend the pegasi, with Hanno, Kaelani, and Broo'an having the most success.  Lorcan and Ondar just got teeth and kicks.  Broo'an tried to figure out if the pegasi had gone feral or were wild, and from their reactions he concluded they were just wild.  He and Lorcan checked if they had been awakened, but no; they were just Crime Ponies who'd figured out the travellers had tasty feed.

In Haven, they took rooms at The Local Flavour, but now the mounts were 4gp/night (becuase 8 of them!).  Nix took point to sell their goods, and was able to talk up the amazing spices and also "Hey, we took care of the crime ponies."  It worked, and the Freelancers' investment was multiplied by 150%.

The Freelancers picked up a seventh bridle, and took the pegasi to an experienced farrier to be shoed, which cost 14g.  Pegasi shoes aren't as heavy as horse shoes, but the Freelancers were going to keep them grounded for a while and didn't want them to have problems. 

They then invested in some alcohol for the tavern, and enough feed for a small herd:

Ondar - cider - 450gp
Hanno - cider - 100gp
Nix - cider - 200gp
Lorcan - mead - 100gp

All this meant a second night at The Local Flavour, at which the Freelancers enjoyed telling of capturing the crime pegasi, except for Ondar who was more focused on trying all the drinks.  Then they headed back towards Cliffshadow the next day.

The pegasi, shoed, fed, and (despite their resentment) not maltreated, warmed more to the Freelancers on the trip back to Cliffshadow.  Well, except for Ondar and Kaelani.  The equines were well aware who had been trying to kill them.  <narrator voice:  and so were the animal handling rolls.>

They arrived at the Freelancers Tavern as the Daystar was westering on the fifth day out from Haven, and talked to Ka Hu’eu, the Rock sagani pegasus stablemaster for the Freelancers stables.  Ka told them he would take care of these, but he was as aware of the flying bears as any Freelancer, and wanted to know what would happen with the pegasi.  "Keep, sell, what?"  They told him they would get back to him, they had to check in with Arnari.

Ondar hefted a barrel of cider on his shoulder as they dropped in on Arnari's tea time.  He set the barrel down and sat on it as she sat back and looked at them all expectantly.  After all, it wasn't as if their success was news to her; the cessation of the attacks had been 7 days prior.

Hanno:  we brought mounts back; <glanced at Ondar> more normal ones, it was a bunch of pegasi.
Arnari <lifted eyebrow>:  surprised they figured it out [how to raid travellers]
Hanno:  they're down in th' stables if you wanna see
Arnari:  that's okay, I'm just surprised
Hanno:  speaks well to ease o' training
Kaelani:  not any sign of awakened.
Broo'an:  some interesting breeds, there; a destrier, some coursers

Silence, then, until Arnari ventured, "What are you doin' with this barrel?"  At that, Nix waxed eloquent on the qualities of the mead and cider they'd picked up, until Arnari caved and paid them for it with a 25% markup.  She also paid them the 90gp mission fee.

The next day, they spoke to House Ha'aheo, who agreed to help train the pegasi and bought the 3 riding mounts for 2000gp each.  The 6 Freelancers split 2000gp for one of the mounts...

Ondar took the 2000gp instead of a pegasus
Nix wasn't sure, but kept a courser pegasus mare just in case
Lorcan kept the pony courser pegasus stallion and named him Bandit
Broo'an kept the spotted destrier pegasus stallion and named him Cinnamon
Hanno kept the palomino courser pegasus mare and named her JayWalker
Kaelani took the 2000gp instead of a pegasus

300 xp!

• Hanno → lvl3!

<Narrator voice:  shout out to the "Crime Ponies" – Wild Horses of Assateague>