And we’re back to it…

When last we left our knaves they had just learned the whereabouts of a great treasure and fled town ahead of a nobleman’s wrath. Their plan’s to find a chef who can tell them where the village with the treasure’s located. The party has the village name, but not it’s location. They also know the village was famous for its wine, hence a chef being the one likely to recognize the name.

I gave them three options of chefs and they headed towards the middlemost one. As they set out they gossiped with some farmers and learned some current events.

• Count Chico’s house blew up with Count Chico in it. (The party figured as much.)
• There are soldiers on the road ahead.
• The soldiers could be avoided by going over a hill, but a witch lives on the hill and is not always nice to strangers. Or the party could avoid the soldiers by cutting through a marsh, but that would bring them close to a reclusive family of possible cannibals sausage makers.

(My rule of thumb’s been to give three options at each point, and while they’re not all combat, I try to make them all interesting and eventful. But, yeah, this whole give the party three options, then detail the one they choose thing is my loop for GM prep.)

The party opted to try and bluff their way past the soldiers and continued down the road.

They find a discarded pack near a sign post and Nicolo’s ambush sense starts tingling. The party approaches the pack with caution, and it opens to reveal a marionette with a crossbow. Other crossbow bearing mercenaries appear, including Toad-Faced Larry and his crew. The party tries to bluff, but learns they won’t be able to move farther south anyways because there’s a battle brewing for a toll house a short ways to the south. The marionette recruits them to his force and away they all march with Toad-faced Larry asking why the party wanted to talk to Gwardo Iznardo so bad. The party ignores his questions.

At the tollhouse, they see the Swansickles have mustered their own force, and Nicolo notices Tall Hat among some knights on the opposite side. There’s a small stream and bridge with the toll house across the bridge. The objective of the battle is to claim and hold the toll house.

(I ratcheted up the farcical nature of Renaissance warfare and make the military battles more drunken football matches than actual warfare. At least at first, later things change… but the party doesn’t know how or why yet.)

Battlelines form. A horn blows. The battle begins!

The enemy knights charge. Arrows fly. A band of brawl monks charges the knights. The bridge gets blocked by bodies. Don Hector leaps into the ditch to ford the stream. The dice hate him and he face plants. Ha’Des and Nicolo use their flame throwing abilities to good effect. The knights are routed and flee, Tall Hat with them. Nicolo curses. Don Hector makes it across the river. Ha’Des burns more things and pins down the enemy archers. Don Hector reaches the toll house. Ha’Des sees an opening on the bridge and sprints across. Nicolo takes cover and starts prepping his sleep box. Don Hector and Ha’Des defeat the enemy troops in the house. Nicolo’s box puts a large number of combatants to sleep.

The battle ends. The party’s side has won!

The party decides to spend the night with the mercenaries in the tollhouse. The party also bathes in the river, and I think this was when we developed soap landlordism with Ha’Des (I think) renting their soap to the others.

During the night, the party keeps ignoring Toad-face Larry, but gets more intel about the region.

• An old smuggler’s road crosses the river a few days north, but the woods around it are home to a band of ogres.
• In the south, the witches seem to be having some dispute over whether they should take part in the war.
  The monks and the knights hate each other because the knights took over the monks’ monastery.
• All around San Uzzano the armies are skirmishing, but the party should be able to make San Spotillo (the town with the chef they’re looking for) without a problem.

So, in the morning, that’s exactly what the party decides to do.