Seeing the serfs arrive with the goods he had requested, Senani spoke again, this time with a bit more confidence. "I doubt you have heard, but the peasants have revolted. They are venturing with me, though I do not yet know where. Gather your things, help me get these good to our new home, and we will make a new life together."
The serfs were dumbfounded, as they were not used to being addressed as people. Many accepted the offer. Those that did were met with scowls from the nobles and their serf brethren alike.
Senani, the bandits, and his new guards surrounded the newly acquired goods as best they could as they moved back to the edge of town to meet up with the others.
One of the bandits, the aptly named Mercutio moved toward Senani and suggested that they return to the bandit encampment.
Senani considered his options as he led the group toward House Soth.
Senani left the group outside the manor and proceeded inside. He then informed his father of the events that had unfolded. As he spoke, Senani could see the utter disgust in his father's face. His father's disgust deepened as Senani described his friendship with Luna, and quickly morphed into one of sheer terror when he described the events with the Hukrat.
As Senani finished, his father drew his sword and swung toward Senani.
Senani drew his own sword and parried the blow. Senani had become a fine swordsman under the tutelage of House Olear's masters.
His father to the contrary had never taken to any of his studies. He envied the wealth and prosperity of his cousins, and sought only to please them, never taking his own studies seriously.
Senani tried to reason with his father as he parried one attack after another.
Eventually his father screamed as he burst into tears and continued to attack.
"The Hukrat will take you just like they took your mother. I let them sacrifice her, but Ill sacrifice you myself."
Senani's father then lunged toward him with the full force of his strength and body weight.
Senani easily side stepped the attack, as he reversed his sword and plunged it through his father's heart.
As his father's body hit the floor Senani felt an extreme sense of remorse. He had not desired to kill his father, yet his father admitted to sacrificing his mother, and tried to kill him. What choice did he have?
Senani removed his father's sword belt and added it upon his own waist opposite his own sword. It had been handed down throughout all the generations of House Soth. Senani couldn't bare the thought of it ending up in the hands of House Olear.
Senani gathered the decorative shields bearing the House Soth crest that were scattered throughout the manor, along what little food stores, weapons and armor remained and added them to the supplies within the carts. The kite shield from the mantle, he placed upon his own back. It too had been passed from generation to generation. Senani would be the first in many generations that would utilize it for actual battle.
As he rode away, Senani cast one last glance toward his childhood home. He then ordered the guards to light torches and burn it down.
No one would reside in House Soth.
Senani turned and followed Mercutio. Thoroughly realizing that after the day's events life would never be the same.
Mercutio led the group for 2 days before he approached the mouth of a cave and entered inside.
Senani sighed and followed behind. Utterly dreading the thought of living in a cave.
As he entered his perception changed.
Senani found himself within a bowl surrounded by rock walls. The cave entrance was where a gate had once stood guard over the contents of this bowl.
Inside were rundown buildings all-around of every shape and size. In their center resides the remnants of a massive castle.
As the others entered and Senani explored the area, Mercutio explained the situation to the other bandits present.
With the supplies Senani had brought in and the number of people he had, the other bandits thought it wise not to debate leadership at this juncture.
Senani requested that all within the cave begin to clean up the area while he and the leaders each group chose met to discuss the future.
Senani, Luna, Maximus, and Mercutio met together as representatives of each group of people to discuss strategy and how they would survive the winter that would soon be upon them.
The group agreed they had four main priorities.
· Increase their martial power.
· Ensure the food stores would last.
· Ensure the town existed in a live able and warm state, otherwise they would freeze to death over the course of the winter.
· Increasing the defensive abilities of the town.
Each portion had many options of methodology to utilize, and the group openly discussed many over the following days.
As to increasing their martial prowess:
· The bandits suggested attacking the nobles or strongholds of the church. They could easily loot many weapons and armor from them as well as food stores for winter. This would of course further alienate both groups and create more conflict with them in the future.
· The bandits also acknowledged that there were mines deep underneath the castle that still contained large machinery. But none present knew how to revive it. If they were able to, they could potentially sell the minerals to purchase food and weapons.
· Maximus suggested that he be allowed to repair the training grounds adjacent to the castle and begin to train those that were willing in the art of combat.
· Luna felt they would be better served hiding until this died down. She did not wish to see direct confrontation again.
Senani found himself forced to make a quick decision, as the church would be looking for them. Yet he did not wish to further alienate the nobles. Thus far he had accepted tribute, and gained a few guards from them, nothing that could not be forgiven. If he were to begin attacking the noble houses, this would quickly change.
On the other hand, his relations with the church were already horrible. Though they were by far the stronger opponent, he felt he had little to risk.
Ultimately, Senani decided to begin looking for opportunities to attack the priests of the church and loot their strongholds. This would enable them to gain weapons, armor, food stores, mounts, carts, and reduce the strength of their enemies. He would also send a crew to aid Maximus in rebuilding the training grounds. This would be top priority, as the bandits and guards needed to be in tip top shape if they were to attack the church.
Luna strongly disagreed with this decision, stating that if they were to attack the church, the church would simply demand more offerings from the peasants, many of which couldn't afford to pay the current offerings and taxes.
As to the other issues, all would require some form of funding. Senani had already prioritized the training ground. Next would be the houses around the settlement.
To achieve this, he spoke to Luna in private. She would go with Mercutio and attempt to purchase lumber from the lumbermill nearby and to see if she could hire any skilled laborers. They had acquired 1,000 gold, 200 silver, and 500 coppers from the raid on the merchants and the donation the nobles had made. This would purchase a great many of the items needed for rebuilding.
To this, Luna politely requested that she and some of the other peasants be allowed to venture into the nearby villages, to become Senani's eyes and ears in the outside world. As they were peasants, few would notice them and they could gather intel on nearby movements, as peasants typically loved to gossip.
Senani agreed to allow others to do this task, but Luna he would need back here. She represented the peasants and serfs in the newly formed council and could not be spared long term.
Luna agreed and left to perform her task.
Senani next went with Maximus to evaluate the food stores. Maximus had led men into battle, he knew what was required in ensuring proper rations, as well as how to store them for a moving army.
Maximus found himself disappointed in the state of some of the buildings. There was no proper storage area for the food stuffs. Without proper storage and placement, their food would last merely a month. After that point, it would either be consumed or rotten.
While disappointing, this still meant that the group had a month to secure more food and improve the quality of the food storage. Senani supposed this improvement may have to occur even before the training ground.
In seeing Maximus's expertise at fortifications and supplies, Senani requested his aid in evaluating the structures within the compound.
The duo carefully went from building to building, mapping, and documenting the repairs that would need to be made for the buildings that were salvageable and placing an x across those that would need to be torn down and rebuilt.
The examinations were exhausting, but by the end, it was evident that most of the buildings could be repaired. Those that could not, would be able to supply some resources to be used in repairs of those that could.
While Maximus's crew continued to clear the training grounds, Maximus began to organize the repairs of the homes. He ensured Senani that having the people settled would do much to improve morale.
Senani could clearly see Maximus's expertise in this area, so he gratefully left him in charge as he moved to examine the weapons and armor that had been brought in, as well as that the bandits had possessed.
Senani carefully examined each piece, carefully noting the quality of each weapon and piece of armor as he cycled through them.
The finest shields were the ones that bore the crest of House Soth, while the finest armor came from the church guards. The weapons were all comparable with the exception being the bandit's original gear. The hide armor they possessed were far inferior to those they had looted. The weapons were also of a far lesser craftsmanship.
With Senani now content that the church's weaponry and armor would suffice, he carefully crawled over the debris that lay all around and made his way into the remnants of the castle as this was the only building that he and Maximus had neglected to inspect.
As Senani crawled over the debris, he found himself rather surprised to see that most of the inside remained in relatively good shape.
Many of the rooms even had proper furniture, that was not only of a higher quality but in a better state than that of the furniture that had been within House Soth.
Senani found himself smiling as he began to look for bedrooms within the castle proper.
After discovering an entire section near the kitchen dedicated solely to bedrooms for the castle's servants, Senani stopped counting and began examining the kitchen itself.
It appeared to be in working order, yet everything within required the ability to make use of one machine or another. It seemed to be nothing they could use at first glance.
As Senani continued to examine, he found a door leading to the storehouse and cellars. Senani smiled as he realized that they were kept in fair working order. Perhaps their food storage issues would be resolved far sooner than he had thought….
Senani had become elated as he ran back out to meet with Maximus.
Maximus placed a single finger over Senani's mouth, beckoning him to silence as they strode toward the palace.
As the duo entered, Maximus allowed Senani to tell of all the wonderful things he had found and how they would not suffer through the winter.
Maximus's expression grew rather grave as he responded. "Senani this is no ordinary castle as I am sure you have realized by now. It belonged to one of the archwizards of olden times. Those machines, the kitchen, even the fireplaces operate by magic.
If you bring the peasants in here, they will think it cursed, and may attempt to flee back into the wilderness. The bandits explored here; the debris piled out front is from them. When they initially explored this castle, they found automatons stored within the armory.
Without the ability to disable or control them, they instead piled up as much as they could to prevent them from exiting. They then used the buildings that were somewhat suitable outside, as the castle itself was deemed to be cursed.
If you don't know magic, or at least know how to control those automatons then I fear the castle will be completely useless."
Senani had not fully considered the machinery, though now he cursed himself for a fool. Of course, the bandits would have gone to the castle first. If anything of value resided here, it would be in there.
Maximus slowly climbed through the debris to return to his duties.
Senani remained within the castle, pondering how to make use of it.
Luna soon returned with stone and wood and a few craftsmen that specialized in both.
She immediately sought out Senani, finding him still within the castle.
"I brought the supplies you asked for and 5 wood and 5 stone craftsmen. It cost us all our gold and half our copper, but after seeing the state of the villages, I agree that it is worth it to repair swiftly. Many things have happened since we fled the village.
· House Olear has placed a bounty on your head of 5,000 gold coins.
· The church initiated a culling in every city nearby. Easily a quarter of their populations were slain by those ghastly machines, and yet they continue.
· Rumors of peasants finding a sunken school of wizardry nearby and it becoming accessible have emerged, while this occurs regularly and none have truly been verified, it may be worth investigating.
· The church stronghold of Venetia is without a Hukrat as Thelonious has yet to be replaced. It has also been further weakened as many of its guards are still within the villages and towns nearby.
· The merchant guild is currently increasing the price on weaponry and armor. The church has most of their supplies under contract. This is pissing off many of the noble houses, this could be an opportunity to create some good will if we are able to find a way to supply the nobles with weaponry.
· The nobles fear an attack from the church may occur soon. They are unsure who else the church may be going to war with. There is currently a great state of unrest among many of the noble houses.
· Many enemies of the church are seeking you out. None have yet to find your whereabouts. There could be potential for allies there
I can't help but feel sorry for the peasants in every town. My kind are suffering, we have to find a way to aid them."
Senani found himself at a loss. He now had a castle he couldn't use. Hundreds of people that could not fight and were depending on him to house and feed them, and many more in need, yet his storehouse was failing, and his food stores would hardly last a month at their current state.
With winter a mere month away, he could not afford to take on more mouths. At present, he was not sure how they would manage to survive the winter.
Senani began to prioritize the information Luna provided. With a bounty, it would be risky to be seen in public in his armor.
The stronghold and Venetia would be a rather enticing target as there would be a significant amount of food there, yet this meant less than it should with the current state of his food storage. If it is going to spoil anyway, why bother gathering it?
The merchants could be interesting targets, especially if he could hijack a load of weapons or armor going to the church….
The sunken school had the most potential to Senani at present. Perhaps he could find the answer to how to utilize the castle there.
If not, he would bring some of his craftsmen to begin dismantling the buildings. The supplies would be invaluable for helping to repair or replace the buildings they intended to occupy.
Senani again gathered the council to discuss what he desired to do next.
Maximus was the first to offer an opinion. He spoke with great confidence. "I agree with what you say, yet we need more soldiers. Allow me to take the two guards that joined with me and meet with some of those that are looking for us. Between them and a few of the noble houses, I believe I can increase our number of trained soldiers."
Mercutio added his own opinion with much gusto. "We need armor, weapons and food. Not books and robes. We don't need to give any more reasons to hate us than we already have. If you start practicing magic here, it wont just be the church that is out for our blood."
Luna spoke last, and rather hesitantly. "I am truly unsure of what we could gain from this venture you're proposing. I would request that while you're gone, I be allowed to travel back to the village of Edna. They are more prosperous than we were, and they are only 2 days away. I might be able to get more information there."
Senani carefully considered the viewpoints of each member before he offered a conclusion.
He decided to accept Maximus and Luna's requests.
Mercutio would travel with half the bandits, 50 peasants, most of the wagons and mounts, 2 of the stone craftsmen and 3 of the wood craftsmen. They would leave the day after Senani, and initially Senani would travel alone.
With the decision made, Senani saddled a wonderful black gelding he had gotten from the nobles and began his journey to the school.