Rolph the Butcher

With everyone back on the ship, we talked about our plans for the night. Our choices were either to get room and board at an Inn in town or sleep on the boat. Both options were dangerous and could mean an attack in the middle of the night, so we decided on the one that spent less coin.

This time, we were careful to set up watches during the night and take shifts sleeping. Miraculously, the night passed uneventfully. Maybe our luck had changed.

After breaking our fast, we made our plans for the next few days before Keely would have to return for her meeting with the slaver. Though we had had an uneventful evening last night, we didn’t want to take our chances with facing another attack that might damage the Fool’s Errant … or hurt us. Instead, we decided to send the ship out into the open waters with instructions to return to port in three days. The Admiral left us at the docks and we set out for the road out of town. Little did we know till it was too late that Gar had overslept and went out to sea with the Fool’s Errant. Our band of six was down to five.

I was all for staying at an inn up the road, but everyone else thought that would put us too far out of town and too far removed to watch the traffic on the main road.

They had a good point. Our only option, it seemed, was to camp. Poo! I had just gotten used to sleeping in a bed, and it looked like I’d be sleeping with a thin blanket on a pile of dirt yet again. Praxis still refused to share his nice, comfy bedroll with me even though there was plenty of room for the both of us. What are friends for if not sharing each others’ comfy beds?

Anyhow, we set up camp several feet away from the road, just behind a large outcropping of rocks and a few trees. In what was becoming a healthy habit, we set up shifts for sleeping and shifts for watching the road. Keely and Dorn took the first watch that night, with Praxis and I on the second watch. Without Gar, Varis would have to take the last watch alone.

Keely woke me for my shift, and I went to my post behind a large rock. I was to watch the road while Praxis watched the camp and our backs. I was singing songs—in my head of course, I’d been warned many times about the necessity of silence—when I heard the crunch of booted feet on gravel.

I yanked hard on the branches of the tree where Varis was sleeping. Praxis was at the other end of camp and too far away to get his attention.

“Who are you and what are you doing out here all by yourself?” a gruff voice asked in a taunting tone. His face was obscured in darkness, but I could see his hulking frame in silhouette. He stood nearly seven feet tall and held himself with confidence.

“I’m not by myself. My friends and I are camping.” I did my best to sound unperturbed by him.

He chuckled darkly. “I’m Rolph.”

Praxis had come up beside me now, and I felt a little better knowing he was there. “That’s nice, but don’t take a step closer or ... or I’ll shoot.”

Instead, Rolph took a side-step. Behind me I heard a bird call out, only it wasn’t a bird at all. Rolph had friends, and they had us surrounded.

I let an arrow fly, but it flew wide of Rolph, who immediately lunged at Praxis. Praxis, thankfully, managed to get a shot off, which I hoped would wake the rest of our friends.

“Keely, Dorn, Jimmy Bob, Collin, Varis, Tom, Bertha, Bjorn, Helga, Greggor, Gladys, Fern, and Purdy … wake up,” I yelled, hoping to lead our attackers to think they were outnumbered. I took a chance to look behind me to see that each of our tents were surrounded. This didn’t look good''. I knew we should have stayed at the inn!''

Rolph had Praxis in his massive arms and Keely and Dorn were scrambling out of their tent, avoiding the men around it and coming to our aid. Varis, who I hoped was awake, jumped—or fell—out of the tree right on top of one of Rolph’s men. Things had fallen into complete chaos.

Rolph’s men worked well together to slow us down and pin us in. Daggers and arrows and swords flew in every direction, some making their mark, other missing. Praxis, for now, was taking the brunt of the attacks. I had to help him out, only I couldn’t move. Keely and Dorn were working well as a team, and Varis seemed to have the upper hand on his opponent … for now but things seemed to be going south quickly. There were just so many of them. At one point, Varis was grabbed and about half dead. It was either kill or be killed. Luckily, it was the other guy to go, not him.

“Don’t kill all of them,” I kept yelling, but one by one, our enemies went down. By the time the fight was over, two had run off and the rest were bleeding all over our camp.

We searched the bodies to see who they were and why they attacked us. The various wanted posters of “Rolph the Butcher” told us they were wanted highway men; a group of bandits. The wanted posters also told us there was a bounty for Rolph, dead or alive.

We spent the next thirty minutes arguing over whether or not to bring all of Rolph, just his head, or some personal belongings to prove his identity. In the end, it was decided that Keely and Dorn would take Rolph’s head to town in the morning to collect the bounty.

Praxis buried the bodies while Varis kept watch. Keely, Dorn, and I went to cleaning ourselves up before returning to bed. I knelt by the stream to splash some water on my face and cool the back of my neck. Blood had splattered on the cuffs

on my sleeves so I did my best to rinse them out before they stained. While I was at my work, Keely and Dorn came up to the stream and started to disrobe—right out there in the open! Hastily, I finished my work and went back to my tent, though the noises they were making made it fairly difficult to sleep. I felt like I was back on the Free Country again, which didn’t bring back happy memories. Thankfully, Keely and Dorn were gone before I came out of my tent the next morning, which saved me—and hopefully them—some embarrassment.

Praxis was taking a little nap, and who could blame him—he had buried all those bodies by himself. I went to relieve Varis of his watch and together we waited for Keely and Dorn to return.

They returned in time for a late lunch, and we continued to take our daily and nightly shifts. The next night passed without incident, which meant it was the morning of Keely’s meeting. We hadn’t seen any suspicious caravans or any travelers that looked like they could be harboring slaves. For now, we doubled our eyes on the road. Our plan was to free the slaves here before they reached the inn. Keely didn't want to go to the Inn by herself to complete the transaction, and I think we all agreed that would be too risky.

So, all that was left to do was wait. I was sitting on top of the large rock watching the road, when I saw a group of guards coming toward us. I looked up the road a ways, but it was empty and they clearly had their eyes on our camp. Oh no! This did not look good!

~Zaly

Month of Nymm, 68 AGF
18th – Rolfe the Butcher spotted several miles east of town heading north.

20th – Domestic dispute at the Baker’s place, third time this month.

21st – Report of a couple fornicating on a rock along the roadside a few miles to the north.

21st – Jenkins caught sleeping on duty. Second violation.

22nd – Attack on caravan just south of Midway Inn, The Butcher suspected.

23rd – Merchant complained about a group camped along the road to Xalyon’s Crest. Said they were watching travelers.

24th – Drunken man assaulted by woman’s jealous husband. No charges filed.

24th – Raided Quinn’s Counting house based on anonymous tip of stolen goods from last month (see Dravago Log.) Nothing found.

25th – Strange couple brought in the head of Rolfe the Butcher and claimed the bounty. Names recorded as Keely and Dorn.

26th – Four new claims from merchants & travelers about the group still camped along the north road. Group seemed to be particularly interested in wagon contents. Suspicious group described as a large muscled man, two small women, a child, and an elf. All are well armed, and blood was spotted on the road. Patrol dispatched to investigate.

27th – Patrol returned without incident. Group claimed to be waiting on a friend, and were instructed to move along and seek out a nearby inn. Two of them claimed they were the ones who collected The Butcher’s bounty. If there are any more complaints of the same group, we will respond with force.

27th – Additional security requested along east Main St. for suspicious persons in the area.

29th – Alwyn Glustin arrested for back taxes, being held in cell 14.

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