Gloucester Chronicles: part three

The unofficial record of the gang's activities

Winter 1150 AD

Things aren't going so great for the gang now, the Fells have been fighting back something terrible. It'd be alright but it seems that any counter-attack Maelgwyn tries fails. It's as though someone is telling them everything he's planning before it happens. Even tried and trusted tactics like changing safehouses and having Tostig beat suspected snitches to death just aren't working. So when Maelgwyn and his inner circle meet in a backroom at the 'Boiled Dog' the situation is grim. The gang only controls a third of the city now and there are well-armed men with Bristol accents all over town. The lads are discussing matters when Tostig hears a strange hissing noise coming from in the fire. Everyone shuts up to listen and it turns out there's a voice coming from the fire. Then the candles start to flicker and a mansize shadow comes out of the flames. It's pretty obvious to everyone that this is something sent by the Fells and the creature says it has a message for Maelgwyn. Maelgwyn wisely decides he doesn't want to talk to any shadows and tells everyone to get out sharpish. But when Tostig tries to open the door the doorknob turns so cold it burns the skin off his hand. The shadow then tries again to tell Maelgwyn the message but Tostig kicks the door down and the gang scarper into the main room of the tavern. Edwin sensing another set-up has a quick look round the room and sure enough, there are four strangers, with armour showing underneath their clothes and weapons under the table. Maelgwyn decides maybe he'd better find out what the message is after all and so he volunteers Tolwyn to go in and find out. Tolwyn isn't too happy about this but he figures talking to a shadow will probably hurt less than refusing Maelgwyn so in he goes. The message is simple, "Join us or die. You have until tomorrow night to decide." Just to emphasise the point as the gang are making a hasty retreat up the stairs they're surrounded by the strange men and more on the first floor. A loaded crossbow ensures that there are no heroics and the Fells hammer home the point that they can get the gang whenever they want. Fortunately they seem keen to give Maelgwyn time to decide and they leave.

Obviously the Boiled Dog's no good for meets anymore so the lads go to an empty warehouse Edwin knows down in the docks to discuss what's to be done. Maelgwyn figures that with all these shadow men and talking fires he needs some help from someone who knows about supernatural stuff so he tells Gregory and Edmund to go and find Theo at the Briavel village. There's talk of plague in Blackney where they met before. As an afterthought he sends John the arsonist to go and burn down the Boiled Dog. Even if the landlord, old Mick, wasn't the one who ratted them out, the ale in there was shit anyway so it's no loss. Edwin goes off to speak to some guys he knows in the watch to tip them off about all these armed men from Bristol who are appearing all over the city. If he can persuade the watch that there's some plot against the Earl they might start to take action.

Now although it's still very late at night Gregory is a convincing fellow when he needs to be and he persuades a bargeman to take him and Edmund down the river. They come across a new-looking wooden jetty half an hour upstream of Blackney and decide to get off there and head straight for Briavel. There's a muddy track leading up the hill which they follow and after nearly falling into some small pool in the dark manage to find the settlement. There's a bit of trouble with an arsey Welsh sentry who's manning the walls but eventually get in. Aside from a real stunner of a serving wench there's nothing much to report about the place though. Gregory and Edmund meet up with Theo and tell him the score, though as usual Edmund spills his guts and says more than he should. Theo agrees to come back with them, along with his man, Martin, and so they head back into Gloucester, travelling back on the same barge. Gregory having previously made sure that its owner was only too happy to wait for them.

It's a little after midday when they get back to the warehouse where Maelgwyn and the rest of the gang are waiting. Theo has a quick look around and then decides to go down to the basement. A few hours later he comes back up saying that there was an imp on Maelgwyn's shoulder which he'd killed. No one saw a thing but that's wizards for you. Theo says the imp had been there for months passing everything Maelgwyn said and heard on to the Fells. Figuring that the Fells would know about the warehouse Edwin slopes off to go and arrange for the watch to arrest any Fells coming to storm the place after Maelgwyn's deadline expires. The rest of the lads head off to a new location by the docks. When Edwin gets back he tells us that the guard have caught the four men from the Boiled Dog and they're going to hang tomorrow. With that good news Theo and Martin leave. Theo says he'll be back in the New Year. No one really knows whether he really killed an imp or not but whatever he did, it worked. Within a few weeks Maelgwyn's got things running smooth and easy again and the Fells are on the retreat. Seems the Earl's heard about this "plot" from Bristol and there's been a bit of a crackdown.

Spring 1151

In comes another year and Theo's back as promised. It seems all's not well with the wizards though, they've got a problem they want some help with. Theo's got this picture of a bloke who's been causing them a lot of grief. He's one of these senior Fells or something. Now the gang's not a charity so Maelgwyn drives a hard bargain as they discuss what's to be done next. Eventually they agree on an expedition to this place near Snig's End. The one that was marked with an 'X' on the map the gang found got from the body of the boss Fell last year. The gang's going to get the lion's share of any loot that's buried there and after Maelgwyn reassures 'em that it's not as half as far the jaunt out to the crypt with all them bloody walking dead, the lads are happy to go. All except Edwin that is. He's got some weird thing about trees which no one can quite figure out but no one takes the piss 'cause no one wants to have to spend the rest of their lives wondering if their next drink or meal is going to kill 'em.

So off the gang goes to these woods and get there without any problems or unfortunate bar room fatalities. They start digging around, but what they find ain't treasure, it's sick stuff like a dead baby with a black stone stuck where its heart used to be and a pair of eyes in a box. Then Cuthryn's dog hears some noise off in the woods, sounds like someone's coming so everyone dives into the woods surrounding the clearing where they've been digging. It's a right mixed bunch who turn up and no mistake, a hunchback, two noblewomen, a knight, a woodsman and two peasants. One of the women pulls out a live baby and Maelgwyn decides to attack before they call up anything nasty. He fires his crossbow but some devil magic sends the bolt into Tolwyn's leg. Luckily for Tolwyn it's not too bad and he's still able to charge into the fight. Simon has a bit more luck with his bow and he hits the knight but he's wearing heavy armour and the arrow doesn't stick in. Now though the lads are piling in and Tolwyn gets in a hearty blow on the knight. The bitch with the baby gets chopped, despite trying to parry Cuthryn's blow with the kid. Then Tostig arrives with another of his fearsome tackles and takes the knight clean off his feet and face down into the dirt. Simon gets the hunchback with a well-aimed arrow and Tolwyn moves in to deal with the woodsman as Gregory and Cuthryn sort out the others. There's no sign of Edmund, he's probably still hiding in the bushes shitting himself.

Still it's all going pretty well, though the surviving woman is shouting something weird in Latin which can't be good news. Things then start going downhill as the woodsman beheads Tolwyn with a single sweep of his sword. It's pretty clear he's no ordinary woodsman and there's a nasty green tint to his sword. He goes to stick Tostig who's beating the shit out of the knight on the ground but Tostig sees him coming and rolls the knight over on top of him so the woodsman chops his own mate. The guy is well pissed off now and brings up his sword to do Tostig good and proper but the big man gets a hold of the woodsman's leg and pulls the bastard off balance. Just then to everyone's surprise, Theo, the mild-mannered wizard, comes screaming in and runs the woodsman through. The rest of 'em are easy work after that, except for the woman who's disappeared off into the woods. They go after her but can't find her, save poor Martin, but something horrible happens to him and there's naught but a pile of old bones left when the gang get to him. Seems she somehow struck Theo blind as well, his eyes are all milky white.

Meanwhile back in the clearing it turns out the fighting's not over after all. Tostig and Edmund, who turned up as soon as the fight stopped and the looting started, have had something of a falling out. Unsurprisingly this goes very badly for Edmund. Tostig who's got an nasty look in his eye, even by his standards, is about to stamp on Edmund's throat when Maelgwyn tells him to stop. Luckily for Edmund, Tostig'll still listen to Maelgwyn. Edmund's in a bad way mind, there are precious few people who can handle a fistfight with Tostig, and Edmund's sure as hell not one of them. After picking over the bodies, the loot situation's looking much more promising, there's even a horse, which should fetch a decent amount. So off the gang go, heading back to Gloucester.

The noblewoman witch obviously didn't hang around after legging it and there's a big and well-armed search party led by this witch and some nobleman, with hounds and everything. Its not too long before they pick up the gang's scent and it soon becomes clear the gang aren't going to be able to make it back to Gloucester on foot. Theo starts talking to the animals (well he is a wizard) but doesn't seem to get anywhere so he says something else in Latin and suddenly Cuthryn can see in the dark. Cuthryn leads everyone down in a procession to the river. It's too wide to ford so Maelgwyn sends Cuthryn ahead to Ashleworth where he smooth talks a boatman into coming and picking them up. The barge can't go too close to the bank without running aground so people have to swim a short ways out to it, holding onto a rope and haul 'emselves aboard. Two of the party clearly aren't going to manage this though. The horse is a big loss, Edmund less so. He's still messed up from the beating he took from Tostig so Maelgwyn has Simon cut his throat so he can't rat the gang out. Happily the lads make it back to Gloucester without further incident and set about spending some of their hard-earned loot.