Gloucester Chronicles: part four

The unofficial record of the gang's activities

1152 AD

So now it's 1152 and all's goin' great for the gang. Maelgyn controls most if not all of Gloucester, the Watch turn a blind eye to all his dealings and he's even got spies inside the Earl's castle. But the boss man himself ain't happy, seems he can't sleep very well, he keeps on having these strange nightmares. The eerie green-tinged sword he picked up off that diabolic woodsman a while back seems to provide him with a bit of comfort though so it can't be that bad can it? Anyway, it turns out that ain't the only fly in his pintpot at present. Word is that there are two assassins from Bristol who've come to Gloucester to off him. Any doubts about their presence are removed when Jake the Blade, who ran the gang's operations in the Eastern quarter of the city, is found disemboweled, with his throat cut for good measure. Unsurprisingly, Maelgyn's now a little nervy about security and so he always makes sure he's got Tostig and at least one of his other trusted heavies with him. A couple of night after Jake met his untimely end, Maelgyn, Tostig and Cuthryn are walking back from a meeting in the far side of town, when they spot an archer above on the rooftops. The lads don't wait to find out if he's after them or not, they turn and leg it. The assassin almost gets a bead on Maelgyn, but Tostig manages to drag him out of the way and the arrow glances harmlessly off the cobbles. They split down an alley, losing touch with Cuthryn as they do, and race through the dark side streets, anxious to get back to a safehouse. Seems this killer's no slouch though and as they round a corner he drops down onto the road ahead of them, drawing two evil lookin' blades as he does so. Maelgyn knows this just ain't the time for heroics and about turns and heads back the way they've come, Tostig's a little less reluctant to pass up on a fight but he listens to the boss's instruction to follow him. Anyway the sudden appearance of the assassin is just the spur they need and they speed across town as though the devil 'imself were after them, which ain't that far from the truth, and our boys make it to the Dancing Bear, knackered but unscathed.

After that fright, Edwin pops out to try and dig out some dirt about these assassins. Talking to a few of his contacts, he finds Tom, a 12 year old lad who's been bragging about how there's going to be a change of leadership in the gang. Edwin gets a couple of the gang to ask young Tom to come over for an informal chat and naturally he's only too happy to co-operate, given what'll happen if he doesn't. As well as confirmin' that there are two assassins in town who've come to take out Maelgwyn, it turns out that there's another bloke from Bristol here, who's been asking about how the Fells are getting on in Gloucester. A queer looking guy by all accounts, with a glassy stare and a strange air about him, he's got to be one of 'em himself. The description sounds somehow familiar, but Maelgwyn can't quite put his finger on why. This man got Tom to check out what was going on and report back to him, via some rope salesman called Simon, who Tostig recognizes as having a stall near the market tavern. After declining Tostig's kind offer to go and beat Simon to a bloody pulp, Maelgwyn sorts out a plan to get hold of this Simon and get an insight into what the Fells are up to. First off, after disposing of the luckless Tom, he has his mate Martin brought in and interrogated as well. Edwin tries out his new trick of cutting off a kneecap and Martin squeals like a stuck pig. There's not much more to add though, save that this bloke from Bristol is called Frederick.

So Maelwgyn sets his plan in motion, though his nightmares are getting' worse and he's barely getting' any sleep at all. Still that strange sword seems to take the edge off it all. Word is, that when he's in town for the market, Simon stays at the Red Lion inn, a fairly respectable merchant-type place. The stable lad there has helped out in the past and he's happy to tell Maelgwyn what's goin' on inside, which room is Simon's, what his habits are and the like. The plan is for Tostig and another heavy to hide in Simon's room, grab him when he comes in, subdue him and then chuck him out the window on onto a cart where Cuthryn's waitin'. It's all set up nice, but goes a bit amiss. Tostig does the grabbin' and droppin' out the window bits just fine, but he gets a bit carried away with the subduing bit and it's all Cuthryn can do to keep the guy alive. His face is shattered and there's blood everywhere. Cuthryn works wonders in gettin' the guy stabilized enough and movin'. There's a bit of discussion between Tostig and Cuthryn as to whose fault it is, Tostig being Tostig, ain't takin' the blame though and no one's especially keen to push the point. Anyway Maelgwyn's not best chuffed to find out that his first potential informant may never speak again, even if he makes it through the night.

In the midst of all this, Theo turns up with some well tasty bird called Diana, who it seems is another one of these wizards. After all that's gone on lately, Maelgwyn's pretty cautious so he just speaks to Theo alone at first. Theo claims that the green-tinged sword is really bad news for Maelgwyn. He says that to his "sight of the otherworld" it looks like it's made of black, cold flame. Now Maelgwyn's not daft, he knows there's something fishy about it, but all the same, it's got a powerful hold on him and he makes Theo swear, on pain of death, that he won't try and nick it if he brings it out. Theo agrees and Maelgwyn fetches it. Theo stares at it in that funny way of his, then looks carefully at Maelgwyn and finally in the corners of the room. After all this, he looks a bit worried and tells Maelgwyn that he's got shadows over his eyes, otherworld type shadows that is, not real ones. This apparently means that the sword has twisted his perceptions somehow. It seems a bit weird to the rest of the lads in the room, but Maelgwyn thinks he tellin' the truth so he dismisses Theo and calls in Diana who Theo says is an expert on these things, even though she's a woman.

Diana studies the blade and says it's a binding piece for a demon and a danger to whoever wields it. She has it covered up sharpish an' all, in case anything bad's usin' it to listen in to what's being said. Then she asks if Maelgwyn can give up the blade and explains that just throwin' the damn thing away won't do no good anymore. This demon's seen him now and while she can't destroy it 'erself, she knows some older wizards who can. These here wizards won't come down to the city to help out though, she'll have to take the sword to them. Although he understands her warning, Maelgwyn's loathe to just give it away, after all they had to fight damn hard to get the bloody thing, just ask poor Tolwyn. After a bit of haggling, Diana agrees that in return for the sword, she and Theo will help Maelgwyn find where these two assassins are hidin' out. She'll also get the information that Maelgwyn wants out of Simon. Whatever magic or otherwise she does, it must be effective, as after an hour alone with Simon, she comes out and tells the gang a whole lot of useful stuff which he knew.

The "rope merchant" is a fairly senior member of the Fells and has a lot of contacts in Berkeley, Stone and Chepstow, including this Frederick bloke, who's a "disciple" in Bristol, which is real senior apparently. She even conjures a picture of Frederick's face right out of thin air so the boys can see what the bastard looks like. The reason for all this aggro of late is that the Fells are worried about the loss of their spies in Gloucester and how well Maelgwyn's been doin'. Some of the shit also relates back to Maelgwyn's dead brother Alfred and that treasure he was lookin' for. The Fells are lookin' for more artifacts and they reckon there are some more of 'em in Gloucester somewhere, which is probably why they're getting' so het up about all their spies getting' chopped. Now Maelgyn's an honourable man when all's said and done, so after Diana promises to go off and find out where these assassins are hidin' he gives her the sword.

Three days later, Diana appears again and says she's found three Fell safehouses, one of which, situated in a quiet part of the Northern quarter, has some sort of otherworld shadow about it so chances are that's where these killers are. If they're as corrupt as she thinks they are, just the merest touch of sunlight will burn 'em so they'll be inside during the day. This is too good an opportunity for the boss man to pass up and he's got a plan straight away. First off, he has a word with the Watch, who know their place now and agree to keep away from the area around the house and even give him a few uniforms so's some of the lads can pretend to be members of the Watch themselves.

The plan is simple, burn the house down to the ground and kill anyone who comes out. So Maelgwyn gets a big crowd of his boys together and sets them in place to cut off all possible escape routes. When they're ready, John the arsonist pours oil under the front door and then a couple of good lads help him through the window. Inside, quiet as a mouse, he sneaks round soakin' the walls and furnishings with oil until it's good and ready to go up like a bonfire. Sure enough, when he chucks in a torch it goes up a treat. So everyone pulls back to a safe distance and waits. Although the house burns real good, there's no sign of anyone comin' out and a crowd is startin' to gather nearby to see what's goin' on. Tostig who's keepin' 'em back isn't being very convincing as a watchman, his criminal brand can't be helpin' mind, nor can the fact he's rapidly losin' his rag and has already smashed one guy's face in. Just then, when it seems impossible that anyone could still make it out alive, a figure wrapped in a big black cloak comes runnin' out the front door. Simon, the gang's resident marksman, puts an arrow in him before he's even got out the front yard, but it looks like the bloke is wearing chainmail and he keeps on goin'. Edwin jumps down off the roof where he's been watchin' the proceedings and surprises the man in black. There's a bit of a scuffle, but Edwin knows what he's doin' in a knife fight and manages to slash the assassin's neck with a poisoned blade. Diana's words about these guys being something unnatural are starting to ring true now and despite this the assassin is still goin' strong and the bastard easily runs through Harry, one of the lads who tries to stop him. He's reckoned without Simon though. While he's been fighting Edwin and poor Harry, Simon's got himself in position for another shot. He don't miss neither and armoured or not, this shot brings the assassin to his knees. A third drops him face down in the dirt and he ain't even twitchin' after the fourth.

At about this time, the second assassin makes a break for it along the rooftops. Simon spots 'im and has a pop, but he's a ways off and is movin' quickly. Even so it's close enough to give him a fright and force him down off the roof and onto the street. By chance he lands near where Maelgwyn and some of the other lads are waitin'. Maelgwyn shoots at him with his crossbow but this guy's too quick and crafty and the bolt flies wide. He makes as if to leg it, but then recognizes who it is who's shot at him and he draws two evil lookin' swords and comes a chargin' down the street towards Maelgwyn. Luckily for Maeglwyn, Lucky Dave steps in front of his boss to protect him. Whether the Fell is surprised by this show of loyalty or Dave just gets lucky again is impossible to tell, but in any event Dave catches the assassin by surprise and takes off a large bit of his scalp with his shortsword. The blow clearly shakes up the assassin and his counterattack goes well wide, so wide that he slips and stumbles. It just keeps on gettin' worse for him as well. He's gettin' to his feet to murder the man between him and his target, when Tostig arrives like a charging bull and hits the assassin with one of his infamous tackles. Before he can react, Tostig's got him in a headlock and twists his head right round so it's facing behind him, with a surprised look on his face. Job done.

With the would-be killers dead, Maelgwyn gives the signal and the gang slip off back into the shadows leavin' the locals and the Watch to clear things up. The boss is feelin' much better about life now. The bad dreams have stopped and the Fell assassins ain't gonna be assassinatin' anyone no more, so he throws an almighty piss-up at the 'Sly Fox' inn to celebrate. There's bound to be trouble when some of the lads drink too much, but why should Maelgwyn worry about that? The Earl might have his castle and his title, but Maelgwyn knows who really runs Gloucester now.