Open Chronicles Within the Marsh

[Lia]

Bayou Garramarisma - North End

Lira vomited over the side of the ship. Her fingers clutching tightly at the railings as she watched her own bile splash into the brackish waters of the marsh.

"Kressim, how the hell is a Ranger so bad on water."

A groan escaped her for a moment, hand coming up to rub at her head. It felt like everything was moving...which she supposed it was. The water and the slight nodding waves had a habit of making her queasy. Oddly enough on the ocean she was fine, but on the narrow marsh passages where the water rocked them slowly and almost without feeling it was the worst.

"I patrol the Reach, not the sea." She said as she spat into the water below, her lips thinning slightly as she took in a deep breath and tried to steady herself.

One of the sailors watched her, shaking his head and muttering something that she couldn't hear.

The Lieutenant of the Allirian Rangers shook her head slightly. She had no idea why she was here. The Rangers had always sworn to protect the Reach, not the Bayou. Yet when the Allirian Navy had come to them with talks of pirate ships increasingly using magic she'd had no choice but to follow the orders of her superiors and come investigate.

That was why she was on this sloop now, headed to a small smuggler town in the short breaches of the swamp.

Her head came up as the sloop passed into the village, torches lit even in the middle of the day to cast some form of light through the dank reaches of the swamp. She could see the locals start at them, more than few holding knives or putting hand to hilt of a sword. A frown touched her lips, and she turned to the Captain. "et us to the Dock."

This was going to be hard. These people were not friends to Alliria, and if she were to find the source of these new pirates...she would have to watch her back.

 

[Harrier]

Every town in the North Bayou had a notice - sometimes torn down and trampled and burned and then replaced, sometimes preserved with respect and fear.

CROSSROAD MIRE
LEARN MAGIC
TEACH MAGIC
BUY MAGIC
NO QUESTIONS ASKED

A crude map decorated the parchment: a location deeper in the north end of the Garramarisma, in swamp too treacherous for ships or armies.

If all that wasn't suggestive enough, a skeleton in shreds of pirate regalia was hammering just such a notice into a beam.

In short there was a pretty decent chance that the piratical mages and/or their teacher had, at minimum, visited Crossroad Mire.

Lia

 

[Lia]

"Well then Ranger, where do you think you'll start."

It was the sailor that had made fun of her for puking that spoke, his voice full of jest and taunt. Lia glanced at him for a moment, her head tilting with a frown as she adjusted the straps of her armor and made sure they were fastened tight.

"The people here won't talk to ye, they don't like Rangers anymore than they do the navy. You'll probably be runnin' around all night."

A few chuckles could be heard from the other Sailors.

Lia's frown deepened, and her lips thinned as she looked away from the Sailor and peered towards the village. There on the docks she caught sight of...her jaw dropped. Head shook in slight bewilderment, then she turned to the Sailor. "Think I'll start there."

The Ranger jerked her thumb towards the shambling pirate skeleton.

Instantly the men on the ship fell into a grim silence, their faces contorting in a mixture of fear and...anger perhaps? Lia smiled smugly, stepping onto the dock and walking over to the Skeleton. It shambled away from her, not disturbed by her presence or seemingly anything at all.

Her gaze followed the undead for a second, then fell on the document it had nailed to the beam. She inspected the map, then tore the parchment free.

Maybe this would be easier than she thought.

Harrier

 

[Harrier]

The skeleton's head turned slowly. It had been about to walk away - the skeleton, not the head - but the absence of a flyer on the beam triggered some deep compulsion. It pulled out a second essentially identical flyer, and nailed it beside the place where Lia had torn off the first one. The view through threadbare regalia and naked, muddy bones strongly suggested there was no third flyer. The skeleton put away its hammer in a sagging belt loop. The hammer was a strange thing of rusty, clawed metal and weathered wood dark with ship's tar.

Its errand complete, the skeleton began the long walk back to Crossroad Mire. Whether Lia and her allies considered the skeleton a reliable guide was entirely up to them.

 

[Lia]

Lia watched the skeleton with keen interest.

The Rangers of Alliria were not Templar. As a matter of principal they weren't really for or against any sort of magic. As long as someone, or some thing, was not out to hurt the people of the Reach the Rangers didn't particularly care what it was.

There were in fact rumors of the Rangers themselves having used necromancers and even bloodmages in the past to protect the Reach.

As she watched the Skeleton nail the last of it's flyers to the beam her lips thinned slightly. It turned, not caring a single bit about her or anyone else as it marched off. Briefly the Ranger glanced at the flyer, noting the map headed north. The same direction the Skeleton was going in.

"You and you." She pointed to two of the Allirian Sailors who wore swords, marines she believed. "Come with me."

They hesitated, glancing at their Captain who gave a nod.

Then the trio followed after their new undead guide.

Harrier

 

[Harrier]

Humans are endurance predators by nature. They can outlast all manner of prey. A skeleton takes that quality up to eleven. Its feet can't get blisters or rot, it never rests or eats, and it isn't in the habit of whining when a trail gets rough.

The skeleton paid no attention to Lia and her two companions. It plodded along through the swamp, not especially fast but implacable. It would not pause for their sleep or convenience. It just kept walking.

 

[Lia]

Lia had no problem following along behind the Skeleton.

Part of being a Ranger was crossing large distances without much rest or time to recuperate. Sometimes they got horses, sometimes they just had to walk. Part of their training had been conditioning for long journeys and that reflected in the way Lia moved.

The same could not be said for the two Marines that she had commandeered from the ship. Two hours into their journey and both of them were visibly slowing, their footsteps growing shorter and their chests rising and falling.

"Come on." She motioned to the two men. "It's not much further now."

She had no idea if that was a lie or not, but she figured some words of encouragement may help the two men.

Travel through the swamp was certainly not pleasant, and a few times Lia had thought the Skeleton was leading them off course. Each time though it seemed to adjust itself and walk perfectly in a well worn path she had not seen before.

Oddly enough, she at least trusted the undead to get them where they needed to go.

 

[Harrier]

A half-asleep, heavily compelled soul possesses your average skeletal minion. Deception isn't usually within its skillset unless specifically ordered, and this skeleton had no means of communicating with its creator. It trudged on in a literally straightforward way.

A day and a night's walk brought it to Crossroad Mire. There were no visible sentries or defenses other than the occasional skull protruding from deep marsh.

Morning here felt clammy and cool. Spellmarked candles gave off acrid smoke that kept biting insects away. Harrier Wren sat on the front porch of the main building with her boots on the rail, her chair tilted back, a pipe stem in her mouth, and a large book on her lap.

Lia

 

[Lia]

Lia was tired.

She had followed the skeleton since their walk began, and by now she'd drained her waterskin and loosed some of her armor so that she could actually breath within the mire.

The Marines had been left behind some hours ago, both of them begging her for some sleep and rest. She had told them to catch up later, though in truth there was little faith either of them would even try.

So it was that the Ranger arrived at the Crossroad Mire all on her own.

Her nose turned at the smell of acrid candles mixed with the marsh around her, lips thinning as she recognized buildings within the distant murk. "Hello?"

She called out in the early morning droll.

 

[Harrier]

The call and the skeleton's arrival got Harrier up. She put the book on her chair, where it wriggled slightly, and headed into the morning fog at the village's edge.

"So you walked with the skeleton, did you?" she said as the armored woman came into clearer sight. "You paid a heavy price to come here. Many do, and I can make quite a bit out of that price. My name is Harrier Wren and this is Crossroad Mire. Are you here to learn, teach, buy, or just for the view?"

Lia

 

[Lia]

Lia let out a long breath, sweat on her brow as a woman spoke to her. It took the Ranger a second to find the right porch, but eventually her gaze settled on Harrier. Her lips thinned as she heard the words.

A school.

She supposed that the Flyer had already given it away, but in truth she hadn't exactly thought about it all that much. Lia was a simple person, more a hammer than a tool of finesse. This woman...this place was teaching mages.

It wasn't exactly Elbion though. "A conversation?"

Lia asked as the sudden realization came to her that she might have walked into a situation too dangerous to handle on her own.

"Lia." She quickly offered with a loose gesture to herself, not wanting to be rude.

 

[Harrier]

Lia's generally bedraggled appearance suggested certain urgent needs. Her scuffed but high-end armour, meanwhile, suggested that Harrier take her seriously. At a guess, some lord or mercenary chief had sent her for that conversation. Harrier had been through similar interactions with at least one gang from the Shallows.

"I'm amenable to that," she said. "Not right this second, though. If you go inside, Hagglesnip can set you up with a hammock and a bath. Don't eat the soup - it's especially alive today, too much gristo eel. I'm busy this morning, but I've got my heart set on grilling salt-marsh crayfish at lunch, and you're welcome to join me." She gestured at a firepit close to the docks, just visible through the fog. "Acceptable?"

 

[Lia]

She considered for a moment, looking around the marsh and the ramshackle buildings before she slowly gave a nod. "Aye."

If she had a band of soldiers at her back her acceptance might not have been so quick, but she was in no position to argue for this womans time. Better to just accept hospitality and then try to bring forth her problem.

Perhaps there was a amicable solution to all this.

"Two other men might appear within the day." Lia said quietly. "Allirians Marines."

It was as much a warning as a way to mark them out. "If you could show them the same hospitality I would be grateful."

She didn't want a fight to start before she could talk to this woman properly.

 

[Harrier]

"Allirian Marines." Harrier took a harder look at Lia's armour which, come to think of it, might be Ranger gear. "Official business, then. Well, so long as it's not of the 'get off my hundred-mile-lawn' variety, all of the above offers stand. Go freshen up, dear. You and your men will get no unnecessary trouble from me, and I'll put out the word to leave you be."

She thought of making a joke about sending them back to Alliria as frogs, but this didn't seem the moment.

 

[Lia]

Lia did not comment on what her business was.

In fact, she suddenly felt somewhat out of her depth. This was not a pirate base or something of the sort, this was different. The Ranger frowned a moment, then nodded and did as was asked of her.

As she did so though she began to plot things out in case something went wrong. Fighting would be difficult, and the marsh did not present much of a place to hide. Yet she doubted these folk would be all too receptive of why she was here.

She was no politician, and her skills at negotiation often fell short.

Still, she could make the ask.

 

[Harrier]

Though Crossroad Mire had little in the way of traditional defenses, Harrier had picked the spot for what you might call home ground advantage. Not specifically to flummox Alliria, of course - many of her best customers were Allirian - but more to keep visiting pirates and such in line. And having spent years dodging zealous hunters of various kinds, she had a healthy respect for the possibility that some magical tradition or other, or even the Templars, might come knocking someday.

A couple of hundred people, the odds and ends of the whole region, lived in and around Crossroad Mire at any given time. Some bunked in the main building, or constructed their own shacks, or slept in riverboats by the docks. Harrier had no idea how many could be considered mages or customers or just people who wanted somewhere to keep their head down. Strange beings of a dozen species gave Lia the eye, but Harrier had let the right people know not to cross her.

For Harrier's part, she spent the morning reading indoors, and questioning the half-asleep skeleton that Lia had followed. She satisfied herself that there really had been only two marines, that there wasn't a larger force on the way. If Lia and the marines failed to return to their ship, though, that might conceivably change over the long run.

She also asked around about whether anyone in her general sphere had crossed Alliria lately.

When the lunch hour rolled around, Harrier headed to the firepit and started grilling crayfish.

 

[Lia]

By the time Lia had washed herself and reached a level of looking less atrocious it was already time for the appointed hour.

Some servant, if you could call a shambling skeleton that, had offered her a drink which had taken away some of her exhaustion. At first she'd thought to refuse it, thinking it might be poison, but then reason and logic had on over.

Why poison her?

They could just as easily have overpowered her and slit her throat. The drink had been utterly disgusting, but just a few moments after it's consumption she'd felt better than before.

That was why when she met Harrier at the firepit Lia looked far more awake than she had before. The Armor she had worn earlier had been left behind, a sign of respect, though her sword was still strapped to her back.

Lia couldn't bare to give it up. "Hello."

The Ranger offered on her approach.

 

[Harrier]

There was a good deal of disagreement in Garramarisman circles about the proper way to eat salt-marsh crayfish: boiled in water, boiled in oil or clarified butter like locusts, or grilled. Harrier had been craving the latter. A dozen plump crayfish sat on an iron grate over one side of the fire. As Lia walked up, Harrier plucked the first crayfish off the fire with wooden tongs and twisted off its tail. A touch underdone, but it wouldn't kill her.

"You're looking better, Lia. Please-" She gestured at the grill with the crayfish's head. "-eat up if you like. I rather wish you'd saved your revelation until now. I wouldn't want you to think my hospitality depends on your errand. So. What can I do for Alliria?"

 

[Lia]

Lia wasn't entirely sure how to broach any of this. She had been sent as a blunt instrument, to find out what had been aiding the pirates and then report back so that the Navy could take care of the issue.

Problem was that she suspected that if such things were tried here...it would all get a bit too messy. Alliria had it's own college of magic, and she imagined that the Navy would call on them in order to 'fix' this little problem.

That would get bloody, and eventually the citizens of the Reach would get involved. That was the last thing Lia wanted. "I'm not exactly a representative of Alliria."

She figured being honest might help here.

"I'm a Ranger, I work for the people." Technically the merchant council had no authority over her. "That being said...pirates have been raiding Allirian ships, not unusual, except they have been utilizing magic."

Lia didn't feel the need to state that due to said magic the raids were more successful. "I was sent to see if this...school is the reason for that."

 

[Harrier]

"Probably," said Harrier blandly. "I never gave it much thought considering that Alliria has its own mages, more or less." Exile from the College of Elbion she might be, but to her mind the College was far and away the world's preeminent school of magic, the gold standard. "We're not exactly training pirates en masse around here, obviously. But there's probably one or two within a hundred yards of us who've come to buy, oh, cures for lovers' diseases, cartomantic tools, and yes, maybe to learn some magic that might benefit them in a fight. We don't discriminate. There's no admissions process, nothing remotely that formal; a stranger shows up, asks around, finds someone willing to sell what they want to buy or vice versa."

She peeled and swallowed another crayfish in thought.

"That's not to say I disavow responsibility. We're a touchpoint for the Bayou's own diverse magical traditions and communities; of course they'd grow more prominent, get more attention. One way or another. Tell me, Ranger. How willing would you be to walk away, forget you ever set foot here, if I could get you the information that would let you hunt down the pirate crews in question? Maybe even speed you on your way? As I said when we met, you've paid a high price to come here, and I can use that price for your benefit."

Lia

 

[Lia]

Lia listened to every word as carefully as she possibly could.

Her father was a merchant, and he had always told him that in every negotiation phrasing and wording was as important as what was said. Her lips thinned for a moment as she watched Harrier, her gaze briefly glancing around them.

What came second surprised her a bit.

Generally speaking Pirates themselves would not even sell each other out, but then again Harrier was no pirate and she supposed this school did not train them on purpose. This was a place of learning, far more open than Elbion and even the College back home.

For a moment she had to run the measure of it all in her mind, and then she slowly nodded. "Willing."

Lia answered.

"The Rangers have no problem with this school." As long as it's students did not hurt the Reach anyway. "Just those that threaten the innocent."

Could she make a decision like this? The Majors might be angry with her, but she thought the Captain would approve of her choice. He had always been a pragmatic man, especially when it came to protecting the Reach. "If you can help me find the pirates, then you will have no problems from me or the Rangers."

 

[Harrier]

Harrier chewed happily. "I accept your commitment in good faith and in full understanding that there may be-"

She spat a fragment of shell into the fire.

"-limits to the circumstances under which that commitment can reasonably stand. Foreseeing no such limits anytime soon, let's proceed."

Another crayfish lost its tail.

"I asked around on the assumption that friends of friends might have stirred the pot too hard. I'm not familiar with most of the serious pirate crews, but I can get you in the door with a man who is. Probably."

Lia

 

[Lia]

Lia nodded her head slowly. "Understand, these pirates will not survive long once they are found."

If this deal was going to go ahead she would share the same courtesy as Harrier had shared with her. Lia was not unreasonable, and the bargain they had struck was one that deserved all of it's terms laid out in the open.

Alliria did not deal out prison sentences for Piracy.

Any man who turned to such a trade was sentenced to death. Crew members were hung and Captains were often punished more harshly. Lia did not necessarily agree with torture or execution, but she was not on the Merchant Council.

 

[Harrier]

"No friendly chat with them over crayfish? No, for a pirate, a visit from the Rangers is literally an occupational hazard. They all know precisely what they're getting into."

But they and their friends wouldn't look kindly on Harrier pointing the Allirian Rangers their way. There were plenty of potential consequences.

"A retired navigator lives in that riverboat, the one that used to be green. Khalija Mapmaker, he's called. He's served on half a dozen ships, seen at least a hundred ports - he'll know what you need to know. He won't talk if he knows you're a Ranger. No harm to him, understood?"

Lia

 

[Lia]

Lia thought it a fair deal. As long as the man who pointed her towards the pirates had not harmed anyone else then she did not care about him.

It was as simple as that.

The Rangers were not in the habit of intimidating the innocent, certainly not those who could help. So Lia nodded to Harriers condition. "No harm will come to him."

She repeated as she slowly stood from the seat she had taken.

Without her armor Lia did not look much better than many of the others of this settlement. She had never been one for fancy dress, and the clothing she wore beneath her armor was more rags than silk tunics.c

"Thank you for your help." She said as she adjusted her sword and began to head towards the riverboat.