You needed the money. It's really that simple. One way or another, whether to amass further riches or simply to push away the looming threat of insolvency, the money was too good say no. Ostensibly backed by the House Morado treasury, fliers around the city of Port Swaford promised fame and fortune -- the lavish sum of 200 gold marks per head -- to those willing to join a daring team of professionals willing to take on a dangerous task, details to be given at the customs office in the harbor district. A brusque clerk redirected each of you at some point to a dingy office illuminated by a single candle and a window with a view of a brick wall across an alley so narrow that rats have to squeeze through from one side to the other.

You all met with a feline half-beastman who introduced himself as Stephan, ward of Count Invladimum, motioning to his amethyst brooch while saying so. You were then finally told the details of your task: Along the road from Swaford to the capital, a shipment of highly valuable alchemical products had failed to arrive upon its contracted date. The last time the convoy was sighted was leaving the village of Freyshand, a hamlet only noteworthy for its position as a convenient point for travelers to stop. Stephan arranged for a group of coaches to depart for Freyshand in a few days, to take the team to the village so they can begin their investigation. After a trip that took three nights, on the fourth morning the outbuildings of Freyshand finally came over the horizon. Villagers turn their heads and duck into buildings. Bringing their carriages to a halt just outside the village, the teamsters help the party disembark and retrieve any luggage they may have brought with them. The trip is finally over, but the party's work has only begun.

"Welcome to Freyshand. We've been expecting you." A villager remarks. "Follow me." He leads the team through a small stone gate and into the village itself, where another man is waiting. You must be the Baron's man. We've been expecting you. Please, follow me." He leads you through the village to a large house with a thatched roof and wooden walls.
RedFlag seizes the second man by the collar of his shirt. "Why are you expecting us?" RedFlag asks. "Who told you we were coming?"
"I'm always watching." He remarks, "My name is Kralmer. We've been expecting you because I told the villagers to let me know the minute anyone sets foot in this forsaken place. We need your help, and I've already prepared a feast in your honor. Please, come in and enjoy yourself. The food isn't much, but the company is the best I can do given the circumstances."
Hiragana is starving, fatigued by the long journey from Swaford. "Alright," Hiragana says with apprehension. "We'll have your feast." He follows RedFlag into the building where the feast is being held.

Inside, the walls and ceiling are covered with a woven wall-hanging and a large wooden table sits in the middle of the room. The table is laden with food, drink, and music fills the room. Villagers crowd around the table and bow to the party as they enter. Kralmer leads you to the table where he begins to introduce everybody at the feast.
"This is all of our able-bodied men and women." Kralmer remarks.
Lfyt, the catgirl witch, bounces with excitement as she beholds the heaps of food laid out on the table before her. "Oh, this is our lucky day!" She exclaims.
Kralmer looks confused. "Lucky day? I thought you lot were here to find out what happened to the caravan."
"Of course we are." RedFlag says, throwing a suspicious glance at Lfyt.
"Then it's an even luckier day for us that there's an open banquet laid out before us!" Lfyt remarks, grabbing a turkey drumstick from the table.
Kralmer shakes his head.
RedFlag stops staring at the food for a moment, lifting his head. "Yeah! Caravan, caravan!" He begins, sputtering nervously. "Right, the caravan!" With a nervous chuckle, RedFlag asks "That caravan, yeah, with the thousands of marks of potions! That one. Anyone hear about it?"
Kralmer's eyes dart back and forth. "Um... just rumors..."
Lfyt sighs, tossing the drumstick back onto the table. "If you hadn't noticed," she says, opening her mouth wide to show that it is empty, "we're really fucking hungry right now."
"Yeah!" RedFlag exclaims. "And I'm really fucking worried about the caravan!"
Hiragana sits down and grabs a plate full of meat.
This isn't the first time Hiragana's been given suspect food or drink. The many, countless nights in dens of ill repute leave him with a particularly keen sense of danger, and he uses his natural magical powers to detect if the food has been poisoned. "And I," Hiragana says with a smug grin, "have been expecting this." The plate he holds in his hands hasn't been tampered with.
"Yeah! Me too!" RedFlag adds, grabbing a plate.
"I want to try something," Lfyt says, grabbing a small black cube from her bag. She looks at it carefully, as do you with your peripheral vision. You can't help but think that it looks like one of the teleportation cubes which the svelk used during their invasion.
Lfyt holds the cube up for all to see, and says "Let me tell you, villagers, of an ancient war fought before our time. This is a Svelk magitech cube that enables the wielder to teleport. The Svelk had first used them to invade the kingdom of the goblins. When they were defeated, they left many behind, for they could not retrieve them all."
"Yeah, yeah," RedFlag says between mouthfuls of food. "I've heard this story before."
"The goblins, curious creatures that rely on instinct rather than reason as we do, saw the cubes as objects of worship. Of course, one goblin picked up the cube and...
"Tried to eat the cube!" RedFlag snapped, then took another bite from a leg of smoked turkey. "As all those dumb greenskins do." RedFlag rolls his eyes, waving a dismissive hand at Lfyt. "C'mon, Kralmer. Why don't you tell us what really happened with that caravan? I'll even give you some of my reward for it," he lied.
"The goblins, curious creatures that rely on instinct rather than reason as we do, saw the cubes as objects of worship. Of course, one goblin picked up the cube and..."
The door bursts open. "There you are!" Vic yells, barging in with a young girl around your age holding an old revolver. "Where are the raiders?" he yells at you, immediately looking around the room. "Are they in here?"
Hiragana looks Vic in the eyes, holding his hands up to show he's not a threat. "Hey, now. The raiders are all here. All around us. They're the villagers, you understand? All of them are raiders, and Kralmer," he lays an accusing finger in his direction, "is the leader of all of them!"
"What the fuck, Vic?" Kralmer yells. "Shut the fuck up and put that gun away." He looks at the girl, who puts down her gun and shakes her head with embarrassment.
"These are the guys I was talking about," Vic says to the girl. "The mercenaries and shit." He turns back to you. "Listen, these are the guys that can escort us into the hills in search of our family."
"Hey! You little prick,"
Lfyt begins, putting the teleportation cube begins, putting her magical staff at the ready. "We're just here to find a caravan of stolen goods. We aren't here for your family. If you want to get us looking for your dumb old parents, I'm going to have to ask you to pay for us to work on that quest too."
"We're not here to find our family?" Vic says in confusion. "Then why the hell did you guys come in here?"
"Because you're assholes and deserve to be caught red handed," the shopkeeper says, picking up a blunderbuss from under the counter and aiming it at Vic's face.
You turn around, preparing for a fight.
RedFlag tackles Kralmer, the shopkeep, and attempts to wrench the blunderbuss from his hands. "We were here to find a fucking caravan! What the shit is going on?"
The two struggle over the weapon.
"RedFlag! No!" you yell, as a blast of leaden shot flies from the muzzle and into Vic's chest. Vic is thrown back by the force of the blast, his chest exploding in a burst of blood, bone and flesh.
He lies on the ground, dead.
"You fuckers!"
The sound of a gunshot was enough to rouse Hiragana from his drunken stupor. With frightening speed and remarkable accuracy, he knocks out the young girl with a single well placed uppercut right to her chin. He picks up her revolver and says, while looking Kralmer in the eyes, "Do you even want to find this caravan?"
"Yes! Yes! Please, please! They went that way!" Kralmer points out the direction with a shaky finger. "And they have the alchemy wagon with them!"
"Let's go," you command, heading off into the woods, hoping you're going in the right direction.
"Hey... uh... what about Vic?" Hiragana asks.
"Forget about him," Lfyt says, turning away from Vic's corpse with an uncomfortable shudder. "At least that means the whole convoy is in one piece so we won't have to split up. RedFlag, how far could the thieves have ran away with the wagon since we've came here?"
"We're in luck. They'll probably be resting or having a small party to celebrate their victory," RedFlag says. "Even if they've left the area, I can chase them down with my hound." As if on command, a black canine comes bounding out of the forest and alongside RedFlag. "This is Bladetwig. He's the best hunting hound there is."
RedFlag pets Bladetwig, the dog he definitely never forgot about. "Alright boy, we've got a caravan to find. You know the scent. Yeah, you totally do, whussagudboyyy?" He scratches under Bladetwig's chin, then pats his side. "Go find 'em, we'll be right after you. Don't eat them all." Bladetwig starts running off down the road, and RedFlag and the party follow behind him as fast as they can.
Hours later, the party are now deep in the forest.
Kralmer comes out of the forest and points to a small wayshrine. "That's where they are. I recognize the banner."
RedFlag looks over at you, as if asking for permission to advance, which you give with a nod.
The group slowly approaches the wayshrine, quieting their steps as they do so. They're being awfully cautious about all of this...
Hiragana draws his sword and rises from his crouch, preparing to run towards the shrine. "It's just a few raiders. What are we pussyfooting around for when we can find the thieves now?" With a fell cry, he sprints forward to the raiders' encampment, with his shield raised in case he needs it.
"Hiragana! What the fuck are you doing?!" Kralmer says, looking to you for orders.
"Shut up, Kralmer, we're taking care of this!" Lfyt raises her staff and chants an incantation, focusing her energies upon the caravan as magical energies trace sigils around where she stands, mana arcing at the ends of her staff and crackling with energy. Levitating from the ground, now, she brings her magical staff to bear, and casts a bolt of lightning that leaps from her fingertips and strikes one of the raiders, a large orc, smiting him.
The raider turns to find his doom, but is too slow to avoid the attack. He falls to the ground with a heavy thud, and RedFlag nods in thanks at Lfyt.
Hiragana looks back at you with confusion and surprise. "Boss! What are you doing here?"
"Shh!" RedFlag hisses.
"I'm here for the same thing you are, you idiot!" RedFlag hisses back, taking three arrows from his bow and nocking them against the bowstring, and with intense focus lets them fly toward the raiders. Bladetwig leaps from the shadows and bites down on a raider's arm, bringing him down to the ground and letting out a growl as he struggles to get free.
A raider with a heavy club rises from behind the rock he was hiding behind and swings at Kralmer, who takes the hit and stumbles backwards from the force of the blow.
Hiragana laughs at Kralmer's misfortune, seizing the raider's club aside after Kralmer was struck and running the raider through with his greatsword, the tip of the sword poking through his back before the length of the blade pierces through. He slices through the orc's side, and the raider falls to the ground.
Lfyt focuses and lets out a powerful cry that causes your ears to ring as she casts an even more powerful version of her lightning bolt spell, this one arcing farther than any you've seen before, stopping just short of the party. With a crackle it dissipates, shocking her and causing her to fall to the ground. "Lfyt! Are you alright?"
"Aaaooow, ow, ow, charged a bit too much with that one!" Lfyt rises from up with wobbly knees, propping herself up on her staff. The fur on the tips of her ears and tail are scorched, smoke rising from them. "Did I get 'em all, at least?"
"Yeah, we got 'em. Thanks for the help, Lfyt."
"No problem, Hiragana! You're one of the best wizards I know!" She laughs, and a toothy grin spreads across her face.
The confrontation over, Kralmer and Bladetwig head over to join you and RedFlag at the caravan. Bladetwig's fur is matted with blood and gore, but Kralmer seems somehow... Uninjured.
"How the fuck--" RedFlag begins, nocking back an arrow and holding it level at Kralmer, "--did you know we were here, asshole? No, no, no," he shakes his head, and fixes his suspicious gaze upon Kralmer again. "How the fuck are you still standing after that orc knocked you out? I bet you were in with them!" Kralmer puts his hands up defensively and takes a step back. "You have to understand, RedFlag, that I am a man of many talents."
"Kralmer, I've known you since we were pups, and I'm telling you right now that I don't like what I'm seeing. Turn around, hands in the air, and get on your knees."
"I understand that this may look--"
"Don't make me say it again, Kralmer! On your fucking knees!
Hiragana puts his hand on RedFlag's shoulder and puts his other hand in front of his arrow's tip. "Let's just trust him on this one, RedFlag. We've already found the caravan, let's not take this further than we need to."
"Fine," RedFlag says, gritting his teeth. "I just hope I'm not making a mistake."
You're about to head out, when you see it. The caravan is surrounded by a group of cloaked figures, like the one that was sent to meet you. They approach with their hands held out, showing that they're unarmed.
"What do you want?" RedFlag asks suspiciously, letting his arrow loose so that he's ready to draw another.
Lfyt sniffs at the air, and her cat ears stand on end, fur on her tail fluffing outward from stress. "It's a trap," Lfyt cries, raising her staff and beginning to charge her mana. "I smell magic! It's the villagers, they stole it all!" With a shout in an ancient and powerful tongue, Lfyt lets her energies fly and send bolts of lightning into the crowd of cloaked figures.
"Let's get Kralmer out of here!" RedFlag cries, grabbing his companion by the arm and dragging him towards the horses.
"Don't be so sure," Kralmer says, raising his hands to cast a spell of his own. A shockwave emanates from his body, strong enough to knock you off your feet.
"Fuck, you always were an asshole, Kralmer." Even unarmed, though, RedFlag is still terribly dangerous, and with a whistle to draw Bladetwig close, he shouts, "Get him, boy! It's Kralmer!" Bladetwig lunges from the darkness and tackles Kralmer to the ground, but in an instant, a pulse of shadow energy emanates from his body and Bladetwig collapses. He lets out a pained whimper before he stops moving entirely.
"Bladetwig! You bastard!" RedFlag howls, running at Kralmer with his blade held high. Swinging with all his might, he drives the sword directly into Kralmer's gut, but the cloaked figure doesn't even react.
Hiragana looks around, his motions jerky and irregular from intoxication after having drank innumerable tankards of mead at the feast earlier. The party is outmatched three to one, and the wagons they're near are surrounded by Kralmer and the cloaked figures around him. He dives into one of the wagons and quaffs several handfuls of potions at random. Hiragana then grabs the driver by the neck and dives into the back of the wagon, tossing the driver aside.
"Come on! Come on!"
A flash of lightning, and a deafening thunderclap, and the world goes white.
Your ears are ringing as you crawl out of the smoking wreckage of the wagon. There's a terrible smell in the air, like something has burned to a crisp.
"That kind of discharge!" Lfyt gasps, covering her mouth as she takes a step back. Chaotic bolts of light and dark energy dance around the smoldering wreckage of the wagon that Hiragana dove into, seeking out the evil villagers circling the wagons. "I've never even seen anything like that. It had to be because so much arcane energy was pooled into such a small area. Hiragana? Hiragana? Get up!" Hiragana rubs the back of his head and looks around, dazed, before climbing out from the smoldering wreckage of the wagon.
"Whew! Am I glad I wore no armor today. My skin still feels like its burning!"
Hiragana examines the wreckage, where several charred corpses lie, including that of Stinky Pete.
"What happened here?" RedFlag demands. None of the other mercenaries seem to be in any condition to answer.
"Heavens forefend," RedFlag exclaims. "Gods damn it. I think we got them all." Kralmer lays on the ground, seemingly dead after the villagers were slain by Hiragana's magical explosion. "Let's get out of here. Now, and get the caravan back to Swaford." RedFlag climbs onto the lead horse of the wagon train and waves to Hiragana and Lfyt, leaving the burnt wagon behind. "Rest in peace, Pete."
You're lost without a guide, and without a map, but somehow you make it back to Port Swaford with the rest of mercenaries. Without the magical goods the merchants wanted transported, the mercenaries are paid a lower price for their work, but nobody's going to argue with you now.
The Swaford Snowflake is an inn in the poorer section of town. It's a rundown place with a seedy atmosphere and lots of shady people enter and leave.
Thirty minutes after the expected meeting time, finally, Stefan walks into the inn, sitting at the same table as RedFlag, Hiragana, and Lfyt, his garish nobleman's clothes in stark contrast to the relatively lower class clientele -- party included. "Well, I can't say I can really pay you the full sum," he says. "Some of the cargo was unaccounted for, after all. But, because most of it was recovered, I can promise you that you'll all be getting fifty gold pieces each. Does that sound fair?"
"What happened to Kralmer?" Lfyt asks.
"Kralmer? Oh, the ogre? Um... he's dead, of course."
"How do we know you'll pay up if we take the job?" RedFlag asks. You can tell he's suspicious of the noble, and no one would blame him.
"Listen, I don't like this any more than you do.
"You're only going to pay us if we take a second job? This deal almost stinks as much as Pete did!" Lfyt raises a finger at Stefan. His ears twitch, and he raises three small burlap sacks. "Or you can take the fifty marks, instead of the two hundred." He shrugs, a smug, feline grin on his face. "Nyot my fault that a whole wagon got lost," he says. "Deal with the remaining villagers of Freyshand, or take the fifty. I'd take the fifty, nya."
"We'll take the fifty," Kralmer says. "I don't trust these people." "... Fine," RedFlag says. "But I swear to Dendrin if you've done something with one of our members, I will find you and make you pay for it."
"Of course, of course," Stefan nods, going over to a small chest and pulling out a small sack of coins. He drops it and the three burlap sacks on the table.
And death and Kralmer held illimitable domain over all. The end.
"I suggest you spend your newfound fortune wisely. And if any of you ever want a real job, come see me."
All of you nod, and begin slinking out of the inn. Eventually, only Kralmer and Lfyt are left, the latter looking smugger than ever as she brandishes three burlap sacks. The ill-gotten loot, no doubt. Kralmer just sighs in disgust, turning to leave...