Sebine folowed behind tugg as a shadow noticing her plan of springing out over his shoulder would no longer work as the orcs were broken she sighed and looked at the others "anyone tried boar and orc stue before"

(Yeah I knew getting a mount like a wyvern or a War boss's boar was a long shot )
Tuska picked himself up from using his axe for support the Boar's tusk had hurt but hadn't really injured him tough they intrested him. When the Wolf priest congratulated him and praised his God Tuska grunted. "Yeah Gork be praised fer use bein 'arder den des gitz." He kicked the dead warboss hard in the head before walking over to Constantine. "Well wat now den?"

Khelandria felt the last of the battle-madness sweep away with the snow, and she almost found herself reaching for the last fluttering flakes as a reminder of her homeland. For though technically Nagarythe was the home of the Druchii, it had been five thousand years since that was literal, and Khelandria herself had never seen it. She was a Naggaroth girl. A wash of homesickness swept over her, bleak as the wave that once drowned that forgotten shore.

But Khaine did not forget his children, and he did not abandon his bloodied Bride. As she turned to stalk among the last remnants of the battle, she found their employer darting to dispatch the last of the enemy. And he moved with the swiftness and grace and bloody lethality of a Druchii highborn. Khelandria paused, sinking down to a crouch to watch the last of the spectacle. Crimson lifeblood sprayed in delicate arcs, a tracery of red over the snow. She drew in a hissing breath, catching the scent in the air.

This was a point at which the other troops in the Witch King's army generally left the Brides of Khaine well alone. When the adrenaline of combat still surged in their system, but there was no-one left to kill. When the lingering effects of the witch-brew made judgement belong only to Khaine. Luckily, Khelandria was saving her precious herbs, but the sheer carnage still worked on her senses. And to see it so expertly produced and executed by a Human was eye-opening. The bloodshed itself, not a little intoxicating. She got up and took a pace or two towards Thomas, her two daggers held loosely, but not raised to attack. She swayed a little as she walked, but her eyes were on him, and did not blink quite as often as they should.

"You fight well," she said, nodding to the last corpse at his feet. "Khaine smiles on you this day."

<Contract#1 - Epilogue>
@Grall_Stonefist @Jorimel @Maleth @lord-watchman @Vulpas @Keidivh @matt23 @TuskatheDaemonKilla @Valonox @Casavay

@Jorimel "Not only Khaine," Thomas replied to Khelandria with a smile. "You did well yourself, as all of our friends did," he said as his eyes shifted once he heard Tuska's question. "Now my good Orc, we collect our pay."

Soon after, the battle was concluded as Wyvern's carcass fell from the top of the tower, both the monster and its rider now dead and gone. Every member of the team survived although some more bruised than others, but alive nonetheless. From the caravan guard, only Captain Borha survived who gave Mariah a curt nod. "My lady, if you ever find yourself in southern Hochland and unemployed, my garrison there would always accept a knight such as yourself." While the Captain ended their business politely and went to saddle the horses and get the carts going, Merchant Keller looked more alive then ever, probably since he knew his worries were over. He even turned a bit hostile once he spotted Constantine, as if remembering that he owned second part of their pay.

"I should give you nothing! After all, you already took the Claw. That relic was priceless to me and you blackmailed me like some bandit!" Keller hissed but eventually went for his pocket, realizing that the only reason he was still alive was because of the team and their effort, and that he had no soldiers to threaten them with. Tossing a pouch of gold to Constantine, he said nothing and got up on the cart, ordering Borha to move out. Captain waved the team and soon, the cart slowly started going down the south road, towards the river Wolfen and Wolfenburg beyond.

"If you remember what I told you about the rules right at the start of our journey," Constantine spoke as they gathered in front of the ruined gates, watching as the cart slowly disappeared in the distance, "That we always do our job and don't hurt the innocents? Well, there is one more rule I didn't say. We make sure everyone gets what they deserve, especially those who are guilty."

"Merchant and the cart filled with silver he and his gang stole from the villagers in the North, the silver he believes will save his fallen company, will be his doom. This relic we got from him was not the only arcane item in his possession, some more damning than others, and those items are located right in the middle of his stash. When he gets to the river and the garrison on the bridge outside Wolfenburg, he will be stopped and his possessions investigated by a Knight who's order is located in the very city of Wolfenburg. Name of it is the Order of the Silver Hammer but more commonly, its members are known as Witch Hunters. Now you can imagine what will be Keller's ultimate fate," Constantine finished, a strange glow filling his dark eyes for a moment as he turned away, gesturing them towards a small path north-west in the shadow of the Middle Mountains. "Come, it's time you meet the rest of our merry crew."



And the intermission phase begins anew...

The team spent better part of the day following Constantine through various woodland paths and rarely-used roads which led them away from the main road and the capital of Ostland and towards the countryside beyond it. Contrary to their trek before, when they waded through the woods and couldn't find a single living being except Goblins and Orcs, this time they came across many small villages located beyond the slopes of the Middle Mountains above them. As the sun slowly set beyond the horizon, their employer eventually led them up on a small hillside where a number of tents were erected and even a greater number of locals were singing, feasting and having fun. It turned out they were standing in front of a fair.

Two Halflings stood at the entrance, selling tickets to newcomers who mostly consisted of local villagers, but once they spotted Constantine their eyes widened and one of them ran back into the maze of tents and various wooden stands while the second one bowed his head as the team passed him. "They know we are home," Thomas smiled as he led the team through the crowd, sound of singing and smell of alcohol hitting their nostrils as soon as they walked past the entrance. "Come, they'll be waiting us at the main tent."

Soon after they passed couple of more tents and the crowd became thinner as they moved away from the festivities. Finally, they reached the biggest tent they saw so far and in front of it, a quartet of quite distinctive characters was waiting on them. First and the biggest one was a huge burly man with brown curly beard dressed in thick leather. Second figure was much smaller but bulky nonetheless with more powerful red beard. The Dwarf stood there, carrying a beautifully-ornamented shield on his back and equally mastercrafted hammer on his belt, its head made in an image of a snarling dragon. Third figure was even smaller and dressed in fine robes, a Halfling in his late fifties, wearing thick glasses and looking somewhat angry. Fourth and final figure belonged to a lovely old woman dressed in long white robes while a medallion of Shallya hung from her neck.

"Guys, meet the rest of our mercenary band," Constantine spoke as he shook hands with those four, "The big man is Kolja, our Kislevite Boyar. He is responsible for the security of our camp and is the get-go person when you need something particular." Burly man laughed and shouted, "You need something, you come to Kolja!"

Thomas nodded and pointed at the Dwarf. "This is Master Ori Orisson, the finest blacksmith on this side of the World Edge's Mountains. Or at least one of the few." Ori grunted and clenched his fist, squeezing the haft of his dragon hammer. "Lord Constantine is being too grateful, my skills are only mediocre, but that's all this lot has. If you need something fixed or built, I'm your dwarf."

"The third chap is Sir Alastair Breckenridge," Thomas nodded at the robed Halfing with glasses who simply waved his hand and said nothing, looking quite sour, "He is our quartermaster and a banker. He is responsible for logistics and among other things, money rewards. Once we are done here, you can go to him and collect your pay."

Seeing that the Halfling was playing hard to get, Constantine moved onward and bowed before the older woman "And finally, perhaps the most important part of our group is Mother Claire, priestess of Shallya." Mother nodded at his words and gave the entire group not caring of their race the most heartwarming smile they received in a long time. "Yes, little Thomas is right. I am a woman in service of the Goddess of healing, mercy and childbirth. If you require any of those things, please come to me and I shall do my best to help you."

Now that the introductions were finished, Constantine signaled for the quartet to get back to their jobs and he was left alone with the Team. "Alright, there should be a personal tent for each of you in our camp, further from the fair. Acting as a traveling fair gives us a simple way to move unseen across the world and get some gold when there are no jobs available. In any case, we will spend the night here and tomorrow I'll explain you our next step in order to claim a more "centralized" base of operations. Until then, rest or go out and celebrate, maybe have a drink or two or join the festivities. If you have any need of me, I'll be in the main tent. So long." He said his goodbyes and the team was left to pursue their own agendas, at least for this night...

@Colapse
Mariah took no time to celebrate or socialize as she had spent her whole life doing such things. She was no longer some noble who would sit around drinking and shaming the name they say under, no she was the last of her family. So instead of socializing she made directly for this little halfling who was in charge of the payments. She took off her helm which caused her red hair to fall out, as she walked up to the smaller fellow's table. "Sir Breckenridge, I am Mariah De'Leon. Constantine informed me that it was you that we spoke to about collections after missions, so after what we just went through I should like to collect."

Kristoff was rather surprised and taken aback when they entered the fair, and was even more surprised when he realized this was their base! "Hell of a headquarters you got here Constantine! You know how to treat your men!" A boisterous laughed erupted from him as he grabbed a pint of ale and chugged it down.

After the introductions, Kristoff quickly made his way over to the priestess, looking to get his stomach sewn up, "Greetings daughter of Shallya, I was hoping I could get your aid? Ulric isn't known for his healing."

@matt23
After this was finished Kristoff approached the Brettonian knight he fought beside at the tower, "there's plenty of time to do that later my friend! Come, we must celebrate! Ulric gave us a great victory! Come!" He then turned to address the rest of the group, "Come new friends, drinks are on me!" Vorgen simply looked at his brother, shaking his head. He knew how this night was going to end.

After the battle, and the merchant had left, Tugg had originally belived that it was time to make new food, even if it had been a short fight and they allready had a filling if untasty meal, he was sure others would want to have tusky, boar and ork, but no, they seemed in a hurry to leave, after a quick taste of the tuskies witch was fine enough could get better cooked, he remembered his wagon had been taken apart, so he would need to carry his casket and cauldron, leaving him to chose what to take with him.
As the others made ready to leave, so did, though also while eating some of tusky, and then chose to half carry/drag the big boar with him.

The travel had been shorter than expected, only most of a day, though by the time they reached the canival, and the introductions, witch seemed somewhat importent, he finally got to do what he wanted, he had heard that the small ones where great at making good food, he would drag the boar with him to the tent where they could make food, though he was also really thirsty, and his own troll blood brew was still far from ready.

Khelandria had most of a day to travel and the time had given her the opportunity to unwind, shedding most of her taut-string tension and making her combat focus more diffuse and returning her to her normal level of watchfulness. She padded alongside her companions, exchanging friendly words here and there.

On arrival at the campsite, she had to admit that she was impressed. It was a good cover for travellers, and the numbers no doubt hid other combatants who were proficient when they were not mending shoes or telling tales. As one raised in the traditions of the Temple of Khaine, Khelandria knew the value of subterfuge.

She collected her pay from Sir Alastair Breckenridge, thanking him politely in her meticulous highborn accent. As before, her words were sincere but her pointed teeth might have been at odds with her smile. Still, she carried on, moving to the lady who was advertised as a priestess of a Goddess of healing, mercy and childbirth. Khelandria paused. Perhaps it was a fine philosophical distinction lost on the highborn Witch Elf, but in many people's eyes that would be the polar opposite of her beloved Lord of Murder. She'd not really learned much of healing, except how to apply a tourniquet and so on to lessen bleeding momentarily. Mercy ... was a concept most Druchii needed a dictionary and maybe a couple of prompts to understand. And as for childbirth, well, like many of her sisters she had preferred to remain barren in the service of her calling. We are Brides of Death, of the Lord of Ruin, the Hags had whispered in ancient tones, and Khelandria had learned well of their secrets. Not so much of any to do with healing and general domestic behaviour. So she blinked like a forest-cat being introduced to the concept of swimming, and nodded in slightly confused welcome. She resolved to be polite, as she was a guest and hospitality has rules.

"Thank you for your assistance to my comrades, ma'am," she said to the Healer. "I am not marked myself, but I wonder, could you direct me to somewhere I might find a hot bath?" A warm bath, and a retreat to pray in her own tent (blissful privacy!) before hitting the camp for a night of post-battle celebrations sounded good to the Northlander.

OOC since we are in the intermission phase, I will reply to people outside the big updates more regularly


<Sir Breckenridge's tent> @matt23 (OOC and everyone else who wanted to get the money reward at this moment)
Bretonnian knight would find the Halfling banker in his own tent, sitting behind a desk in front of a huge pile of papers. He was busy reading through them and signing what needed to be signed while a small force of at least half a dozen halfling "helpers" ran around the tent, struggling to carry stacks of paper of various color and sizes. Leaving the impression of a busy impolite man (more precisely, a halfling) was even further proved as he didn't even raise his eyes from his work once Mariah asked him for money, simply pointing at the table nearby where 10 pouches of gold were stacked one next to the other. "Your reward is there as agreed by contract. 150 gold pieces, without the interest, you can thank Lord Constantine for being generous," he grumbled, obviously not satisfied that he had to give so much gold to the mercenaries, and went back to his writing.


<Meeting with Mother Claire> @Keidivh @Jorimel

Kristoff was admitted to the healing tent while forced to leave Vorgen outside, the Mother explaining to him that the equipment inside was sterile and it would be better if the great arctic wolf didn't come in. Inside, Wolf Priest's wounds were cleaned and disinfected before they were patched up, Claire herself worked on him while three of her helpers, similarly dressed younger women helped her with passing the equipment. "Drink this," Mother gave Kristoff a cup of dark herbal tea that tasted quite foul to him, but she wouldn't let him go until he drank it all, "This will help your organism heal and get clear of all toxins. Take care with the drinking tonight, no more than three pints of beer in case you don't want to have trouble with me in the morning!" she warned him after discharging him from his tent. Outside however, Priest was free of Mother's gaze and a nearby wooden stand where two halflings poured dark ale from one big oak keg to local villagers looked quite promising...

"Miss Khelandria, my nurses will help you with that," Mother Claire answered the Witch Elf and the Druchii was led to her own personal tent by two nurses which was a bit further away from the festivities and allowed her for a bit of quiet time for herself. Inside, the place looked quite cozy - carpets covered the ground giving the impression that there was no cold earth beneath it. There was a bed nearby, a small wooden table with a bowl on it filled with grapes and behind a curtain, a big bathtub. Two nurses moved in silently and while Khelandria was left to get to know her surroundings, they took buckets which were placed next to the bathtub and poured hot water in it. Once they finished filling the bathtub, they bowed and left the tent, leaving the Witch Elf to relax in silence.


<The Kitchen> @Grall_Stonefist

Tugg eventually found himself in a large tent where all sorts of food was being made. One Halfling head chef directed "the effort" while helped by three other halflings while another trio was tasked with taking the food out and acting as sort of waiters, although they didn't have guests set by the tables like in some sort of a tavern, instead they had a couple of stands outside where they served food from.

In any case, due to being a member of the mercenary team as well as a cook himself, he was given a small part of the kitchen for himself as well as one of the chef's helpers in case he needed help with his boar. As for the food the halflings created, Tugg would see a number of various dishes, some more appealing to him than the others. There was a fish chowder being made in a big bowl in the center of the kitchen while next to it, one of the halflings was preparing grilled lamb chops with baked potatoes. For those who liked to eat something salty when drinking beer, a great plate filled with a combination of pork ham and dry bacon alongside couple of small red peppers and two dozen dark olives was about to leave the kitchen.

Besides the meat, there were other dishes such as baked eggplant stuffed with mushrooms and cheese pie to name a few. There were also couple of cakes nearby as well as stacks of cotton candy and sweet cherry rolls to serve as desert. All in all, the kitchen was packed with food and looking quite rich, and more importantly, there was enough food for Tugg to try everything and still leave more of it for it to be served to the locals outside.

@Colapse
Mariah bowed her head slightly to the halfling, "My thanks." She then went to the table and grabbed up a single pouch of gold, not bothering to count it as she did not feel she was being employed by a cheat. She then left the grumpy halfling's tent in search of a place where she could make some upgrades to her weapons and armor. Though it was her family's armor, she need it to be improved so that it could be more effective in combat. A knight's armor and weapons were the first impressions given when seen on the battlefield, and in the current state of her gear she was not thought well of. So she made her way to where she heard Constantine mention talk of a fine blacksmith, which was just what she needed. After walking for a few moments she arrived at where Thomas had mentioned the dwarf blacksmith's area. She would approach him without hesitation, "I seek someone who can improve my armor and weapon that they may be more effective in battle and look more....of my title. A knight that is."