Iron Kingdoms Roleplay - Session Nineteen

For those of you who haven't been keeping up you can find earlier sessions and background material in here. The stats of the player characters can be found here should you be interested and the rest of the 'Brotherhood of the Rail' mercenary companies NPC's backgrounds can be found here.

This session was going to be a little bit different. I decided to have a bit of a change and give every-one some pre-built characters that would be potential new recruits for the Brotherhood and use them to re-introduce the mercenary company in it's new independent form through their eyes. I had each player roll 2d6 and then allow them to select a character from a list (highest score to lowest of course) however the only information they had to inform their decision was name, sex and career.

Their choices were,,,

Cecily Bradner - Female - Aristocrat/Pistoleer
Gale Graydon - Female - Artillerist/Trencher
Icabod Barton - Male - Mechanik/Soldier
Leto Dumas - Male - Pathfinder/Scout
Jonas Brocker - Male - Cutthroat/Highwayman

This weeks attendees were Tom who rolled highest and selected the aristocratic Cecily Bradner, Andrew who decided upon the dubious Jonas Brocker, Phil who opted for Icabod Barton, Martin went for Leto Dumas and Steve who with the lowest roll ended up with the remaining Gale Graydon. In order to prompt a bit of role-playing the characters were somewhat flawed and I'll put the full character profiles at the bottom of this session for those of you who were interested.

Note - As I was GMing and obviously had notes and intro bits written down I've just pasted them into this article directly so they'll be in a 'reading to the group' style. This'll save me a lot of time writing out everything again and hopefully wont effect your reading enjoyment too much bouncing between the two styles of writing.

Mission Nineteen - 'New Recruits'

Introduction.
Attracted to the Brotherhood for a variety of reasons and after a period of indoctrination including a thorough interview by their priestess Danika, several tests from officers to ascertain the level of your military skills and fitness you are now probationary Brotherhood members awaiting your first assignment. As untested members currently your pay consists only of rations and a place to sleep so you are obviously quite keen to be assigned your first job and so greet the news that you're to report to the main meeting room for a mission briefing with a mixture of relief and for some of you a measure of trepidation.

Act One - 'First Impressions'

After a nights sleep of varying quality you all awake early and head to the Brotherhood rank and files meeting room on the outer wall of the central complex. Other than a few people leaving an early service at the Morrowan Temple and a few scouts apparently recently returned from a night patrol including one wearing a wildly inappropriate hat for some reason there is little activity this early. A pair of Ogrun men at arms are stationed at the entrance to the central keep and wave each of you in without anything more than casual visual inspection as their primary duty is deterring uninvited civilian guests and ensuring that Sebastian's 'visitors' don't bump into one another rather than preventing access for actual Brotherhood members.

There is little going on at this early hour and even the now legendary 'Innout' inn where most meetings are taken is fairly quiet. The meeting room is fairly spacious with a large, heavy rectangular table in it's centre surrounded by seating of various sizes as befits the somewhat eclectic set of races that the mercenary company consists of. A large board on one wall contains a selection of notes somewhat haphazardly pinned to it containing information on current deployments, various logistical information and a few random wanted posters. A jug of water is sitting on top of a locked cabinet against one wall and a number of glasses, cups and goblets seemingly selected at random are piled up next to it.

As soon as it became apparent that either they were early or their superior was late the recruits began to chat amongst themselves though much of this was Icabod complaining about pretty much everything and Cecily flirting with any-one who she thought might be of use to her at some point in the future though the others at least introduced themselves to one another. The only other input was the occasional groan from Leto who was seemingly nursing a hang-over of epic proportions.

After some time you are joined by Corporal Loronzo a veteran rifleman from the Brotherhoods first forming who was unfortunately severely injured during the collapse of the keeps then outer wall during a clash with a rival mercenary company not long after the fort was first constructed. Unable to continue service in a direct military role he is now responsible for the more routine of mission assignments deemed unnecessary of oversight by a senior officer. He takes a vacant seat, drops a folder onto the table and finally seems to notice of you all.

"Right then..." "This is your first official job so I've selected something that even you lot can't bollox up" "One of Rafaldo's shipping contacts one Mr Blake Mallory apparently spends his spare time collecting military rarities and has been in contact with a fellow collector who has something of interest for him"

"It seems that he's not happy traipsing off to this gentlemen's estate in the mountains with several hundred gold crowns on his person so has requested an armed guard and I've given him you lot" He slides the top one of the folders across the table into roughly the centre of where you are currently sitting. "There's a requisition form in there for your equipment that you'll need to collect from the quartermaster. he'll issue you some transport as well...I'm hoping at least one of you can drive a cart...well?"

After a slight pause Gale volunteered for the task once it became obvious that no-one else was going to...

"Fine...you get the job then..." "He's arriving at the dockyard mid morning some time. You can't miss him, even if everything he owns didn't have his name on it he's...well...lets just say he enjoys the good things in life and leave it at that" "From there take him and any entourage to his meeting, make sure he doesn't die on the way...or the way back for that matter and that's it. Should take about four days all in, maybe five at the most"

"Also...and this is important...don't get involved in the negotiation part of the deal at all outside of being present during it. Rafaldo has people who do that sort of thing and they cost a lot more than you do and their services have been declined"

"Any questions?"

A few pertinent enquiries were put forward but further information on both the client and specifics about the job were limited. As far as the Corporal was concerned this was a standard escort job (or 'Babysitting' as Icobod insisted on referring to it as) and should provide no problems.

"Fine then" "Go fetch your equipment and transport" 

He gave each of the soldiers five gold crowns as payment for their first week of actual work and this was greeted by varying degrees of gratitude. Leto also helped himself to various bottles of beverages that were unguarded in the Inn at this early hour as they passed from the meeting room to the storage areas of the fortress 'for the journey'.

The fortress has awakened somewhat during your meeting and you can see groups of soldiers attending their various duties. The engineering block is emitting it's usual clouds of steam, clanging noises and disconcerting clouds of strange coloured smoke with both the civilian and military sections seemingly busy with their respective projects and one of the new Rhulic warjacks of Thorsten's is dry cycling various weapons and between each test the dwarf Sergeant is himself making minor adjustments while several interested members of his staff look on.

On noticing the dwarf sergeant outside the workshops Icabod began to mutter about the unfairness of outsiders being brought in and promptly being put in charge over far more worthy candidates such as himself and further began to whine about being given a tedious babysitting job when there were far more important projects that those of his skill should be involved in. Noting their companions tendencies for delusions of victimisation both Leto and Dumas had began to wind him up at every available opportunity.

Pistol fire can be heard from the shooting ranges out of sight in the complex's rear no doubt Sebastians own Pistoleers competing with one another as usual. The parade ground is largely empty as you cross to the stores and armoury as Bosh and his Ogrun and Trollkin Men at Arms are currently on an assignment supplementing a Cygnaran military unit...or more likely committing some violent massacre in a manner that Cygnar can plausibly deny responsibility for.

The fortresses stores block stands next to the stables which has been by necessity split into two halves after it was discovered just how incompatible human and Trollkin mounts were. Inside the entrance to the stores is a heavy duty counter behind which the quartermaster Hagen Brenn and a surprisingly muscular looking Gobber are playing a card game of some description and don't seem to have noticed you at all.

Fortunately Jonas had remembered to pick up the requisition forms given to them by Corporal Loronzo and distributed them to the rest of the team. Standard issue Repeating Pistols and Military Rifles were distributed as well as standard packs containing bed-rolls, military rations and the other mundane bits and pieces required by soldiers in the field. Gale who had been trained as part of the artillery teams was allowed to take a more heavy duty weapon in the form of the somewhat inaccurately described 'Mini' Slugger and Cecily had utilised some casual flirtation in order to obtain a second pistol and extra ammunition. This process was periodically interrupted by the male members of the party bickering...or more specifically Leto and Jonas bickering with Icabod. Once it became obvious to the quartermaster that no-one was going to leave without prompting he decided to move things forward himself.

"There are some carts already prepared and with horses harnessed. Just pick one and make sure you look after it"

Gale noted that of the three available carts two were identical and seem structurally sound though the third though with the most comfortable seating for the driver looked like it might be very uncomfortable indeed for any passengers in the rear. Having no feelings one way or another for the rest of the guard team she opted for the one that she presumed would give her the most pleasant travel experience. She also discovered that the cart had a basic medical kit underneath the drivers seat.

Before they could get started Corporal Loronzo re-appeared in order to ensure that everything was moving along as planned as the earlier meeting and subsequent bickering hadn't exactly filled him with confidence. "I suppose I should put one of you in charge" he stated somewhat reluctantly and after some thought decided upon Icabod as he seemed to be the only one making any effort to manage the others...not particularly successfully but at least he looked like he was trying.

Editors Note - I gave any-one who wanted to be in command the option to take a command test and Phil's player Icabod won with the assistance of his 'Genius' archetype benefit boosting his roll.

Leto assisted Cecily into the carriage once it became apparent that she was just going to stand there until some-one did so.

Act Two - 'Off to Work'

Outside the fortress the markets have already began to set up and salesman are already touting their wares, the smell of cooking is wafting from several food stalls and the sellers of various local beverages are making wild claims about the potency of their products.

After a really uncomfortable ride through town you arrive at the newly rebuilt docks built to accommodate the river traffic along the Black River and taking advantage of the new trade routes established by the Brotherhood. The facility is quite expansive for a riverside dock and has spaces for a surprising number of vessels as well as laborjacks to assist with unloading, warehouse space and offices for the civilian administrative staff as well as one utilised by Rafaldo when he deems his presence necessary for important visitors or particularly valuable cargo's.

A man so fat that you're all surprised his legs can actually support his weight is berating several dock workers as well as another gentlemen who is presumably his assistant and from the logo on the crates around him and the description from Loronzo you can only presume is your client.

Icabod decided to take the lead and introduced himself and the rest of what he had now decided were 'his' team to the merchant Mallory. Noting that his own cart was considerably more comfortable than their own Cecily immediately defaulted to her seemingly standard strategy of flirting until she got her own way. After an extended session of arguing about who went on which cart it was eventually decided that Icabod would ride with the merchant along with Cecily who the merchant Mallory now insisted accompany them with the others staying on their current transport.

Editors Note - Amusingly this was an actual extended in character debate that I eventually had to have them decide with a command test or they'd still be debating it now...

Mr Mallory is exactly as obnoxious as your first impressions led you to believe and every statement is a complaint of some description. Fortunately the roads are fairly clear and maps provided for you are more than adequately detailed courtesy of the fortresses scout teams though you're not sure why a particular village store that sells hats has been highlighted as a point of interest.

As it begins to get dark the important business of establishing a campsite for the night becomes an issue for you all. None of you are familiar enough with the area to make travelling through the night a viable option and time isn't currently an issue.

Leto realised he could actually navigate through the night if he wanted to given his familiarity with the area due to training excursions with the Trollkin scouting parties but he decided to not point this out as it seemed like a lot of unnecessary work that would considerably eat into any spare drinking and relaxing time. Also several of the party had the distinct impression that they were being watched so night-time travel seemed a risky proposition though this may have just been their imaginations running away with them. Jonas Brocker on the other hand was sure it wasn't his imagination...They were definitely being followed.  There was more than enough experience between them to set up a more than adequate camp for the night while Leto decided to supplement their military rations with some real food and after a successful bit of hunting rustled them up a particularly nice 'wilderness stew' and acquired themselves a nice hog to roast after a particular bit of skill combined with some good fortune.

A rotation for guard duties was arranged and despite both Jonas and Leto's suspicions the night passed relatively undisturbed. The hearty meal from the night before in conjunction with Cecilys company had lightened the merchants mood considerably and he hardly complained at all for the remainder of the journey.

Act Three - 'A Deal to be Done'
After another uneventful days travel you arrive at your destination which is a well constructed stone building in a small valley surrounded by forest. The small estate consists of the aforementioned stone building, a small stable area containing a horse drawn carriage, several storehouses and a surprisingly well maintained garden for such a location. It is obviously owned by a man of leisure and financial security.

Icabod elected to stay outside with the cart containing the merchants gold as the merchants assistant had accompanied his master into the house while Leto gave the area itself a quick patrol in order to make sure the perimeter was as secure as possible. Cecily accompanied the merchant to the door while Jonas and Gale flanked them in their capacities as bodyguards.

You are greeted at the door by an elderly gentleman of military bearing who introduces himself as Colonel Anson Ashborne of the 79th Cygnaran Heavy Infantry Regiment (Retired). As you would expect of a military veteran he dispenses with unnecessary pleasantries and states his desire to get straight into the negotiation and subsequently leads you through a well decorated living room with well upholstered chairs and several expensive rugs on the floor and into a back room whose walls are filled with various military memorabilia. Suits of armour are on stands along one wall, a selection of antique rifles graces one shelf with another opposite contains bladed weapons from a variety of cultures. Laid out on a heavy table at the rooms centre is a suit of exquisitely designed heavy armour though it seems to have been designed for a tall yet slightly built individual and you find it difficult to imagine of a human with such proportions. Next to the armour is a long, slightly curved sword designed to be wielded in two hands and this is even more elaborately decorated than the armour. The previous owner must have been of impressively high status indeed.

Those in the room with a familiarity with items of a military nature noted that the weapons and armour appear to be of Nyss origin.

Anson's opening demand is a staggering fifteen hundred gold crowns which Mallory counters with an insulting low one of a mere hundred. This opening gambit to obtain a bargain is unfortunately somewhat undermined by Mallory's constant compliments about the piece and statements about how he's told all his friends about the find and that he "Must have it" and therefore you are somewhat surprised that Anson allows himself to be haggled down to a relatively mere six hundred crowns.

Cecily, Gale and Jonas noted that Anson didn't seem to be trying very hard and it was almost like he wanted rid of the items as soon as possible. However such musings were interrupted as with the deal settled Anson send his assistant Baincroft to fetch the chest from the cart. Icabod helped Baincroft to remove the chest of gold from the cart and they had almost reached the door when several arrows appeared in the centre of the servants chest and he stumbled forward unbalancing Icabod. This unpredictable motion was to serve to Icabod's advantage as the arrow aimed at him struck him in the shoulder rather than the throat, Leto was more fortunate as he had noticed movement in the woods and was therefore prepared when the hail of arrows were sent in his direction and avoided them all. Zig-zagging as he ran he burst through the rear door of the home just as Icabod dived through the front yelling warnings as they both did. Icabod had perhaps foolishly decided to rescue the chest of gold as well which had slowed him down a bit. Events had just become...complicated...

A number of elven figures have appeared seemingly from nowhere and are taking up positions surrounding the house you're currently in. From their midst another appears wearing armour that's almost identical to the one being negotiated over mere minutes ago and faint glowing runes can be seen in the air around him. In his right hand is a scabbarded two handed sword that's a mirror image of the one next to the suit of armour currently in the house. He advances to just outside optimum range for your weapons, pauses briefly and then begins to speak. The voice is strangely accented yet is perfectly understandable to you all.

"You in the house" "You have something that belongs to my family and I wish it returned. Send out the corpulent fool who seeks to turn the relics of my people into mere ornaments and the thief who profits from them and I promise" he pauses briefly "to kill the rest of you quickly and painlessly" "If however you resist then I promise you all a death that even your your foolish companies bloodthirsty priestess would consider unnecessarily excessive in it's brutality"

"You have one minute to decide"

With negotiation seemingly not an option a plan was quickly agreed upon. Cecily ushered their merchant charge into a side room where she discovered many signs that the Colonel was planning a move. Icabod was patched up enough so he didn't bleed to death while they started to barricade the windows and doors using whatever they had to hand and the others sorted through the Colonels weapon collection for ammunition and began to load spare rifles. With her charge safe Cecily returned to the main room though she made no attempt to assist with any of the manual labour going on. Seeing that the Colonel was edging towards the rear door she drew one of her pistols and made it clear that staying exactly where he was would be his best course of action. Their ambushers were seemingly in no hurry to storm the building and could be observed moving into strategic positions around the perimeter. Detailed observation was difficult however as any significant movement was followed by a hail of arrows towards the offending part of the building. What could be ascertained though was that their carriages horses had been shot dead.

With the immediate area at least marginally secured the bodyguards had some questions to ask the Colonel. He claimed that he had bought the weapons and armour in good faith from a rival collector and had no idea that they were being sought after by their original owners though it took very little prompting to cause this lie to unravel. With further prompting and some creative threats he revealed that word had reached him of the brutal murder and dismemberment of the collector from which he had obtained the items and he'd came to the easy decision to offload them on some-one else which would draw attention away from himself for long enough for him to get as far away as possible. Some consideration was given to shooting him for such underhand and dishonourable actions but it was decided that every man was needed for the houses defence so his life was spared...for now...

Tables were overturned in order to create barricades in anticipation of the inevitable assault and the now patched up Icabod continued to reinforce the windows wherever possible using what little materials that were available. The rest had pre-loaded a number of extra pistols and rifles so time need not be wasted re-loading their single shot rifles. The journey to the house had taken two days so they would not be missed for at least four, possibly five days and it was unlikely they could hold out for that long against a foe of significant numbers. The fact that no attempt had been made to storm their location was if anything more worrying than a direct assault would have been as they had no idea what their enemies were up to outside. A rota for watch duty was decided and those not on guard got what sleep they could on the rugs on the homes floor. Icabod had taken a turn on watch despite his injuries though he was very tired indeed. It's possible that this was why the Colonel chose his watch to make a run for it. Before anything could be done to stop him the Colonel ran for the back door, quickly unlocked it and ran outside into the night. or would have done not a patrol had not been waiting silently by the rear entrance waiting for just such an eventuality.

Arterial spray filled the room as the colonels severed head bounced back into it and his body slumped into the gap. Showing unusual bravery considering his apparent persecution complex Icabod hurled himself at the door in an attempt to close it before the elves could gain entry but the combination of the body in the way and the surprising strength of the elven attackers made this impossible and he could only partially bar their entry. Shouting for assistance he could only hope that the others could ready themselves before the enemies gained entry.

The rest of the guards were roused from their slumber by the shouts of Icabod and the sounds of battering against the rear door. Cecily stayed back to protect their charge while Leto and Jonas tried to help close the door but encountered the same difficulties as Icabod was encountering and these were further compounded by the slick layer of blood coating the floor. Needing a new strategy gale who had readied her Slugger shouted for them to let go of the door and as the ambushers stumbled inside she opened fire with the weapon on full automatic fire. The closest Nyss attacker was torn to pieces by high calibre projectiles with the second saved only by the intervening body of his comrade. Leto and Jonas readied their own weapons and fired through the doorway while Icabod attempted the unenviable task of retrieving the key from what was left of the Colonels blood-stained corpse upon the floor as he dragged it from the doorway. More attackers could be seen charging towards this newly created breach and it was only moments before the quickly advancing foe would be at the door.

Realising that their agile enemies were avoiding precise shots they defenders instead relied on weight of fire, unloading shot after shot though the doorway reducing another pair of approaching Nyss to pulverised corpses. Despite their successes each enemy killed attempting entry created more problems as the pile of bodies and body parts were causing more issues for both the defenders attempts to shut the door though fortunately were also causing the attackers issues with the pile of corpses in their way. A brief gap in the assault happened by amazing good fortune to coincide with the finding of the door key and they all dropped their weapons and threw their full weight into closing the rear door and with a heroic effort they managed to keep the door shut long enough to lock the door. The area around the entrance had all the appearance of a charnel house and many of the defenders bled from small wounds incurred during the surprise attack but the enemy had been repelled...for now...

Act Four - 'A Chance For Escape...'
The watch had been doubled in order to prevent any new surprises though sleep was hard to come by. Jonas had managed to find a singularly uncomfortable location in which to sleep as something was digging into his back through the rug under him. Upon further investigation he discovered this was the handle to a trapdoor concealed beneath the rugs. Alerting the others to his discovery he carefully opened it up and had a look inside and in the darkness he could discern a ladder leading down to a tunnel leading off in the direction of the stable outside. As the scout amongst them Leto was given the task of seeing where the passage led.

After following the tunnel for several dozen yards he reached a second ladder leading up to another identical trapdoor. He opened it as carefully as he could as a quantity of straw fell into the tunnel and through the smallest crack he could see the inside of the small barn area across from the house. The Colonels carriage and horses were completely unharmed inside. Lurking nearby he could also discern the backs of two attackers waiting in ambush. It seems that the carriage had been left intact in order to lure out the defenders though these would be ambushers were about to get a surprise of their own.

Returning back down the tunnel he reported his findings to the rest of his team and they quickly formed a plan of action. Their plan was to make a ruckus in the building including several gunshots in order to create the impression of a falling out amongst themselves followed by setting fire to the building. They would then make their way down the tunnel and hope to eliminate the guards in the barn and escape while the enemies attention was drawn on the besieged and burning building. Jonas had suggested that he himself attack the two guards with Leto as back-up as he claimed that he had some experience eliminating enemy sentries during his career as a 'soldier' as admitting a career as a bandit didn't seem like a particularly good one in the unlikely event that they survived the encounter. They also as an after thought moved the gold into the tunnel in case they could retrieve it later though they left the armour and sword in the house it having caused them more than enough trouble already. The merchant had little choice but to agree with the plan as his other option was to be left behind to deal with the attackers himself.

In a legendary act of stealth Jonas opened up the trapdoor and advanced upon the Nyss with Leto behind. In a single action Jonas slit the throat of the fist guard before driving the springblade concealed at his forearm into the neck of the second and lowered their dead bodies slowly and quietly to the ground.

Editors Note - I did not make this easy at all to accomplish but apparently the dice gods prefer this character to Andrews normal one by a significant margin...

With the guards removed they loaded up the wagon with the merchant and the other members of the party and waited silently while the main building began to catch fire and as the enemies drew closer Gale spurred the horses into life and they barrelled towards the road at breakneck speed lighting the barn on fire as they left to further increase the chaos. Gale had missed a vocation as a carriage driver as she expertly controlled the wagon while the now alerted enemy rained arrows upon them. Several of them took glancing wounds with both Icabod and Leto taking severe ones as the hail of arrows become more and more severe.

As Gale directed the horses down the path a group of Nyss and their leader could be seen blocking their escape route, Having no better idea she continued her high speed advance. One of the horses took an arrow to it's side and the other took one to the flank and the carriage now resembled a pincushion. The Nyss leapt aside and avoided the stampeding horses with their leader moving out of the way at the last minute. Their elation at their escape was shortlived as a bolt of magical energy from the enemies commander blasted into Leto's already wounded body causing him to pass out from the pain...but at least they were away from danger...for now at least...

Epilogue
The battered and bruised group of mercenaries pushed both themselves and the horses to their limits and made the journey back to the fortress with barely any rest and not a single stop. Jonas skill with a blade was apparently only equalled by his knowledge of animals as he managed to keep their wounded horses moving despite their hear terminal levels of exhaustion with the driving duties been shared between those with any knowledge of driving whatsoever.

On arrival at the fortress the merchant immediately called for any-one with any authority and despite their saving of his life began a heavily distorted version of events blaming the Brotherhood and their incompetent guards for all his troubles as well as implying that the knowledge of the meeting must have came to their enemies by way of the Brotherhoods lax security despite having admitting to telling all his friends about it in earshot of the guards. Unfortunately for him the recipient of this tirade was the Brotherhoods Lieutenant Danika who took such impugning of the groups reputation extremely badly especially when it became apparent that he had cost them a cart, several horses and possibly the life of one of their guards due to an inability to keep his own affairs to himself and instead of satisfaction found himself with a bill for the resources he'd cost the company...

Editors Note - Rather conveniently Danika was Martins normal character and as the one he was using for this adventure was currently bleeding out in a cart I let him roleplay his reaction to a fat merchant getting in her face, lol.

Back to Reality.
That session went remarkably well everyone embracing their characters quirks and flaws with significant gusto. I also discovered that people are also far more 'heroic' with character that they don't care about the death of...

The next session will be back to the players normal characters and will involve some waterbound action and perhaps the reappearance of an old adversary...or two...

Here are the profiles for the characters that the players used this session. They were created using the standard Iron Kingdoms methods with only 2XP worth of upgrades in order to add a couple of appropriate occupational skills that I thought they might need.

Cecily Bradner

As the youngest member of your family and the only daughter it was inevitable that your future would be both uneventful and most likely followed by a marriage of convenience to suit your families needs rather than your own. Unfortunately the collapse of your families holdings that were rather inconveniently mostly in what is now Khadoran Llael has reduced them to pauper status. You have inconvenienced your families plan to regain their fortune by marrying you off by running away and seeking a life of adventure. For obvious reasons this loss of status has been kept quiet so most presume you are just a spoilt débutante seeking a distraction...

Race - Human
Level - Hero, XP - 2
Height - 62 inches, Weight - 120 pounds

Careers - Aristocrat/Pistoleer

Archetype - Skilled
Languages - Cygnaran, Five Cant, Llaelese, Ordic
Connections - Mercenary Company (The Brotherhood), Nobility (You're family is now destitute but no-one actually knows that...)

Quote - "I used to..I mean...do...have people who did..do...that kind of thing for me, actually!!!"

PHY - 5, SPD - 6, STR - 4, AGL - 4, PRW - 4, POI - 5, INT - 4, ARC - 0, PER - 4

Willpower - 9, Initiative - 14

Defence - 13, Armour - 10

Command Range - 5

Abilities and Benefits

Fast Draw, Good Breeding, Gunfighter, Privilege, Return Fire, Virtuoso (Pistol)

Military Skills

Hand Weapon (1), Pistol (2)

Occupational Skills

Command (1), Deception (2), Detection (1),Etiquette (1), Intimidation (1), Sneak (1)

Armour  

Armoured Greatcoat - SPD (0), DEF (-1), ARM (5)

Melee Weapons

Dagger - MAT (6), P + S (5)

Ranged Weapons
Pistol, Repeating - RNG (8), RAT (7), POW (10)
Pistol, Repeating - RNG (8), RAT (7), POW (10)
Ammunition
Ammo Wheel x2, Light Rounds x20

Equipment
Ammo Bandolier, Brotherhood Uniform, Pocket Watch

Gale Graydon

As one of the few women who have chosen to pick a career as a artillerist in the ordic military you faced the inevitable prejudices from your male counterparts. Hearing rumours of a new mercenary company that had no apparent requirements of either sex or race you sought them out and were pleasantly surprised to find that not only were the rumours true but that they already had several female soldiers as part of their artillery teams. This change of culture has instilled in you a feeling of great loyalty to your new comrades and you will allow nothing to jeopardise this new and satisfying career...

Race - Human
Level - Hero, XP - 2
Height - 69 inches, Weight - 175 pounds

Careers - Artillerist, Trencher

Archetype - Mighty
Languages - Cygnaran, Five Cant, Ordic
Connections - Cygnaran Military, Mercenary Company (The Brotherhood)

Quote - "We probably need to shoot it some more..."

PHY - 6, SPD - 6, STR - 6, AGL - 3, PRW - 4, POI - 5, INT - 3, ARC - 0, PER - 4

Willpower - 9, Initiative - 14

Defence - 13, Armour - 11

Command Range - 5

Abilities and Benefits

Battle Plan (Close Fire), Bayonet Charge, Dig-In, Righteous Anger, Scorched Earth

Military Skills

Great Weapon (1), Heavy Artillery (1), Light Artillery (1), Pistol (1), Rifle (2), Thrown Weapon (1)

Occupational Skills

Command (2), Detection (2), Driving (1), Sneak (1), Survival (1)

Armour  

Leather Armour - SPD (0), DEF (-1), ARM (5)

Melee Weapons

Axe - MAT (6), P + S (9)

Ranged Weapons
Military Rifle - RNG (10), RAT (7), POW (11) or
Mini-Slugger - RNG (10), RAT (6 - On Stand, 5 - Fired Standing), POW (11)
Ammunition
Heavy Rounds x10 or
Ammo Belt - Heavy Rounds x30

Equipment
Ammo Bandolier, Bayonet, Brotherhood Uniform, Entrenching Spade

Icabod Barton

Though competent enough in your chosen careers you have an unfortunate habit of being incapable of accepting the blame for any mistakes that you might make and invariably look for some-one else to blame for any issues that occur. You are aware that you are not well liked by your peers as is indicated by the fact that they are constantly looking for ways to undermine you presumably due to jealousy over your superior intelligence and obvious talent. You therefore see no reason why these people who are obviously out to get you are not made to suffer for that fact and though you wouldn't put them in any significant danger you have no objections to making everyone except yourself as miserable as possible. Now to make matters worse they've bought in some irritating dwarf and put him in charge of the military engineers almost instantly and no doubt he'll have it in for you in some way...every-one does...

Race - Human
Level - Hero, XP - 2
Height - 72 inches, Weight - 190 pounds

Careers - Field Mechanik, Soldier

Archetype - Intellectual
Languages - Cygnaran, Five Cant, Ordic
Connections - Mercenary Company (The Brotherhood)

Quote - "Well the problem is obviously something stupid that YOU'VE done to it"

PHY - 5, SPD - 6, STR - 5, AGL - 3, PRW - 5, POI - 4, INT - 5, ARC - 0, PER - 3

Willpower - 10, Initiative - 14

Defence - 11, Armour - 10

Command Range - 7

Abilities and Benefits

'Jack Marshal, Bodge, Find Cover, Genius, Hit the Deck, Sentry

Military Skills

Hand Weapon (2), Pistol (1)

Occupational Skills

Command (2), Craft - Metalworking (2), Detection (1), Driving (1), Mechanikal Engineering (2), Medicine (1), Survival (1)

Armour  

Leather Armour - SPD (0), DEF (-1), ARM (5)

Melee Weapons

'Jack Wrench - MAT (5), P + S (8)

Ranged Weapons
Pistol, Repeating - RNG (8), RAT (5), POW (10)
Ammunition
Ammo Wheel x1, Light Rounds x10

Equipment
Brotherhood Uniform, Mechanik's Tool Kit

Leto Dumas

You were somewhat surprised when joining the Brotherhood mercenary company to find yourself one of only a handful of human scouts with the majority being Trollkin of various shapes and sizes. The time you have spent with them has resulted in a high level of respect for their scouting abilities, resilience and even their odd hat wearing leader is somewhat amusing and rather unfortunately you also have developed a taste for their strong beverages and you are one of only a handful of humans who can actually keep up with them when it comes to food and drink...much to their amusement. The one downside to this is that you are definitely not what one would call a 'morning' person as you generally awake somewhat worse for wear...

Race - Human
Level - Hero, XP - 2
Height - 70 inches, Weight - 180 pounds

Careers - Explorer/Ranger

Archetype - Skilled
Languages - Cygnaran, Five Cant, Khadoran, Ordic
Connections - Mercenary Company (The Brotherhood)

Quote - "Is it to early for a drink?" "Can every-one stop breathing so loudly please?"

PHY - 5, SPD - 6, STR - 4, AGL - 5, PRW - 4, POI - 4, INT - 3, ARC - 0, PER - 5

Willpower - 8, Initiative - 15

Defence - 16, Armour - 11

Command Range - 3

Abilities and Benefits

Big Game Hunter, Camouflage, Pathfinder, Port of Call (Ternon Crag and surrounding areas of significance), Preternatural Awareness

Military Skills

Hand Weapon (2), Rifle (2)

Occupational Skills

Detection (2), Medicine (1), Navigation (2), Sneak (1), Survival (2), Tracking (2)

Armour  

Leather Armour - SPD (0), DEF (-1), ARM (5)

Melee Weapons

Dagger - MAT (6), P + S (5)

Ranged Weapons
Military Rifle - RNG (10), RAT (6), POW (11)
Ammunition
Heavy Rounds x10

Equipment
Brotherhood Uniform, Map Case, Spyglass

Jonas Brocker

The small but effective gang of masked robbers to which you belonged made a fair living preying on rich travellers and traders around Ternon Crag and prided yourself that your attacks were so well planned that actual violence was rarely needed though you were more than adequately prepared on the rare occasions that it become necessary. This came to an end when a vicious new leader and their associate appeared and took command of all the local bandit elements by murdering their leaders and offering the remainder the choice of either membership or execution and given these equally unappealing options you reluctantly joined up. It was therefore some relief when these leaders were assassinated by a new mercenary company based just outside Ternon Crag who also ironically became the best option for employment for those with...useful skills...

Race - Human
Level - Hero, XP - 2
Height - 71 inches, Weight - 180 pounds

Careers - Cutthroat/Highwayman

Archetype - Skilled
Languages - Cygnaran, Five Cant, Ordic
Connections - Mercenary Company (The Brotherhood)

Quote - "You must be thinking of some-one else..." "That's a nice coat..."

PHY - 5, SPD - 6, STR - 5, AGL - 4, PRW - 5, POI - 5, INT - 3, ARC - 0, PER - 4

Willpower - 8, Initiative - 15

Defence - 14, Armour - 10

Command Range - 3

Abilities and Benefits

Anatomical Precision, Ambush, Backstab, Prowl, Saddleshot, Virtuoso (Hand Weapon)

Military Skills

Hand Weapon (2), Thrown Weapon (2)

Occupational Skills

Animal Handling (1), Deception (1), Detection (1), Intimidation (2), Riding (1), Sneak (2), Streetwise (1)

Armour  

Armoured Greatcoat - SPD (0), DEF (-1), ARM (5)

Melee Weapons

Dagger, Large - MAT (7), P + S (7)
Sap - MAT (5), P + S (5) (Urban Combat p24)
Springblade - MAT (7), P + S (5)

Ranged Weapons
Knife, Throwing x6 - RNG (6), RAT (7), POW (7)
Pistol, Repeating - RNG (8), RAT (5), POW (10)
Ammunition
Ammo Wheel x1, Light Rounds x10

Equipment
Brotherhood Uniform, Somnolence Elixir (Bottle contains 6 doses, p295 core)