"Quest for the Whore's Gold" (closed)

South of the City of Tut
The Frenkish Empire:

Eelo spent two hours creeping and crawling through knee high grass to reach a grove of trees sitting atop a small hillock. It was nearly midnight, and in the pitch blackness of the new moon, wearing dull black clothing from head to foot over her brown leather hunting clothes, she was able to get deep within enemy held territory without ever fearing discovery.

She shifted her attention from the many enemy troops surrounding her to the target of their siege. Most of the City of Tut was now smoldering in ruins. But standing within it, mostly intact, was the Castle of Tut...


Tut had once been the southern most City in the Sovereign Territory of Ras Rufna. Prior to the Falling Wars, the Baron of Tut had sent troops, supplies, and gold north for the Frahm's fight against the Clans that were raiding from the Unnamed Untamed. But as the Territory collapsed, one Baron after another had ceased his support, declared his City's independence, and concentrated on protecting his own lands and people. The Baron of Tut had as well.

This had all happened prior to the now 20 year old Eelo's birth, of course. And since then, there had been a succession of Barons of Tut, as men from both near and far fought for control of the City. Some of those Barons had been or were today loyal to what was now called the Frenkish Empire. Other hadn't been. Eelo didn't care much about all that political poop.

Her people had been fishers on the shore of the Eastern Bight, but Eelo -- who had never much liked the open water -- had instead learned to hunt on land. A year ago, she'd been in the woods hunting when a band of Horsemen rode down upon her village, burning and raping and killing until there was nothing left of her home and people. For the next ten days, Eelo tracked down and -- one by one -- killed each of the murderers down to the last man.

Having discovered that the men were part of the army besieging the City of Tut, Eelo hadn't hesitated to join the fight on the Barony's side. She hadn't much cared which Baron controlled the City; nor had she much cared whether the man supported or opposed the Frenkish Emperor. The only thing Eelo had cared about was killing the men besieging the Castle due to their connection to her village's destruction.

For more than a year, she has hunted from both the Castle's ramparts and from along the periphery, as she was now. With a handful of soldiers assigned to escort her safely, Eelo would sneak out a secret tunnel each night to kill siege machine operators, Calvary Officers, and even a Noble or two before slipping back into the castle.

Tonight she was causing havoc at the Rock Creek bridge. While her small escort and an even larger ambush squad distracted the enemy on the City side of the bridge, Eelo inconspicuously picked off officers and soldiers alike on this side of the crossing. This sent on from deep in the night to dawn, when from the east -- obscured by the blinding brightness of the rising sun, a massive force of reinforcements arrived from a recently allied Barony.

The siege was broken and the entrenched forces -- Eelo's enemies -- were defeated. Suddenly she had no reason for being at Tut, and without even returning to the City to gather her things, Eelo headed west toward the Inner Sea, then north, never to be seen again by the Baron or his forces.

She headed toward the Tella-Un isthmus. She'd learned a closely guarded secret that she wanted to follow up on. In the meantime, she became a Highwayman, robbing coaches, riders, and merchants by day, then dining, drinking, and fucking by night...

.....