It is now approaching fall in this fertile yet untamed corner of Gespinium, on the eastern continent variously referred to as "The Cursed Lands", "The Chaos-wyld", "The Feral Kingdoms"... and often just "Home" to those who live there.<br/><br/>Although the season for the harvests is near, this is also the ideal time for waging war - the worst of the summer heat is gone, but winter is still a long way off. There are also less innocent benefits: This is the peak time of year trade and agriculture, and now is the perfect time to move, for captains relish the idea of taking a new territory just in time to collect the proceeds of the last year's labor. Or, if plunder or captives are what one is after, the roads are busy and the fields and forests filled with those who venture out to make a living.<br/><br/>No-one expected the small riverside city-state of Saramati to try and expand this year, not even their own Queen. Built within the solid stone walls of a once-mighty fortress-temple of Centrius, they have long maintained only enough guards to protect caravans and river traffic, allowing the surrounding towns and villages to do as they wished, confident that the city itself was unassailable and that domination was unnecessary so long as trade flourished.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, there has been a string of crop failures in the grasslands to the west due to bad weather and strife. The people there have barely enough to sustain themselves: prices have skyrocketed and many refuse to sell food at any price. There have been delays in river traffic, and now, without warning, the relatively peaceful valley of Delium has boldly declared that they are under new rulership and no food will be forthcoming unless Saramati promises him a massive tribute and control of half of it's outlying farmland. Caught off guard by this rapid succession of disasters, the populous city's food stores are running perilously low already, but the Queen hasn't the soldiers to spare to move against the Southwest. Attempts have been made to trade with the villagers of Delium directly and conduct trade under the noses of Karun the Red and his soldiers, but the outlying farms which he doesn't have a grip on are under perpetual siege from the "Shining Gullet warband", a collection of zealots who devour all they find, and any merchants who would seek to travel there must contend with the Black Silk Crew, a company of thieves and brigands who make use of necromancy and other strange magic to prey upon any who would brave the roads with a cartload of valuables.<br/><br/>And so, any available mercenaries are being gathered. This interruption of the city's second vital source of imports has caught everyone off guard, and so most of these swords (and jaws) for hire are still mustering. Only one company was, by coincidence, ready to move immediately - a small and inexperienced force, but led by warriors with great potential. The captain of the guard, himself rather new to command, hired them immediately and hustled them off towards Delium with no real plan and no support. He was primarily concerned with being able to announce as soon as possible that troops were marching out to retake the valley of Delium and restore the food shipments, to quiet the rising tide of discontent. The Captain, the Queen, and all of Saramati's other leaders know that within a month, "disappearances" are going to skyrocket if something isn't done.<br/><br/>Although the three factions threatening trade (the Shining Gullet, the Black Silk Crew, and Karun the Red's dominion) don't care for one another in the least, scouts report that they aren't actively engaging one another either. Sadly, it appears that they aren't going to destroy eachother, at least not soon enough to save Saramati from anarchy: Karun has left the southern third of the valley to the barbaric Shining Gullet while he consolidates power.<br/><br/>Apparently, the Shining Gullet are mainly targeting the common folk. They care more about filling their bellies than anything, and the farmers and herders of valley are the most plentiful and accessible targets. Most of the commoners despise the Shining Gullet, since so many of their friends and neighbors have been devoured by them, but unfortunately, as the people become more desperate and predatory, the Gullet has a growing trickle of new recruits. Karun's forces mostly ignore them for now, unless they come too close to Delium itself.<br/><br/>The Black Silk Crew are 'chivalrous' thieves, or at least, they try to appear so. They are small in number and more interested in wealth and plunder than meals. Therefore, they generally target traveling merchants and the most prosperous farmers, redistributing some of the take to the destitute. Perhaps they believe they're doing good deeds, but it is also a fine strategy, buying them sympathy and assistance. Unlike the others, the leading merchant family of Saramati has put a price on all of them, especially their leader Ansarra.<br/><br/>Karun is generally disliked (though not nearly enough to spark revolt) among both the rich and poor. He seems to have a significant personal fortune and possibly backing by one of Saramati's neighboring city-states. Although he's claimed Delium, he seems mainly interested in using it as a weapon against Saramati and only guards as many farms as he needs to supply his troops, leaving the rest to fend for themselves. His force is disciplined and well-equipped, and taking him on immediately is probably not feasible without some outside support.<br/><br/>---------------------------<br/><br/>By this point, you have all known one another for about three weeks, enough time to be introduced and reasonably comfortable but not to know eachother's life stories or trust implicitly. Right now, you're on the road in a hilly country. You're only about five miles from Delium, but the roads are rough and dangerous, and with twoscore mercenaries besides yourselves, it will take at least two days to reach, assuming you didn't run into this 'red sorcerer' and his forces (or one of the other threats) before reaching the town itself. It's a little past noon, and your small force is slowly making their way forward, wary of ambush both by the bandits and by wild monsters.<br/><br/>There will be a fork in the winding dirt road soon. One leads to the southern part of the valley, heavily forested, more sparsely populated, and currently overrun by the Shining Gullet. The other one snakes its way north and then east, the road which the Black Silk Crew has been haunting most heavily. They're less aggressive though, and if you just want to slip past and get to Delium itself, you'd have a better chance going that way. You will soon have a decision to make.<br/><br/>(Now, as far as your little mercenary company goes: their race/class composition is up to you, but they aren't strong or experienced regardless of the particulars. If you prefer, I can describe them for you. By default, though, I'm assuming that about 1/3 each of the force is associated with one of the party members. Marrok will probably have some like-minded militia types who have fallen in with him (mainly furry and human), Saraphina the warlock will probably have some relatively shady friends (likely including a number of fellow tieflings), and Salana the runepriest might have some low-level adepts of Erthesia along with her. It's not hugely important, since almost all of the follower mercenaries will be low level minions and mostly remain in the background, but I'd like to get it hammered out now so I know how to describe them. As long as they're humanoids, you don't need to PM me for approval or anything; just go ahead and describe your 1/3 of the company.)