Session 17 - Welcome to the War
General Summary
The next day, the party continues towards their distination at the war front, although it remains vague as to exactly where that will be.
They talk to a passing boatman to get a ride across, but end up deciding against it, since the price seemed to high, and the weather wasn't terrible.
As they traveled along the river, Vadim kept the party from getting stuck in the mud, which got worse over the course of the day due to the unusual fall heat.
After making some distance, in the evening, the party came across a camp. Some of the party wanted to sneak in with Vladimir's help, but Vladimir wasn't interested in putting himself at risk.
So as the party approached, they realized it was a Rover camp, and the guard went to get the leader; Sigurd Karlsson. Sigurd strong-armed the party into staying with them, saying "there were bandits in the woods" and keeping guards with them all night.
The next day, Hrefna and Sigurd played a cat and mouse game of secrets, both claiming they had messages to deliver to Rurik. Sigurd wanted to know the message, but Vladimir decided it wasn't worth the time, and felt the longer Hrefna talked with Sigurd, the more important information he seemed to be getting. So Vladimir explained that there wasn't any message, only an admission of guilt, and that he was leaving.
Hrefna apologized for Vladimir's foolish behavior, and followed the rest of the party. Vladimir explained that the party should avoid people as much as possible, since the party couldn't agree on who or what was an ally versus an enemy.
The party arrived at the border town of Perevolok, hoping to give Vladimir time to recover from his injury, and heading into town to get information about the war-front. Turns out, the battle didn't happen too far away, and they were willing to pay the party to bury the bodies of those who died in a mass grave.
The job became a rush job when some of the party realized that Prince Vladimir Sviatoslavovich's army was camping nearby, and Rurik was among them.
Rurik asked the party members who went to meet him - Hrefna and Vasilii, why they were here and what happened. They told the partial truth, including that Vladimir was waiting behind at a nearby hostel. Vladimir was dragged over to the Rurik, who met with him separaterly to ask him what happened. Vladimir mostly spilled the beans, explaining that the soldiers were quick to blame Hrefna unfairly, but the party was concerned that they might be blamed for the soldier's actions, and didn't want to return to Bychii Brod.
Rurik decided that he would let the party have 2 days to finish burying the bodies, then he would ask them to try to rescue the Prince, who was held prisoner by the forces of the Prince of Luzhinsk at Zarubets - the town just on the other side of the frontier, which Rurik was besieging. But since time was of the essence, everyone pitched in to finish the job. (And Vladimir didn't have time to recover his injury).
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