RuneScape Forum Archive | The Roads We Must Travel

NotFishing

Posts: 16,946 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Harry Richard

Externally calm, Harry took off his hat, pulled a chair out from a nearby table, and sat down. Her reaction wasn't quite what he had been expecting, and he was somewhat wary this was a trap, but he couldn't cut straight to a confrontation if there was a chance that she truly was innocent.

Her calmness about the whole thing was certainly unusual, though it was possible that she was just a bit quirky. Either way, he wasn't going to let it affect him, and instead maintained his composure. "All of them?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. He picked up a salt shaker and glanced down at it. "What happened?" Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

08-Oct-2018 02:56:49 - Last edited on 08-Oct-2018 02:58:16 by NotFishing

Inferi

Posts: 35,939 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Outpost Tavern

“

Not really sure.

” she said, shrugging. “

Heard some noises from up at the barracks a while ago, and the few soldiers still in here seemed to think it was combat. They left to go up there, but told everyone here that we should probably leave. Everyone else did, including all the staff, but I don’t really see any reason to be concerned. There wasn’t much else, really. The sounds of combat, if that’s what they were, stopped not too long after everyone left, and there hasn’t been anything out of there since. Hmm...that was about when that other girl showed up, too.

”

Slurping up another spoonful of stew, which essentially finished the bowl, she pushed it back and leaned back in the chair with a sigh. “

If you really wanted something to eat, you could probably just take it. I’m not for that, but it’s not like I’m going to be stopping you if you want to. All the staff left with whoever was here, and I doubt they’ll be back for a while.

” she told Harry. Done in by the dubious doings of destiny.

08-Oct-2018 03:10:59

Jul

2011

Annie1227

Posts: 51,224 Emerald Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Annie listened what the young lady told her told about her leg. She felt bad for her but,proud of her to get help. She follows the group outside, ready to leave and she listened to what the others was saying. She said with a smile," I am definitely going on this trip. I know martial arts, survival skills, and shoot a gun all my life. I agree with Corporal Isaac Hallow about introductions so we can work together. It's really nice to meet you Corporal Isaac Hallow, My name is Annie Wells." -Dances-

08-Oct-2018 04:45:28 - Last edited on 08-Oct-2018 05:39:51 by Annie1227

NotFishing

Posts: 16,946 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Harry Richard

Harry took a few moments to consider what she had said. So the attack had already happened, but it seemed to only have been concentrated around the barracks, while the other buildings were more or less untouched. He had noticed no bullet marks or chips on the barracks itself, but then again, it could have been too dark to make out such things.

"So combat isn't anything to be concerned about?" he asked drily. "Anyway, who is this other girl you're talking about?" Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

08-Oct-2018 15:11:16

Inferi

Posts: 35,939 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“

Not when there’s no reason it should affect me.

” she replied. “

Think about it. If this was some kind of bandit raid, they would have hit the place where there’s nobody to immediately defend so that they can grab what they wanted and run. For someone to attack the barracks of an outpost like that and then not immediately come outside and go after the place where the money, food, and everything else is, they must not care about it. Therefore, I should be perfectly fine because I’m not what they want.

”

Whether or not there was any truth or logic to what she was saying, she sounded very sure of her own reasoning. This was spoiled a bit, though, by her next comment of, “

I’m also really hungry, and I hate eating while on the road.

”

As for his other question, the answer he got probably didn’t tell him much.

“

Someone else who showed up a little after whatever happened up there. She was either young or short, not sure which, and she had a lot of swords. Went straight for the barracks, and is still up there, just like everyone else. Well, at least as far as I know.

” Done in by the dubious doings of destiny.

08-Oct-2018 17:41:59 - Last edited on 08-Oct-2018 17:42:44 by Inferi

NotFishing

Posts: 16,946 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Harry Richard

Harry frowned. Either this woman was lying to him, or she wasn't nearly as smart as she thought she was. "Or, they'll hit the outpost first to take out the guards before they see what's coming, leaving them free to scour the rest of the place for everything they want, instead of having to grab stuff in a hurry. Alternatively, even if the outpost was their main goal, that doesn't mean it's the only one. What if they decide to do a bit of looting afterward?"

He glanced at the window, and then looked back at her. "So, how many soldiers would you say were at the outpost, and how long ago did this happen?" Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

08-Oct-2018 17:54:31 - Last edited on 08-Oct-2018 17:58:14 by NotFishing

Inferi

Posts: 35,939 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“

Nah, they would have been out here already if they cared about looting.

” she said with a dismissive shrug. “

It’s been over an hour, after all. That building doesn’t look big enough for whoever it is to take that long to search. I think there’s usually around nine or ten soldiers stationed here usually, so there’s certainly enough of whoever invaded to search quickly. There was too much commotion for it to be a silent slaughter, which means they had to have a reasonable amount of people come in.

”.

Pulling one of the notepads in her pack - one that seemed to have quite a bit already written throughout the pages - she placed it on the table, withdrew a pen, and started writing from where the words left off. It didn’t look like she was trying to ignore Harry, but this was clearly the priority right now. Done in by the dubious doings of destiny.

08-Oct-2018 18:48:36

NotFishing

Posts: 16,946 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Harry Richard

Harry frowned. Either this woman was an idiot, or she was lying to him. Maybe she could say she was safe now , but at the time of the attack there was no such guarantee. Her right to say she made the rational decision depended entirely on hindsight.

Either way, he wasn't going to call her on her bluff, nor was he going to continue questioning her. "Well, there's nobody here, and I don't want to risk whoever did this coming back, so I think I'll just hit the road and be on my way."

And with that, he stood and exited the building, heading down the path leading outside.

Except he wasn't actually leaving. Once he was out of view from the inn's front windows, he broke off the path and began jogging around the outpost, circling back around to the rear. Once again, he climbed the hill to where his horse was waiting, and snuck back around the main barracks. This time, he approached the door itself, and opened it. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

09-Oct-2018 04:05:49

Inferi

Posts: 35,939 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Outpost - Barracks

“

Probably the smart thing to do.

” she replied, not looking up from what she was writing. “

I wouldn’t want to risk something like that if I were you, either. Hope you have a better rest of your trip than the stop here.

”

As one would expect, she made no motion to get up and follow him, and didn’t even seem to bother watching as he left through the door.

Like before, there was still no movement around the outpost, and his movements back to the front door appeared to go unnoticed. The door itself actually opened easily, although it did make a rather loud creaking noise as it did. While the noise wasn’t enough to be heard in any of the other buildings, it would certainly alert someone inside that the door was opening.

Fortunately for Harry, it looked as though there was nobody to intercept him. The room that the door opened into looked like a rather standard entrance hall, with benches against the walls on either side. There were four in total, the pairs on each side separated by doors that led into rooms on both sides of the hallway. Both doors were open. The walls themselves were bare, and there was an older rug laid down in the center area of the floor.

The area was lit by somewhat modern lights on the walls, showing that this building, although older from the outside, was wired up more modern than it appeared. With the light, it was clear to notice the three bodies on the floor. One of them was dressed in the military uniform of Tias, those that owned this outpost, while the other two seemed to be attired in something similar to what those Harry had fought back at the Inn had worn. All three were clearly dead. Done in by the dubious doings of destiny.

09-Oct-2018 16:43:31

NotFishing

Posts: 16,946 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Harry Richard

Bodies.

Harry pulled out his shotgun. Though the attack had happened an hour ago, there was no guarantee that the outpost was empty. There could be survivors, or the attackers might still be here.

Now might have been a good time to leave. All he had offered was to ride ahead and issue a warning, but the warning came too late. It would be a simple enough matter to ride back and tell the group that the attack had already happened.

But now he was curious. Who were these people, and why did they insist on attacking outposts in what was effectively neutral gr-

Oh no.

The gears had begun to turn in his head. He vaguely recalled hearing news about the growing tensions between countries. And now, attacks against outposts? By soldiers who were clearly professional? That could easily escalate into full scale war. The fact that the attackers didn't have the mark of any country was irrelevant - Tias would just assume that the attack was committed by its neighbor, and its neighbor would instead assume that this was an attempt by another country to frame it.

Either that, or this outpost was unique and secretly held something of immense value.

But the former seemed much more likely. The question was: who stood to gain from this? Arms dealers and weapon manufacturers, no doubt. Or other nations who wished to see potential rivals weaken each other with pointless wars. A conspiracy theorist might even conclude that Tias was behind the attacks, in order to give themselves a valid excuse to go to war with or demand trade concessions from whoever they saw fit to blame.

He wasn't going to turn back just yet. Instead he walked into the middle of the room and quickly glanced through both doors, swiveling his gun left and right. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

10-Oct-2018 08:53:22 - Last edited on 10-Oct-2018 10:41:56 by NotFishing

Forums

The Roads We Must Travel