Chapter 1 - Summer

As the stallion's hooves clop on the wood of the watermill's bridge, Elaine is briefly distracted by the calls of encouragement from her companions. It is decidedly nice. She doesn't need the reassurance as her knowledge of her own abilities or lack thereof does not shake her confidence, but somehow the fellow Coats manage to be inspiring. Eagerness that she lacks, perhaps? And to add, it is very curious to hear a quote of Makesphere's in these circumstances. A truly great author - although in her humble opinion, Roland & Jillian is an overrated play.

The last stretch of distance to the road is covered by a mighty leap by the horse - unprompted, she must say, - a few spooked farmers and a rough landing which almost results in Elaine launching out of the saddle. A rather risky maneuver, considering absolute chaos currently happening to and around the carriage, but surprisingly effective. She momentary holds her breath as her mount sharply turns and neighs at the highwaymen's horses - if she didn't know better, Elaine would say that the horse is enjoying this whole ordeal.

Once she restores her bearings and wisely decides that involving herself in a battle would be the least effective action she could take, Elaine instead urges the stallion to get closer to the carriage and gallop alongside it. With the highwaymen distracted by both the vehicle's shaky movement and Aloys's duel with one of theirs, it is just enough cover for her to get level with the carriage window and attract attention of the baron.

"Your Lordship!" She calls to the man, trying to seem very much in control of situation, all the while silently wishing for the bandits to be too afraid to reload their weapons. "You are from Strif, correct? Strif vehicles always have a fail-safe! Or a fatal flaw, depending on who you ask, but it is neither here nor-" The carriage weaves, and Elaine hurriedly gets to the point: "I need you to hit the floor as hard as you can when I tell you! Trust me, monsieur, I ask you by the name of de Valien!"

Whether the baron heard her or not, Elaine then tries to make her horse speed up and draws her blade. There is a story behind how she discovered this particular weakness of Strif-made vehicles, actually - a story which involved a family trip, drunk Ludovic and her own unquenchable interest in experimentation; and it's not something someone who doesn't ride in carriages or drive them often would know, so it has element of surprise. But if the carriage is not from Strif, or if it is a newer model, or if the highwaymen actually knew of it... "Let's see if this works," she murmurs dejectedly, and then yells "Now, Baron!" while striking with her blade at the splinter bar. If she is correct, then physics will do the rest, dislodging the frame...

Elaine ~ The red faced baron clings to his seat inside the carriage. He nods enthusiastically at your shouted instructions. As you shout "Now, Baron," he shuts his eyes, makes the sign of the clock and throws his considerable weight on the floor of the carriage compartment.

A sharp *CRACK* and the doubly reinforced frame (implemented out of paranoia surrounding clockwork infernal devices) gives.

The floor falls out. The carriage continues speeding along into the forest, sans occupant, floor, and seating. The highwaymen are too distracted from trying to cling to the carriage, or, in the case of the driver, regain control, that they don't even seem to notice what has transpired.

---

The baron lays belly down in the middle of the road. The dust of the chase settles around him. He looks up with anger in his eyes.


Baron Gauthier Regnard

"This is an OUT-rage!" He pushes the carriage seat off his back. "Banditry--KIDNAPPING!--on a royal road! Shame on the queen and her house if she cannot protect her realm!"

The Baron climbs to his feet, dusting himself off, and looking around at the scene.

What does he see? What are you each doing? Surely it won't be long 'fore the bandits notice they no longer transport the baron!

"Oh no!" Aloys shouts as his blade flies out of his hand, a look of pure anger spreading across his face. "Do you know how expensive that blade was, you motherless bastard!"

It was at that moment that there was the sudden crash from up ahead, a plume of dust rising out from the seat as the baron came out from the bottom of the carriage like a newborn baby boy. The distraction had caused Aloys to rear back on his horse, his assailant eagerly galloping away with their momentary victory. Turning his horse around, he would move back towards the road where his sword sat sticking out of the dirt. With a face flushed red from embarrassment, he would pluck it out of the ground and turn around to join the others.

The brown-spotted mare trots up with a small man upon hit, his face red with sweat and embarassment as he desperately tries to clean the mud and gunk off of it with the bottom tip of his coat. Looking down at the Baron, he would hop off of his horse and sweep a hand through the messy array of red hair upon it.

"Our deepest apologies, my lord. For your dignity, we shall find out where they are laired and cut them down." His voice is soft and light, betraying his young age. He offers a hand to the nobleman and, regardless if his hand was taken or not, does his best to dislodge any other dirt that sullies his person. "We cannot wait here for too long, however. Your would-be kidnappers are likely going to soon learn of your brilliant escape."

Aloys ~ The baron scrunches his face at you--a look of disdain that says would this peasant dare touch me?!

---

Baron Regnard looks Aloys up and down, squinting, pulls a kerchief from his sleeve and blots at his forehead. Then speaks to Aloys.




"What is this? What are you? A child? No wonder this realm is in such disrepair. What say you boy; were you milking your father's cow but a week past?"






The baron chuckles to himself as he looks about at the other Gold Coats. He then squints down the road at the still speeding highwaymen--they've now reached the forest and are soon to be out of sight beyond its foliage.

Aloys ponders the question posed by the Baron for just a moment, his face consternated a degree as he thought it over.

"Not one for the countryside, my lord, though the women out here are much heartier than back in the cities. Everything seems bigger out here." The subtle jab was hidden behind a well-intentioned smile, as he turns towards the others. "Should we escort the good baron back to his home or pursue? What do you all think?"

Elaina struggles to halt her horse from following the carriage, the stallion clearly getting invested in the chase, but after some efforts she finally managed to turn him around and return to where Aloys and the baron are conversing - even if this exchange doesn't exactly fit the term's polite connotations.

"Are you alright, Your Lordship?" She doesn't dismount, as her dignity wouldn't survive trying to climb a house in full view of the others later, and instead opts for offering him a polite half-bow straight from the horseback. Simultaneously she tries to discreetly wipe away her own sweat and straighten her golden scarf, mitigating her disheveled appearance - only until the bandits appear again, probably, but she can't just ignore it. Maybe she should start wearing a ponytail, then her hair wouldn't be such a mess each time...

She winces at hearing Regnard's comment about Aloys; honestly, Elaine knows by heart that most of the nobles are rather unnecessarily rude and unfair, but does he have to immediately insult the people who saved him? The absolute gall and lack of self-preservation! He certainly could take some lessons from the old tales of knighthood, and at least try to pretend to be thankful.

"Would you like us to escort you back to your entourage?" Elaina finally questions, her tone carefully neutral. "It would be unwise to stay here for much longer."

Issac gives a shout and raises his fist in the air, as he sees the carriage break, the baron drop, and the bandits continuing steadfastly on. He then quickly places that fist back on the reins to regain control of the horse. Trotting slowly up towards the group, his eyes narrow as he overhears how the baron speaks to Aloys.

Giving the Baron a cold smile "A keen eye Aloys. Given the Baron's heft, I think it best he gets his own horse, easier to hold the weight. Elaine or I could hop on with you or Sans and we all head back to drop Sir Regnard off.

Issac generally had no issue with assisting the Gold Coats, but his help stopped at feigning pleasantries at those who disrespected his team.

Sans Visage turns his horse around, having witnessed the amazing Baron drop.

He covers the short distance to regroup with the others, staying mounted and closing a circle of sorts around the Baron. He scans in the distance the edge of the forest, expecting the kidnappers to come back charging.
He will however avoid to address the Baron, knowing full well that his looks are not the most favourable to a conversation.

He answers Aloys speaking softly, "Might be worth figuring out what the Baron's intended destination was. And we must look for cover quick, I didn't like the look of those crossbows..."

Aloys ~ Still fussing with his garb, Baron Regnard misses the barb you've slung at him.

Elaine - Perhaps it's your manner and way of speaking but the baron responds to you more favorably.



"Your stunt could have killed me...But yes, I seem to be no worse for wear, as your luck would have it."

"You will take me back to my inn at once" He points south down the road. "Back where we came from. I shall also need a new valet, as my previous one was murdered."

"The useless slob..." he mutters.

---

Issac ~ The baron narrows his eyes at your comment on his "heft."

Sans ~ As you ride back to group gathered in the middle of the dusty road, the baron looks up at you in wide-eyed surprise.



"God in a Gear man, your face!" He seems to be getting agitated looking at Sans.

"The Queen's lackeys have stooped to hiring criminals I see." He says this at a volume for anyone to hear though clearly was speaking to himself.



You all can hear shouting coming from the wood--it's likely the bandits have discovered the "escape".

"I am sorry my countenance offends your aesthetics, Baron. Perhaps your Lordship prefers masks, like the ones his kidnappers were wearing," he says, leading the horse half a step away as a subtle hint that they could just... leave him there.

He then turns to the others. "Those ruffians were armed with crossbows, I suggest we get going, we need to find cover from their bolts at once."
Responding to Issac, he adds, "Ride with me, Issac. The Baron can take your horse."
He removes his foot from the stirrup on Issac's side to facilitate the climb, and offers his hand to his fellow Gold Coat.

Before dismounting, Issac leans in to whisper in the horse's ear, "I might hate you horse, but I feel pity for you at what's to come. Good luck."

He walks over to Sans and grabs his hand, "Appreciate it Sans." He still has some trouble keeping eyes on his fellow Gold Coat. During his performing days they would be mixed in with artists known as monstres de cirque, with some of those performers having grotesque or odd features as a selling point to wow and awe the crowd. But Sans certainly seemed a cut (no pun intended) above the rest. He had heard of newfound, scientific innovations in the bigger cities that were doing some miraculous things, and Issac wondered if it might be worth bringing up to Sans at some point.

In the meantime, they needed to exit stage left quickly, or they would all need miracles from the bandits' crossbow bolts aiming true.

Begrudgingly, the baron acknowledges the Gold Coats' plan.

He walks with a hitching step over to the horse Issac left for him. He takes the reigns and goes to mount. The horse sidesteps away several times before the baron is able to mount, grumbling in frustration.

He sits mounted, awaiting the Gold Coats direction--again, begrudgingly.

"C'mon then, get!" Aloys says, smacking the baron's horse on the rear firmly enough to get it moving without causing the large man to tumble and fall. Much like Isaac, he had no intention on making the horse suffer any further harm than it had to once more. The young Gold Coat keeps an eye behind them, looking out for further dangers.

Leaving the Baron's horse a small advantage, Sans sends his own horse after it. Come on, old boy, still some work to do, then it's back to your plough, I promise...

He rides with Issac, casting glances behind them to monitor their pursuers. "Let's form a rear guard, Musketeers! The ruffians will have to go through us before they can get to their target once more!"

"Best to make it a wide net Musketeers, as the target is quite grand! Look sharp and cut quick!". Issac looks at Sans and give him a nod, then draws out his rapier with one hand, gripping Sans shoulder with the other.

~ Queen's Road, North -- Late Morning ~
The party rides south at a nice clip. The baron keeps an angry face, watching his hands on reigns the whole time.

---

The camera zooms back to the forest's edge. Two riders sit their horses, watching the Gold Coats ride south. They know it's useless to give chase now. One of the riders pulls his black mask down...
"Well...we ain't gettin' paid...Send a rider north. Tell 'em."





Meanwhile ~

The grasslands of The Heart district spread out from the rode, in either direction. A distant speck in the sky floats above the horizon--an airship. Can you just hear the hum of its gears from the roadway?



The ride back to the roadside inn seems longer, now that you're not in a pell-mell chase. After a quarter turn of the clock you arrive at the inn.



A group is gathered round the front of the inn's stable. It includes a knot of the Queen's Patrol--common guards folk.


A Queen's Guard.

From your horseback vantage anyone one of you'd be able to see the crowd is gathered round a prone man.

The baron sighs at the sight...
"Oh yes...my valet."

---

What do you all do? What do you feel or think. Aloys, what is a unique feature of the roadside inn you notice?