Bogged Down

"What are we doing out here?" There were four of them including Marian.  It had been two years since Marian had stumbled into Lork looking for work, she'd ditched her clothing that didn't fit and her swords that were never her style, and was now using the overly large mace I'd seen her with and a custom fit tunic with metal weave under the jacket and thick leather hide pants.  Most people had moved on from wearing traditional "armor" since magic and bullets tended to get by armor no problem, not Marian, she still believed armor should be worn, if only out of tradition.

"Because we are being paid Stuckey." They were in the middle of a bog, north of Lork in the middle of Red Hand territory.  The road they were traveling on horseback through was barely that, the bog had taken over most of the rotted wood that had been laid down for a path and so they were slogging through it at what felt like a snails pace.

"At least we have you here to remind us that Trotter is watching over us Marian, ever get tired of being his pet?" Trotter being kind to Marian had not been overlooked by the other mercs, most guessed it was because of a sexual relationship, Marian relaying this to me had such a look of disgust I didn't even need to ask.

"Stuckey I broke your jaw once for trying to sneak into my bed, do you want to me to do it again just because you can't learn to close it?" Stuckey was a loud mouth with a hair trigger temper. Marian was surprised he ever came back from any job he was sent on.  He tended to announce his presence well in advance of ever arriving and then immediately do the exact kind of thing you'd expect someone as stupid as him to do when he arrives somewhere. He also dressed flashy, bright red, Marian remarked that she always thought of him as a walking bullseye.  The other two mercs were new hires, supposedly seasoned warriors but Marian had heard that before and seen them cut down all the same, they weren't people until they proved themselves so she didn't remember who they were (not a hint or anything).

Stuckey kept his mouth shut and they kept slogging through the bog.  It was hot, since it was the middle of summer and the humidity combined with the smell made things almost unbearable. Marian appreciated the timing and location, because if it was screwing with the mercs it would be screwing with anyone who tried to assault them on their task and so it was as much of a boon as it was a bust. The job was supposed to be a simple escort, some lady was afraid of her uncle and wanted to migrate south to Ronerawth where she'd be safe.  Marian had done a variation of the work before a couple times previous, though both times they hadn't had to ride out to the ass end of nowhere to get the person to start the job, which was a strike against this particular job for being a normal kind of thing.

The arrived at the meeting point, a cross roads on a small island in the stinking awful bog.  Upon getting to firm ground Stuckey got off his horse and collapsed on the ground panting, griping about everything around them while they waited. Marian even let him sit and bitch for a bit, as he wasn't saying anything that they already all didn't feel anyway. Hours later the girl finally got there, she had an entire entourage with her including a horse drawn carriage.  Clearly she wasn't just some minor rich girl, but a job was just a job and the money was good so Marian tried to not let it bother her.

"You guys with Trotter?" That was the carriage driver asking, he was dressed for pomp that the locale really didn't support.

"Either we are or we're the worst bandits ever." Stuckey had a way with words Marian had to give that to him.

"Where's your carriage?"

"In the shop, sorry we were under the impression the client wanted to be secreted across the border, you can't secret anything in full pomp and circumstance." The carriage driver seemed to way it over and then the lady of the carriage emerged.  She looked like she was fifteen and sounded the same, she was dressed in an outfit that fit her carraige, completely unnesseccary and detrimental to the enviroment.  She was waving a small fan in front of her face as if to imply how put upon she was in the situation. Behind her servants started off loading very large chests.

"I was told I would have a full escort." Her voice spoke of priveledge and the heaviest lifting was the fan she waved in front of her face.

"You do have a full escort." She frowned at Marians reply, apparently a full escort was not four dirty mercenaries on horseback.

"How will you carry my stuff?"

"We won't, we carry you thats it, thats the deal, if you have any money take it, everything else is going to get left." The servants stopped and looked to their teenage leader for guidance, she harumphed and landed in the mud of the little island and started to pout.  Marian rolled her eyes to Stuckey and he and the other two mercs laughed a bit under their breath.

"Fine if you can't carry it we will, you were paid to escort you'll escort my carriage!" With that announcement she went back inside and her main servant looked at Marian with the contempt only priveledged servants seem to have for those who don't pamper rich ass all day.

"You heard the lady Stuckey." Marian angled her horse in the other direction to lead the doomed caravan and Stuckey swore under his breath and got on his own mount.

"You realize they'll probably easily track her down and murder her right?"

"We can only hope they leave some money for us after they do so Stuckey." And so the doomed caravan out of Dirge's Bog made their way to inevitible failure.  Yes I'm not even going to hide this behind some flowery language. No I probably couldn't make a single piece of coin telling stories.