Radiant Cross Hospital

Savan took Pelfor to an empty cell in the chapter house, sitting him down on a chair in the middle of the small room. "Right then, you wait right here while I get some lads who will accompany us to the red's lair." Savan then left the cell, locking it on his way out and went to find some more Gauntlets to form a small group.

Savan's recruiting efforts were rewarded by the presence of twelve full Gauntlet knights, all ready for action in their armour, in the middle of blackening them with soot. A burly knight caught sight of the retainer, and dropped the small battering ram he was carrying to speak with the younger man.

Right then lad, I'm Rodrick. Y'know how this works, right? My men'll listen to your plan, but if you piss us about, I'm taking charge, and you are leaving the order.

The knight gestured to a rack of equipment behind him.

What kit d'you want grabbing?

[OOC: Centurion established that, seeing as we are designed for city-fighting, you can see a lot of modern-ish tactics, like entry methods with shields and crossbows, so you can be imaginitive, just not game-breaking. I like to think that the small nature of the Gauntlet means we are fairly innovative in warfare]

"Everyone in mail and boiled leather, we don't want to look a threat from afar, as our plate will surely do. Crossbows, shields, and your own pick of a sidearm and dagger. We're going to have the weasel lead us to the red camp and then we're going to surprise them. I wreckon if we can take out the outside guards simultaneously we could get inside undetected, and then we can stealthily sweep the building. If we get caught, well, we're highly trained and can beat a few slavers." Savan looked at his team, waiting for input from Rodrick.

Rodrick nodded approvingly at Savan's orders, glancing round at his men to add to the retainer's orders.

Grab some clubs, men. We have to take some of them alive.

While the assembled party ran off to comply, Rodrick pulled a small object from a satchel hanging by his side, and slipped it onto his right hand. Wiggling his fingers, he grinned at Savan.

Me, I got my own methods.

"and who am I to question them?" Savan said, smiling. While the men were grabbing their gear, Savan got out of his full plate, leaving his black steel chainmail on. He grabbed a boiled leather jerkin and wore it over his chainmail, making sure that the "skirt" of the jerkin covered his chainmail. He only had mail showing on his arms now, but he viewed it as acceptable. He replaced his Morion helm with a mail coif and then a hood over the top of it, so he was still somewhat protected from blows to the head. Now, the weapons. Savan slung as crossbow over his back, with a bolt ready loaded. From his right hip hung a morningstar and a dagger for close quarters, and from his left hip hung a bag of bolts for his crossbow. Lastly, Savan attatched a buckler shield to his left hip, as a full gauntlet shield would definately give them away. He then went to his prisoner, opening the cell, looking the man up and down. "Ready to go?" He asked, though it was rhetorical, as Savan pulled the man up and tried to march him out of the cell.

Reluctantly Pelfor let himself be dragged along. In the courtyard the other knights were waiting, dressed in boiled leather and padded cloth above their chainmails.

Shall we go? asked Rodrick.

"Indeed, I am eager to be rid of these reds, though I believe we will need to wait out nearby until nightfall, where we can descend upon them under cover of darkness." Savan pushed his captive into the group of gaunlets, and unslung his crossbow. "Try to run or warn your...friends, and i'll put a bolt in you." He stated matter of factly, as the group got ready to set off.

They waited until nightfall and then set off towards the lower city. When they neared another corner Rodrick held Savan by the arm and pointed ahead.

Someone is coming, there, he warned him, most likely a city watch patrol.

In fact steps and the flicker of some torches could be perceived approaching.

"Try and hide, lads. Crossbows at the ready, if they're hostile I want them out of the way quickly and without much hassle." Savan said, keeping his voice quiet but loud enough for those next to him to hear. He looked for a place to hide, an alleyway or behind a crate, anywhere.

Savan let out a breath and patted Pelfor on the back approvingly. "Good lad" he murmured as he stepped out of the alley, checking both sides for anyone else. "Alright boys, let's move." Savan exclaimed, continuing under Pelfor's lead.

Savan unslung his crossbow from his back, checking to make sure a bolt was loaded before doing anything else. "Alright lads, in teams of two. Rodrick, with me, if it please you." Savan ordered, as he climbed down into the darkness.

They descended into the darkness of the shaft, one team after the other. The knight who went with Pelfor sent him in before himself, saying: If you do anything stupid I'll let myself fall and use you as a cushion down there.

The shaft itself was made of mortared bricks, but ended suddenly in the ceiling of a small natural cavern, which was, however, not too high to just let oneself fall when clinging to the last rung. When Savan landed on the floor Rodrick just pointed silently at something lying in a corner of the room, lighting it with the torch he carried.

Among some roughly carpentered furniture - a table and some stools - lay a dead man in reddish leather armour, a crossbow bolt sticking from his forehead.

Savan frowned at the sight of the body, walking over to it. He crouched down and searched the dead man for clue as to what had happened. "Look around, boys. Might be we can find something useful."

Savan read the note and paused. "Looks like someone beat us here." Savan said distastefully, before looking at his assorted me. He looked at Pelfor, making sure he had the Red's attention. "Do you know which way we should go?" he asked his captive in a pleasant enough tone.

Pelfor stared at the dead man. He... he should not be dead, he stammered. Only then did he seem to perceive Savan's question.
I don't know. I'm just the contact for the tavern. There is a bigger vault to the right and a number of smaller ones to the left. These are all natural caverns and most are connected somehow. We might even go right and reach the left caverns from the other side...

"Okay then. Pelfor, you come with me. Lads, split up into two groups and we'll have both tunnels explored." Savan bellowed the order and turned to go into the left caverns, rationalising that something as valuable as Noldor scripture would not be stored in a large vault.

Savan looked puzzled for a moment, before giving an order to his men. "Search the bodies for clues as to what happened here." Savan ordered, pondering the corpses.

The search yielded little. The men wore no badges or any other hints at whom they had sworn loyalty or why they had fought or died. The only thing they found was that the man killed by the crossbow bolt was still clutching a piece of parchment in his hand. While Pelfor had gone completely pale and stood petrified where he entered the room, they wriggled the parchment out of the dead man's cold hand and examined the scrawled message.

It was only half finished as it seemed. Perhaps the man had been shot while writing it. It said: Brought everything to the deep v...

Savan read the note, before turning to Pelfor. "Deep vault, ring any bells?" He asked, clutching the parchment in his right hand, throwing his arms aside to gesture the question.

They are deeper... deeper below, Pelfor managed to say, eyes fixed on the dead in disbelief. Entrance is in the great vault.

Savan sighed. "Looks like we go back and catch up with the other team, lads. The documents are in the deep vaults" Savan bellowed, turning around and heading back to the open room with the two passageways.