Episode 3: Public Relations
Reggio Perino’s first order of business was to maintain the illusion of being a successful mercenary and not down on his luck in the slightest. Entreating Juan Batista to patience and making warlike noises, Reggio dashed back to the tavern, where he espied a very dapper mercenary, almost after his own heart.
Just one look at that majestic plumage told Reggio all he needed to know. The halberdier and seven of his friends were hired, using almost the last of Reggio’s personal hoard of denars. They were quickly presented to Juan Batista as an honour guard, and Reggio assured his soon-to-be-highness that the company was following some distance behind so that their rank yet bellicose odour would not offend his excellency’s nostrils.
The party of 13 (lucky for some, Reggio hoped) trudged north into Laurian territory and the heart of the rebellion: Fearichen.
Reggio gave the people a rousing speech about past injustices, and promised revenge on those who oppressed the villagers and taken their scant money and possessions to finance their pointless wars. The idiot peasantry swallowed it whole, and provided the rebellion with its first volunteers: seven Laurian arquebusiers. Well, it was a start. But peasant levies wouldn’t win the war. For that, Reggio needed noble allies, preferably ones who were easily swayed by the promise of riches.
Tehlrog Castle was the first port of call, just south-west of the capital Nibelheim. It belonged to Lord Fruela, and things were not looking good from the off. It turned out that Reggio had never even met Lord Fruela, and the crotchety old goat refused to countenance any sort of rebellion against his natural liege.
With his stubble set in a manly frown, Fruela sent Reggio packing. He paid him back by visiting Fruela’s holdings nearby and recruiting volunteers to Juan Batista’s cause, and – undeterred – continued westward. At Hrus Castle, he met Lord Cordoba, who he was passing familiar with and had saved in battle once or twice.
The ginger conquistador idiot was entirely ungrateful, however, and denounced Reggio as an inconstant traitor. Reggio had to agree – he was a mercenary, after all – and appealed unsuccessfully to Cordoba’s baser nature. Promises of wealth to come did not sway Cordoba, who loudly proclaimed that he preferred the bastard he knew to the bastard he didn’t. Reggio personally thought this was a bit off, considering Juan Batista was standing in front of him at the time. It was looking like Reggio’s best bet may even be to ask for help from Queen Imelda herself, as she still seemed to hold a soft spot for him despite his betrayal. The abandoning bitch.
The putative rebellion continued westwards, into the borderlands of the Laurian kingdom. At Curin Castle, things finally started to go right.
Reggio requested a meeting with the two lords currently at the castle, Theobald and Francis.
Although Theobald’s strange helmet disconcerted Reggio at first…
Both were good sorts, men after his own heart. They both professed to having heard the arguments he’d used previously and been convinced by them, as they were very much in favour of profiting from this civil war. Declaring that they would both be able to commission life-size golden statues of themselves once they’d melted down Imelda’s throne for scrap, Reggio easily convinced both men to join the cause. Containing his jubilance that chaos and vengeance were finally taking shape, he ordered Theobald and his curious headgear to join him while Francis and his men would garrison Curin Castle. With his new troops in tow, Reggio set out to the north, towards the city of Tihr, where he was unpleasantly surprised.
Lord Pelayo, seneschal of the city of Tihr, with 150 men at his back. Having flashbacks to the battle prior to his capture, Reggio rode forward to greet Pelayo.
His lordship was animated and apparently eager to grind Reggio’s band into the dirt, but Reggio knew Pelayo of old, and knew of his avarice. His lordship proved astonishingly susceptible to promises of bribery, and agreed to join the rebellion, bringing Tihr and its sizeable garrison into the fold as well.
Reggio Perino surveyed the lands that now formed the core of the rebellion and smiled. From little acorns great serpents could grow.
Or something.