We Talked with Murtlley

Ennan Murtley is a quietly spoken, meek man who seems to be in complete control of the matters he's been handed.  His works for the Viscount of Fornan Bay, Donal Albury, who has been working with the Earl for several years now to support the growth of population that has been expanding southwards.

I was given a quick run-down of the history by Murtley when he realised I was so new in this land I knew absolutely nothing of the history of the Hznaman here.  Hundreds of years ago this land went to war against the kingdoms of the south.  More than once, as it happened, but the result of the fighting, which this land (Caldonacia) did badly.  The end result was a contraction of the population of Caldonacia, and an abandoning of the southern lands where the fighting was pretty heavy.  But it's been many years since the wars, and people have recovered in numbers somewhat.

Over the last generation, though, there have been a slow return to the lands that were known as Southern Caldonacia.  One of the things the Earl of Rhandan has been dealing with is the extension of the King's protection to this area, and he's been taking it easy as it involves both the imposition of law and order, and the imposition of taxation.  It all gets a bit political from this point, and I must admit I didn't perhaps pay as much attention as I could have as it was a bit dull, but the bottom line appears to be that the arrival of the Kings Guard was resisted before, until the lawlessness became a real issue.  I think he said that the larger settlements are desperate for protection, but the smaller places are still very happy slipping under the government radar.

The immediate problem that has developed is that some of the smaller settlements have suddenly become a target for bandits.  In one region, south and west of Loudman, there has been a marked increase in the number of refugees arriving at Loudman.  The Viscounts of Sparren Marsh and Fornan Bay have been asked to pick the matter up - the correct solution is to send in the Kings Guard, which is a solution that will be in progress when the go-ahead from Carlow (the capital of Caldonacia) is received.  In the meantime, the Viscount and the Earl have been considering hiring in mercenary help to sort these bandits out.

Of course, the details of even this plan haven't been agreed yet - but Murtley was quite candid with us - it would do no harm for a group of free-spirited mercenaries to go to this region deal with any banditry and take their reward from the stash built up by the bandits themselves.  I'm pretty sure Elenhugh's eyes lit up in gold at this point.  We asked for a simple map showing where the bandit raids have been happening, a list of the settlements that have been raided recently, and for any pertinent information about the bandits themselves.  Murtley handed over a couple of scrolls.

Later, after we'd retired to the common room in our inn, I wanted to know why Elenhugh was so keen to take on a mission like this with very little information.  He told me that the region of land to the south of Loudman was a gathering point for overland caravans that were headed south to Hebria.  This place was well guarded, and there was safety in numbers - but once the caravans leave their is much less protection.  The guys we bumped into a day or so ago mentioned that there had been some caravans attacked.  He was surprised that I, as an investigator, didn't pick up on this.  I had - I recalled it quite plainly - but I didn't understand what they had meant by the term 'caravan' in relation to this land south of Loudman.

Anyway, it looks like these bandits could be well off.  And they're probably well hidden.  We could do very well, financially, by finding out where some of them live and where they keep their treasure and helping the locals to deal with both of these matters.  We need to spend tomorrow preparing for this journey - this is the last city we'll be in before we go to Loudman, and we might not be able to get all we need once we're there.