Finn rolls an 8. “These people don’t look desperate enough to see the Covenant as a great option. I suggest we move on north”
Hamish nods.
"Probably best to sleep rough tonight and save our coin."
If you camp close to the village, or in the village, the fishermen turn up in the morning offering to sell you fresh fish. The price is very reasonable given what you have come to expect over the last year. They had a good catch in the nets that they pulled at dawn.
On the way to Workington, you meet the vicar and a couple of well-dressed peasants on their way to the announced auction.
Workington looks rather different from Whitehaven. The harbour is smaller, but there is a church, centrally placed, overlooking the harbour. There are fewer and smaller boats too. There is also a dominant manor house on the upside of the village, larger than any building in Whitehaven. The other buildings are rather uniform cottages. Whitehaven had more variation of smaller and larger cottages.
[Feel free to interact where you please, or head on to Carlisle. Even backtrack to stay for the auction if you want to, It would only change the second paragraph about whom you meet.]
"On the way back, perhaps I should try and meet this Hagard. If he's a landowner, he is probably someone the masters don't want upsetting, and either knows how to use land productively or employs someone who does. Workington looks more like your ordinary place ruled by a lord of the manor."
"People inland seemed to be suffering more. Probably because battles don't usually cause them to have less fish, whereas a farmer's field is more vulnerable."
(Leofric rolled an 11 on the Folk Ken.)
Hamish nods.
"Likely a better place to recruit. Maybe we head on to Carlisle and come back this way on our return trip."
"And there is likely a greater need for my services there, so I will join you, if you don't mind," says Leofric.
The group heads on to Carlisle, arriving in the afternoon the third day on the road¹. You pass through a graveyard just outside of the city. There are almost two score graves which seem to have been dug during this last Winter. The city itself has a wooden palisade. The cathedral too is wooden, and nothing like the grand stone construction to come in a century or two, but you know that it is supposed to house a bishop, so it is a cathedral.
Peasants are passing through the gate, returning from the fields, and there is nobody to control entry into the city. As soon as you enter you hear the pleas from the beggars, «oh please, a crumble of bread, I have not had anything since last Sunday». You see three lined up along the high street.
Thiose who pay attention see a small group barbequeing something in a back yard, ten paces off the high street (awareness+perception 9+). It looks like a rat (12+).
In the square in front of the cathedral, two friars are serving something from a pot over open fire to the poor and needy. It smells faintly of cabbage, but looks rather like hot water.
I hope you brought your own provisions.
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Leofric gives a third of his supplies to the beggars by the gate -- he doesn't have much himself -- in small amounts to each. A tiny piece of cheese, a handful of dried fruits, and a small chunk of hard bread. He can always tighten up his belt for the next few days and fast.
He'd be inclined to give more, but knows that the times are hard and that the needs are much larger than his capacity to feed them. Fasting he can do, but starving himself will help no one.
The beggars are out of their wits with gratitude and eat with trembling fingers.
Finn approaches the beggars “Hello my friends, you look down on your luck. I have need of servants for my masters estate south of here, the food is plentiful and the lands safe, the job even comes with regular coin. If you have family who can work they would be welcome as well. What say you?”
«A job with room and board?» The beggars are astonished.
Finn should roll presence+charm (or something) ±3 for suitable attire (+3 if he is actually dressed like an upmarket estate manager, -3 if he is a ruffy traveller, and 0 if he is just a well-dressed bard) + what was the effect of the faerie hat again? Does he wear it?
Finn rolls 22 for Pre + Charm. The hat is +3 to hold a crowd. He is dressed as a bard so bonus 0 I think.
Finn is very charming, and the beggars are enthused. «He is a gift from heaven.» Three more quickly turn up, «no take us. I can cook and my sister's laundry is impeccable, you could not get a cleaner shirt.»
"We'll take you all and your sister good fellow" replies Finn please at his success "Meet us here at dawn tomorrow and we can be on our way"
If Finn had been counting, which he did not give the impression of doing, he would know that he has committed to six individuals. Four of them are young, including the laundry lass who looks about twelve, and her sibling who looks like the oldest of the four 16-18 you'd guess. One is past their prime, but still looking healthy. The last one is past their prime.
Do you do anything in particular for the rest of the day? You have a an hour or two before sunset.
Leofric will go and meet the two friars serving the poor and needy. He will ask them who he should speak to, so that he can help the community while he is there.
He'll let Hamish and Finn know where to find him. He doesn't know how long he will stay in Carlisle, that will depend on how much there is to do and how welcome his help is.
«Brother,» says the brother, looking rather concerned. «You could ask at the hospital.» He points at the longhouses adjacent to the church. «It is rather crowded,» he adds.
Arriving at the hospital, Leofric finds a room not much larger than the common room of a peasant's cottage, a wealthy peasant admittedly, but still. The room is even more crowded than he was led to expect. At least three patients to a bed, and at least one monk too. Two monks have sunken to the floor next to the door; leaning their backs against the wall, and moaning discretely. Some of the brothers seem to be easing the pain of some patients, but most of them look idle.
Leofric approaches one of the monks, inquiring about who is in charge, and if there is anything he can do to help.
The first monk at hand stands in the middle of the aisle, looking superfluous and confused. «Charge? Oh, you mean Brother Cuthfred. Over there, with Minnie.» He points to the busiest-looking monk, wiping sweat from the brow of an old women.
«Yes, what now, brother?» asks Cuthfred brusquely when Leofric interrupts. «I told you last time, there is nothing more to do, other than praying for a miracle. We still don't have three fish nor five loaves.»