• Solo • Teach *your* kids about Ranger Danger!

[Oram Mednix]

20 Ymiden 721

Oram had to ask his visitor to repeat the last thing she had said; he had been distracted by the flier, marked “EWWW”, that she had just handed him. ”I said,” she repeated with obvious annoyance: ”that the Egilrun Workshop for Women’s Worries is quite alarmed by these rumors, and we trust that you will take them seriously.” Oram looked up from the flier to regard the speaker. Mina Dustin was a middle aged biqaj with bobbed coppery hair and a permanently pinched, sour expression. And she wanted to know, among other things, about the strange lights and chanting sounds purportedly coming from the Ranger Compound at all breaks. Lights and sounds Oram had never seen nor heard.

The hunter looked back down at the flier, barely suppressing a weary sigh. Entitled: “What You Should Know about the Rangers”, it was hand-written, in block lettering, and listed several things about the Rangers and their headquarters at Egilrun, all allegedly both true and bad:

“The Rangers occupied the compound without permission from the previous occupants”. -Strictly true, since the occupants had been Pirate Lords who had since disappeared.

“No one seems to know much about Oram Mednix, the head of the new Ranger Headquarters. Suspiciously, he wasn’t even a Ranger himself as of last arc. EWWW has yet to receive a reasonable explanation for this strange man’s unseemly meteoric rise.” Well, ‘EWWW’ had not spoken to Oram, nor, to his knowledge, to any other ranger. From whence were they expecting to get this ‘reasonable explanation’?

“The Rangers supposedly came to help Egilrun deal with the threat posed by Slag’s Deep, yet to date they have taken no action against it.” What in the Beneath did the authors expect?! A cavalry raid?

“The Rangers selected a compound formerly occupied by a Pirate Lord known as the Slaver. While the Slaver resided there, many people in Egilrun, including children, were taken into slavery. Many were never seen again. EWWW has seen no proof that these activities have ceased.”

Oram couldn’t read any more. In fact, he removed his spectacles and put them down atop the flier to ensure that he wouldn’t read any more. He glared sharply at Mina Dustin. ”Do *you* take these allegations seriously?” he demanded.

The biqaj sniffed, and her eyes flared pink. ”Of course I do, Mr. Mednix,” she huffed. ”And you would do well to do the same. The Rangers’ lack of transparency has been noted, and we of the Egilrun Workshop for Women’s Worries will not be satisfied until that is rectified. But there is an even more serious matter that has come to light just this morning. A young man has disappeared, a biqaj boy who was crew on one of the ships currently in harbor. He was last seen heading up the road that leads from the harbor here.”

Mina paused dramatically and looked at Oram expectantly. Clearly, she considered this revelation something that ought to leave one thunderstruck. Instead, Oram frowned thoughtfully as he tried to remember who if anyone had come up from the harbor that morning. ”I don’t think I’ve seen him,” he concluded at last. ”But I’ll look into it.”

That reassurance didn’t seem to satisfy Mina Dustin, but at least she did not press the point. ”See that you do,” she sniffed. ”As Executive Director of the Egilrun Workshop for Women’s Worries, it is my duty to inform you that, should the boy not be found quickly, it is our intention to call for and, if necessary, organize a full investigation into the Rangers’ activities.” With that, and with much aplomb, the biqaj rose and strode out of Oram’s office.

[Oram Mednix]

At least it’s not called S.P.E.W.

Oram’s first step after Mina’s departure was to go find Jim. Thankfully, he was around when the hunter found him, still holding the ‘EWWW’ flier. The taciturn head of security listened to Oram with an unreadable expression. Jim did pretty much everything with an unreadable expression. When Oram was done, Jim asked to see the flier, which he leafed over with a speed that made the traveler wonder how thoroughly he had actually read it. After a trill he looked up and said: ”We need to take this seriously.”

Oram was surprised, even baffled. Although he knew Jim to be humorless, he had not expected the man to show the ridiculous screed any respect. ”What do you mean ‘seriously’?” he demanded. ”The whole thing’s preposterous!”

Jim nodded grimly. ”Of course the accusations and suggestions are preposterous, but that’s not what I meant,” he said quietly. He held up the pamphlet and pointed at a couple places in the text. Oram, having taken off his spectacles in the interval, had to rely on memory to follow along. ”Look at how cleverly this thing is put together. All these half truths and misleading implications. Someone has put a lot of effort and rhetorical skill into making us look bad. This is more than just the suspicious and poisonous gossip of ignorant small-town goodwives. I think somebody both educated and determined is behind this.”

Oram blankly took the pamphlet back as Jim handed it to him, and he glared at the paper with a renewed resentment. ”Who would do that?” he muttered. ”We’re here to help! We came here at request, and have done nothing but good for Egilrun.”

The head of security’s face almost managed a smile. It wasn’t a happy or reassuring expression. ”That idea, and that good, had one man’s name on it: Woe Morandi.”

Oram scowled at this. He wasn’t seeing where Jim was going at all. ”But it was a popular move. People are calling for him to become the new Egg!”

Jim’s face edged a bit closer to a smile. The resulting expression was even less reassuring. ”If you are planning to succeed Elliott,” he said drily, ”you’re going to have to pay a bit more attention to political goings on. Running the Rangers isn’t just about planning patrols and camp logistics. That was Elliot’s blind spot, too, at one time. It cost him his life.” Hearing Jim reference that weird story about Elliot so casually made Oram’s blood run cold. The casual assumption that the hunter planned to succeed Elliot as Chief Ranger didn’t help. But he held his tongue and waited for the rest of what Jim was going to say.

”Do you suppose that maybe, before that happened, somebody else had had an eye on the job? After all, Liza’s been missing a while now.”

The suggestion left Oram thunderstruck. How had *he* and the rangers gotten into the middle of Egilrun politics? ”Are you saying that somebody is purposefully trying to stir up trouble against us to make Woe Morandi look bad?” he asked. ”That seems pretty indirect.”

Jim pursed his lips for a moment. ”Not necessarily,” he offered eventually. ”On second thought, it may be broader than that. The Rangers, the Elements, the Order, Mr. Morandi, we all bring lasting changes to Egilrun. Changes for the better, by most accounts. But some people will have been happier with the way things were. They’d see us as unwelcome, interfering outsiders.”

Oram shook his head and sighed. After a trill he asked: ”So, what should we do? Find out who wrote this?” And do what, then? He wondered. After another trill he said: ”Mina said something about ‘transparency’. What does she mean? That it’s too mysterious what we do up here? What should we do about that, offer tours?”

Jim’s eyebrows shot up when the hunter suggested that. ”Some sort of community outreach might not be amiss,” he suggested. ”It won’t make our actual enemies go away, but it might deprive them of a lot of unwitting allies among the population.” Oram nodded thoughtfully, though he didn’t actually understand as much as he would have liked. Community outreach, he thought sourly. He had a very good idea to whom the reaching out would fall. He was not looking forward to yet more meetings with Mina.

”What about the missing biqaj boy?” he said at last. Jim shrugged. ”A cabin boy goes missing when a ship puts into port? Not very mysterious, if you ask me. I have contacts with the harbor authorities, as you recall. I’ll sort that part out. You just take care of ‘EWWW’. As to who’s the instigating force behind all this, keep your eyes open. Rooting that may take a bit more work.”

Oram nodded and thanked Jim, then went back to his office. Putting on his spectacles, he took pen and paper and wrote a letter to the Egilrun Workshop for Women’s Worries, attention Mina Dustin, Executive Director. In it, he offered to attend their next meeting, if they would be so kind as to invite him, so that he could discuss their concerns with them.

[Oram Mednix]

22 Ymiden 721

The next couple trials brought some fruit. The missing biqaj cabin boy had been found, much as Jim had expected. The boy had tried to stow away on a different ship, but had been caught before she put out. He had fled what he alleged were poor, even intolerable conditions, and had begged not to be returned. The harbor master had little sympathy, though, and had brought the boy back to his captain. Oram felt pity for the lad; his conditions, however they had been before, were bound to get worse in the near future. But the important point was that he had been found, his disappearance had had an innocent explanation, and EWWW- or rather, the Egilrun Workshop for Women’s Worries, could get off of the Rangers’ backs about it.

Said Egilrun Workshop for Women’s Worries had also responded to Oram’s letter promptly, and their next meeting turned out to be that very evening, the 22nd of Ymiden, at Mina Dustin’s house. Wanting to make a good impression, Oram put on the new, supposedly fasionable clothes he had worn to the Order dedication ceremony, complete with the hat. Someone had told him that hats weren’t appropriate to wear for calls after dinner, but the traveler wasn’t in the mood to worry about such things. He already resented enough the need to attend this meeting in the first place.

At Jim’s suggestion, Oram decided to scout out the house early. He had been around Egilrun by this point long enough to recognize the address, and to find it without too much difficulty. Perhaps a break before the time he was expected, he passed the house and paused to watch for any comings or goings. He did not expect to actually see anything interesting, considering Jim’s concerns overblown, yet someone did actually leave the house, a man. Something about his manner, a furtiveness, made the hunter suspicious. He retreated behind a bush and continued to watch. Too late, he realized that he was not exactly attired to hide effectively behind a bush. The man, however, did not seem to notice him, and turned to walk in the opposite direction after a couple trills. After one block, he turned left. When he did, Oram saw him in profile and realized that he recognized him.

Pattis?! he thought. That was the weird Ranger that had tried unbidden to join his impromptu solo patrol of the weird line of discolored vegetation last cycle, in the run-up to the Slag’s Deep war. He had found Pattis’ ingratiating behavior and undue interest in an obscure and unannounced patrol suspicious, and had given him the slip. What was he doing here, talking to Mina Dustin of EWWW?

Oram would mention him to Mina, he decided. He didn’t know what Pattis was up to, but he preferred to be direct in his dealings with people, so long as they had not given him a reason to mistrust them. It was not likely to be a coincidence that he had turned up here and now, of all places and times. Jim had done well to suggest he reconnoiter here a bit.

It was still too early for Oram to politely call on EWWW. Once he was sure Pattis had moved on, he emerged from his bush and set off in the opposite direction, deciding to wander about in the vicinity of the Order for a while before making his way back to his appointed meeting. He spent the entire time with his mind abuzz, trying to make sense of what he had just seen. What, if anything, did Pattis have to do with EWWW?

to be continewwwed...

[Pig Boy]

Player Name: Oram Mednix

Points awarded: 10

Knowledge:

[Intelligence] One can infer adverse intentions and capabilities from documents that don’t explicitly mention them.
[Leadership] Being in a leadership position exposes one to heightened scrutiny.
[Politics] Even generally beneficial actions can make enemies.
[Politics] Outreach and transparency are important for building and maintaining public trust.
[Rhetoric] Even the most preposterous claims may find a receptive audience.
[Stealth] Seeing before being seen can give one an opportunity to hide.

Renown: 5
Loot: n/a
Injuries/Overstepping: n/a
Wealth Points: n/a

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level

Notes:omg the Egilrun Workshop for Women's Worries... Is that an actual faction? Or just a flavor association? Either way it was brilliantly named. Very amusing.

That said, the flier's claims were both accurate and yet drew false conclusions based on certain facts. Both of them hallmarks of a great conspiracy theory. All the same, although it was the set up for a missing person type mission, it was well constructed.

Oh my, when Jim comes in with his political theories, the whole plot gets kind of twisted in a good way. Is someone really trying to make the prospective egg look bad? I'll admit I wasn't expecting to find anything about that situation in this story, but it was a pleasant surprise.

I like the way you tie previous stories into this one. It's not something that I see too often in solos, and it really makes these stories shine. The idea that someone within the Rangers was working with EWWW to perpetrate these rumors is intriguing, and I hope to learn more in this vein.

Great writing!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this review, feel free to PM. Enjoy your rewards!