the adventures of hornsy and the blacksand mercs

S2 ep2: propaganda and prisons

Sorry for almost a year of procrastination, but I'm starting it back up...again...maybe.
but i can't promise to when my brain will decide to burn out...again

It has been around 2 days since Havall and his pirates were driven off by Hornsy, and the travellers that were being chased by them has asked to live in the exploration camp they made. They explained that the current Sahama died a month ago, and her younger daughter is being manipulated by the Mazear, who acts as the head of state for the Varus kingdom when there's no suitable ruler. Apparently, he has been using his position to slowly tighten his grip on the outer edges of the kingdom using blackmail, bribes, and even aggressive tactics like arming and hiring local bandits and raiders in order to extort the local oases, kidnaping a member of the chief's family for bargaining, or straight up assassination.

As a sign of good faith, and possible information, Hornsy agreed to let them stay and had a few houses built for them. There, the mercenaries and the travellers shared stories from their respective lands, Ruka even mentioned several embarrassing stories of a drunken Hornsy, involving waking up in the city's fountain naked after getting blackout drunk, falling into a nest of cave dwelling cannibals, almost blowing up their airship and then later almost burning it, Ian lacing his lunch with a natural laxative and almost destroying the toilet in the process, and finally him tossing himself onto a Megacrab and eventually, after some trouble, managed to bring it back home and tame it. Later, Dr Chung, Izumi, and Bony eventually managed to add armour, a saddle, and bionic legs to make it go faster

Later that evening, the mercenaries gathered in the meeting room of the ship to discuss what to do next, seeing that their outpost was fully set up.

Hornsy: if this kingdom is under control of a tyrant, I would say it's our job to help them. Besides, they could help up out with our mission

Ruka: this isn't Kenshi Hornsy. We have no idea how they would react seeing us walking around. What if they see us as demons, warlords?

She was right, they were but a stray pebble in a sandbox; they did not belong here. But even so, if just the death of the Mazear would help the people of the land, he would take that chance, even if there was no reward or thanks. If he was planning on committing an assassination of such calibre, he will need not only the support of the people, but also being able to make the current Sahama see reason as well. He knew this would be hard, but so was building the ship to get here.

Eventually, the plan was to send Izumi, Savant, and a fully armoured Agnu to one of the nearby oases to find any dissidents that might join their cause. Meanwhile, the gang back at base will draw up propaganda and flyers to inspire more to join their cause. The travellers helped to dress them up to conceal both Izumi's and Agnu's bionics and to make all three of them fit in with the locals. Some of them also agree to go with them and act as their servants or extended family.

After gathering the necessary supplies, Hornsy approached the pair with both beep and that skeleton from the ship, Takeo; all of them have backpacks filled with flyers

Hornsy: got room for three more?

Savant: seriously? I doubt they'll ignore a Shek, a hiver, and a skeleton

Takeo: don't worry, from what he said, we're going to hide in the cargo space and wait for night. Then we'll jump out and plaster the whole place with flyers before heading back

Izumi: thanks for clearing that up umm...

Takeo: oh...uhh...the name's Takeo, I'm from Black Desert city. I'm not much of a fighter, but I can sneak pretty good