"CONFOUND IT!!!" I exclaimed, slamming my fists down on the tavern table and taking everyone present aback. I had just returned from adventure to find my guild under attack. The cheesy bulletins could be seen far and wide, notices of recruits cut down while attempting to hone their skills or even simply while travelling to visit others. The Robbers' Roost Gang had taken it upon themselves to attempt to collect taxes from the knights, under the guise of being agents of Lord British himself. "It's utter nonsense" said Ducky, quite flatly, "We all know here that they are but simple brigands." "Aye" added CrazyDaze, "And they are no fan of a fair fight either. They sneak up on our recruits, and will only engage with favorable numbers against our more experienced members" Lightshade was noticed by his absence. It would still be several weeks before he returned from his holy pilgrimage and his presence would have been greatly appreciated in this time of need... But wishful thinking was not going to get us through this assault I thought. "We simply do not have enough trained warriors to cover every member at all times" remarked Ducky, his head now hung low, "Between myself, Chuck Lidell, and..." It was at this moment that the beginnings of a plan came into my head. I started shutting out the rest of the conversation, remembering back to old tactics employed by merchant groups. Many of them had seen themselves through conflicts like this, it was a question of attacking... Not the troops mind you, but their industry, their profits, their... economy... "Gentlemen" I began, interrupting a heated debate. "I have a way for us to exact a toll on our enemy." CrazyDaze looked at me quizzically, "And how do you expect to do that? I just said they refuse to meet us in battle and unless you..." I cut him off before he could derail my train of thought "We need to impact their residences, their merchants, their tax collection offices. If we do that, we don't need to worry about catching them in the field. The question becomes where do we hit that will have the most impact?" While the guild house would have been perhaps the most natural target I surmised, it was no easy means to gain entry and we knights shy away from more nefarious means. CrazyDaze eagerly interrupted my inner monologue "We could hit their tax collection office! That will be a high visibility target as they have taken to posting heads of their victims on the roof." "Perhaps, but what's to stop them from simply moving their base of operations?" I interjected. "You're right in that it would be a good target, and perhaps we may still target it in the future, but the first one has to really be something..." Ducky, who had been patiently analyzing the conversation thus far, had come up with the solution. "We should target Steely Dan's vendor house." he explained. "It's quite visible and gets a fair amount of traffic owing to its location, is not easily moved, and has the added benefit of protecting the good citizens from his poor quality wares and traps he looses on the unsuspecting." We all nodded our heads in agreement, the plan was formed and we were off to put the plan into motion. It's no easy feat putting together enough materials to barricade a building effectively as we soon discovered. Many, such as Ducky, were able to supply crafting materials to our industrious carpenters and tinkerers. I managed to assemble 5 crates worth of supplies for the effort. CrazyDaze had managed a neat 2 crates to be used. And Lander, who had found out our need from the numerous pigeons we had sent to carry the news of our plan, supplied 3 crates. All in all, one thousand and two hundred fifty item with which to enact our blockade. We were exhausted, but ready, the time to strike was nigh. We gathered a group of knights to transport the items to the shop and started to construct the barricade. It was laborious work, but in the end it proved to be quite the effective barrier. With our work completed, we retired back to our guild hall. Now wasn't the time to rest on our laurels, we had to press the attack. Other knights were already engaged in battles elsewhere and we set about planning our next strike. The herald of Lightshade had arrived, and we set about planning our strategy for the days to come...
The second to last picture shows the blockade, in lieu of that you could always check it out first hand
