Two hundred sellswords, four months unpaid, and an employer who just lost the war.
The Grey Lanterns are a free company of two hundred sellswords who have fought for the Duke of Asterholm for three years. This morning the Duke surrendered to the Empire, and the treaty names the Grey Lanterns as war criminals to be handed over. They are deep in enemy country, four months behind on pay, with an imperial army on one side and the Duke's former allies on the other. The company has to decide whether to fight, flee or sell itself to the winners, and someone in the command tent is already negotiating behind the others' backs.
5 roles. You take one; your friends take the rest, and the narrator plays any left over. Anyone can bring a character of their own into a role instead.
The company's elected captain, a farmer's daughter turned soldier who has kept the Grey Lanterns alive for six years on luck, nerve and lies.
The company's oldest soldier, a sergeant with thirty years of campaigns behind him, who is loyal to the company first and the captain second.
A university-trained surgeon from across the sea who joined the company to escape a scandal and stayed because the soldiers needed her.
The company's paymaster and quartermaster, a former banker's clerk who keeps the Grey Lanterns fed through accounting that borders on sorcery.
A blacksmith's apprentice who joined the Grey Lanterns three weeks ago for adventure and is now wanted for war crimes.