Raseri lets out a grunt of pain as the sword hits her armor and turns the blade into a blunt club. She's going to have a bruise there, and the pain is bad enough to slow her down as she tries again to cut the bandit down.
The ruffian blocks the blow and Raseri is torn between despair and rage as she finds herself beginning to get trounced by a two copper thug.
Storhrid, ignorant of Raseri's emotions, only sees the man land a blow, and goes for the knees.
And finds as little luck as Raseri did.
Tobias grunts as the bandit lands a blow in his side, pressing one hand against the wound. Quickly taking stock of the fact that the man is sickly, he scowls. "Drop your blades, and you'll live yet," he growls, his voice low and guttural, waiting to gauge their reactions.
Kaveri yelps as the bandit opens a cut along his flank, dropping the leg in his jaws and turning on the man with anger in his dark eyes. Lips drawing back from his teeth, he growls, even as the gash in his flesh begins to knit closed at the edges.
Blaize Sneaks into the room of sick bandits and chucks a 'FLAMING' snowball at one of the bandit's backs, setting him ablaze. He flails about screaming as the fire consumes him and he falls over burnt to a crisp.
Raseri, Storhrid, and Kaveri are having trouble landing hits on any of the bandits. The one fighting Raseri gives her a pitying look before getting his blade ready.
Mabs evil eye's Raseris new foe.
Tobias shouts for the sickened bandits to drop their blades, but gets a response in the form of a lazy blade swipe from one of them. Seeing their resolve, he takes his blade and swings to great effect, separating a head from one owners body.
Lies will swing her dagger at the ankles of the man to the north of her, and then silently move to the other end of the table.
Lies sneakily attacks the bandit next to her, cutting deeply into his leg before sneakily crawling to the other side of the table. He doesn't seem to know what hit him... he probably assumes that he missed Raseri striking him.
Charl back peddles away from the bandit trying to get out of the range of his sword, defensively trying to protect himself.
Geoff will fire his crossbow at the man in front of him...
Hitting the bandit in his side with the bolt. He takes his time to hunker back behind the barrel and reload.
Seeing that they aren't doing to well the bandits try to back away from the melee (especially the sick one who saw one of his fellows burn). If they can they defensively back away to try and regroup.
"Tsk tsk now fall down like a good boy." grandma says as she attempt to trip him once more.
Mable has a hard time tripping the bandit in front of her. He seems to be keeping a close eye to such a tactic.
Blaize's words causes the bandit to come to a halt. You can see his eyes dart between you and the window, debating whether to listen to you or to see if he's fast enough to get out of here.
Raseri chops the man before her in two while Storhrid goes for the throat of the bandit behind him.
Lies attacks the man close to the bench from under it, and then moves, trying to stay hidden.
Raseri swings her sword, hearing it ring and whistle through the air with the sudden strength, cutting the man in front of her in twain.
Storhrid then lunges at the man behind, missing his through as the man brings his sword to bear.
Lies quickly trikes the man next to her, severing the tendons in his leg, causing him to fall over and slowly bleed out.
Mabs flies into the building and lands on the table. Addressing remaining bandits, she says "Now boys... I suggest you take these young'uns previous offer... if they are still so inclined."
Tobias whistles to Kaveri, nodding his head sharply at the bandit to his left, before climbing onto the table to take the fight to the other one, narrowly missing Lies' fingers with his boot.
Ears pricking at the whistle, Kaveri leaves the man he's been savaging and lunges at the one his person indicated, lips pulled back in a snarl.
Tobias sharply commands Kaveri before quickly launching himself on the table. As he lands, his sword flashes in front of him, severing his opponent's head from his shoulders.
Kaveri quickly follows his master's command and bowls over his prey, nearly getting the bandit's throat within his jaws and gets a savaging mouthful of the man's arm instead.
Geoff doesn't seem to know what to do with himself this turn and, Charl quickly makes his way inside.
The Bandit being savaged by Kaveri shoves the wolf off of him and shouts in agony as his cloths are dyed red with his own blood. Angrily and with haste he shouts "I concede! By the Gods I concede, just get this mangy mutt away from me!" His sword clatters to the ground as he tosses it to the side to stop the blood pouring from his arm.
He looks as if he's about to pass out.
The Sick Bandit, upon hearing of his comrades surrender makes up his mind and tries to dive through the window. In his haste he doesn't even open the window shutters and gets splinters and a sore head for his trouble. Wood scraps clatter to the floor as he lands prone outside.
[b]"Oh dear that poor poor man"[b] she exclaims as she stumbles out the door to the unconcious man.
"For the last time, no burning down the lodge," Tobias growls. "There are good people here. Kaveri, niður!" he barks.
With the surrendered bandits unconscious and stable, he nods to Raseri. "Care to do the honours?" he grins, gesturing to the next door.
Raseri gives Tobias a clumsy curtsy.
"I'd love to," is all she says before barging into the next room.
Grandma begins to head out the door to find the poor man who fell out the window but realizing the others are about the enter a new room quickly changes her mind and follows them.
Raseri kicks open the door to find that the room holds a bed and chest sitting across from one another. Two doors serve as exits, one she just entered, and a window looks out on the north side. Otherwise the room appears devoid of decoration or living occupants.
The closed chest bears the name Tacey haphazardly engraved on a simple metal plate set within the wood. The lock appears new and the wood of the chest well kept however.
A noise can heard further in the cabin, but it's hard to pinpoint where it came from or what it was.
Geoff and Charl seem concerned, but stay alert and close to the group without commenting on it.
|
Blaize looked rather somber at the word she cannot burn the place down, but she can play with the fire in the fireplace.
Heading over there she stokes up the flames and gets a bit mesmerized at the dancing flame.
she starts to toss scraps of stuff into the fire just to watch it burn.
Sh nearly jumps when the door is kicked open she almost was about to hurl fire in that direction but realized that it was Raseri that opened the door.
Hearing Blaize jump, Raseri chuckles.
"Come on, little Firebug. We've got bandits to toast," she says as she goes to the next door and kicks that one in.
Grandma stumble over the the chest.
"I wonder what is inside?' Unable to open the chest she shugs her shoulders and follows the others.
The next door Raseri kicks in takes a few tries before it slams open, indicating the door was more resilient than its predecessor. Three doors open into this room. A sturdy bed heaped with blankets sits near the only window, and a large maple chest occupies the southwest corner.
Geoff comments "The Bo-" He frowns and looks angry for a second, "That backstabbing Rohkar set up in this room, though he rarely slept in it." He looks over to Raseri and the rest of the group, "Be careful what you touch in here. No telling what that backstabbing necromancer ensorceled."
Charl looks around frantically and nods in agreement.
"Right, We'll just save this room for last, then," Raseri says while backing up.
Storhrid follows in her wake, not wanting anything to do with something that makes her master this uneasy.
The ulfen goes to the next door and proceeds to kick that one in too.
Raseri kicks the door into a warm welcoming room with a comfy bed and an ornate looking chest. The only thing to break the image of the room is the smell of sweat, blood, and sickness that permeates the room.
A man lays in the bed slowing tossing and turning in a fevered slumber. What's visible of his body is either pinkish-red and glistening with sweat or covered in bandages, some of which is crusted with dry blood. He moans and feasibly bats at the noise of the door slamming open.
Blaize can detect minor magic coming from multiple directions in Rohkar's room. Most of it however seems to be concentrated on the chest.
Seeing no threat, Raseri moves to the next door.
"Mable, you got anything for sickness? I think that man's not long for this world."
Tobias makes a quick sign of Erastil's bow across his shoulders, sternum, and throat as he follows Raseri. "You want to stay in the lead, lass?" he asks, his voice hoarse.
"Yeah. I'm tough enough that I can take a bad hit or two," Raseri says as she gets ready to bash in the door.
"Um there may be information in this chest that could help us. Can anyone remove a magic trap?"
Grandma carefully moves closer to the sick man.
"Here now don't fret so much, let me help you."
Lies will check the chest for traps, magical or otherwise, and then if she finds any will attempt to disarm them.
Mable is able to determine that the man is sick with Chillbane Fever, a very debilitating disease that seems to have been shared by the other bandits. He also has many injuries that were poorly cleaned, and seem to have been inflicted not to kill, but were strategically placed to cause the most pain. Mable does her best for the man, but only time will show if he is too far gone or was saved just in time.
Lies can't see any traps that might go off, the only defense seemingly the heavy wood of the container and the shiny lock set in its lid.
As Mable finishes helping the man he seems wake slightly and says "Won't tell them... won't give up... sentinel's oath..."
After such utterances he falls into a more comfortable, less fevered sleep.
"Sentinel's oath, this must be the last surviving ranger! I do hope he lives, the dear boy!"
The chest currently holds a gold ingot engraved with a royal seal of some kind, a spyglass, a silver lady's ring, three shards of tiger's eye gemstones, a fine pair of fancy looking leather riding boots, a silver dagger, and a leather portfolio containing several pieces of parchment, including a scroll of endure elements, two scrolls of manic weapon, and a scroll of unseen servant.
Her, admittedly little, patience spent, Raseri kicks in the next door in line.
Before Raseri gets over too far, she sees a bearskin rug dominating the floor of this trophy room behind the fire place. The heads of several deer have been mounted on the walls and doors lead north and south.
Raseri sees a corner of a trapdoor underneath the bear rug.
Raseri kicks open the door to the west and sees that a large fireplace takes up most of the north wall of this room, its radiant heat providing palpable relief from the cold weather outside. Cabinets and shelves line the remaining wall space, and four windows look out on the wintry landscape surrounding the lodge.
Raseri also hears someone knock something over and swear as they crouch behind some barrels.
"Okay, I know you're there. Do you really want to fight," she asks.
Grandma Mable scrabbles after Raseri wondering who she has found.
"Com out of their deary we would love to meet you. Come talk to dear old Grandma Mable"
Before Raseri can answer the female voice harrumphs and says "Of course I don't want to fight, I don't like killing. No profit, messy, and ghosts on my conscience? No thank you... I will if I have to though."
The sound of a crossbow being drawn can be heard in the room.
"What say you? I can respect your sense of justice, order of the world and all, but I would rather keep my head on my shoulders."
To Mable she says "Now why would I want to do that mam? Words laced with honey are one of my specialties and you seem to be out of practice... That at the very least means you might be more trustworthy than your friend, but I'm not coming out just yet."
Tobias closes his eyes, making the sign of the bow across his shoulders again. "Safe hunting, brother," he murmurs, "in this world or the next."
Holding a hand to stay Kaveri, Tobias glances over Raseri's shoulder, trying to pinpoint the voice's source. "Did you harm those who were here before the bandits came?" he asks, his accent thick and his tone grim. "Do you count yourself among the bandits?"