Valeria rides in silence for a while as the group follows the trail left by the bandits.
Jennet, despite her handicaps, has proven quite the rider and she is smart, in that weird, I see more than I let on kinda way. Asta still gives me the creeps, especially that bird. Torod is very direct, but hell, what man isn't? Terri...Terri seems the most like me, despite her past. Both of us have things in our lives we'd like to forget, even if we can't...
Finally, she breaks her silence, "We need to try to take some of these bandits alive, if possible. Perhaps even this person Svetlana mentioned, the woman with the hatchets. If she is this 'Stag Lord' we can present her to Restov for her crimes against Oleg. If not, she likely at least knows something about him. Ya'll got any ideas about how we could capture her?"
"Why yes, yes, it is," Asta says with a subtle smile, and she shows Jennet the first rough sketches.
Turning to Valeria, she says: "Once we find them, we could try to pick them off one by one. Once the hatchet-woman is alone, or close to it, I can use the dazing spell and you can hit her over the head while she can't fight."
"Could try to lead them into a trap."
Terri slowly gets the hang of riding a horse, though from her expression, it looks like she'd rather walk.
Jennet looks abashed. "Taking captives is harder than I'd thought. Heptamegistos doesn't want to aim for knees instead of necks when men are waving iron at us."
The stallion chuffs in agreement.
"The woman might lead a group of bandits, but Oleg said Stag Lord, not lady."
"Blackheart, do you have the energy to stun many more bandits today?"
"Not today, no," Asta says, shaking her head. "Ask me again tomorrow. I'll prep a cantrip that can help. The really strong spell... Twice a day, at most, but that means I won't be able to cast an armour spell."
Valeria listens to them all, then says, "If I wanted to be very clever, I would use a disguise to proclaim I was the leader, then go around as normal as one of his captains. It would be a very elaborate trick. Highly unlikely that is the case though. I'd definitely like to try to take the leader of this branch captive though, find out the extent of the organization from her if we could. Actually, the more we take alive, the better. More sources to make sure we aren't being lied to."
As time passes during their ride, Valeria asks in a childlike tone, "Are we there yet?" a sly grin on her face as she says it.
"Mayhap we should wait for Croft and Strawberry Deathstrike," Asta suggests. "Then make our plan of attack."
“By the shadows on the ground,” says Jennet, “About half the day is gone. If Blackheart’s powers are depleted, we won’t want to stumble across the bandits until she’s rested. Perhaps we should use the rest of the day to explore this area fully, and find the most secure campsite we can. Then we can pick up their trail, or Blackheart’s new gelding should lead us to its old pasture.”
"Um... I-I hope this isn't too rude of me, but how can you tell? You appear blind."
Jennet smiles gently. “I’m a cripple who goes by the name ‘Halfgait’, Terri. I’m not going to be offended if someone mentions I’m half-blind too.”
“I believe the gods took most of my sight to teach me to rely on Heptamegistos, but left me enough that I wouldn’t be a burden to him. How they work now...” She shrugs. “That’s a Mystery. But so are your eyes! How do they work? Could anything but the gods have made them?”
"If I were a bandit, I'd want the protection of the woods. Let's keep to the trail for a while. It might turn at some point."
What's the word from Strawberry Deathstrike and Croft?
Can I Take 10 on the roll?
Otherwise
Survival
Jennet reaches out to stroke Terri’s horse. “I think you got a bargain here, Terri. This gelding of yours has some bad habits--it’s a little balky, a little saddle-shy--so whoever sold it to you was probably glad to get rid of it.”
“But I think that’s just bad breaking. It’s young and healthy, and seems bright, too. I think we could retrain it into a much more confident, much more cooperative steed. Train it for battle, even. It would be fun! What do you think, could we try?”
“What’s its name, anyway?”
"How would we find out?" Asta says, one eyebrow quirked. "The previous owner is surely too dead to say, barring necromantic enquiry."
“Yours I could train to come to whatever new name you pick for it, Blackheart. What’s a good name for an ex-bandit?” Jennet laughs. “How about Repentant?”
“Riverrun, Windsong...as long as we’re talking about names, are those family names?”
Asta gives Jennet a blank look, stares at her new horse and her donkey, then shrugs. "How about 'Grey II'?"
Jennet reaches out to stroke Terri’s horse. “I think you got a bargain here, Terri. This gelding of yours has some bad habits--it’s a little balky, a little saddle-shy--so whoever sold it to you was probably glad to get rid of it.”
“But I think that’s just bad breaking. It’s young and healthy, and seems bright, too. I think we could retrain it into a much more confident, much more cooperative steed. Train it for battle, even. It would be fun! What do you think, could we try?”
“What’s its name, anyway?”
"I, um, haven't named him."
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Jennet nods at Asta. “Greateu? If you like. Sounds pretty...is it Elvish?”
“I saw an elf lord from the south lands riding a giant stag, once. We had to take the door off our stables so it could turn around inside.” Jennet considers a tree close by. “There should be stags like that in this forest. Great cats, too, twenty times Strawberry Deathstrike’s weight.”
Jennet boggles a little at Terri. “And the stablehand didn’t tell you its name when you bought him? Hmm. It probably had some awful name, and he didn’t want to scare away a buyer by admitting the horse was called ‘Dumb Bastard’ or whatever. “ She shrugs. “Well, seems like you, too, get to change your steed’s fate with a new name. It’s worth the effort to think of a good one.”
"No, no," Asta says, and she briefly touches her forehead. "Grey... Two. As in, the second Grey." She points to her donkey. "Grey." To the horse: "Grey II."
"Terrible name for a friend. Would you like to be called Asta II? If you want to bond with him, he needs to have his own name."
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“Torod One speaks wisely.” Jennet’s lips quirk upward.
Valeria turns her head from Jennet when she asks about her name. "No, it's just something I picked up along the way..."
Asta gives Torod and Jennet a blank look, stares at the horse... and shrugs. "Fine. Roan, then."
"I prefer Torod the First. It's more regal."
Terri Shrugs when asked about her name.
"I don't know. I don't remember my family very well. I may have gotten the name before-- before I was taken in by a bunch of thieves."
Terri starts snickering at what Torod had just said.
"Of course your highness. Shall I fetch the royal bag of jerky and hardtack for you?" She smiles and finally seems to be at ease.
She rides for a little while, lost in thought.
"I think I'll call him Gaothaire."
Valeria responds, "Good name. My mares name is Crystalia."
As they continue along through the plains and wood's edge, Valeria asks, "Any sign of Croft or Strawberry?"
"I do not hear any panicked, girlish screaming about evil owls, so no," Asta says.
Strawberry Deathstrike looks for clues to the location of the bandit hideout.
Perception w/scent
Croft, meanwhile, is spying from a great height, looking for tell-tale smoke plumes and campsites.
Posting here instead of in game thread, as I don't want to flood it with mostly ooc text. Valeria proposes we go in together up until we are nearing sight of the camp, then split up and surround the camp. Hepta and jennet are going to have the most difficulty hiding, and are the fastest, as such she could hang back in cover and ride in at sounds of trouble. Moving in unmounted seems best to me, as we can protect our horses by hiding them as well as move more quietly. Once at camp, Valeria volunteers to move in and try to convince them to surrender peacefully, and if they won't, she can likely draw some initial fire to help protect the others as they move in and pick targets. She also will stress the need to take the leader and as many others alive as possible.
"That plan is fatally foolish." Torod says in his brusque manner. "We don't know how many of them there are nor do we know where there lookouts are positioned. It is best to assume they outnumber us and could overwhelm us if given the opportunity in an honest fight." You get the feeling that Torod has not given many opponents a chance at an'honest' fight. "I say we send in Strawberry and Croft to cause a ruckus. While the camp is in confusion we sneak in and take out a few of them. Hopefully, we can also get a better idea of there numbers while we're at it. If things begin to go poorly, we retreat, and if things go well, we've won." He stands there looking very proud of himself as if his plan is the work of a master tactician.
Jennet has been checking Heptamegistos’s shoes, making sure the warhorse is ready for battle. She finishes up, pats his flank, then joins the strategy discussion.
“I’d advise against charging into their stronghold. If Valeria walks into bow range, calls a challenge and fires an arrow into their camp, bandits will pursue her. We could then ambush those, before dealing with whatever forces of theirs remain in camp.”
The great horse whinneys and chuffs from behind Jennet.
Jennet nods. “Good point. Perhaps once the bandits move against Valeria, Torog the First and Deathstrike could move up stealthily to prevent any individual bandits from escaping on horseback.”
"I am not sending in Croft to 'cause a ruckus'," Asta says, scornfully. "He's a raven. Bored archers use ravens for target practice. I suggest we first locate the bandits, then ambush their lookouts. When others come looking for them, we ambush those, until ambushes are no longer a viable technique. Then challenges can be levelled, if necessary."
"Or we could sneak up close, find a good way to get into the camp, then sneak in and slit throats while they sleep."
"Beginning by harrassing their lookouts and scouts is fine with me."