Guessing it was him who alerted the patrol, Doc engaged an old trick from his time in the military. He moved toward the edge of the road quickly and ducked behind a tree, knowing he would get their attention and draw them past the more stealthy members of the party. If this worked, they'd focus on him, miss the others and end up in an impromptu ambush.
He said a brief prayer to the Loa of Tickery and get ready.
The patrol moves closer.
One of them shouts and point, "Enemies in the trees!!
Narissa tries to move quietly, in case the patrol hasn't actually seen her yet...
...and drives her bayonet at the one pointing...
Davin moves in to stab one of the men.
His cover blown Jace charges from his spot of failed concealment and delivers a non-lethal attak.
Saturday dashed through the underbrush and reached out with his power to tug at the mind of the patrol leader.
Swarming from the foliage, you strike. Jace and Narissa drop one of the patrolmen, while Davin wounds another. A curse from Doc causes the leader to waiver and the drop to ground with a loud snore.
The two remaining members of the patrol strike out:
One lands a vicious blow on Jace and the other misses Davin.
Wounded: 8/12
Narissa moves implacably toward the next one in line, and drives the point of her bayonet into his throat.
Davin continues his onslaught but remembers to go for non-lethal strikes.
He spins and attacks with the flat of his blades, looking for a knockout hit.
--Davin--
Hp 10/10; AC 15/13T/12FF; CMD 14
+1F/+5R/+2W
Buffs: N/A
Debuffs: N/A
Doc moved forward along the treelike and reached with the power of the Loa again.
Bleeding, Jace watches to see if his sword is needed. If it is he strikes for non-lethal damage. If not he heals himself.
or
Despite her best effort, Narissa doesn't kill the man, but Jace easily drops him unconscious. Davin's target waivers, but then collapses with a snore as Doc's hex drops over him.
The patrol leader's eyes pop open and seeing the state of his men, climbs to his feet and starts a tactical retreat.
Jace charges the man if he can. If not he moves and attacks. Either way the attack is non-lethal.
"Halt! And we shall show mercy!"
"Sit Down and Shut the Frack Up and you and your men will live, otherwise I'll kill you and slit their throats!" Narissa roars at the man after Doc's pathetic attempt at scaring him. She then moves after him with the bloody blade pointed at his eyes to make her point.
"What she said!"
Jace charges after the patrol leader and clubs him senseless with his big sword.
The remaining trooper opens his eyes to find a screaming Narissa standing over him and promptly surrenders. Combat over
Narissa picks up the cowed prisoner by his collar, and holds his body off the ground as she bends over him menacingly (after handing her cannon to Doc). "How often do the patrols come through here? How long before someone misses you lot? How many guards are on the sea gate? How many guards do you have total? If you talk, I'll ask the king to pardon you. If you don't talk, you'll probably dance on a rope for treason."
What my friend is trying to tell you that your time here princess is over. Your part is done, regardless of what else happens. You are coming with us and what happens to you, and to your friends here, largely depends on how helpful you want to be. Our forces are taking this rock tonight. With your help there will be less bloodshed on both sides. Now be a good lad and start telling us what we need to know.
The shaken soldier provides some information:
"How often do the patrols come through here? How long before someone misses you lot?"
"Every couple of hours. Within a couple of hours"
"How many guards are on the sea gate?"
"I don't know."
"How many guards do you have total?"
"Soldiers? Hundreds."
Doc winced as Jace gave away their mission to a prisoner. He brought his truncheon down on the back of the prisoner's head hard enough to put him out.
"We need to 'ave a conversation." he said firmly. "We are in a difficult position. We aren't supposed to be trying to kill people." he said pointedly to Narissa. "We 'ave talked to you about dis before. If you do not 'ave non-lethal ammunition for dis ting, you need to aim for non-vital places. You also cannot be threatening to kill people like you did back at da cave. Dat makes da whole Constabulary look bad."
[ooc]We all have the ability to deal non-lethal damage with any weapon. We need to be better about using that option."[/b]
"We also need to 'ave plans for how to deal wit' da prisoners we take. We cannot be letting dem know our plans, we cannot take dem wit' us, and we cannot take da chances dat dey will escape."
"Now dis one is a liability."
Narissa looks at Doc, then Jace, and shakes her head. "I'll be sure to let you pat the hand of the next prisoner, and ask him if won't please please tell us the information we want, and you can threaten to tickle him with a feather if he won't comply. As to aiming for non-vital places, you show me how to put a pound of lead through someone's arm and not blow their arm off, and I'll try it." She says very very very politely. Then she sighs. "So, Doc, since you're so worried about it, you can watch the prisoner. I would have reluctantly slit his throat after Jace opened his mouth. However, since you are so very very concerned that we don't kill any of the Princess's men, knocking the hundreds of them out in perfect silence, rather than hurt any, you have the honor of dealing with the prisoners." She gathers up her equipment and prepares to go, leaving the prisoner to Doc. "And by the way, our orders were to avoid killing the foreigners, not the Princesses people, to avoid a war. These guys are the Princesses, and quite a few of them will die tomorrow when they are slaughtered by our forces, unless of course you think everyone coming in will be using pillows."
"Did you go through da same training I did?" Doc asked. "Do you remember da part where we are not soldiers any longer? Our job is not to kill people. Our job is to capture people. Seeking justice is how we prevent war. This place has seen enough death."
"If your weapon does not have a non-lethal setting, do not use it. Does your ammunition have to be lead? Could it be made of somet'ing else instead? Rock salt, perhaps? Or hardened leather balls. Perhaps you shoot da ground and let da shrapnel and concussion take dem out?"
Doc winced as Jace gave away their mission to a prisoner. He brought his truncheon down on the back of the prisoner's head hard enough to put him out.
"We need to 'ave a conversation." he said firmly. "We are in a difficult position. We aren't supposed to be trying to kill people." he said pointedly to Narissa. "We 'ave talked to you about dis before. If you do not 'ave non-lethal ammunition for dis ting, you need to aim for non-vital places. You also cannot be threatening to kill people like you did back at da cave. Dat makes da whole Constabulary look bad."
"We also need to 'ave plans for how to deal wit' da prisoners we take. We cannot be letting dem know our plans, we cannot take dem wit' us, and we cannot take da chances dat dey will escape."
"Now dis one is a liability."
Responding curtly to Doc Jace explains Your liability. I had planned to take that one with us. He knew the area and was my prisoner. Calculated risk sharing some of our mission to gain leverage over him to talk, and my risk to take. You took him down so he is now your prisoner. He was talking Doc. You could choose to discuss such actions before taking them. I had more questions. Your brashness has limited our intel.
[ooc]Doc, you are completely correct. We were directed not to kill people and do not have open authority to do so. Some gray area when our lives are on the line but even then we are to try out best to go non-lethal and I am pretty sure we will have to answer for every death. Also, we seem to have no one in charge. Or have I missed or forgotten something? Also I cannot get this ooc thing to work. Grr. [/ooc]
"Let's keep our tempers in check, comrades. What's done is done," Davin says as he pulls out some rope and ties up the unconscious prisoner.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I am new to field work. Before our last assignment I was mostly a lab rat doing everything within my power not to be promoted. But here I am. Here we all are."
"And now we find ourselves through bad luck or bad planning having to take the lead on this mission. We're all nervous we're going to screw up and get our people killed. But we are constables--officers of the law, and guardians of the peace. And we must act like it."
"I agree, we must try and spare lives. But we have a responsibility to each other at well, and that may necessitate harsher options in the heat of combat. So let's just try and keep our heads for the time being and work with each other as a team. People are counting on us."
Narissa sighs. "Look, I'm a sniper, I'm trained to go for head shots. It's hard to be a sniper if you're trying not to kill the enemy."
"Da Constabulary did not issue you anyt'ing dat is not lethal?" Doc asked, surprised at such an oversight.
Then he reconsidered. "Hmm. Considering how da rest of dis has played out, i suppose I am not surprised. Maybe aim for knees?"
"As for him," he said looking at the unconscious prisoner. "I can wake him if you want to speak wit' him. We still need to decide what we are going to do with prisoners."
Narissa pulls a musket ball out of her belt pouch the size of a plum, and tosses it to Doc. "You're the doc, you tell me what that will do to a leg, an how long the guy will take to bleed out after the leg detaches."
Doc looked it over, ignoring the rhetorical question and trying to find a solution. "How exact does da sizing have to be for your gun to fire dese? Dere are native fruit of about dis size. Like small coconut. Hard exterior, soft interior. Dey cover dese islands."
Narissa moves her gun away from Doc. "No."
I've Manacles for one, if we want to take him with us. Jace offers. At least he was talking. The rest I think we have to make sure they are out and leave them where they lay for now.
"We could give dem to da mine foreman. Deputize him for da duration of da conflict." Grey suggested.
"Good with me, he can slit their throats if they try to escape. And don't look at me like that, he'll be one man, he can't afford to be picky. They won't be concerned about his health."
You leave the prisoners under the watchful eye of the mine foreman and continue towards the fort.
Some time later, as you walk along the path, you are all gripped by a sudden case of vertigo. Your surroundings briefly flicker, revealing a wooded marsh filled with giant, croaking yellow frogs, where a blue sun sets in a purple sky. Then the world snaps back to its normal form. It happened so quickly, that it might have been little more than a flight of fancy, but you can't help but notice that your footwear and cloaks are damp with mud and slime from having been standing in a marsh.
"Once is bad luck, twice is coincidence. And I don't believe in coincidence. I get this bad feeling that our resident Royalty in Revolt is being a Stupid Fracking B***h and has her people doing something with magic." Narissa sighs, and wipes the mud off her as best she can. "I have a bad fracking feeling about this."
Agreed Narissa. Let us be quick about our business. I suspect that something blurs the lines between this realm of existence and another close by. We may only have a short time before there is some transposition.
Agreed Narissa. Let us be quick about our business. I suspect that something blurs the lines between this realm of existence and another close by. We may only have a short time before there is some transposition.
Davin frowned in thought.
"Do you think it's actually a dimensional breach into the Dreaming? Or simply an illusion? I'm finding myself out of my depth and it is unsettling. Not to mention annoying."
He then made a point to check his pocket watch to see if it had stopped, skipped or even run backwards -- a common sign of powerful fey in the area.
Narissa gets a hand full of mud and goop balled up in her hand, and smears it down Doc's chest, before dabbing some on the tip of his nose. "You tell me if it's an illusion or not."
Narissa gets a hand full of mud and goop balled up in her hand, and smears it down Doc's chest, before dabbing some on the tip of his nose. "You tell me if it's an illusion or not."
"Some illusions are powerful to partially manifest. But I take your meaning, constable."
"If she's mucking about with magic strong enough to make illusions real, it's still as big a s$+@e storm as messing with other worlds, at least as far as our expedition success is concerned."
"Agreed. But, thank goodness Minister Jierre properly prepared us with a children's puzzle game."
"Indeed, I think you may have hit on it. Obviously we need to use the green ring now, and save the blue and red ones for later."
Continuing down the path, you turn a corner to find an overturned wagon. Several crates have tumbled onto the ground, spilling their contents. Bright steel swords and ugly iron pistol now lay scattered in the dirt.
"Just a moment, I don't trust this. It could be a trap."
Davin moves forward slowly to investigate the area.
Its a distraction at best. Jace states flatly. Lets take care but keep moving.[/b]