Diplomacy my arse!, grunted Rory, grimacing with pain as an arrow pierced his left shoulder. Still, he found enough strength to launch a shot, but even alchemically enhanced, it flew past the leader's head.
Still cursing, Rory broke the arrow stuck in him and dropped prone.
Round 2
Royston moves to a point where his healing magics can affect both Rory and Gunther, then he channels a wave of positive energy that excludes the two most damaged enemies in its area.
Round 2
Having cast Mage Armor himself and boosting his AC by 4, AC 16. Halloran will double move (60 ft.) across the catwalk from his tower to Rory's tower.
Eamon releases his arrow as the bandit races towards him. He continues to fire as he retreats. "So be it," he says fiercely. "You are condemned by your own greed and violence. This is the price of banditry."
Round 2
Vell, that didn't vork out...
Trying to ignore the pain caused by the stone, Gunther puts away the musket and braces his heavy flail.
Rory, still prone, draws another extract from his belt and gulps it.
.
Round 3
Royston casts Bless on all his companions, granting them a +1 morale bonus to attacks and saves vs. fear.
Round 3
Halloran double moves (again) going up Rory's tower, and across the catwalk to the gate. He should end up overlooking the wagon.
Round 3
Eamon fires on the most distant bandit he can see.
So how many are left standing at this point? By my count 2 bandits and a packhorse fell to my Sleep spell, Gunther dropped 2 and 1 got thrown by his horse. Did Sir Eamon shoot that one? Because in the posts I think he hit one.
Eamon releases his arrow as the bandit races towards him. He continues to fire as he retreats. "So be it," he says fiercely. "You are condemned by your own greed and violence. This is the price of banditry."
Round One triggered shot:
1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
At this point I think the leader is the only one still up.
"You surrender NOW?! You bloody coward!!!"
Rory gets up with a groan. He is positively pissed off from wasting all his elixirs for nothing and getting hurt in the process. He starts to descend from the tower slowly, grunting with each step.
"You'd better respond to our questions now, or I swear I'll come to you at night and stitch your bloody ears together while you're tied up, you son of a gun!"
Halloran will follow Rory down, keeping an eye on the bandit's leader as well as the ones who are still sleeping.
Since Eamon needs to cover the leader, Rory and Gunther are injured and Royston needs to tend to them. The first chance Halloran gets, he's going to start gathering weapons and armor, check to see who's still alive and tie up any who are.
Drop your weapons, or I'll let the halfling have you. Halloran says this to the bandit leader, with a completely straight face, making it difficult if not impossible to tell if he's serious.
Royston gestures to his wounded allies to move closer to him and makes sure not to include the bandits when he releases another burst of healing energy.
Thanks Royston says Gunther, while reloading his musket again. Ve offered you the chance to surrender before, bandit. Why did you refuse? Pointless deaths could hav been avoided. Speak: are there more of them? Where do you bandits hide?
Since Royston has healed all the injured and Gunther and Eamon are covering the leader, Halloran will turn to Royston and Rory.
Could I request your assistance in dealing with these? he says gesturing to the bandits who are down.
It would be best to ascertain who is dead and disarm and restrain those who aren't.
How many are dead?
Rory goes around the fort, gathering the weapons from the sleeping/unconscious bandits, and checking if anyone is still breathing.
Oleg, have you got some rope? We need to tie the sleeping ones up fast, before the magic wears off!
Royston will go with Rory, casting Stabilize on the bandits that are not being tended by the doctor. Once that is done, he'll help secure them so no one escapes.
While helping tend the wounded and securing prisoners, Halloran will make sure to search them for hidden weapons and valuables and remove them along with any armor they might be wearing.
Sir Eamon will lay hands on any of his own that are wounded, then do the same for the brigands. "The grace of Erastil can still be yours," he tells them. "Only repent of your evil deeds and walk in the light. You could start by telling us about your organization."
This is the River Kingdoms Eamon, Halloran comments on his statements to the prisoners, banditry is a national pastime around here, to call it evil is oversimplification. It's more like the way things have always been, of course we're here to change all that.
Eamon smiles with an easygoing wink at Halloran. "Isn't that what I said?"
Oleg and his wife now come out of their home.
Halloran turns to his hosts and asks Do you recognize any of these men?
Oleg:
in a gruf voice
"Yep, these are the same sons of b****es that held up one day a month for 3 months."
Royston looks up from where he's tending one of the unconscious bandits.
"Is this all of them? Or were that others that harassed this place?"
Having positively identified the bandits as the ones who have been robbing Oleg, Halloran turns to taking an inventory of what the bandits had on them.
Svetlana:
"Now honey, don't do anything rash."
Gear from Bandit leader
alchemist’s fire (2), leather armor, dagger, composite longbow (+2 Str) with 20 arrows, 2 days of trail rations, silver Stag Lord amulet, 35 gp
Gear from other bandits
3 leather armor, 3 longbow with 60 arrows, 3 short sword, 6 days
of trail rations, 30 gp,
I'll take this dagger if no one else wants it. Halloran says holding up the one he took from the bandit leader.
The question of treasure more or less resolved, Halloran turns to the issue of prisoners, So, what do we do with these?
Oleg:
"I say hang'em."
Svetlana:
"Isn't that a bit too harsh for them."
"We are empowered by our commission to mete out appropriate justice," says Eamon, who has clearly been thinking of this for some time. "But that justice must be leavened with mercy if we are not to become what we despise in others."
"I put it to you, brothers, that on this decision hangs the fate of our expedition and the righteousness of our cause. Killing these men without evidence of greater crimes may be expedient, but I believe it is neither warranted nor just. There may be times when we, hard pressed, may not take prisoners or mete out less severe justice, but this is not one of those times. Justice, gentlemen, is best tempered with mercy."
"I propose that we imprison these men for the night and then put them to work building a stockade. We are in no hurry, and a period of enforced labor, followed by a period of incarceration and finally by an offer of clemency will perhaps best serve both the gods and our future needs."
Eamon looks to his companions for their responses.
Rory considers the options. "Evidence? How's Oleg's lost goods for the evidence? How's our own wounds for the evidence? These scumbags deserve the lawful punishments for their dastardly deeds." He walks up to the tied up bandit leader and looks up to him, on a verge of spitting in his face, but eventually grits his teeth and spits on the ground. "But your words hold reason, too much reason for a paladin, even. If I had my say, I'd probably hang this coward here and put the rest in chains. But my brain keeps telling me your proposal is more rational."
Royston finishes putting away the supplies he used to treat the wounded bandits to make sure their injuries were not fatal as his companions debate what to do next.
"The moment we define justice solely by what some piece of paper says is the very instant this whole land will sink into tyranny. Because you are right, Sir Eamon, there can be no justice without mercy. And there can be no freedom without second chances," the cleric says. He turns to look at the bandits and the Olegs to see their reactions. "The only thing every person is born with is their own free will. If we don't offer people a chance to repent their poor decisions, then freedom itself is a lie. And I refuse to believe that."