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Gorax, who had laid back on the wooden tables, relaxing in the warmth of the sun, raises his head. "Hello Swetlana, I'm Gorax, just shout if you want something and I'll be along to help. Did you say these outlaws are bullying you, aaahh! don't worry I'll give them a beating if the show. " Gorax resumes his position lying on the table, watching the sky and making the most of not trudging through the countryside.
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Gorax, who had laid back on the wooden tables, relaxing in the warmth of the sun, raises his head. "Hello Swetlana, I'm Gorax, just shout if you want something and I'll be along to help. Did you say these outlaws are bullying you, aaahh! don't worry I'll give them a beating if the show. " Gorax resumes his position lying on the table, watching the sky and making the most of not trudging through the countryside in his armor.
Calath's eyes widen in surprise as Svetlana describes the bandits' demands, then his face sets into an fierce scowl. "I kin unnerstand demandin' food an' drink -- no' tha' I support it, mind -- but there's jus' no call fer bein' uncivilized 'bout things. These bandits be nothin' but leeches. An' I know jus' how t' handle leeches. Wit' fire." He shakes himself and the scowl disappears again. "Iff'n they be due back soon, well, y' have yerselves a nice little fort, here. I reckon we could hold it 'gainst any bunch o' walkin' leeches. If not, we'll have t' stick close 'round, so's we can get back when they do show. I don't aim t' let 'em have their way any more."
Svetlana is visibly relieved to hear the affirmations of protection. “I can’t thank you enough for helping us. As it happens, they will probably be back around tomorrow if they keep on as they have been. The past two times they have come within an hour of sunrise on the first day of the month. As for how they’ve been coming… Well the first time there were a dozen of them led by a cloaked man armed with a bow, and a woman who carried two small hatchets. The woman did the majority of the talking, and the way she smiled when she talked about what they would do to me if we didn’t give them what they wanted was frightening. She also seemed to be particularly sharp and observant, much more than the man, who seemed to be a bit more crude and foolish.”
She pauses to take a drink, gazing out through the opening of the front gate as though she were seeing it again in her mind. “I’m sure the woman was the most dangerous. She nearly lopped off Oleg’s hand with one of her hatchets when he tried to resist. As it was, she took the wedding ring right off my hand and tossed it to one of her men as payment for ‘not shortening Oleg’s reach.”
“Since then, though, only the hooded man has come with the bandits. The next time he came with only six. Last time he came with only four. Hopefully tomorrow he’ll come with even less. I’m sure they probably think us under their thumb by now.”
Sia looks thoughtful for several moments, as though she were considering options. Finally, after some consideration, she asks "Tell me, do you have any spare clothing that might fit me? I fear that being dressed too obviously as a traveler won't work well for what I have in mind."
Svetlana looks at Sia carefully, considering, then nods a bit. "I think so, it might not fit really well, but I think we can find somethng that would do. What do you have in mind?"
"These men sound like the sorts to chase after anything with the proper parts. I'll be out doing some chores, as though I were the daughter of some smalll merchant family trading my services for a night's stay. This place is full of areas to hide and launch an ambush from, and they'll follow where I lead. We can make sure they are where we want them before we strike.". Siarani lets out a sigh. "Not a position I fancy being in, but it's the least risky to everyone else, since I don't know how to wear armor anyway."
"Let's talk inside, over some food" suggests the redhaired man.
"We need to think this through. Even if we can stop a small group of 'em, the first thing that'll happen is they come back in strength. We needs to make sure that we don't makes things worse."
Sia listens to Yossian's argument, but then says "Unfortunately, we don't have a great deal of choice. They're coming here, and I don't think the business here can survive another month with no profits." She shrugs. "If you want to take things straight to them after, that shouldn't be difficult. I'll be able to take at least one alive without a problem, and then we'll know where to look for the rest of this particular gang. I strongly doubt all the bandits are closely affiliated enough that they'll come running to support one group that, as far as they know, couldn't handle one married couple."
"Yer not listening, Miss" protests Yossian. "Svetlana here says the first time they came there was a dozen of 'em. Whose to say there's not more? It's all very well to say that we'll run off four tomorrow when they ain't expecting trouble, but when another ten turn up, when WE'RE the ones caught by surprise, maybe in the middle o' the night, what then?"
He shrugs. "Not saying we should do nothing. But anything we do needs to be thought through proper."
Calath frowns at Yossian. "Well, th' way I see it, we don' know where th' leeches' lair be, so we can't hunt 'em down 'fore they get here, an' they's comin' tomorrow mornin' anyhow. That gives us two choices -- fight 'em tomorrow or don't fight 'em tomorrow. Not fightin' means Oleg an' his lady, here, are gonn' hafta pack up an' leave. Tha' means we lose our base o' operations here, no' t' mention wha' it means for them. Fightin' means we capture one o' 'em an' kill th' rest, then make th' captured one tell us where 'is pals are. Then we goes an' hunts th' rest down 'fore they kin attack here."
"Thank you Calath." Sia favors him with a smile before she turns back to Yossain. "Don't get me wrong. It's not that I haven't considered what you've said. But if we can't tangle with the bandits tomorrow, win, and put a stop to this one group without inviting retribution we cannot deal with, then the whole enterprise is a complete waste of time and we should just head home now."
With a deep breath, she continues. "I didn't want to point this out in front of our hostess, but from a practical point of view we have no choice. Without this place being here, the next nearest civilization is several day's journey. Lacking any sort of a base operations in the region is a crippling enough blow that we should just give up."
She shakes her head. "Even further, of course, is the fact that if the problem is as extensive as you're suggesting, then we really have no chance, whether we fight tomorrow or not. Five people wouldn't have any sort of chance at all against that level of organization, it would take an army to win. If the crown were willing to spare an army for the problem, we wouldn't have been asked to do it."
"I'm not saying we're up to the task." Sia shakes her head. "You may very well be right. But if you are, not doing this tomorrow just means we find it out later, and still dying. Out only real chance at this lies in the bandits not having the levels of organization and loyalty you're implying. Frankly, they sound like cowards. If we fight back now, and send word that actual guards are needed back to the last village we went through, the army might actually give them something, and that will free us up to explore. Now, does anyone else have any objections to helping, knowing what's at stake for the mission here?"
Yossian shakes his head. "No, Miss, declaring war on a group of armed killers afore we knows anything about their number, location, leadership, organisation or resources sounds like a fine plan to me. Don't see nothing that could go wrong there."
He turns rather grimly to Svetlana. "Any chance of a last meal, Mother?"
Turning back to the others, he says
"Alright, Mama told me I shouldn't complain without suggesting something better. So how's this? Them bandits aint expecting any trouble. So we don't give 'em any. We hides outside the walls. We gives Oleg and his lady here some cash, enough to satisfy the bandits. The bandits go on their merry way, back to their camp. And we follows. Or at least me and Cal do - we know the wilderness ways. Then we finds out where they is camped. WE have the advantage. We fight on our own terms, when we wants to. Our hand aint forced just cos they is turning up here tomorrow. And best of all, it don't endanger Oleg and Svetlana here. The bandits won't know that we've had anything to do with 'em."
Estruven has been quietly listening to Sia and Yossian discuss possible tactics for dealing with the bandits.
"Both plans have merit. The problem being we don't know their true numbers. If we take them on in small groups, like the one coming tomorrow, we have a better chance at chipping away at their numbers. Much better to take on several small groups over time than one big one, I think we all agree on that."
"So lets start with what we know we have to do, which is find their base of operations and know their true number. The best way to do that is to track them back to their location. If we were to take a prisoner we will not know if any information we get from him is correct until it is too late. Unless anyone has any magical means of getting the truth out of a prisoner, I'd say this shouldn't be our first choice."
"I suggest we go with Yossain's plan, unless things go bad tomorrow. Protecting the people here is our first priority. If it looks like someone is going to get hurt, then we go with jump in and fight and try to take one prisoner. For this to work we need to be in good position to act quickly." She turns to Svetlana "Can we possibly get some cloaks to cover our armor and weapons?"
She looks around at the other adventurers. "I am by no means saying this is what our plan is, it is only my suggestion. I'd like it if we can all agree. Does anyone else have any other ideas?"
"You might say..." Sia points out. "That magical interrogation would fall under my specialty, yes. In fact, there are a few techniques at my disposal."
"Well if you are confident that we can get good information out of someone, that could change things." Estruven says slyly. "If we can get one of them to tell us where their base is and how many they number we can dispose of the rest of the bandits that come tomorrow."
She sits at a table and contemplates. "We can then mount a surprise offensive, call for reinforcements, or get ready for an attack on the fort here when the bandits discover that their men have not returned."
"The question is, do we want any of those things to happen at this time? What are your thoughts?" She says looking at the rest of her group.
Sia takes several moments to think about what she is going to say next. When she speaks, it's in a slightly measured tone, probably more suited for the classroom. When it comes to magical interrogation, there are three basic approaches. Compulsion is most reliable, but unfortunately it's both the most unethical and a little beyond my skills. Even if we should pool money for the rare scroll I would need to try it, I would be hesitant to use it for fear of damaging the subject's mind, so let's leave that aside.
"The second is suggestion. I can place a very weak form of compulsion in a subject's mind, essentially making him not regard a particular topic of discussion as being sensitive or off limits. Seeing no reason not to, on that one topic he should be quite open. He won't even understand he shouldn't be telling us what he's saying. The trouble is, the more I do it, the more resistant they become, so we'd get a very limited number of questions this way.
"The last, uncomfortably enough, is the 'charm.' Or, colloquially, the 'love spell' of legend. While I can cause one of the bandits to, essentially, regard me as a very close friend and possibly even more, this, by itself, wouldn't overcome any actual loyalty he has to the band. He would be very unlikely to lie, but he would still be capable of it."
Once she's finished with her rather long-winded and possibly unnecessary explanation, Sia leans back in her chair. "The safety and continued operation of the trading post has to be top priority, very closely followed by everyone's safety. However, if we put our heads together, we probably actually know more about how the bandits operate than people keep suggesting. They are, after all, just as constrained by the realities of the Stolen Lands as we are. So, what are things like out here?"
"Th' reason I'm no' takin' a likin' t' Yossian's plan, is it lets th' leeches t' strikin' distance o' th' civilians, an' it rests on us all t' hide -- not knowin' where they's comin' from, mind, so they could ride righ' up though our hidey-hole -- well enough tha' no' a one o' 'em suspects treachery. If one o' 'em spots us, they kin kill Master Oleg and take Miss Svetlana captive an' there ain't gonna be much we kin do about it from outside th' walls." He pauses a moment, looking around the ground, the continues, "Th' other thin' is, well, I don' know that we ha' the funds to satisfy th' bandits. They take furs an' other tradin' stuffs, remember? Gold ain't much use when th' nearest town is four days travel on horseback, or more. Iff'n Master Oleg shows 'em gold, migh' be they turn 'im down and violent, too, or mebbe they jus' get suspicious an' start watchin' their backs. Hell, fer all we know, they migh' just lead us into a trap!"
He shakes his head. "No, I think 'tis safest t' take out th' bunch that comes in th' mornin', interrogate one that we catch all lively, an' hunt 'em t' their camp instead. I'm good at tellin' lies from truth my own self, an' when it comes t' it, it ain't like a buncha bandits wit' no reason t' hide is gonna cover their trail real well, neither. I bet you an' I can track 'em in our sleep, Yossian, even if Sia can't convince our captive t' talk truthful."
Satisfied that his point has been made, Calath turns his attention to the skies and the wind, seeking clues to what may come.
Svetlana watches you all discuss for a while, then takes her leave and heads into the main building, to return with a steaming hearty stew, hot bread, and even an open bottle of wine which she sets on the tables. She then busies herself about with work she needs to do, but one can bet that she is always listening to how these people plan to help her. It is obvious to anyone who bothers to look that she is not happy about the idea of letting the bandits confront her or Oleg again, and even less at letting them steal from them again even if that plan also includes trying to get the stuff back.
“I don’t think that their base is far. They’re always in a hurry to go, mumbling about making it back to their camp. I doubt it’s further than a day away.” Svetlana interjects as she walks past.
"I have to admit that I like the idea of dealing with the ones that come tomorrow while we have better numbers. Say, for instance, there is only 12-14 in their group. If we can take out 4 then their number drops to 8-10. It may fair better for us later."
She asks Svetlana as she passes by "Do these bandits travel horseback or do they walk on foot?"
"If we try to take them down tomorrow we will need to be sure we are thorough. If one gets away and warns the others we may have a full-on assault in retaliation within the day."
After Svetlana answers her she asks another question "Are those catapults capable of being fired? Can anyone here man them?"
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The spring sun moved through the sky and accelerated its descent to the horizon. As the air cooled around Gorax's sleeping form, he shivered and with a start woke up. Feeling that dullness of mind that comes after taking an afternoon nap, Gorax slowly raised his frame stiffly from the brown wooden table. The smell of cooking wafted out from the building, calling silently to Gorax's hunger. "Hmmm, something smells good, I hope that's our dinner." He placed his feet solidly on the ground and stretched out all the stiffness of sleep. Taking a small refreshing drink of water from one of his waterskins and pouring a little over his head kick started Gorax's brain into action. "Time to get ready for tomorrow", he thought.
Gorax made sure all his belonging, armor and weapon were where he'd dropped them around the table and looked across to the other table where his friends were deep in heated discussions. "Hi everyone, what's going on? You decided how we're gonna hit them bandits tomorrow." He continues to Svetlana, "That food smells good, if its as nourishing as smells, it should make sure we're well ready for any fight tomorrow." Gorax returns his attention to the group as he tries to catch up with what the group are deciding. He offers just one piece of his mind, "I'm looking forward to the scrap tomorrow, we gotta protect these nice people from them bullies. Time for our swords to do our talking. Just tell me what you want me to do, I'm sure it''ll be dangerous but fun." With that he takes out his blade, cleans and sharpens it, then doing the same with his gauntlets, but making sure they are well oiled to maximise the movement.
"The travel by horse, and usually bring one or two extra to load the trade goods onto," Svetlana answers Estruven.
"I'm afraid not. From what Oleg has said it would take weeks of work to get them firing again. But the wall and towers are sturdy enough."
Sia listens to Svetlana's answers, then nods. "I do believe that settles it, then." She shrugs. "A day's travel by horse might be several days by foot, and with no established roads, no real idea where we're going, and the travel time difference, we would have had to have left yesterday to be sure to find the bandits in time to do any good up here. At the very least, after they've made their way here we'll have a trail we can follow."
When Gorax rejoins, she smiles at him. "Unfortunately, not yet. There was some...disagreement about whether to defend the outpost or perform reconnaissance, but the time issue seems to have settled that for us. Besides, all we have to do is lure them away from the gate. I'm quite sure that once they're out of sight, someone can bar the doors and we can trap them in here to prevent them from easily running away. All we have to do is prevent them from running to buy several days grace before any retaliatory attack is likely to come."
"If things go well tomorrow, we may have to confiscate the horses the bandits ride in on. That could be quite fortunate."
Tomorrow's plan somewhat settled, Estruven begins to enjoy her meal that Svetlana has brought out to the group. After all of the time on the trail, a hearty meal is even more tasty. Even better, the stew reminds Estruven of her mother's recipe.
"Svetlana, for being out here on the edge of the frontier, this stew is delicious! It reminds me of my mother's stew. You wouldn't be from around Rostland perhaps?" All of this talk of strategy and hardly a word yet about our new hosts. I wonder what brought them here? she thinks to herself.
"Well you are more than welcome to keep their horses as far as I'm concerned," Svetlana declares. By the sound of it, as long as they're taken care of she doesn't care what you do with them or their gear. It's about this time that Oleg comes back out of the building, a bowl of stew in hand. He sets it on a table and then busies himself getting a fire going inside the firepit between the tables.
"Just leave me some of the bodies. he mumbles. "Plan to set those out front as a warning to any others that git the idea of trying to come here taking what isn't theirs."
Svetlana reaches out a hand to rub her husbands back as she looks at Estruven. "We came out from Restov not long ago. We got a charter from the Swordlords to renovate this old boarder fort into a trading post. We've had a hard time getting support from them, though. We only recently got word that our requests for guards was almost approved. Hopefully they come not long after you leave off again."
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As the dish is placed before him, Gorax takes a deep sniff of the stew, moving his head up from just over the dish to tilted back slightly on his shoulder in a big arch. With this he lets the world know that this smell is heavenly, "Mmmmmmmm, lovely." Gorax starts devouring the meal in front of him, complimenting Swetlana on her cooking.
"Ok then, we're gonna fight, now how are we gonna deploy ourselves, I ain't going up those towers in my armor, I wanna get close up personal to them bandits. I'll take the one on the ground, we can get him when he gets down to pick up his spoils, then I can spoil him." Gorax chuckles to himself. "So who's gonna shut the gate to lock them in here, they had better be quick? I wanna make sure we take them all down and keep Swetlana and Oleg safe and sound.
Momentarily a look of great concentration flickers across Gorax's face, the lines of his brow furrow, his lips tighten. "Well I suppose if we all hide behind one of the towers, then when they get in we can charge them all, yep it works for me. What do ya think?"
Yossian scowls into his stew. "Well, I still thinks it's jumping in lake without looking first, but if you is all set on it, then that's we we goes with. I'll see if I can block the gate, and then join you with my sword, Pops. Just leave some for me."
He grins, but his voice doesn't sound that confident.
"All right." Sia goes around outside to carefully look. "Here's how I think we should proceed, positioning wise."
"Yossian." She points. "I want you laying prone on that platform near the front gate. From there, you can observe, and also come up to kneeling to shoot your bow if things go south."
"I'll be working right there..." She points towards the main clearing "...waiting. I'll do my thing, and try my best to lure them past the guest house and give a shout when it's time to open the door. Everybody should be waiting, away from the windows, either in there or in the main house for that signal, and come charging out. With any luck, they'll be down before they have their swords drawn, but if not it shouldn't be much after."
"Any questions?"
"So you will try to charm one of them, correct Sia? When will that happen?"
Sia shakes her head. "Unfortunately, no. I have to make really obvious spellcasting gestures. Anyone with half a brain observing me in Absalom can tell when I do it. I've seen more advanced students who can enchant you just talking to you, but that's beyond my skill." She takes a deep breath. "Instead, I was going to try to put them under a spell of slumber, so that we can take out as many of them as quickly as possible. So perhaps we should have rope handy. The charm can wait for them to wake up."
"That sounds like a good plan. If it works it may spare some bloodshed. I will get my mount ready in case I need to pursue any who attempt to flee. I suppose we need a code word to notify us when you are ready for us to come out."
"We also need someone keeping watch on one of the towers today so we can be prepared and in place when they arrive."
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Gorax had been considering Estruven's words, particularly regarding the use of the watch tower."Yeah, well it goes without saying we need a watch for tonight, don't wanna be surprised by them vagabonds. There's 5 of us to watch from now until tomorrow morning and beyond. Anyone got a bell, they always used to be used in the city guard to muster the troops from slumber. If we do as you say and have someone up the tower, then they can ring the bell, if we need to get up for visitors." He thought some more about what had been said, "You know so far we need someone to shut the gate, someone up the watch tower, Siarani doing her stuff, that only leaves 2 of us to protect Siarani and our hosts. So that's me from the house and you Estruven from the guest house. We all OK with that, unless Mr Oleg can shut the gate for us and we have someone else close by. You know it just might work?"
Turning to Siarani, Gorax adds "That charm stuff sounds pretty good, wouldn't mind using a bit of that meself. Maybe use it on you ladies." With that he gurgles with laughter at his own joke and finishes whatever food might be left, even taking the remains of other party members dishes. After he turns to Svetlana, "That food hit the spot. You want any help clearing up? Should pay you back for your kindness you know."
"I don' got a bell, but I do have this." Calath pulls a whistle out of his pocket and blows on it, producing a birdcall with a little effort and practice. "Or we ken jus' bang on tha' big iron pot I got hangin' off Donkey's packs."
Svetlana laughs and shakes her head. “You needn’t worry about cleaning up. I’ll handle that. I’m just glad for your help. We both are.” She stands and starts clearing away all of the dishes.
“I can handle closing the gate if you like,” Oleg states as the fire gets blazing. He takes a seat at one of the tables, looking about at everyone. “But it won’t be easy. If you hadn’t noticed, the doors are fifteen feet wide each and ten feet tall. Not exactly something that’ll close quickly. But I’m more than happy to pull em halfway before they get here to make it a bit quicker to close.”
He considers for a moment. “You should know, though, that I’ll need to be out and about to give em their ‘tax’ when they get here. If I’m not, they might suspect something is up. “
Estruven turns to Sia "What, exactly, do you have in mind to lure one of the bandits over to the building? We need to be sure that they don't just leave after getting what they can from Oleg."
"Disgusting as it is, the same thing they were going to take from Svetlana." Sia says to Estruven's words, then looks to Oleg.
"Hmm...plan can still work." She slowly pulls out two gold coins and three platinum ones. "Absalonian currency. Two measures, which the bandits have probably seen, and three Lion Coins, which almost no one outside the city itself has. Trade in platinum is normally done with foreign coin, but I went to the money changer to turn my savings into something more portable before I left."
She takes a deep breath. "Here's our...what is that term...'cover story?' Last night, my father, a wealthy gem merchant, passed through here on his way south. While I was asleep, you, a good samaritan, informed him about the bandits coming to visit. Rather than give up his valuable stock, he decided to simply give them my virtue and a few coins as a bribe to leave him alone. We won't tell them that, but what I need you to do is simply imply it. Say that there is a 'surprise' around behind the guest house for me when they show up and wink at them."
"Oleg, please, no protests about how you'd never do that. These men are of a sort that they'd believe you would, and that's all that matters, right?"
Oleg looks at Sia curiously for a moment. “Oh, I don’t think it’ll take much to get at least one of them over there. I was just making the point that I need to be about within the compound. Someone had mentioned me hiding in the house.” He shrugs a bit, “If that’s the way you want me to play it, I will. But I do hope that you all know what you’re doing. As my wife said, we’re thankful for the help.”
Sia nods, clearly thinking. "All right. Then, if most of them don't come over, position yourself on the far side of the trade goods. With any luck my spell won't affect you that way. If it does, well, the bandits will have more important things to worry about."
Oleg just nods. He still seems to be in a rather bad mood, but at least it doesn't look as though it has anything to do with the comming battle or the prospect of being rid of the bandits. His thanks at the help with them is quite sincere.
He stands then and dusts his hands off. "Well you all are welcome to stay in the guest house. There are beds enough in there for all of you. I'd bet the wagon that those swine will be around within an hour of sunrise so if you want a breakfast before the battle, it'll be an early morning."
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"OK girls," says Gorax speaks to Sai then the group, "I'm really glad you're sorting these spells out and stuff, but what about us blokes then, got any plans for us? How and who is gonna close the gate, its very large and will need a lot of strength and quickness to close it. Who is gonna have that job? Yossain you up for that? Cal, you go up the Tower for the watch when we expect them to arrive, and rain a shower of arrows down on them. That leaves me and Estruven hidden away waiting to surprise them, so we can either tie 'em up or give them a good beating. Estruven, any chance you could hide already saddled on the horse, and come in and charge at the bandits when the time comes for us to do our bit? You'd better be ready to defend yourself as best you can Sai, should your magic fail to affect all the bandits. What do you reckon guys, is this a goer? Oleg and Swetlana will have to do their best to run for cover, I will make it my priority to protect them first."
"So how about this order for the watch tonight? me from 6-9, Estruven from 9-12, Yossain from 12-3, then Sai is up from 3-6, when Cal takes over until the bandits arrive or just before midday. Is that OK for the rest of you? That way me and Estuven get a good nights sleep ready for the battle tomorrow. Its just like the city guard." he says with a smile in his voice.
Turning to Cal, he says "I like the sound of belting that big pot, if Oleg doesn't have a bell or something, I'm all up for that as the alarm."
Having said his stuff and listened to the answers, Gorax makes his way over to Oleg, "You wouldn't have a bell or something we could use, in case we need to raise an alarm?"After hearing Oleg's reply he continues, "Your wife was right nice to me, said she didn't need me to help after dinner, just thought I'd ask you if there was anything I could do for you, to help me pay my way for your kindness?"
"There are at least two problems with that arrangement" Sia says. "One, I need to be up when the bandits come, and two, if my sleep is interrupted it makes it hard to prepare magic for the day. Pretty much impossible, in fact. So I have to be on watch last."
"I doubt that a watch is needed. The bandits have no reason to come earlier than they have the past three months. It isn't like they know you're here and we've never posted a guard before. Just close up the gate." Oleg says, then shrugs. "But I guess that's up to you all. As for me, I'm heading to bed. Got a lot of work to do tomorrow."
He does pretty much ignore Gorax's question about repayment, perhaps he's waiting to see how effective you all are against the bandits.
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Well, if Oleg don't think we need a guard then I guess we don't, we can all have a good nights sleep. Just need to confirm our positions for the morning after we've had a nice bit of breakfast. Just need to make sure we wake up in time, who's on wake up duty then." Gorax laughs knowing full well if its sleep thats going on, he''l be participating big time.
"Oh I'm sure Svetlana can rouse you all for breakfast. We serve it just a bit before sunrise. Hopefully that ain't to early for any of you city people."
"Oh, not too early." Sia gets up from the table with a stretch. "Still, I think I'd better turn in soon, myself, if I'm going to have time to do everything I need to. I hope it's not too much trouble to ask to have my 'disguise' laid out and ready for me, is it?"
Yossian waits for the others to depart, especially Gorax, before he retrieves a skin of ale from his pack. Pouring a little into his cup, he toasts his companions, his hosts, and Cayden Cailean, before quaffing the measure in one gulp. Mutting a prayer to the Lucky Drunk that he might survive the morrow, he heads towards the bunkhouse, before thinking better of it and wrapping himself in his cloak, sitting himself against the outside of the building where the morning sun is sure to wake him, if nothing else does first.