As Sir Bronwyn and Ganit get closer they notice on guard is staring into the foest, picking his nose whilst another manages to spot them both, drawing his sword and pointing it at them.
"You! Identify yourself! Both of you!"
Go piss yourself, idjit! Don't ya see? Go bother Kressel for all your problems.
The outlaw shakes his silver stag amulet to the interloper, tying the knot of his pants.
"Yeah ya... jackass." Ganit adds clumsily to Bronwyn's reply, restraining his instincts remove an arrow from his quiver and insert it into the guard's adam's apple.
Bluff to Aid Another DC 10
"The Stag Lord sent ya? You 'ave a message?" one of them asks curiously as they both sheath their weapons.
I've a m'ssage, indeed, but not fo' the likes of you. We're to speak directly with this Kressel woman. Where's she?
The outlaw smiles keenly, happy to show his authority and showing yellowed teeth (from chewing plants).
Ganit stands at Bronwyn's shoulder with his lengthy arms overlapping each other and a stern look affixed to his face.
Better to just let the boy talk and chime in when needed.
He takes the opportunity to make a cursory glance over the camp while his partner in crime schmoozes with the enemy, taking mental notes of the layout and any obvious structural weaknesses.
I've a m'ssage, indeed, but not fo' the likes of you. We're to speak directly with this Kressel woman. Where's she?
The outlaw smiles keenly, happy to show his authority and showing yellowed teeth (from chewing plants).
"Watch you're tongue! She's the Stag Lord's right-hand!" one of them blurts out feeling somewhat close to her. "She's...streachin' if ya catch me drift." he gives a wink and a smirk as he says this and turns back, looking to the direction of another watchtower where a tent is set up. "Give me your m'ssage. I'll make sure she gets it good." he smirks and laughs with the other guard in some kind of crude joke.
Are ya deaf? Need a clout in the ear to help your hearing? I'm to deliver this m'ssage to Kressel directly. Those are the Steg Lord's orders! If anyone makes sure she gets it good that will be me!, the outlaw exclaims, bursting into laughter.
Well but tis be the truth o'that. I need to speak to her directly, lads or else I'll be taking the clout in the ear. Where's she?
The guard notes the seriousness of his voice.
"Fine, come in and sit around the camp. She'll join you after she finishes." he explained to him as they allow the two of you to enter the camp and sit around the fire, awaiting Kressel.
Lukan stares steadily towards the direction Bronwyn and Ganit went off in. Every so often he reaches up and adjusts his scarf or rubs his cheek. Beads of sweat begin to form on his brow and trickle down his neck.
"How long do you think they will take? Should we go in now?"
He tightens the reigns within his hands as they had been slipping through them over time. Even his horse seems to be agitated by the waiting as it rocks back and forth, shifting its weight between its two front legs.
"There has been no alarm raised. Things sill seem quiet. It seems as though the ruse has worked so far."
Ganit takes his seat at the fire with a suppressed sigh of relief. He sits quietly and patiently while the other bandits gossip, pick, scratch, burp, fart, hustle, and abuse themselves and each other. He studies the whole camp silently, trying to make a mental map of all the most notable structures and inhabitants.
The humans are a little anxious at your presance as clearly the silver symbols indicate you are someone of importance and not to be messed with. This rings true when you see all the other badits don't appear to have these amulets and follow those that do.
You can hear the sounds of copulating in the background, where the tent is the man pointed out and from the sounds of it the woman is in charge and the man seems to be having a hard time keeping up.
Though thebandits here in this camp may act tough you can tell that they look back at the tent with fear, afraid of Kressel. Clearly she is not someone that they feel they could stand up again.
Ganit waits quietly for the hostess to complete her physical labor and instead turns his attention to Bronwyn who seems naturally accustomed to such deceiving acts. The young knight was both bold and convincing while handling the stationary guards near the entrance of the camp and Ganit is anxious to see how far his abilities will go with Kressel. From the sounds of things, she was nearing completion of her duties so it would be only moments before they were all face to face.
Noticing his friend Ganit is using his keen eyes to map the camp, the outlaw offers a suitable enough distraction.
So who's the lucky guy this time?, the outlaw says, pointing to the tent. He sits by the fire, stirring whatever pot there is and having a taste at its contents.
"I agree, we would hear if there were problems and I'd hate to destroy our friend's chances by rushing things."
You see in your mind the witch doctor looking at you. Division is death. If you allow your troops to attack the enemy on their own, then your troops will be slain by enemy arrows, one by one.
I still do not like splitting apart like this. People get killed when they split apart. I will wait with you all, but I do not foresee this ending in our favor.
Noticing his friend Ganit is using his keen eyes to map the camp, the outlaw offers a suitable enough distraction.
So who's the lucky guy this time?, the outlaw says, pointing to the tent. He sits by the fire, stirring whatever pot there is and having a taste at its contents.
After a few long minutes you see a young man exist, attempting to adjust himself whilst a fully dressed and armed woman comes up behind him, shoving him out of the way.
"Honestly, none of you measure up. I can see why you decided to become a bandit." some of the other men laughed at the young bandit who moved back inside the tent to re-adjust himself as she turned and looked directly at Sir Bronwyn with a smirk. "Maybe you'll be better. I don't recognise you." she stopped short as she noticed the silver stag amulet. "The Staglord sent you? Does he have a message on what we are to do concerning Oleg? Since Happs hasn't returned I assume Oleg decided to take matters into his own hands, the fool."
Well, just go'head an' try me! But first'tings first. I'mma not one for mixing business wit pleasure, so let's get this business over wit so we can run the pleasure part, will'ya?
The outlaw takes off his overcoat and loosens part of the straps on his armor, showing off part of his chest.
Tis been a hard travel, ya got anything to eat and maybe some water to spare? Throat's parched.
Well, just go'head an' try me! But first'tings first. I'mma not one for mixing business wit pleasure, so let's get this business over wit so we can run the pleasure part, will'ya?
The outlaw takes off his overcoat and loosens part of the straps on his armor, showing off part of his chest.
Tis been a hard travel, ya got anything to eat and maybe some water to spare? Throat's parched.
"Certainly." she bows and looks to Ganit "And from your friend too I assume?" she then walks off, taking a Keg and 3 mugs, sitting down with the two of you and keeping a eyebrow raised. "So why have you come?" she asks, with both of her hands seemingly relaxed onto the floor near where her handaxes are hanging off her hips.
Lemme take a leak first, it's been a long travel. Damned "lord" made us run like deer to get here fast.
The outlaw will keep mumbling and muttering and cursing to himself, while he looks for a conspicuous tree or bush nearby (he will go as far as 23 ft.). He covers himself behind it while he inserts a few special words in his muttering, waving his hands in a particular pattern.
Coming back from his break, he sits next to Kressel and talks:
This whole biz'ness wif this Oleg fella is disturbin' "his lordship". There're rumors in the north 'bout sum fellas coming down to mess wit our business, and 'his lordship' wants ta send a message. Nobody messes with his business. He means to strike at Oleg's and kill these nosy folks before they git to be a bigger problem.
The outlaw takes a sniff at the drink, and, not finding any traces of poison, takes a hearty gulp.
Ya are ta pick the finest men from your band here and join wit our men in the woods, and we're to march on Oleg.
The outlaw moves closer to Kressel's side, a conspiracy look on his face. He leans near her, whispering in her ear:
We already have many swords and bows to our side, and more men will mean more hands to share the loot. Bring no more than three or four guys and leave the others guarding the camp. And then it's more gold for you and me when that fool Oleg bites the dust.
vs DC 20
"So how did you get 'employed' by our lord?" he asks curiously as the looks over the two of you with curiosity. "I must admit I am surprised you made it all the way here by yourselves, clearly you have some skill in survival."
The outlaw snickers, remembering a funny tale of his past and sharing with few reserves, almost as a joke (including the funny voices and gestures).
"I served a lordly lord of Medvyed up north as guardsman to his household and family. They be a people of 'do this do that' and I had to 'yes sir, yes ma'am', so when the lordling's daughter asks me to her room and below her skirts I was all 'be happy to, miss, it's my duty'. And then she gets all 'yes' and 'do it' for a quite a while, but the moment her father walks in the room she's 'no don't' suddenly. So it was either have my manhood chopped off like a pork sausage or run the hell away, and I figuerd I'd be doing many women a disfavor by feeding such treasure to the dogs."
He slaps Ganit in the shoulder, offering:
"My friend here faced similar problems, but in his case the lordly lord wanted to get into his leathers. Some old shriveled men can't resist his ruggedlish handsomeness, right Gan?" the outlaw jokes, laughing heartedly at the image of an old naked pale man reaching for Ganit's "tresure".
"We'll be having plenty time to swap tales about old shriveled men and the treasure down my pants when we're sipping Oleg's beer in the broken husk of his post. We need to be going in the next hour or 'his lordship' is to get pretty pissed. And when he gets like that, you know what happens."
"I've no wish to rush our friends or ruin their plans, but I hope they are doing well. Carina I don't suppose that orc shaman taught you any magic for seeing things far away?"
Lukan leans back in his saddle with a grin on his face. "By now they are either dead or making friends. Either way there is little we can do other than wait here." He begins to pick at his teeth with his forefinger trying to remove the piece of jerky that had been stuck in there all day.
"How long shall we wait? If no alarm is raised, I don't think we should worry, but surely they will get some kind of word to us within a half hour?"
Jameson stretches within the saddle, eager to be off but unwilling to risk his new friend's lives.
"We'll have to wait until there's an alarm or they come back. They'll get word if they can, but who knows what evil deeds they'll have to perform just to gain access to the camp?"
Looking at Lukan with a sideways glance, James shifts his lance slightly towards the man.
"If you need a toothpick lad I've a wee piece of wood here for you to try with..."
Cambyl chuckles at James's joke. "If there's been no alarm at this point, they must have bluffed their way in somehow."
An unexpected burst of laughter follows out of Ganit's bearded mouth with Bronwyn's unexpected pat to the back. He looks to the conman, then to the ground and finally his eyes settle on Kressel.
"Uhh. Yeah, well needless to say me and um Razzy here got out as soon as we could." Ganit rises to his feet and walks slowly towards the entrance he and Bron came in. "Look we got a schedule here, I'd love to stay and drink but we gotta get back to camp before the idiots we left in charge burn the place down. Get a couple of your boys here and we'll set out right away."
Glancing at James: The witch doctor appears mostly concerned with killing things and his own self benefit. I do not think that forethought and divination are in his repertoire.
____________________
A little later - you can see Carina nervously sitting in her saddle staring toward the outpost. She looks as though she is ready to send her horse charging toward the bandits at any second. While staring at the outpost - I have a bad feeling about this. We should have never split up. We should have taken them all out under the cover of darkness.
Cambyl moves over next to Carina, "I am not happy we have to wait here either. Cayden Cailean is all about the adventurous charge into battle. We must have faith that our companions will handle themselves to our advantage. You have not been here as long as me, but I can tell you we can trust the good Bronwyn and Ganit. If things had gone badly for them, they would make sure we had known."
Jameson stretches within the saddle, eager to be off but unwilling to risk his new friend's lives.
"We'll have to wait until there's an alarm or they come back. They'll get word if they can, but who knows what evil deeds they'll have to perform just to gain access to the camp?"
Looking at Lukan with a sideways glance, James shifts his lance slightly towards the man.
"If you need a toothpick lad I've a wee piece of wood here for you to try with..."
"I bet you would love for me to put your 'wee' piece of wood in my mouth, but I will have to graciously decline your offer."
We should be there helping them, this is not good.
You can see that Carina is getting antsy waiting, and then you see her look over at a big rock and begin to alternate between shooting a blue ray from her hand which causes frost to appear on the rock, and then summoning a small ball of acid in her hand which she throws at the rock causing the frozen portion to bubble. Once the frost and acid have gone away after a few moments, she repeats this process silently while apparently mumbling to herself in orcish.
Freeze the enemy and take them down. . . . Watch them boil to the ground.
This phrase keeps repeating itself each time she summons the frost ray and the acid ball.
"We'll be having plenty time to swap tales about old shriveled men and the treasure down my pants when we're sipping Oleg's beer in the broken husk of his post. We need to be going in the next hour or 'his lordship' is to get pretty pissed. And when he gets like that, you know what happens."
"I know what you mean." she nods about knowing how pissed off the Staglord becomes. "About the beer, you are already drinking some of his finest drink we managed to aquire. I wanted to be sure you were like us." as he said this he looks the two in curiosity "My story is quite different. As a young girl I was helping my parents rob travellers and ruffle up pilgrims for some quick cash, heh those were the days however we were ambushed and both my parents were killed so I fled up north from Mivon into the Greenbelt. I managed to make my way through his dangerous region with some lick, but was then caught by a group of the Stay Lord's men. They thought since I was a woman they could take advantage of me, but when I cut off a few hands and fingers with these axes they soon turned and ran away, but I followed them and maimed as many as a I could right up to his fort. He must've seen what I had done because soon enough he came down and threw the would-be rapists to the dead fields where those undead feasted on them and he recruited me right then. I worked for him for a few months befor he sent me up here to run the camp. It's been fun to have a mix of freedom and responsibility and not Oleg wishes to stand in ourway. We were going to head off to teach him a lesson, burn down the outpost and then toss his wife to my men. I'm sure you two will enjoy her, she's a pretty one however, I think me and you could entertain ourselves." she smirks and gives a wink to Sir Bronwyn.
"I'meself don't care to join in. Rape is fool's business. Gotta keep your eyes open and alert or they'll gouge an eye or rip open your throat or bash your head with a rock... Too risky. I'd rather have a willing wild woman on top of me than a crying and sobbing one. Tis way I can better enjoy the... business."
The outlaw pours himself another cup of ale, and gulps it down without missing a beat.
"Gan, you'd better run'ahead an' tell the others that we're coming right up and they should keep get ready to march. This fool Oleg goes down t'night. And Kressel, we might have five or ten minutes while your men ready themselves. Since bus'ness is outta the way we could take care of the other part, care to?"
Ganit's mouth hangs open for a second before he snaps back to regain control of himself. He walks back towards Bronwyn with a repressed urgency in the speed and weight of his footsteps but before saying anything takes a quick look at Kressel.
"I will see you soon, brother" His tone borders more of a demand than a statement. "And you too, lovely" he adds as he targets Kressel with his cold grey eyes and a slow smile. The smile fades as he turns around and reluctantly makes his exit. He turns back and flashes Bronwyn a solitary nod accompanied with a look of admiration.
Let's hope you know what you're doing, kid. If something should happen to you after I quit this place I'll never forgive myself.
vs DV 15
She raises her eyebrow at Sir Bronwyn and tilts her head to the side.
"As I said, after we burn down Oleg's. Happs was my top man here and that's because he proved himself skilled at killing. Now, if you wish to prove yourself then you will have to join me in burning down Oleg's first." she then smirked as she leans in closer. "Happs was a ruthless bastard anyway. He broke the law and ran away so it family would get the blame. If the fool is dead it's no big loss." she smirks as she streaches her arms in the air.
Ganit calls back to the bandits after overhearing Kressel's vague response, "We're all a little tight on food. When we're done here it's strait to Oleg's. We leave tonight or at sunrise tomorrow so if you want to join us you'd better hurry up."
So let's get this wagon on the road. Pick your men and be done with it, we have sum pillagin' to do.
She raises a eyebrow but nods.
"Fine, I'll bring eight, leaving four of my men behind to watch the camp. We havn't been bothered by anything so I'm sure they'll be fine." she says getting up and ordering eight of her men to mount up and bring supplies for the jurney.
It takes a while, but once when prepared she has her handaxes in her hands, spinning them before putting them back on her hips.
"Let's go ya dogs!" she calls to everyone as she decides to lead the group with Sir Bronwyn and Ganit and the eight following.
Can we see anything from where we are?
Perception:
Looking up to Kressel from the ground, "I need a horse so I can scout ahead. Just because there wasn't anything alarming the first time we came through doesn't mean something couldn't have migrated over those paths."
Feeling that a civilized approach for these uncivilized people was too idealistic for reality he walks over to one of the lesser guards and grabs him by collar, pulling him down to a perpendicular angle with the horse he had mounted. "Give me this horse unless you want to be dragged by the neck behind it."
Ganit sidesteps and lets the guard fall to the ground. He pulls himself up onto the horse and looks at Bronwyn, "Standard form brother. I'll scout ahead and make sure none of our numbers are caught off guard. A party of 11 is much more obvious than what I'm used to so I'll need a minute to secure the path for all of us." He greets Kressel's eyes with a look as if to say I will have things done my way figuring a person of her character would find overwhelming masculinity more admirable than 'wait & see' politics, especially considering the spineless lackeys she had been stuck here with for god only knows how long.
He spurs the horse and makes off towards the rest of the party. Drawing them away from the treeline a few yards before giving them an update to the happenings and asking: "Any suggestions on how to handle Bronwyn and the 9 bandits who will break this cover in about three minutes?"
I hate to hurt the horses, but how many bear traps can we set up in 3 minutes? Also, I can probably put a fair number of them to sleep, probably 2-4 per spell - but there is not guarantee they will not be able to resist the spell, and they may awake if they fall from their mounts. Finally, a charge by James would be most useful, if he can accomplish it under these circumstances.
One option is to tie this rope between those two trees, as soon as Bron rides by, Cambyl can pull the rope up and hopefully dismount a few of them. Once on the ground, I can probably get most who have fallen asleep - think you guys can take out the other 4-6?
"If Bronwyn is leading them we shouldn't set down traps, lest we catch our ally in one of them. There are a number of strategies that would work here but we don't have much time. I would suggest Ganit lead them into range of our arrows, then cause them to break formation before I begin riding them down. Whomever our archers are can but traps in front of themselves in order to deter an assault on their position."
At last the waiting ends. To action!
"All good ideas but I cannot say for sure how well my words will set with Kressel. This horse means nothing to me but they will likely recognize her if she is found unattended. If we set her in an obvious clearing while the 5 of us hide there is a fine chance we can all hit them with a surprise volley of arrows followed by Jameson's mounted charge when they break form to inspect it. I don't know where that leaves Lukan and Cambyl in this assault and we will need all of our resources in harmony. I can't allow anything to happen to Bronwyn, the kid has earned his place."
"Handle Bronwyn and nine bandits?" Lukan immediately jumps to conclusions, "That turncoat!" He draws his blade and shield and dismounts. "I'll show you how I'll handle them!"
Lukan looks to Ganit after his wordy tactical plan and drops his shoulders. He sheathes his sword and pulls the bow from his back and treks towards some bush.
"I hope Bronwyn can fend for himself after we piss these bandits off."
Ganit looks at Carina, "That sleeping spell of yours, does it only work on people? We may be able to further the subterfuge if you knocked out the horse with it. Cambyl, where do you think you can best use your talents?"
Looking at Ganit. Not really sure. I can probably put 2 horses to sleep or 2-4 men. I would prefer the men as I doubt the horses will attack on their own. From my experience, I can cast sleep or those magic missiles a total of 5 times. The sleep is really kind of an area. I target an area and those closest to the middle go night night. Really, it depends on how they enter the woods. I doubt I will be able to take out this Kressel, but if James can get her with his lance, then I can put a few to sleep, it should work. I still think that if we can take a few off their horses with a rope, it would help to slow them down even more.
So, lets do this. Tie this rope between those two trees so that Cambyl can pull it up once Bron passes - this should take 2-3 down. I cast sleep on the front few, and then on any others I can see. You guys target Kressel with the arrows. Then we should be down to 4-5 and an injured Kressel, maybe less. And then James charges through that opening and hits Kressel while she attempts to rally her troops.
"Aye, sounds good to me."
We can do this Donal. Move as one.