Jamorin grins towards the group gathered to see them off "No need to look like we're never gonna see each other again guys, we're just going for a little snooping, be back before ya know it."
Mounting he leans forward in his saddle addressing the baker "Stephan, take care of things while I'm gone yeah? Shouldn't be hard since I won't be around causing trouble. Remember to smile for the kids when ya see em even if ya don't mean it, everyone's scared a bright face goes a long way."
Riding along with the others Jam finds himself next to Lino which certainly wasn't his intention it was always awkward around her, and the heavy atmosphere didn't help any, but at the same time it just felt more awkward if he tried to ignore her. Dismounting when Lydia suggests a break. "So Linokashtai... you learn everything you needed from your questioning? Any chance we can convince these guys to leave us alone peaceful like?"
"I'll stay back, Lydia..." says Linokashtai, pulling her psicrystal from her pocket and tapping it once so that the ectoplasmic legs appear. She offers it to the shifter. "Keep this on your shoulder, it weighs very little but will allow for me to see what you're seeing. You can also communicate with me through it." She nods once and says, "As Thenji said, you should be able to get a good vantage point from the lookout there."
She pauses a moment then turns her attention towards Jamorin. "We learned our odds and some locations, but it's not all I would have liked to know. It sounds like they are afraid of Count Barabbas, their leader. Very afraid. As they are ruled partially by fear, they likely won't negotiate. And if they're afraid of this Count... He must possess some kind of power over them."
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"I'll stay back, Lydia..." ...
She pauses a moment then turns her attention towards Jamorin. "We learned our odds and some locations, but it's not all I would have liked to know. It sounds like they are afraid of Count Barabbas, their leader. Very afraid. As they are ruled partially by fear, they likely won't negotiate. And if they're afraid of this Count... He must possess some kind of power over them."
"The power of life and death, I imagine." Thenji muses. "He's got them thinking they're an army. We all know how armies deal with deserters."
****
"Indeed...and a pair of them went up this path to the crag, too," Lydia says, examining the tracks. She sniffs the ground, then sniffs the arrow she took from Yellow Bow.
She unlimbers her bow and strings it.
"There's a chance they are still up there, or that they waited until they saw us to report back to the rest of the band. I think we want to be very careful, my friends."
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*** Waiting on the road ***
Thenji gathers the climbers'horses' reins and walks stiffly up and down the road to keep them, and himself limber. On one of his passes he remarks, "I haven't ridden in months. The time off has not made it more enjoyable."
*** Climbing to the lookout ***
The distance to the look out may be only a half mile, but the ascent is steep and has many switchbacks. Moving cautiously also slows the climbers; the sun passes through nearly two hands before you reach the smoothly rounded stone summit.
Nearing the summit Lydia stops and listens intently. Steel strikes stone a good distance away, faintly but clearly audibly. Tchok, tchok, tchok, tchok. The sound fades away.
Lydia raises a finger to urge a pause and silence, and listens intently. Then she nods.
"Someone up ahead, but receding. Thenji, I think you and I should circle the summit, if they are leaving we'll surprise them. Jamorin, Syrus, give us a minute and then keep on up the trail as quietly as you can. Faster if you hear a fight. But when you get to the summit, keep down and don't silhouette yourselves against the sky."
Lydia sniffs the air again. Syrus smells...strange to her, not exactly sick but odd. Thenji smells...as she has come to expect, and Jamorin is his normal self. She sets off, leaving the trail and working her way around the summit and hopefully out of sight of it.
Stealth:
Aljohar dismounts, trying to hide a bit of stiffness, and helps with the horses. She finds a convenient rock and takes a seat, accustomed to long waits between action. Tense and anxious (or is it eager?), she has little interest in small talk while the scouting party is gone.
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Lydia circles around the summit while Jamorin and Syrus wait. No shout of discovery, nor clash of arms disturbs their ears. After a time they resume their climb. Reaching the summit, they find it bare. The view isn't spectacular; the ridge isn't high enough for that but they can see the peaks and rooftops of the taller buildings of Haltwhistle to the south. They can see across fields to the north and south, and on the west, down to the road where their friends wait.
Lydia meanwhile moves through brush circling the peak. She reaches the north side in time to see a rider urging a somewhat reluctant mount down the path on the north side of the ridge. Distance and intervening branches and brush make a very difficult bowshot to him. Another rider waits where the trail regains the road.
Toward the east she can see into the bowl of the natural amphitheater. The ground is chewed up and rutted like a body of men camped there.
Jam gives a nod to Lydia's plan, his usual judging from his usual personality it probably wasn't real obvious, but he could actually be inconspicuous when the time called for it. "You got t Lyds."
Not hearing any signs of trouble he starts on up the path muttering to himself "Stealthy Stealthy" of course it might help if the shut up.
Linokashtai seems to be concentrating and meditating once they've dismounted, not seeming inclined to help with any of the more hands-on work unless asked specifically.
She frowns a moment and says, "Seems like they detected something. I'm not sure what. These bandits must not have been far ahead of us. If Lydia spots something significant, we need to be ready to move."
Lydia takes out the psicrystal.
"I don't know how you do this, but tell Lino that there're two riders making their way down the trail from the crag back to the pass on this side. If you ride hard you may be able to cut them off. I can trap them from this end."
Lydia presses after the riders, staying under cover.
Lino gets up and says, "Well, that was a short break, just my luck... Lydia spotted something significant. There are two riders making their way down the trail. If we push our mounts, we can cut them off and catch them in a pincer. I'd suggest only coming for this if you are battle ready right this moment."
The psion mounts onto Horace to do just as she said.
After dismounting Karl takes care of the horses, used to such mundane equestrian tasks it takes his mind off the thoughts of Peter back in town and the potential conflict that might start with the scores of bandits. Lino's words break his revere; for a moment he looks on bug-eyed at the prospect of another fight.
"I'm ready." He says softly, but it's not completely convincing from the countryman with no direct military history. However he gets onto his horse and spurs it on beside Lino.
"Always ready," Aljohar replies, swinging onto her horse, "I think we should all go. The stronger we look, the better the chance of them surrendering without violence. Our helpers can stay here with the pack horses."
She moves her horse next to Karl's. "Stick near me, Karl. Try to look dangerous."
Syrus squints, but fails to capture any of the details the others described. He would just have to take their word for it.
"I don't know about this..." he mumbles as he follows after Jamorin, no more stealthy than he is.
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Thenji also mounts up and urges his mount into a canter behind the Kalashtar, the merchant, and the medic. The road is broad enough for only three to ride abreast, and clods fly from the hooves of the leading horses. Thenji slows slightly to save himself and his mount a pelting.
The quartet pushes their mounts through a long pair of grasslined switchbacks cutting through the ridge. Clearing the second's broad sweeping curve around the base of the lookout, the lead riders catch sight of a solitary bandit a few hundred yards away. The bandit is sitting still on his horse, looking back up the hillside.
Jam and Syrus crest the peak. There is no sign of Lydia, but they can see Lino, Al, Karl and Thenji riding hard on the road going north. Looking ahead of the quartet, they see a mounted bandit in the road. The bandit is looking back up the hill toward them.
Lydia begins moving forward cutting through brush toward the descending rider. The bandit has seemingly made up his mind about about leaving; his attention is focused on guiding his sorrel down the trail. He doesn't look back. His lead is stretching.
She breaks momentarily out from the brush at the edge of a massive boulder which forms a small cliff simply by its size. To her left a level course across the slope will fetch the trail well behind the bandit. To her right is the short rock cliff and a hazardous descent that will save nearly two hundred yards.
Lydia decides to capture the eyes of the bandits so the others - especially Uthar - can come up with less chance of being observed.
Breaking cover she darts across the open to the short cliff.
Climb (DC15):
Scrambling down the cliff she starts across the open at a run...
Looking back at Syrus Jamorin hisses towards him "Hey get down man! At least try to conceal yourself you stick out like a sore thumb. I see a bandit on the road, and he's bound to see you soon if he hasn't already at this distance he probably couldn't see you if you just crouched behind a bush, but just standing there you might as well write a big 'We're right here!' sign."
His eyes widen when he sees the bandit looking their way, and he tries to make himself as small and hidden as possible. "Argh he's certain to see you now... who taught you how to hide?"
Linokashtai pushes Horace to a canter, not wanting to delay, but also wanting to have a little more control over the horse's pace and footing than with a full gallop. The Kalashtar holds up her hand and tries to slow the horse upon sighting the bandit a ways away, giving the others time to react to her gesture (unless her position is given away).
She focuses to try and determine how far Lydia is from the mark so that they can successfully catch this lone person in a pincer formation.
DC 14 Escape artist or strength to escape
"You're one to talk! At least I'm hunched over!" Syrus protests. When he notices the bandit in question however, he quickly complies, diving to the ground and scrambling to conceal himself. Unfortunately rather feeble attempt makes him look more like a writing worm, hardly inconspicuous.
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Lino halts the party and they can all see the lone bandit sitting on a motionless horse one hundred yards or so down the road. The man is clothed in weathered, heavy brown robes with a blue belt and scabbard for the shortsword at his side. He is looking intently up the hillside and doesn't notice you.
There is no sign, visual or otherwise of the lookout party.
You may read the On the road spoiler if you wish.
You can see everything. The road party rounds the corner on the far side of the ridge and slows to a halt. They're watching the bandit rider about 100 yards farther down the road where a trail, presumably the one down the backside of the lookout meets the road.
The bandit up the road is looking back up toward you, but he remains motionless. There is no sign that you've been spotted.
There is a second bandit rider making his way down the trail back toward the road. He's a pretty good horseman and is keeping good control of his beast as he descends at slightly more than walking speed.
You get a quick view of Lydia as she dashes over a fold in the hillside to your right. She's obviously trying to cut off the descending rider by going cross country, but she's going to be too slow to catch him. She disappears on the far side of the fold, running down through the brush.
A small group of people is walking on the road about a mile beyond the first bandit rider.
The range to all these people is 'far away' but all except the road walkers, and maybe even they, are within shouting range.
The beginning of the switch-backed trail down to the road is plain before you. You can make up ground by running down the trail. You might make up more ground by cutting across a few of the early switchbacks. If you leave the lookout, you'll lose visual contact with everyone except for brief glimpses when the ground and brush permit.
The ground is steeper than you thought. You descend into a ravine, splash across the creek at the bottom, making good time, but your legs and lungs are burning before you regain the top of the far wall. You're nearly reduced to trudging before you can see over the top. The horseman is going to pass well ahead of you.
,
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Realising this is a race she can't win Lydia slows; if she can get a good vantage point she can still shoot at the riders from range.
Aljohar follows Lino and Horace down the road, slowing her horse at Lino's signal and waiting for further orders from the point psychic.
Karl stays at Aljohars' flank, his hand on the hilt of his rapier, as he waits and scans the hillside. The thudding in his chest starts to increase in pace at the thought of the coming battle.
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The horse of the bandit on the road stomps nervously and whinnies. It tosses its head to the left. It's body follows, and the rider twists his neck to llok up the hillside. Finally he begins to circle the horse so that he can look comfortably up the hillside again. His gaze crosses the road, and he spots the riders on the road.
He hauls the slow circle into quick rearing wheel. "Four riders!" he shouts up the hillside.
From the hillside comes an answering cry. "GO! GO!"
The bandit lines his horse up down the road and drives his heels into his horse's flanks.
He's trying to cut cross country toward the amphitheater.
"I have a feeling he saw us," Aljohar remarks to Linokashtai as she spurs her horse to a gallop after the fleeing bandit and flies past the psychic.
"Bah." Syrus pulls himself off the ground and dusts off his clothing without much effect. Watching the riders in the distance, he remarks to Jamorin without looking, "Seems like the jig is up."
As he trails off, his eyes flick off to the side, recognizing something a bit quaint. Had he been through here before? His initial trip to Haltwhistle had always been a blur to him. Shaking his head, he points the pathway out to Jamorin.
"You see that? We can catch up, but only if we really haul it."
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The horse rears again and lurches forward. The bandit's hat flies from his head as the animal gathers speed. A dozen paces and his blond hair streams behind him in the speed-made wind.
Plunging off the path may not have been the bandit's best move. Almost immediately, he fetches a branch to the face. Another instant and his horse slips, nearly spilling him. He dismounts and begins leading the horse along the slope, weaving a nearly level path through trees, boulders, and brush.
In any event 3 Fort saves for running. (Opposed long haul speed check) You may substitute an acrobatics check or survival check for one of the fort saves if you wish.
The bandit on the road spurs his horse away and your four horsemen begin their pursuit.
Plunging off the path may not have been the hillside bandit's best move. Almost immediately, he fetches a branch to the face. Another instant and his horse slips, nearly spilling him. He dismounts and begins leading the horse along the slope, weaving a nearly level path through trees, boulders, and brush.
"Let's catch up, there is another bandit on the way from closer to Lydia's position," says Linokashtai, gesturing forward to the others after Aljohar runs off. Linokashtai grimaces at the thought of pushing Horace to do anything and mumbles, "Horace, do a good job today." She tries to push him to a run.
Horace is a lazy horse.
Aljohar kicks her horse, which resents it and decides to pull a Horace.
"Not sure if he spotted us or the others, but something set him off alright." He says as he turns towards Syrus seeing the man pointing out a path, which Jam had no idea existed and already starting to run for the bandit "How did you find that... Hey wait! Are you sure that's wise he probably sounded the alarm, it could be a trap... oh bother." He gets up from his hiding place and runs off after Syrus.
"Wise...? Probably... not... not" Syrus says in between breaths as he runs himself ragged. Right away his lungs start to feel like they are on fire, but the sorcerer pushes on regardless.
Lydia switches tack to head him off.
Fort Save:
Fort Save:
Survival Check:
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Thenji puts spurs to his horse and it leaps forward ahead of Lino's and Aljohar's. Through the first few furlong's he breaks into the lead and gains on the fleeing bandit, even as the two women lose ground.
This kind of cross country chase is hard. You get a good start, gaining ground, and are even able to catch sight of him as you make your way across the ridge face above him. And then a fold in the land, a stand of dense trees and he's gone. You're pursuing blind. It's wholly expected but always unnerving.
A splash through a broad marshy stagnant stream bed weights your clothes and boots. They drag at you on a tough rocky climb that wipes you out. You hobble through stands of birches trying to make speed and recover your breath. A long sloping downhill let's you recharge.
You reach a stony point. A dwarf cedar clings to the rocky overhang. Below is the broad marsh the bandit must cross. This is a good view.
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You lose sight of everyone as soon as you descend off the stony crown of the lookout and back into the brush and trees lining your path. Certainly more enthusiastic and maybe less experienced at this kind of running, Syrus opens up a lead and is soon lost to Jam's sight when the trail peaks or bends. You rush past brush, scrub trees, through a glade of birches, over a short knife edge where you can again see into the far distance north and south over the treetops. A startled jay whirs over a shoulder in a shadowed hollow.
The trail is dry and Jam can't see, but can taste the dust that Syrus kicked up hanging in the air.
Slowly Jam overhauls Syrus as the sorcerer's energy runs down and the two of you are shoulder to shoulder as you break from the edge of the trees and stare down into the meadows of the natural amphitheater.
The soft turf below has been cut up and rutted. Although it's deserted now, it's clear that a number of men and horses were camping here.
Thanks for this post by the way. I had been saving and editing my post as I finished each spoiler, but Jam and Syrus' didn't take. I'll fix that now.
Perception:
"Well that was fun and all, but I don't have the best feeling about this..." Jamorin peers warily around the deserted amphitheater "I don't see anybody but someone was here for sure... you think they ran off when he sounded the alarm?"
Karl spurs on his horse, pushing it softly with his lilting accent. "Come on we can outmanoeuvre him.."
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Karl urges his horse forward and it quickly jumps out to lead the others. He cuts the
distance to the bandit nearly in half before the bandit's sorrel is at full gallop. Behind
the vintner, Thenji and the women trail.
Head low, shoulders hunched and a club-like crop flying, the bandit disappears around a
slight bend in the road.
round of 3 checks from everyone. Range to bandit down to 40' yards for Karl with Thenji 20 yards behind him and L&A 50 yards farther back.
From your perch you gaze across the broad marshy area. It's pocked with thickets of brush and the occasional tree strugling to remain upright. More numerous than the upright trees are the fallen arboreal carcasses, rotting in the grassy mud. There's no sign of him as you scan the area again and again.
Patience pays off and he appears on the western border of trees, considerably farther north than you expected. He hesitates there for a long time before leading his horse out along a grassy strip and begins wending his way from grassy hummock to grassy hummock.
From your perch you gaze north across the amphitheater. A breeze ruffles what grass hasn't been matted or trampled down. There's no sign yet of your quarry, nor of any of your friends. But if he shows up he'll probably turn north onto the trail through the woods and back to the road.
It's pretty clear that campers decamped hours ago.
Spurring her mount vigorously, Aljohar succeeds in getting some response from the recalcitrant beast. "Karl! Be careful!" she yells ahead against the wind of their passage.
"Come on Horace. You are not old enough to be so stubborn," grumbles Lino, still discouraged.
"Crap," Syrus remarks when he sees the empty campsite. He pants heavily, his heart still pounding from the sudden running he just did. His eyes dart side to side as he tries to determine their next course of action. "Any ideas?"
The wolf in Lydia is still close to the surface as she lopes onward. She raises her head and sniffs the air as she runs and pushes herself onward.
Perception:
Fort Save:
Survival Check:
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To the east you can catch narrow glimmers of sunlit green sward. You're close to the amphitheater.
"We ran pretty hard, maybe we beat him here... he'll probably try to meet up with the road over there" Jamorin indicates towards the trail "I say we hide, and ambush him when he shows up. If he beat us here and is already gone... then there's no way we're catching him anyway."
Jamorin goes to pick out a good hiding spot where he'd be able to ambush someone trying to take the North trail.