Ryoken steps out of the way, choosing to remain silent less he break some custom he had not yet learned. It had been lucky back home that he was not the eldest in his family; he had never truly mastered the courtly arts. Although even those skills hadn't helped his brother stave off the wrath of their lord....
"We have had no trouble so far and we prefer to keep it that way. Let us all be about our own business and pass each other in peace." He isn't to cordial and does not deign to surrender any information he knows.
"Very well then" - Erianna does not press the matter, feeling they have not managed to gain their interloper's confidence - "I bid you safe travels"
Mwenye nods in agreement, having already stepped aside. He sees no reason to speak further to this arrogant man.
The merchant nods and instructs the caravan to proceed. The horses are goaded into action, pulling their wagons along with the guards alongside them watching you warily as they pass. Nothing eventful happens the rest of the day and you make good time.
Another fine and easy day of travel with not a soul seen on the road. As it gets dark and you are relaxing around camp though all but Ryoken hear a noise of something moving out in the darkness. Then a cry goes out, Arrows shoot towards you from the darkness about 60ft. away hitting Dart, Erianna and Ryoken. An ambush!
Mwenye chants and traces a circle in the air with one hand. A translucent shield forms in the air in front of him.
"You shall soon come to regret your folly!" He growls at the as-yet unseen bandits as he starts to get to his feet.
Dart curses under his breath. Letting someone get the drop on him wasn't part of his normal operating procedures. He stands, then moves into the shadows attempting to get out of sight of the assailants. Before lashing out with one of his star knives at the nearest attacker he can see.
possibly vs Flat footed opponent.
Erianna stands and draws her scimitar.
Mwenye springs to his feet and begins chanting, holding his hands in front of him. The fur on his arms stands on end as arcs of electricity form between them, and then he suddenly turns his hands palm-out. Lightning leaps from his hands to the nearest bandit, but instead of striking, it explodes into a roiling storm-cloud streaked with lightning.
Sighing, Ryoken ignores the arrow that grazed his skin and reaches into a belt pocket, pulling out a small stone that he then tosses up in the air. Rather than falling back to the ground, it starts to give off a bright light and circle his head, almost forming a halo. He then stands, drawing his swords and preparing to deal with the bandits. For good measure, he inches slightly closer to his nearest ally. "This is why we should have used my rope trick."
More arrows fly towards you; one buries itself in the firepit and the others in the grass. Ryoken deftly deflects one to the side also. Now you can see they are in a rough semi-cirle to your east firing at you with shortbows. One screams from the pain of Mwenye's magic and voice calls out, "Kill the catfolk wizard first!"
Mwenye snarls at the bandits, repeating his spellcasting. A second bolt of lightning forms a second thundering cloud around another bandit. Then he gestures slightly with one hand, moving the cloud he'd already made to chase the bandit he had first targeted.
"You may try, but you shall not succeed!" Mwenye boasts. "Your arrows shall never penetrate my spells!"
Dart nods, impressed at Ryokan's bladesmanship. He then draws another starknife, moves through some underbrush to get close before popping up just as he throws the starknife. you know, normally folks actually hit people they shoot at with intent to kill.
(dc23 perception or be flat footed)
( 17 damage if not FF)
If it hits. the starknife bounces to the next bandit within 20ft
.
Tamashi hums softly from Ryoken's left hand as Dart voices exactly what he had been thinking. You would have smiled at that comment before. Ignoring the soft voice, he takes a deep breath and runs towards the bandits.
Ryoken runs towards the enemy deflecting several arrows on the way and makes it within reach of one blade swing of his enemies. As Dart dodges another 2 arrows sent his way a starknife flies unseen from his hand curving through the air to slash the necks of one before burying itself in the heart of another, both falling to the ground dying. More arrows fly at Mwenye all shattering on his arcane shield as it moves to intercept each one. The brigands avoid being burned further by his spells though. Erianna charges the first one she sees and slashes with her scimitar, killing one before moving in towards another. The numbers now much more even than before.
Whirling around in a graceful dance of metal, Erianna wades in toward the next brigand, her scimitar leading the way.
"You still have a chance to surrender, and perhaps survive" - the woman urges their foes.
"Yes, surrender is your best option," Mwenye agreed, smiling toothily at them from the fireside. "Surrender, or face the wrath of the storm!"
In almost eery silence Ryoken looks down at the man in front of him. With two quick flicks of his wrist he strikes out with his twin blades.
The first blow with Tamashi has the man ducking to one side. But it's merely a feint, drawing him right into the waiting arms of Makoto.
Dart, darts back into the treeline and undergrowth, merging with the shadows once again before a glint of steel is seen spinning out towards the bandits.
if it hits and another brigand is within 20ft, it bounces to him as well.
Ryoken deflects another arrow at the same time the brigand in front of him drops his bow and draws a rapier. A quick exchange of strikes and feints gives Ryoken the upper hand delivering a serious wound with Makoto. Arrows chase Dart through the shadows and he replies with another star knife felling a bowman. Mwenye's shield blocks two more arrows and his thunderclouds chase down targets and two screams are heard. Erianna also cuts down a now rapier wielding bandit. Only three remain standing, two of which are heavily wounded. Their leader calls out, "Retreat men! Fall back!"
If no one gives chase they escape and soon disappear into the darkness.
Mwenye springs into action, sprinting after the fleeing bandits.
"No! No retreat, only surrender!" he declares. He doesn't really believe they'll listen, but he only needs one of them.
Ya! and stay gone you bumbling band of Baboons! He then collects his starknives before going to each bandit he felled. He checks their vitals and stabilizes any if he can. He will then drag them all back to the campsite and strip them, searching for anything of value as well.
as he goes about this, he will ask aloud. Anyone here have any healing magic? One of their arrows caught me in fairly solidly. Also, might as well keep these baboons from dieing if possible.
Mwenye's kick misses its target who keeps running, not heeding the demand for surrender. You could keep chasing them alone if you wished(you are now ~200ft. from your camp.
Each of the six brigands wears studded leather armour and a buckler and is equiped with a rapier, shortbow and 40 arrows. Searching their pockets finds a total of 16 silver and 25 copper pieces.
4 of them still have a pulse, one of which is badly burnt. They will need healing magic if they are to wake anytime soon.
Mwenye hesitates a moment, then turns back, thinking it best not to be drawn into an ambush.
"I have a wand," he says as he returns to camp, pulling a slender wand from his pack, "Though it works more reliably for one skilled in healing magic."
After stabilzing the bandits at most, Dart sorts the equipment into piles. Well, I say we keep them alive, and drop them off at the next guard post. No need to kill them if we don't have too.
You think there's likely to be some sort of reward for the capture of bandits and outlaws.
Knowing that in his heavy armor he has no chance to catch up to the fleeing bandits, Ryoken silently watches them run. Trudging over to Dart, he once again raises Tamashi almost as if to strike. It stops a few inches short of the man's forehead. "健" An eerie, glowing blue mist begins to surround the blade and drift towards the man. The cool vapor latches itself to his wounds and begins to close some of them.
Ryoken only gives their prisoners a suspicious glance before saying. "Perhaps this time it would be good to use my sleeping quarters? Though I am afraid I only have enough power to maintain it for about half the night, so we may find ourselves needing to move half way through."
Mwenye nods at Dart. "It would be unjust to simply let them die. What is more, there is likely a reward for turning them in to face justice."
Then he looks over at Ryoken. "I still prefer to be under the open sky. Could your quarters hold our prisoners, too? Even if it is possible, I would prefer to have them bound apart from us and watched by whichever of us is sentry for the time."
Thank you friend. You'll need to teach me that one day eh? As Mwenye talks about watches Dart yawns. Well, tell ya what boys, and lady. If someone wants to take the first watch of about 3 hours, I'll take the rest of the night. I only need about two to three hours of sleep on the road.
"I will take the first watch, then," says Mwenye. "My eyes pierce the darkness easily."
"It should hold just enough room for us four and the four captives. Though yes, I would think we'd likely want them in the open. Anyone inside could see out, though the window to look out is limited, so perhaps our sentry would not want to stay inside."
Thank you friend. You'll need to teach me that one day eh? As Mwenye talks about watches Dart yawns. Well, tell ya what boys, and lady. If someone wants to take the first watch of about 3 hours, I'll take the rest of the night. I only need about two to three hours of sleep on the road.
"I...do not think it is a thing that can be taught." His points Tamashi at a point in the air and it glows briefly again, this time a comforting pale gold. "家" A small portal appears briefly as a rope unwinds itself. The portal then disappears. Ryoken then begins stripping off his armor and putting it into a pack to carry up.
The night tucked away in Ryoken's hidden space passes quickly as you rest and rejuvenate yourselves. In the morning you see evidence of a foot patrol on the road that must have passed earlier in the morning without notice.
The captured bandits beg you to let them go, "I'll show you were we hide the goods!" "I promise i'll go back to the farm and look after my parents!" "You don't know what they do to us, we're just hungry!" They are still very weak and in no condition to be able to resist you. With their hands tied you can force them to follow you but they will slow you down a little.
Ya, ya, you're right. You will go back to the farm, after a long stay in prison. Don't worry, they keep you fed in prison, not great, but you won't starve. Tell me about why you joined the bandits as we walk. Maybe I'll put in a good word for ya as we walk.
He walks close to the bandits, making sure to keep an eye on them.
"Please, I'm a free spirit. I'll die in prison if I even get that far. I only joined them because I wanted a bit of adventure just like you. They said you were the bandits. I only hurt or take things from bad people. I'm no bandit!" You can tell that they really don't want to be handed in and would likely say and promise anything to be free again.
No bandit huh? So, what ah, what was that you were saying earlier about where you stashed your goods? What type of goods you got stashed by the way. Make it worth my while and I might think about it.
"Haha you don't think I'm that stupid do you. First take me there and when I go free you can take what you want."
Mwenye glares at the bandits and bares his teeth. "You knew the consequences when you joined them! So now you reveal yourselves cowards as well as thieves and murderers."
He turns to his companions. "Come let us be on our way. We can trust no negotiation with such as these. They deserve only justice."
aahhhhh, yeah, its probably a bunch of no good crap anyway. Sooner we get to the next station the sooner we get rid of them. Honestly they are lucky we didn't leave them to die there.
They shut up for a while but every now and then they try their plea again. You are slowed down due to their need for frequent rests in their weakened state and you only make 20 miles today. The road is clear and you do not catch up to or see any patrols on the road.
The day is fine again with some lovely cloud cover for the morning. The prisoners look a little better today and march quietly, having given up on their attempts to be free. Shortly before noon you come upon the river. You can hear and smell it before you are able to see it. To the east you can see the edges of the forest of Hope.
Soon you come to the bridge and situated on the north side of the river is the checkpoint building and a gate blocking the path. The bridge itself is about 500ft. long and the pathway 15ft. wide, just enough to clear a merchant caravan's wagons single file. Passage is restricted and two soldiers already stand guard. When you approach, another four exit the bigger building on the right and behind them one who looks like he holds rank. "Hold travelers," he barks, expecting to be obeyed immediately, "What manner is this, why are these four men tied?" All the other soldiers are attentive and hands on their hips near their weapons, ready for anything. Though there is no terrain nearby to disguise an ambush of reinforcements, especially at this time of day, they are well trained and have all likely dealt with bandits and outlaws many times.