Cyanne laughs and whispers to Daen. "I guess you heard that. See you in a couple minutes." Then she pauses. Lali won't understand elvish, and no one else is listening. It's a rare moment of privacy, and impulsively she shares what's in her heart. "আপনি বড় সংখ্যাত, কিন্তু আমার জন্য আপনি তাদের ছাপিয়ে. যারা মাসব্যাপী এই হতে পারে কে জানত?"
_______________________________
The moment she says the words, she regrets them. What if Daen feels she's pushing, breaking the rules they set? Will he be angry?
Well it's too late now. She can't unsay her words. She can only rejoin the others. She makes sure to make extra noise coming to the strange woman's camp, so as not to startle her.
"Hello! Any friend of Lali's is a friend of mine. I'm Cyanne." Cyanne warmly offers both her hands and her smile to the hunter. "The rest of our party shall be along in a few minutes."
Kazimir hesitates before dismounting and following Cyanne, guiding Surefoot by the reins.
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Daen was consulting how to phrase his response to Gratia being found in the woods when he heard Lali's joyful proclamation. Beckoning the boys onward, they headed toward the firelight.
On their way there, he heard the aching of her heart toward him and it spun him like a punch the the jaw. It may be inevitable and the damage might already be done. But he had to stick to his oath. Especially in these River Kingdoms, where oathbreakers were to die. His own predilections aside, he wanted to be wholly sure this was his path in love before he leapt. The anticipation was also making things difficult, but the release should be astonishingly powerful, one way or the other. The question was, would he be able to recognize himself on the other end?
As they trod through the undergrowth on the way up to the light, Daen nodded his hello to their acquaintance. His speech sounded funny enough, he didn't want to exaggerate the awkwardness of it. Perhaps he'd be a bit clearer in the morning. He caught himself staring at the shining blue of his angel's hair in the firelight, but rightfully turned attention on Gratia in due time.
He sighed, squinting his eyes and pressing his thumb and forefinger on his nose for clarity. Svetlana, they knew each other from dancing before. Perhaps he could have an anchor of reasoning from that angle. But not really today, he didn't have the appropriate position to make that argument. "And look, I care very little that my family would disapprove of your chosen profession, but it would be remiss of me not to at least acknowledge that it would make it more troublesome to be with you. Not that I'd let something like that stop me, it's just the matter of whether or not it would reflect well on my mother. It's her honor that I want to reclaim." Realizing that started to sicken his stomach, he decided to press on into another subject.
"Secondly, I constantly criticize myself and my own choices to see if there's a way to more consistently reach my goals. The easier choice is not always the better one. Simply because something is convenient or affirming doesn't mean it's right for me in the long run, and I play a long game. If I applied a similar line of thinking to you without your permission, I apologize, but this is how I think, so you may wish to take such implications with a grain of salt in the future.
"I have no doubt that anything you put your heart into doing would be excellent and praiseworthy. But I find myself on one side beset by my own passions, and on the other side beset by my desire to live above my status for the sake of others. I may not be a prince, but you do long for me to live like one, as I do myself. Please let me, for the time being refrain. Although I promise to reconsider before we reach Restov, and will inform you of any changes."
Joining the others with some trepidation, Luthor was nonetheless sporting a relieved smile. "Hello there, so nice to see a friendly face for once." He extended a hand in greeting. "Im not sure weve ever met. We certainly havnt been formally introduced. Im Luthor." A chirp from the collar of his neck caused him to smile wider and add. "And my companion Rikka. You havnt met either I take it."
Gratia embraces the new-comers, though not as strongly as she does Laliytsa and Daen, and sits down near the party. She grins a half-feral grin and, without waiting for any more formalities, launches into conversation. "I vas tracking elk, and they turned into the Narlmarches. By the time I got there, et vas over. There es something hunting them here, and et leaves mess. I have not seen anything like et. Would you go with me tomorrow to see?" She seems to get more morose as she talks, dropping from her self-assured posture into something more glum and uncertain.
Laliytsa warms her hands by the fire "We had a run in with a worg an' some wolf-man thing the other day. Coulda been them. Seen any tracks?"
With a snort, Gratia shakes her head. "Et vas not wolves, or anything like them. Et did not hunt for food. Half the elk vere uneaten." She pauses. "Vere you planning to ride through the Narlmarches tomorrow?"
Tango chitters angrily from Cyanne's shoulder, and then pointedly leaps to Luthor's shoulder. Cyanne sighs. "That's Tango. He's mad at me, and rightfully so, because I forgot to introduce him too," she explains to Gratia. "Um, I'd better see to him."
She scoops a squeaking and indignant Tango from Luthor's shoulder and excuses herself to stand away from the others, looking out into the dark woods. She realizes that she's embarrassed that she has no idea where they've been going, whether they're even heading to the Narlmarches. For the past two weeks, she's been traveling with the others, content to follow along and go where they go. It's not her Charter, but when traveling with the others she's felt a sense of shared purpose, helping them with their tasks, being part of their group.
But is it really her purpose? She's just been tagging along, enjoying their company, and... following Daen. Daen, who does not even know if he wants her. Daen, who was clearly embarrassed by her most recent outburst. What is she doing? She'd come out to help Svetlana, and did she even do that? No.
"Tango, what's wrong with me? Once, I knew what I wanted. I pursued my dance career, relentlessly. Nothing stopped me." She pets the miffed mongoose. "Oh please don't be still angry with me! I didn't mean to leave you out!" Touching her nose to his, she cradles him close, trying to calm herself and him.
She needs someone to ground her. She wants to talk with Lali, but Lali and Gratia were engrossed. And Daen would be too... he was keen on maps, and schedules. She pulls her mind resolutely from Daen. Daen doesn't ground her. He unmoors her at every opportunity. She needs to talk to someone solid, and unwavering.
Her gaze lands on Kaz. Kaz, unfailingly gentle and honest. She hesitates, then messages him. "Hey Kaz, are you busy? Can you come talk?"
"You know what I think?" She raises an eyebrow. "I think that if I had set my 'considerable skill at teasing your inexperienced sensibilities,' you would have been perfectly armored against me. It's only because I wasn't trying to enrapture you that I slipped behind your defenses like this. You don't know what to do when someone actually likes you back, do you Daen?"
She sighs, calmer now. "I'm sorry. That came out harsher than intended. Daen, I don't aspire for you to be a prince. That is not the dream that I have for you. But I know that you are a driven, ambitious person. You long to achieve great things, and I never want to come between you and your dreams, or the memory that you cherish of your mother."
It hurts that he feels association with her would injure his mother's memory, but she won't push him further. This conversation was painful, like picking at a scabbed over wound. Pressuring Rulanir now would only make him dig in his heels and get angry. "You don't need to come see me dance, Rulanir." Her tone soft, she turns away from him and returns to her own mount, trying to ignore the pain that has suddenly burrowed deep into her heart.
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The half elf was flipping through maps, nodding affirmatively to the questions of Gratia. He didn't really want to speak aloud, because of his swelling, but Gratia wasn't really asking complicated questions.
The swordsman watched her go, and did his best to remember the next set of primes, but his mind refused to comply. He felt like he was being undone. In order to love this woman, he would have to give up all he was, or at least to be willing to do so. Perhaps that's what love actually was. It was no wonder why it destroyed his mother so. If he hadn't seen it done well, that once, then he'd never have given it any portion of his attention.
Conversation with Gratia slows to a gradual stop as proper darkness falls on the border of the Narlmarches and Kamelands, and before long, only the crackling of her little fire and the (Warning: Sound) hooting of an owl can be heard over the party's snores.
Early during Luthor's watch, though, there's a crashing sound in the woods, followed by a quite feminine-sounding voice cursing in a most unladylike way. "Elkfather damn these cursed roots. Claptrap, are you okay?" There's a nickering sound, then a moment later, the voice speaks up again, this time louder. It sounds tired and scared. "Is anybody here? Please, you have to help me, they won't be far behind!"
The noise quickly wakes Laliytsa up. Her hand goes straight her axe and she's ready to pounce; that is, until she catches an important detail. She's heard that horse name before
"Svetlana?"
There's a sigh of relief from the darkness, and then a louder, still scared, shout. "Is that Laliytsa? I'm coming in, is that alright?" Without waiting for a response, the crashing sounds resume, and a moment later, Svetlana limps into view.
Filthy, her face covered in a dried mixture of dirt, sweat, and tears and her dress ripped, Svetlana looks the picture of someone who's been roughing it without sleep or food for a couple of days. As she throws her arms around Laliytsa and begins sobbing, the stench of fear is almost overpowering. Moreover, Claptrap the horse looks even more nervous than usual. He pants heavily, eyes rolling back and forth between Svetlana and Laliytsa.
After a few minutes of crying and shaking, Svetlana calms down enough to loosen her clutch on Laliytsa. As she speaks, she continues to shiver in her ripped woolen dress and holds her hands to her stomach. "I d-don't know his n-n-name...He came out of the s-south, with a hulking brute and, um, t-ten bandits. I th-think. Said he w-was Dovan, the Stag Lord's man, c-come t-to show w-what happens when s-someone b-betrays him. Oleg and Kesten g-got me out on C-Claptrap before D-Dovan could encircle the t-trading post, b-but he s-sent t-two of the b-bandits after me. I d-don't know if they're s-still chasing me. P-please, you h-h-have to help them!"
Cyanne wakes up. "'Lana!"
Heart racing, she helps Lali comfort her sobbing friend. Tango climbs on Svetlana's shoulder, a familiar perch for him, chittering nervously.
"Oh honey, it'll be alright. Oleg and Kesten, they're real smart. They've got good people with them. And of course we'll help, but first you need a little rest and food and something warm to drink. You're in no shape to ride any further." Cyanne croons to her friend, stroking her hair, holding her friend protectively in the circle of her arms.
She doesn't tell her friend about the wedding ring, not yet. Other things had to take priority now. "Luthor, please wake Daen and Kaz. Tango and Rikka, you can help." Tango dashes off to Daen, leaping on the half-elf and chittering like mad.
Cyanne looks at Lali. "If there are a pair of bandits coming, we need to prepare a proper welcome for them, don't you think? Do you think we can wait for them, and ambush them?"
She turns back to 'Lana. "You've been very brave, and now we're here with you, and we're going to help."
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For a unwanted and sheltered child, a rude awakening was never something pleasant. It meant that he was likely to receive a beating. During his training, some of that was drilled out of him, but in unexpected circumstances (such as an irate chittering mongoose leaping on you in deep sleep as your body attempts to mend itself from spider poison) sheer panic could possibly arise.
Daen leapt off of his bedroll, sending Tango and blankets flying. His sword immediately was out, it's blue eldritch glow shouting challenge to the darkness as the half-elf's eyes were wide and darting about for any real or imaginary threat. The wildness in his demeanor settled as he spotted Svetlana being cradled by Cyanne. The injured hip, the familiar unsettled, desperate tears. The situation began to settle in his mind and then suddenly clicked into place. Bandits.
"Where are they?" he growled out of his heightened emotional state. "I mean to make an example."
Cyanne nods to Daen, happy to have both of them on the same page. "As do I. Lali, can you help 'Lana and me exchange clothing? We wore each others' costumes all the time in the old days." She eyes Svetlana. "You're not that far along... You can still fit into my pants if we leave the belt off, or ride it below your belly. Meanwhile, with your scarf in my hair, in the dark, I think I could pass as you long enough for the bandits to get real close."
She looks at 'Lali and Daen, then at Luthor and even Kaz, slowly waking up. "They'll let their guard down if they see an exhausted woman, all alone, leading an equally exhausted horse. They may even spend some time gloating. That'll give the rest of you a chance to ambush them."
For the second time today Laliytsa’s being squeezed by someone. She pats Svetlana on the back as the other woman cries. It’s hard to breathe in a hug this tight but that’s a secondary concern right now. Her mind whirls as she thinks.
“Sod that” She growls. A second later it occurs that she could have said that better. “Err. No offense. But we don’ know how they’d react. Just as like they’d see an’ easy target ‘n shoot ya soon as they see ya.” Laliytsa calmly starts to pick up her gear. “Dunno how far ‘way they are. Could ride in while ya got yer pants down. Someone needs’a look at ‘Lana’s leg. I’m gonna go huntin’. Anyone who can move quiet like can follow. Gratia?” She looks at the trapper. Surely this woman can move through the forest just as well as she can. Maybe better than her.
While Gratia shakes her head at Laliytsa's performance, she soon proves to be sleepyheaded and clumsy herself, crashing through the brush almost as loudly. However, she does manage to see the two pursuing bandits before Laliytsa does. They're both mounted astride horses, each with a second mount in tow, and while the horses look tired, they're far from blown like Svetlana's Claptrap is. They ride up slowly, one looking at the ground every so often, and stop near the edge of the forest, perhaps 80 feet away. Despite the crashing, they don't act as if they've seen or heard anything (or perhaps some crashing through the brush is what they're expecting from Svetlana).
Kazimir wakes slowly and with great effort, dragging himself from his dream like a drowning man straining for air. Glimpses of silver and brown and a feeling of warmth and home vanish as the cold night comes rushing back in.
Half-dressed and half-asleep, he rubs his eyes and tries to put the pieces together from the tail-end of the conversation. "An ambush?"[b] he asks, bewildered, remembering the last time his armour nearly got him killed. [b]"I'm afraid I can't exactly sneak around in my armour." And I'm not nimble enough to trust myself to fight bandits without it, he adds silently.
Cyanne turns to help Kaz get into his armor. "Considering that those two ran out of here with all the stealth of crazed rhinos, I think that the issue of stealth is moot! Go get them!"
She sighs. "My plan would have been better but that ship has sailed." She kisses 'Lana on the cheek, and says, "We've still got numbers and surprise on our side. We'll be back soon. You stay quiet and safe. Coming, Luthor? Daen, I think we have that example to make."
Slipping out much more quietly, Cyanne points a message spell at Laliytsa. "Let me know when you're ready to go, and I'll glitter them for you, then start singing."
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Grateful that Lali shot down that plan, as he didn't really want to see an arrow in Cyanne's well-formed hip, Daen gave her a nod when Cyanne's back was turned. He resheathed his sword to extinguish the glowing blue and made ready to cut through the woods. "I'll cut off their escape. When you move, I'll move."
Daen quietly stalked through the woods, preparing to leap out and attack when necessary. Once, he nearly stumbled as his head began to swim a little. It seemed those spider bites had weakened him a little. Hopefully it wouldn't matter in this fight. He was relatively certain it wouldn't. He'd taken a fair amount of hits lately, not something he knew his master would approve of, but he did like the new boots. They made his foot falls in the forest seem nothing short of natural, and he stalked his prey.
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"Maybe I should stay with Svetlana?" Luthor suggested, fussing over her wound with little skill. "The arrow will need to be pulled before I can heal her, or it will get even more stuck." He looked at Svetlana apologetically. "Drawing them in shouldn't be hard, I have no doubt Svetlana will make plenty of sound when I do this."
He gestured towards the direction everyone was already heading. "Go." He picked Rikka off his shoulder and placed her on the ground. "If you end up needing me, Rikka will know." The man and the mongoose exchanged nods, before the little creature scurried though the undergrowth towards Cyanne, circling up her body and coming to rest on her shoulder, hidden within her hair.
The bandits converse atop their mounts and then ride in slowly, chatting between themselves and heading straight for Laliytsa and Gratia. They pass right past both Daen and Cyanne, riding right into the group's ambush.
Meanwhile, Svetlana looks at Luthor with a fresh combination of nerves and terror in her eyes. "It's n-not going to hurt too much, is it?" She looks hesitant, but then rips another tear in her dress to allow Luthor easier access to her wound. The damage itself doesn't seem that bad, but the area around it has turned a nasty red color and the flesh is hard. She lets out a gasp of pain as Luthor takes hold of the arrow.
There's a moment of tense silence as the bandits pull up within thirty feet of Lali and Gratia, and then Svetlana's high, piercing scream echoes through the woods. The bandits both look up at the sound, realizing something's wrong but not just what yet, and there's a half-second of silence.
Balancing a mongoose on each shoulder, Cyanne narrows her eyes as she watches the bandits pass by. As Svetlana screams, she can feel both Tango and Rikka tense, their claws digging into her skin. "Take that, you smug bastards," she whispers as she glitters both bandits and their horses.
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The half elf charges in as soon as the glitterdust goes off. His glowing sword comes out of it's sheath and leaps into his hand as he comes in. The point of the blade makes a graceful arc and swings in at the unsuspecting bandit. It cuts in, but there seems to be a lingering weakness that he didn't expect. The half elf hardly let it diminish his fighting spirit.
"Terrifying isn't it?" His voice dripped with venom. "Being hunted? Now you know."
The blue sword flashes again, getting under the defenses of the startled bandit. Anticipating the action of the target, he slips the sword in between his arm and his body, using the foe's own strength to push the blade in farther.
In the midst of the motion, Daen gets a sudden revelation. He'd never been the strongest duelist, consistently getting overpowered by his training partner. But perhaps he could use the enemies' strength against him in a way like this. He put it aside to make more of later. Now he needed to finish this fight.
While the first bandit sees both of Daen's attacks coming, it doesn't matter much. He's utterly unable to get out of the way of the swordsman's blows, and quickly finds himself bleeding profusely. Meanwhile, the other bandit starts screaming and holding his eyes. The bandit who can see spurs his mount, struggling to make distance in the dark and the untrustworthy footing of the forest, and manages to get perhaps a hundred feet away from both Lali and Gratia's positions. The blind bandit continues to hold his eyes, moaning comically and shouting into the woods. "Egan? Egan, are you there? I been blinded, Egan!"
Cyanne sings.
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Both horses whinny and neigh in panic, the one whose rider tries to spur it on stumbling and tripping for a half-dozen yards before hitting the ground with a thud and a scream. The other, whose rider chooses to stay still, simply rolls its eyes and continues whinnying.
Meanwhile, in the moment before Svetlana's hip wound fills with fresh blood, Luthor sees chipped bone from the arrow. Then, her cries of pain subside into a series of whimpers while the healing hex takes over the job of fixing her hip. When it's over, she slowly bends it, still grimacing but obviously much relieved.
Kazimir heads after the man on the collapsed horse, hoping to subdue him before he can escape.
When Kazimir catches up to the downed man, he sees that while the horse isn't going anywhere soon with its leg bent at the angle it's at, the man is trying to crawl away in a daze. It seems that when the horse went down, he was thrown instead of crushed.
Laliytsa looks at the bandit crawling away and mentally catalogs him as a dead man. Cold perhaps, but those who steal and kill and shoot arrows at pregnant women don’t deserve the air they breathe. Besides, they only need one bandit for questioning.
They need the one that's still in one piece. Now, how to get him without startling the horse…
Laliytsa tries to approach the horse as silently and steadily as possible. She'll try to grab the rider and toss him out of the saddle
Sensing nothing but confidence from Rikka, Luthor stayed with Svetlana, awkwardly stroking her hair and trying to console her. "There there, the pain will fade soon enough, calm down." He said, patting her shoulder.
Gratia laughs as chaos breaks out all along the ambush scene and reaches for her bow before choosing an axe strapped across her back. "Et seems I am wrong. You are not soft!" She heads casually toward the farther rider, near where Kazimir stands over the prone bandit.
Svetlana stiffens for a moment at Luthor's awkward attempts to comfort her, but quickly lets exhaustion overcome her and falls asleep, her head cradled in his lap. After a few moments, her breathing slows to that of someone in a deep sleep.
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Cyanne's anger erupts into her song, as she sings her rage at the sky.
Picking on the weak
Robbing left and right
Life was one big party
Life was one big fight
You lived on others’ misery
Now your karma’s come to bite
Bite you hard
CHORUS
That’s right we’re coming now for you
That’s right you’ve got
All that’s coming to you
You thought you were strong
You thought you were rough
Hunting a pregnant woman
Yeah, that sure was tough...
Now the hunter is the hunted
And you can’t run fast enough
Running hard
This is the call of justice
Screaming from my throat
This is the call of justice
And you don’t get a vote
This is the call of justice
All bandits now take note
Listen hard
Listen hard
Listen hard...
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Flanking with Daen, Cyanne brandishes her rapier at the blinded, glittery bandit...
...and misses, horribly.
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The angry half elf ran his sword through the fallen bandit, ignoring the blind one for the moment.
Daen pointed the glowing and bleeding sword at Egan. "Surrender now, and you'll live for a few more days and have a less painless death. Either way is fine with me." He'd had enough, and his face was hard and cold. Harassing a pregnant woman was not on his list of ways to earn his respect. Although he expected them still to fight, he thought that a public hanging would be a bit more of a deterrent for similarly minded people.
The fallen, and quite wounded, bandit succumbs to his injuries, while the blind one throws his hands in the air, looking the opposite direction of Daen. Meanwhile, the fallen horse screams an almost human scream, eyes rolling and head tossing as it struggles to stand on what looks to be a quite badly hurt leg.
Laliytsa trips over herself as she moves to pull the bandit out of his saddle. Once she recovers she just walks away to the wounded horse. Somebody else can grab that guy. Somebody that isn't going to fall over themselves while doing it.
She croons to the horse. If they can keep it from hurting itself more they might be able to save it. It would be a shame for a good horse to die because of the man that rode it.
About to grab the wounded bandit and drag him back to the group, Kazimir finds himself instead wiping blood out of his eyes as Daen runs the downed man through. "Stabbing a man while he's down?" he exclaims in disbelief and bewilderment. "I understand we're all angry here, but I thought we were better than that!"
With combat over, the party takes their prisoner (s) and the newly-captured horses, back to Gratia's fire. There, the blinded man slowly regains his sight, blinking back tears in the relative brightness of the campfire. He does a double-take at the sight of Svetlana sleeping in Luthor's lap and mutters "So close. We were so damn close..." before falling silent.
As for Laliytsa's new-old horse, it calms down slightly, though it's absolutely unable to put weight on the leg, which is swelling heavily.
Flashing back on her own time of helplessness and fear, the bandit's comment enrages Cyanne. How dare he be so casual of his hunting of Svetlana? How dare he hurt a pregnant woman, especially one as gentle and kind as her friend? Had he no soul?
She slaps the formerly blind bandit, glaring down at him.
"You are giving us less and less reason to keep you alive." She says, her voice chillingly cold. "Kaz and the others know how much I relish the deaths of no good scum like yourselves."
"Just let me scare them..."
Then she raises an eyebrow at Daen. "Are you sure you want to do the hanging? I was thinking of staking them out naked by that nest of chew spiders that we found..." She gestures, pointing out the still healing bites on herself and Daen. "Nasty things, chew spiders... They paralyze you, then eat. Searing pain that itches like crazy. We were able to run, but you'll just be... tied there."
She waits a couple minutes, staring them down, letting the silence build, allowing the bandits to absorb this information. Bullies are cowards. All she had to do was let their terror build.
" She roars, then she lets her voice go soft again. "You two weren't in charge. Give us good information, and maybe you can buy yourselves a better fate. Leave nothing out."
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Standing above the unconscious man about to slice his throat, Daen heard Kaz's comment and relented. He took a breath and calmed his intensity. The farmboy was not being antagonistic toward him, and it wouldn't do to direct his rage at a person who was trying to speak to him as a friend would. "They understand what it is like to be hunted. I have no need to kill this one now if you want him saved for the time being."
Flinging the blood off his blade before sheathing it completely clean once more, he turned to the young man. "But we are here to survey this land and to wipe out banditry. We've been charged by the lords of Brevoy to do so. These men prey on the innocent, and explore ways to exploit and oppress all who are weaker than them. If shown mercy, if shown any weakness, it may embolden others to continue in their evil ways."
Helping bring the bandits into the camp, Daen raised an eyebrow at Cyanne's interrogation technique. It was likely she was bluffing on the spider death, but he figured he could talk her down later even if she was serious. After all, if they fed the spiders, there would be more of them later. That would be less than optimal.
Seeing that Kaz and Luthor were slightly uncomfortable at this, he spoke to them specifically. "Let her say what she wants, we'll make plans later when we don't have prying ears."
The bandit's face drains of its color, and he begins mumbling, stuttering and rambling on. "I d-don't know all the d-d-details, I swear. D-D-Dovan was g-going to take one g-group of t-twelve or s-so, the Ox w-was going to t-take another four or f-f-five around the east s-s-side o-once we s-saw the trading p-post and b-block the r-r-r-road, th-then r-reinforce Dovan f-for the assault. M-m-maybe Akiros, t-t-too, if he c-convinced Staggy t-to let him g-g-go." He swallows and continues. "W-we were w-w-with Dovan w-when the b-b#&!# t-took off on her worthless l-little m-mare. Staggy s-said no s-s-survivors, s-so D-Dovan told us to ch-chase her d-down."
"No survivors?" Cyanne asks quietly. "What was Dovan planning to do with the prisoners in the Fort? Does that hold for them, too?"
Looking back at the sleeping Svetlana, she feels an odd mixture of relief, anger and fear, alll jumbled up in her souring stomach. She takes a deep breath, trying to fight the churning emotions. Details. They need details.
"When is the attack supposed to go down? You've got multiple groups to coordinate... What signals it?"
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"No act of kindness goes unnoticed; no show of mercy is in vain," Kaz mumbles, mostly to himself. Fixing Daen with a hard gaze, he shakes his head. "I'll have no part in this intimidation and coercion. To inflict pain and suffering on others in retribution is not honourable, and will bring no satisfaction. Now, if you'll excuse me."
He runs both hands through his hair, attempting to calm himself, as he heads to a quiet spot not too far from camp. He kneels by a tree and hangs his head, clutching the amulet around his neck and trying to find answers in prayer.
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Sat next to Kazimir, Luthor placed an assuring hand on the paladins knee as he got up, nodding at the young man. If he was going to be troubled, and it looked like he was, atleast he should know he was not alone. Still Luthor was not about to weaken the work of the others by openly talking against them like Kazimir had just done. And truth be told, while he was himself a gentle soul, he had to admit that he wouldnt be against retribution, should the others decide upon it. "Evil men will do evil things." He thought to himself. "But not all men who do evil are evil." Evil did beget evil, Luthor was certain of it, but not always. The promise of retribution would likely cause a great many to reconsider their actions before starting down a path towards darkness.
Remaining quiet, he turned away from looking after Kazimir as he left, instead turning to follow proceedings, absentmindedly nuzzling Rikkas head.
Kaz's disapproval hits Cyanne like a splash of ice water. Oh, Kaz! She wants to run and talk the young man who so reminded her of her brothers, but instead she maintains eye contact with the bandit, her gaze cool and hard. "Well?"
"I don't knooow" The man's voice rises in pitch to almost a wine, and he looks down at the dirt again. "Dovan's in charge, and he's a secretive son-of-a-werebear. I don't even know if he really is all the way from Nisroch, like he claims. Anyways, he's in charge unless Akiros shows up. If he does, that Oleg's won't last long. He'll storm the walls, and damn the deaths on our side. Dovan's more of a schemer. That's all I really know; Dovan never talks to anyone except Auchs the Ox, and that one doesn't understand a word of it."
"Akiros..." Cyanne considers. "He would storm the walls with no consideration for your sorry lives, wouldn't he?"
She turns back to study the two men she captured, who had talked so cold-bloodedly of the deaths of Svetlana and Oleg. Had they told her everything they knew? In her experience, whining and looking away meant that someone was holding back, hiding. Of course, she'd just frightened both them and herself with that recent performance.
Could such men be redeemed, as Kaz believed? She knew Akiros could... and that man had gone down a dark path indeed.
She leans over, and nods to the two bandits, pours them each a drink of water from her cup and lets them sip. "Do either of you have sisters, mothers, or sweethearts? Now, take a good long look at Svetlana, the woman you hunted... Go ahead. Now, ask yourselves if there is any part of you even worth saving?"
That's as kind as I can get, Kaz. But I'm trying, just for you.
"Gratia, can you watch these two for us while we all talk?" Cyanne waits for the woman to take charge, and then goes outside to talk to Kaz. Kneeling down in the dirt next to where the man is praying, she waits for him to look up and acknowledge her.
"Kaz, the others will be coming to talk with us soon, but I wanted to catch you first. Your words have struck me. Have I truly gone too far?"