"By Torag! Another dwarf!" Dolgren is incensed by the treachery of not one, but two, of his race. Banditry - the forsaking of the law - is one of the gravest sins a dwarf can commit.
Moving into position, he takes aim at the wretch, sights along the barrel and fires. A second after the crack of his rifle, he is treated to the satisfying sight of the dwarven sentry collapsing in a heap onto the platform.
Treetopper drops prone and focuses on a bandit laying next to the fire. He holds a breath and squeezes the trigger. The bullet rips through the dwarf's shoulder. He hits the man in his back, causing him to cry out in surprise and pain. "I'm hit!" he screams.\
"Shut the f~!* up, Johnny!"
Zort moves closer and shouts, "Surrender, we've got you surrounded!"
Grunting from the pain, Didier casts a spell to at least partially ward him from the bullets. He then drops prone.
The marshals can see that about half the remaining bandits get up and run off into the woods. The rest look after them in disgust, but make no moves to relinquish their positions of cover. "Come and get us, pigs!"
"F@%@ yer gobbie mother, ye savage dirt worshipper! I'll never surrender to the likes of you!"
"If I'm gonna die, I'll die free. Long live the South!"
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Y,N,Y,N,N,Y,Y,Y
Treetopper sights down at a bandit behind a tree. He holds his breath and squeezes the trigger.
Dolgren frowns at the reference to the South. "Bethought me that accursed nonsense were resolved! Belike there be one or two fools that will not take heed - or caution."
Rapidly reloading his rifle , Dolgren sights down the barrel at the offending Southron and pulls the trigger.
He frowns as the barrel misfires. It will be but the work of a moment to clear, but an inconvenience nonetheless at this instant.
Zort moves closer to the camp but tries to stay out of the light of the fire.
Didier reloads his rifle and crawls a bit to the northeast, trying to get a good shot on the bandit behind the tree in the clearing.
Treetopper sights down at a bandit behind a tree. He holds his breath and squeezes the trigger.
Dolgren frowns at the reference to the South. "Bethought me that accursed nonsense were resolved! Belike there be one or two fools that will not take heed - or caution."
Rapidly reloading his rifle, Dolgren sights down the barrel at the offending Southron and pulls the trigger.
Zort moves closer to the camp but tries to stay out of the light of the fire.
Didier reloads his rifle and crawls a bit to the northeast, trying to get a good shot on the bandit behind the tree in the clearing.
The bandits still have no line of sight on the marshals, and hold their positions, ready to fire.
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Treetopper sights at the same bandit behind a tree. He holds his breath and squeezes the trigger. He hits the tree and then reloads.
Dolgren spends the turn fixing his gun, muttering to himself in Dwarven.
Zort takes a shot at one of the bandits.
Didier takes a shot at the bandit behind the tree. Pulling the trigger causes a jolt of pain to shoot up his arm from his permanently burnt hands, which in turn causes him to jerk the rifle and miss horribly. "Merde!" he says, cursing under his breath, and reloading the weapon again.
Zort manages to clip a bandit, but the others' shots miss.
Dolgren doesn't waste time shooting at those in cover, instead aiming at anyone foolish enough to be in the open or still standing.
Treetopper waits for the bandit behind the tree to pop his head out and fires. The bullet sprays the bandit with wood chips.
Zort reaches into a pouch and grabs a pinch of sand and sprinkles it around while pointing to the bandits. He gestures oddly and speaks a few phrases that have a strange soporific tone.
Dolgren's shot flies wide of the prone bandit. He keeps them pinned down while he mutters to his goblin companion.
Didier, unable to effectively hit anything, stands and starts working his way northeast to circle around the camp.
Treetopper waits for the bandit behind the tree to pop his head out and fires. The bullet sprays the bandit with wood chips.
Dolgren lays down another covering shot. Dolgren's shot flies wide of the prone bandit. He keeps them pinned down while he mutters to his goblin companion. "I shall lay down vengeance from here; canst thou move through stealth and make thy way around them, thus depriving them of cover? It seemeth to me that to engage them in mêlée, would be to lose our prime advantage, namely that we can see them, but they comprehendeth us not."
Zort reaches into a pouch and grabs a pinch of sand and sprinkles it around while pointing to the bandits. He gestures oddly and speaks a few phrases that have a strange soporific tone. Two of the bandits fall asleep immediately.
Didier, unable to effectively hit anything, stands and starts working his way northeast to circle around the camp.
The remaining still has no shot, so he kicks his companion awake. "What the hell!?"
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Fail, Fail, Pass
Dolgren aims a shot at the bandit doing the kicking.
Zort heads downstream a bit and then begins to circle around their camp, avoiding the light.
It is in this moment that Zort's overcome by a brief reverie. Once he had been trapped in a shack surrounded by hobgoblins. The hobs were investigating the murder of Zort's masters, a crime which Zort was absolutely guilty of.
Trapped in that shack, Zort had a feeling of helplessness that he would never wish upon any gob. Thankfully, Gus led Zort through a small hole connected to other shacks.
Zort feels a small trickle of guilt in his chest but then his heart crushes it with an adrenaline fueled pounding. Guilt is an emotion for the weak and the dead, ain't it? It is time to guide these outlaws to their afterlives.
Didier continues to work his way around the camp, not even attempting to be quiet, hoping the noise of his passage will spook the bandits out of hiding.
Treetopper feels pretty comfortable on the platform in the tree next to the dead dwarf. The campfire sheds enough light on the bandits to provide a target. Only Dolgren is firing with him to keep these guys pinned. Good, because Ozark is protecting Dolgren down there. Hopefully, the other two have enough sense to circle around the bandits.
When he sees a portion of the bandit appear behind the tree, he fires. The bullet hits the bandit spraying some blood and curse words.
Dolgren decides to make some noise, to cover the approach of his companions.
"Though it is seemly to behold you Southrons grovelling in the dirt, would it not behoove you better to stand and die like the free men you claim to be, if men you truly are - and not curs who yap at your betters?"
Dolgren lost some good companions in the War - for him, this is personal.
Dolgren aims a shot at the bandit doing the kicking. It hits the stump he's behind.
Zort heads downstream a bit and then begins to circle around their camp, avoiding the light.
It is in this moment that Zort's overcome by a brief reverie. Once he had been trapped in a shack surrounded by hobgoblins. The hobs were investigating the murder of Zort's masters, a crime which Zort was absolutely guilty of.
Trapped in that shack, Zort had a feeling of helplessness that he would never wish upon any gob. Thankfully, Gus led Zort through a small hole connected to other shacks.
Zort feels a small trickle of guilt in his chest but then his heart crushes it with an adrenaline fueled pounding. Guilt is an emotion for the weak and the dead, ain't it? It is time to guide these outlaws to their afterlives.
Didier continues to work his way around the camp, not even attempting to be quiet, hoping the noise of his passage will spook the bandits out of hiding.
Treetopper feels pretty comfortable on the platform in the tree next to the dead dwarf. The campfire sheds enough light on the bandits to provide a target. Only Dolgren is firing with him to keep these guys pinned. Good, because Ozark is protecting Dolgren down there. Hopefully, the other two have enough sense to circle around the bandits.
When he sees a portion of the bandit appear behind the tree, he fires. The bullet hits the sleeping, wounded bandit and startles him awake. He appears to be staggered by the shot.
Dolgren decides to make some noise, to cover the approach of his companions. "Though it is seemly to behold you Southrons grovelling in the dirt, would it not behoove you better to stand and die like the free men you claim to be, if men you truly are - and not curs who yap at your betters?"
Dolgren lost some good companions in the War - for him, this is personal.
The bandits catch a glimpse of Didier staggering through the edge of the shadows cast by their campfire, and two of them shoot at him. One of them manages to hit the Frenchman in his leg, causing a painful wound.
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Hit, Miss
still hit
Dolgren has been refining his aim, and the flashes of gunfire from the bandits finally allows him to get the range. Aiming at the bandit who shot Didier, he sights along the barrel and fires.
Dolgren blows the top of one of the bandit's heads off.
Zort chuckles to himself at Dolgren's bloody kill. Zort moves even closer to the bandit camp.
Treetopper grins at Dolgren's shot and tries another. When he sees a portion of the bandit appear behind the tree, he fires. The bullet hits the bandit spraying some blood and curse words.
The last bandit throws his revolver. "Fine! Alright, I surrender! Please don't kill me! I wasn't with them southern boys, just too scared too run," he calls out, holding his hands up above the stump he's lying behind.
Didier casts a quick healing spell on himself, the bullet lodged in his body being forced out as the wound knits itself. The Frenchman then strides into the campfire's light, his rifle leveled on the remaining man. "Stand up, sir. I want to see that you're not hiding any weapons or my friends will ventilate your skull like your friend's."
"Yessir," the youth says, standing up. He's probably about twenty years old, with dark brown hair and plenty of freckles powdering his pale skin. He looks terrified, and there is a conspicuous wet stain on the crotch of his pants. His hands are empty.
Doglren slowly walks over to the fire, keeping his rifle at the ready. Making sure that Didier is covering the youth, the dwarf quickly rummages through the corpses of the dead, making sure that they are in fact dead and not faking it.
The other bandits are in fact dead. There are five dead bandits. The two dwarven sentries, the female ringleader and two human men. The rest of the bandits apparently fled into the night.
The two dwarves have rifles, the men have revolvers. The woman has two masterwork hand axes and a revolver. She also has a potion, four daggers, and 58 GP. The bandits are all wearing leather armor, except the woman who has studded leather.
Treetopper loots the dead dwarf's rifle ammunition and reloads his Winchester and clips. Then, he loots the dwarf and anything of value on the guard platform before rolling the dead dwarf toward the forest floor for some deceleration trauma.
After collecting Ozark, the goblin strolls toward the surrendered bandit asking. "How many of your friends ran off? Where do you think they went? Have any more supper to eat?"
"I guess five of 'em. We got some rabbits and such, but we live meager for the most part. Was counting on that tribute from Oleg's to fill our bellies."
"Where do you suppose those five ran to? You guys a part of a bigger gang?" Treetopper continues to asks while looking around the camp for scraps.
"My diminuitive associate poses an excellent question. I'd suggest you answer it." Didier says. He keeps his eyes and gun on the boy, ready to fire if this goes sideways.
Dolgren takes 7 rounds to replace the ones he fired. He regards the handaxes with interest - they're of good make - but close quarter battle isn't his thing. He balances one carefully in his hand, looking thoughtfully at the prisoner.
"What think you? One blow to the back of this knave's head should suffice."
"Where do you suppose those five ran to? You guys a part of a bigger gang?" Treetopper continues to asks while looking around the camp for scraps.
"Heard Kressle talkin' about some fella once, the Stag Lord. I don't know anythin' about him and his though. Nor have I any notion where them other men run off to. I've only been here a week, ain't even robbed no one yet. Please, don't let the dwarf bash my head in!"
Kressle (the woman) also has a silver amulet around her neck in the shape of a stag skull.
"We cannot kill him after he's surrendered without a trial. We are lawmen, not common thugs like this one." Didier says, his gaze unflinching as he looks toward Dolgren, though he gives a sneer to the bandit.
Dolgren looks back at Didier. "I see no courts in which we could offer him for trial; our Charter empowers us - compels us - to end banditry in this region. I doubt not that he pleads prettily now, but were our situation reversed and it were they who had the advantage, he would have a different tune, methinks."
Dolgren looks with interest at the silver amulet. "A pretty trinket - is this what his followers wear?"
Treetopper doesn't have an opinion about the life of the bandit. He scavenges the gap for useful items and settles atop the nearest platform to sleep with Ozark at the base of the tree. He of course agrees to a set watch, to avoid being ambushed by returning bandits.
Zort circles round the campfire a few times. He picks through the salvaged bullets, examining each as if they were a diamond to be cut, picks three of them based on some mysterious criteria, and loads them into his revolver.
Zort, with a wry grin, listens to the discussion. He picks up the potion, puts a drop on his index fingernail and dabs the droplet on his tongue.
Dolgren looks back at Didier. "I see no courts in which we could offer him for trial; our Charter empowers us - compels us - to end banditry in this region. I doubt not that he pleads prettily now, but were our situation reversed and it were they who had the advantage, he would have a different tune, methinks."
Dolgren looks with interest at the silver amulet. "A pretty trinket - is this what his followers wear?"
"I'm not sure, sir," the boy replies.