"Well, if I wanted to play it safe I'd be behind a desk. I suggest we set up on the Southroad where we'll have little help if all goes wrong. Let's get a move on, this is your chance to speak up if you disagree. Otherwise, let's not dawdle."
"I have some skill with Disguise, So if you want to look the part"
She grins mischavisly, she liked this plan
"Miya, that's dandy. " Realizing Miya may expect a firmer confirmation, and wondering if everyone is seeing him as in charge and realizing with dread he might be kind of, he adds "Make it so." Why do I feel my hairline receding as I say that? then he adds "Please."
She snaps to attention and salutes, seemingly happy to help the boss man.
"Yes Sir"
"I'll bite, do your thing, Miya!" Layla says with a chuckle.
I need to get a few things from the market, some old cloths and bits and bobs. But once we are there I will sort it"
Despite the Low Market's diminutive epithet, Miya finds it to be a veritable bazaar of materials from which to construct convincing disguises - and all at steep discounts!
Miya works hard on everyones Disguises.
Fiila nodded and said, "It sounds like a good plan to me. This promises to be quite interesting." She accepted Miya's help with a disguise and was more than ready to get started when they were done.
Randu is startled at how good the disguises are, "Damn good work. I wouldn't know myself like this."
The first evidence that your disguises are convincing comes when you drive your carts down to the docks and the ferryman charges you 2 copper per person and 1 silver per cart - for a total toll of 4 silver - to carry you across the river. Had they recognized you as agents of the government, the ferryman and his sons would have probably been too sheepish to charge you.
A short ride across the River Foam deposits you on the northernmost verge of Darkmoon Plain. The ferry landing marks the start of the road winding south towards Olfden, which would normally be a day-and-a-half's ride, if that was actually your destination.
Between Randu and Rrruh's prior experience with the region, and tidbits that Miya picked up while posing as a beggar around the Low Market, you have a lead on how to best bait Vorshin and her thugs. Two ghost towns exist near the road: Falconridge and Northsap. These were forerunners to Falcon's Hollow, founded as logging towns to exploit the then-larger Darkmoon Wood. As axes and saws drove the forest's edge further and further north, Falconridge was abandoned and replaced by Northsap closer to the river. Once nothing was left of the forest south of the river, Northsap was also abandoned and Falcon's Hollow was founded on the northern banks of the river.
It seems quite likely that Vorshin's hired muscle operates out of one or the other of these two ghost towns, serving as a base as they muscle other potential merchants out of the market.
Randu nods to the crew and starts the carts up at a slow pace to Falconride and then from there to Northsap, unless anyone else has a better idea. Seems even odds to him.
"I'm going to shadow you, see of anyone laying a trap."
Miya jumps off the wagon and slips into the woods.
Miya will take fox form, using sent scouting,
The sometimes quiet and sometimes very loud catfolk monk regaled his coworkers with a rousing story of a play he had read when he was younger... the very play that made him want to write one. It was mostly show though, he kept his eyes wandering and moving as they traveled.
Miya finds precious little cover upon Darkmoon Plain. To either side of the road stretches open ground pocked with old tree stumps. Although this swathe of land was once covered by the southern expanse of Darkmoon Wood, it was clear cut several generations ago. The dominant vegetation is now tall grasses, scrub brush, and isolated stands of young trees.
Rrruh sizes up the abandoned Northsap, the nearer of the two abandoned logging towns. The buckling cabins and skeletal stone foundations are becoming overgrown with brush and creepers. He spots no activity around these old buildings.
She is in fox form, so small, tall grass is good.
She comes back to camp, the Monk walking out of the tall grass.
"Spotted what looks to be a cookfire south in the ruins of Falconridge. That could be the thugs. Not much to hide behind hereabouts so, getting close sneaking could be hard, I think them coming to us may work better if some of us are hidden in the wagon."
"Good eyes, Miya. We'll see if we can look fewer than we are and get their attention."
Handling one of the wagons, Layla keeps an eye out for trouble along the way. Nodding as Miya reports the findings of her scouting ahead, she considers Randu's suggestion.
"If Miya is running around as invisible and unnoticeable as usual, and Fiila hangs back in the covered part of the wagon, that'll cut things down already."
With Miya and Fiila out of sight, Randu, Rrruh, and Layla coax the mules onward.
The carts rumble about a mile down the dusty trail before you notice movement among the ruins of Falconridge, far off to your right. The men camped out in the abandoned down lead a team of horses out of a tottering barn and quickly mount them.
Hiding among the tall sawgrass, Miya counts seven tough-looking men. Of course, she also sees that that only have four horses among them, so most of them are doubled up on their steeds.
The horses kick up plumes of grass, dirt, and dandelion fuzz as they gallop forth on an intercept course towards the party's small caravan of carts.
Seeing them move to intercept she pulls her weapons and slips in behind them low and follows.
Randu coaxes the mules onward. And fights the urge to look for his hidden companions and risk giving them away.
"Ho, friends!" the lead rider calls out as the company comes within a stone's throw of the carts. His skin is heavily tanned by sun exposure, looking akin to leather, and his mouth is framed by the drooping arms of an oily black mustache.
"What brings you out this way? Awfully dangerous out here on the plains, don'tcha know?"
Randu remembers not to put on his usual suspicious scowl when meeting a stranger, and instead says "Danger? Oh Piddle Paddle, neighbor! I hear the Hollow is open for business. What Danger could there be?"
She slowed up and got in close behind the riders.
Fiila took her place hidden inside the cart amongst their "cargo" and listened to what was going on witht eh riders that approached.
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"Meow I say. Damne mules... meow... wont stop... I almost stepped in its poo... Meow."
He began acting appropriately weird as he figured they would imagine talking cat people to act.
"Only danger we've seen, other than the occasional wild animal, is the uneven ground...murder on the wagon wheels!" Layla adds.
The riders eye Rrruh with a blend of bafflement and derision. Three of them slide down from the horses while the other four remain in their saddles. He recognizes that these are likely hired muscle left over from the Redrock Guild or the Consortium, taking a pay cut to work for Vorshin now that she's the only one in the area looking to employ their ilk. Thus, unsurprisingly, there doesn't appear to be any spellcasters among them.
The dismounted men carry quarterstaves and a smattering of knives. The riders carry spears, daggers, and crossbows.
"Well, it ain't wise to stray too far from the trail, for one thing," the lead rider laughs. "You could stumble into a hotspring at get cooked like a goose, sink into a mudpot and drown, or get torn to shreds by the roving hordes of wolves that reign over these plains once the sun goes down."
The men share a laugh as though this was some manner of inside joke among them.
Rrruh and Miya notice that while their leader talks, the other men begin to spread out around the party, trying to make it seem as though they're just idly shuffling about.
"Heck, I don't know if there's anyone who can safely get up and down this road, you know? It'd be a right smart idea to just give up the idea, especially if you're trying to ferry goods along. Makes you slow, hard to escape, you know?"
There it is. He begins somewhat subtly, not quite laying out direct threats or intimidation, but instead just insinuating that trying to run caravans to Falcon's Hollow is a very bad idea. Obviously, the veiled threat has no impact upon you, since you know what they don't know.
"Oh smarts is something no one's every accused me of." He has his material components back close and handy.
Miya from her hiding place smiled to herself, As they stopped and dismounted, as they did, She pulled out two small black balls. Taking one she tossed it between the mounts and any riders left.
She tried not to giggle.
She then throw her second one and smoke filled the air, pulling her blade she moved in close.
Since none of them appeared to be any sort of ...magical threat he paused leaning down to 'check' his foot. He side eyed the nearest tough starting to surround them mentally preparring to disarm the man in the most painful of fashions...
"What in the Abyss?" one of the riders exclaims as Miya's flash-bang pellet erupts, with similar and worse expletives coming from the other men.
One of the riders falls from his saddle as he fails to control his horse and the animal rears in fright. Although the other two stay in the saddle, all three are briefly blinded by the flash.
The men on foot move to draw their weapons, readying to switch from threats to open violence.
Randu wonders if this was too soon, but what's done is done, he opens his mouth and bombards one of the men who has drawn a weapon with an ear piercing scream only the target can hear!
With the fight on Fiila bailed out of her hiding place, her dancing scarves fluttering around her as she did to obscure her form a bit, and came to light between the wagon and their attackers. At the same moment dirt and rocks began to appear around her, swirling about her form as she ceased suppressing her power.
As the riders were blinded, Miya moved, running out and past the one on the floor prone. She seemed to do nothing, yet hos throat looked crushed.
Miya bounds over a fallen log and practically leaps upon the prone rider, delivering her blade upon him. She draws blood, but his armor saves him from a potentially deadly injury.
The men on foot barrel forth and brandish their thick staves. Two of them surround Rrruh and give the catfolk a good walloping, while the other accosts Layla - though she quickly evades the wide swing.
Effortlessly taking a step back, Layla simultaneously draws her pistol in a blur with one hand, firing point blank at the thug trying to hit her, while she casts a spell with her other hand, conjuring a shield of solid arcane force.
[Ooc]Ranged spell combat. Enhance weapon to +2 Flaming (swift action), Quick draw(free action), Shoot and cast Shield(+4 to AC)
With a roar of fury and annoyance the catfolk took the drubbing from the man and turned it into a tumble sliding behind the the man putting him between Filia and Himself.
"You should have played nicer."
He said as he reached way back his hand suddenly erupting in lighting as he struck at the flanked bandit.
Layla's shot pegs her attacker in the thigh, leaving him cussing and hollering. Rrruh's rings his target's bell with his potent strike, leaving him reeling and tottering on his feet.
The blinded rider upon the ground in front of Miya reaches for the dagger at his belt. He whips it out and lashes wildly at Miya, managing to deliver a nasty cut.
The second of the blinded riders steers his horse towards Miya, trying to find the foe whilst avoiding trampling his comrade.
The third blinded rider coaxes his horse towards Randu upon the seat of the lead cart. He aims poorly at the halfling but only manages to scratch the wooden flank of the cart with the thrust of his spear.
The last rider, and the only one who was spared from the flashbang, charges at Randu with his spear. Randu quickly kicks up the footboard of the cart's driver's seat, blocking the spear thrust with the improvised cover.
Randu then counterattacks with his magic scream, leaving the rider wracked with pain and dazed from the deafening sound.
Maya looks at her arm and the cut for a moment And then brings down a leg and heel, onto the prone rider's chest.
Miya's axe heel kick slams down upon the rider's chest, knocking the wind from his lungs before he passes out. His horse canters away, dragging the unconscious rider a few feet away from the battle before the man's leg comes free from the stirrup.
Two of the footman shuffle around to keep Rrruh sandwiched between them. Rrruh parries the staff swing of the one in front of him, but the man behind him manages to thrust his staff into the back of Rrruh's knee.
The last of the three footman rushes back at Layla with his staff, now recognizing her and her pistol as serious threats. However, her conjured shield of force absorbs the blow, leaving her untouched.
Taking a single step back, Layla calls upon her unique gunslinger's magic, gaining a moment of insight into the footman's movements, aiming where he will be in the next second.
Miya in a combat stance looks on as the now cold rider is yanked way.
Seeing Rrruh is flanked she decides to flank back.
She checks where everyone is so she is not flanked.
Then she moved, to the foot man with his back to her.
She punches the mans Nee to see if she can drop him.
Layla's shot puts her attacker down on the ground, passed out in shock from the magically burning wound. Rrruh springs back up and delivers a spinning backhand to the footman who attacked him from behind, knocking him out cold.
The rider stunned by Randu's magic scream struggles to regain his faculties, posing no threat for now. Meanwhile, Randu rolls across the cart seat and evades the other rider's next spear thrust.
The third rider manages to scratch Miya with his own spear before she leaps away to reinforce Rrruh. Once she joins that fight, Miya delivers a stout blow to the back of that footman's knee, not quite dropping him to a kneeling position.
With one enemy right nearby Filla began to move. She took a slightly longer path than she needed to get there but it became obvious why when the dancing scarves began to flutter around her and obscure her form. As she did the swirling rock and dirt around her formed into a claw like shape on the end of her hand which she then punched at the fool attacker with.
Layla's shot puts her attacker down on the ground, passed out in shock from the magically burning wound. Rrruh springs back up and delivers a spinning backhand to the footman who attacked him from behind, knocking him out cold.
Only narrowly avoiding being speared, Randu gasps "Try to take one alive." Then he realizes most of the remaining folks are on him, "Also I seem to be surrounded."
He backs away a bit still on the cart, and draws on the power of his witchcraft, his shadow seeming to loom forward at the horse of the unwounded fellow attacking him. Not the rider, but the beast.
Randu lays his spell upon the one rider. The thug is hardened enough to resist the call to flee for his life, but he is visibly shaken by the spell.
The remaining footman drops to his knees, just barely evading Filla's earthen blast, which showers the back of the cart with soil and stone. Seeing how the blast scours and cracks the wood, the fight flees right out of the footman's eyes.
The footman claps his hands together and pleads for mercy, clearly ready to surrender.
Miya looks at her second wound, somewhat enjoyed but showing no sign of pain. She walks over to the last begging footman and looks him in the eye.
Gone is the child frivolity of the innocent monk, in its place is the cold hard look of a predator, for a moment her eyes are those of a fox looking at a fat plump chicken to bite. Then it's gone.
She smiles the kind of smile that makes grown men run.
"Lie to me and I will know. Only the truth will save you now. Who are you and what were your fellows doing here?"
Her small blood-covered blade is still in her hand ready to slit his throat.
Taking a moment to line up her shot along the side of Randu's wagon, Layla sends a bullet scorching through the air to strike the rider harrying him.