"I will sstep back and allow otherss to do, sso that I may be sspared taking a sstep towardss the wayss of my ssavage kin, thank you"
"So be it." Vladimir says grimly, as makes his way down the line of remaining bandits, swiftly decapitating each one.
After the grisly deed is done, Vladimir says, "We need to strip the bodies of anything of use, either to us or Oleg and Svetlana. Afterwards we should build a pyre somewhere outside of the fort."
On the bodies you find:
8x Studded Leather
8x Short Swords
7x Short Bows
Masterwork +2 Composite Longbow
240 arrows
27gp
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After the executions are complete Morgrym takes a moment to personally thank Vlad for carrying them out "Times ahead of us will contain many deeds such at this, i want to thank you for allowing myself and Thessk to step out of the event but want to assure you that you will not be the only one to carry such burdens at all times, and i will do my part to support"
After taking the time to help with removing the bodies from the fort Morgrym takes some time to fine one of his travel companions, the elf Durielle and takes a seat next to where she is "madam Durielle, we have traveled to this point while exchanging a few words but I have some questions for you. your an oracle so im told is that correct? the gods gift you with pieces of the future?" he asks politly as he can, Morgrym is slightly unaccustomed to speaking with women outside of the priesthood that he had been part of for so long
Vladimir nods in acknowledgement of Morgrym's thanks. "I take no pleasure in it, but it needed to be done. I suppose it was hoping too much for any of them to see the error of their ways."
After Morgrym takes his leave, Vladimir cleans up and finds a place to sit and think about the day's events.
Thessk helps drag the bodies out side and find a suitable place to dig the graves.
Thessk stands before the graves and conjures water over himself in preparation all the while singing in draconic
Thessk performs a simple prayer over each.
Thessk then conjures water over each grave in turn
Turning to Lord Stoneheart, Durielle dips her golden head and replies, "My powers are still somewhat new to me, but yes I can say my vision sees beyond where we stand now to where we may find ourselves."
She shrugs with a rueful expression. "At this time my powers have not yet come as fully under my control to allow auguries of others. Mostly I see my own immediate destiny when I divine. But I know that as I learn to sift through my visions my oracular powers will surely come into better focus."
Sugua parries Angor's blow easily and grins " TOO SLOW, TOO WEAK! You've got to give it some fervor, like THIS! " Sugua took the opportunity to counter with a powerful gut shot.
Sugua stepped back after the blow to watch the effects of his strike, " Clan? What does that have to do with anything? You talk too much! But If you must know, I'm not raised from any Clan! I raised myself from poverty to now! From city to country to mountains! This body was forged to fight! ow Show me what your Clan is.. WITH YOUR FISTS "
As the dwarf comes over to speak with Durielle, Tomas gets up and gives the two some privacy. He watches the posturing of the half-orcs for awhile, but soon tires of it. Walking outside the compound, he decides to look for the mounts these bandits must have arrived on.
Perception:
After the bodies have been disposed of and two of the three half-orcs are done with their brawl, Vladimir attempts to gather the chartered and their hosts.
"Only eight of the twenty or so bandits that initially plagued Oleg and Svetlana. It would stand to reason that when this group of eight do not return, Kressle and the others would march on the fort."
After pausing briefly to allow the facts to set in, he continues, "One of the bandits had mentioned that Kressle's camp was fifteen miles south of here. Do we go to them, or do we wait for them here? If we move soon, we can be there before she can take action. The risk, of course, is not knowing the exact location of their camp and that they could leave the camp for here before we find them. The second option is to wait for them here and deal with them in a manner similar to today. Any particular thoughts on the matter?"
"We sshould try to find the camp, we will have ssuprise as our ally. These banditss know the area we do not want to let them usse that knowledge againsst uss"
As Vlad gathers the group back together Morgrym quickly gets to the point of why he spoke to Durielle "Ive seen oracles before, my convent had a couple we took in and helped them come to grips with their abilities, my point being visions of the future are often taken in the wrong context, and often miss remembered down the line, if i were to ask you to keep a journal of visions you have would this be ok with you. our future is in a state of flux and your visions may help guide us down a path that all can succeed at, but Vlad is wanting us, think on that please and let us see to this meeting"
Joining the group Morgrym takes a seat and hears what Vlad has to say replying "I believe the best choice is for us to take the fight to their camp before they are fully prepared to assault this fort, it is my understanding that Angor and Sugua have some survival skills and can perhaps backtrack these bandits to their base, im not sure about Tomas as i saw him expend some of his magic in that fight but the rest of us should be well enough to take the fight to the enemy and with the surprise i should hope we can diminish their number to a point they arnt a threat, but what say you?"
"I am in agreement. Surprise is still our ally in this situation; the other bandits will likely not be aware of their allies demise for some time and may even assume that their comrades abandoned them with the take as opposed to Oleg and Svetlana bringing in resistance. I am uninjured; that was no 'fight' at all. It was a bloodbath. Before we depart, though, I believe we likely have a bit of extra time. Svetlana, it is not within me to have created this mess and leave you and Oleg to clean up the blood and other detritus. The clerics at the temple of Abadar in Brevoy drilled into me as a lad to not make a mess were I not willing to clean it up afterward..."
"I am of a similar mind to Thessk and Morgrym, provided of course we have skilled enough trackers to find their camp." he says as he looks questioningly to Sugua and Angor.
"Tomas, do you still have enough of your magical reserves to undertake this task?"
Sugua parries Angor's blow easily and grins " TOO SLOW, TOO WEAK! You've got to give it some fervor, like THIS! " Sugua took the opportunity to counter with a powerful gut shot.
Sugua stepped back after the blow to watch the effects of his strike, " Clan? What does that have to do with anything? You talk too much! But If you must know, I'm not raised from any Clan! I raised myself from poverty to now! From city to country to mountains! This body was forged to fight! ow Show me what your Clan is.. WITH YOUR FISTS "
"Says de one who won't shut up. Even in a fight. I ave never seen a orc, half-orc or even a human that talks so much." Angor can tell he is out matched in a fist fight. Sugua has better martial training and is stronger. Maybe he could use that strength against him. Angor rushes the tattooed brute in an attempt to grapple.
And somehow he manages to get around the bigger half-orc's defenses and put him in a headlock. "You would make a good War Chanter. You are very loud."
Durielle reflects on Morgrym's suggestion and then turns her attention to Vladimir. Not being very knowledgeable regarding matters of warfare and combat, she waits and listens.
Sugua chortles as the smaller one grips around his neck and squeezes, " And you probably never will! Now let me show you a trick I learned fighting OGRES! They are a hell of a time! RAAAAAGGGHHH " Sugua shoulders in and grips Angor's bicep, squeezing hard to apply pressure and in that instant of pain grips him at the legs and sweeps him off dangling Angor upside-down in what looks like a Piledriver.
" AHAHAHAHAHA! Those who can speak and battle do so because they can fight well! Now, what else will you show me Angor!? "
"This," Angor says grinning. From this position Sugua can't see the Skald's hand move nor here the orc word light escape his lips. Four flaming orbs appear in front of Sugua and rapidly head for his face. He drops Angor and ducks backwards to avoid them. Angor quickly gets his hands underneath him before his head hits the ground and rolls away to avoid retaliation. "At least my words carry de power of magic. Yours are just hot air."
"Surprise es good. But in my experience, walls are better." Angor adds his two copper to the conversation.
Sugua's white eyes gleam from the dancing lights and give off his expression of curiosity. " Magic?! No wonder your so slow, but if you think my words are nothing but hot air, then experience what my hot air can DO! " Sugua powerfully kicked up the dust and dirt from the ground cupped it into his hand and blew it into Angor's eyes.
" Two of us can fight Dirty, if you use magick I make up for than in PROWESS! Is that all the Warchanter's are known for!? A good singin' voice!? "
Sugua let the city-raised proper person speak and when they were done his arm-crossed chest bellowed out in completely elation. He laughed for a solid 15 seconds, his bass-voice echoed in the old fort as their suggestions were nothing but inexperience talking. He wipes a tear away at the end.
" Greenhorns! Sure we can track them back to their base.. if we want to recreate what just happened here on the other side! I didn't think it was this bad but you all seemed to be completely city-raised! The ones we killed here were grunts besides this one with the bow. They came in expecting to do what they considered a chore not a fight. When it comes to chores you don't send your top men. If you want to kill bandits YOU HAVE TO THINK LIKE ONE AHAHA! " Sugua grinned as if to insinuate something.
" This Kressle came with 20 men the first time, that wasnt just a means of intimidation that was to ensure no mishaps would occur if Oleg was something of a threat! An experienced warrior can tear through 20 men easily but it would give you time to eventually wear them down if you were smart! She saw his weakness with her own eyes, Svetlana the pinkskin! Even then to make sure, she sent quite a few the next time. This leader woman isnt stupid and chances are the grunts she has at her camp are closer to the bow-user and likely watching for trouble! We would be seen before we even got close with all this armor on in a group THIS large. They'd pepper us from several yards away if even one spots us and that would be it! Not to mention things out here are dangerous, what's to say they didn't get killed by a pack of wolves? " The surly half-orc seemed to be enjoying this.
" You wanna know my advice? Get rid of the corpses, clean this fort and lessen the advantage they have on us both in numbers and knowledge. You all get some dirt under your nails and get used to this area. Besides there arent JUST bandits around here to clear. And one more thing, if you noticed they spoke of a Staglord. If he is the boss and Oleg is afraid of Kressle.. imagine who she reports to! You all need to get much more experienced before you think about rushin a camp let alone who that camp is attached to. "
Despite his brusqueness and off-handed dismissal of the others' suggestions, Durielle can see some sense in Sugua's comments.
"This location did used to be a fort...perhaps re-arming it and fortifying it would be a better idea. If the other bandits come in search of the ones just slain, even if they are expecting some trouble, we would still be at an advantage here. I believe that is the purpose of building and maintaining a fort..." Durielle lowers her eyes and blushes slightly embarrassed at having said something so obvious.
Sugua points at Durielle and grins, " She has the right of it, might have the constitution of a baby lamb but speaks some words of wisdom. Make this place safe and explore the area. Clear it out! Get some grit on your blades! Most likely she will send scouts. If we find any We kill them and interrogate the rest like you did before! Whittle down their forces and make them have to keep held up in their OWN fort! They won't have the proof to think its a adventuring group and a scouting party won't be more than maybe Five to Eight. "
Almost at once, Durielle raises her hand to her mouth and lets out an "Oh!" Clearly an idea has just occurred to her.
Taking a breath, Durielle starts off saying, "My powers of foresight often show me weaker visions of the future which have little chance of coming to be. They are fainter and sometimes nothing more than a distraction. One such vision showed our party mostly dead on the road here from Brevoy, ravaged by wild beats." A sickened look crosses the elf's face. It passes quickly, but a haunted light remains in her eyes.
"Would it be of any benefit to...to..." Durielle makes a rolling motion with her hand, "fake such a scene to throw off the other bandits?"
Gesturing towards the headless corpses, "Clearly not with these as the strokes are too clean, but the others could be posed and arranged. All we would need do is hunt a wild beast or two to leave their bodies among the bandits' corpses to make the scene appear believable to whomever 'tracks' the other bandits' path here. In this way, we could potentially maintain surprise over them."
ok question about the construction of these walls here, can we safely sit behind them and use them for cover while firing out? palisade is a rather general term for a wooden wall and can vary in meaning. if we can trade ranged combat with the benifit of walls then this place is more defensible than i thought, so can we get a better description of the defenses from the view of the inside of this place?
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Sugua shakes his head, " Lass that normally would work.. if it wasnt for the fact the other three were cut down by me! And my blade looks nothing like a maw or claw strike! The rest have been beheaded. Though maybe if we can find some more Bandits that might be changed. Regardless a portion of your plan holds a different meaning! We can't stay here and eat without bringin somethin to add, I could go for 4-5 boars.. or maybe some Wolf Jerky? Owlbear soup sounds nice as well HAHA! Somethin, otherwise the rations here won't last long. And Y'know it's our job to explore! Oh and I didn't want to mention it, but that one bandit.. is probably lying.. and I'm sure there are much more than twenty Bandits. "
Angor climbs one of the towers slowly to inspect the catapults, something that seems to be forgotten. "Can't we use dese?" he asks from the top.
Tomas doesn't see any horse tracks, only those of boots.
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Sugua thinks on the information he was given. The Stag lord, The location of the camp and more importantly what direction they were coming from.
Tomas heads back in to the fort. He listens to Sugua talk to the group, but does not comment.
"No horses. Maybe you can backtrack to see where they came from."
Sugua dusts off his hands and joins into the laughing with Angor, " You are right, I felt the fervor of Gorum mix with with your voice. Nothing gets my blood flowing like using my blade in BATTLE! But, you are correct, seems like 'negotiations' have gone bad, not a single one wanted to 'repent' and why would they? They were spouting patronizing things, they are BANDITS not crusdaers.. or wayward children. C'mon lets go see what they learned. "
" Maybe I can.. let me see.. " Sugua is still pondering.
Morgrym takes a moment to look around at the fortifications and replies "look at this place, the towers are in disrepair and anyone standing on the walls is just as likely to be shot as they are to shoot someone, the bandits would sooner burn us out than hold this place, taking to the fight would be dangerous yes but i feel it far less dangerous than trying to make a stand here when they are looking for trouble"
Sugua can tell by the thorny plant seeds that cover the bandits boots that they undoubtedly lied about their camp being only fifteen miles south. Not only this, but judging by their tracks its more to the South East than pure south. Sugua surmises that the camp must in fact be something along the lines of seventy or so miles to the southeast.
As for the Stag Lord, Sugua has heard some about him in his travels. The Stag Lord keeps seven Lts. as he considers it a lucky number. He also has atleast 2 camps here in the Greenbelt. Most of the bandits don't care for the Stag Lord as he rules them with an iron fist, but they fear him greatly. The Stag Lord is rumored to fight with a bow, but is able to easily break a man's bones with a single hand, indeed they say he is not a man at all, but a demon. Aside from all of this Sugua has heard, but is not sure of its truthfulness that the Stag Lord is also a prolific drunk.
"Sugua, you truly are a conundrum. Or perhaps simply a contrarian. All we here about on the ride down here is 'Fight, Fight, Fight' and now that the suggestion is put forth to take the fight to these bastards, you suggest staying and waiting for them to come to us." Vladimir says venting his frustrations with the half-orc.
"Now that being said, if these other bandits are seventy or so miles away, remaining close to here is the better option. If were to leave out now we would very likely miss the bandits along the way and place Oleg and Svetlana in grave danger."
"At a distance of seventy miles, the bandit camp is roughly two and a half days away at best. Two and half days return for those who arrived today and another two and half for Kressle and friends to make their way back here. That gives us four days to explore the immediate area and a day to prepare for the ensuing battle."
"He is aggressive. Not stupid," Angor adds in Sugua's defense. "We ave plenty of time to make tings safe ere and add traps. De will come. Let us be ready."
Following up on Angor's suggestion Morgrym adds in "And maybe some pit traps outside the fort? Its good to hear the bandits arnt as close as they said they were. I volunteer to join a scouting group to survey the area and see if there is any useful supplies or locations about, Angor you seem a knowledgeable sort, would you assist me in these endeavors? we should leave some people here but half of us should be safe to leave i would think"
Sugua doesnt seem to care about Vladimirs frustrations, it was a sign of inexperience. " Don't confuse the need to fight with stupidity! You truly are homebred if you don't understand how it works out here stuffed-shirt. You don't go making things work for you, You learn to work with what is available! Hasn't this battle taught you nothing!? You don't have the ability to fight a mook let alone someone who ACTUALLY wants to kill you. What if someone of my skill were on the other side, it would have been a different story altogether! No, when you can dance around and actually show some results and we can handle a few arrow showers THEN we will think about attacking a Camp! Now C'mon we ain't got all day and the Fields won't clear themselves. "
Sugua starts moving out of the trading post aftr everything was said and done.
Oleg interjects Morgrym's suggestion at once.
"Hang on there friend. I know you're blood is pumping from the fight, but there are worse things than bandits in those woods. If you're going out there, take great caution, I don't leave sight of the post out here for a reason."
Angor hops down from the tower and follows Morgrym and Sugua. Nature was his home anyway. Unlike them he grabs his horse though. Might need to make a quick get away.
Tomas follows the others out and shows them where he came across the tracks. He remains cool and apart from the 1/2 orcs, but not rude. He lets them boast and brag and generally act as they do without any comment or, indeed any outward signs at all. He stands and watches them as they go about casing for the trail and talking.
Keeping to Olegs suggestion Morgrym talks to the party "the man who lives here says not to leave sight of the fort, he knows the dangers here and im going to listen, lets do a sweep around the foort but keep it in sight, sound good?"
Having had nothing to contribute to the discussion of significance, most of his opinions having been made known for him, Khargol is silent for the debate taking place, though he seems disapproving of the sparring match had between Sugua and Angor, believing there to be much better ways for them to be spending their time than in pointless brawling.
"I find it very difficult to believe they don't have horses somewhere nearby; at the very least, some sort of intermediate camp. Think of it logically. Would you send eight men out on a shakedown to a place that was two-and-a-half days away, knowing that when they get there they would have to collect a large amount of goods that they would then have to carry all the way back to their base, a journey which would likely take even longer than the time it took them to get here? It makes no sense whatsoever. I am confident they must have a staging area somewhere closer by between there and here. If not, they have horses tied somewhere out of sight. Otherwise this rumored 'Stag Lord' makes up for his bulk of muscle by having a puny mind."
Vladimir shakes his head as he heads off to get Shadow. "Sounds like a reasonable suggestion, Morgrym, but I am sure Sugua will have something disparaging to say about it."
Sugua shrugs, " We came to clear out this area, being afraid to go past the sight of the fort defeats that, but if you want to for now until its cleared out around the fort. Sure. Just don't wander off. "
"I am more inclined to agree with Sugua, truth be told. These bandits clearly have no fear of leaving known areas; not leaving sight of the fort would make it far too easy to track them down once they had left. There is little chance they are that close by. We know the direction they come from; our best bet is to go in that direction."
Vladimir looks around, "Not a whole lot other than flat land around here for the most part. Keeping the Fort in sight should not be overly difficult, even at a fair distance. On the other hand should we find evidence of the bandits horses and/or wagons, as they had to have something to carry their ill gotten gains, we should examine that a bit closer."