Damen's hand went to his bow. The scream, the growl... wolves, perhaps? His eyes narrowed as he sought to identify what manner of beast might be near. His knees unconsciously guided his horse, and he made soft sounds to soothe the mount.
I nod in agreement to follow the others on their hunt for the fleeing bandits. I keep up and continue to keep my dancing lights active as long as needed. Once we start to get more natural light I will let the spell drop.
I drop the spell at the sound of the animal. "What is it?" I do my best to focus on the sound too.
Knowledges!: Bardic knowledge
Nature:
Arcane: (Magical Beasts)
Dungeoneering:(Other odd creatures):
Religion:(Undead)
Planes:(Outsiders and the like)
The older bandit, a scarred and weathered man of indeterminable age, just keeps looking down. The wounded one moans softly, lost in his pain-induced world, and the younger man looks up in some hope, but then sees the lies in your words and looks away.
Brigid stands and presents a looming presence behind the sultry image of the Calistrian priestess. After rebuffing her words, the hard stare of the northern warrior confronts each of them. Her bow still strung and taut, she runs her fingers along its ready potency as her green eyes flash in the morning sun.
She flicks her eyes toward Svetlana, then looks again at them with a slight shake to her head, and the silent "tsk" is nearly audible in her severe gaze.
Damen shrugged at Leorn. "Not like anything I've heard before. Or... more accurately, it's like things that shouldn't go together."
He nocked an arrow as he cautiously rode closer to look. He couldn't make much of a shot from horseback, but at least he'd have something.
I nod in consideration. "So how should we approach? Do we abandon our hunt or take this thing on?"
He rode closer as well, hoping to get a look at whatever made those sounds. He was close enough to his two companions to hear their words and responded in kind.
"We continue our hunt and get a closer look, but once we get eyes on whatever is over this bend we should reassess. Maybe some wild beast has done our task for us... "
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Tracking Group
The sound repeats itself once more, then it go silent. As you edge towards where the noise came from, a new sound greets your ears; that of rending and tearing of flesh.
In the swale between hillocks you see a strange beast. Leorn, just before you crest the rise calls you over for a whispered conversation. He thinks he might know what kind of beast this could be, and as soon as he mentioned its name, Damen realizes that this is probably what it is; an Owlbear.
Sure enough as you peek over the hill you see the creature hunkered down beside a small stream eating what appears to be your escaped bandit. It has torn off the poor boys arms and is gnawing on them like a cob of corn. It does not seem to notice you...yet.
Camp Group
The stern gaze of Brigid seem not to faze the old bandit at all. The wounded one is too far gone to even notice, however the younger one shrinks back from her accusing glare.
"Its not like I chose this life you know. I had nowhere else to go. The bandits took me in, fed me and all I had to do was care for the camp. I was never involved in any theft nor killing. Please let me go! I will go far away..maybe back to Restov. Please have mercy great ladies!"
Brigid weighs the words of the talkative would-be bandit, while glancing at the reactions of his companions.
Ulryk listens to Leorn's words and places his hand just over his eyes, trying to keep the glare of the sun from his vision. The strange feathered beast looked as large as a bear and clearly had no difficulty at all dismembering the bandit.
He halted his horse and inched it carefully near to Leorn's. In a whisper he asked. "The creature is a wild beast? No different than a bear or a wolf? If so, we should leave it and ride back to our friends."
Lifting his hand, he gestured back the way they had come and wheeled his horse around. True they had bows and could likely make a good hunt of the Owlbear, but it was an unnecessary risk, especially with their companions waiting for their return.
Sense Motive for Svetlana as well
Brigid's looming, scowling form seemed to have met with some success where Svetlana's own efforts had failed. The priestess always knew there was a time and place for threats over kindness when it came to changing a person's tact, but she never had a knack for it. She was glad her companion did.
Looking at the younger bandit she said, just care for the camp and that's all. Never raised arms at anyone before we came along, yes? Maybe then you'd like to tell us a little bit about this Stag Lord I've heard so much about? Things like where his camp is, what territory he controls, how many persons he has.... Svetlana tailed off with a slight smile. Answered honestly, Information like that sometimes saves men's lives.
I nod to Ulryk, "Not so. It is a magical beast. It isn't the same as a normal beast. It is best we leave it alone and return." I make ready to return when the others do so.
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@Svetlana - The bandit is not good, so your healing burst does not effect him. Unless you actually cast a heal spell on him that I missed.
The boy looks very eager to help, but suddenly looks crestfallen when you ask questions about the Stag Lord.
"I have never been to the Stag Lord's fort. I know it is to the south, but I have no idea where. As to number of people he has, I would say a couple dozen at most. They are scattered all through the Greenbelt. We see groups of 6 to 10 come through our camp at least every other week."
He looks at Svetlana and Brigid, hoping that the information was enough to spare his life.
At Leorn's identification of the Owlbear, Damen nodded to the other man. "Good ears, at that. I'd heard of such creatures but never thought to see one myself. Pity for the fellow... but we'd only have given him a cleaner death."
He kept his peace afterward as they returned to the camp, a mix of weariness and being lost in his own troubled thoughts.
Svetlana frowned a bit at the young brigand's information. In truth it was useful, more than the group had had before but lacking in critical detail. Nothing else? The priestess asked the question hopefully but with an air of disappointment as well. She never had held out much hope that Damen and Ulryk would spare any of these the rope and so far even this bandit wasn't radically changing the possibility.
Brigid processes the information provided. Her emerald eyes appraise the youth, as she stands over him. These groups who pass through. Vhat do they do? Collect your prizes? Or drop off their own vith Kessler? How does the Stag Lord collect vhat is his?
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"They are usually collecting, but sometimes they drop stuff off. The Kessler would send one of the senior men to go to the fort with the booty. Oh wait there is something else. I remember overhearing Kessler tell one of the men about a password...."
Before the boy can say more, the older bandit throws himself on the defenseless lad and begins to smash his skull into the boy's face, screaming, "SHUT UP!! SHUTUP!!!
Brigid tries to intervene, throwing herself into the fray and driving her cestus into the older man's face.
ENOUGH! She shouts at him, trying to cow him into submission if the rough impact of her metal-shod fist doesn't.
As the young man spoke, Svetlana's appreciation of what the young bandit was offering grew. She becan to smile, to see what else she could elicit from him when the older bandit launched into him.
The priestess could move quickly when the situation demands. This was just one of those situations. Svetlana's normally friendry or flitateous behavior gave way to a look of focused rage. Her dagger flashed forth from her boot, and seconds later was planted into the older bandit's throat.
EDIT: Brigid Ninja'd me. Assume both ladies launched into the guy.
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As Brigit hits the older man and yells at him, a silver flash whistles past her and a dagger suddenly sprouts from the bandit's throat. He gurgles a bit, then slumps to the side.
The poor boy, blood streaming from his mashed nose, looks wild eyed at the dead body lying beside him. He tries to swallow, but ends up being noisily sick all over Brigid's boots instead.
Feh, she mutters in disgust as she steps away from the boy's retching. If Brigid is surprised at the sudden lethality of the Calistrian priestess, she doesn't show it. Instead, she steps back and lets the boy finish being sick.
When there's a moment, she steps her feet into the running stream, more to get rid of the smell than anything.
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Camp Group
The boy is in shock and will take some time and persuasion to calm down enough to continue talking. (DC-15 Diplomacy check)
Tracking Group
Slowly and quietly you leave the owlbear to its grisly meal. You retrace your path and arrive back at the bandit camp, tired, sore and hungry. You notice one of the captives is now dead and one looks like he was beat-up. The third still sleeps, but his colour is much better and his wounds look not nearly as life-threatening.
Svetlana calmly retrieved her knife from the now-deceased bandit and pushed his body away from the younger man. My first kill, the priestess thought. For some reason she had expected more of a philosophical tumult, but her reaction to killing the recalcitrant brigand came impulsively and was follow by no sense of regret. For that she was proud of herself. Calistria teaches to live in the moment, follow your whims, your passions. She had done just that. No regrets, the notion came with a smile.
Cleaning her knife off, Svetlana refocused on the young man. He was frightened now and needed reassuring. She knelt down next to bandit. You did the right thing, talking to us. These others, they are looking out for their own skin, not yours. The kind of information you bring up here, that password you were mentioning, that just might sway our more....hard-line members. Putting on a bit more allure and openness, the priestess looked into the man's eyes. I'd love it if you'd keep talking to me. Diplomacy Check
As if this was one of those stories that Areanna always was talking about, the hunting party came into view once more at the very moment of Svetlana's words "...that just might sway our more....hard-line members."
Ulryk walked his horse into the captured bandit camp and dismounted. It was readily clear that they had no bandit in tow, but his beard face showed no scowl as he led Rynel over to the stream to drink. Ulryk's gaze swept to the dead bandit laying in the camp. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it instead.
As his horse bent down to lap up the water of the stream, he whispered to brigid. If he was wondering why she was standing boot deep in the stream he gave no indication. "The escaped bandit will speak no more tales, the wilderness did our job for us. A massive feathered beast that Leorn tells me is called an Owlbear finished the luckless man." Ulryk cast a look over his shoulder. "What happened there?"
The need for sleep and food played havok on Ulryk and it was clear that after his horse drank, he too would settle down and need some sleep.
Brigid looked quizzically at the description of the beast, as if she didn't quite believe such a creature would exist. It was clear she wished for more details.
But she answered his question first. The boy began to talk about vhat he knew of the Stag Lord. The older man interrupted, and ve ... dealt vith him. She looks at her cestus and then washes the blood off in the stream.
Open one eye "The boy tried to tell us something and the big bandit attack him. Then Svetlana and Brigid killed the big bandit protecting the boy"
Close my eye.
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The boy finally calms down and goes and cleans himself up at the stream. When he returns you can see that his nose is most likely broken and both of his eyes have been blackened.
In a weary voice he says,"I was able to overhear Kessler tell some of the other bandits some phrases. I think they might be a password to gain entry to the Stag Lord's camp, but I am not sure. The first is 'And so the stink marks the jackal in a den of wolves'. The second was 'By the bloody bones of St. Gilmorg, who wants to know?'"
He looks up, exhaustion and hope plain on his face.
Svetlana smiles reassuringly at the young man, anything else you can recall. Anything at all?
The priestess channels to heal the young man's wounds, and a wave of invigoration washes over him . Looking over to the others she adds, This one I think we should let go. He has provided information that would get him killed or worse if he would returned to banditry in these parts. He will make a bee-line for Restov, I'm quite sure, and not bother these areas again. The last she says with a nod to the man, as if making it clear that such is exactly what he will do.[/b] The last one of these bandits can be tried and hanged if unrepentant, but it seems this one would turn to a different life.[/b]
"The old one was a villain and a treacherous snake. I saw as much on the battlefield. A man does not usually go into banditry so late in life. It seems likely he was a bandit for many years. The justice owed him was overdue." Ulryk said with a nod of his head. He rubbed at his bleary eyes and did not expand upon the Owlbear. If she wanted more information about it should could ask Leorn.
Once his steed had drank its fill, Ulryk moved to one of the hammocks. He peeled off his helmet and set it on a low branch. After that he dipped his own mug into the keg of Ale and took a deep drink, then fished through the hefty supply of rations for some grub. As he ate and drank, he began unfastening the straps for his armor.
When Svetlana commented about releasing one of the prisoners he frowned. His eyes darted to the Priestess and the young bandit. "He is still guilty of banditry. What proof do we have that he will not return to such a life? Will he swear it in oath before the gods? Where does he intend to go and what will he do?" Ulryk rubbed a hand across his beard considering. He was clearly tired and did not want to hang the boy if he didn't have to, but he still wanted something he could call a just sentence under the law.
He is guilty of associating with bandits, but his story of simply helping out with chores around camp may be true. And the writ is for unrepentant banditry, yes? It appears he has given us a password for entering the Stag Lord's base of operations. With no other survivors here, were he return to a life of banditry he would certainly be executed in the most hideous way as it would be clear that we were able to enter the base because of information he gave us. That seems as close to proof as one could provide in these circumstances. Looking over at the young man, Svetlana smiles but the look in her eyes grows a bit more directive. Now, tell them where you plan to go if we let you leave. Swearing it as an oath before the gods might be a good idea too, yes?
I gesture for Svetlana to come over and whisper to her "I suggest you prentend to put a geas on him. A geas that if he every goes back to banditry he will die."
After setting up the prisoner to answer Ulryk's questions effectively, Svetlana sees Kent motioning to her frantically from his hammock. She had hardly noticed the man was awake in the midst of everything happening, but he seemed intent now. Walking casually over to the wizard, she bent down a bit as he whispered in her ear. Not a bad plan, unlikely the boy knows anything about magic, she thought. She nodded to Kent and said back to him as she sauntered away Well, we will see if my more potent spells need to be used, but in voice loud enough anyone in the camp could hear. She then waited to see what the prisoner's words to Ulryk would be.
After we return I roll my eyes as the group once again goes about playing judge, jury, and executioner like the evil lot of law lovers they are. Saying nothing about the Owlbear and not wanting to comment on the disgusting display of power and authority these alleged do-gooders claim rights too. I merely head over to somewhere quiet as they play around with the fate's of others. Why do they even bother with prisoners at all if this is all they are going to do with them. Shameful is what it is.
I merely sit quietly and pull out my journal and begin to document all that I seen going on. Ulryk and Svetlana are dicussing the boy's fate I decide to speak up. "Does this deliberation always take this long with you people? Do you enjoy torturing others? Your so scared this kids is going to turn to banditry why don't you police your own kingdom for every child who shows the slightest hint of criminal behavior and execute them? Seems it would be easier than trying to impose it out here in these free lands." I shake my head and pull out some rations and start to eat.
Damen watched the exchange impassively for a time, tending to his horse. After Leorn's comment, he stepped forward and pointed at the archaeologist. The ranger was exhausted, his eyes bloodshot, his face and clothes still covered in blood from the fight. He held his arm so tensely that it quivered, but his voice was cold and quiet.
"If you don't like the way things are, you are welcome to leave. From what we saw you were a victim of scum like this. We're weighing lives of scum, and as far as I am concerned none of them deserve more than a quick death. We loose a man who later kills or robs, we wear that blood. We wear that suffering."
He looked at Svetlana, then at Ulryk, and finally to the young bandit. He took a deep breath, and his voice softened when he spoke again.
"We grant mercy, when we can, because anything less merely makes people into cogs in a machine, simple parts for a simple role. People are more complex than that." He looks at Leorn again. "So do not for a moment think it is a simple thing to decide life or death. It is a necessary thing. No more and no less."
He left for the stream, to clean himself and his gear.
I smirk. "It is a simple thing to decide life and death when you have a life in your hands. You either kill it or let it live. You are in no way responsible for anything the bandits decide to do with the mercy. To think you are responsible for another's actions or choices is the pinnacle of arrogance. Quit making excuses and either kill the prisoners or let them go. Quit worrying about what they will do if you let them go. Also, me being a former prisoner doesn't make me wish justice, I got lucky and I cannot waste time with revenge." I am sitting there and continue to write.
Svetlana attempted to ignore Leorn's outbursts. In some respects she agreed with the freedom aspects he espoused, but his petulant attitude towards those who just recently freed him was bound to tear at the group's unity. And that in the priestess' mind was purly bad. Instead, she chose to try to refocus the group towards the young man pleaing for a second chance.
Well put, Svetlana said with a nod towards the ex-bandit. See there Ulryk? He's off to Restov to start a new life and honest work. Sounds good, yes? Looking back over to the young man she said, Now, we need to discuss for a moment, not to much longer. The last she added with a wink and walked over to where Ulryk, Brigid and Damen were standing by the stream. In a low voice she said, let's let this one go, yes? The sleeping one shot at us and the older bandit met his fate, but this one seems harmless. Can we all agree here?
Brigid nods, the fatigue beginning to show in her eyes. Her eyes flick to Leorn, a drawing tightness around her eyelids and a press of her lips showing her reaction to his words. She looks back to Svetlana and agrees, Yes. Ve let him go vhen ve return to Olegs. The other ve know little about.
She returns to the camp and drags the older bandit's corpse to the pile of other slain bandits.
Damen shrugged as he cleaned his gear. "Like Brigid says, he should accompany us back to Oleg's. From there he can go to Restov. Or perhaps Oleg will have some jobs the boy can do."