"I do not ride zhe horsies." he says with finality as he returns to the group after securing the unruly prisoners. You are here to learn from them! he admonishes himself, "...But I vill learn zhe horsy if ve vant to ride." The large man gives the horses a suspicious look, before pushing one bodily towards the stable, "Be moving horsy! Zhat building is vhere you go now. Go!" and pushes its side again, beginning to lose patience.
Shonden moves forward and smiles up at Myrdul. "I'll be glad to handle this work with you, Myrdul. Perhaps these animals will get along with Max." In answer to Myrdul's unasked question, Shonden clarifies. "Max is the horse I rode in on..." The paladin's smile broadens as he recalls the old saying his father used.
In context of the share of any provisions, he glances over his shoulder and offers his response. "Anything you deem is my share I'll be giving to Master Oleg and his wife." He looked about the place and considered what it took to hold it together and pay the bandits once a month. His gaze settled on the remaining bandit, the young man who seemed willing to turn over his life to a better path. "I'm sure they can use the additional coin along with the service of this young man."
He makes for the stable, watching with admiration as the big warrior seems to be getting through to the animals. . Before he enters, a thought occurs to him which causes him to turn again. He is beginning to enjoy being on the offense against evil. Especially after serving on the caravans to Brunderton...always on the defense...sometimes never knowing when the attach would come. "I'm in agreement regarding the next move against these bandits. We need to hit them now if possible. How many are we dealing with in that forward camp to the south?"
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Kalmia thinks and then says, "Indeed, we could use one of the horses as a pack animal. If we're going to wander the wilderness it would be prudent to have some way to carry our extra supplies. If the forward bandit camp has supplies we can claim, we'll need some way transport the goods back to the Outpost."
The barbarian is surprised as the horses begin moving under his direction, observing their, mostly, docile manner of obedience. "This is not that bad, these horsies!
After, Myrdul thinks over the logistics of attacking and transportation, "If ve are to be bringing zhe horsies back, zhen should ve not bring more zhan vun vith us?"
"Right now, I think we have one horse per person at our disposal .. so all we need to figure out is how many bandits we might encounter at the camp and what terrain we'll be facing. Horses will make hiding harder, because of their size, the noise they make and the tracks they leave, but they'll also make getting away considerably easier."
"What other goods did we get from them? Weapons, armor, trinkets and coin?"
"True enough, but zhese funds vill be useless in zhe vilds of zhis land, yes?" Myrdul sits and quietly considers possibilities for their upcoming battle plans, but knows planning is useless without additional information from the 'repentant' bandit youth.
----
At some point in the evening Myrdul will approach Oleg, "Small man Oleg! I am looking for some rope, are you having some zhat I can buy or trade?"
Shonden returns from the stable and sits down with the group. "If we know when this group is due back at the camp, perhaps disguising ourselves in their garb so we can get close? Joanna has already shown the effectiveness of her gifts from Erastil in disguise."
He shrugs and considers that if there were 50 of these bandits, then being in the midst of them may not be the best idea in the world.
"Disguise is certainly an option, but my skills don't quite extend to disguising others. If you wish me to scout the camp, though, I could certainly do that."
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Kalima says to Joanna, "I would not advise that Joanna. One of us alone on a scouting could easily get caught by a large number of angry bandits. It would be more prudent to attack the camp as a group. I could try and disable them with my Color Spray, or summon some celestial hounds to increase our numbers in a head on fight. A scouting mission is too much of a risk to you.
Loot: 4 horses, alchemist’s fire (2); Other Gear leather armor (x4),
dagger, composite longbow (+2 Str) with 80 arrows, 8 days of
trail rations, silver amulet in the shape of some form of deer or elf, longbow (x3), short sword (x3)
Oleg "That sounds like a good idea, I will get some manacles out and put the boy to work. I can't thank you all enough for your help. You can keep whatever gear you want and whatever you don't want I will buy at full price. Also here is 50gp and I have three potions of cure light wound in the stockroom that you are more than likely to take. Hopefully the promised guards will be here soon, because I fear that eventually the bandits will want revenge, but I think that won't be for awhile."
"I have plenty of rations, but I would be glad for some of the longbow arrows...perhaps a bundle of 10 or 20?" He asks quietly. He wasn't sure about the alchemist fire...would that mean the bandits would have one in their employ?
The other objects...he would be glad for whatever was left. The village of Lankemshire had been generous to him. Shonden clasps his hands behind his back, eyeing the amulet out of curiousity...was it something of Erastil?
on the amulet..
"As for the bandits' vengeance, we may he able to avoid retribution against you by doing as has been suggested and taking the fight to the enemy."
Myrdul examines all the loot carefully, checking for quality and to see if any of the equipment interests him. He'll set aside the trail rations, alchemists fire, composite longbow w/arrows, and one extra longbow.
Giving the longbow (regular one) a few experimental pulls, looking like quite the rookie. He gives a sheepish look to the others, "At some time, perhaps vun of you can teach me to be using zhis veapon?"
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Kalima says, "Most of these items we can sell to Oleg, but I would request keeping the alchemist fire. They are useful for setting fires quickly as we'll as dealing with swarms of dangerous creatures. As for taking the fight to the enemy, we could go now and attack now before they think know men are missing, or we could wait until tomorrow when we are better rested and have our full spell resources. The decision needs to be made."
"I say we go now."
"Myrdul is ready, ve go."
Shonden examines the arrow fletchings, nodding agreement. "Agreed. Once we know their numbers and set up, we should go immediately."
Over towards the loot pile, he lifts one of the short swords. If no one objects, he'll collect one as a backup weapon. Then he turns to Myrdul. "I'll be glad to teach you the bow, Myrdul. "
Myrdul stows the things he's collected from the loot pile in his pack, having a little trouble with the bow until watching Shonden and Joanna to see how they stowed theirs, emulating the way they do it after several clumsy attempts. "Zhank you Shonden. You are good man. Zhe more ve speak, you seem less and less like small man." and grips the Paladins shoulder strongly in a manly expression of camaraderie. As they prepare he is sure to approach Oleg, "Zhe bandits vill not have chance to return here. Ve shall kill zhem all in glorious battle," and risks a glance at the others, "...unless zhey are repentant. Vhen finished, ve vill return vith much things to sell. Be vatchful."
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Kalima says to Myrdul, "Well hopefully some of the bandits are repentant as I find it a waste if we have to kill all of them. I have a feeling Oleg and Svetlana are rather overworked taking care of this entire outpost on their own. The more indentured servants that Oleg has working here the more efficient the operations of the outpost can become. Its simple logistics, more labor means more growth. After all, Hard Labor is a common sentence for criminals in Taldor for lesser offenses. Now you might call this Slavery, but I call it Efficiency."
Myrdul listens politely, nodding occassionally. When Kalima's rather insightful explanation is complete the barbarian takes in a big breath, seeming to consider an intelligent reply, "Log-i-sticks. Yes. Very good." and quickly becomes engrossed with cleaning his weapon.
"I agree, Kalima. He'll earn his chance at redemption and perhaps he'll even find his true calling in life. An arrow gone astray might still find its target .. eventually. As for that bow, I can show you how it works Myrdul, but perhaps our two Erastilians are better at it. Like you, I've always prefered a more hands on approach."
"Yes, hard labor has been effective in Brunderton." Shonden adds. "Those who've attempted robbing the caravans or merchants in that area often find themselves working in the foothill mines under the watchful eyes of the dwarves."
He heads into the stable and begins saddling up his horse, making sure his gear is straightened and going over the horse's condition. "What do you think, Max? Ready to go riding into danger?"
The horse snorts in response, thumping the straw-covered ground with his right hoof.
Shonden smiles and strokes the horse's neck. "Thought so. You keep an eye on me, I'll keep an eye on you, eh?"
His boar spear goes into the leather looping at the side of the saddle, the acquired short sword Shonden affixes to the saddle horn so it's within reach.
Work completed, Shonden leads Max by the reins and heads into the gathering area. "As soon as we have our information, I'm ready as well."
Myrdul acknowledges Derakor's offer as well, inclining his shaggy-haired head a bit. He puts the combined rations they acquired into the packs of the packhorse they're bringing along, and decides to place the remaining arrows in as well.
"Then if we're all ready, I say we head out. I say we keep the fire. As for hard labour, I think that would be an efficient solution - it will be up to Oleg to decide when he's served enough of a sentence." Joanna walks over to the pack horse, noticing it looks skittish, and places a hand on its neck.
"You're coming with us now, okay? But don't worry, we're good people, and we're going to take good care of you. Can you take us to where those men came from?"
Shonden examines the amulet to the best of his ability but he cannot seem to recall any deity that resembles this deer or elk like symbol on this amulet.
Derakor picks up the amulet and closely looks it over, feeling the metal that it is made of and weighing it in his hand. His best guess is that it is 20gp.
When the gruop was talking to the "saved" banidt, he divulged that there is usually a handful at most bandits at the forward camp with others coming and going. He does not recall any magic users at the camp or anybody with any divine connection. He also stated that the camp site is well hidden (he has provided detailed instructions on how to get there) with plenty of overgrowth around the camp site. As far as a lookout, he stated that out of the 4-5 guys that are usually there, sometimes there is one guy on the lookout, but the bandits are very cocky and do not believe anybody will be able to find them, as they have gone unopposed for quite sometime. Lastly, the bandit warns you guys that usually the trip only takes them a few days and therefore, the group will get more nervous the longer the crew doesnt show up. Also, he believes there are several good spots that the group could leave their horses and sneak up to camp.
Myrdul watches Joanna next to the horse, looking from side to side to see if he's the only one watching. She is quite comfortable with that animal. he thinks to himself. When the repentant bandit divulges the information they seek, Myrdul gives him a silent and serious nod of approval.
He'll head out with the others at a brisk pace, making sure everyone is ready and accounted for. "Come, let us end zhe bandits for good." he says with obvious excitement.
Shonden thanks the young bandit and rests a hand on his shoulder. "This is a new day...the first day of the rest of your life. This will be hard, your servitude, but on the other end of it you'll find yourself a man. Thank you for accepting a different way, may Erastil watch over you and bring you bounty."
With that, the paladin climbs into the saddle and awaits the rest of the group.
"Let's ride."
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Seeing that the rest of the party is grabbing a horse, Kalmia takes a horse and tries to be nice to it so that it will allow it to mount it.
Handle Animal
"There, there nice horsie."
Unfortunately the horse she approaches is rather high strung and not very friendly to strangers. The horse bucks and kicks.
horse kick
Kalima quickly jumps back from the horse and says with surprise "My word, how dare this horse try to kick me with its dirty hooves."
She looks back to the others. "I refuse to ride this horse. It is far too aggressive for my tastes."
Shonden coaxes Max over towards Kalima and the ornery horse. "If I might be of assistance..."
"Easy, fella...easy. You're with friends..."
[ooc]are you guys wanting to ride straight through to the bandit camp or are you wanting to explore any of the hexes? I need to know so I can figure out encounter rolls. Also would you prefer if I roll for day and night and if there is no encounters just have you guys make it to the bandit camp?[/ooc}
Myrdul lopes alongside the others, sometimes jogging, sometimes walking, his long legs eating up the miles. He'll bring up tactics with the others, going over various strategies, and is eager to see what lies ahead.
Shonden settled in for the ride, scanning the trail ahead and feeling that same excitement he experienced as he led Max away from his home village alongside his father. Well, that was part of the excitement.
Wouldn't the wilds of the south hold a stronger need for community than in the cities Shonden's father so hated? With boggards and worse lurking in tangled brush of the Stolen Lands, a sense of community was all the more important. Yet these bandits sought to tear that apart so they could keep decent people like Oleg and Svetlana under their boots.
And there was the other side of Shonden's excitement; the potential of vanquishing a group of villains so dedicated to evil that they're willing to steal and threaten the well-being of others. Shonden was actively meeting out the will of his god in hunting down these vile people!
All his life, Erastil had shaped him to serve, and Shonden did so willingly, often blindly with the expectation that his mother or father or Erastil himself would reveal his true calling. Here, the presence of strangers, on the edge of the world he knew, Old Deadeye's aim was true. Every step he took on this adventure was a deeper lesson of what it meant to serve his god, what it meant to be a paladin, what it meant to be true and good.
Shonden smiled broadly, anticipation in his eyes and a stronger beating to his heart. He muttered prayers of thanks to Erastil and continued his search of the surroundings.
He moved his horse over towards Joanna and nodded greeting. "If it's okay to ask, how long have you followed Old Deadeye?"
Joanna looks sideways at Shonden as he approaches, still sweeping her eyes over the path in smooth arcs, watching for sudden movements. She thinks briefly before answering.
"About five years, now. My parents had to wait several years before they bore a son - I had to bear the responsibilities of the eldest child, which included hunting with my father. When I was fifteen, the winter was harsh. We had barely enough food to survive, and game was hard to find. I was hunting alone, all day and into the night, and I was desperate. I'd never really thought much of religion before - of course, I prayed to Erastil, as my parents did, but I hadn't really thought about him as more than a name, some faceless entity to thank when the hunt was good or the vegetables were ready for eating. But that night, I ended up truly praying - practically begging for a chance to feed my family, my sick mother, my aging father, my brother, who wasn't yet old enough to hunt on his own. And then, against all the odds, I saw a stag, as if he'd appeared out of nowhere. I gave chase, and when he stumbled over a root, I had him.
"My family ate well that night for the first time in weeks, and to this day, I believe Old Deadeye was watching over me - watching over a lonely huntress trying to feed her loved ones. I carved this shortly after, from one of the antlers." She tugs the arrow on its leather cord over her head, handing it over to Shonden. "I know an adventuring woman following him is unusual at best, but I believe this is my calling. Maybe I can settle a new community here in his name. I need to get the adventure out of my blood - maybe one day, I'll settle down and raise a family of my own. But for now, I'm far too restless." She half-smiles, a wink in her eye. "And doesn't everyone want a bit of adventure once in a while?"
"I mean no disrespect when I say you remind me of my mother." Shonden smiles in return as he admires the arrowhead carving. Nodding respectfully, he hands it back to her. "My mother was a great woman, the very person who brought me to the faith, and the spiritual leader of my village up until her death. Aurina Entbriar was a cleric of Erastil, an Ulfen woman who carved her way from the Land of the Linnorn Kings as she followed the call of our god."
”After she met a local hunter who would become her husband, Aurina did not slow down. She even rode the caravans to and from Brunderton with me in her belly.” The paladin thumps his knee against the boar spear where it is holstered in its saddle loop. "This was her weapon, one she brought down from the lands of her birth and taught me how to wield as soon as I was strong enough to lift it.”
He switches his longbow to the other hand and draws the spear from its loop to hand to Joanna. Upon it are Ulfen carvings and symbols of Erastil of varying aspects. ”She ran through a gnoll with it two weeks before she gave birth to me. I guess what I’m saying is, you’re calling by Erastil is not limited by being male or female, it is only limited by whether you choose answer or not."
Shonden eyes Joanna with respect and camaraderie. ”I will admit though, my father always disliked seeing my mother throw herself into danger on so many occasions. But he loved her enough to respect her wishes. When he saw me off on this adventure, one thing he said stands out in my mind now. He said that the blood of my mother was strong in me. Perhaps that’s why I’m finding myself more and more compelled by this next chapter of my life. To be active in Erastil’s service, to take the fight to the enemy…”
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Kalima overhearing the conversation looks to Shonden and says, "I see you and Joanna have had some common upbringings. Both of you rising up from the common hunting backgrounds to become agents of Erastil's will. A fairly reasonable pursuit I suppose, although one that makes you beholden to the will of a God. The nobles of Taldor on the other hand put their faith in self achievement and the powers of the Arcane rather than the worship of the Gods. In fact the worship of Sarenrae was made illegal in Taldor when evidence arose that the Church of the Dawnflower aided the invasion of Qadira a number of years ago. As for myself, I do not deny the existence of the Gods, for I myself bear a divine heritage. A distant ancestor on my mother's side of the family was a celestial being known as a Lillend. This I believe is the source of my powers of Arcane Sorcery. As for someone's choice of worship, I am partial to allow others to worship what gods they will. As for my personal preference, I have a liking for Shelyn, deity of beauty, art, and music."
Shonden nods ascent. "It is our actions based in faith that pronounce the goodness of Erastil. One of those is understanding the need for community." He reigns up a bit to ensure that the three are riding alongside one another, his own mount a step behind so Kalima and Joanna could address one another if need be. "My father has stories from his past regarding the motivations of those who, as you say, put their faith in self achievement, how people have used their achievements or their faith as a way to force a worth upon others that diminishes them."
The paladin looks to Kalima and with all honesty in his eyes and meaning it he says, "I do not say this to offend your belief system. I only say that on both sides of the argument, when there are those who think their will and accomplishments are above those of others, there can be evil at the heart. Just as when those who claim to know the heart of their god will do unspeakable evils in their name to satisfy their own ends." Shonden shook his head, frowning deeply with concern over using the right words. "As I said, it is in the actions based on the person's faith that we see the true face of their beliefs and more importantly, their heart. I think it speaks well of this group that we sought for repentance from the band of criminals earlier."
He sits back in his saddle, somehow tired from the effort of finding the right words. At last he adds, "I'll say one thing for my faith in Erastil; knowing that there is something bigger than me out there with wisdom beyond my comprehension is comforting."
Derakor didn't like discussions about religion or faith. They were personal things. If one didn't hurt or bother another with his beliefs he should be able to belief whatever he wanted. A bit naive perhaps, but Derakor prefered to give others the benefit of the doubt. He pretended not to hear a thing of the ongoing conversation and kept jogging ahead of the trotting horses.
A grin appeared on his face. Perhaps he was spoiled - most people reacted with a sincere 'who?' when he mentioned Kurgess. No wonder he kept a rather naive outlook on religion, but so far he hadn't seen reason to change that outlook.