Faun listened intently, waiting for Svetlana to finish. She had a guess where this pair was fleeing from. "Did you come from the fort flying green and white? Does the name Sir Ismort mean anything to you?"
Once the elves had been helped Alex began her own questions, "how many are inside the fort?"
"Green and white?" Svetlana looks confused by this and looks to her husband, then back to Faunlara, "I guess they might be flying a flag over our trading post, but it was dark when Akiros let us out and we'd been kept indoors every since they showed up. I guess so that the other brigands wouldn't get untoward ideas. And um, I guess some of the other bandits occasionally called Akiros 'Sir Ismort', but he really didn't like that. Seemed personally offended like someone had accused his mother of being a trollhound."
Oleg speaks up after Svetlana trails off, saying, "Not to rush you all, but they really can't be all that far behind us. You're all awake, so at least you won't have your necks slit in your sleep, but there's at least a dozen men who took the fort, and no telling how many are coming out here to try and kill you lot. Are you good in a fight, or do we need to run?"
"It wouldn't hurt to put space between yourself and them. Can you handle a bow?" he asks as he moves over to the other horse, and begins to press the bow taut with tremendous effort and reloop the string. "The pull might be a bit much, but if you can use it, you're welcome to it." he held it out to the man. "I could also offer a sword, but if I'm dismounted, I'll need it." he says as he begins to strap his shield on with a sigh. Then mutters beneathe his breath, "First people we meet, we're going to have to kill."
Arisl'arial overhears Astor. "Maybe not all of them. It seems that the ones we talked to on the wall might need to be dealt with, but this "Sir Ismort" may be reasonable. It is possible he may surrender without too much of a fight; after all, he was at least decent to these two. And I think...I think I can deal with their numbers somewhat, should they come in force." Aris seems a bit preoccupied, mentally reviewing the spells she'd selected the night before.
"Leave the tent up and take position on the trees we can stuff the sleeping bags and ambush them when they approach, we have a decent distance between them and the fort even if they had a full dozen they wouldn't send them all after a small group of four, maybe half, and if we get the jump on them we might be able to drop a few before they get a chance to react."
Oleg shakes his head sadly as Astor offers him the bow, responding, "I could maybe hit a horse at twenty paces if it were standing still, but I'm afraid I'd just be wasting your arrows against anything more difficult to hit than that. Looks like quite a strong pull too, even old Vekkel never used a bow with that much draw, and he hunted wild boars."
Svetlana pleads with Arisl'arial, "Just please don't call him that, he'd likely be too angry to actually surrender then. I can't bring myself to hate him, so I'd rather he lived, but he'd probably fight to the death if a stranger taunted him so."
"If we're planning ambushes, they'll expect a watch. If you'd like, I can simply wait inside of the tent with my back to the flap and pretend to whittle. I'm definitely not going to do anything besides pretend to be a tree if I'm out here." He offers as he removes the saddle from the horse and places the bow inside of the tent, as a valuable item he'd rather they not randomly snatch up.
Aris finds a nice tree to get behind and, sitting down in the dry, dead grass, flips through her spellbook to find the right spells for the job.
"If he will listen to reason we are more than willing to do so, get to a safe spot so if we fail you'll be able to get away while they deal with us." Alex would set up near Astor as he would likely be the first target since he refused to hide.
Faun creeps into the woods and prepares for the ambush, looking for a line of fire into the clearing. Ornmeil'lon follows the druid, but she could feel his unease with the situation. Thankfully, the treant's appearance helped the somewhat ponderous creature blend into his surroundings.
Svetlana changes into the clothes offered by Aris, returning her shirt to her husband, and then the couple hide inside the tent, insisting that there's nowhere safe for them to run if you four cannot protect them, and nowhere they could hide in the open plains.
When the brigands from the fort approach, there's half a dozen of them in all, and they must surely be drunk given that they're only barely more stealthy in approaching your camp than Oleg and Svetlana, and don't seem to notice any of you laying in wait. Indeed, it's even possible to overhear one of them say, "Right, you lot into that tent and slit their throats before they wake up, I'll deal with anyone on watch."
Alexis fires an arrow from her short bow at the one calming he would take care of people on watch as he seemed to be the leader.
Astor would rise, when he heard the arrow being fired, and the probable sound of pain that came with it, and would move out of the tent, sword drawn.
Aris crouches behind her tree, peering around it at the newcomers. Perhaps being out here was not such a wonderful plan. If they should spot me, or get the drop on me somehow, I- Her thoughts are cut off as Alexis's arrow whips out of the night toward the enemies. Suddenly, she flashes back to her time with the Amber Society, and she peeks around the tree to fling a quick spell at the intruding bandits.
"Ba rurd ail dhuirhd, llsaialn!"
Faun nocks an arrow to her bow and looses it at the nearest bandit. Without looking to see if it hit, she turns to her sapling companion.
"Wu nirs zsasuss ais ruz suhursr, Huhph Bsi'arsur," she whispers. "I zuhss saus ilai san usu!"
Ornmeil'lon trundles through the undergrowth of the forest, heading for the group of bandits.