once everyone is about different tasks...
gets the group together for a short visit out of earshot of the bandits.
"Banditry will not be easy fer some o these men tah gives up, I figure tha ones o simple highwaymen err not as big concerns yet tha ones wit great experience an lives fraught wit wrong choices will needs most guidance, tha one I ave spoken to has done great wrong, yet seems able tah follow a code a word a law, jus has been a bandit code, seems each o us should focus upon guidin one o tha bandits."
I concur with Barnabus to some extent, in that it will not be easy for these men to give up their lifestyle. What I think we need to do is to get word back to Restov as soon as possible. It may be that we'll be granted more authority to deal with this situation. It may be that they'll send someone out themselves. Regardless, the Swordlords must be updated on our current status.
Calinder will do a careful search of first the store room, and then the Stag lord's room. Making an inventory of what is found as I go along.
Once the others get together to discuss the remaining bandits, Calinder agrees with Lothar and Barnabus appraisal of the men, but has nothing to add at the moment.
So the question then, is those that have lived their lives as bandits, can they be reformed or not? More to the point, is not can they reform, but will they? One may say yes but inclination and nature will have them returning to their old habits. If we do not feel that they willingly change, then the only alternative is to remove them from us now for good. I will not take a chance on the future of this areain such a regard. Not only would this negatively affect those that come here, but it looks bad upon us as well for not cleansing up the banditry problem. We would only exchange the Staglord for ourselves. I agree that the swordlords would be informed of these new events. I will compose a letter to be delivered to them detailing our success and ask for what the future holds for this area.
Diplomacy for letter
Rhasa tells Gorguk, when given the chance, "They will need weapons or to be out of sight - the horses need be removed to the camp with the kobolds - when I open Beaky's cage. I believe he will follow Sunset and I out to the forest, but he may choose to snack on a horse or someone that teased him first. For everyone's safety, we must minimize that risk."
To Lothar, she says, "I will leave first with Beaky follow his trail with the cart and the undertakers. If you come into sight of us, do not approach. When I am able to part ways with him in the forest, I will double back to meet you and we can continue our journey from there. Your aides should have their weapons - is that a concern?"
To Gorguk: Falgrim has the right of it. A settlement should be formed to ease the transition that many of these men will have to undergo. As they work to clear their debt, they would also be working toward civilizing the Greenbelt. It would be a major step to reducing some of the lawlessness that is rampant here and give them a sense of purpose.
To Rhasadilara: It shouldn't be. How soon do you want to do this?
"I'll leave as early as possible tomorrow. You can follow when you and the men are ready.
"Akiros you can stay anywhere your most comfortable as far as I'm concerned. If that is here in the store room, so be it, but things may change as we set things up here and try to make this fort more livable."
"My main concern at the moment is just in what supplies we have and perhaps getting an order off to Oleg, if there is anything we are in need of here."
"Speaking of which, since you are more familiar with this area, then we are at this point, is there anything you can tell me about the area that would be helpful. Such as, sources of food, and perhaps any dangers or enemies that we need to be aware of? Any information you could provide Akiros, would be helpful."
When flag rim speaks up, Gorguk actually smiles at him. Thank you for speaking up Falgrim. I was hoping that someone would think for themselves and raise issues that they did not feel comfortable with. It is true, when you are outside the walls of this fort you will need to be armed to protect yourselves from beasts that live in this area. Likewise if you are to be on guard duty you will need to be so armed as well. This is not only prudent and wise, but the fact that you spoke up speaks highly of yourself. If any of you have any issues with what we say, I want you to come to us and ask. Sometimes we will not have the time to explain it to you and expect you to follow orders, but if time permits we wil explain it to you. However, since we are still cleaning and repairing the fort, only those escorting Rhasa and Lothar will be armed along with the three people on guard duty during the night. Does this sound reasonable to you Falgrim?
Gorguk will continue to answer questions and explain the Wardens position. Hopefully he can get them to u destined that we are not bandits but rather a group trying to clean up the area for others to come and live. All weapons that are confiscated will be in the staglord's room except those handed out to the two going with Rhasa and Lothar. At night bows will be handed out tot e two or three on guard duty.
Barnabus heads to the owl-bear pen to check upon the beast.
@Rhasadilara
"How goes it?"
Will attempt to use a hex to speak to the beast and the healing hex to heal any damage.
Watching warily as yet another visitor approaches, the ranger is surprised and pleased to see him using his hexes in such a manner. "Marvelous gift. I wish I had thought of having you explain what I wish to do. Tomorrow, he will be free, but he must avoid people or some may come to harm him later. Can you tell him that?"
It's clear that her concern is genuine for the creature.
Yes for the time being the fort will be run more like a military installation until things settle down and word arrives from the swordlords.
"Thank you, Barnabus, that's very helpful. Tomorrow's journey should be much simpler, then."
@Beaky via hex
"Can you promise not to attack try to eat humans, like us and kobolds an we shall make it that none shall hunt Beaky or those like beaky?"
The following day after Barnabus and Calinder have had an opportunity to study the Stag lord's possessions, they find that they are all magical.
As soon as the Warden's have an opportunity to gather afterwards, Calinder says, "It appears that the Stag lord's armor, sword and bow all have what appears to be a minor magical enhancement on them."
Rhasa picks up the bow and gives it an experimental pull, but sets it back down. "I will leave that to a stronger archer."
"Beaky agrees tah harm no persons err kobolds, yet tha promise is none shal hunt beaky kind eithers."
Calinder continues to take inventory around the fort and then to help clean and do repairs. He offers to repair items that he can with the magical abilities granted to him from Erastil.
Rhasa shakes her head. "We cannot promise that no one will pursue owlbears. I don't think Beaky can promise that no owlbear will make a snack of a farmer's milk cow given the chance, either. Let us keep this simple and make promises we can keep. We will set Beaky free and I will escort him to his home. In exchange, he will not attack two-legs like us."
"If he were able to convince his brethren not to attack two-legs like us, then the two-legs are less likely to attack him in return. But there are fools that might, anyway."
"As far as I know animals err still on tha table fer beaky, jus two-legs is right."
"Of course. But if he attacks a farmer's cattle, he can expect to be attacked in return. Stay to the deep forest and hunt in the deep forest and he will be less likely to run afoul of men."
"I thinks hes figured tha one out on his own."
Barnabus laughs
"Shal we escort beaky out?"
"At daybreak. Are you coming? I thought the plan was for Lothar and I to go while the three of you remained here"
"I am certain Lothar and you can do tha job alone, tis in mine nature tah be outside rather than inside, as my parton is o nature."
Clearly not sure she understands his comment, the ranger gets up from where she's been sitting and leaves the male witch with the owlbear.
It seems that the Staglord had some nice gear. Who among us would like to make use of the items. For myself the armor has no use for me. The weapons I could use, but if others want them or to sell them for nice coin I would not say no to that. I have in mind a purchase of leather and metals to craft an armor for myself and Durok. I am also hoping that fulfilling our charter or the Swordlords will earn us some money for needed purchases as well. Lothar, Rhasa, good luck on your trip on the morrow. Do not worry about us as we will be well taken care of and not take any unnecessary risks. Cleaning, repairing and monitoring the others will be the order of the day u til you get back. Travel safe and may Erastil guide you on your journeys.
Before Lothar and Rhasadilara depart, Calinder approaches them and asks, "When you reach Oleg's will you purchase more ink and paper for me to scribe more scrolls with. Oleg should know the kind of ink that I need. If he doesn't have it on hand, please have him order it for me. Here is some money, and if it's not enough, he can take from my account." Calinder gives them 20 gp which should cover the cost of new vial of ink and 30 sheets of paper.
"Good luck and may Erastil watch over the both of you in your journey. And may you return to us soon." He then holds out his hand to each of his fellow wardens and shakes their hand in friendly parting gesture.
Once the clean up of the fort is completed and Calinder has assisted with what repairs he can, Calinder will take some time to use the paper and ink he has left to scribe a scroll of Cure Serious Wounds and Magic Vestment.
Calinder will also cast Continual Flame on his cold iron dagger. He can then sheath it when he needs darkness and when he draws it it will provide light for him.
Barnabus watches the preparations that Calindar makes for the dagger....
After thinking for a moment about magic of light and darkness he inquires of calindar
"Might tha spells magic be heightened above magical darknesses?"
"Sure everone might want such a source o light."
Approaches Gorgukk
"Wha plans fer tha tunnel, seems tha way must be better watched, an I wanted tah investigate tha zombies area in tha days."
Responding to Barnabus' question, Calinder says, "Well, it would allow the magical light created to counteract an equally strengthened magical darkness as it is of a lesser power, at least for those of us that are granted divine magic, as far as I understand it, but it wouldn't change the nature of the light in any way. It will always produce light similar to a torch."
"I hadn't created it with the thought of countering magical darkness, but just as a simple replacement for a torch or a lamp."
"If the he or she who cast the darkness spell is much more powerful in magical ability then I, then I fear that my light imbued dagger would have no effect at all in countering the darkness. Also I have not the means to make the spell stronger, but it is something to think about."
Tasks working on by Gorguk:
1) determine who is reliable of the bandits and is truly reformed
2) clean out the fort and make inventory of items acquired
3) steadily remove the zombie infestation at night
4) wait for word from the swordlords as to the direction to take next
"Light cancels darkness an darkness light tha stronger prevails, some creatures wit hearts o darkness create darkness as easily as I hex, this would be countered but one I speak of would prevail."
"Gorguk, I can assist in eliminating the undead if that is what we would like done. I can use the power Erastil has granted me to try and destroy the zombies. I am still wondering though, why are they here in the first place and what is their purpose? Although I know that we may never know the answers to that."
Perhaps Cal we can accomplish both of these issues at once. Wile I am attacking and attempting to destroy them, you can be there to watch, study and learn what you can from them. In this way you should be safe and still accomplish your aims. I do believe Barnabus would be interested as well as he said as much to me earlier. Perhaps tomorrow night then we will make a start of it as I don't know how long it will take.
"Seems beaky ken be released jus by openin tha pen an tha main gate at tha same time."
"I would not turn you out into the plains to find your way home. I will not do that to Beaky, either."
"I will be ready then tomorrow night Gorguk. We will then see if we can determine what the purpose behind these zombies is and then eliminate the threat they are to the fort. Though they do make an interesting defensive perimeter around the fort, evil most certainly, but interesting."
Calinder the next morning during his meditation, asks Erastil for spells that he feels will aid in both learning about and removing the zombies from around the fort.
The next day, after performing his meditation and calisthenics, Lothar watched as his partner escorted the owlbear that had come to be called Beaky from the compound. Genuinely intrigued, the magician had seen first hand Golden Arm's ability to empathize with animals, but until yesterday he had no idea that it extended to those that were more than beast. Though based on how the release back into the wild was being handled, Lothar could only conclude that it was a very tenuous bond. The wrong move, the slightest misstep, and all that she had worked toward in establishing a rapport with the creature could be undone.
With potentially disastrous results.
Lothar tried not to dwell on that. Rhasadilara was a ranger, keen of sense and a hardy warrior. He trusted that his partner could handle the task that she had undertaken.
Seeking to take his mind off her departure, the magician turned his attention to the two he had chosen to accompany Golden Arm and himself.
One was Jeb Megesen, a former prize fighter. The other was Cragger Kench, who had, until recently, been a career criminal. Cragger had been a cutpurse, a street thief that had joined the Stag Lord's bandit gang most likely because it was all that he had known. What made him stand out in Lothar's mind was the fact that he was looking to better himself, more so than the others. The magician found that to be a most worthy quality and sought to help him realize that goal.
You are known to me, but do not know me. He paused for dramatic effect before continuing. I am Lothar. We will be joined on our journey by the elven ranger Rhasadilara Goldenbough once she has finished her task with the owlbear. Are there any questions that the two of you have before we set off?
Simply put, we'll be spreading word that the Stag Lord's reign is done. The process is a bit more involved than that, but for now that's all I can tell you. Our journey will end at Oleg's, where you will be able to see first hand what it is we Wardens mean when we say you'll have an opportunity to walk a new path. Others have been given the same chance as you to renounce their past as bandits. A new day has dawned, Cragger. What road you take is entirely up to you, but it is the Wardens hope that all of you make the most of the new life you're being given. With or without you all, we intend to make the Green a place worth settling. Think on that as we set out.
Lothar looked first to Jeb, then to Cragger. Any other questions?