The four bandits remain tied up upstairs, though it looks like at least one did try to free himself
Kereek checks their bonds and scowls at them, trying to project an aura of intimidation, but probably looking more like a jester. Heading back downstairs, he casts detect magic and begins to sort out anything magic in the basement.
Treshiell studies the still body for a few moments, then approaches the lifeless hermit. Her eyes glaze over as she looks for any magical auras surrounding the spell caster . She looks for any curious trinkets or items on his person. Any symbols or markings that could be traced back to his power or give a hint of his origin.
"I suppose that's true, Jon." He turns to Treshiell. "Thank you, girl. I thought those rats would be the last things I ever saw."
The witch ceases examining the shape changer's body and looks back over her shoulder at Agnar. "We like you better alive. You deserve better than rats", she says and gives the cleric a smile. "The alternative wouldn't serve." Treshiell returns her attention to the corpse. She produces her dagger and cuts off a tufft of hair and ties it to her belt.
Searching the fort, you find a number of items, which you later take time to identify:
Three unlocked crates in the storage area hold 10 longbows, 260 arrows, 5 short swords, 5 spears, four 50-foot lengths of hemp rope, a set of chisels, 2 hammers, 3 tins of iron nails, and 4 suits of leather armor.
Each of the dozen or so bandits has a suit of leather armor, a short sword, a longbow, 20 arrows and 10 gp.
On the roof, where Kereek and Jon fought the huge man, you discover knight and dragon toys worth 45 gp in all, 2 potions of cure moderate wounds, a potion of lesser restoration, masterwork chainmail, +1 club and a silver Stag Lord amulet worth 20 gp
Searching the unconscious Dovan and the Stag Lord, you strip them of a masterwork chain shirt, +1 rapier, daggers (3), cure serious wounds potion, silver Stag Lord amulet worth 20 gp, turquoise earrings worth 130 gp each, 28 gp, 2 pp; potion of cure serious wounds (2); +1 longsword, +1 composite longbow (+2 Str) with 20 arrows, amulet of natural armor +1, ring of protection +1, a single +1 Human Bane arrow.
There's also his leather armor, which consists of a heavy cloak, gloves, kilt, and boots, but leaves his chest bare, though it seems to offer the same protection as a normal suit.
His helm takes some research but seems to be a potentially useful item.
Aura faint divination; CL 5th
Slot head; Price 3,500 gp; Weight 3 lbs.
Description
This striking helmet is crafted to resemble the skull of a mighty stag. Although made from bone, the antlers and helm are as strong as metal. When worn, the helm greatly enhances eyesight and hearing, granting a +2 competence bonus on Perception checks. In addition, once per day the helm may be called upon to enhance any ranged attack made by the wearer to make an insightful shot. Activating this ability is a free action, and once activated, your next ranged attack against a target within 30 feet is made as if that target were flat-footed against you—this allows a rogue to gain the benefit of sneak attack with this shot. If you don’t make a ranged attack within 1 round of activating this power, the insight fades and is wasted for that day. A worshiper of Erastil who wears this helm may utilize the insightful shot ability up to 3 times per day.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, creator must have at least 5 ranks in Perception, true strike; Cost 1,750 gp
And finally in the basement rooms, you find a large amount of stolen wealth. The majority consists of mundane trade goods like pelts, furs, tobacco, iron, bronze, miscellaneous weapons and armor (none masterwork or magic), and miscellaneous adventuring gear and tools worth a combined total of 6,850 gp .
In addition, one chest contains 4,500 cp, 2,052 sp, 1,894 gp, and 21 pp, while a large bag contains 2,900 gp in various pieces of stolen jewelry.
"We have to decide what to do with them." Jon says matter-of-factly about the prisoners.
There are no radishes, Prazil.
Auchs, the big guy, is indeed alive. The toys are his.
Is the Stag Lord's armor magical, masterwork, or mundane?
Kereek walks over to the big guy. "These yours? Okay, you keep 'em. Not fair to steal toys." He leaves them in a bag by the big guy's feet.
"I say we take bad bandits back to Fort and if they feel less bad bad, we give them chance to be Big Heroes. Or we," Kereek makes a vicious slashing motion across his throat, "them."
Treshiell sits next to the dead hermit for while. She stares intently at the lifeless body for silent few minutes, before appreanetly reaching some conclusion and rising to her feet. She collects some more spider webs from the cavern and retreats upstairs into the fort.
"What do you feel we should do with them?" she asks Jon standing beside the paladin.
The large man doesn't respond, Kereek, as he's still unconscious. If you give them to him later, though, he gives you a wide, childlike grin. []b"Auch's dineys!"[/b] he exults, grabbing at them .
Treshiell, your earlier search detected a lingering transmutation (polymorph) aura on the dead man, whose only trinket appears to be a wooden leaf with a blue glass droplet at the end.
Holy symbol of Gozreh
Later, Kereek approaches the group. "Big dumb bandit is like little egg. He not smart. Maybe not bad, just bad company?"
"Gozreh", Treshiell whispers as she picks up the symbol from the hermit.
"How does Erastil feel about Gozreh", she later asks Agnar.
You can make a knowledge check untrained if the DC is 10 or lower (i.e. Common Knowledge).
"How does Erastil feel about Gozreh", she later asks Agnar.
"I can't speak for Old Deadeye personally. Myself, I know Gozreh to be a god of earth and sky, good enough things to be lord of, I suppose, but a god that tends not to favor people as Erastil does."
"I intend to put them on trial. They will have to answer for their crimes, but except for the stag lord who may be beyond redemption, I'm hopeful the rest will repeat."
------------------
"It's interesting that a follower of Gozreh would be mingling with bandits. Typically his followers are hermits and don't get involved in such things. But as Agnar says, he's not one to care much for the people. So it's not surprising either."
"I believe a trial is in order. With Akiros to testify against the others in exchange for leniency. Any remaining bandits who wish to join our little community can be spared the rope as well, except for the one named Sneeg, he belongs to Garess to answer for his crimes."
Treshiell jumps up on the back of Jon's wagon and seats herself opposite the Stag lord. Intense green eyes studies the bandit leader for about three full, and quiet, minutes. "Who was the man living under the fort", is her first question to the dethroned bandit lord.
Prazil watches as Treshiell leans close to the once bandit king, fascinated by what he is seeing. Recalling the episode with the Chew Spiders, Prazil shudders as he envisions Treshiell spraying a cloud of spiders all over the Stag Lord's face. Despite the grossness of what he is expecting is about to happen, he cannot tear his gaze away.
The Stag Lord at first rebuffs Treshiell but eventually succumbs to her charms. "Ol' Nugrah was my father, not that that bastard ever deserved that term," he spits.
Treshiell's fixed gaze relaxes slightly and the hint of a smile touch her lips as the Stag lord replies. "Then perhaps your maker should suffice. Maybe in more ways than one", she says, her voice a smooth hypnotic haze. "Tell me more", she inclines. Treshiell swtiches from questions to listening, always keeping her eyes on the stag lord and always quietly humming a lightly floating melody while listening to the stag lord.
"What is your name?"
"Who started the bandit gang?"
"Where did you find the other bandits?"
"Do you care what happens to them?"
"What did Ol' Nugrah have to do with it?"
"Who made the undead?"
"What do you think will happen to you now?"
"Do you care?"
Since Kereek is riding in the wagon with the prisoners, he'll spend the journey talking to the conscious ones, trying to engage them in conversation, just generally trying to figure out which ones are basically okay and which ones are definitely bad bad bandits.
Sense Motive:
You can eventually get the Stag Lord and Nugrah's story out of your prisoner, though he says he never had a real name, since his father merely called him "boy."
In his youth, Nugrah belonged to the Green Faith. Against the tenets of his cabal, he took for himself a wife. Soon after, she became pregnant, and despite his best efforts, she died in childbirth, leaving him with a son.
Agonized by his loss, he turned to blackest magic to bring her back. Enacting an ancient and terrible ritual, he sacrificed another girl in an effort to ask the spirits to release his wife’s soul and have her return to him. Appalled by his monstrous acts, his wife’s spirit appeared before him, cursed his name, then departed forever into the afterlife.
Soon after, members of his secret druidic order arrived at the scene of his undoing. They tried him on the spot, and upon finding him guilty branded him a heretic. They banished him from the order, sparing his life only that he might care for his infant son. He converted to the worship of Gozreh, finding strange solace in all the violence and impassive cruelty in nature, and in the years that followed, Nugrah blamed his son for his misfortunes and treated him as an animal. Often he threatened to kill him, and made murderous attempts on more than one occasion, such as by leaving him outside in the winter and beating him bloody. Once, he tortured him near to death by dousing him with acid.
Times grew tougher for the boy, until the night when he had his Dream. In the Dream, a blindingly beautiful woman came to him and told him he was no longer a boy but a man, and she lay with him to prove her claim. After, she asked him why, if he was a man, he still deferred to his father’s brutality. She gave him a lock of her hair, and told him that the next time his father tried to beat him, he should fight back.
When he woke, he assumed his Dream was nothing more, but then he saw that he still clutched the lock of hair his nocturnal visitor had gifted him. So when his father, drunk and angry, came at him that afternoon, the boy fought back and beat his father to within an inch of death.
After the near-fatal beating Nugrah learned that the Stag Lord was no longer the victim in the family. His son dealt him the same hand the old man once forced him to play. Nugrah obeyed his son’s commands to guard the fort's treasures and used his magic to heal wounds endured by the bandits.
As for the other bandits, eventually, the Stag Lord noticed that other bandits deferred to him when they met on the road, and so he sought others he could easily intimidate, weak-willed things that seemed drawn to his dominance. He lured drunks, petty thieves, and other spineless knaves into his service, and when they came upon the ruins of an ancient Iobarian tower on the north edge of the Tuskwater, the man realized he had found a place to call his own.
Within the ruins, he found a grim helmet made of strange bone and graced with a stag’s antlers. He took the helm as his own, and from that point on his men knew him as the Stag Lord. The zombies were outside the tower when he arrived, and made a useful defense.
In the months to come, the Stag Lord gathered more of the outcast and desperate to his side. He armed them and taught them how to hone their combat skills. And as they grew in number, he ordered them north toward Rostland to take what they willed—and as long as they returned every month to pay him his dues in gold and other wealth, they would never have to fear reprisal from their lord. In time, the Stag Lord hoped to build an army, perhaps one great enough that his Dream might return to him, whereupon he shall become a king and she his queen, and they will rule over the Stolen Lands as one.
He doesn't know what will happen to him now, but he seems to not truly care. Death after all couldn't be any worse than life, could it?
Kereek, the four conscious bandits seem worried about you as you try to talk to them, but you're able to eventually get through, as they have little else to do.
The man who showed you the way to the basement, Fat Norry -- dubbed for his obvious girth -- spends most of the time complaining about being hungry as you journey back. "I understand if you're going to kill me," he complains, "but it shouldn't be by starvation! That's no decent way for any man to die."
Cragger Kench: A former cutpurse, seems a bit dull. He shrinks away from conversation with you, and seems a bit baffled as you bring up re-ligg-on.
The third man reeks, badly, of body odor, and tears streak the dirt covering his face. His brother, Ayles, was killed in the fight at the fort.
The fourth man, "Father" Avery Tessino, is much older, into his early 40’s. He was once a priest of Erastil in a small settlement to the east in the River Kingdoms named Mandaville, but turned away from the faith and took up banditry when his settlement was butchered before his eyes by barbarians and Erastil did nothing to stop the slaughter of his community. He seems to be quite bitter, angry that fate apparently always conspired against him.
---
When you return to the fort, Kesten seems thrilled to see you've managed to capture Sneeg. "Great work, Orin," he says, as the ranger delivers the captive, apparently having no trouble with your name. "I'm not surprised he was with the bandits as he was obviously no better than a bandit himself. He'll see justice in Restov now, though. And I promised a reward, I believe. Let me know what you want and I promise to bring back four fine weapons with me as a thank you."
Kereek ponders these men as they return. Are they repentant? Do they deserve a second chance? How evil are they? Or are they simply products of circumstance?
He'll make an effort to give Fat Norry some food if there's any to be had. As for the priest, he attempts to question him about his life, to see if there's anything left in the man to be saved.
Treshiell listens intently to the man's story.
"You don't care what the bandits did in your name, do you?"
"The woman you dreamt of, do you know who she was. Has she come to you again?"
Kereek, all the men say they will go straight if you give them another chance, and Norry thanks you gratefully for the food, which he seems to devour almost instantly.
"Father" Avery's voice is clipped as he discusses his life -- the widow Roo, who he'd had feelings for, and her young boy -- that was destroyed by the bandits. "If Erastil won't look out for these innocents," he says, "then who am I to gainsay ol' Deadeye?"
Treshiell, the Stag Lord laughs bitterly at your first question. "No one cared about me, so why should I care about them?"
He sounds sad as he answers your second question, though: "No, I haven't seen her again, but everything I became I owe to her."
Avery's comments draw Agnar's ire.
"What did you expect Him to do, jump out of the woods and strike them all down with a hail of arrows, then leap away again to cheers and applause? Erastil teaches strength through community, and survival of hardship through cooperation. Where in the Parables of Erastil do you find the lesson that Old Deadeye will protect and shelter you and yours all the days of your life like a bunch of suckling babes? Nowhere. Do you know why? Because he's a god of the wilds. He knows the dangers. He also knows that every animal, even those that walk on two legs, must learn to be an adult sometime."
Agnar moves to Avery and leans his face down close to bandit's, holding the old wooden symbol around his neck up in front of his eyes.
"I've seen bandit depradations too. I've known loss. The difference is, I came down here to ensure the lot of you would never be able to do anything that terrible ever again. You decided to become what you hated. What I do, that's strength. That's what faith is about. What you've done..." Agnar's other hand clenches into a fist as his voice trails off, but he turns away and puts some distance between himself and Avery.
Orin will approach Akiros and ask him some questions "We intend to try these men for their crimes. Is there anything you can tell us about them? Are any of them worth redemption?" He looks over at the the hulking bandit, Auchs. "What can you tell me about him? Is it in his nature to be good?"
Kereek shrugs after Agnar walks away. "Agnar is very very smart about ree-ligg-on. Maybe bad things happen, gods not help because gods want people be okay without them? Maybe instead of bad bad bandits, you meant to be good good priest who understand suffering and sadness and help people be better when bad things happen? Maybe? Better than being dead dead bad bad bandit."
Kereek turns to Fat Norry. "Why you bad bad bandit? Bandits get better food than good good cook?"
To the sobbing man with the dead brother: "Sorry you brother die. Kereek no want to kill bad bad bandits, but bad bad bandits need stop. Would you brother want you dead because you make bad decision? Or would you brother want you live and be happy even if he dead?"
Kereek addresses all the men. "Kereek know bad bad bandits need be killed. Hung. Gack! Dead. But bad bad bandits who make good good people not need be killed. We Big Heroes make this place into kingdom. Kingdom needs good good people. You work hard, not be bad, you be in new Kingdom. Only if you stop bad bad bandit-doings. You think now. Answer at fort."
Jon listens silently to the various conversations between friends and foes as he guides his wagon to Fort Stevic. Anyone paying attention to him notices that he remains emotionless up until Kereek addresses the bandits with their options, at which point he cracks a smile.
If anyone ask why he is so out of it...
Kereek nods at Jon's concerns. "You good Big Hero, Jon Jon. Maybe it good thing to not be okay with dead-making bad bad bandits. Maybe when you okay with dead-making it means you lose something inside Big Hero that make you Big Hero. Kereek no have problem with making badger-man dead dead. Kereek is not Big Hero yet. Still much much grow to do. Still, Kereek no want to dead-make big dumb bad bad bandit. Him stupid. Prazil stupid too. But Prazil maybe Big Hero before Kereek. Stupid not evil. Maybe all people have good good and bad bad inside? Ask Agnar. Him smart about ree-ligg-on and feel-off-a-see. He know things. But you good good Big Hero Jon. It okay you feel bad. Big day. Many many bad bad things done. Maybe you save these bad bad bandits? Make up for make-dead bandit?" Kereek gestures to the prisoners he's been proselytizing to.
"And you didn't get his help when you attacked the fort?" Avery asks bitterly. "I saw you call out to him for help. But when I called out, he did nothing. If he had ignored you, you would be as dead as those in my former home."
Fat Norry shrugs dumbly at Kereek's question. "Seemed like a better life than mucking out stalls, which is what my pappy had me doing. Then everything just tasted like dung. I might not get much out here, but at least it don't taste like s@!%."
Akiros looks troubled at Orin's question. "I'm not sure I'm one to judge. I've made ... mistakes ... that could've had me swinging at the end of the rope. I try to be better, but ..." He shrugs, fatalistically.
"Only decent one in that place was probably Valkeri, and it looks like someone took his head off. As for Auchs, I'd say no. He's a sadistic bastard. Now maybe he doesn't know enough to realize it's wrong, and maybe he'll be better without Dovan, but from what I can tell, he's no good.
"Dovan says he's from Nisoch, but never said too much more. He's another cruel bastard.
"Sneeg's a mercenary who's obviously not to worried about staying loyal. I wouldn't trust 'im, but I don't think he's the worst of the worst. Same with Cragger and Dirty Jeb. Celthric claimed he was a minor noble up in Brevoy, but had to resort to banditry to survive after he frittered away his family's fortune. He tried to steal from the Stag Lord, and that just got him a hell of a beating after Jex snitched. Which is what he does. Man tries to curry favor, and doesn't care which of his companions he rats out to do it. Everyone in the fort hated 'im."
Jon smiles at Kereek. "If you ever hear me utter the words, a wise kobold once said... Know that whatever comes next will be words of your own making." Then Jon smiles, an obvious sign that Kereek has helped him to regain his confidence.
Then he stops the wagon. "Time to eat." Jon says as he jumps off his wagon and starts gathering his cookings supplies.
"Akiros speaks true, he is not one to judge. No more than the rest of the lot. They will have a chance to speak for themselves but that is all. I will carry the burden of judgment. Who will sit in council with me and share this burden?"
As the heroes and prisoners wend their way back to the fort, Prazil notices Auchs playing with his toys at one point. Keenly interested in the amazing little wooden figures, Prazil steers Fang over toward the large, dull-witted bandit.
"Oooooo. That... errrr... am look..." he scratches his chin with one pointy clawed finger as he wracks his brain for the proper word. Just as he looks like he is about to shout out to Kereek to help him, his eyes light in recognition. "That am look fun! Big dragon hero... ummmm fight(?) bad big feet long legs?"
---
Additionally, along the trip back Prazil and Fang will break of from the group fairly regularly to forage for food for the whole of the group. They should be moving slowly with the wagon anyhow, so foraging shouldn't slow things down overmuch.
I'll take 10 on foraging w/ Fang assisting for a 21 (provides enough food for 6 people) each day we're able.
Kereek shakes his head at Jon. "Kereek will help, though Kereek not good judge."
For the rest of the journey Kereek is mostly silent, thinking about the burden of judging a Bigfoot's guilt and whether he will make a good decision or not.
Whenever Jon starts to gather cooking supplies, Prazil appears like a bolt out of the sky as he vividly recalls Jon's radish soup the first time they'd met. Should Jon appear to be making radish soup, the spirited grey scaled kobold remains fixed nearby, avidly watching the pot and the radishes as the noble man works.
Auchs stares at Prazil as the kobold attempts to play with him, then laughs at the cavalier's attempts to speak Taldan. "You talk funny, stupid lizard," he says, as he turns his back, pulling the toys away.
You eventually reach Fort Kazmir without incident, where Kesten seems glad to see you -- offering his reward for Sneeg's capture -- far moreso than Stevic or Taerine, the former of whom mutters about how at least some of the worst bandits are out of the Stolen Lands, if only they weren't in his trading post.
Orin looks down at the trading post owner and reassures him "Relax, Stevic. I can guarantee you that many of them won't be here very long. We intend to try these men and mete out justice. I would like you to get word out to as many people as you can as quick as you can and let them know whats happening here."