Scarlet takes a good, long look at the amulet. "About 20 gold pieces worth. It will help a bit if we try talk our way out of more Stag Lord toadies."
"Um, no idea what to do with these." She looks at the earrings and vial.
Sir Didymus runs forward, tongue lolling, trying to jump on Fat Norry, with Numalar desperately clinging to his back. But Fat Norry is moving too fast.
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Out away from the gorge Numalar sees there are quite a few other fitful campfires in the valley ahead, and maybe a squat ruin, or old keep on the lip of the far rise miles off with another such fire coming from within.
Selbina's tears! There is an army out here! Better stop playing games before they see us.
Numalar tries to concentrate on casting burning hands.
Though Sir Didymus failed to connect his charge put Fat Norry close by. Numalar shouts,
"qa' Quv!"
And a gout of flame jets from his mouth, engulfing Fat Norry.
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Numalar quickly dismounts, and ducks behind Sir Didymus. Looking over the dog's back at the camp, he surveys the landscape before him, trying to see if anyone in the army camp has noticed the flash of his spell.
When Zokon reins in, Numalar turns to Zokon, and points at the campfires beyond.
"Look - it is an army. We'd better get this body out of here, and cover our tracks."
Norry bellows, and seems to run even faster.
Round 8
The Bold May Act!
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__ Zokon (horse)
__ Numalar (Sir Didymus)
__ Fat Norry -8 hp
Zokon will ride close to Norry from behind and dismount and ready his bow and uses studied target on him if he has the action
Zokon dismounts his horse quickly and fires a couple normal arrows at Norry
Two quick shots from Zokon and the fat man goes down.
All is quiet.
Scarlet takes a good, long look at the amulet. "About 20 gold pieces worth. It will help a bit if we try talk our way out of more Stag Lord toadies."
"Um, no idea what to do with these." She looks at the earrings and vial.
Zokon will drah Norry off the roadway and dump him where he is not visible by someone walking the road if he is dead or if he can chuck him on the horse if he's alive.
When Zokon gets back to the others unless someone hss taken it.. That chainshirt is fine make, it caught my eye earlier and was probably why he got the drop on me.. but it's great for moving subtly as it's so flexible."
Zokon will stabilise him and put him on the horse somehow.
"So, what now? Alia wanted to interrogate them. Maybe find out where their camp is."
"Wow. Good job catching up with them, they would have told everyone and we could have been in a manhunt." Scarlet shrugs. "It's gonna be a huge trek back to Oleg's if we plan to drop them off there. Which I wouldn't anyway. I don't mind killing them in combat, but like this..." she shakes her head. "We gotta finish them off, don't we."
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"In the distance we could see the old castle that we have heard about. There were lights there, and half a dozen campfires in the valley in front. So there really is an 'army' out there."
"How many people have to be sitting around a campfire before you decide you need another fire? Six? A dozen? I am not sure. Between the castle and the camps there could easily be as many as 100 people there."
"Hopefully not so many. Perhaps Dovan can tell us, if he lives. If the others are 'new recruits' they probably don't know."
"I have to wonder if we shouldn't be raising an army of our own."
Posh thinks for a moment as Numalar talks about an old castle and a possible army that brings up some fears in him for a moment.
"I think Numalar has a great idea, there's a good chance the people we are dealing with aren't very smart and we could easily pass for ruffians like them...though a few of you might need to dress down." he states as he explains his thinking "If we cut the head off the dragon, the rest will either scatter or surrender so I suggest we get inside, find the head and cut it."
"Hu? I do not want to interrogate anybody. But If the Stag Lord does raise an army and take control of these lands, that may complicate my search for the hidden hold I'm trying to find. So I did not give him an mercy killing, so that Numalar can do his thing.", Alia shakes her hands. She knew the life of these man was forfeit. If not for banditry, then to make sure nobody in the main camp would learn of what they did, or who they were. That did not mean she would take any kind of joy in ending their existance, or look forward to that being done.
To Posh's suggestion, she answered:"A bold plan. A brave one. But likely one that gets all of us killed. I don't think that head would agree to meet some strangers alone. Someone will raise an alarm...even if we manage to kill him, we would be overwhelmed and murdered before we could flee. And there's no lack of ambitious bandit leaders, it would seem.", she points at Dovan.
Taking the horse from Zokon, who runs to take a look at the Chain Shirt, she mounts up:"I'll ride and tell Naleksa. We may not want to start a fire so close to these others...not if someone comes looking for these guys...if we need to warm up, lets rekindle theirs, then pack up everything we can use and try to get away as soon as possible, before considering our next steps..."
Scarlet focuses on cleaning up the camp. She won't take any joy in it, but she agrees with Alia: These men are dead already. We should take their stuff and head on.
"I guess we found the camp at least. I did hope to figure out what they were doing here in the first place, but they weren't talking. Maybe Dovan didn't know. Maybe we'd never earn their trust long enough to hear the plan."
She helps heft the loot. "But we gotta... hide the bodies then get out of here as soon as possible. All we need is one goon to see us and we're busted."
Zokon kinda listens and paces a little, seems like he's thinking
"First we need to find out how many of them there are and then any potential allies we might have if there are too many of them.Finding out what they intend is also paramount, if they are going to lead a mass raid, we need to know."
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"Hu? I do not want to interrogate anybody. But If the Stag Lord does raise an army and take control of these lands, that may complicate my search for the hidden hold I'm trying to find."
"First we need to find out how many of them there are and then any potential allies we might have if there are too many of them.Finding out what they intend is also paramount, if they are going to lead a mass raid, we need to know."
"The Stag Lord with an actual army complicates a lot of things. But Zokon is right, we need to know what these people know. We have very little information right now."
"So I did not give him an mercy killing, so that Numalar can do his thing."
"And what does that mean? I am not really suited to be the one to interrogate them... few people find me very threatening."
To Posh's suggestion, she answered:"A bold plan. A brave one. But likely one that gets all of us killed. I don't think that head would agree to meet some strangers alone...."
"It would depend on how long we remained in disguise, and what we would be willing to do to maintain that disguise. With the general quality of men the Stag Lord seems to recruit, I doubt it would take too long to rise in the ranks."
"But there are a great many things that can go wrong, and I for one would not want to be put in the position where I had to kill an innocent man just to prove my loyalty to the Stag Lord. There must be another way."
"Posh is right though in that whatever we do it ought to involve subterfuge. Even if his army is just a mob of ignorant beggars I wouldn't want to mount a frontal assault through them."
"The Stag Lord with an actual army complicates a lot of things. But Zokon is right, we need to know what these people know. We have very little information right now."
"So I did not give him an mercy killing, so that Numalar can do his thing."
"And what does that mean? I am not really suited to be the one to interrogate them... few people find me very threatening."
"Regardless, you are talkative and convinced of the justice you bring. A good basis to inspire dread in your conversation partner. Trust me. You may always have others hold a blade to his throat if you feel inadequate alone."
"It would depend on how long we remained in disguise, and what we would be willing to do to maintain that disguise. With the general quality of men the Stag Lord seems to recruit, I doubt it would take too long to rise in the ranks.""But there are a great many things that can go wrong, and I for one would not want to be put in the position where I had to kill an innocent man just to prove my loyalty to the Stag Lord. There must be another way."
"Posh is right though in that whatever we do it ought to involve subterfuge. Even if his army is just a mob of ignorant beggars I wouldn't want to mount a frontal assault through them."
"Do what you must. I am certain that the Stag Lord has trusted Leutnants, guards or allies that will be by his side. Even if, by some miracle, we manage to fool this rabble long enough to rise in the ranks, even if we don't need to commit some horrible act to do so, I am still certain we could not murder him without an alarm being raised and all of us dead. Find out more, then let us talk, but if you mean to ride in there and pretend to be bandits, I'll go my own way."
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"Even if, by some miracle, we manage to fool this rabble long enough to rise in the ranks,..."...
Numalar nods. "I do not like the idea of posing as bandits either, certainly not for any long period of time."
"But if we do plan on going in there some subterfuge might get us past the horde outside and through the gate and into the fort. If the alarm is raised we may be able to escape in the confusion."
"We need to confirm the number of mooks first, any monkey can set fires to scare your enemies with your numbers, i'd prefer to know what we face."
Zokon stops and thinks a bit, pacing around
"Lets tie this lot up, and wait til morning and confirm what we are facing then we can make a more educated decision"
"Well then.. lets sneak up and get a good view.. I volunteer my services.. does anyone want to cover my back.. or at least hold horses so we can make a quick getaway if needed?"
Zokon will sneak up close enough to get a grneral count of people around the fires. Enough so he can confirm there are people around the fires... so doesn't need to be super close.
Ok... Zokon counts the fires and then goes back to the group who hopefully have a plan to go elsewhere.
'"Let's clean this up." Scarlet works on eradicating all traces of the campsite.
While Scarlet make's the site look a bit shabbier the fact remains that that there are too many disturbed plants, and too much beaten ground to make it look like anything else than a campsite without a year or so worth of weathering.
We keep following our planned route just round the fort?
Once the bodies are collected, Scarlet prepares her kukiri. "Nice and quick. Quiet." She exhales. "I know I've slain a lot of people. Usually in the midst of combat. My employer, she always told me to keep casualties to a minimum."{/b]
Her blade moves quickly, carefully across the bandit's throats. She looks at the blood-soaked blade for a moment. [b]"Never forget the dead. We never disagreed on that." She wipes the blood away in the dirt and on their clothes before tucking it away. "May you find peace in the afterlife." She stands up from her execution/prayer and finds the rest of the party.
"Let's go."
Alia will tell Naleksa what took place, and what they found, and help her break up the makeshift camp, fetching the horses and coming close to the other camp with them, holding position when she sees they are attempting to "clean" the camp.
What will they do with the bodies?
Just loud enough to be heard from the distance, she shouts: , then, most likely, affixing the horses to a tree and approaching on foot.
Nope Zokon is hightailing it outta here before he understand wth Alia is doing
Once the bodies are collected, Scarlet prepares her kukiri. "Nice and quick. Quiet." She exhales. "I know I've slain a lot of people. Usually in the midst of combat. My employer, she always told me to keep casualties to a minimum."{/b]
Her blade moves quickly, carefully across the bandit's throats. She looks at the blood-soaked blade for a moment. [b]"Never forget the dead. We never disagreed on that." She wipes the blood away in the dirt and on their clothes before tucking it away. "May you find peace in the afterlife." She stands up from her execution/prayer and finds the rest of the party.
"Let's go."
Posh feels that it's best to assist Scarlet, feeling a bit of a connection to her and he's already dirtied his hands enough, this wouldn't phase him.
"I've not done this in a while, but I'm happy to keep them down." Posh replies as he has a dagger out ready and joins Scarlet in cutting each person down. Her words strike him for a moment and he nods "I hope they do. Don't want them coming back." he states flatly"We're done, they won't be bothering anyone again." Posh smiles to the rest of the group as he gets ready for their next plan of action.
Celyne shudders with the knowledge of what Scarlet is doing, but says nothing about it, knowing that it is a necessary evil. She says a silent prayer that their deaths were painless and their souls at rest.
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Posh feels that it's best to assist Scarlet, feeling a bit of a connection to her and he's already dirtied his hands enough, this wouldn't phase him.
"I've not done this in a while, but I'm happy to keep them down." Posh replies as he has a dagger out ready and joins Scarlet in cutting each person down. Her words strike him for a moment and he nods "I hope they do. Don't want them coming back." he states flatly
"We're done, they won't be bothering anyone again." Posh smiles to the rest of the group as he gets ready for their next plan of action.
"Thanks Posh." Scarlet stands up and starts the dirty deed. "Of everything I did as a mercenary, this was the worst part." She sighs. "My boss always tried to reduce casualties. Avoid unnecessary fights. Try to talk her way out- or at least scare 'em from fighting you. Tell the unarmed guys to fight for knockouts, not kills."
She wipes the blood off in the dirt. "One day I'd like to never kill- not even in the heat of battle. When we were on that barge, fighting the ratfolk. I really didn't want to kill them- wanted them to flee. If we didn't kill them, they would certainly hang. They... didn't listen." She stands up.
"Anyway, thanks for listening to a lady like me ramble."
"Do you really want to spend the time to retrieve wood and build a pyre? And hiding them? They will be found if they are looking seriously, or have anybody skilled at reading tracks...if we spend time doing anything with them, we should dig them a shallow grave and give a short prayer to Pharasma.", Alia interjects, still near the horses.
The dark deed done, the party leaves the area turning north, and eastward quieter perhaps than they arrived. The ford is a bit wilder from the rains cresting to a point over Numalar's hat were he standing in its waters.
After a cool overcast day's travel they probe the edges of the Shrike River, but find no pass. Hopefully the ferry that you heard about from Samuel Renault that lies further east proves passable. The land by the riverside proves just as hilly as that they left the night before, with long grass, jutting mossy rocks, small clumps of trees, and ample game. Deer, and small ground mammals like rodents, goats, foxes, and hares, and fowl live in abundance here. The land seems untouched and almost tranquil.
The Shrike itself though is another matter entirely. There are two or three good-size waterfalls, and some rapids along its course southwest to the Tuskwater.
Naleksa is unusually quiet for most of the journey.