Perception:
The rest of the day is spent exploring and documenting the surrounding miles of forest that cradle the shrine - the "Temple of the Elk," as Kavken dubs it. As Wonky makes note of dangerous gullies and interesting outcroppings, you also observe that the forest grows soggy the more west and south you travel from the temple. The outer reaches likely become swampy, particularly as you enter the Naarlmarches.
Back at the shrine, you find that Kavken has already made some progress restoring the holy ground. His rewarded faith seems to have filled him with likewise renewed vigor, for he has righted several small stone figures, benches, and other oddments. Watching the priest throw himself into his work makes you wonder whether he will be returning to the trading post, or if he intends to stay out here.
The prospect is hardly unwelcome. While setting up camp on the shrine grounds, you realize what a boon it will be to have a closely allied priest tending such an impressive site. It promises to be a far more accommodating forward camp, away from the trading post, than the old bandit haunt.
Only you seem to notice. Not even the animals sense their presence. There are a number of beings, with the bearing of hunters, lurking among the trees beyond the shrine. They move very carefully, silently - staking out positions. The way they circle the shrine, you fear that it is not elk, boar, or bear that they hunt.
Hexa noticeably bristles, scanning the treeline encompassing the shrine.
The look is unmistakable. He detects someone - or something - lurking just out of sight.
He approaches his warchief and warns Ahto, "We are being hunted."
Hexa answers that he hears the movement of three or four beings. One of them is either quite large or is riding some kind of animal.
|
Wonky's eyes go wide as Ahto utters his warning. She pulls a vial from her bandolier and quickly downs it. She then gives a quick whistle for Sprocket to join her side, bending down to scratch the dog's hackles as she attempts to swing her stonebow around for ease of use.
Wonky gets the bow tangled in her hair, forcing her to stop scratching Sprocket - much to his chagrin - and manually (and conspicuously) remove it.
Initiative:
A small volley of arrows whistle out from the surrounding trees, aimed at Sams presumably due to now presenting a much larger, more intimidating target. One arrow slices across his thigh, while another sticks into his broad shoulder. The other sails off harmlessly.
As they move closer to the temple grounds, four armed men come into view - one of them mounted upon an unbarded warhorse. Two approach from the north, and two approach from the south.
One of the men to the north snaps off another shot, this time aimed at Hexa, but the arrow glances off the lizardman hunter's armor.
Hexa hunches down to present a smaller target but snaps off a shot at the mounted marauder as he and his horse crash through the brush. The arrow, however, only shatters against his armor.
One of the attackers, a lean and weathered man, lands a painful shot on Paval, who then responds by charging forth - aiming to best the man in one-on-one combat.
Wonky's perfectly calculated shot strikes the horseman upon the brow, slipping beneath his helmet, and leaves a stream of blood running down his face.
The ground almost trembles as Sams lumbers forth like a charging giant, but the bowman ducks down and evades the heavy swing of his large fist.
The horseman spurs his horse into a charge, and he brings his greatsword to bear against Ahto with bloody results.
Before dropping his crossbow, Ahto - like Wonky - scores a fortuitous shot upon the mounted marauder, landing beneath the edge of his breastplate.
The outlaw that Sams charged hops back to take a shot, but an opportunistic fist brought down on the man's head makes him flub his shot.
The man's hawk, however, flies into Sams' face; although the scratches are superficial, the attack leaves him rattled.
Another bow-wielding outlaw takes a shot at Hexa, missing the scaled hunter, but his trained hawk tears at Hexa's legs with its talons.
The flames crawl across the rider's armor, and the burning oil slips beneath his breastplate as he continues to fight.
Sams' flurry of oversized fists, although quite intimidating, fail to make contact with the nimble enemy.
The enemy engaged with Paval drops his bow and draws his sword. Locked in a duel, the pair trade painful blows.
The horseman struggles against the waning flames burning across his body. He swings his greatsword, but Ahto deflects the wild strike.
Ahto's latest swing goes wide, not even clanging against the horseman's armor or blade.
Hexa begins unleashing a volley of arrows at the enemy to the north, even as he dodges harrying attacks from the man's trained hawk.
Paval and his foe continue to trade blows.
The archer near Sams drops his bow and draws a dagger, knicking the large man's fist with a quick slice.
Seeing Ahto fighting the mounted foe, Hexa drops his bow and draws his handaxe to aid his warchief. Stepping forth, he lands a strong chopping blow upon the horseman's leg.
The scaled hunter also whistles a signal to Tal, and the dinosaur soon stampedes towards the horseman and sends him toppling from his mount with a bull rush.
Meanwhile, an arrow whistles harmlessly past Hexa while one of the foe's hawks fails to even scratch Ahto.
Paval finally begins to gain the upper hand on his opponent, bringing him to the edge of death.
Super Sams continues to suffer the small stings from the archer and his hawk, although the angry fluttering of feathers in his face keeps the brawler off balance.
Ahto's opportunistic sword swing ensures that the horseman never rises again.
Likewise, the second swing of Sams' enlarged fist lays the swordsman low, giving Paval a moment to catch his breath.
After watching their stronger fellows fall, the two remaining enemies evidently lose their will to fight. They drop their weapons, toss up their arms, and offer their surrender.
"It was nothing personal, mates!" the one to the south pleads to Sams, "We was just hired to do a job!"
In a single sweeping motion Paval's hand moves to stick his sword deep into the chest of the man he'd just been fighting, resulting in visible shock and horror on Paval's face.
Flanked by Sprocket and Sams, the small gnome is surprisingly formidable to the beaten foes. Of course, the forceful coaxing from Paval's sword - and his grandfather's "teachings" - ensures that the hired men are quite forthcoming.
"It was some Cheliaxian baroness what hired us," he admits, eyes warily wandering up Sams' stature. "She rode into Mivon on a horse barded in red and black, looking for men to eliminate a couple of 'problems.' She offered more gold than explanation and, well, we didn't really care to ask why."
Hexa goads the other surrendering man along like a wounded animal. The man nervously stares at his fallen, partially burned comrade before Hexa, with a hiss, shoves him beside his still standing compatriot.
They obey Ahto's commands as though they were the words of Abadar himself. They drop down and clap their hands atop their heads as though they were already shackled in place.
"At first we thought you was just some bandits what she wanted cleared out so she could build a manor or some such out here," he babbles. "But then we found out she'd also already paid off the bandits in the area as part of this job. Again, I guess we didn't really ask any questions," he adds with a sheepish shrug.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"She didn't give her name. Them nobles always keep their hired help at arm's length. She didn't want us implicatin' her, like we are now."
The other man wriggles nervously. At first you worry he is trying to escape, but then it becomes clear that he is simply deliberating whether to open his mouth. He makes his decision.
"There is one more thing to say, especially if it will keep all my parts right where they is. This baroness told us we had the easy job. She said the bribed bandits had the harder task, ousting their leader and attacking some fort or post."
Ahto determines that both men are far too frightened to even consider lying to the party.
It is troubling, to say the least, if Baroness Althea Thrune is yet again working against you through proxies. Although her exact aims remain mysterious, it is likely that she seeks power and prestige - at your expense, of course.
Of more immediate concern, though, is this news of a pending attack that the defeated hirelings speak of.
Has the baroness instigated the remaining local bandits to plot an all-out assault on Oleg's Trading Post? If so, your charter's command to "strive against banditry" could soon evolve from a hunt into a siege.
|
"If what this man is saying is true, we need to return to the Post as soon as possible," Ahto says in a tone of concern. "This also leaves the question of what to do with these two. If we leave them here alone with Kavken, they may cut his throat and run. If we try to march them back to the Post, they will slow our return, which will put everyone there at risk. We have no reason to believe they will comply with us. The reasonable decision is to execute them both immediately."
Wonky's wink and behavior is written off by the men as "normal" gnome behavior and has little effect. However, Ahto's ultimatum leaves them utterly shaken.
"No, no!" one of them pleads as his fellow grows pale, appearing on the verge of fainting. "If you let us go, we'll return to Mivon and never leave the River Kingdoms again! You can even have the coin the baroness paid us."
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Criminals do not get to walk away from their crimes. That is not justice," Ahto replies sternly. "You will pay for your crimes, the only question is how."
He fixes each of the men with a penetrating gaze. "The payment you took for our assassination is forfeit. Furthermore, you are each sentenced to death, unless you can offer good reason for your lives to be spared. Sparing your life, however, means a sentence of indentured servitude. You will work off your debt to civilization, and the sweat of your brow and the soreness in your limbs will be a daily reminder of how murderous thugs and brigands shall not prosper. If you complete your term of servitude without defiance or complaint, you will be paroled, and offered the opportunity to live the rest of your life as honest men. If you attempt to escape, refuse to work, or harm anyone during your term of servitude, your death sentence will be carried out immediately and without mercy. And let this be clear to you, your death will be a rope around your neck, rather than the quick cut of my sword. Do you understand?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Like the other subdued miscreants before them, the two men swear obedience upon the terms proffered by Ahto.
They introduce themselves as Jules and Lars, and they await your next command, praying that it is not to bow their heads to be chopped off.
|
|
Wonky looks at the hired men pleading for their lives and then the quiet but rumpled priest of Erastil, Kavken. She shakes her head.
"Ahto, we have to take them with us. They are desperate; we cannot trust in leaving them here. We should let them heal themselves with the blessed waters of this temple and make all haste to Oleg's."
She smirks. "I will make sure that Sprocket nips at their heels on the way back if they are unduly delaying us."