Round 3, Init 13, 8/15 HP
Bone Breaker roars as he see what the farmer have done than says "Everyone move I will take care of these idiot farmers." He than rushes to get to the farmers thinking to himself "We just saved these idiots and they attack."
Round 3, Init 12, HP 8/8
Mage Armor (AC 15)
Izbahn grunts in surprise as the second part of the trap is sprung.We gotta take a prisoner here, find out if they are after the chest. He steps away from the 'farmers' Once there, he lets fly his club at one of the farmers.
Round 3, Init 16, HP 8
Tess will slash at the 'farmer' just north of her with her shortblade.
"Hey, Izbahn, yell if you need help!" Naomi calls out as she moves forward to attack the bandit next to Bone Breaker.
Fresh subjects to test my wrath, how did I get so lucky? "We're going to end your pathetic lives! The only farming you'll be doing, is raising crops of daisies from the bottom of a shallow grave!" Threatening the meddlesome commoners, Thorn maneuvers out of their boisterous leaders reach while summoning more wrath magic.
5' step to G,13
Use spell-like ability on the defensive - Concentration check - Force missle at target in G,16 -
Aerodus, after discovering the rouse of the unarmored farmers, turns to attack with his longsword to help protect the spellcasters with a powerful slash, felling one of the would-be attackers with a single blow. Thorn quickly steps away and fires another powerful bolt of force, nearly striking another assailant from his feat as he yelps in pain and surprise, now battered and winded. A quick thrust from Tessarayth is unfortunately sidestepped. While the remaining archer snoozes in the woods where Tessarayth had enchanted it, Naomi rushes forward to help. Izbahn releases his club with a magical gesture, it cracking sickeningly off the skull of the already wounded farmer, dropping him unconscious and bleeding to the dirt. The farmers are far more active than their slumbering compatriot and indeed, tenacious in their pursuit of the "magic-abusers". The farmer that was flanking Izbahn strikes out with his walking stick, attempting to club him into unconsciousness with blows to the back of the skull.
Luckily, the mage's invisible field of force deflects the blow with ease. Their leader snarls with impatience and hefts a pitchfork of his own, deciding to leave the difficult to hit Izbahn to his friend and turning his attention to Thorn. "Why don't you try throwin' one o' them balls of light at me, bouyo!?" He flips the quarterstaff to strike out with the haft before bringing down the makeshift weapon in a powerful, overhand chop.
A puff of dirt erupts from the road where his swing lands harmlessly. Aerodus attacks again, this time attempting to help Thorn keep from losing his head to the large farmer's pitchfork swings.
After missing his mighty swing, the paladin steps over to where he can flank with Tessarayth, to help her remove another foe from battle.
Tess jabs at the flanked farmer with her blade;
and says to him in a low, angry voice;"You should consider surrender. Much more pleasant than dying from what I've seen."
Round 4, Init 12, HP 8/8
Mage Armor (AC 15)
Izbahn steps forward to help flank with Thorn, and adds "You really should consider surrender here, like the good lady says." The entreaty does not prevent him from swinging at the leader though.
Round 4, Init 13, 8/15 HP
Bone Breaker moves to attack one of the farmers. He growls as he swings his Earthbreaker at the farmer.
"I think not you old bastard, a force missle is too quick and painless for the likes of you. Your death, will be an excrutiating one. Burn in hell!" With a wicked reply, Thorn steps back clutching the silver medallion about his neck. Through gritting teeth, he speaks the arcane syllables necessary to recall unprepared magic from his spellbook.
Izbahn watches the other mage closely... but missed the reaction of Thorn to his spellcasting.
Thorn unleashes a white hot gout of flares to engulf the man before him who yelps out in surprise and anguish as his skin blisters and hair burns. A snapping and popping noise reminiscent of an overactive fireplace accompanies the sight and the scent of roasting flesh wrinkles the noses of all nearby. Within a moment the flames are all but estinguished, magically winking out as quickly as they appeared, leaving only a badly burned, but still standing, farmer, scowling with pain and anger.
Tessarayth easily jabs the tip of her blade into the farmer's unarmored side, twisting for a bit of emphansis as she speaks. The farmer sweats noticably as they are now badly outnumbered, obviously considering the offer. He looks to his leader who sneers derisively at his consideration of admitting defeat. "Keep on 'em, lad, we can still do this. Just get one of the mages!" He encourages the smaller, weaker man.
Nodin moves up and heaves his massive weapon, but a terrified farmer narrowly dodges to the side as it sprays the surroundings with a wave of dust and dirt from its impact on the ground. Izbahn quickly sidesteps, along with Aerodus, and clips the lead farmer on the back of the head with a swipe of his cudgel, stealing the man's attention. attention.Nervously he raises his staff to strike a blow at the bard. But the iron studs of her armor deflect the brunt of the swing.
Mustering up all of his courage the leader strikes out himself, again using the haft of his pitchfork in an attempt at knocking out his foe, after stepping out of the flank and putting his back to the safety of a nearby tree, of course. He glances about wildly before attacking. But fairs no better this time around than last.
Aerodus attacks again with powerful, deliberate blows, staying on the enemy appearently in charge as Nodin slips by him to take the other man with Tessarayth. As he connects with his enemy's side the man grunts in pain, but through force of will or an incredible duribility, remains standing.
Round 5, Init 13, 8/15
Bone Breaker growls as he misses the farmer. He moves his earthbreaker to strike at the farmer once again.
Round 5; HP 8
Sense Motive
Tessarayth attempts to take advantage of Bone Breaker's assistance, and thrust her blade at the fool who refused her offer.
short sword
"Nevermind" Tess hisses to the farmer after she attempts to stick him.
Round 5, Init 12, HP 8/8
Mage Armor (AC 15)
Izbahn mentally shakes his head at the stubborness of these bandits. He steps aside and again lets his club fly.
"Haven't had enough crispy?" Thorn snarls. Quickly, the Ulfen mage skirts around the tree. Cutting off the retreat of the wounded farmer, he swings his quarterstaff, aiming at the smoking form's legs.
"Leave the mages alone!" Naomi yells as she swings her mace.
Thorn moves behind the leader of the enemies and strikes him on the back of the skull with a sickening twack!. A thin rivulet of blood dribbles from the wound, and the injured assailant groans through gritted teeth, but remains standing as a testament to his determination. With another sharp thrust of her blade, Tessarayth drops the bandit before her. With the second archer still obliviously snoring away in magical slumber, quick as a wink Naomi finds her way aside the final standing opponent, and mirroring Thorn's attack, brings the large man down with a blow from her mace.
Bone Breaker says "Idiot farmers." after he puts his earth breaker on his back. He than looks around at the group "I have rope to tie them up if you like so you can question them. If not we can always throw them in the lake over there or put them in the woods." He than starts to think to himself "Why would they attack clearly better fighters than themselves. Something might not be right with them."
Izbahn walks over to the lead farmer and bends over to stop the man's bleeding."Yeah, this does sound unusual to me as well."
Tessarayth walks over to the two bandits in the woods, and upon discovering one of them is still asleep and alive, calls out to the others.
"One of these archers is still alive and will probably be waking up from his nap soon. He's uninjured, probably needs to be tied up."
As she says this, she gently removes his bow, quiver of arrows, and any other weapons found on him.
"The casket is still safe?" she asks Aerodus as she comes out of the trees with the archer's gear.
Bone Breaker turns to Tessarayth and says "I could break his arms and legs so he cannot get away if you are worried about him. If not here is some rope." He than walks over to give Tessarayth some length of rope.
Naomi steps over and pulls Izbahn's hands away.
"Izbahn, it seems your hands are only good at keeping me alive. Let me keep our downed foes breathing." She goes around to each of the men, checking to see who is still alive before tracing a symbol on them with her finger. Slowly, bleeding stops and breathing becomes less shallow.
Izbahn tries to stabilize the bleeding farmer is met with failure, but luckily Naomi steps in with a quickly uttered prayer, actually sparing the lives of each man down on the battlefield; not a soul was lost this day. Tessarayth takes the longbows, longswords, and arrows off of each archer in the woods, and then begins to tie him up, finishing, just as he groggily awakens, startling to full consciousness upon the ropes being pulled taught about him. He glaces about to survey the road, where his many cohorts lie face down in the dirt, though very much alive. Wide eyed he turns back to the elf. "A-all right. You've g-g-got us. No harm d-done. N-n-n-nothing m-missing?" He stutters, obviously fearful.
Izbahn looks over the bandit leader coolly, wondering what he was really after, ”Umm…actually there was harm done to us.” He points at the wounds suffered by the other party members. ”So, I would strongly advise you to tell us what you are really after here.” He looks over to Tessarayth and Nodin, adding ”I would say honesty is the best policy here.”
Bone Breaker nods as Izbahn speaks "Aye that it would be." He than looks at the man waiting for him to speak.
"But ye still b-be standin'. Which is more 'n I c-can say for m-many of my com-compatriots. Me and me f-friend we just doin' what w-we got paid t' do. Big man o'er t-there, he finds us in the w-woods and offer good gold to h-help 'im with a little pr-project. He gathered up a bunch o' the laborers from about Nybor o'er t-there as well. Says he be h-huntin' folks what be bringin' dark magic curses into t-the Harenshire. Says dead worshipin' necromancers about that need b-bein' captured. Didn't much care for the m-man's explanations, but w-we didn't much care after seein' the color o' his coin."
That's the problem with do-gooders. They always wanna save the pathetic lives of their enemies. I would love to rip out the farmer leaders throat and play in his blood as he thrashes about, but now is not the time or place. Patience Thorn, you shall have your fun yet!
Drawing an impossibly large knife from the small of his back, Thorn stands over the badly burned farmer. "Allright, they've told us what they know. I say we put these men out of their misery, like the rabid dogs they are!"
Izbahn turns to face Thorn, an alarmed look on his face. What has gotten into him? He places a hand on Thorns shoulder, ”Easy there, I think this low-life has some more information for us…”
He turns back to the bandit leader, ”Tell us more of your employer.”
Tessarayth stands and move to the side, letting the members of the group who are more adept at spilling blood handle the questioning. She begins to search through all of their possessions, looking fo ranything odd or out of the ordinary, old or distant-forged coins, strange stones or relics, or anything else that may tell a story.
Perception
The archer looks Izbahn in the eye, trying to steady himself, obviously even more shaken after Thorn's sudden, violent suggestion. Finally he gulps and steels himself, attempting to push the waver from his voice. "Right strange fellow, that one. 'ow 'bout you let me run on me way as a show o' good faith and I'll yell all you want t-to know from down the road there yonder so nobody thinks I need me throat slit like a hog?" As the conversation progresses Tessarayth searches through their assailant's belongings, but finds little of note. While looking over the lead "farmer" she wrinkles her nose as a powerful odor of fish rotting in a hot Summer's sun wafting off of him, unusual indeed this far inland at this time of year. Each downed man has 5 gold coins on him (with the exception of the leader who carries a fat sack of 30 coins), as well as the weapons they fought with and little else past some basic belongings and some dry jerky for the road. The coins appear to be of Magnimar mint, nothing noteworthy there, since that is common in this area. Nothing in particular catches her eye.
Tess's nose wrinkles on disgust at the odor coming off of the lead farmer, and puts all the gold she found in a pile spread out on a scarf, vest, or shirt she take from one of the less oderous of the assailants.
( I think that would be 55 gp total, right GM)
Once she is done, she sits back and watches the rest of the questioning.
Izbahn smirks at the archer. "Uh-huh...yeah I have a better idea. Why don't you tell us all you know about him, such as his name, what he looks like, stuff like that. If we think you are being honest with us, then we can give you a running head start, how about that?"
"Yeah. Didn' t-think that would work. What the man looks like ye' can see for ye'rselves," the archer glances down at the large, lead farm laboror with a fretful look. "Called 'imself Carlanis. Like I said a'fore- 'e was a r-right strange fellow. Strolled right int' the woods me and me brothe' staked out for ourselfs, right? And offers us g-gold to do what we's do best. An' we think five coins a teenday with f-f-free food a fine enough deal for poppin' off a few arrows. He r-rounded up some folk in Nybor, and fed 'em the same donkey-plop story 'e tried to giv' t' us 'bout n-necromancers and such. But I think they bought int' it q-quite a bit more than us, right? P-personally I'd just as soon stay away from the m-man. Drink's like a pirate and smells of ol' fish. S-so, that meet which your approval? I buy meself a headstart from that s-savage what whacked me brother and the blood thirsty one?" The archer shifts nervously again, readily compliant when so gravely outnumbered.
”Just a moment there. Before we let you go here, I wanted to see if your leader would back up the story you are spinning here.” He walks over to the leader Carlanis, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the pungent odor he is giving off.
”So, Carlanis. Care to explain why you feel the need to hunt necromancers like us down?”
Bone Breaker watches as Izbahn tries to get information out of the other bandit. He walks up to stand next to Izbahn after the bandit makes the savage comment turning to Thorn he says "I think he is not very bright, what do you think?"
"These men are obviously uneducated. Common woodsmen turned petty brigands." Thorn replied to Nodin, his gaze locked on the lead farmer.
Scraping his thumb over the blade of his antler handled dagger, Thorn's tone grows angry. "Were the boot on the other foot, and had these men successfully ambushed us, we would no doubt be bleeding to death, floating in the shallow waters of Lake Ember without two coppers to pay the ferryman! If we're going to let them go, they should at least lose a hand or foot to pay for their crimes. And since I'm in such a kind mood, I say we let them choose which appendage we take."
We could also turn them over to the local sherrif or constable, or whatever the local law man calls himself, and let him deal with them. I believe they'll probably be swinging from some tree's boughs shortly thereafter if we do. Tess says, while absently playing with one of the coins.
Some places in Varisia even offer bounties on highwaymen.
Inside, Tess wonders to herself When did Thorn become so interested in butchery?
"I am not in favor of crippling them, and I might not be skilled enough to stop the bleeding." Naomi says calmly, stating her opinion on the matter. "I agree with Tessa."
Izbahn nods in agreement with the ladies. "Yeah, no need to lower ourselves to their level here." His gaze shifts over to Thorn and he realizes something has changed in his demeanor. "Thorn, I have to ask you this. What issue do you have with these nobodies? Why the need for revenge?"
Bone Breaker laughs "I do not think it is revenge he is after. I can see his point though. However Gorum does has problems with killing unarmed people who are tied up."
Izbahn gingerly picks up the vial from the unconscious body of Carlanis. After sniffing it for a moment, he nods in satisfaction. "This is, or was rather, a magically brewed potion." He turns his attention to the archer, "Care to tell us where you got the potion from, and who brewed it?"
"The man 'ad t-those on 'im when we met 'im. I ain't know where 'e got 'em, but we just assumed that they was s-some foul swill that they call liquor in Wartle. If'n it w-were magic we wouldn't 'ave n-nothin' t' do wit' it."
"If what our good friend lying there is true, then I say we take the leader and the archers in for the Magistrate's justice, and leave the farm laborers here. They probably believed they were protecting their community, where as the talkative one and his friend were more than likely already well-versed in the arts of banditry." Tess says to her companions. turning to smile at the archer, she asks; "You would prefer that to us letting our shaggy-haired friend here bathe in your blood, right?" with a nod towards Thorn.
Looking back at her group, she adds; "Keeping all six of them in line while travelling, or dragging this many bodies for that matter, could delay or intefer with our task, but I think we can handle three a lot more efficiently."
Izbahn nods in reponse to the elf, "Good thinking there, Lady Tessarayth." He looks over to the farmers, "You don't have any objections you want to raise here, right?"
"Because if you do, we can always do things my way." Thorn adds with a sadistic smile.
"Tessarayth seems quite smart. Reminds me a bit of Cousin Seria." Naomi thinks as she hangs back and lets the others talk. She could learn a lot about them that...