Straehan squeaks and tries his best to look afraid of the charging bandits. When ones comes at 'the wuss' in the wagon, he delivers a sorcerously charge set of kicks to the roughian's head.
MODS: FOB, Sorcerous Strike
HIT #1:
DAM:
SS DAM: + (Fire)
HIT #2:
DAM:
Flare (1):
Prestidigitation (1):
Dancing Lights (1):
Elemental Ray (6): x
Elemental Fist (1):
Produce Flame (1):
1st Spells (4): x
Spell Effects: Mage Armor
Other Effects: None
If that one was conscious, he certainly wouldn't call Straehan a wuss.
Brin swings his large psychic blade at the leader. The huge blade of force comes in a downward arc. "My blade speaks for me."
Ryu felt suddenly a headache as the half-orc leader went towards Brindolfin. The pain was perhaps the strongest ever, he began to cry blood, he lost his sense of hearing, but then suddenly as if in his mind a gate broke open new insight and clearness flooded inside. Maybe, a better expression would be that not in his mind, but in his soul broke a seal open.
Ryu's headache stopped just as suddenly as it came, for a moment Ryu felt as if time stopped around him, then noticed how everyone moved in slow motion. With his sharpened senses and clear mind, ignoring the blood on his face dripping to the ground and the heat he felt in his veins Ryu noticed his prey right before him.
The back of the half-orc just begged Ryu to come closer and stab sharp things into it, and so Ryu moved as a predator, he burst out from his hiding place besides the road, and as he rushed forward the unsuspecting enemy his hand changed and became claws sharp as the strongest steel. This time Ryu didn't feel pain from the transformation, he didn't even get shocked by it, no, this time his hand barely even bleed.
Attack
Ryu thursted his claws into the neck of the Half-Orc from behind just as Brin swung at it from the front aswell, with an intention to break and tear out the spine. He grinned as if possessed, with fire burning in his eyes.
Damage
The wound he caused was good enough, but not as great as he felt it should have been, the armor of the leader was also in way, maybe he isn't fully in control of his powers yet?
Tracing a circle of black fire in the air as she advances on the nearest unengaged archer, the her sword suddently seeming to consume the light around it. Cilyanka thrusts her blade at the orcs groin.
Hp: 22/6
Ac: 25/13/22
Arcane Pool: 4
Effects: mage armor, sheild, weapon enhancement
Brindofin's blow sends the bandit leader reeling, his arm nearly sliced off. He doesn't have time to recover, however, before Ryu's blow drops him.
Meanwhile, Cilyanka's blow, powered by her arcane skill, seems to almost instantly slay the bandit mocking his female antagonist.
Alkaid casts Enlarge person on herself.
Ryu's eyes lose the flame in them, and as the half-orc falls down before him towards Brindolfin his hand turns back to normal. "This one is still alive, keep it alive if possible, their leader can tell us everything about the bandits and where their loot is hidden. Maybe something interesting about the halfling as well."
Ryu then turns towards the remaining bandits still speaking to Brin. "I will try to find their camp and eliminate some of the bandits on the way there." Ryu prepares to cast a spell (next turn).
Round 1 actions/results:
Kaddoc – cast Bless
bandits (x9) – attacked & full moved, 1 at -5, 1 at -12
Straehan – attacked, opponent down, -5 hp
Sparrow – attacked, missed
Cilyanka – attacked, opponent down, - 12 hp (13 con)
Alkaid – cast Enlarge Person
Biter - ?
Brindolfin – attacked bandit leader, hit
Ryu – attacked bandit leader - hit
bandit leader – hit, -5 hp
On to Round 2:
Kaddoc
bandits (7 still up)
Straehan
Sparrow
Cilyanka
Alkaid
Biter
Brindolfin
Ryu
Kaddoc roars in rage and charges the nearest bandit.
@Kaddoc: That one's down.
Round 2
Sparrow takes aim at the southwestern bandit, unleashing another arrow.
The remaining bandits drop their crossbows move to engage, stabbing with spears.
Straehan leaps down from the cart on the nearest bandit, tossing a flurry of punches on his way down.
MODS: FOB
HIT #1:
DAM:
HIT #2:
DAM:
Flare (1):
Prestidigitation (1):
Dancing Lights (1):
Elemental Ray (6): x
Elemental Fist (1):
Produce Flame (1):
1st Spells (4): x
Spell Effects: Mage Armor
Other Effects: None
Turning from her eviscerated opponent, Cilyanka charges the group of three archers, swinging a two-handed blow at the one in the center. As she moves, threads of angry red power begin arcing through the shadows surrounding her blade.
HP: 28 | AC:23
Spell Effects: Mage Armor, Shield
Other: +2 attack / -2 AC from charge
Die *$#@@
All you *$@##'s, die and burn in the Abyss.
Straehan dives on an opponent, connecting with one punch, but not doing much damage.
Cilyanka, on the other hand, once more guts her...victim?
I have a small grudge against bandits 8(
And some really good rolls.
Alkaid charges and kicks a bandit
Ryu noticing that the enemy is easily dealt with, and thus he doesn't have to sneak off to their camp alone, takes a break and sits down on the body of the leader, leaning a bit to the side to avoid a spear tip directed at him.
He waits to see if Brin can get rid of the pest of a bandit or if he should throw a dagger at it himself.
His head is light, the headache seems like a bad dream now, and for some reason he is sure that no further headaches will disturb him ever again. He smiles happily at the bandit near him, atop the slowly dying half-orc.
"Maybe you should surrender, as in right now. You know, to avoid dying painfully." He speaks to the bandit with spear before him.
"Those words ring true." After a quick glance back to Ryu,
Brin calmly looks at the one facing him.
With no hint of emotion:"Any fight left in those of you left?"
The bandit Brindofin struck is dead as are the two Cilyanka struck.
The rest surrender if permitted.
Heal
Ryu checks what the leader had on itself while he stabilizes him.
@Ryu: MW greatsword, MW longbow & 18 arrows, brestplate, and a key.
There were a total of 10 bandits; the half-orc leader and 9 thugs. Of them; the leader and two others are severely wounded, Alkaid's is at 0 and needs stablized and the remining three surrender.
They are a rather motly group, 6 of them are human, 3 others (including the leader) are half-orcs, and the last is a half-elf.
The conscious survivors seem to be muttering to themselves about the new guy's leadership as opposed to the previous one. They shut up if you get close to them.
The sprightly gnome steps over to the bandit he kicked into unconsciousness and completes the job with a punch to his brain-stem.
OK, that brings it to Leader stablized, 2 unconscious and needing stablized, 4(!) dead, and 3 uninjured prisoners.
she tells the bandit she punched
"Looks like a surrender from your party,
Drop your weapons and I'll patch you up."
"Straehan, Looks like I'm going to need to lecturer you in a few things, after I'm done healing this fellow."
she cast stablize on the bandit, tries to heal him without using any cure spells.
she'll cast stablize on the other bandits.
"Straehan, Looks like I'm going to need to lecturer you in a few things, after I'm done healing this fellow."
Strae's response is non-plussed. "Save yourself the speech on ethics; Anyone who tries to end my life gives up their breathing privileges - period, full stop. He made a choice, took the gamble, and lost. Why you want to spare the rest of this rabble is beyond me. I'd just as soon let Biter make a meal of them... particularly if they prove uncooperative."
"I take it you never learned compassion, empathy or forgiveness."
@group: You do know that while Magnimar does execute prisoners, many more are sent to work the mines in the north.
The gnome looks amused, "Oh, I have plenty of compassion and empathy... for the past victims of these boys. I bet their bones are littering this hillside. If you want to empathize with bushwhackers and murderous thieves instead of their victims - you go right ahead."
Standing over the body of her last opponent, stares down at his face for several seconds, recognition slowly dawning.
Sword sliding from her bloddy hand, she slowly collapses to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably over the body of the young man.
Puffing a little, Kaddoc checks the fallen bandit at his feet and if it is not dead, he finishes the job.
"Compassion is for those who deserve it. My life might not be worth much, but that does not mean that I will let others take it from me. Their lives were forfeit the instant they fired upon me."
"I offered them a chance to surrender, they accepted it even though I personally didn't have much faith that they would." Ryu looks at Straehan and Kaddoc with disgust in his eyes. "What kind of scum are you to break such an agreement? You talk about empathy and assumptions based on perhaps not even existing bones and past victims. The only evidence that is there is that they attacked us, and they didn't kill any of us, unlike we did. Do not hunt and judge without proof." He stands up from the half-orc, with the key in his pocket and the leader stripped from all weapons.
"You killed those which directly attacked you, you had the right to that that is fine, I hope your bloodlust is now satisfied, because retribution has been. People deserve a second chance, a rebirth in spirit through actions proving a willingness to improve themselves. I won't tolerate killing those who accepted a chance of spiritual revival."
He turns to the bandits. "You all will be handed over to the Sheriff in Sandpoint, you will most likely work during the preparations of the festivities, and be imprisoned for a while. Your leader however will come with us to your camp, and then will be handed over to Magnimar."
He turns back to Strae. "What do you know about their past? Did you have to live is squalor and poverty on the streets? Do you have any idea what some people are forced to do just to survive? I don't say these people are in the same situation, but killing people who surrender makes you nothing better than a common murderer. You don't even know if all of them here joined the bandits out of their free will."
Ryu then walks over to the sobbing Cilyanka. "Here, take this. What you did was self-defense, the one you killed was attacking you and wasn't unconscious and didn't surrender to you either. You acted bravely." He places a blanket on her shoulders, then turns her away from the corpse.
"Well said, Ryu."
Realizing that Cilyanka is most likely not approving of his close presence Ryu steps away from the girl, and begins to pile up all the weapons, and orders the bandits to take off their armor too.
It was not a problem that the unconscious ones were killed, they were never agreeing to surrender, and could have ended up burned on stakes. However, Ryu choose harsh words specifically to avoid his fellows killing the ones that properly surrendered. Giving them a speech to get them back to their senses in time. Kaddoc just a moment ago literally still raged.
Ryu sighed, the ones who are now dead could have been publicly executed, properly before the eyes of the families of those the bandits killed, if it would have been proven they did such things. To give them a sense of revenge fulfilled. This was not an option anymore.
"Alkaid, please check if some of those still lying around are unconscious but alive, or maybe acting as if they are unconscious." Already thinking about how the transportation should be handled Ryu doesn't notice that he dropped the honorifics.
"Don't preach to me child. Nothing forced these men to murder and rob the innocent travellers that frequented this way. There is always a choice and they chose wrongly. Now they have to suffer the consequences of that decision. If you want to drag them to town to hang, fine by me, we might even get a bit of a reward from it, but one way or the other these are dead men.
Ryu looks at the half-orc as he finished piling the weapons up. "Nothing proves these men murdered and robbed the innocent travelers that frequented this way. Well, they did try to rob us that is true but it was just an attempted robbery. You may find evidence of such claims in their camp, but even then I won't let them take harm until we hand them to proper authorities. Taking or preserving life has the same responsibilities."
He watches as the bandits get their armors off with his hands in his pockets. "Do not hunt and judge without proof. I won't stand idle if anyone who surrenders is harmed further. Unless it is a target of an Oath of the Hunter. None of these people are as far I know. Sandpoint and Magnimar will decide about them."
"Kaddoc, your only guessing that they wanted to do this willfully.
For all you know a something caused conditions, where banditry was the only way one could survive at all.
And it's very easy to destroy, but harder to create or repair something."
The semi-giant had always considered himself somewhat of a philosopher and could clearly see the dilemma here.
He points to Ryu, Alkaid, and Cilyanka. "You feel a need to give honors of war to these bandits. By calling for their surrender there is an implied obligation to honor their surrender. You also feel compassion for their plight and want to consider the circumstances that could have driven these men to banditry."
He indicates Straehan and Kaddoc. "You would like to exact vengeance for these bandits' horrible crimes and feel you speak for their victims who can't speak for themselves. The unconscious ones did not surrender. They would not think twice before ending one of our lives in similar circumstances, and you hand out justice directly by your hand."
"I will state again I firmly believe the only worthy moral absolute is to do good. Both these conflicting points of view I outlined are good, but they conflict as to how that good is achieved. Let us agree that compassion and justice both have their place and proceed. Without this understanding, this group is doomed to be only a collection of individuals."
"Death is permanent unless ...certain entities or clerics watch over one. Life is short unless you are returned in a way, If you plan to make it even shorter for others you have to be clear of the consequences and the burden of that choice on yourself." Ryu nods towards Alkaid. The two may have different beliefs but Ryu thought the distance among them grew shorter due to a bit of mutual understanding. He avoided a mention of the Divine Phoenix or other gods, but it was evident that revival and rebirth is impossible without otherworldly interference.
Ryu decided not to go into the finer details of Brin's understanding of the situation, that he merely honored an agreement that he offered with the option to surrender to begin with. There was no need to talk about good or evil, merely the requirement to honor the rules of surrender. Compassion had nothing to do with honoring agreements.
As Ryu looks through the gathered gear he speaks. "I say everyone chooses what would improve their own gear, anything else will later be turned into gold. It may be efficient to have a small amount that the group can use for various fees, like spending at an Inn or buying healing potions. Without it being owned by a single person." He then turns to Cil to check if she feels any better by now.
Ryu looks at Straehan and Kaddoc with disgust in his eyes. "What kind of scum are you to break such an agreement?"
"I haven't killed any that surrendered, so the agreement stands." He smiles coolly, "I suppose I'm the type of scum who fights an enemy face-to-face. I don't jump them from a hiding place in the bushes." His eyes drift over to Ryu's hide and the bandits' hide in the woods. He toes the bandit's body over, "Unlike this scum here."
"You talk about empathy and assumptions based on perhaps not even existing bones and past victims. The only evidence that is there is that they attacked us, and they didn't kill any of us, unlike we did. Do not hunt and judge without proof."
Straehan can only laugh at the child's selective fact-picking. With an effort, he pulls out a pair of the heavy crossbow bolts that slammed into the side of the wagon. He tosses them onto Ryu's weapon pile. "I suppose you'd call these knitting needles and those blades are for... crop-tending? Next, you'll be turning yourself in to the sheriff for assaulting these hapless farmers."
He turns back to Strae. "What do you know about their past? Did you have to live is squalor and poverty on the streets? Do you have any idea what some people are forced to do just to survive? I don't say these people are in the same situation, but killing people who surrender makes you nothing better than a common murderer. You don't even know if all of them here joined the bandits out of their free will."
The gnome laughs mirthlessly, "There is always a choice, boy. They chose their course and they are responsible for their actions because of it. I'm holding them accountable - not making excuses for them. And while I don't know their histories... I know scorpions when I see them and have brains enough to kill the ones that crawl up my boot."
"Kaddoc, your only guessing that they wanted to do this willfully. For all you know a something caused conditions, where banditry was the only way one could survive at all."
The gnome rubs the bridge of his nose, "Glass houses. You are making far more assumptions based on no evidence. At least Kaddoc and I can point to their obvious intent and actions. You are engaged in a flight of fancy. Why not simply claim that they were charmed by larcenous dryads with a hatred of wagons?"
Straehan turns to Kaddoc with a smile and gives the warrior a respectful bow. "I'd swear we were lost brothers if we were just a shade closer in height."
"No evidence doesn't equal guilt of assumed deeds. Do not hunt and judge without proof."
Ryu replies without emotion shown, or even looking at the gnome. "These people surrendered upon my offer to them to spare their lives. I don't care what you did with those at your feet, but every single one that surrendered handed their life in my hands. It is now my burden and duty to carry, and anyone who harms them until we hand them over to authorities will face me as enemy, and I am efficient at battle, for that one doesn't have to face its enemies, just have enough intelligence."
To not make the bandits feel too much relieved and at safety he turns to them however. "Of course, the moment you try to turn against us you forfeit your life. Be obedient."
He turns back to Straehan, "Unless you plan to murder them in cold blood now that they surrendered, we have nothing more to discuss."
"Is it not the law of the land that those that surrender, or taken prisoner because they were knocked out, have the right to life."
looking at Straehan
"The way you talked earlier, you sounded like Prosecutor, Judge, Jury and Executioner."