Torod changes his stance to target the bandit behind the stump.
Longbow Damage
Strawberry roars as she jumps down at the same bandit.
Bite Damage
Confirm Crit Bite Damage
Valeria knocks the bandits blade aside with her shield as the archer in the perch fires an arrow, the wind of which she felt as it flew past her midriff. We gotta take him out before he gets his aim down!
She then spins around following her shield deflection and slashes at the bandit still in melee with her.
As the second bandit attacking Valeria flinches under Asta’s stare, the Heptamegistos steps over to engage him, kicking and biting.
Jennet shifts reins and shortspear into one hand, scanning the battlefield for threats. “We can handle the bandits on the ground, Valeria,” she says levelly. “But he can’t climb a tree, and I can’t see that high.” She reaches out and touches the warrior’s helmet in blessing. “Let Old Deadeye guide your aim.”
Bless (Valeria, Heptamegistos, Jennet, Asta, 6 rounds remaining) : +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and saves vs. fear.
Divine Favor (Heptamegistos, 5 rounds remaining): +1 luck bonus on attack and damage rolls.
Guidance (Valeria, 10 rounds remaining): +1 competence bonus to one attack roll, ability roll or skill check.[/b]
Terri nocks another arrow and sends it flying towards the bandit behind the stump.
Strawberry charges at the one in the tree that just wounded her. She is full of feminine feline fury.
Bite Damage
While she runs up the tree, Torod targets the bowman to keep him honest.
Longbow Damage
Confirm Crit Longbow Damage
Heptamegistos snorts and wheels, searching the treeline for his next target.
“Oh, well struck!” calls Jennet. “Now for the coward under the wagon.“
She pulls the rope and grappling hook from their saddlebags, throws the hook to catch the wagon, then ties the rope off on their saddle’s pommel. “Ready to pull, Heptamegistos?”
Terri quickly pushes the fumbled shot out of her mind and moves to take aim at the bandit on the other platform.
"Aaaagghhh!" Valeria cries out as the bandits blade cuts into her arm just past her shield.
Enough of this!
As her blade finally strikes true, she calls out, "Don't lose the leader! We need her alive!"
Heptamegistos snorts a warning to Jennet.
“Oh!” the oracle cries. She throws down the rope and grips the reins. “After her, Heptamegistos!”
Bless (Valeria, Jennet, Heptamegistos, Asta, 4 rounds remaining) : +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and saves vs. fear.
Divine Favor (Heptamegistos, 3 rounds remaining): +1 luck bonus on attack and damage rolls.
Guidance (Heptamegistos, 10 rounds remaining): +1 competence bonus to one attack roll, ability roll or skill check.
The warhorse bolts after the escaping leader, trying to clip her with a hoof.
Hearing Jennet call out and Hepta charge off, Valeria turns to see what is going on. Seeing the woman at the tree line, she charges after her as well.
Asta turns her eyes on the fleeing bandit leader, and once again they flare red.
"Great."
Terri spins around and lets an arrow fly at the fleeing leader.
Torod goes after the leader.
Jennet strikes at the bandit with the butt of her shortspear, hoping to rattle her brains.
Bless (Valeria, Asta, Jennet, Heptamegistos, 3 rounds remaining) : +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and saves vs. fear.
Divine Favor (Heptamegistos, 2 rounds remaining): +1 luck bonus on attack and damage rolls.
Heptamegistos squeals as metal pierces the frog of his forehoof. He lunges at the bandit, aiming to finish the fight.
If the woman with the axes is still up, Valeria lunges into her, attempting to drag her to the ground.
Unless there are more bandits, Strawberry would be by Torod.
Torod Perception- what is that smell?
Strawberry Perception- am I scared of that smell?
Torod stops. He takes prepares his bow in case the bandit tries to escape. He'll only fire if the bandit continues to run.
"You don't have to die here. Give up. Now!"
Longbow Damage
confirm crit Longbow Damage
Strawberry goes around so that the bandit is between her and Torod.
Terri nocks another arrow, and sends it down range.
And purses her lips when the shot falls short.
Asta follows the others, but stops short of the caltrops. "Manus Hiemis," she hisses, and levels a pale blue beam at the bandit leader to 'encourage' her to surrender.
Jennet slips from Heptamegistos’s back and examines the fallen bandit. “Careful, now, this one’s got a hard head.” She takes the bandit’s weapons from her, tossing them at least ten feet away, while checking the severity of her injuries.
“Could one of you please bring the rope I dropped by the wagon, so we can tie her up?”
Bless (Valeria, Asta, Jennet, Heptamegistos, 2 rounds remaining) : +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and saves vs. fear.
Divine Favor (Heptamegistos, 1 round remaining): +1 luck bonus on attack and damage rolls.
Limping, Heptamegistos still stands ready to defend Jennet if the bandit is playing possum, by knocking her aside if necessary.
Moving quickly, Jennet retrieves her healer’s kit from her saddlebags. She staunches the bandit’s bleeding, carefully removes the arrows, and binds her wounds.
“She’s in a bad way, but I’ll patch her up as best I can. Can you folks check the other bandits? If any are still alive, bring ‘em here and we’ll tie them all up together. We should search them and the camp, too, make sure they’re all accounted for.”
Valeria stands up from her failed lunge at the woman, seeing her being tended to, brushes off the leaves and dirt from herself, and takes a moment to look at the wound on her arm. It was a clean cut, but not too deep, enough to make her know it was there.
Valeria then begins moving through the camp, checking for any other survivors.
Obviously only half-heartedly poking through the things in the bandit's wagon, she eventually finds a spot near their campfire to sit. After resting a moment, she violently kicks a plate of half-eaten food left behind by the bandits, but says nothing.
"Huhn. It would have been better if she died." Torod casts Cure Light Wounds on Strawberry then goes to make sure that the other bandits are dead. Then, after washing in the river, he'll help with the animals and loot.
Terri picks her way forward and helps tie up the bandit's leader. After that, she begins gathering the caltrops.
"Maybe, but we need information."
After binding the bandit’s wounds and limbs, Jennet bends over Heptamegistos’ wounded hoof. She tends it carefully, cleaning, packing and padding the area so that the warhorse can walk easily again.
The two of them then pace the bandit’s camp while waiting for the bandit to recover. Seeing Valeria sitting sullenly by the fire pit, she approaches hesitantly and kneels besider her.
“That’s quite a cut. Were you going to say anything, or just suffer in silence?” Jennet punches Valeria playfully on the knee, then sets to examining the wound, her slim brown fingers gently probing the warrior’s bloody arm. “Hmm. That’s a lot of torn skin, and these bandits’ blades are none too clean.”
Heptamegistos has come up behind the women, his head nearly between them. His moist, grassy breath fills the air. Jennet brushes his muzzle with one hand, then lowers it to press on Valeria’s wound. A great warmth fills her, as if sunshine were flowing through the oracle’s hand, and the pain of the wound recedes. Jennet gently checks the warrior’s arm again, then vigorously wipes blood away, revealing unbroken skin and a quickly fading bruise.
“Better?” she says, rising. “Good. Come on; we mares have some planning to do before our prisoner wakes up.” She wanders through the camp, seeking Asta and Terri, pulling them into conference.
“So what do we ask of our prisoner? Who and where is the Stag Lord, that’s a start.”
[qoute=Jennet]“Better?” she says, rising. “Good. Come on; we mares have some planning to do before our prisoner wakes up.” She wanders through the camp, seeking Asta and Terri, pulling them into conference.
Strawberry joins the females in their 'girl talk'. Torod is doing his thing and doesn't notice.
As the wound closes, not even leaving a faint scar, Valeria mutters, "Thanks," then slowly traces her finger over where the wound used to reside.
Jennet listens attentively and kneels quietly a few moments after Valeria finishes speaking.
“Some wounds fester,” she says quietly.
After a moment more, she grips Valeria’s sword arm. “Don’t be so quick to judge what you did here today. You stood between Asta and the bandits, after all, and took a blow that might have killed her. But what’s most important is you were here, risking your life in the name of the destiny you’ve chosen.”
Jennet smiles. “You didn’t take the bandits down single-handed, of course! You needed our help. Well, that’s why we’re all here--we’ve got a job bigger than any one of us could do alone, even Heptamegistos. There’ll be plenty of chances for you to cover yourself in glory, with time. You’ll have your day in the sun, Windsong.”
She winks one milky eye. “Now stop sulking like a girl whose suitor stood her up and let’s make plans.”
As Valeria and Jennet move over to the gathered group, she says in response to Jennet's statement, "That's just a start. We also need to know how many other camps there are, and what other dangers have moved into the Greenbelt since all the trade routes got closed down. The region was rough before, but I'm sure things have only gotten worse with the lack of a presence from Brevoy and the River Kingdoms."
Valeria then looks at the bound woman, and shudders a moment. "I'm probably not the best suited for questioning. Never had to do it before. Anybody else got any...experience?"
Jennet, staring at a blank patch of nothing between the trees, considers the question. “Who to question her? I suppose it depends on how we plan to approach the woman. If we want to trick her, Riverrun can seem pretty harmless. If we want to scare information out of her...Blackheart, or you can start learning a new skill, Windsong.”
Asta listens to Valeria's litany of self-doubt with a placid face. She then reaches out - and smacks the back of her head.
"I'm no warrior, obviously," she says, her voice still placid, "but I've seen them at work a few times, and you're spouting nonsense. We are all alive, our enemies are defeated or routed, and we have someone to interrogate. Not one of us could have managed it alone, but we did it because we all worked together. If you hadn't been there, we might all be dead. Stop pouting and take pride in the victory we won."
When Jennet suggests that Asta might scare information out of the bandit woman, her eyebrows rise in consternation.
"You... think I am frightful enough to make a seasoned warrior spill her guts? I suppose I could threaten to let Croft peck out her eye -- no, you don't!"
Asta grabs her raven by the legs before he can fly over to the prisoner, and glares at him until he quiets down, then plants him back on her shoulder.
"I would've only taken the one, not both," Croft says, sullenly, but he stops talking when Asta glares at him again.
“I think witchcraft might scare her more than steel. Look at her scars when you get the chance--her back looks like it’s been whipped a hundred times. Ordinary punishment won’t mean as much to her.”
“Or maybe we’d have better luck tricking her, offering her a job in our band of women bandits if she’s willing to double-cross the Stag Lord.”
She examines the palms of her hands. “Or I could talk straight with her, explain that her destiny is to speak honestly or hang.”
"I am no great diplomat or persuader," Asta says with a light frown. "But anyone who has been whipped is usually prepared to act against the one who did the whipping. We'd just need to get her to look beyond the fact that we nearly killed her... Anyway, I can use some of my magic to heal her further. That offer goes to all of you, by the way. It'll only work once a day, but everyone is welcome to it. ... Even the chauvinist half-Elf," she adds, raising her voice so Torod can hear.
"I could try tricking her. One--" Terri stops and looks at the others, before she sighs and hangs her head. "One of the things I did was scare people into paying protection money. I hinted at things that'd happen, subtle threats and the like. There are worse things than dying, or dying quickly. I could get lucky and get her to talk."
"I would have to agree with Jennet. She's obviously accustomed to torture and physical threats. She may break to threats of a magical sort, even if they are empty threats. Besides, I don't think I have it in me to actually torture anyone."
"You think I do? I ran away because I couldn't stand what I was doing any more."