Terri ponders what Jennet had said, and the chill she felt when she realized they were true caused her to shiver.
"There are things that I have done that I'm not proud of. I knew they were wrong, but I did them anyway. I did them so I could live one more day. I can see why she fought. She probably felt that surrender was a death sentence."
The rogue goes over everything that Kressle had said and done after her capture, and even during the fight.
"I think she's bein' honest with us, 'least about what's around here. I don't want to kill her, but if we're gonna do it, let's make quick 'n' clean."
"Of course we'll make it quick, but stop with the if's. Do you vote to kill her or not?"
"I don't think I have a right to decide someone's fate. I have enough guilt on my conscious."
"We'd better have an extra watch tonight," Asta says. "By now, the Stag Lord will know what we did to his lackeys -- and we didn't do that much work covering our tracks."
Croft hops onto the table and edges closer to Oleg and Svetlana. "Hi, 'scuse me," the raven croaks. "Wonderful dinner, great spread, but I was wondering: do you save the bits left over after slaughtering the meat? Any good eyeballs in there, know what I'm saying?"
Svetlana
"That would be in the middens, covered by a grate."
Middens
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste[1] which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with human occupation.
"Really? Dang," Croft mutters as he hops back to Asta. "Grates... Lousy... Don't exactly have opposable thumbs, y'know."
The raven turns a beady eye on the group. "Sayyyy... Seeing as I did some of the work spying and restraining the prisoner, do I get a vote on what we do with her?"
Asta rolls her eyes expressively.
"No," she says, "and no, you can't have her eyes if we do decide to hang her. Shut up and eat your cheese."
After much deliberation, Valeria finally speaks up at the dinner table. "Well, I say we show her some mercy. Otherwise, as was said earlier, future bandits will fight to the death for sure. Perhaps we could put her to work here to work off her crimes. Not to sound mean or anything, but you look like you could use some help around here, Oleg."
"Show mercy." Torod grumbles. "That's the kookiest thing I've heard in... Oleg, Svetlana, why don't you tell them your feelings on the matter. We've deliberated. We've heard the bandit speak. I would like to hear what you have to say and let them cast their vote."
Oleg mumbles to himself and Svetlana comforts him.
"The integrity of your group depends upon you working together in agreement."
"You are what this is all about. We were given the authority to punish bandits because of you. The help and protect you. Your voice matters. If it doesn't, we aren't much better than bandits ourselves. But if you chose not to cast a vote, I will let it be."
"I must agree with Torod," Asta says after a moment of thought. "You should cast your votes."
She immediately points a finger at Croft. "No asking them to vote for you getting that woman's eyeballs."
"I wasn't going to say anything about eyeballs at all," Croft mutters, his tone of voice offended.
The raven ruffles his feathers and pecks at a platter of cold meats.
"Vile slander, it is," he says, his voice muffles by a large piece of pork sliding down his gullet.
Svetlana
"If you intend as suggested to use diplomacy in the future with bandits or even the lord of the bandits, then she should be alive, if you intend to kill all the bandits, then kill her."
Jennet has been crouched with her palms pressed to the ground for most of this conversation, staring at the earth between her feet. Abruptly she stands.
“Just two votes left,” says the oracle.
She walks to Terri and places her hands gently on her shoulders, milky eyes staring fixedly ahead.
“Everything we do decides fate--and what we don't do, as well. Stay quiet, and you shape this woman's fate as much as if you speak. Just a few days ago, you put an arrow in a man’s throat.” She turns her gaze downward, to the stained earth the two of them stand on, then back to Terri’s face. “Every step that man chose for himself led him to the end of your arrow. In an instant, you decided his fate. Find the same courage today.”
Jennet turns to Asta next.
“Trials are different where you come from,” she says. “They’re different in my home village too. But the only laws in these lost lands right now are the ones we carry with us.” She reaches out to touch the charter scroll in its case by Asta’s side. “Like it or not, these say we’ve got a duty to decide what becomes of bandits hereabouts. You’ve argued the benefits of letting her live. Is that, then, your vote?”
Terri looks from Kressel to Oleg and Svetlana, then down at the patch of ground where men had died just a few days before.
"She won't tell us anything about the Stag Lord, saying that would betray him. That either means loyalty or fear. If the former, we might be able to bring her around, if the latter, well, things get a lot shakier if that's the case."
She stands in silence for a few moments before walking off to Oleg and Svetlana.
"May I talk with you?"
"of course Ms. Riverrun.....do you mean privately?"
"No, not privately, and please don't call me Miss."
Terri sighs, obviously in a very uncomfortable position.
"The woman that you wish to see pay for her crimes could have very easily been me. I want to believe she can change, be better than what she's become, but I need to know if you've seen anything like that from the bandits around here. Are they just people trying to get by the only way they know how, or are they just monsters?"
"One of the young men rode in the back when the gang came and usually just loaded things and didn't talk much. He seemed like he was doing, but not enjoying it."
"I'm guessing Kressel didn't seem to be the same way?"
"She threatened repeatedly to cut off Oleg's hand and shorten his reach, even going so far as to pin his hand down and take out one of those axes....though admittedly she did not cut off his hand."
"Thank you, that's all I wanted to know."
Returning to the group Terri casts her vote.
Kressel heals over time and Oleg continues to work on his repairs.....
He pulls you aside
"I just got word a few days from now a small group of men is arriving they will man the fort and keep the outpost safe. Will Kressel remain here or travel with you?"
Jennet levels her blank-eyed stare at Kressel.
"The only reason we're not stretching your neck with a rope right now is you kept your men off Goodwife Leveton. Don't start confusing our mercy with weakness. Test us and you'll hang yet."
She turns her face upwards and seems to smell the wind.
"I think the best way to test our prisoner's intentions--and to smooth over Oleg's anger that we're sparing her--would be to ride out and see if we can find Svetlana's wedding ring where she says it is. We can decide what to do with her next once that's done."
"Whatever." Torod spits. "Just know that whatever evil that woman commits from this day forth I will lay on your heads. I won't repay a copper nor will I dig a hole for a body." He turns and as he walks away he says, "Let me know when we leave. I'm going to finish off that bottle of wine."
Asta gives Torod a cool-eyed Look. All she says is: "Duly noted."
Turning to Oleg: "Might you be willing to give us the loan of chains and shackles to keep her restrained?"
"You have brought in new inventory and have enough credit to purchase those chains with plenty left over!"
"I am a devotee of Erastil as well. I am Torod and this is Strawberry Deathstrike. It'll be nice to have a real priest here. Come have some tea."
“It is good to meet you, Kavken. Will your wife be joining you soon?”
Torod's eyes light up a bit. "A lost temple? A large bear? That would be a great find for our faith and great hunting for us."
Jennet arches an eyebrow. “Back home we learned that the first duty of Old Deadeye’s priests is to find a wife, not a bear.”
Asta snorts and averts her face, her lips twitching as she fights the urge to make a joke which would probably sit badly with Erastil's clergy...
"That may be true for those priests where you're from." Torod says without animosity. One of the first things he's said since the group has gotten together that didn't have at least a bit of grumpiness to it. Even his offers of tea are given grudgingly, because he is supposed to share rather than he wants to. "For me, right now, my first duty is to help grow the thorps, hamlets, villages, and towns. To work to bind this wild land together into a supportive community where good, hard working folk can thrive. Now, if along the way, I find a woman that reveres Erastil as I do, then I wouldn't mind being married at all." He then returns to himself. "If you're offering yourself, I don't know if you'd be a good fit, but I'd still be willing to hit the hay with you until something better comes along."
"If you are that fascinated with hay, I'm sure there are plenty of farmers who will be able to use an unpaid worker for a day or two," Asta says in a pleasant, even placid tone.
"You might want to find a whore if you're wanting just a fling. I've seen enough men treat women like that to last me a lifetime."
Torod managed to touch a very raw nerve with that last statement, even Asta's comment didn't do much to cheer her up.
Jennet cocks her head and nods along as Torod talks about growing the community of the stolen lands.
She gives his proposition a horsey snort, and punches him good-naturedly on the shoulder.
"Kavken, you'll have a lot of work to do on the First, here. Might start with explaining to him Old Deadeye's views on fornication, before he loses his virginity and his god-powers with it."
She sobers then and turns her face to the south.
"We'll keep an eye out for your old temple as we explore. Our prisoner might have seen it, or some of Oleg's trapper customers. Now that Garess is here, we can start to ride out in earnest. I'd still like to have a look at the old sycamore tree for Svetlana's ring."
"A gallows would be better, but the decision is made, so a cell it must be." Torod answers Kesten.
"Erastil's ways, old and new are the right ways." A proud Torod responds to Elder Kavken.
Whistling to himself Andrei slowly eased his horse down the weather beaten dirt path towards Oleg’s outpost. With his bastard sword lashed near his saddle, armored in chain mail and a shield at his side Andrei cut a dashing if somewhat bedraggled feature. With the sun shining, Andrei had his fur cloak stowed in the saddlebag along the rest of his belongings, all save one. His father’s heirloom signet ring he wore on a leather thong around his neck, hidden below his armor. He liked the feeling of the heavy gold ring resting against his chest.
Ahead in the distance the trading post rose up a hill around the conifer trees of southern Brevoy. Resting one hand on his saddle he put the other against his belt pouch where the Charter of Exploration lay carefully folded. Cresting over the rise, Andrei thought back to the days leading up to his fateful decision to leave New Stetven. Aurelia and Francos are going to kill me. The young noble thought thinking back to the day that the meddlesome Elena Surtova had seen him in the marketplace. I can’t believe she recognized me. Andrei thought to himself thinking back. It had been years since he had seen the raven haired woman last and she still recognized his face even from a distance. Giving himself a rueful smile he kicked his keels to his mount speeding up the pace. Let her try to find me now. He thought looking around at the wilderness around him.
Chuckling as he reached the gated Andrei saw to his left a small camp of soldiers, likely from New Stetven as well setting up a camp. Raising himself up on his stirrups Andrei raised hand in a friendly wave while riding up to the outpost. Ho there! Andrei announced in a strong voice. I’m looking for an Oleg Leveton? Or the expedition from Brevoy? I was told they would be around these parts.
"Who are you to be asking?" Says a half elf in hide armor petting a leopard.