Cyna rolls her eyes. "You sound awfully eager to massacre these people. What happened to just killing their leader? Or did it dawn on you that doing only that wouldn't magically make the remaining three hundred any less dangerous?"
Ylrhea sighs. "And you're guessing they're just going to let us walk right up to their leader and kill him?"
She sighs and sounding a bit frustrated says, "I don't know.....no matter what we do they aren't going to make it easy on us and I just thought maybe setting a trap for the bad guys for once might work in our favor.....even if it just temporarily disorients them. These are not innocent people.......as far as we know. It's hard to completely understand a situation until you're in it.....but we don't have the time or luxury of analyzing every detail right now. They severely outnumber us, so we need to come up with ways of fighting smarter, not harder. That's kind of why I was thinking of the trap route. I didn't say that was the plan either.....just one possible idea." She sighs as she takes a drink of water.
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"No kidding, the only information we have on them is from a town full of people I don't know or trust. Well you can plan for me not to be with you. I said I wasn't going to murder those people and I meant it."
"Well I'm sorry you feel that way. It doesn't change what we have to do though. So what then? You're just gonna wait here, or head back towards the tower by yourself?"
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"I believe your ranger friend is correct and you should leave the bandits for another time," says a man dressed in black clothing, wearing Jinzhi swords at his side. "These people can wait, you have a more important task to accomplish."
"Ishida? What are you doing here?" Toni asks as she hears the man's voice.
"Trying to dissuade more reasonable people, apparently."
Sienna appears a couple minutes later, out of breath. "Guys...those aren't bandits out there...who's this guy?"
"Ian's former assassin friend, Ishida," Konstantyná answers. "The one who gave us the numbers of the bandits in the camp."
"There are no bandits...they're all those masked guys like we fought on the bridge...and a bunch of zombies...from the Green Circle...I recognized them..."
Ishida narrows his eyes. "You should have listened, Toni."
"What are you talking about?"
"Vencious knows you're here, you think he was going to let you just do what you pleased? No...it's time for you to head to the tower. All of you."
"So, you work for him? Fitting for a friend of Ian's. What's to stop us from killing you?"
"Hostages," Ishida says. He points out into the crowd of refugees. "You'd be surprised what money can buy."
Several of the refugees take Gwen and Hjörr out of the group and join Ishida ahead.
"Don't worry, they were always Vencious' agents," Ishida says with a sly smile. "Kill me and they die. Walk back to the camp and they die. Them and that merchant friend of yours who was foolish enough to set off on his own. Head for the tower now and they may live to tell the tale of your sad demise. It's been a while since Vencious had children to experiment on."
Magnus snarls, then looks at the group. "So much for keeping my son safe, huh?"
Sienna narrows her eyes and counts the number of refugees holding Gwen and Hjörr. "Just enough for one to remain standing to slit their throats?"
Cyna narrows her eyes. "Then we kill you and double whatever you've paid them. You'd be surprised just how little loyalty you can earn with coin."
"Vencious has had enough time to know how many people you can kill at once," Ishida says, turning to walk, the hostages ahead of him. "We've had enough changes of plans to be careless at this point."
Turning back, he looks at Cyna. "You're getting what you want. You're even getting an escort to the tower. What's wrong with that? Besides, if you do manage to kill me, there is always Ian."
Ian, dressed in black, joins Ishida and the others. "The town is set to burn. I await your word."
"And what's your angle, you c#~!#**%$#?"
"Let me reintroduce myself," Ian says with a condescending glance. "I am Ian Tulane, street magician extraordinaire. Well-rewarded by Vencious. I had so hoped we could have had a nice place in Valwick together. Would have been easier to let Horace walk right in if I was there."
Yulia leans against Drago. "What do we do?"
Sādhanā takes in the scenario, her expression hardening, her baleful glare jumping from one traitor to another, the deem smoldering rage practically radiating from her as her mind races to take in everything.
"I wondered how it was possible you were a paladin,had I know your best frind was an assassin, I might have put two and two together. What I do to you next Ian, is going to make that punch feel like a tickle."
She turns to look at Cyna, "You wanted to leave this town and everything around at the mercy of bandits while we face Vencious? Well looks like you have your wish, only on his terms and with your daughter as a hostage. We are going to kill him, we are going to get her back, get Hjorr back and get them home safely."
She levels her gaze on Ishida. "When this is all over, every one that has acted against us is going to die. Whatever Vencious is paying you will be worth nothing once we've torn him apart and there's nowhere you'll be able to hide. Turn on him now and everything will be forgiven, this is the only offer, your only chance. Continue and every last one of you will die."
Cyna shakes her head and takes a battle stance. "Not really the time to take shots at each other. Our best chance at getting the kids back is here, but I'm sure you know that."
"Not a shot, just a point. But you're absolutely right, we resolve this right now. We show them what we're actually capable of. No restraint, no mercy everything against us dies now." Sādhanā says in a cold voice.
She leans into Sadhana and whispers, "Now is not the time. We need to lure them away from town. We still have scrolls of sleep." She squeezes the magus's arm supportivly.
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Sighing she looks at Sadhana as all the coloring drains out of her face, "Uhhh.....I'm sorry but I'm still feeling pretty sick and unless your plan involves me throwing up on someone.....an assault right now wouldn't be a good idea. I'm sorry....there's just too much at risk. Who is Horace by the way and what would him coming to Valwick have to do with anything? Why is that threat?"
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Drago's hand went for his sword as everything started, but soon relaxed his grip when the hostages were taken. At Yulia's question, he answered, "For now, be ready and follow Sādhanā's lead. Trying to fight now probably wouldn't serve well."
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Running countless scenarios in her head, Sādhanā goes completely internal for a moment.
Drago, still with a relaxed hand on his blade, looked around for anything to help in the situation.
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Between the nausea and afraid of what her friends might do, the war priestess is completely oblivious to everything else.
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Yulia notices the refugees aligned with Ishida are sweaty, shaky and their eyes are bloodshot, clear signs to her of drug use.
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"They seem to be drugged," Yulia says. "I don't think bribing them will work."
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