Disappointed the interresting women doesn't pay him any attention, Ardell nick at her belt with his sword. A smile spreads on his face at the thought of depantsing her.
Agility trick
Wild dice
He bring his other sword hand around in a slash down
Attack
Wild dice
Re roll Attack
Wild dice
Damage
Blackbow will attempt to take out the more difficult of the tree dwellers as he pops up to attack since he's feeling inspired. free action to reload the repeating crossbow?
Shooting
Wild
I think my last benny to reroll.
Shooting
Wild
Should that hit...
Ace
12 damage total.
[added the +2 for the Joker to shots and the damage! Jokers Rule]
As the tree guard appears to make his shot, Blackbow fires a bolt, sending the man to floor of his platform with a thud. He won't be getting up in the near future.
"You've got some spirit, lady. I like that. We're going to have some fun together, you and me!", he says as he lunges forward with his axes.
From the undergrowth, Pavla just stops herself from applauding as Korren demonstrates exactly how to use an axe.
"You cut me, you f%#@ing son of a b$*&&!"
"OK! OK!" the woman cries out, "You win! Back off!" as she struggles to hold up her britches and winces in pain.
Pavla emerges from the trees looking grim, a spell poised on her fingertips.
"Get your men to drop their weapons first. And your own."
"Tell you what, darling. Listen to the nice girl,or things are going to get a lot more bloody."
"Do it." the woman says grudgingly. The men do so.
"So. Now what?" she asks, still with a slight sardonic smile.
"Tie her up Ardell. And her men."
"My pleasure"
"Well, now would be the time you told us who you are and why you are here"
He looks over his shoulder at the others "Deja vu, huh?"
Looking back at the woman he eyes her from head to toe.
"I gotta say hon', i'm a little disappointed by you. I had really thought youwould have a lot more fight in ya"
Blackbow keeps his crossbow trained on the remaining bandits.
"Your days of preying on the weak are over."
"Can you search them? I don't want to go particularly close in case I lose my temper."
The woman says nothing to Ardell and looks bloody but unbowed.
"Oh, don't sulk. I can't stand a sulking woman. Look, i know it's not fun getting beaten. Especially in front of your goons. But really, all we want is some answers from you. Well.. unless you want me to want more...?"
Seeing no answer about to come from her he says
"Not the talking type, eh." And look back at the others again. Leaning forward as if he don't want the others to hear, he whisper
"Ok, hear me now. See those guys over there? They would enjoy flaying you to death. Slowly. And when i say enjoy, i really mean LOVE. Especially that one" he says pointing at Pavla "Don't let her appearance fool you. She is a mean one. Saw her tear the throat out of a date once. Seriously. It was not a pretty sight. What i mean is, if you don't talk how can i ever convince her that you should be spared?"
Not waiting for her to answer he says "You know, her husband was killed when your men attacked Olaf's outpost. She is in quite an emotional state right now, and can't really be held responsible for, let's say unreasonable behavior. If I could tell her how cooperative you have been she might spare your life."
"And what is in it for me you might ask? Well first off, I don't like murdering scum bags. Second, I would hate such a beauty as your self go to waste" he finish and give her a charming smile and a wink.
"Now, are you the leader of this gang? Do you have more groups like this around? bla bla bla... you know the drill"
Persuasion
Wild dice
re-roll Persuasion
re-roll Wild dice
Ace
The woman looks at Blackbow after Ardell has finished his little ploy.
She laughs.
"OK, city-boy. We've got information you want. Let's cut the crap and talk like grown-ups. You ain't from round here, so you need to know that things work a little differently to what yer used to. Here's the deal - we tell you what you want to know, no tricks, no details left out, and you let us go, without weapons."
Pavla looks as menacing as she can.
"Stuff that. Hang them."
"She's right. It doesn't work the same way it does in the city. In the city there's law and trials. Out here, there's us. Hang her."
"I am from around here though. Hanging them sounds good to me. I can get the rope." Kari says.
"I am from around here though. Hanging them sounds good to me. I can get the rope." Kari says.
Ardell looks between the three angry females and shrug at Kressle as if to say told you so.
"At least it will go quick. Well, unless your neck don't snap in which case you're looking at choking to death. But i'm sure that won't happen. It usually doesn't"
"That's part of this life." Kressle smirks back.
"In your case, the end of it. Ardell, get a grip. She's not a innocent damozel wanting rescue. She's a killer b@~@@ who terrorises anyone she can get hold of."
"These are lawless lands, You steal from those who want to bring law and civility to these lands, might makes right, but tyranny won't do."
*THUMP* is harder than a bump...
One of the bandits pipes up, "Whaddya wanna know?" he asks desperately, "I'll ya, jus' don' hang me!"
"Apart from her, who's behind the bandits? I'd like a detailed answer and some very good reasons why we shouldn't hang you."
"St-Stag Lord!" the man splutters.
"That's a start. More please. Who is the Stag Lord, what is he doing here, how do we find him, where is his hideout, how many bandits does he command and last but least, from your own point of view, why should we not hang you?"
Pavla rummages for a second and extracts the silver stag token she found on Happs's body. "Is this his symbol?"
"Yeah! Yeah!" he replies.
Kressle frowns and says nothing.
Pavla waits to see if Kari knows any more.
"He's a monster of a man," one of the others pipes up, "He's a deadeye with the bow, and I saw him crush a prisoner's hand to mush in one fist. Come to think of it, I've never seen him wihtout his creeepy stag helmet on- some of my friends think he ain't got no face under it, but not me, I think that creepy helm is his face!"
In answer to Pavla's many questions the previous bandit offers, "It's hard keepin' track o' who's workin' fer the boss, so we use a master phrase as a sorta password to get in the fort on the northeast shore of the Tuskwater. Unless 's been changed recently, the current phrase is 'By the Bloody Bones of St Gilmorg, who wants to know?' And no, I have no idea who 'St Gilmorg' is."
Pavla absorbs the information and turns to her companions.
"Can we talk a moment?"
"What are we trying to achieve here? If we are bringing the law to this land, then we have to bring law. Proper law. Not tyranny, as Blackbow said. We can hang them and they deserve it. That's one way. Or, possibly, we can do better than that. Who should be better at catching a bandit than another bandit? We are going to remove the Stag Lord from here. That woman and the others need to know that. And they need to know that if they help us, they're going to go on living. Not the way they were. Living under the law and on the law's terms."
"The balance of power will tip too far in their favor, making it impossible for us to trust them, and what would stop them from changing to this Stag Lord's side when we reach him. I'm not happy with freeing them, but in these lawless lands I also can't become judge, jury and executioner."
bump...4 more days...
After some discussion, the other bandits chip in with information in exchange for their lives. Kressle remains silent. They ask what you're going to do with them now.
So, what's this information?
The bandits provide you with directions to the Stag Lord's Fort, as well as the following:
"The Stag Lord is a bloody drunk. All that booze under the platform's for him. He's half of what he used to be, and ain't never been right in the head. A few weeks ago he punched my horse for spittin' in the yard, Personally, I wouldn't care if he dropped dead tomorrow, but even drunk out of his mind, he's got a fair amount of fight in him."
One chimes in to say that the Stag Lord is expecting some liquor that they bandits have in their spoils, which he points out to you.
He also adds that if the Stag Lord doesn't get this shipment, he'll likely grow more aggressive, and on that topic...
"The Stag Lord keeps a strange old man locked up in the basement. I suspect the old guy might actually be running the show, using the Stag Lord as a puppet, you know. I got a look into the old guy's eyes once, and it terrified me. He ain't someone I'd want to cross."
Pavla looks intrigued.
"That's helpful. How many people are with him?"
She turns to Kressle. "It's your choice at this point. We're going to remove the Stag Lord whatever you do. If you're loyal to him, I applaud that, but you will be on the losing side and dead with it. Give us your support and you'll be on the winning side and alive."