The man looks at Rockne, confusion plastered on his simple looking face. A look of realization comes to him as he says, "Der must be a boss of da bosses! You a smart little man!"
It is clear that he had already forgotten that he had made this connection just moments before, he genuinely appears to have JUST figured this out thanks to Rockne's statement.
The Lady Vianella Orlovsky raises an eyebrow at Oleg's glare. "I see. I had thought the free room and board for the limited time we will not be out exploring was in recompense for our removing this and potentially future bandit problems," she begins.
"My thoughts were only in keeping with the tenets of Abadar and in the interest of commerce. Dagru's magnificent alternative potentially gives you an ongoing stream of free product with which to build your business while at the same time incentive for us to not only bring this product to you, but also to shop your other wares. There may even be potential to acquire cheap labour for those repentant souls who seek to redeem themselves for their crimes. Everyone profits. My apologies good sir. I had thought you a merchant," the priestess of the Gold-Fisted finishes with a shrug. As expected this man is a fool. "Perhaps Svetlana has a better nose for business."
The noblewoman goes back to looking at the amulet, an apparent gift to those in charge of the bandit groups. She shrugs at Rokne's question. "I do not know whether it is magic or not. That power is something I had not requested of Abadar today."
Dagru smiles as he listens to Vianella speak. He knows now that the group is not a complete loss.
Maybe just maybe their is hope for us yet.
"So you believe tomorrow is best. Let us see. Mr. Oleg could you answer a question or two about these men? When they came before did they leave the same day they arrived? This knowledge will be imperative to our future and today's plans."
He waits for an answer from Oleg before doing anything further.
"Hmm let's not be hasty. I don't want to go off half-cocked to face these bandits, especially if we find their hideout. We need to question this man and gain as much information about the hideout- location, fortifications, lookou spots and traps. We also need to know the size of the group and any info on the leader."
Grautak glances at the bandit then spits on the ground. Not sure if this one's worth keeping. Turned traitor pretty quick and doesn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed. We'll wait til he answers all our questions. Then we'll see.
"The sons of b!%*+es always took what they came for and left right away, but not until they had their fun tormenting me and Svetlana first. The first time around there was over a dozen of 'em. Each time it's been less and less showing up, so I ain't got a clue how many of 'em there really are. But there is going to be one less before sun up..." Oleg says, glaring at the captured bandit.
The bandit, slowly realizing his fate, is clearly becoming more and more afraid. His eyes well up with tears, and he starts sniffling his nose. "I dun mean ta hurt nobody. I jus' do what dey tell me ta do. I didn' know I was a hurtin' anybody. Dey said dis all was da Stag Lord's stuff, and we were gettin' it for him. I didn' mean ta hurt nobody," he blubbers through his tears, slowly sinking to the ground on his knees, crying and repeating his last sentence over and over.
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"How can you have those big pointy ears but not hear right? He's lying out his a$$ to save himself! If he didn't know he was hurting people, I'm a beardless dwarf."
Rockne shakes his head. "No way, take him with us and I'll bet he stabs us in the back first chance he gets. If we're going to take on the rest of this bandit crew, no way I'm escorting reinforcements to join them in the fight!"
Vianella looks at their prisoner as he blubbers in fear, shaking her head sadly. Poor deluded bufoon... Likely easily duped into banditry without even realizing it...
"Good sir," she begins, talking to Oleg. "If you wish to gird your fort with the head or bodies of bandits, these five ought to suffice for the nonce, yes?" she gestures to the nearby fallen bandits, but keeps herself from looking directly at their bruised and bloody forms.
The noblewoman then glances over at Gird and nods before pursing her lips in thought. Not as much of a fool as I initially thought... But there I go once again, letting appearances and initial impressions guide my opinion... Our Houses are friendly to each other, perhaps I should be the same... She then looks at Rockne after his pronouncement. "You may wish to review your words. You are better a halfling than a dwarf. Gi... Lord Medvyed has perceived the truth here. The man is a simpleton... No offense," she says as an aside to the former bandit before turning back to the halfling. "He was clearly duped into wrongdoing. Of course, that does not excuse his actions, but it is clear that this one at least is 'repentant'. That being said, I am unsure about the idea of bringing him along as he may require too much attention."
Turning back to the simpleton, the Lady Orlovsky assesses him a second time. "Still, the man's recall is fairly random. He may be better able to direct us to his base camp were he with us. And he may recall some other tidbits of information... defenses, numbers, or even more about this boss above the bosses that he just named as someone called the 'Stag Lord'..."
"This is all nonsense and we are getting nowhere. Why is it you humans and half bloods wish to save the life of a man who would kill you at first opportunity? He has given us enough basic information to find his leader and lend justice to them. Their demise will improve our position and follow the path declared by our papers."
Dagru moves to a path that would surely be within range for the bandit to hear. Ensuring that his party hear as well.
" If he has lied as I am sure he has, he will be justly punished; even if it means his death!. Even better as a pitch to the beliefs of Abadar we sell him to a labor camp increasing our wealth and leading to the improvement of civilization here in the wild."
Dagru now finished with preparing his horse jumps aboard. "I say we at least verify the location and number of bandits that remain today and make future plans once we have that information. Can we do that at least?"
Grautak looks at the bandit before turning back to the party. "Hang'em. This one may be a simpleton, but he ain't no fool and he ain't repented. The minute you turn your back this one will plant a knife in it. He ain't no better than the ones we already killed."
Looking at Lady Vianelli and Gird he continues."You want to see justice done? Hang this man. He has confessed his crimes and Oleg can bear witness."
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"I agree with Dagru we should get going and see if we can verify the location of the bandit camp"
"I will take care of the bandit prisoner, if he is a victim of circumstance and can be saved, my reward will be that I have saved an innocent man. If I am wrong.. I'll carry out the sentence myself"
Gird unties the bandit
To the bandit "What is your name, come with me so we can find your horse, you start your journey of repentence today by helping us find the bandit camp, you will bear no weapon and you will always be bound "
The Lady Vianella Orlovsky shrugs. "We can leave in the night. Perhaps the horses know the way in the starlight well enough. We may need to lead them to avoid any pitfalls they may not see in the darkness."
"As for the simpleton... I have been schooled in reading people, to determine true intentions or pierce falsehoods, as a part of my diplomatic training. If I say the man is a dupe, then it is so," the noblewoman stated with confidence, particularly since there was at least one other who had the same insight. "That being said," she said, turning to Gird, "everyone has expressed grave concerns with your desire to bring the man along with us. My initial suggestion," she continued with a nod to Dagru, "was very much like the labour camp suggested. As there are no such camps in the vicinity, my suggestion was that the man pay back his crimes in working some menial tasks here. I am unsure, however, as to the man's chance at survival while Oleg continues to seethe. I understand that you do not wish him to hang for his crimes, but you cannot take him with us without, at the very least, keeping him on a very very tight leash."
"Those seem to be the options. The first requires that Oleg and Svetlana are willing to have cheap labour assist around the fort.. in which case then the man remains here."
"The second requires that the rest of our group agrees to allow the man to come with us, under tight supervision by Lord Medvyed. As such, he would fall under your responsibility," she says to Gird. "Any further errors or crimes on his part will fall on you."
"Choose, and then we can get on to our task of removing the remaining bandits camped nearby."
Oleg grinds his teeth and says, "If you say the whelp lives, so be it. But I won't be making it easy on him here. He will wish he were dead by the time he's done working here."
Rockne is doing his best to not smack the man for using the word 'little' when Vianella gives him a nice target to redirect his anger. Keep talking down to me, see what happens, you hopped up.......
"Whatever, I stopped caring already. We need to know when his buddies are going to start looking for these gits to get back - if their guard is up we're done. That'll tell us whether we leave now or in the morning."
He gives the kneeling fool a half-hearted kick. "Where were you heading after this? Straight back to camp, or did you have other victims to visit?"
"We...we was head in' back ta camp. Then back ta camp in da mornin'..." the bandit answers.
Heading to camp, then back to camp?
"You don't start answering straight, Im gonna shake you til the right answers fall out!" Rockne realizes he's taken another step toward the cowering man, and taking a deep cleansing breath he slowly backs off a few paces.
"Now....." his voice sounds strained, the yell fighting to get out but for the moment barely held back. "Are you saying you lot had a camp nearby, and you were going to sleep there before going back to Kressel woman in the morning?"
He gives the two women a look of exasperation. "Youre so trained, try reading this idiot and figure out what he's babbling about." Rockne turns and walks away from the prisoner until he arrives at Dagru's side.
"If he wasn't expected back til midday tomorrow we've got some time, but not much. Maybe travel part of the way there now, check out the camp these 6 left behind on the way, be close enough to do recon of the main camp first thing in the morning? And no way is that guy coming with us to warn them we're coming."
The man furiously nods, "Ya! Camp buhfore camp!"
"Let's wait until dawn. Fumbling about in the dark looking for their base is not wise. While some of us are unhindered by the dark, others in our group are not so fortunate. And having a lit torch will act as a beacon."
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"Let's do that .. Now Ed .. can I call you Ed? I'm going to get you setup with a bed next to mine and i'm going to show you how you will always be tied up until we let you go or decide to trust you and if your lucky I may try and teach you to read properly"
Gird wanders of and gets his and Ed's beds setup and then ties up Eds hands.
"Fine, first daylight then."
Dagru irritated by the waiting decides to take a quick ride around the perimeter of this fort while he contemplates the upcoming days.
I hope they realize what they are doing by waiting. Gird is a fool and I will not let him kill us all. I wonder if there are more watching us now.
Perhaps Dagru and I should have a talk with our prisoner before we set off tomorrow. I think it very unwise to bring this trash with us or to keep him alive. His ruse may have fooled some of the others, but Dagru and I know better. I saw it in his eyes, just as he saw it in mine. Yes... I think we will have a talk with this man before sleep tonight.
Sharing his brother's concern, Grautak saddles Whisper and joins his brother on the ride around the trading post.
Grautak always did know how to persuade me. haha Tonight... justice is served.
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"We're taking him out for a little drink, Gird. We didn't want to wake you. We'll bring'em back in a bit."
Dagru continues pulling the prisoner along.
"A fool and his weapon are soon parted Gird. Keep coming Grautak if he attacks us it will be his own doom."
After speaking he picks up the pace to get outside quickly.
The rest of the guest house is awakened by loud conversation, and witness the scene unfolding.
"Not when that opinion will lead to our deaths and the failure of our mission. Justice is to be meted on this man but not before he reveals the information we require."
Grautak scans the rest of the faces in the guesthouse, catching and holding the eyes of Lady Vianella and Yandasana before continuing.
"How many women has this man raped? How many men, women and children has he killed or watched while they were killed? This man and his companions have no honor, they have no code and as such he will turn on us as soon as he is able. There is no redemption for this man because he does not desire redemption!"
He spits on the captured bandit and moves to strike him before stopping himself.
"I've seen the looks you give me and my brother. I know what you think of us; no better than common upstart thieves, bandits ourselves. But my brother and I are different not only from our own kind but also men like this filth. We never threatened or robbed good common folk like Oleg. We never pillaged those less fortunate than ourselves. We never committed rape! And we NEVER turned on the brothers in our band!" As Grautak says this last he brutally backhands the prisoner.
"This man has betrayed those with whom he traveled. He plays dumb to lull you into a sense of security. He may be stupid but he is cunning and not as simple as you believe. I know. My brother knows. We have dealt with his kind before. We have killed his kind before for doing what I know he will do to us given the first chance."
"While your intentions for this scum are noble and honorable, and I appreciate YOUR sense of honor; this piece of trash does not desire honor. He is not worthy of the honor you wish to bestow on him. And I will NOT allow him to travel with us and destroy our chances to assist Oleg and carry out our mission!"
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"I am an Inquisitor, Yandasana is an investigator and Lady Vianella is an evangelist. . Each of us is trained in multiple ways of manipulating the hearts and minds of people and all of us think this man was telling the truth. Would you expect me to tell you how to tame a beast or to criticise Dagru for doing his alchemy incorrectly?
Rockne rolls out of the bunk slowly, his annoyance at being awakened in the middle of the night amplified by seeing the group back to the same argument from the evening before.
He pinches the skin between his eyes and shakes his head. "Maybe if I just kill them all right now I can catch up with the other group......"
"Does any of that training make you the law? Cuz last time I checked, the Swordlords have made it pretty clear how they feel about bandits. And while we're arguing about THIS waste of space the rest of his crew are out there doing Sekhmet knows what to others like Oleg."
He turns his gaze to the halfelf. "Grautak's right, YOUR sense of honor is all well and good, but out here in the real world? Its never as black and white as that. Time to put on your big boy pants or youre going to get us all killed."
Then he turns on the hobgoblins. "And YOU....all this talk about being 'different than your own kind'? Someone gave you a chance somewhere, right? A chance to prove you were different? I think he's full of s%&# too but that doesn't mean nothing....."
Rockne shakes his head again. "Youre all over-thinking this. We lock him up tight here when we leave for the bandit camp. If what he told us helps we show him some mercy when we get back. If his info was crap, we show him the noose."
The halfling sits back down on the edge of his bed. "But if we stay up all night standing here like jacka$$e$ we're going to lose the one dang advantage we have. Surprise. Now put your weapons down and go back to sleep before I have to do something youre going to regret."
"You think your the only one that knows how to judge character? Walk a mile in a man's shoes before you judge him. Usually that means don't judge a man until you know more about him. Lucky for you, we have walked a mile in this man's shoes. And we know the content of his character.... It's rotten. This man is a liar, thief, rapist, murderer and Abadar knows what else. I don't need some high and mighty priest to tell me what I already know; what this man has already admitted to- Justice needs to be served, swiftly. If this man does not know the information we need then his usefulness is ended. Inviting him along on our expedition is crazy...."
Grautak pauses and looks Gird up and down. He looks away for a second and then his gaze returns to Gird's. "You ever kill a man before? Is that what this is about?"
"My brother has spoken no lies and yet you behave as to keep this man your pet as he awaits for a chance to cut your throat in the night. What an inquisitor you are sir?
You could not even tell the man's lies from his truths and I believe you behave the way you do as you see us different... unlike yourselves. We, as in Grautak, Rockne, and myself, are keen to real world strife and racial bias you have never been exposed to or not to the extremes we have seen.
SO NOW I TELL BE DONE WITH YOURSELF OR ACT, WE HAVE BUSINESS WITH THIS MAN!
Dagru takes his mutagen at the end of his speech. His body begins to change, become more beastly as his arms and legs grow longer before the group.
Grautak turns to the halfling and nods his head appreciatively."Rockne- I don't understand your sentiment about giving this man a chance, because you are wrong. No one gave me or Dagru a "break". We forged it ourselves. However, I can agree with you on a compromise..."
He pauses and looks at each group member, stares at the prisoner and finally returns to Rockne.
"I wouldn't have a problem giving this man a chance as long as it places no undue burden on our mission or Oleg. Him traveling with us is not acceptable and I didn't see dungeons or even a simple jail on Oleg's property. So where do you propose we keep him until we return?"
Ignoring the others now and concentrating on the prisoner, Dagru lays into him.
After Grautak intimidating the man Dagru followed. He threatens to leave him outside the fort with the animal blood all over his body and let the gods sort out his crimes- old justice he calls it.
On with the questioning:
1. How many in his group?
2. Location?
3. Defenses?
4. Strengths?
5. Races?
6. Who else had they targeted?
7. How long have they been operating in this area?
8. What is their name?
Vianella winces and buries her head in the pillow as the sound of raised voices penetrate her dreams. "Just a little longer... Whu?" she sits up and looks around, noticing the others standing and arguing. She blinks to gather herself as the argument flows around her. Finally as the events penetrate her sleep-addled mind, she rubs the bridge of her nose and sighs in irritation. I've been surrounded by fools... Ah well... what else is new.
"I believe I gave those same two choices before we bedded down for the night. If you had objections, they could have been raised then rather than having this debate in the middle of the night."
"I am curious Grautak," the noblewoman begins, "if you say the man is a... rapist, that he has no honor, that he pilliages from those less fortunate than himself, like the good common folk here," which to them, way out here, are likely the equivalent to people far more fortunate... "and that he turns on his fellows, which, interestingly, seems to anger you the most... And you say it is very unlike the banditry you participated in... Yet you also say you have walked the mile in the man's shoes... Which is it? If you were a different class of 'bandit' I don't see how that makes you an aficionado of all banditry. Rockne is correct. Some, though perhaps not all, had to forgive you of your crimes or you likely wouldn't have been here. Besides, how else is he to redeem himself if he does not turn on his own kind?"
"As Gird has said, we three have been trained in the art of reading people... Yes, some people are skilled liars and could pull the wool even over our eyes, but all three of us? And somehow, your untrained eyes see through them? Think of the odds of that... they are not good."
"Listen... I do not particularly care about the man's fate. I follow our charter and believe the man to be somewhat repentant and attempting, in his simple way, to give us what we ask. Yes, perhaps motivated by fear, but also by the realization that, perhaps, his former companions had not been exactly forthcoming. In any case, finish your interrogation," which you should have done before we went to sleep "and then his fate can ultimately be decided... hopefully to everyone's satisfaction."
"I shall reiterate the options I had stated last night. I will also add your third option..."
"First requires that Oleg and Svetlana are willing to have cheap labour assist around the fort, assuming they have a way to lock the man down... locked room, manacles, what have you... in which case then the man remains here. Although I may prefer this option, it seems unlikely, given their state of mind. I will not force them to be jailers for a work camp."
"The second requires that we all agree to allow the man to come with us, under tight supervision by Gird. As such, the simpleton would fall under his responsibility... Any further wrongdoing on this bandit's part will fall on the inquisitor as if he had done them himself, including receiving any associated punishments. This option poses a risk, but it also forces Gird to do his utmost to handle the man on a very short leash."
"The third option, is to kill the man outright for his crimes and lay his corpse along with the others. This solves most of the problems, but makes the concept of 'repentant banditry' a seemingly unattainable goal."
"I...I dunno! I nevuh learned ta count so good. But there are more back at camp!"
"We ride all day long, along da forest. We go up into da hills to da river, den turn into da forest. Dat takes us straight ta camp!"
"We gots a couple of tree houses! Kressel never let me play in dem. And...and a wagon!"
"Happs say camp a good spot. Somethin' about crossin' da water, only place for miles."
The man shrugs, "All men. Except kressel. She a lady!"
"We take tax from anybody dat we see. Kressel says all owe tax."
"Davey say we join dem or die. We been with dem for a while now, since da Fall. But dey here before us."
"My name is Bwian. What your name?"
The man turns and faces Grautak, and pleads, "Suh, I pwomise I nevuh mean ta hurt nobody! I will twy and help! Jus' don' kill me or Davey! We help nice fort man if dat what you want us do, we jus' wanna live!"
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"Bah... I feel he is too stupid to know anymore. Now what shall we do with him?
Looking back at the others
"He will not go with us!"
Dagru walks around the prisoner and stops directly in front of him.
"Is it old justice and the gods that will decide your fate? What say you?"
Grautak turns to the halfling and nods his head appreciatively."Rockne- I don't understand your sentiment about giving this man a chance, because you are wrong. No one gave me or Dagru a "break". We forged it ourselves. "
Rockne points to Vianella as she helps make his point for him. "Not saying you didn't earn everything you got, but somewhere somebody gave you a chance is all. There are tons of sword-swinging or spell-throwing idiots out there looking to make a name for themselves, wouldn't think twice about killing hobs on sight, but here you are in all your reformed-bandit glory...."
He runs his fingers through his hair and shakes his head. "But you're right, we can't leave Oleg to deal with this if he doesn't want it. And he can't come with us."
"But we can't spend any more time on it either - if we're hitting the road early we've got to get some rest!" He lets out a deep sigh then turns to face the women.
"If we leave him with Oleg, the old codger is gonna kill him. If we just let him go without his gear and weapons, he's gonna die out there in the wilderness. If he comes with us and is behaved, Gird is only half focusing on the mission, and that lack of focus could get one of us killed. If he doesn't behave and gives away our position to his old friends, he's gonna get us ALL killed. Maybe he's repentant. Maybe not. I'm all about giving someone a chance, but can we afford to TAKE a chance here?"
"He made his choice......."
Once the prisoner is secured within Oleg's home, the group rides out shortly before dawn to determine the location of the remaining bandits. It is Gird who first locates the trail left by the bandits en route to the fort, and they prove easy enough to follow through the tall grasses of the plains. Eventually the rolling plains give way to hills, slowing the pace somewhat but eventually the group finds the river they had been informed of. It is growing close to dark at this point, and if the bandit was truthful, their camp must be close by to the north along this river.
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[b] "Well it seems the man has not outright lied as of yet. The camp must be close by, let's dismount,secure the horses, and continue looking somewhat quietly for it." [b]
Dagru waits for the others before dismounting.
The Lady Vianella Orlovsky dismounts and moves to hand her reins to another before realizing her place, and instead watches what other, more experienced people do to secure their horse and copies them.
"Do we wish to wait until full dark or, I suppose, starlight?" the noblewoman asked. "It is likely that they will have some light source within or around their camp which may illuminate them and, hopefully, not us. I have been gifted with the ability to see within the darkness... to a point... but that may be moot if none other can do so. I certainly don't have the skills to scout ahead in silence."