"D...dodi..., calm... calm...,"
Karo steps up next to Tekkis. Just like the gym ehh, old friend? Back to back then? Karo then draws back his bow and let another arrow fly at the lead man.
Tekk grunts in response to Karozekas' comment, but he sees Chloe get hit with a javelin, momentarily allowing his concentration to lapse during his attack.
As the muddy road is churned with the blood of friends and foes alike, Karozekas moves forward and fires another arrows at the older man. This time he strikes true and buries the shaft deep within the meaty part of the man's thigh.
The scoundrels move and hurl their javelins, luckily without much effect except for the one that finds Chloe.
The combination of the uneven ground and Chloe's distress distract Tekkis sufficiently to cause him to misjudge his swing and leave the head of his mattock firmly planted in the slop of the road.
Despite an awkward fall from Dodi's back, Morin emerges relatively unscathed and untrampled by the startled beast's hooves. He stands clear, and looks ready to draw his weapons.
Corbyn sends two more arrows winging towards the men behind the hedges and manages to drop both of the brigands, one gurgling noisily with an arrow through his throat, the other dropping soundlessly in a strangely fluid motion as the iron-tipped missile pierces his eye and exits the back of his skull.
While Sarusa advances, Gelig closes the distance between himself and the young man with a short hop and a pull of his tongue, clamping down on the youth's arm with the hard ridge of his mouth.
As for the young man, realizing that he cannot escape the frog's sticky maw, he draws bright steel from his side and stabs gracelessly at Gelig's side.
Due to the poor angle, his blade is unable to pierce Gelig's thick hide.
The older fellow moves quickly to keep Tekkis flanked, and producing a second dagger from the hidden folds of his sleeve, strikes with both at the armored warrior in quick succession.
Once again, Tekkis' thick armor protects him from harm, as the man's dripping blades are no match for the heavy plate.
Chloe's healing energy washes over your group, easing your hurts and girding you up to finish the fight as she soothes the frightened Dodi and keeps the beast from planting a metal-shod hoof into Morin.
Karo drops his bow and moves up behind Tekkis, drawing his curve blade and attacking Fidelo.
Having regained his feet and wiped the mud from his eyes, Morin moves quickly towards the fray, drawing his shortswords over his shoulders as he does so.
As he passes Sarusa he says, "Your lamprey may be peaceful, as you say, but they'll also latch right on and suck blood from their prey, much as these thugs aim to do to us. When we've a spare moment, though, I'd be happy to chat about a better name for 'em."
He quickly reaches his comrades' sides and strikes at the young man entrapped by Gellig's sticky tongue, lashing out at him with both swords.
"Th-that's right, Dodi... shhh, sweet girl....,"
Chloe continues to coo to the animal, reluctant to urge her to move, lest she panic and nearly squish someone else.
Sarusa takes a five foot step north, back to back with Gellig, and strikes out with her scimitar.
"Interesting proposal, Morin: the ecology of the common thug. However, some population control is in order; they appear to be imbalanced with respect to the general demographics of rural Varisia."
Sarusa takes a five foot step north, back to back with Gellig, and strikes out with her scimitar.
[dice=Attack]1d20 + 5
[dice=Scimitar]1d6 +2"Interesting proposal, Morin: the ecology of the common thug. However, some population control is in order; they appear to be imbalanced with respect to the general demographics of rural Varisia."
Karo, clearly enjoying the melee, looks over his shoulder to check on the others. Good show, why Sarusa that one is not even putting up a fight, did you enspell him. I must learn that one if possible. Karo then turns back to the matter at hand.
Karo, clearly enjoying the melee, looks over his shoulder to check on the others. Good show, why Sarusa that one is not even putting up a fight, did you enspell him. I must learn that one if possible. Karo then turns back to the matter at hand.
Tekk curses and refocuses on his opponent, coming around with another swing at the man's head.
The older man dances away before Karoz' strike can take off his ear.
The remaining brigands, seemingly out of javelins to hurl, take up long spears and attempt to join the fray.
One unwashed fellow with a particularly scraggly beard attempts to push through the bushes to stab at Tekkis.
His spear finds a less protected spot near the half-orc's hip and stabs deep into the warrior's muscle.
The other two find themselves in a good position to flank Karoz with the assistance of Volorio, and stab at him with their spears from behind the safety of the hedges, although one actually has to enter the thick shrubs to make his attack.
One of them strikes home with a deep cut on the elf's thigh.
Meanwhile, perhaps fueled by the pain of his wounds, Tekkis' swings true, and the head of his mattock meets the head of Fidelo; there is a sickening crunch, accompanied by an over-loud snap. The light goes out of the man's eyes as he falls to the ground, his heels digging furrows into the thick mud with his death throes.
Morin tumbles forward and stabs one of his blades into the meaty part of Volorio's shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain and dismay from the youth, although Fidelo's death may have something to do with his anguish as well.
Corbyn's arrows easily find two of the erstwhile spearmen, who fall limply into the twitching stems of the local flora.
Sarusa finds it difficult to strike the young man, perhaps because of Gelig's proximity.
Volorio, for his part, drops his shortsword meekly and begs piteously. Spare me! I beg of you! Mercy, please!
He sobs and wails, looking altogether wretched.
Chloe heals some of her own wounds and keeps Dodi calm as well.
Karo looks down at his leg and curses. Teach me to jest while I fight. The elf steps up next to Tek, chanting. He points at the brigand in the bushes and flames leap from his hand, engulfing the man in flame.
A lucky crouch saves the man from being roasted alive. but taking quick stock of the situation, he turns to flee.
Dropping his spear, he runs alongside the stuck wagon, moving swiftly despite the mud.
However, his attempt to vault over the wagon wheel proves ill thought out, and he falls on the far side of the wagon before hastily standing up.
Morin points his blade at Volorio's gut and calls out to the party Avast fighting!".
Eyeing the young brigand menacingly, he snarls "I oughta scale ya an' gut ya right here, preyin' on others the way ya do, but I'll hear ya out. Tell yer goons to stand down and don't you try anything clever. I'd wager I can get steel in ya afore you can blink."
Tekk calls to the rest of the group, "Watch their weapons, thought I saw something dripping on his daggers." he indicates the dead older man.
He turns to the pleading bandit, "I don't care if you live or die. Make it worth my while to keep you breathing."
Karo eyes the brigand's antics by the wagon. What of that pitiful one over there? He nods in the direction of the wagon. Should we let Corbyn hone his already deadly skills on him? He say louder so the brigand can hear him.
Chloe winces as she takes in more of Tekkis's wounds.
"N-now, now... There is... no need for this... If you can subdue, rather than kill..."
With these words, she channels energy again, though she still excludes the enemies, merciful but not stupid.
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Playing off Karoz' words Corbyn also speaks loud enough for M4 to hear
He walks forward as he speaks to gain more ground
"I don't want to kill anyone I don't have to. Taking lives gives me no pleasure. If I were him though, I wouldn't think about running unless he's absolutely positive he can outrun an arrow."
The man behind the wagon wheel ducks down, trying to keep its solid wood planking between himself and Corbyn's arrows. He scurries down the road away from you, but slips in a thick patch of mud and falls on his face.
The younger man gasps out, trying to suck his already painfully thin belly away from Morin's blades, Thems not mine, thems're Nuncle Fiddy's men. Won' lissen ta me, if any'em left breathin' anyhow. Please me lords, spare this young sinner. I was lead astray by wicked men I was. I swear't on me dear sainted mother's grave!
Chloe listens to the young man's testimony with the utmost scrutiny. She understood what it felt like to serve a cause against one's will, but she couldn't be sure of the young man's intentions. Still, the human voice betrays much.
Karo listens to Volorio, while keeping an eye on the other man. Tie him up with some rope then. Have him tell us what he knows. Karo walks back to pick up his bow and begins making his way toward the wagon and the man behind it. Nocking an arrow as his goes.
"What was the purpose of all of this? Come out from there. Speak." Sarusa points her scimitar at Volorio.
She pauses to tch-tch at Karo's leg with the ghost of a smirk.
You believe that this young man is lying regarding being led astray by wicked men, but honest regarding their willingness to obey him.
"Who is Nuncle Fiddy and why should we care?" Tekk asks him before turning to the other man and roaring, "And if you don't stop running right now, we'll just fill you full of arrows!"
Morin glances past Volorio at Tekkis, "I'd guess his nuncle is, or was, the older fellow there who looks summat like him. As to why we should care about his tale, well, I'm not that good a guesser." Turning back to the lad and giving him a not-so gentle poke with his sword, Morin says, "So, boyo, spin on, I'm curious to hear this yarn. And while ye're at it, do tell us if any more of your uncle's boys are about."
Chloe looks hurt, now. Of course the young man would try to garner mercy, but the fate he'd been fibbing about was horrible indeed. She tries to approach on Dodi, though cautiously and much more slowly than the horse is probably used to.
"P-please limit it to... the truth, th-though. I know... you're powerless now... We won't hurt you if... if you are honest, I think, and I honestly don't want you to be..."
The bearded fellow gets up and keeps trying to make his way down the road.
The younger man, for his part swallows nervously and says, Yah, the slip (here he nods towards Morin) has th'right of't. There's poor old Fidelo, driven to a life a crime, forced off the family plot by the damn tax mongers, bloody buggers th'lot of em! Don't got too much symp'thy for 'im though, old bastard used ta beat me bloody ev'ry chance he got. But, I should probl'y take 'im back to th'old homestead ennyways. Bury 'im proper, ya know? He offers up an ugly smile full of brown and crooked teeth, and well, seein' as I didn't cut any of yah, not even yer fine froggy there, if you'll let me go, I swear I'll go bury me uncle and never do no wrong agin!
You think he will probably do as he says if you let him go.
Morin stares intently at the young man for a few moments, considering what he has heard, then says, "Well, the lad'd be a damn fool to tell us any different in the circumstances. Even so - and I'm a right fool for sayin' so - I think he means what he says."
He looks over at the body of Fidelo and says, "But before we let him take yon fella back to hearth and home, I'd be curious to see if the old bringand's got anything in his purse, for our trouble."
Karo stops walking when he gets to the wagon and draws his bow aiming at the bearded fellow.
"Yes I suggest you cease moving this moment or you will have two arrows in your backside"
"...and please don't call my friend a... a... slip again,"
The healer attempts to get a lock on the younger surviving brigand after a careful approach, but still looks in a slightly askew direction.
"Th-that word is... most unkind."
Tekk looks at Morin, then glances at Chloe. "Sure, Morin, take whatever you can find. They don't need their wagon any more, so lets load everything in there and take it with us when we leave."
"Karo, Corbyn, let me know if you need help with that one." he says gesturing toward the fleeing bandit with his mattock.
The half-orc steps closer to the younger man, "Driven off the land by the tax mongers. Well, well, well. Wonder of wonders - we're tax mongers too! You can run, and you can hide, but we always get our due in the end!" he says somewhat maniacally.
"Listen scum, you may not have cut me, but you tried to help your nuncle gut me, so you're just as guilty. Now you're calling my friend names, and feeding us this bull about going straight after burying the man who used to beat you bloody. You're wasting my time, human." Tekk spits the last word out.
"So unless you can convince me you should live, I'm ready to end your pitiful life right here. One more chance, boy, make it count."
"If only I understood what everybody was saying? I might then be able to make heads or tails of why all two legged creatures are so violent."
The bearded man keeps running down the road.
He visibly flinches at Tekkis' and Karoz' words, but continues to flee. However, he falls again, and is slow to get up.
The young man's eyes widen significantly and he shakes his head immediately after Morin mentions going through his uncle's pockets.
Once Tekkis finishes thoroughly terrifying the young robber, he cowers and curls up in fetal position, looking for all the world like he is trying to sink into the mud of the road.
Please m'aam, he implores Chloe in a pitiable, mewling voice, don' let 'im murder me! I'll do whatever y'want! I'll lick yer boots! I'll drink piss an' eat s~+% and beg fer seconds! Please! I want to live!
"While I do appreciate yer support, friends, better folks were calling me worse names when I was still in nappies. What ya think, gentle Tekk? Has he convinced you to let him hare off with his uncle's remains? Ye'd better decide quick or he'll sink right into the cold burgoo they call a road around here. Scared as he seems, did ye see he he got a bit more nervous when I suggested seeing what we could find on his uncle? Somebody look sharp and see what the the nuncle's got, will ye?"
Turning and seeing Chloe gazing toward the side of the road, he says quietly, "He's just a touch off to the left. What's your read on the worthless gaby here, having heard his yowls a bit?"
Karo turns back to the others. "I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a cold-blooded murderer. That one up the road doesn't appear to be stopping. I don't think we could run him down in this slop, with that much of a head start. Let him go, I don't see how he can present much of a threat."
Karo begins peering into the wagon and checking it worthiness.
Chloe again listens to the young man's voice as he mewls, face melting a little bit whether it's completely sincere or not. She'd heard worse during long nights of patching people up just so they could be ripped apart again, but the sound of someone struggling for their lives as such was pathetic and pitiable.
"..calm yourself." Chloe says gently, ironically sounding almost the same talking to the criminal as she did with Dodi or a wayward child.
The woman dismounts and moves through the squalor to sit with the man in question, regardless of his fate. He wouldn't suffer it alone.
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"I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a cold-blooded murderer. That one up the road doesn't appear to be stopping. I don't think we could run him down in this slop, with that much of a head start. Let him go, I don't see how he can present much of a threat."
Corbyn takes aim with his long bow and attempts to disable the escaping man.
"Not that I don't agree with you on the murder part but I cant let this one escape in good conscience. If he would cause harm to another because we didn't capture him when we had the chance, it would be bad karma for us."