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Valghaz fell, but stubbornly clung to life.
Conner steps back as a withdrawal, and st as nd next to Aric.
Aye, what's the fine again?
"Oh do you hear this everyone. Seems these upstarts want to be civilized now. We came to give them a wake up call and roused them on the wrong side. It would seem understandable to give them pardon but then they cut down Ren over there." she points to the fallen man right by Mistra. "So that is going to be a problem. The man had a whore and a bastard to think about after all. What is a good compensation? Do we kill one of yours to make up for the death of ours? Or do you have a better idea?" She looks at Aric and Conner as her people stand down but keep their crossbows ready to fire upon you.
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Aric shrugs a little bit at the question. "Dunno. Dunno who you are or what you're doin' here, but I'm guessin' you're the Princess Hope everyone was tellin' me to come and flirt with," Aric says, rubbing a hand on his jaw. "He really dead after gettin' hit with that stick?"
Continuing to ramble just a little bit, Aric adds "There's prob'ly somethin' you want that you ain't willin' to send your folk after, prob'ly 'cause they all got whores or somethin' they're thinkin' about, and a good boss won't send their folks on a suicide mission unless there's nothin' left to lose and all, and it sounds like these folks don't wanna lose what they got." Aric gestures around to the bandits. "Dunno why they call this place the Forest of Hope if there's folks like you wanting to rob travelers what ain't doin' them no harm, but any event, losin' 1 man and gainin' six to do a specific job or two (proceeds to the whore and whatnot) doesn't sound like a bad deal and all."
The speaker nods her head at Aric, "He doesn't look like he is going to get up. Now back to your proposal. THIS is being civilized. And from a half orc nonetheless! So you work for us no questions asked to pay off your debt. You speak for all of your associates here?"
Aric bristles a bit at the implication the speaker makes. "Folks are free to make up their own minds," Aric remarks.
Pointing at Penance and then gesturing to the others, Aric adds "I was hired to keep my boss safe to the place they're tryin' to get, and some of these seem like decent folk. Hopefully you've got something more challenging than ambushing travelers in their sleep for us to do."
I guess it depends on what kind of work you ask of us, and for how long we owe ya.
"So you have morals and are traveling through the Forest of Hope. You are all a definite change to how I normally begin my day. There is a way to pay off your debt and it has nothing to do with waylaying honest people like yourselves." the sarcasm is not lost as she says this last sentence and smiles while nodding towards you. "Yes I think this is more than sufficient to pay off your debt. The alternative is we kill you here and throw you into the river. But that is only if you believe you and your wounded associates here can't honour a deal. And a deal made by one is a deal made by all. I will give you a moment to discuss it now. Die now or do us a favour and we call it even."
"A favor it is then," Aric says, sheathing his sword. "Do you mind if we tend to our wounded before we hear what the favor is?"
Valghaz grumbled as he healed Mistra’s wounds...again. He was far too stubborn to die. For now, anyways.
”Why not just drop the dance? We do the deed or ye kill us. ‘Aint much point pretending that it be a choice. What’d’ye bandits want? And know I’ll need some time to fix all the holes ye put in us for the crime o’ bloody sleeping.”
Aladair stands up from his hiding place and moves over to the slowly rising form of Valghaz.
"Well this is a bit of a pickle, huh? Either help you or die...well I guess you can count me in then."
As he approaches the dwarf he looks a little shame-faced.
"I am sorry I was not nearby to help when you fell. I did not foresee this outcome."
”Nay worries. It’ll take me a mite minute to patch all the bloody holes in us. Glad ye managed to stay out of their fookin’ Crossbow Fire.”
Alright, what's the job?
Mistra comes to as, again, Valghaz has healed her wounds. She looks to the dwarf, noting that combat has come to a stop and an uneasy tension fills the air. My thanks, Valghaz. That's twice you've saved me. I will be sure to return the consideration. Listening to the conversation she realizes that they have been spared for the sake of handling some task for the bandits. She is furious that they have been effectively press ganged into service, but clamps her mouth shut to prevent herself from saying anything inflammatory. Having been knocked out twice in rapid succession, she recognizes that the group is currently outclassed.
Without saying much, Aric turns and begins checking on Penance, examining her wounds and waking her up.
"Hey boss, it's time to wake up," he says, ripping part of his sleeve to make a bandage.
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As Aric shifts the cloaked figure's diminutive form, one of her arms slides free of the confines of the cloth. It is completely white, as white as fresh snow, with a delicate shape and elegant hands. Uncovering more of her form, Aric finds that she is indeed albino, with pure-white skin and long, colorless hair. She wears simple clothes, but their craftsmanship suggests nobility.
Of course, the most striking feature of her person are her horns.
They are approximately a foot in length, but curl and follow the shape of her head in such a way that, whilst under the cloak, they are nearly undetectable. Unlike her hair, the horns are a stark obsidian black, yet smooth like ivory, with very little ridging or natural growth marks. As Aric tends to her wounds, her eyes flicker, briefly revealing their solid, blood-red coloration.
Despite her apparent status as a tiefling, she is still stunningly beautiful. Her features are smooth and rounded, and her face rests with a quiet calm, as though she were merely asleep. In short, she practically glows with natural grace, marred only by her demonic features.
Aric stops the bleeding only to see Penance's true form...
As the party tends to their fallen your new employers keep their distance always with their crossbows in hand. You watch them as they strip their fallen comrade and throw him in the river.
"Alright we lost one and gained six. Definitely on the right side of the wager, Dorian. As for your comment dwarf there is always a choice it's just the consequences you need to weigh. But being able to breathe one more breath is better than being tossed in the river with no breath at all wouldn't you say?" she whistles to her people and makes sure she has everyone's attention, "We travel two days to the south from here to the factory." You can hear some of the other bandits whispering under their breath at the mention of your destination. She looks at your group, "This should give you enough time to gather your strength. As our special guests we will take your weapons and armour from you, but have no fear you will be escorted by us and we will ensure that your safety is a priority. When we reach our destination I will tell you more." Not waiting on whether you are in agreement several bandits move towards you to gather your weapons and armour.
"I'll keep'em," Aric says, wrapping Penance back up and hefting her carefully. His brow furrows a bit, but he keeps his thoughts to himself. "Two days is a decent piece of travel, and if there's trouble, you'll want all who can swing a weapon to help."
Aric pauses a second and adds "Come to think of it, I've got too many weapons. You can carry some for me for now." With Penance in one arm, Aric drops his battleaxe, a hand-axe, two of his javelins and his quarterstaff on the ground. "You all can carry that. I'll keep the rest," he grins.
What is the Factory?
Mistra glares at the bandits, but hands over her shield, armor, and quarterstaff without argument. She is already planning to keep an eye out for suitable deadfall that could improvise as a staff.
Valghaz grumbled darkly in Dwarven as he complied. Already dreams of murdering the bandits in their sleep were forming in his mind. Not that he would risk it, but it made him marginally less angry.
Aladair hands over his rapier but attempts to palm his dagger and keep it hidden.
DEX:
As he slips the dagger up his sleeve, he looks over to see what the others are doing. It is at that moment he spies Penance without her cloak.
"Bain!", he mutters as a smile slowly crosses his lips
Beautiful!
After Conner asks about the Factory, he is momentarily distracted by the form of Pennance. His mouth falls open, he shakes his head, and quickly turns back to the female leader of the bandits, awaiting a response.
Some of the bandits looked alarmed when they turn to see Penance's alabaster skin and horns muttering a prayer or some other words to ward off evil. The bandit leader thinks little of it and gets her people refocused on what they are supposed to be doing.
They remove the weapons and armour from the party, but Aladair is quick enough to hide his dagger from the bandits. As they do this the leader answers Conner's question. "Not good with listening are you? Of course not that is what got you here to begin with. Details when we arrive there, but my people are not just about collecting taxes from strangers who come into our territory. We have a legitimate business as well and assisting us with gathering supplies from the factory will pay off your debt in full. Now then let's move. And orc be careful with your cargo there she looks fragile."
Walking next to Aladair, the dwarf muttered ”They’re not planning to let us survive this. See how they treated the body of their own? Once they’ve worked us we will share the same fate.”
"Aric," the barbarian growls in response to being called 'orc.' Grudgingly, he gives up the remainder of his weapons and uses both arms to cradle Penance until she wakes up.
Aladair is being good, but he does let Valghaz know that he has a dagger.
Within the next quarter of a bell the bandits form a circle around your group and start heading off away from the river. Aric notes that the direction the bandits are moving is southeast. The sky now a pale gray looms over the group with their 'guarded escort' as they move further into the woods.
An hour has passed when finally Penance held firmly but gently in Aric's arms begins to regain consciousness.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Boss," Aric rumbles. "Have you met our new traveling companions?" Aric mutters a few choice words under his breath regarding the bandits around them before adding "Hope you don't mind, we're taking a little detour from our original destination. It was either that or get tossed in the river."
Penance grunted as her wits returned to her. The first thing in her field of view was Aric, looking slightly down at her as he spoke.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Boss," Aric rumbles. "Have you met our new traveling companions?" Aric mutters a few choice words under his breath regarding the bandits around them before adding "Hope you don't mind, we're taking a little detour from our original destination. It was either that or get tossed in the river."
”Companions...?” Her head rolled to the side as she looked about, the bandits from what seemed like moments ago encircling the group. ”Oh...oh no...Aric, what has-?”
Then she realized she was uncovered, her cloak hanging loosely from her body.
”AH!” She rugged and pulled at the mantel, trying her best to conceal herself once more. ”No! No! No no no nonono! A-Aric I-I-I-!” She looks on the verge of tears, her face flushed and trembling.
"What's the problem Boss?" Aric asks. "Ain't like none of us have never seen blood before. Had to get you bandaged up and all." Aric squeezes Penance a little to reassure her. "Things are gonna work out, just you see. Ain't no two-by-twice highway robbers gonna get the best of us, you'll see that."
Aric walks a long in silence for a bit. "Dunno why you wear rags covering your face like that. Ain't like you're ugly like some of these folks around here."
"...not...ugly? Y-Y-You're not...s-s-scared of me?" She calms significantly, but her blush remains. She starts looking at the other members of the rag-tag party, trying to gauge their reactions to her form.
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As Penance wakes up she can see some of the men and women of their escort pointing and whispering her way. A few of them make foolish attempts at wards in the air hoping to protect themselves from whatever they think her to be.
It is obvious to you that from the way these bandits are assembled and moving that many of them are either former soldiers or have a very good drill sergeant.
They keep a constant distance between you and walk two deep side by side. You even see that they have a number of scouts that are sent out ahead of the main group.
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"Well, you don't yell enough and aren't mean enough as a boss yet, but I'm sure when you learn how to do that stuff, you'll be plenty scary, boss," Aric replies. "'Sides, I'm the one other folks and and stuff are supposed to be scared of. Can't you see those folks trying to ward me off over there?"