Kazell shoots at the bandit on the roof.
Malik continues to play the drum, inspiring his comrades further and further. While quickly taking a step backwards towards Augustus and snapping a shot at the approaching bowmen on his left. Arcane energy crackles along his crossbow bolt as he fires...
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"VIATRIX" Augustus yells as he darts forward to her side well focusing himself. His eyes began to glow a familiar shade of white as he reaches out to touch Viatrix.
Sǐrén continues pursuing the archer and gets up to him and names him his hated target
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Malik's shot lodges in the man's hide armor harmlessly.
Viatrix stabilizes.
Augustus cures Viatrix, and she wakes up.
Siren approaches the bandit and targets him for his hatred.
Kazell fires at the rooftop bandit, but again the hide armor protects the man.
The bandit on the ground steps back and fires at Siren:
hit!
While the one on the roof picks out Augustus as his new target:
miss!
turn order:
1. Augustus & Siren
2. Kazell
3. Bandits
4. Malik
5. Khalaros
6. Viatrix
Red: -8
Siren: 7/12
Viatrix 7/12
Kazell breathes in and out to calm herself and focus, and then shoots again at the bandit on the roof.
Finally, she hits him!
Malik continues to beat a staccato rhythm on the drum, exhorting his friends to fight harder with its driving beat. He quickly reloads and fires at the archer, again with magical energy suffusing his bolt.
Agustus shift back and reload his crossbow before firing on the one on top of the rooftop
Siren will full attack the grounded archer after shifting
Malik misses.
Augustus misses, but on his second slam Siren drops the bandit and only one remains.
turn order:
1. Augustus & Siren
2. Kazell
3. Bandits
4. Malik
5. Khalaros
6. Viatrix
Siren: 7/12
Viatrix 7/12
Viatrix stands, yanking the bandit off the roof with her whip.
"My head is just killing me," she bemoans.
Viatrix drags the man, this time pulling him off the roof.
The bandit withdraws, attempting to escape into the woods[/ooc]
turn order:
1. Augustus & Siren
2. Kazell
3. Bandits
4. Malik
5. Khalaros
6. Viatrix
Siren: 7/12
Viatrix 7/12
Seeing the fleeing bandit, Malik sights his crossbow and fires at the man's back as he retreats into the woods. And stay out! You murderous swine! Mystical energy crackles along the bolt when it leaps from his crossbow.
Viatrix yelps as the man begins to flee. Mounting her horse, she mutters, "I can't just let him get away," and gives chase.
Shortly catching up, she yanks the bandit's feet out from under him, leaving him vulnerable for a nasty bite from her mighty steed.
"I warned you," she spits.
Malik, seeing Viatrix go haring off after the fleeing Easterner, shrugs his shoulders, I don't know if I can keep up with them, should we follow?
He looks at Kazell and Augustus to see what they think.
Kazell says to Malik
If he's really from the other side of the war, we're screwed if he gets away.
I'll go after Viatrix and see if I can get another shot off. You can go ahead and see if you can find Sylvia, or wait for us if you think another one is inside.
Kazell then double moves after Viatrix.
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Using her stead's superior mobility Viatrix catches up to the bandit, trips him, and the horse bites him.
The bandit seems to fall still at that point. . .
When Kazell gets there and Viatrix gets dismounted, they roll the bandit over to find that, besides the wounds dealt to him, he has a strange and foul smelling foam coming out of his mouth, and he is quite dead, his lifeless white eyes seeming to stare from his sunken cheeks like those from beyond the grave.
The others move around to the other side and open the door to find Sylvia inside the small cabin, bound and gagged in the corner, and roughed up, but generally unhurt.
Malik enters the hut, his eyes widening, Sylvia! Are you okay? He quickly works to free her from her bonds, before asking Augustus to take a look at her.
What happened? Who were these men? Easterners? Malik asks when the moment seems right.
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Viatrix loops her whip around the dead man's ankle and drags him back to the hut with the other bodies. The quarterling checks their vitals and rifles thru their belongings, tutting as she sees each man's face.
Freeing Sylvia she thanks you profusely, "Ah! Thank you so much for freeing me. Yes, yes. . . by their uniforms they were East Kingdomers, but they answer to a man much more dangerous than that. What he is doing working for or with the East Kingdom I cannot say."
Viatrix searches the bodies- finding 3 composite long bows, some 53 odd arrows, two packets which appear to be a very deadly mixed poison tablet (which undoubtedly finished the third man off), and a wooden holy symbol.
The Holy Symbol itself is like that of Attrianna, the Goddess of war, the hunt, the moon, and animals, but with the stag head as a skull rather than live head.
Kazell searches the room to see if there is anything else useful here.
Helping Sylvia sit up, he asks her, They were babbling something about a horned hunter or some such nonsense, that mean anything to you?Oh Sylvia, your frog saved you! He lead us right here to where you were being held. People in town were getting worried about you too. Let's have Augustus take a look at you, he's good with a bandage, no, don't move too fast.
Seeing Kazell searching, You find anything useful?
And with Viatrix's return Malik smiles grimly at her, understanding the success in her endeavor.
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As Kazell is searching, she sees very little of note in the room- a few worn heavy winter cloaks, some stale bread, a rusty bear trap, but then finding a small hole in the wall, covered over by a bit of mud, she finds a hidden compartment.
Stashed inside are several maps of the area, and a small necklace with four beads on it.
Sylvia nods to Malik, "Aye, I am fine child. Thank you for rescuing me. Tis not the horned huntsman- tis the Man Hunstman, and he is one you'd do well to avoid. Dangerous. Fully mad. And sadly very powerful. We'd been at peace many years, but sending his men after me, well, he must be after something."
Kazell shows the maps to everyone, and examines the necklace (she also pulls up detect magic just in case).
____
When Sylvia speaks Kazell says
They kidnapped you and then didn't tell you what they were after? That's very strange.
"Well, they did tell me the specific thing they wanted- a certain type of potion which I know how to brew. But what made no sense to me was the why they would want such a potion- a simple love charm, albeit a powerful one. Something that the Mad Hunstman would know to brew himself had he paid attention when he was my apprentice."
(fail)
No mention of who the potion was for? How curious. Did they offer to let you go in return for the potion?
"Interesting, I wonder did you see the huntsman at all, could it be someone posing as him?" Augustus asks as he casts his own detect magic
"No, I did not see him, but I have no reason to doubt these were his men. But let us get back home, I tire of this place. Is there anything I can do to thank you lot for coming for me?"
Well, we did take some potions and wands from your house when we came on this expedition. Your familiar showed us where they were. We could definitely return them, but it might help us save more people if we could keep those supplies. If that's amenable to you, that would be plenty of thanks.
Err, also... is this necklace yours? I found it with some maps over there, but I wasn't sure if they took it from you or got it someplace else.
"Oh, don't worry about those potions and wands- I am sure you will put them to good use. No, no, I've not seen that particular necklace before. . . it looks like a necklace of fireballs. I'd be careful with those beads if I were you!"
You begin back towards the town and make it without further incident.
"'d appreciate bullets n powder," Viatrix mumbles at the offer of reward. Uncharacteristically generous of her, she offers Sylvia to ride Victor, either alone or together.
Before leaving, can we loot and bury/hide/burn the bodies?
We never figured out what two of these potions do, could you tell us?
=== From Sylvia's Place ===
6 Potions of Cure Light Wounds
2 Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
2 Potions Remove Sickness
1 Potion Delay Poison
Wand of Cure Light Wounds with 38 charges remaining
wand of cure Serious Wounds with 22 charges remaining.
Two potions remain unidentified.
=== Cabin where we rescued Sylvia ===
--Several maps of the area
--Type II Necklace of Fireballs, but the 8d6 bead has been used, leaving only two 4d6 and two 2d6 beads (Fireball at spot thrown, DC 14)
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You bury the bodies, before leaving and head back to the village. . .
"Oh yes, of course. . . this one is a potion of acid breath, and this one is a potion of alter person."
Turning to Viatrix, "Oh, aye, I can mix you up some powder- give me a few days, but I cannot help with the bullets themselves."
Malik asks the others as they return to town, So we've got an invading army on our doorsteps, and likely another one a week out. Now some of the Easterners have sided with this Mad Huntsman also... Anything else to darken our door today? the barkeep asks idly.
Once we get Sylvia back home, we can reconvene at the Thirst, and go from there. This is going to be a hard couple of weeks I'm guessing. Malik looks out under the trees, distracted by his own thoughts on the matter.
Okay. I need to check the shop and see if there are any orders, but then I'll come by the bar.
Maybe we should expand the patrols, so that we are checking on the people on the outskirts of town more often? I feel like people are trying to pick us off as the bystanders in this pointless conflict. In fact, maybe we should have a town meeting and see if anyone else has heard anything. I want to get on top of these problems. ... Or if you think that a meeting will just stir up trouble, maybe we just pass the word to Glenda? If she knows, eventually everyone will know, after all.
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Viatrix nods to Sylvia, agreeing with the deal as it stands. She remains quiet for the walk back, but as they discuss relating the plan to the townsfolk, she speaks up. "We could call the meeting somethin boring like a schoolboard meeting or a community theater production."
I'd say we pass it by word of mouth for now, and then we'll figure out how to get people together en masse. Obviously these Westerners only care for their own people, and not ours, so we'll need to look out for us. And like I said, the East army is likely only five days out? So we better be quick about organizing. Malik looks over the ragged group, smiling.
How'd I get myself into this again? I came here to get away from soldiers and wars, and now I'm right in the middle of both.... How will the food hold out when the East arrives? Going to have to get damn creative with this one...
Come on, lets settle in at the Tavern, have a pint, on me, and we'll go from there.
You relax for the evening, and spend the following day about your various businesses, with surprisingly minimal hassle from the army currently decamped inside your village.
Until about mid-afternoon, as least, when Balthazar brings a letter round, several copies of the same letter, in fact, dropping them with each of you and without waiting for an answer so that you receive them in similar time sequence.
Fair hosts,
My spies and scouts have brought an interesting piece of information about a particular asset which the bastard rebels have brought in their army-- a Gnomish Great Cannon.
I am sure you are aware of this fearsome weapon, which while of limited use against my own Soldiers, will quickly put each and every building in this quant little home of yours to so much ash and rubble.
I do not, as I have already intimated, particularly care if this is the result, though it may be in your interest to follow the enclosed directions to the bridge when I am told they mean to make crossing of the river to join this weapon to their forces.
Adieu,
Sir Kenneth Alintar, the Fifth Earl of Hathington, Brigadier General.
Malik crumples the letter into a ball, looking frustrated behind the bar. Now they want us to do the dirty work for them? Maybe we should see what the Eastern Army has to offer to us? This is ridiculous.
The bartender hasn't put away his armor yet, the sandworn leather still hanging from a peg behind the bar, its accompanying gladius and crossbow nestled against it like a museum relic. I thought I was done bearing arms for other men; although I do suppose we are serving ourselves at the same time.
Malik will continue wiping the bar, and greeting what scant few patrons cross his lintel until he sees Viatrix or Kharalos enter. Barring that, he'll depart at lunchtime to find Kazell at her shop.
Kazell gets the letter and wants to scream, but she refrains since she has someone in the shop. She folds the letter angrily, putting it in an inside pocket of her vest.
She waited, trying to decide whether murdering Kenneth freaking Alintar the moron earl of whatever would be an easier solution than trying to stop the cannon, but then realizes if they don't take out the cannon, then the other side won't KNOW that he is dead and will probably shoot him anyway... ugh.
How could they make it so their town wasn't the center of this pointless war? They couldn't be seen to be taking sides... could they be double agents, feeding both sides information that would move the battle elsewhere?
They might not be skilled enough for that, and were likely to get themselves and the whole town killed...
Evacuation? That would be surrendering everything... anathema. But would it keep the people alive?
She looked up, realizing that Miriam had finally decided on a book and was standing there waiting for her.
Oh, sorry Miriam.
Completing the transaction and having no other current customers, she locked up and headed over to talk to Malik.
When she gets a chance to talk with him without being overheard she shows him the letter and says
Have you seen this? I'm not sure I see any way around taking care of his dirty work this time, but we can't just be his playthings... we have to come up with a larger plan to get them out of this town or we are going to be a constant target.
Frustrated because she doesn't see a way out, she nonetheless pauses, allowing Malik to vent as well, should he wish to do so.
Then she says
It doesn't say when this is happening either... do we need to go NOW?
Malik lets Kazell vent to him, finally producing the crumpled ball of the letter he received, putting it on the bar and letting it sit there a moment before he angrily grabs it and stuffs it back into his pouch, crumpling it further.
Let's talk in the office...
Going into the small cramped office/storeroom/kitchen of the Burning Thirst Malik sits on the counter, offering Kazell his lone chair.
I'm frustrated and perplexed; we're being asked to do his dirty work for him here. I didn't mind overmuch looking for lost soldiers to shift the blame off of the townsfolk for colluding with the 'enemy', but I'm beginning to think the East may be a far better alternative to what we've got here. letting those words hang in the air for a moment, he continues.
We should get Augustus and Viatrix soon, I mean if we had soldiers, we should throw these @sses out of town, but we don't. If we were some great heroes, we could hold the town against both armies, but we're not . We've got some small pile of skills between the four (five?) of us, but not enough to hold out against dozens or even a hundred soldiers at this point in time.
Tapping his fingers idly in a staccato beat on the worn countertop, I came here to get away from soldiers, armies, and orders. This town welcomed me so many years ago, but here we are - in the middle. I'm wondering if we should approach the East, or at least scout their positions and see what they are about? I'm wary of trading for the lesser of two evils, but it may come to that. I don't know what their rules of engagement are, but if they are intending to turn this gnomish weapon of destruction against us, whom they claim to 'rule' over, then they are no better than the West, which we're currently stuck with.
Don't forget, we've got a Mad Huntsman rampaging around the countryside as well; so there's that. Do we still have that cloak from the Eastern army? It may prove handy if we're negotiating with them.
Looking at the Tengu, he asks, What do you think, and I'd like to get the others involved as well in whatever we decide, but we're here now. You and everyone here welcomed me when I didn't have a place to call home, and I'm not about to let that favor go unpaid.
Hmm. I'll have to look through the stuff I brought back. I don't remember if there was a cloak, but you know, I was distracted at the time.
Either way though, it is a good idea. We should probably get uniforms from both sides if we are going to keep trying to keep this town alive.
As for approaching the east... are we sure that they are any better? Were those eastern soldiers that had Sylvia, or just bandits? I would love it if we could actually trust one side or the other, but whatever that holy symbol was, it didn't seem very friendly, and those were not good people, kidnapping. I feel like both sides are falling well short of their claim of being good. To me, playing both sides against each other is the only thing I can think of. Although, that isn't really in our best interest either. For instance, if we had come back and told Earl Alintar about the cabin where Sylvia was trapped, they likely would have killed the soldiers there, but would have also gotten Sylvia killed.
Yeah, looking into the mad huntsman is also a good idea... I'm just so frustrated. It's like we have to suddenly become an elite spy unit or something, just to keep the town alive, and we're just people... just townsfolk. I'm not a soldier... just a bookshop owner with a hobby-level talent in a few magical spells. I can sneak up on an elk in the woods, but it isn't like I can turn invisible or something. I'm willing to take down kidnappers and murderers if we have to make those decisions ourselves, like with Sylvia, but how can we possibly survive... do you really think Alintar warned us about the weapon out of the kindness of his heart?
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Malik nods to Kazell, feeling her frustrations, Um Kazell, I was a quartermaster in a unit which was primarily involved in um, spying, although we called it aggressive reconnaissance... I got away from my life in the army to get away from doing these sorts of things. But I do know we are in a good spot to do exactly what we're talking about here. Malik looks at the walls of the office/kitchen/storeroom and sighs.
We should find Viatrix and Augustus, though, if the four of us are going to be in this, we should all go together and decide what to do as a group.
Come on you two, we should talk about these letters. Kazell and I spoke briefly about it, but we wanted to know your thoughts. I won't speak for her, but I'm frustrated with the entire situation the West is putting us in, and I feel like we need a better plan to help the people survive. Us survive too...What do you think?
I agree we need to plan... but how soon do you think we need to move on this Gnomish weapon? Do we have time to map out our strategy now, or should we talk while we're going out there to take care of it?
As Malik left the bar in search of Augustus and Viatrix, Agustus happened to be walking up to the bar "Agreed." He started gruffly before quieting for his next phrase "I wonder if the coward Balthazar even told the rest of his army what he told us, I can only hope they won't fire on us for running to the enemy." Augustus paused for a moment as Kazell asked her question before responding "Best not to get halfway there before realizing we left something we need for the plan we are making back here, I'd say we form a plan then leave. Do we want to stage at the bar or my stables?"