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Upon learning about Taychar's former service in the Phalanx Marius' demeanor towards him becomes even colder. "You shame your service and your country, Taychar--though I suppose it is good that you're serving Merkondus rather than Taldor herself, in the light of your incompetence. Tell me what you've done or found over the course of your 'investigations' and I will assure the Baron that you've been cooperative."
He rounds upon Embla Hightune upon learning of her connection to the Earl. "Tell me, Miss Hightower, have you anything on you that the Earl would recognize as yours?"
Elmar keeps his silence, as Marius was leading an excellent interrogation and he didn't want to cause an upset in his cadence. However he does transmit a mental message via his familiar, the sing-songy voice coming through quietly in Marius's head.
There may be an opportunity to get them on our side, at least as low level henchmen. They know they're no match for us in guile or strength now, and the offer to look past their crimes in exchange for their cooperation could be enticing.
As the conversation goes on, Rose stands watch with her crossbow nearby, happy to let the interrogation play out. Yet in between glances, she intently studies Embla's mannerisms, quietly muttering to herself as if tasting the other woman's voice until she felt she could reproduce that of the bard on a moment's notice.
There may be an opportunity to get them on our side, at least as low level henchmen. They know they're no match for us in guile or strength now, and the offer to look past their crimes in exchange for their cooperation could be enticing.
She seems confused when Marius glances her way and gives her a sudden look, upon which she looks even more confused. No, it really wasn't her - this time.
"I presume this means we're handing them over to our allies prior to handing them over to the Baron," She eventually says when the interrogration ends and the group convenes mostly amongst themselves. "There's no point in trying to imitate Embla towards Earl Merkorius if he knows she's been taken captive. And it seems foolhardy to return to the city with the mercenaries and expect him not to learn."
Elmar shrugs. "They've shown themselves to not be a threat, we've proven we can outwit them on investigations and out power them in a fight. We have them and can decide their fate. To me it makes sense as a potential bargain to be struck to make themselves indebted to us in exchange for not being turned in for their crimes. Then we have possible allies, possibly infiltrating the enemy. They're not powerful pieces, but taking control of an enemies pawns is more advantageous than removing them from the board. Especially if he thinks they're still on his side, which would prevent him from retaliating to taking them off the board."
He takes a deep inhale and looks to the sky. "However, if the purpose of our being here is to publicly display our superiority, it would make more sense to turn them in. That would be more advantageous for public relations perhaps. I still think it's better to turn them into turncoats and work for us, but I can see the merit in throwing the book at them."
"The question is if they will. The mercenaries were directly hired by the Earl, and Embla is a socialite associated with him. Can we expect them to double cross both loyalties when we are no longer present? I am no sellsword, but I imagine if it came out that I betrayed an employer, that would look bad on my future career prospects."
She sighs and gazes over the plains. "I suppose we could offer to take them into the princess' employ. However..." She lowers her voice further and is almost embarassed to elaborate. "Have you SEEN how bad they are at their job? Do we *really* want them on our side? I'm almost more tempted to let them be so their mere presence alone sabotages Merkorius' efforts."
Marius finishes tying off the hands of the last of the opposing group and comes to join the discussion.
"So far all they've demonstrated is poor judgement and a willingness to commit murder. This is a brazen assassination attempt and we should make hay from it, since I don't trust this group to be competent turncoats even if I thought they'd be sincere about it. Which they wouldn't."
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"I was not suggesting an allyship in earnest, more of a blackmail situation. And then discard them when convenient. But your concerns are valid, perhaps the effort would not be worth the value of the low level pieces." Elmar waves his hand, as if making an agreement on what they would be having for brunch. "Let's keep it simple than, turn them in."
With some grumbling and many dark glares in the direction of Eutropia's agents, the Kozan Bravos let themselves be dragged back to Yanmass. Embla Hightune seems the least concerned, likely trusting in her patron to protect her from any repercussions, while Grammell Taychar's countenance gets stormier the closer they get to the city.
The Firewatch patrol they come across escorts them to the headquarters, where the bravos will be questioned.
"We've lost enough time to these villains already, let's not waste any more daylight."
As the Bravos are turned over to the city watch, Marius provides a sworn testimony on the attempted assassination attempt, and dispatches a runner to deliver a note to Baron Kustios.
The note is short and to the point, briefly describing the attack and the Bravos' arrest, and asking the Baron to for the favor of keeping them imprisoned even if Earl Merkondus should attempt to intervene--at least until Marius and his entourage returned from their bandit-hunting mission.
Kela has nothing to say regarding the nature of the next steps with the prisoners, only vouching briefly that the others’ statements are true, and admitting openly to threatening to get them if they didn’t surrender - after all, it would have been self defense…
She makes it clear to the ringleader that if the party was attacked again, his paramour would be the first to die - and she would go out screaming.
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With this incident behind them, the party is able to resume their journey into the Whistling Plains. As a local, Elmar is able to provide some additional background on Tallgrasses, the caravanserai that might be serving as a base to these bandits that have been raiding the caravans.
Catering to Qadiran travelers coming from the east and merchants leaving Taldor from the south or west, Tallgrasses has always occupied a tense position between the two nations. The original owners of the caravanserai were the Douniette family, Taldan aristocrats able to trace their noble lineage back for several centuries. For decades, they operated Tallgrasses with keen diplomacy. In the end though, the caravanserai was doomed not by politics or violence, but by weather: a particularly hot series of summers 20 years ago caused the caravanserai’s wells to dry up. The baron at that time seized the opportunity to drive out the "horselord sympathizers" by raising the price on exported water. The Douniettes had no choice but to close the caravanserai and move back to Yanmass. When the rains returned, the two primary legal claimants to Tallgrasses killed each other in a duel, leaving the caravanserai’s ownership unclear. The site has remained shuttered since then.
The caravanserai lies about 15 miles east of Yanmass, and the road that leads to it has become overgrown.
Hobbling his horse and tying it off to a small tree out of view of the caravanserai, Marius creeps forward with the others to get a better look at the waystation. Kneeling in the grass at the top of a small rise, he looks for signs of inhabitation or occupation.
As Marius takes a few steps away from his horse he hears a high, whistling sound just before an arrow thuds into his upper arm. Several others hit the dry earth mere inches from him. The horse nickers in alarm, pulling at the reins. At the same time, two huge lions bound out of the tall grasses, making for Barcos and Baron Barksley.
Before anyone can recover from the surprise, another volley of arrows slices the air, a few finding their targets. Their assailants are still mostly concealed in the grass, only their heads and shoulders visible. They seem to be wearing typical Qadiran attire, their heads swathed in long strips of fabric that cover most of the face. They wield short, powerful bows featuring the compact recurve typical of horse archers.
Kela scoffs, ”you swine, you cowards! You will regret this…” and she pats her horse as she imbues her speech with magical potency, and then summons slowing magic on all the enemies.
Elmar bares his teeth in response to the arrow, ripping it out with a wince of pain. Then he chants a familiar incantation and moves himself back and behind cover.
Reasoning that a druid is equipped to handle a lion, Marius whispers a prayer and goes invisible, pushing forward towards the archers.
All but one of the attackers seem to fall under Kela's slowing magic and they scowl as they feel their movements become sluggish.
Barcos takes a step back from the lions and places a hand on the back of his canine companion. He mutters a phrase in druidic and Baron Barksley's mighty bite gets just a bit stronger.
Cat versus dog, the classic showdown.
Baron Barksley was sure he would win.
With magically enhanced speed he bites at the lion that had attacked him.
But big-time whiffs it.