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"Goblins are Bizarre sure enough," Mikos snorts. "I'd like to take a looksee, but happy to do so after we've made the rounds," he give Keg a nod.
Mikos takes in the view. "Well, this certainly looks less Inevitable. A tour would be appreciated, Peet. Ben has a Lady Wizard friend we might want to check on as well. Also, I lost my sword along the Crusade Road and heard that um, "lost" things had a habit of showing up here, if you know what I mean. If you have any ideas where stolen weapons or other things might wash up, I'd appreciate a heads up. Oh, and we heard there were goblins actually living in town. Is that true?"
Mikos looks over the Spire. "Hells if I know. Magical apparently." He turns to Peet, grimacing as the piercing he received twinges. "Well, some were more successful at fighting off devils than others. But we were going to set up camp and I actually would agree at this point that out of sight of the Spire is probably a good idea."
Mikos listens closely to Keg. " Isn't that like an elf angel or something? Well, you're just in time then, Varuna. I'm Mikos. That's Rodi, Keg, and Ben. Looks like you caught us on a good deed; we're returning this kid here to his family. Maybe you can put a good word for us up above."
Mikos raises his eyebrows and slowly stands. "As to where you are: Well, it appears that you're floating above the ground. Are you sure that you aren't a ghost?" Mikos shrugs. "We're in the River Kingdoms. I know there are a bunch of demons a bit north at the Worldwound. Lots of crusaders heading up that way, but didn't know there were any devils around aside from the Chelish curs over at Fort Inevitable. Could be those devil worshippers sent some of their buddies after you."
Mikos looks pale and gingerly feels the large scar from the near fatal glaive piercing. "Well, thanks for saving me from Hell, Elf." he rasps. "How did you get a swarm of devils on you? Did you come from the Spire?"
Mikos' eyes blink open in alarm. "I dreamt I was a hog on a spit. If you're killed by devils, do you end up in Hell?"
Mikos gasps as he is transfixed by the devil's glaive in a spray of blood and evil. He slides off the blade to hit the ground unmoving.
Mikos steps up from behind and lunges at the devil.
Mikos starts as Keg grabs his bleeding would to pack something onit, but recovers enough to take a stab at the diverted devil.
Mikos considers the bottle of silversheen in his pack. "Now you tell us. Hardly seems worth breaking it out at this point though." He lumbers over to the remaining devil and stop at the edge of glaive reach to lunge twice with the falchion.
Mikos tries to parry the polearm, but feels infernal steel and evil bite into his flesh. A little more desperate he continues lunging past Keg to hack at the devil.
Mikos sees that the elf is too far away to help so he yells for the elf to move this way and thuds over to engage the closest devil.
"Well, this is new," Mikos startles at the unexpeturn of events.
"Well, there's the Spire, Peet. Nothing to be afraid of though there is definitely some weirdness within. We could continue on another hour to set up camp so that it's out of sight if you like," Mikos offers.
Mikos laughs, "Never was a bounty. Keg. I wasn't going to argue economics with the Abadarites. Killing goblins is just for my personal enjoyment."
Mikos nods. " Wagon track ought to be the quickest way to get you home. We can always come back for the goblins later."
Mikos chuckles. "Oh, we're quite familiar with the Spire. I'm not concerned about passing by there, but I wouldn't say no to the chance to kill a bunch of goblins."
"Don't know why he'd be calling any of us gentlefolk," Mikos shrugs. "Nothing gentle about us."
Mikos lifts an eyebrow at Rodi's appearance wondering what kind of situation they left at Fort Inevitable. Hopefully, the crew won't need to return there for a while. "I expect we should swing by Jeck's place on the way. Is it near Thornkeep, Peet?"
Mikos nods. "Might have at that. Well, let's get away from the fort and closer to your home then." Mikos leads on to the meeting point.
Something occurs to Mikos. "Could be they might be willing to spend a good bit of coin for that little book of incriminating evidence we found against the Hellknights," Mikos ponders with a smile slapping Ben on the shoulder. "I don't suppose you've heard anything about where they're based, Peet?"
"Company of the... eh, you know, I don't think that we ever decided. Well, not important, I guess." Mikos continues leading the way into the woods and Away from Fort Inevitable. "Oh yeah, I think I saw a wanted poster or something about the Foxes. If they're harassing the Hellknight, they can't be that bad. I'm kinda off crusades' though, not particularly profitable. At least for the crusaders."
Mikos sighs as he notices Rodi hasn't followed and turns his attention to Peet. "This way through the woods; the Hellknights stick to the road. Yeah, too bad Drurn didn't put up more of a fight. Keg would have really enjoyed giving him a taste of his own lash. How did you end up in his "service" anyway?" "No. Who are these Seven Foxes? We're new here. Got our own company, the um..."
"Fair enough," Mikos tells Keg. "If you can't get to the Lady Commander, I reckon one of those Pike Knights will do. Like the one that was on our caravan, Sir Ullust. I'm going after Peet. We'll be on the old wagon track. It's better if we stay away from the main road."
Mikos rolls his eyes. "And we just say that we saw him beating his slaves to death and stepped in to tell him off. He ran away and so did his slaves. And look there's a dead one to prove our point. No laws broken on our part, yet. Look, can't say that I care for the Hellknights, at all, but I'd rather keep things as is until after we get a good look at Thornkeep."
Mikos shakes his head. "Too late for Bonny. What do you think, Keg? From what Rodi says, you could call the Hellknights down on Drurn. I'm gonna get Peet started up north, but if you want to swing by town and be a good citizen, we could meet up north. I've had enough heroics for today."
"Eh," Mikos gestures for the boy to go hide in the woods and follows after his enthusiastic companions. "Alright, wait up." As they near the house he calls out, " We're not done yet, Drurn. Heard there's one left that's too hurt to work. Send out Bonny and we'll leave you be."
"Stay clear of the road," Mikos warns the departing slaves making to follow, but stops at Peet's hesitation. "Of course there is. In for a bit, in for a crown," he shakes his head and looks toward the nearby fort for any reaction. "Don't know if you can afford to lose your head start on the Hellknights though, kid. Best make for the woods and get started. Maybe one of us can go with you and the rest will catch up."
"Your cousin asked us to check on you. We didn't exactly like what we saw so how about we get out of here? You may need to head a bit out of the Hell Knight's domain, but beyond that, it's doubtful anyone in the River Kingdoms is going to support any claim of ownership on a slave."
Mikos shrugs and turns to the slaves. "Now which one of you is Peet?"
Mikos turns back to Drurn. "Ah, you're right, Keg. We help one and this lowlife keeps beating the rest. How about we see how well he likes being on the receiving side of a beating? Maybe he'll think twice about how he treats his employees in the future." So saying, Mikos drops his falchion to the ground and advances with a pair of fists.
Mikos nods still thinking. "Your call, Keg. I'm not necessarily opposed to violence though better to stop at assault than murder. If we just beat in his thick head and the slaves escape while he's knocked out, so be it. Simple misunderstanding. 'We saw this raving orc attacking these poor herdsman, your honor. Thought we were defending civilization and all.' "
Mikos puts his coins away. "Alright. Can't say I like any of it, but I'm not a crusader. I said I'd check on the kid and I'm not liking what I see. So what's your suggestion? Are we giving him a chance to change his ways, giving him a beating of his own, or just burying him?"
Mikos sighs, muttering, "We're not buying a slave, we're buying his freedom" as he counts out the coins.
Mikos snorts and grins over at Keg. "Well, they do say that freedom isn't free."
"Well, that's beside the point. We need young Peet back. We'd entertain paying off his debt, but if it comes to it- F_k the Hellknights."
Mikos gives a sideways look at Bruno. "Ummm, you sure about that, Drurn? Haggling will be less painful. Let me tell you that."
Mikos shrugs, "You've got a point. I trust my dwarves for the metal stuff, but perhaps I could use a some help with the leather stuff. Your uh, assistants seem to have had some hard experience with leather from the hoof up. Maybe I can take a younger one off your hands in the deal. Who are we looking at here?"
"My name's Mikos. I know a couple dwarves as you see and it occurred to me that we could go into the armoring business. We'd need high quality leather from a reputable dealer, of course."
Oh wow. Glad to hear that you are ok. It was fairly mild though or did it get worse?
How we all doing? Still pretty busy?
I figured/hoped we were on a holiday break. Thanks for the update and I hope you're enjoying your holidays. Looking forward to carrying on next year. Happy New Year, all!
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