Oh no, they're all spread out. I was hoping to catch them all. Agnatha bursts up from her hiding place and completes her spell, hoping to ending the fight quickly.
Will saves: Bandit #1: ; Bandit #2: ; Happs:
As Agnatha finishes casting her spell Happs manages to shout out to the others before falling to the ground, fast asleep. The remaining bandits caught in the area of effect of the spell simply slump over in their saddles.
Ragnor calls on the power of his magic to shield him in the coming fight before kicking open the door and stepping forward long sword held in guard position ready to counter any strike leveled at him. Throw down your weapons or end up like your friends face down in the dirt!
Davor already having his weapon out then charges at the nearest bandit that's awake, giving no time to surrender.
crit threat
"Throw down your weapons, or you too shall face Gorum's Steel!" he roars with the firghtening horror of the very abyss from where the Orc race once came from deep in the darklands. It's unlikely any of you would've heard such a roar.
At the signal from Agnatha, followed by Ragnor's warning and subsequently Davor's strike, Holbrecht begins the act of closing the gate to prevent escape.
At the signal from Agnatha, followed by Ragnor's warning and subsequently Davor's strike, Holbrecht begins the act of closing the gate to prevent escape.
Nicos Pops out of hiding and sends a bolt towards the trailing bandit.
There's the signal! Tarith thinks to himself. Time to go!
Tarith runs out of the building and sees three bandits down. For now, his job is to protect Oleg.
As Agnatha stands up to cast her spell, the bandit leader notices her and issues a warning shout before succumbing to the effects of that spell while two other bandits slump in their saddles, asleep. While the remaining bandits attempt to take in their leaders warning Davor emerges from the barn and in a shower of blood cuts a bandit down causing the body to fall to the ground.
Ragnor steps from the barn and casts a spell as a glowing disk of force appears before him. As both he and Davor shout for the bandits to surrender Holbrecht begins to close off the only avenue of escape left while Caelius, taking the bandit completely by surprise, gives the closest bandit something else to think about by shooting the mounted bandit with his crossbow, the bolt lodging deep in the bandits thigh, the tell tale deep red blood of an arterial wound rhythmically pumping from his leg as the man falls from his horse.
Tarith bursts from the door of the main house, weapon drawn, and takes a defensive stance in front of Oleg.
Round #1
Bandits:
Oleg:
Dumbstruck by the pure audacity that they would be attacked the bandits lose precious seconds before reacting to the threats at hand.
Trading Post Round 1
Round 1 action
Davor will use a swift action to cast a Judgement of Justice in hopes to take down this enemy just as swiftly.
Attack:
Crit threat:
damage:
Agnatha will ready a splintered spear for any bandit that makes a hostile move. Otherwise, she will wait to see if they give up.
Attack:
Damage:
Caelius slings his crossbow on his back and moves to help Holbrecht close the door.
Ragnor maneuvers himself to keep Davor out of the spells effects as he extends his free hand and casts the spell sending a clashing cascade of colors at the bandit.
Davor rushes the remaining bandit and swings his mighty sword in a vicious arc that strikes the bandit, staggering him and leaving him wobbling woozily in the saddle.
After Davor hit, Ragnor steps up and unleashes a corruscating cone of colors that blankets the area.
DC:13
Bandit #1:
Horse #1:
Horse #2:
bringing both horse and rider crashing to the ground, unconscious.
Bandit #1 takes an additional points of damage when his horse falls on him.
Caelius moves quickly to the nearest bandit.
"Holbrecht, wounded men here!"
Caelius eases the dying would-be-bandit off his horse and lays him on the ground.
Tarith moves to stand over the sleeping bandit leader ready to strike should he wake up and try to stand. "Do we have enough time t' tie these men up? There's some rope in the chest by the bed I slept in."
Holbrecht finalizes the closing the gate, no task left unfinished, before moving to the area in the middle of the fallen bandits. "I would rather we secure them, to avoid pushing the limit of what actions they resort to in desperation, before I provide care for our enemies." he states matter of factly. "Where I'm from, though, there isn't much in the way of mercy granted to those that oppose the just and proper way of comporting oneself." He adds, inferring his opinion on whether the bandits should be healed or not in the first place.
Holbrecht finalizes the closing the gate, no task left unfinished, before moving to the area in the middle of the fallen bandits. "I would rather we secure them, to avoid pushing the limit of what actions they resort to in desperation, before I provide care for our enemies." he states matter of factly. "Where I'm from, though, there isn't much in the way of mercy granted to those that oppose the just and proper way of comporting oneself." He adds, inferring his opinion on whether the bandits should be healed or not in the first place.
"Thank you Holbrecht. I consider this a personal favor."
Ragnor gets the rope he normally stores in his pack mule bags to tie up the bandits.
From the wall, Agnatha shouts, "It worked! It worked! I mean, I thought it would work. The book said it would. But you never know. Just putting men to sleep with a gesture and some words. It worked!." She races down the steps, babbling all the while until she hits Davor's handiwork. "Oh." Agnatha pales noticeably.
With all the bandits down or unconscious the combat is finished,so yes you can resume normal actions. All the bandits are still alive though the ones the Caelius and Davor critted are still in the negatives, but stable.
With all the bandits down or unconscious the combat is finished,so yes you can resume normal actions. All the bandits are still alive though the ones the Caelius and Davor critted are still in the negatives, but stable.
"Well, that went.. well. We were able to work together like finely greased cogs, to accomplish the mission as we intended. Now, we have to decide how much time we have before they are expected back." he states pleased. "If I am not needed, I will set about fashioning the closing and locking gate mechanism. We may no doubt need to close up quickly if more bandits come." Holbrecht declares, seeming content with one task finished and ready to start another.
As Ragnor comes out of the stables with two 50 foot lengths of rope. setting the rope down near the closest sleeping bandit. In preparation of binding the culprits.
I have four sacks in my saddle bags.
Agnatha sit speechless for several moments, staring at the blood of the wounded. Suddenly, she comes to. "Why are you binding the wounds of those men, Caelius? Do you take pleasure in killing them twice? We shall only have to hang them once they have recovered. I see the wisdom in questioning one or two of these men, but for the rest, wouldn't it be more of a mercy to end their lives now? I assure you, they would not grant me the mercy of a quick death."
Holbrecht, initially not addressing the issue by nature of assuming he was alone in his opinion, shuffles through some of his notes before reading aloud. "The lady speaks true, the charter we were given in fact does state," he clears his throat "The carrier of this charter should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. " This last part he emphasizes as the point he was making with the text.
He then begins to ramble "Now sword may or may not be intended... of course it's intended... but by sword... like by weapon and or combat.... or is it sword specifically.... I think for the sake of maintaining the legality, sword should be adhered to.... as an act of execution.... they cannot surely mean that to fall in combat we must all bear swords.... curious."
"I guess if they are repentant, that begs the question of execution. since the key definition is 'Unrepetant Banditry'" he adds with finality.
Their is nothing so fierce as an animal backed into a corner. If the bandits know with certainty that once we catch up to them the only option they have is death by hanging or death by the sword why would they ever do anything except fight to the death. To the leaders I think they should be executed with his men as witnesses to the deed. Then we should mark them in some fashion such as with a arcane mark to their cheek. Have them try to explain that to their fellow thieves and cutthroats. If we see them again they are executed. I agree that killing them now would be the simpler coarse but allowing them to live and marking them for their trouble will provide us a greater benefit in the future. Especially since it is doubtful that our future confrontations will be this easy. As he talks Ragnor finishes binding one of the bandits before moving on to the next.
"As I said before, we make an example of them. Cut off their heads and stick them on pikes. It sends a message to keep them away." Davor hefts his blade up, walking over to the nearest one. "Interrorgate the leader. I'll start collecting heads." he prepares his blade, ready to coup de grace the bandit he mortally wounded earlier with his sword.
Caelius moves rapidly to stand between Devor and his victim.
"No one dies here today." "These men (assuming all men? Correct gender count otherwise.) made bad choices. They were stupid and badly led. But which of us have not made stupid mistakes. Killing someone who is trying to end you is one thing; heck even trapping your enemy is forgivable. But there is a word for people who hack apart the defenseless. If you want to be a murderer Devor, start with me.
Caelius raises his voice here to allow all the bandits and Oleg to hear. [b]"We are not here to simply kill. That would make us worse then these idiots. The Sword lords attention is on the Greenbelt. With that attention comes opportunity, take advantage of it and profit or get swept aside. As of now the penalty for unrepentant banditry is death. The penalty for repentance is becoming a free member of an independent community. Time to choose.'
Caelius mouths "well done" to Devor and slips him a wink before turning is back to the half-orc and helping to tend the wounded.
Davor growls at this suggestion as he was clearly serious about the murder. He leers at the bandits with rage and keeps his blade out and ready for those who'd choose not to repent.
"In Belkzen, you'd get no second chance." he growls and leers at the bandits, making sure that they know he's serious, especially by dropping the name 'Beklzen' which it's reputation should carry. "If anyone resists, you sharpen spikes for their heads."
Intimidate
Believe me, I have no problem with putting these bandits t' rest for their evil deeds. But I see the logic in Caelius's words. Happs dies hear and now. The rest of ye have a chance t' redeem yerselves. But hear me when I say this. You double-cross us or run back to yer pals and I personally see ya beheaded with this here axe.
With this he raises it up above Happs and unless someone decides to stop him will go for a coup de grace.
Following the blow, Tarith looks to Caelius and nods with respect.
"Brother Dwarf, before you bring down your blade, don't we need to question him first... and if our decision is to free the repentant... that's what we decided right.... then would it not be just to allow this Happs fellow to declare his own repentance?" as an afterthought he expounds "I care not one whit about this mans life, but if we are meting out justice, then are we not subject to follow our own standards of declaring who or what is or is not just? We do not know if this man's deeds are any more or less heinous than any of the others, just that he had the wherewithal to issue orders given to him by the bandit leader.... if you all think the onus of leadership assigns more guilt to him... okay by me, I just need to know where we are making a stand.... at least for the sake of logging what actions we take journalistically." He stares at the group for a few blinks, then returns to his plans for the gate system.
After a moment he looks up and responds "I may even have access to a prayer that would help in the questioning, I need to seek Brigh's guidance to be certain."
... unless someone decides to stop him
Move quickly to put my body between Happs and the axe.
"TARITH NO!"
If I am in time to stop the murdering dwarf.
In a voice loud enough for all the living and awake bandits to hear.
Have you gone mad? Are you so drunk on bloodlust that you would slake this unnatural thirst on BOUND AND SLEEPING PRISIONERS! I have heard tales of dwarven honor and bravery, the skalds must have left out the parts where the great kings and heroes hacked their helpless sleeping enemies to peices. Is this what your ancestors taught? Is this the lesson you learned at your father's knee."
"Did you fail to read the document you signed before you came here? Or is the written word, like your sense of honor something you ignore when it gets in the way of your pleasure? Our charter states the unrepentant bandits are to face death. Did you catch that little word there? I will repeat it if it went over your head. UNREPENTANT. This man is asleep. He cannot choose to repent or not in his sleep. This is basic logic but apparently that is too much for your blood addled brain to grasp so I will make things simple. NO..ONE..DIES..TODAY."
If I am too late.
Also in a voice loud enough to be heard by all.
"So this is how we begin. This is how we bring peace and civilization to this outland. With more blood. With bound men killed in their sleep. Before they had the chance to save themselves by repenting and standing by their word. Well bravo Tarith. Here Caelius starts clapping. See the brave dwarven hero defeat his mighty foe! An unarmed, bound and sleeping man. Oh how proud your father must be to know that his son is brave enough to murder a helpless man in his sleep. Oh how the bards will sing of this. This great victory of Tarith Ordin over his helpless foe will be sung in taverns and guild halls from Westcrown to Tien. All hail the mighty hero! Caelius spits at Tarith's feet. "Now grab a shovel and bury the man you murdered. It was your work, you should be proud to finish it."
Davor nods,considering Caelius for a moment.
"They threatened Oleg and his wife, even threats of taking his wife off for 'payment'. Death is too good for them, Let Pharasma judge them." Davor seems quite adamant that they deserve this punishments for their threats.
Prior to the Tarith's move . . . Agnatha will say, quietly to Caelius, "I appreciate your belief in redemption, but I see no way that we can trust these men, Caelius. They will say anything to save their lives. Anything. But if you let them go today, tomorrow we will find them waiting to pay us back for our deeds today."
Once Caelius makes his speech, assuming he did stop Tarith, Agnatha says: "Caelius, I fear you do not understand the Sword Lords. They care little for repentance. That is simply window dressing for the more faint of heart. Nor, do I expect, do they care one whit for any of the other words on that piece of paper. The Sword Lords will support us, if it is expedient for them. For now, they are happy to have us map this area and perhaps bring a little order to their trade routes. Tomorrow, their views may change. The charter gives us an excuse to be out here, but truly we are on our own. We can decide what justice is in these lands. As I said, I would love to give these men a chance at redemption, but how can we trust them not to run back to Castle, or Cassie or whatever their boss's name was and bring twice the men here tomorrow to kill us all?'
If we have the ability to determine their intent to turn over a new leaf as Holbrecht suggests shouldn't we seek justice in a thoughtful and planned manner rather then simply putting them to the sword. What ever The Sword Lords intent I do not plan to make light of taking a helpless mans life with out at least some consideration. I still feel that the leader should be hung because he has proven a willing to plan, orchestrate and encourage others to banditry but I am willing to at least have the man speak on his own behalf before taking that final step. Ragnor finishes tying one more bandit and moves on to another.
o Castle, or Cassie or whatever their boss's name was and bring twice the men here tomorrow to kill us all?'[/b]
"Kressle, if you are going to use the woman to bolster your desire to kill five men then try to get her name right.
Not that it matters now anyway. We are known to be here. If Kressle is not aware of us now she will be in a day or to at the most regardless of what we do to these men. She will come, this so called Stag Lord will come, as they choose. If they come we will kill them, or trick them or we will die. This pitiful handful will make little difference in a full assault.
But they are important. Very important. Because it is true we are on our own. But we are not alone and that is why what happens to these men is vital. Look around you, what do you see. The trading post, the forest. What you do not see are the people in that forest. They are there though and they are watching. These lands are rich enough to support a large enough bandit presence to make the nobles notice. Just like it takes many deer to support a wolf that means there are people here for them to prey on. Those are the people who matter to us. Not these.
If we kill these men what are we saying to the people of the greenbelt. Are we saying that their lives are going to change? Are we giving them hope for a future? No. We are just another band of cut-throats come to feed off of them. Just more wolves. But what if we let these men repent of their crimes and leave the Greenbelt forever. What are we saying if we give them a chance to find a different life. That tells the good people of the Greenbelt that something different is happening. Something new. It might mean they give us a listen, lend a hand, stand up and help us fight. That is why we let these men live. Because right now right here we are making a legend and we need to decide right here and right now if we are the heroes or just another damned band of bastards."
"You!" Turning to address one of the bandits, not the leader. What is your name? Why are you here in the greenbelt? What would you do, right now if I gave you an axe and enough food to reach Restov or Pitax? Tell the truth you poor bastard because your life is hanging by a thread.
With no way to verify their honesty, Holbrecht listens intently to their answers to see if they are rational responses.
"Be wary of your faith in the nature of others, Caelius... especially those that flagrantly disregard the law." Holbrecht warns. "I understand the rationale of your argument, and agree that there should not be rampant execution without a standard to follow in sentencing. We should, however, establish a manner of determining a true desire to repent beyond just the words of a witnessed criminal. As I also agree with Agnatha, that most criminals... even most people.. will lie to save their own lives. Without established practices, we will resort to this disagreement every time a prisoner is taken."
With no way to verify their honesty, Holbrecht listens intently to their answers to see if they are rational responses.
"Be wary of your faith in the nature of others, Caelius... especially those that flagrantly disregard the law." Holbrecht warns. "I understand the rationale of your argument, and agree that there should not be rampant execution without a standard to follow in sentencing. We should, however, establish a manner of determining a true desire to repent beyond just the words of a witnessed criminal. As I also agree with Agnatha, that most criminals... even most people.. will lie to save their own lives. Without established practices, we will resort to this disagreement every time a prisoner is taken."
Tarith, a bit relieved that he didn't have to do any killing (at least not yet), lowers his axe. He looks to Caelius and nods to him again, to show his respect. I can see myself getting behind this man. But I do believe we'll need to do something to make these men do not return for revenge.
We don't need to be hasty on what to do with these men. They are not an immediate threat we can take our time to discuss what must be done once our blood has had time to cool from the excitement of battle. Ragnor finishes tying up the remaining uninjured bandits. do you think I need to tie up the others they don't look so good but I am not a healer and am not knowledgeable enough to make that kind of judgment. Saying this he begins confiscating any weapons within easy reach of the bandits and putting them to the side.
"So if we don't just kill them as bandits, murderers, and rapist, does anyone have a good idea what to do with these men?" Agnatha pauses. "Frankly, I am afraid of them. We got lucky here. I don't know if we can so easily win a second fight with these guys and their friends."
We have little in the way of resource to imprison these men in the long term that leaves us limited options we can kill them. I can see doing this in cases where we are certain that the bandit in question is not redeemable will reoffend or has done something where killing them seems a balanced response. We can mark them as I suggested and tell them if we find them in the greenbelt again they will be assumed to have retaken to banditry and killed. The only other option after that as I see it is pressing them to service to make amends for their misdeeds but I agree with Lady Agnatha that it would be hard to trust them not to try and take advantage of our compassion we might be able to have one or two in the party but it would be a risky decision. Ragnor seems thoughtful for a moment. It really appears we have only two reasonable choices that allow us to continue with our mission at this point we hang or put to the sword those we find unredeemable and mark and exile those we feel will take their second chance to heart. In the future we may have other options and can reevaluate how we do things then.
Holbrecht, once again breaking away from his work and measurements, speaks up. "First, I think we should finalize the exactitude of our punishment decisions, until the prisoners are out of earshot. It may color their honesty.... that is, whatever honesty one can expect from lawbreaking bandits....or even those willing to follow the key leaders of the banditry." He adds questioningly, "I'm not exactly certain on the overall effect of this 'Arcane Mark', but what if we mark those willing to 'repent', and they can perform labor during the span that the mark exists... someone said a month?... they could earn their freedom by PROVING their repentance before we unmark them to go their own way."
Davor groans as he grows bored with this argument.
"You know my decision. Call me when you need my blade." he takes his blade, walking out into the open and demonstraiting powerful swings as he trains with his blade, hoping the next battle won't have such boring and diplomatic talks.
"You!" Turning to address one of the bandits, not the leader. What is your name? Why are you here in the greenbelt? What would you do, right now if I gave you an axe and enough food to reach Restov or Pitax? Tell the truth you poor bastard because your life is hanging by a thread"
In a perfect world Holbrecht we would be able to do just that but we have no where to hold these men. We have no one to watch them while they perform the work. I certainly don't feel comfortable simply trusting to leave them with Oleg and Svetlana to work for their freedom or following us in the wilds where they could be a liability or a threat.
"I fear I agree with Ragnor. We cannot leave the in the care of Oleg and Svetlana. Perhaps we can offer those who wish to stay a chance to help us against their fellow bandits? I don't know . . . It seems that giving them the choice of the sword or exile is our best shot. Do we need to isolate one or two to interrogate them before we carry out our poor excuse for justice? I can attempt to magically charm one of them. We need to know where these men rode from.
... Do we need to isolate one or two to interrogate them before we carry out our poor excuse for justice? I can attempt to magically charm one of them. We need to know where these men rode from."
"Yes there is a great deal they can tell us. Shall we start with the leader or one of the others?"
After several seconds the bandit that Ragnor had stunned begins to come around, follwed by the remaining ones that Agnatha had lulled to sleep with her spell.
Finding themselves stripped of weapons and armor many of the men seem somewhat abashed while others seem more defiant, taking their cue from their leader.
Almost immediately after waking up, Happs begins shouting for Oleg "LEVETON!, What's the meaning of this? Kressle will have your head for this, and our men will have your pretty wife, too!"
You feel that this a show of desperate bravado. Happs knows he's in trouble and is trying to bully his way out