The Lost (IC)

[dauphinous]

This seems to be more in line with what they were expecting, judging by their assorted expressions and mild head shakes. "Right. You ain't no different from nobody else." He shakes his own head. "There ain't no children."

[Santanya]

Quanos

Quanos stands at the edge of the road, looking over the men that surrendered themselves, his hand never leaving the hilt of his sword. He could feel the dismay at what had gone on somewhere deeper inside him, but at the same time there was a coldness in his demeanor that was not normally there. In the back of his mind he could feel the training that had been spent on Quanos. He simply stood there, quiet in the rain.

He looks towards Alistair as he asks about having them join in and shakes his head. <english>"That's asking to be stabbed in the back,"</english> he says coldly, then looks back to the men. <english>"And turning over one to see how the baron responds would do nothing but cause trouble as well. If you see him be charitable, he asks why you did not turn them all over to him. If he is not, then word will spread back to him that we did not turn the prisoners over to him."</english>

He takes a few steps towards the captured men and looks them over. "Your lives are in our hands," he says looking from man to man. "Unless you give us reason to be different from the others, you are nothing more than momentary inconviences preventing us from reaching our goals." He looks directly to the man that spoke as he adjusts his grip on the longsword at his side. "Give us a reason to be... different."

Spoiler

Show

Intimidation: 30

[Alicorn]

Annika/Persis

"Well, he didn't say how old they are. They might not be me-sized kids," says Annika helpfully. "We're looking for the offspring of the Baron, regardless of whether they're old enough to - um - I was going to say "drive", but - anyway, regardless of how old they are."

[Wiz]

Diedre

Diedre looks at the prisoners. "So, there are no children. The baron's children haven't been kidnapped by you. Who's word should we take... the group who was planning to attack us from ambush, or the rightful lord of these lands and protector of his people." She looks at the prisoners, "Let me suggest another possibility, whoever leads you did not consider you important enough to tell you that he was going to up the stakes by kidnapping the Baron's offspring. Still, you would be guilty of the crime by associating with the one's who committed it." She looks them over again, "Perhaps you'd like to mitigate your criminal activities by telling us something of your group, why you banded together... and who leads you?"

[Alicorn]

Annika/Persis

<English>"Diedre? I don't think the "arrogant and self-righteous" routine is very clever... I mean, they obviously don't feel morally beholden to us or the baron or anything, so what we've got are straight-up threats and maybe the possibility that the baron was lying to fall back on."</English>

[dauphinous]

The men visibly flinch away from the words Quanos speaks and hunch up like they expect to be beheaded at any moment. The one Alastair was speaking to goes wide-eyed staring up at the elf with the sword. "I, uh, I- I-" He swallows audibly and looks from the sword to Quanos's face and back to the sword. His eyes flick over to Diedre very briefly as she speaks, but are drawn immediately back to the sword. "That way," he nods off in the direction the game trail would lead if it went straight. "C-cave. Was a mine."

Spoiler

Show

Seems you all were heading south when you came across these folks. He's nodded to the south, which would be continuing in the direction you were already going.

[Wiz]

Diedre

Diedre smiles at Quanos, <English>I guess you're right, Persis... my arrogance doesn't work very well here. Fortunately, Quanos' intimidation does. Well done, Quanos.<English>

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen figures it out and goes back to Alastair. <english>The best spot looks like the ambush point. I'll begin collecting wood, hopefully I can find enough dry wood for this.<english>

She and Rain begin to steadily collect wood, a long, dirty and tiring process.

[mdsoze]

Alastair

<english>We'll all pitch in. We've all got an interest in not having to fight the undead. </english> Elven swordmage, you up for guarding the prisoners? Try not to kill too many of them.

Alastair will help collect wood for the pyre.

[Daryk]

Beleg

Returning to the ambush site proper, Beleg was surprised to find Alastair gathering wood. Shrugging, he approached, and quietly said, "Alastair, a word?"

Drawing further away from the prisoners, he continued in a low voice, "I think I've found one of their trails. Appearances aside, they do possess a little woodcraft, and had a enough sense to split up on the way here. Have you decided what to do with so many prisoners? And why did we take so many? I don't understand."

[mdsoze]

Alastair

Alastair smiles, and puts his hand on Beleg's shoulder warmly.

Well done, Beleg. We may follow that trail once we finish up here. It seems they are men of the land, and they know how to conceal themselves reasonably well. Your spotting of the enemies surely saved much of my blood today. I owe you an ale, next time we can find a decent one.

As for prisoners, I'm afraid taking so many is a consequence of the presence of the "soul stealers" as you call them. Douglas seems to share with me that in their world, sapient life is highly valued, and everything possible is done to preserve it. That, and these bandits were so badly overmatched by our adventuring group that killing them once they'd given up wouldn't have been right. That said, you are correct, taking so many prisoners leads to many ethical dilemmas. Killing on the field of battle is simple, but this will be complex. That said, if we do not want those who have made peace with their "soul stealers" to go insane, we would be best to respect some of their ways. Quanos got one of the captured to tell us that the children in a cave farther down the road. Interesting that you detected a different direction for some of those approaching.

[Daryk]

Beleg

Beleg frowned briefly, then asked, "Why not send those with, well, weaker stomachs back to the Baron with the prisoners? I'm sure the rest of us can handle the balance of their number at their camp. It may take a bit more guile with less magic at our disposal, but I'm sure we can take them."

[mdsoze]

Alastair

Alastair nods, and then moves towards the group, motioning for everyone to join him when they get the chance. When the group is assembled Alastair will speak quietly, so the party can hear but the prisoners cannot.

Okay, we have two leads on where the children might be. Quanos's interrogation revealed that the children are in a cave down the road. Beleg found evidence that some of the people came from that direction, but not all of them. There are trails leading off in other directions.

And we have the matter of the prisoners. In terms of what to do with them, I think we have 4 options.

1) We all take them back to the Baron. This has the advantage of splitting up the party, but the disadvantage of not returning to the Baron with his children.

2) We split up, some taking the prisoners back to the Baron, some pressing on to find the children. This has the downside of splitting the party.

3) We bring the prisoners with us to the cave, keep them tied up, and after the cave, we take them back to the Baron. This has the advantage of immediately going after the children and not splitting up the party, but the prisoners might blow our cover.

4) Tie up the prisoners thoroughly, and leave them here while we go to the cave, collecting them on our way back. The advantage over number 3 is that they won't blow our cover, but the downside is that they might escape.

Personally, I favor option #2 or #4, but I'm not particularly committed to any one strategy.

Did I miss any ideas anyone's put forward? Any other ideas?

[Alicorn]

Annika/Persis

<English>"Make up your mind, is splitting up the party an advantage or a disadvantage?" remarks Annika. "And I don't think he said the children were in the cave. They haven't admitted anything about the location or existence of the Baron's kids, just where their hideout is. It's quite possible that the Baron just wanted to spin us a sob story so we'd deal with his problem. Anyway, you missed an option. One or two people stay here to keep the prisoners from escaping, they hang onto Ashlyn - or if I stay somebody else hangs onto Ashlyn - and the rest of us head to the cave. If there are no baronial offspring, we know the Baron's a huge liar and we go tell him what a jerky thing that was to do, and depending on how he reacts we can let the live bandits go, or ratchet up our fee to make up for having been deceived, or just turn over the prisoners and have done with it. If there are baronial offspring in the cave, we know these guys are liars and we can either give the Baron a test prisoner - you know, in case the Baron is into drawing and quartering dudes and we think that's a bit much - or just turn them all over."</English>

[Wiz]

Diedre

Diedre nods, "Persis makes a good point. This isn't California, it's a very wild fantasy forest filled with monsters. Leaving eight men tied up here is roughly equivalent to killing them anyway... who knows what might come along and finish them while they are helpless." She frowns, "I think pressing on might be the better thing to do, but we can't leave these men here... we either guard them, or kill them. Personally, kidnappers or not, they are obviously bandits, so surprisingly I have little problem with the latter. Finally, we might want to consider bringing them with us, and attempting to negotiate with the other bandits. Admittedly, we would lose surprise, and if they are kidnappers they might threaten the children. Then again, if the Baron lied to us, it might be a chance to find out what prompted these men to turn to banditry."

[mdsoze]

Alastair

Alastair looks to Persis.

Option #1 doesn't split us up. My mouth was moving faster than my brain. Give me a moment and I'll catch myself next time.

He looks back to the group.

Any other thoughts?

[Santanya]

Quanos

Quanos remains with the prisoners as the others gather wood, then gather together. He notes the responses towards him, but shows little to no recognition of them at this point. He just nods to the man, keeping his eyes locked with his, even the man's are locked on his sword. "Very good," he says. "And what will we find in the cave?" he asks. "How many people stand guard there?"

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen works steadily on the pyre and she'll move the dead onto it. Before she lights it, she bows her head and says a few quiet words meant for herself and for the deceased.

If no one objects, she will light it...and probably begin a nice signal fire. But, she wants to be sure it gets started properly before they head out.

((With the recent rain, what is the current sky condition? Clear? Partly Cloudy? Overcast?))

[dauphinous]

"Uh..." The man gulps and stammers a little bit. "It's, uh, th-there's- inside, uh..."
The one nearest to him spits out, "They'll kill us all."
"So will he," another one hisses.
"I don't want to die," he finally whimpers.

Hithos, off with the rest of the group pipes up and offers, "I could march them back to the Baron's. If they're tied up properly, I can use illusions and such to convince them I'm every bit as scary as Quanos is."

[Daryk]

Beleg

Seeing Guenivere moving to light the pyre, Beleg called, "Not yet. If we hope to achieve any measure of surprise, that will have to wait. The smell of burning flesh has a way of carrying, even in the rain."

Edit:
"It's not the prisoners I'd be worried about Hithos. Sending you by yourself could put them in danger too, especially if they're bound tightly enough to be no threat," Beleg said.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen pauses, waiting. Rain sits next to her, leaning against her leg.

[Wiz]

Diedre

Diedre wanders back to where Quanos is keeping the prisoners impressed with his intimidation. She leans against a tree, crossing her arms as she looks at the bandits. "Hard to know what to do... they'll kill you, he'll kill you... but I do want to suggest that things are a little more open with us. We may not kill you, your comrades back at the mine apparently there's no question in your minds. Who do you think you should work with?"

[Santanya]

Quanos

Quanos looks to the man. "You began so well," he says, then looks to the others. "Tell us what we need to know, and you will not die by our hand, and those that you fear so much will be the ones that we go after," he says. "It may in fact be the thing that saves your lives."

[dauphinous]

Hithos shrugs. "It was just a thought. You didn't exactly need me to get these guys. I just want to contribute to the effort here."

The prisoners go silent again, and the speaker looks up at Quanos. At his face, this time, not his sword. Whatever he sees there, it makes him start talking. "About 10 miles. Entrance is hard to find. Cross a river an' there's an illusion. More'n just one, though, so jus' lookin' fer magic don't work. 'S'the one without no shrubs, jus' trees. There's traps. Some got people to set 'em off, some's jus' there. I dunno how ta tell ya where'n they are, I jus' step where I's s'posed ta an' call out the passwor'."

One of the others supplies, "'Fluffy bunny' is the password." The other men all nod to this without hesitation, which suggests it's not a lie. Or that they are all very good group liars.

[Santanya]

Quanos

Quanos smiles to the man in front of him. "Now, was that so hard?" he asks raising an eyebrow. He glances to the others. "So are we taking them to the baron now, or letting Hithos handle it?" He looks back to the men. "It should be stated to the Baron that these men, when captured cooperated with us. They will continue cooperating as they travel back, won't they." He says, looking from man to man.

[dauphinous]

There is only a short pause before the men start nodding, surprise and incredulity present on most of their faces. "Yessir. No trouble."

[Wiz]

Diedre

Diedre watches Quanos handle the prisoners and nods to herself.

Spoiler

Show

Now he knows how to handle himself... and others.

Diedre... just stop it.

Hey, a forceful man takes what he wants... and it can be a delicious experience.

To be taken?

You've no idea. For a woman, surrender isn't always defeat. Of course, it's hard for me to tell for sure... all my memories may never have really happened. Kind of makes you uneasy, thinking you've lived in a dream world your whole life.

So maybe you're not the best to dispense advice on love.

You're experience makes you so superior in such matters?

No... of course not.

Fine, I'll shut up - if you'll admit one thing; to me and yourself.

What's that?

When you saw Quanos in battle, and later handling the prisoners... you felt a thrill - just as much as I did.

I... Okay, yes. Right now I'm a woman, so yes, I felt it.

Finally!

[mdsoze]

Alastair

Alastair nods at everyone.

There. That makes the most sense. Hithos can take the prisoners back to the Baron, while the rest of us proceed forwards. Simplifies everything for everyone. Now... everybody ready to move out?

[wxdruid]

Gwen

I'll be ready after I light this and make sure it remains lit.

[Alicorn]

Annika/Persis

"Considering that I just spent some energy trying to get them all killed I guess I don't care if we turn them all over to the baron at once very much," yawns Annika. "Hereby reserving the right to say "we should've gone with my idea" if he burns them at the stake and it turns out his kids haven't been kidnapped, though."