Tales from the Trails (Soulbound) - Ashes of Petram

[Prof Weird]

Sashura Vlasova
AT : 3
HP : 7

Sashura was running up to the fight - but it was already over !

But, then again, being outnumbered and then pinned next to a bomb after being smacked around by a giant tree and attacked by a bear can do that.

Lady Moira suggested backtracking where the deceiver came from, in case it didn't finish off the scout.

And there was always the chance that other creatures might have been tagging along, hoping to pick up scraps from a messy eater.

"I'll see what I can do." she stated as she started off.

Spot roll: 6D6 = [3, 6, 3, 2, 3, 6] = 23
2 successes, to look for where deceiver came from/survivor/trouble.

[Arkrite]

Grigor "Dog" Geddings
AT: 4 Wounds: 5/5

Dog watches the others start cutting up the beast with a confused expression, "I greatly hope you all aren't planning on eating that."

He moves off to follow Sashura as she leaves. He leaves some distance between them and attempts to blend into the night.

OOC: Spot check to try to trace back where the scout was killed: 5D6 = [4, 3, 3, 4, 6]
One Success
Sneak while scouting for the scout: 7D6 = [1, 4, 1, 1, 5, 2, 5] Two Successes.

[Flynnarrel]

Lloyd Millhaus

He actually saw the bear blown apart just before the wave of fiery death reached just feet from where he was... then dissipate. The spectral pine tree that grew over the deceiver from the end of his staff could not be affected by the fire but the end of his staff was smoking. As he felt his skin cook a little in the residual heat from the blast. There were more words and the smallest of the Hunters started approaching the smoking corpse with wicked-looking implements.

The two other Hunters started moving off and he realized, belatedly, that it was either that or listen to the sickening squelching sounds produced by the beast's dissection. "I'll go with them..." he says grabbing a lantern.

5d6: 22 [5d6=5, 4, 5, 4, 4]
tracking: 5d6 22 2 success to back-track

[Gunmetal_Rainbow]

The good news is, through your efforts, you are able to find where the scout was grabbed, and can follow the blood trail to the bad news. The scout is dead, leading to the second bit of good news, at least he isn't suffering. It looks like the deceiver made quick work of disabling the scout for be devoured more completely later, but in the course of the fight, the scout bled out from deep wounds clearly caused by the deceiver's talons and a long rend that probably came from either that beak-like mask or also from the talons.

[Flynnarrel]

Lloyd Millhaus

Lloyd starts searching for lengths of wood to make a litter to bear the body back to the caravan. He works with the grim pragmatism of a mercenary.

He'll use clothes or a cloak from the scout to complete the litter but otherwise takes nothing from the body.

[Doctor Malsyn]

Ericka Akcire

When she learns that her attempts at saving the lost scout weren't even being applied in the right way, the girl pinched her nose and held back her feelings. Sometimes there was nothing to be done. She turned to the caravaners, leaving a bloodied knife by the beast's carcus. Ericka's eyes were dark with finality. "...Never stray from the campfires. If you hear noises in the dark, please get our attention first. Deceivers... they'll take anyone who's not prepared by surprise. I'd rather be woken up for a false alarm then see another of you die."

[Vivid]

Lady Moira Sterling

Of minor note, the Occult house has Carving Scissors, not a knife.

Moira said nothing as Ericka addressed the caravan and volunteered the Wielders to check out every bump in the night. She frowned at her fellow's words and if she could make eye contact with Indius she would subtly shake her head. The division of labor the caravan master had set up was plenty good, no need to second guess his expertise. He wasn't going to gainsay Ericka's display of genuine emotion though.

The last thing they needed was for the normal guards to think that the Hunters thought they were incompetent or were trying to take their jobs.

[Gunmetal_Rainbow]

Between the deceiver's screeching and the detonation of Ericka's spear, the whole camp is awake by the time the wielders are returning to it. Many of the drivers and the merchants looks annoyed as if thinking "Couldn't you have been more quiet while saving our lives?" A typical, ungrateful response, but what can you do? Indius on the other hand, looks businesslike, appraising the job done and finding it acceptable. The armsmen though, especially when bringing back the dead scout, at least look like they've grown a little bit of respect.

Ultimately, Indius nor the armsmen blame the wielders for the scouts' death. After all, the scout should have known what he was doing and either he messed up, or the deceiver got lucky, and that's the end of it.

The camp eventually gets back to some semblance of rest for a few more hours before Indius rallies everyone to get an early move on.

The following days are relatively uneventful with no major incidents until you get to the end of the route around the mountain range. The caravan comes to a shuddering stop. The drivers from the mid on back sem confused. Moving towards the front, you can see a roadblock of sorts. Three wagons pulls broadside across the road in a wedge pattern so the middle wagon and be moved to allow passage. Upon and among the wagons are a rather unsavory looking number of men and women wielding a variety of weaponry.

Looks like a holdup. Indius is up front, and dialogue hasn't quite started yet, but you are outnumbered two to one in combatants, so you might consider stepping carefullt. Wielders are powerful, but you cna be overwhelmed like anyone, and who knows if there is a wielder in the bandit ranks.

[Doctor Malsyn]

Ericka Akcire

She put away the latest book in she'd been perusing, this one the story of a young boy and his disembodied younger brother. Works of pure fiction seemed almost too rare in the world, but she supposed that humanity had other concerns most the time then to read stories. Like here, for instance, where times have made some people so desperate as to turn against their own fellow man.

As a cautionary measure Ericka drew her Malumeter, consulting it's sand for any obvious signs that the men here were more then they appeared. She noticed how the sand started to twist, and furrowed her brow. One of them was much more dangerous then they appeared. She gave her closest fellow welder a look of signifigance before stowing the device away and approaching.

Her eyes held that familiar sense of innocence she didn't quite actually posses, glancing at the outlaws as she took in the situation. The girl didn't let any of her prior concerns show. "Is... there something the matter sir?"

Cunning(Bluff): 3 successes 4,5,6,1,1,2,5

[Vivid]

Lady Moira Sterling

As the caravan began the laborious task of halting Moira took out her spyglass and checked on the situation. She saw the blocking carts and the hardened men and women with ill-intent. She informs any of the other Wielders and/or armsmen and drops Bearrage back behind the carts.

Without the heat of battle to sustain it she knew an enrage enchantment couldn't last but the fact of the matter was.... they needed more bears.

She dismounted Bearrage and slowly walked from the back of the carts with the bear trundling behind her, trying not to be overt and using the carts to conceal her activities as best she can. By each cart she reaches one hand under the wooden conveyance and the other behind back behind her to touch Bearrage in order to create a replica concealed in the dark under the cart. She does this 4 times then has Bearrage crawl under the Wielder's cart.

Stealth _: 4D6 = [1, 1, 5, 6] = 13
Don't know if being behind cover of the carts gives autosuccesses or makes it so I don't need to roll at all, but here we are.

Duplicate, 4 times
_: 6D6 = [3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 4] = 26

_: 6D6 = [3, 6, 4, 1, 3, 4] = 21

_: 6D6 = [1, 2, 6, 6, 6, 3] = 24

_: 6D6 = [2, 6, 6, 3, 6, 1] = 24

Moira herself will continue walking toward the front of the carts and the blockade. She'll have the rather mundane and underwhelming sling in hand with a stone loaded in it. All in all she imagines that she looks every bit the petulant youth.

"What IS going on here?" She demands of both Ericka and the lead of whatever group of people are on the blocking carts.

[Arkrite]

Grigor "Dog" Geddings
AT: N/A Wounds: 5/5

"You two never been robbed before?" Dog asks as he swaggers up to the front.

His eyes were on the crowd at the far side trying to get a feel for the organization. How many ranged weapons they had, armor, melee weapons, and the general upkeep of the group.
A group of ragtag thugs wearing random pieces of armor and carrying rusty pitchforks were far easier to deal with then a well armed, well equipped, and well trained group of soldiers turned bandits. With the first batch you had a lot more options.

"Idea is simple enough, you wait until the road is narrow, block the path and then wait for the marks to come in," He grunts, "Smart bandits wouldn't reveal themselves until they had the area surrounded. Anywho, getting the caravan turned around would take too long to get for us to get away, so you really run down to a few options."

"Make them think attacking ain't worth the effort, bribe them to let us pass, or try to hit enough of them fast enough that they scatter. This sort usually only has a backbone when they have numbers," He glances over at Indius, "How you want to handle this?"

OOC: Perception check on Bandit army: 5D6 = [1, 4, 2, 2, 6]
One success.

[Flynnarrel]

Lloyd Millhaus


Lloyd hears Moira's warning and sees the young heiress sequestering a veritable ursine army. He knew the bears, while fast, would need to get around fast, especially if combat is engaged nearer the front of the cart line.

Lloyd walks by the carts and lets loose some of the forest magic contained in Heartwood. He'll create a swath of greenery in a path that will aid any of his allies, which included the Wielders, caravan members, and any of Moira's bears, in moving from the back to the lead cart.

Before I go rolling all willy-nilly, I'll limit it to three rolls. That seems about right before something with the situation might change. Assuming turns are 6 seconds, this would take a bit over half a minute. (Cast, Move, Cast, Move, etc.)
5d6: 21 [5d6=1, 4, 5, 5, 6]
Fertile: 5d6 21
5d6: 22 [5d6=6, 6, 1, 4, 5]
Fertile: 5d6 22
5d6: 17 [5d6=5, 2, 3, 1, 6]
Fertile: 5d6 17

[Prof Weird]

Sashura Vlasova

Sashura looks around and grouses "Oh joy. Bandits." quietly to herself as she hefts Chelydra onto her shoulders.

She knew there is an advantage of theft over toil - up to a point. More bandits increases the odds of victory, but reduces the cut for each.
And there were a LOT of bandits there ...

And there seemed to be a LOT of bears back here ! She wasn't sure how often Moira could duplicate her totem animal, but any help was useful.

And Lloyd setting up a field of plants that could help move allies around quickly could be quite helpful indeed if things started to go badly.

[Gunmetal_Rainbow]

Quick note, the carts are not high enough to accomodate a bear crawling under it, so I'll assume Moira has the bears hide behind the carts instead

Indius breaks off speaking as the wielders approach the front, and pass him, interjecting themselves between the bandits and the caravan. Dog is able to see a variety of weapons, though mostly small, light ones. Daggers, shortswords, shortbows and the like. At your present range, you're pretty safe as long as they don't have any surprizes.

The bandit who appears to be in charge hones in on Ericka as the wielder moves out in front and makes herself a prime target. "What's that, girl? What's the matter? The matter is I'm not paid, deep in my cups and wenching up a storm. Think yer gonna fix that, lass?" It gets some laughs and jeers from the other male bandits, they don't seem too concerned about the situation, and they don't seem to realize the 'armsmen' moving to the front of the caravan are wielders.

It seems the bandits are none the wiser of the bears and grassy patches that are being magicked into being a little ways back.

[Vivid]

Lady Moira Sterling

Moira considers the bandits and looks back to the carts, then back to the bandits. She smiles... she's given this pitch many times for different products over the years. "Very well, I'm a representative of Sterling Industries; touch no other merchant here, allow us to pass unhindered and unmolested and I will offer you... 6 units of my current shipment - the latest in Personal Machine Gun technology, the Barrage 4000, dubbed by our manufacturers as 'The Bear', complete with upgraded scopes, bipod for stabilization, and quick swing handles for close-quarters combat, this beauty will make your... unsavory enterprise much less risky for you and your men. If you truly care about them my offer is better than anything else you'll get here. The suggested price point with all those upgrades is near a thousand silver each."

"And before you ask, the shipment is in an impenetrable steel and stonewood chest with a complicated locking mechanism and a... robust self-destruct device which triggers with tampering, corrosion attempts, high heat, and an incorrectly entered code. And before you think that there's someone here you could threaten or kill in order to sway me, know this: the only reason I'm even considering this is because when word spreads that bandits are such armed the merchants traveling this route will want a similar product to keep up and that drives up the price Sterling Industries can charge. Does this sound like I am prone to sentiment?" she arches a platinum eyebrow at the bandit leader.

Cunning (deception)_: 6D6 = [4, 1, 6, 5, 1, 6] = 23

Cunning (bargain)_: 6D6 = [6, 6, 1, 2, 2, 3] = 20

If allowed, someone can try to aid my deception or bargaining. I think that adds a die you can roll and try to add a success to my score. I think I can only get one assist per check though. Right, Gun?

"What say you? Otherwise we can have a row killing many of you and wounding our armsmen and the only one who gets anything are the plants and scavengers." she stands proud, unflinching. She was a Sterling after all.

Quietly she whispers to Indius and the other Wielders, "We'll need to be long gone before an hour passes."