Meeting
Khelin Haldonn After only half an hour, the new road dips downward into a low valley with scattered boulders, thick brush, trees here and there and many small, moraine-type hills. The road goes on, but it twists between the hills and leads on eastward.
After about 10 minutes in this terrain, the party turns a corner through the brush and can see a man standing in the road about 50 yards before you, waving you to stop. He's dressed like a dandy, but his clothing also is a bit worn. He smiles and looks friendly. As you approach, he removes his hat and makes a sweeping bow.
"Khelin Haldonn, at your service!" The man says. "My friends are very shy. I'm afraid they're so shy, that they're hiding in the bushes. "We've all suffered some severe financial setbacks lately and would like to ask you for a friendly donation. All of your valuables would be satisfactory. We wouldn't think of taking your horses or anything else."
Yvandel opens his mouth to start speaking, but decides to wait for others to say something smart first. No need starting another fight because of something he blurted out. A particularly nasty wrestling match with one of the town bullies was still stuck somewhere deep in his mind. Nope, he would play it smart this time, and keep his mouth shut for a moment.
<Tightening his grip on his spear Lucretia scans the trees and bushes and offers the man a short response.> "You really don't want to do this, Khelin....we are not your normal traders caravan" "So go back in the bushes and wait for an easier mark." <Lucretia will leave the rest of the talking to Serena as he actively searches the bushes for signs of Khelin's cohorts>
Khelin's eyes narrow as Lucretia speaks, and his smile falters a bit before fixing firmly back on his face.
Ceely lets Luc do the talking, while she takes a good looking around. She tries to find any archers. She takes her harpoon, readies it, and smiles to the archers, anxiously waiting for the combat, and helping Luc make his point.
Ceely and Lucretia can spot the odd bit of movement and what might be the tip of a bow or two hidden amongst the greenery on either side.
"It's a shame about your finances, Mister Haldonn," chimes in Serena, as she unsheathes her longsword and raises her shield into a defensive position. "We ourselves have but little to spare. But if you and your friends would like to earn your pay, I'll give you 4 thumbs if you'd be good enough to fill one of these wagons with firewood. Otherwise, we ride on!"
Cleo slightly grins at Serena's and Luc's comments. Those two seem to work well as a team. She keeps her eyes down but through her eye lashes watches behind her and her friends. She did not want to be taken by surprise if they decided to go for a back attack.
Khelin smile falters again and he glances at the trees as if for support. Things are not going quite as he had planned. "It is useless to resist" he says, "my friends will turn you all into pin cushions! Best if you just drop your valuables on the road and then go on your way!" he blusters.
"You tell em!" cries one voice from the vegetation somewhere on the right. "Yeah!" echoes another voice from the left.
"You have 20 bows aimed at you as we speak" says Khelin, feigning disinterest and picking his nails. "You want to comply with my humble request, or find out what being an archery target is like..."
Herod will remain quite while the conversation goes on between the group and the this one man. After the man finishes Herod shakes his head and thinks, "Not again, why can we not go for a couple of days without someone trying to show they are stronger." He will however be ready to pray for assistance if the need arises, and will also check to make sure that his battle axe is within reach. (OOC: would have been near the driving bench if not on it.)
Balnor pulls his horse forward up beside Luc "Well you seem like quite a jovial briggand to me! It doens't suit you! You should try the approach where you leap out with weapons drawn and scream, "Give me all your money!" But I must say it is nice to be robbed by such a nice man. I think there must be a way for us to leave this situation with out us giving you our money or you trying to take it and us killing you. Look I can sympathise with you, I share your profession. But one in our profession must also know when a situation will turn dangerous. Ill tell you the truth, we are not merchents. We happend to aquire these waggons and their cargos from a less fortunate group. (OOC: Well at least im not lying) And we are trying to deliver its cargo. We do not wish to fight, and our proud warriors will not let themselves be robbed. If you take a look at our group you will know im not lying. My overconfadent friend (motioning to serena) was simply joking about you loading wood. But if you happend to have any we will be more then willign to trade with you for them, otherwise I think we need to be on our way. There are many More waggons out there wating to be taken!"
Khelin's face drops as he hears Balnor speak, and he looks again at the party, noting their well used armour, their weapon ready stance, the three priests, the three mages and generally the confidence of the party. He swallows hard, and glances again at the trees on either side of the road.
"Errr...Umm..." he stutters for a moment, his confidence shaken. He suddenly flicks a coin into the air and catches it on the back of his hand, glancing at it quickly. "Besheba's Luck!" he curses, before looking again at the party with a beaming smile on his face, his confidence restored. "Or Tymora's Luck in your case!" he continues. He steps to the side of the road and bows low, gesturing the way forward. "The gods smile on you today, and it appears that you have been singled out for a very lucky escape. If you wish to make any donations to Tyche's Fair-Haired Daughter, I would be only too happy to pass them on!"
He glances towards the trees on both sides and raises his voice. "MEN, THE GODS HAVE SPOKEN AND THESE FOLK ARE NOT TO BE HARMED. YOU MAY RELAX NOW!"
He returns to looking at the party, a big beaming smile on his face, nodding to each in turn. "Blessing of Our Smiling Lady be on you today!" he says to each in turn.
As discreetly as possible, Milo reaches for his weapon, nervous that this latest tactic from the stranger may be a trick...
A feeling of relief washes over him as he sees Lucretia kick his horse into motion up ahead.
The priest leans over toward Herod, and quietly comments "Lets get out of here!". Straightening back up, he looks forward to the other wagon, and equally quietly murmurs "Come on Serena.. get that cart moving"
Laying the unsheathed longsword on the seat beside her, Serena shakes the reins, guiding the rumbling wagon up the road past the contrite highwayman.
She nods and smiles at him as they pass.
Milo figets nervously in his seat...
When the party has passed Khelin & co, Yvandel will turn to his friends.
"Should we let these bandits get away? I mean, sure, we were able to pass them without any real trouble, but what about the next innocent victim? I realize that Khelin at least tries to use fear rather than actual physical force to intimidate his victims, but who knows... the next one to pass by might make a wrong move and end up with an arrow in his chest."
Looking back over his shoulder, Yvandel continues. "Perhaps we should send dear Khelin a little fairwell gift... and let him watch his precious road from the back of one of our wagons, neatly tied up together with what I suspect are his two partners in crime."
"Your opinion is noted Yvandel but I think perhaps Khelin and his friends maybe doing a service." <Seeing the blank expression on the mage's face he holds his horse up so he may explain further.> "Take for example a small caravan such as ours is heading towards Long saddle <He motions with his hand in the opposite direction then they are headed.> "Khelin and his small group stop and rob this caravan because they are too weak to stand up to him." "Without goods the group has to return from whence they came as their trip would be pointless...thusly saving such a weak group from slaughter at the hands of the barbarians." <Still seeing the blank look> "Well it's how I rationalize it...besides we have a mission and highwayman are the job of the locals."
"I see some logic in that... but what about those who have managed to slip by the barbarians coming FROM Longsaddle... they have risked their lives only to end up having to give their goods to Khelin and his gang. Ah well, if it were up to me, if I were more powerful and thought I could take Khelin and his friends on myself, I'd certainly do so. But alas..."
"You've got a point there but I would think that anyone who faced the barbarians and lived to tell about it would not give one copper to a few thugs, using bullying tactic tics." "Believe me I would love to have that piece of bugbear dung in irons but that is not our mission." "Mark this area on the map and maybe when we have completed our first task we can come back and track down old Khelin and Company, I'm sure he has a price on his head."
Ceely overhears Luc and Yvandel chatting, while nervously looking behind for
any signs of being followed.
She says "We can also ask the proper authorities to take care
of this. I agree with you that orc bandits should be dealt with, but
this..... bandits tried to talk ourselves from our goods, they didn´t
start an attack" she nods again, and continues "and proved
to be very smart fellows at that. They shouldn´t give much trouble
to the caravans."
She then smiles at Yv, and rides to the lead again, scouting the way.
"Oh, Ceely, dear," calls Serena, as Ceely rides past her. "If
you're going to go ahead and scout for us, set yourself at a proper distance
this time -- so we don't all just ride right into another ambush. I know it's
dangerous riding point, but maybe Lucretia can help you. He's got roaming eyes,
and I'm sure he'd be happy to watch your rear." Serena stops talking and
cocks her head to one side, abruptly realizing the unintended double entendre.
"Watch out for you, that is. Right, Luc?"
"O course Serena....I can move ahead with Ceely and watch her rear, I've got no problem with that <He gives the Sea Ranger a smile>...though Soggrin might be better suited to ride point with Ceely."
>Balnor smiles as they ride away. "See, we made it out of that one
>and no one had to fight and no one got hurt. Lets just hope we
can
>keep that up. Now Luc and Serena, You two may think that all your
>whitty and provoking comments were helping the situatuion, but
they
>weren't. Not at all. Next time we are faced with a delicate decision
>like that lets try to not provoke into a fight. Im not trying
to
>scold you, im not your mother, thats the priests job. But even
being
>the one in the party with the less honist profession we can at
least
>pretend we are a nice bunch of people and not let any situatons
get
>out of hand. But Trolls... we will shoot first and ask questions
>later. Sound ok with everone?" He smiles and contunues to ride on.
<Luc wrote>:
>"I was about to commend you on your handling of the situation
>Ferret but I'm thinking better of it...since I feel I have just
been
>insulted in some way."
>"I was perfectly willing to fight or walk away, the decision
was
>theirs...you simply saved their lives and gave the man a way to
>escape with dignity...I feel he should have been sleeking off
into
>the woods like the coward he was instead of making some lame ass
>excuses about Gods interfering on our behalf." "The
thought of that
>man telling stories of bravado about how he faced us down with
a
>half dozen archers sickens me."
After Balnor rides ahead beyond hearing range, Serena rolls her eyes and turns to Lucretia, commenting, "Balnor has a lot of nerve to lecture us about our handling of that situation. From what I've seen, he's usually the one who says something crass and starts a fight. He -- we -- just got lucky that time."
Serena ponders a while, then continues, "Remember that camp fire we saw in the distance last night? I suppose it was that highwayman's camp. With his merry band roaming these hills, we should be especially on our guard tonight. I know we cowed him with our martial appearance, but he still might follow us and try a hit-and-run raid after dark, when most of us are asleep."
Serena shakes her head slowly, a wry grin on her face. "Barbarians, bandits,
and trolls -- what next!" Suddenly, she glances up to the heavens
and shouts, "Forget I asked!"