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<blockquote data-quote="atraiyu47" data-source="post: 6059270" data-attributes="member: 41365"><p>[h=2]<strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Stolen Land: Part <span style="font-size: 12px">2</span></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></span></strong><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Siv</span></strong>[/h] Siv was relieved when they came upon the bandit camp on the banks of the Thorn River. It meant that the two men they had killed a few minutes earlier upstream were definitely bandits. There had been some debate on this point when they came upon them. Each bandit they had encountered so far had been somewhat differently equipped. They wore no uniforms for easy identification. Dante had insisted one of them had an aura of evil, but such distinctions meant little to Siv. He wanted to ride out and kill both men without so much as speaking a word.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Meric had managed to convince him to stay back while he rode out and asked the men to identify themselves. Asta ordered Skydd to circle around quietly in case the men attempted to flee. They did. Skydd and Barry chased them down in short order.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Siv tracked the men’s orginal path down the river until they found the camp. She counted five, and quietly pointed them out to the group.</p><p></p><p></p><p> “Six” Asta said as she pointed to one Siv had not seen in the trees. They began to formulate a plan to stealthily take out one or two before engaging the main group. But as they prepared to move out quietly, Dante slipped while attempting to mount his horse, and tumbled into the nearby water. The splash left stealth off the table. Siv let out a sigh.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Shouts emanated from the camp “Up maggots, we have intruders! I want their heads on spikes!” Meric moved quickly to the west to deal with one hiding on a platform in the trees. Dante immediately ran into melee with three bandits. She had to grant him one thing, he had courage. Barry and Skydd followed to aid him, drawing the attention of one bandit each.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Dante was fighting a woman who was larger than he was. She wielded an axe in each hand and was shouting curses with each swing of her blades. She brought one axe down on Dante’s shoulder, he grunted in obvious pain. Siv feared he was in over his head. She sprinted over to him and laid a hand upon his shoulder and released a healing spell. The flow of blood stopped, but the wound was still bad.</p><p></p><p></p><p> But Dante had more fight in him than Siv had anticipated, he quickly placed his own hand on his shoulder and the wound healed almost completely. Without missing a beat, he brought his own hammer down on the woman’s left arm, causing her to yell out in pain. It was only a few seconds more before Dante stuck a mortal blow against his opponent. Siv looked around quickly and realized only the two bandits in the trees were still alive.</p><p></p><p> They both threw down their weapons and surrendered immediately.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Among the valuables found at the camp was Svetlana’s wedding ring, which had been stolen on the bandit’s first visit. They also found multiple crates of furs that had clearly been stolen from the trading post. It was satisfying to be able to undo some of the damage these bandits had inflicted. Siv was eager to see the looks on the Leveton’s faces upon their return.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Meric began questioning the two prisoners. Siv expected Dante to be right there with him, giving the bandits a healthy helping of shame to go with their humiliation. But he seemed withdrawn, and stood a bit back from the rest of the party.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Fortunately Meric was intimidating enough alone to get the bandits talking. “How many more of you are in the Greenbelt? Who is your leader and where does he make camp?”</p><p></p><p></p><p> The uglier of the two did most of the talking. “Our boss is a monster of a man. Calls himself the Stag Lord.” Siv recalled a silver stag amulet that they had looted from one of the men whom had attacked Oleg’s.</p><p> “He has a fort on the northeast shore of the Tuskwater. It’s hard keeping track of who’s working for the boss, so we use a master phrase as a sort of password to get in to the fort. Unless it’s been changed recently, the current phrase is, ‘By the Bloody Bones of St. Gilmorg, who wants to know?’ And no, I have no idea who ‘St. Gilmorg’ is.” Siv chuckled at that.</p><p></p><p></p><p> “What else can you tell me about him?” Meric’s manner was a bit odd. He had a venomous look in his eyes. Siv couldn’t tell if it was just for the benefit of the bandits, or if she had missed something that had set him off.</p><p> “He’s a deadeye with the bow, and I saw him crush a prisoner’s hand to mush in one fist. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen him without his creepy stag helmet on—some of my friends think he ain’t got no face under it, but not me—I think that creepy helm is his face!”</p><p></p><p></p><p> Asta stepped forward. “Is there anything else you think we should know?” Skydd moved closer to the man and let out a low growl a few inches from his face.</p><p></p><p></p><p> The man was too terrified to move. It took him a moment before he found his voice again. “The Stag Lord is a bloody drunk. All that booze under the platform’s for him. He’s half of what he used to be, and ain’t never been right in the head. A few weeks ago he punched my horse for spittin’ in the yard. But even drunk out of his mind he’s still got a fair amount of fight to him."</p><p></p><p></p><p> Meric seemed satisfied and sheathed his weapon. Asta gave him a sideways look. “The charters say the crime for unrepentant banditry is death by sword or rope.”</p><p></p><p></p><p> Both bandits immediately spoke up. “We repent! We are so sorry. What we did was wrong, but we see that now. Please don’t kill us!”</p><p></p><p></p><p> Siv was not the least bit impressed. “How quickly men see the error of their ways when they are looking down the pointy end of the sword. How many victims begged you for their lives when the roles were reversed?” She looked over to Meric. “Asta is right, we should kill them.”</p><p></p><p></p><p> This was enough to bring Dante into the conversation. “We should give them a chance. I don’t sense the taint of evil on them now. They may have done terrible things in the past, but killing them doesn’t accomplish anything.” Siv had not expected that from Dante. Meric added his voice to Dante’s.</p><p></p><p></p><p> “They have given us useful information. We should spare them for now. We can bring them back to Oleg’s under guard of Kesten Garess. Oleg may be able to find use of them as reparation for the harm they’ve done him and others.”</p><p> Siv did not approve. But this wasn’t a battle she cared to fight right now.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="atraiyu47, post: 6059270, member: 41365"] [h=2][B][SIZE=3]Stolen Land: Part [SIZE=3]2 [/SIZE][/SIZE][/B][B] [SIZE=5]Siv[/SIZE][/B][/h] Siv was relieved when they came upon the bandit camp on the banks of the Thorn River. It meant that the two men they had killed a few minutes earlier upstream were definitely bandits. There had been some debate on this point when they came upon them. Each bandit they had encountered so far had been somewhat differently equipped. They wore no uniforms for easy identification. Dante had insisted one of them had an aura of evil, but such distinctions meant little to Siv. He wanted to ride out and kill both men without so much as speaking a word. Meric had managed to convince him to stay back while he rode out and asked the men to identify themselves. Asta ordered Skydd to circle around quietly in case the men attempted to flee. They did. Skydd and Barry chased them down in short order. Siv tracked the men’s orginal path down the river until they found the camp. She counted five, and quietly pointed them out to the group. “Six” Asta said as she pointed to one Siv had not seen in the trees. They began to formulate a plan to stealthily take out one or two before engaging the main group. But as they prepared to move out quietly, Dante slipped while attempting to mount his horse, and tumbled into the nearby water. The splash left stealth off the table. Siv let out a sigh. Shouts emanated from the camp “Up maggots, we have intruders! I want their heads on spikes!” Meric moved quickly to the west to deal with one hiding on a platform in the trees. Dante immediately ran into melee with three bandits. She had to grant him one thing, he had courage. Barry and Skydd followed to aid him, drawing the attention of one bandit each. Dante was fighting a woman who was larger than he was. She wielded an axe in each hand and was shouting curses with each swing of her blades. She brought one axe down on Dante’s shoulder, he grunted in obvious pain. Siv feared he was in over his head. She sprinted over to him and laid a hand upon his shoulder and released a healing spell. The flow of blood stopped, but the wound was still bad. But Dante had more fight in him than Siv had anticipated, he quickly placed his own hand on his shoulder and the wound healed almost completely. Without missing a beat, he brought his own hammer down on the woman’s left arm, causing her to yell out in pain. It was only a few seconds more before Dante stuck a mortal blow against his opponent. Siv looked around quickly and realized only the two bandits in the trees were still alive. They both threw down their weapons and surrendered immediately. Among the valuables found at the camp was Svetlana’s wedding ring, which had been stolen on the bandit’s first visit. They also found multiple crates of furs that had clearly been stolen from the trading post. It was satisfying to be able to undo some of the damage these bandits had inflicted. Siv was eager to see the looks on the Leveton’s faces upon their return. Meric began questioning the two prisoners. Siv expected Dante to be right there with him, giving the bandits a healthy helping of shame to go with their humiliation. But he seemed withdrawn, and stood a bit back from the rest of the party. Fortunately Meric was intimidating enough alone to get the bandits talking. “How many more of you are in the Greenbelt? Who is your leader and where does he make camp?” The uglier of the two did most of the talking. “Our boss is a monster of a man. Calls himself the Stag Lord.” Siv recalled a silver stag amulet that they had looted from one of the men whom had attacked Oleg’s. “He has a fort on the northeast shore of the Tuskwater. It’s hard keeping track of who’s working for the boss, so we use a master phrase as a sort of password to get in to the fort. Unless it’s been changed recently, the current phrase is, ‘By the Bloody Bones of St. Gilmorg, who wants to know?’ And no, I have no idea who ‘St. Gilmorg’ is.” Siv chuckled at that. “What else can you tell me about him?” Meric’s manner was a bit odd. He had a venomous look in his eyes. Siv couldn’t tell if it was just for the benefit of the bandits, or if she had missed something that had set him off. “He’s a deadeye with the bow, and I saw him crush a prisoner’s hand to mush in one fist. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen him without his creepy stag helmet on—some of my friends think he ain’t got no face under it, but not me—I think that creepy helm is his face!” Asta stepped forward. “Is there anything else you think we should know?” Skydd moved closer to the man and let out a low growl a few inches from his face. The man was too terrified to move. It took him a moment before he found his voice again. “The Stag Lord is a bloody drunk. All that booze under the platform’s for him. He’s half of what he used to be, and ain’t never been right in the head. A few weeks ago he punched my horse for spittin’ in the yard. But even drunk out of his mind he’s still got a fair amount of fight to him." Meric seemed satisfied and sheathed his weapon. Asta gave him a sideways look. “The charters say the crime for unrepentant banditry is death by sword or rope.” Both bandits immediately spoke up. “We repent! We are so sorry. What we did was wrong, but we see that now. Please don’t kill us!” Siv was not the least bit impressed. “How quickly men see the error of their ways when they are looking down the pointy end of the sword. How many victims begged you for their lives when the roles were reversed?” She looked over to Meric. “Asta is right, we should kill them.” This was enough to bring Dante into the conversation. “We should give them a chance. I don’t sense the taint of evil on them now. They may have done terrible things in the past, but killing them doesn’t accomplish anything.” Siv had not expected that from Dante. Meric added his voice to Dante’s. “They have given us useful information. We should spare them for now. We can bring them back to Oleg’s under guard of Kesten Garess. Oleg may be able to find use of them as reparation for the harm they’ve done him and others.” Siv did not approve. But this wasn’t a battle she cared to fight right now. [/QUOTE]
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