Lazybones
Hero
Chapter 23
“So what do we do with him?” Greghan asked, nodding in the direction of their bandit captive. The man didn’t seem so tough now; Ravani’s shot had taken his eye, and he’d both cried and pissed himself when the warrior had disarmed him. Folgar remained bent over him, finishing the work of bandaging his gruesome wound.
“What do you mean?” Ravani asked. “He’s a bandit. Taking him back to the Keep is a waste of time, they’d just string him up there anyway.” The elf’s eyes held a hard edge as he watched the wizard tend the man’s injuries; clearly he still bore a grudge from the wound he’d taken in that earlier clash on the trail.
“I have questions I would like answered,” Leana said. “Not the least of which is who warned us they were here, and who that man who charged us from behind was.”
“Another bandit,” Ravani said. “Maybe he was guarding their camp or something before, when they ambushed us on the trail.”
“Perhaps,” Leana said. “But there was something about him… did you notice how pale he was? Not to mention his suicidal charge up the hill toward us. Did that remind you of someone else?”
“The cultists,” Greghan said.
“Let me take the lead with this conversation,” Leana said.
“As long as he doesn’t walk when it’s over, that’s fine,” Ravani said.
The three of them joined their companion and the prisoner. The one-eyed bandit looked up at them disconsolately. With him seated on the rocks, he and Leana were roughly eye-to-eye.
“Are you feeling all right?” she asked him.
“No,” he said.
“You’re feeling better than we would have, if we’d walked into that ambush of yours,” Ravani said.
Leana shot him a look, then turned back to the prisoner. “What is your name?” she asked.
“Mardan,” he said.
“Well, Mardan, I have some questions for you. I’d like you to answer to the best of your ability.”
“Why? You’re just going to kill me.”
“Maybe you’d prefer it if we dragged you over here, and asked a little less nicely!” Ravani growled, surging forward until the bandit cowered against the rocks at his back. “You’d better tell her what she wants to know, or you’ll wish that arrow had pierced your tiny brain!”
“Please, I don’t want to die,” the bandit said. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just… I don’t want to die.”
“I understand,” Leana said, placing a hand on his arm. She maintained the contact until the bandit met her eyes again. “How did you know that we were going to be here today, Mardan?”
“Pral… he had a contact, someone who knew things about what was happening in the Keep.”
“Do you know the name of this contact?” Leana asked.
“No. He only dealt with Pral. I didn’t see much of him. He wore a mask, and he smelled bad.”
“That doesn’t really narrow it down much,” Ravani said. “Every human I’ve ever met smells bad.”
“Even me?” Greghan asked.
“Sorry, friend,” Ravani said. “To be honest, most of you would benefit from wearing a mask as well.”
Leana rolled her eyes at the two men before focusing back on the prisoner. “This masked fellow, he visited you recently?”
“Yes, yesterday. He brought Devin.”
“Devin?”
“He’s the guy who ran up from the trail. The one you killed.”
“Ah, I see. Was he the one who whistled, to let you know we were coming?”
“I don’t know. He was supposed to be keeping watch with the dwarf and the halfling.”
“The dwarf and halfling?”
“Yeah. They weren’t part of our group, Pral recruited them to help with the ambush.”
“Do you know their names?” Leana asked.
“I bet I know at least one of them,” Ravani said.
“The dwarf woman was Vinx. The halfling was Jacko.”
“I bloody knew it,” Ravani said. “I knew we hadn’t seen the last of her.”
“She didn’t join in the attack, though,” Greghan said. “Unless one of you saw her.”
“I only saw that human,” Folgar said.
“Describe this halfling for me,” Leana said.
“He was short… well, they’re all short,” Mardan said. “He was about your size, I mean. He wore black, had black hair, even black makeup around his eyes. Made him look kind of like a racoon. Not that I would have said that to his face. He was… a little scary.”
“He was what, some kind of mercenary?” Folgar asked.
Mardan nodded. “He’s got a camp somewhere out in the fens. Pral gave him a bag of coins.”
“What about the dwarf?” Folgar asked. “What did she want?”
“Come on, we know what she wanted,” Ravani said.
“She wanted a sword,” Mardan said. “She said you’d taken it from her.”
“Yeah, after she nearly got us killed with her stupidity,” Ravani said.
Leana had been quiet after Mardan’s description of the halfling mercenary. Greghan leaned in and said, “Are you all right?”
She shook herself slightly. “What? Yes, of course.”
Ravani noted the exchange. “You know this Jacko guy, Leana?” he asked.
Leana smiled. “Believe it or not, Ravani, not all halflings know each other.”
“You’ll let me go now?” Mardan asked. “I’ve told you all I know.”
“Not quite,” Ravani said. “Where would Pral go?”
“I don’t know. We don’t really have a regular camp; we move around a lot.”
“What about the Caves of Chaos?” Folgar asked.
Mardan shook his head vigorously enough to incite a spasm of pain from his injury. “We never go there,” he said. “That place is cursed, everyone knows it.”
“Yeah, we’re the curse,” Ravani said.
“This man Devin, did he ever speak about a cult?” Leana prodded.
“He didn’t talk much,” Mardan said. “He seemed a bit… weird.”
“I’ll bet,” Ravani said.
“Did you see which way this masked man went, after he met with Pral?” Leana asked.
“I don’t know,” Mardan said. “He just kind of disappeared into the trees. I thought that was a bit weird, I mean the trail was right there.”
“He didn’t want anyone to see which way he went,” Folgar said.
“I’ll bet Pral knew, though,” Ravani said. “Seems like he knew an awful lot about what’s going on out here.”
“Is there anything you can think of to tell us?” Leana asked. “Your companion abandoned you, and these others, these cultists, did not sound like anyone worthy of your silence.”
“If I knew anything more, I’d tell you,” Mardan said.
“All right, time to take a short trip then,” Ravani said, drawing his dagger.
“Wait!” Greghan said. “You’re not just going to kill him in cold blood? He told us what he knew.”
“Yeah, so? I didn’t torture him, did I? He’s a bandit. Believe me, if it was us lying dying in the road, he wouldn’t have wasted a thought on us.”
“But we’re not murderers,” Greghan said.
“I’m not a murderer,” Mardan said. “Sure, we took people’s stuff, but we didn’t kill them. Pral said that it was better to shear the sheep rather than…”
He trailed off as Ravani grabbed his arm and shook him. “You’re not helping your case, bandit,” he growled.
“Leana,” Greghan said.
The halfling looked at Folgar, who nodded. “Let him go,” she said to Ravani.
“What? Leana, you’ve got to be…”
“I said, let him go.” The elf shook his head but shoved the bandit back down. Leana came forward and stepped right up next to him. “Listen to me,” she said. “You will go down to the trail. You will keep walking, to the Keep or past it, I don’t care. But if I see you in these lands again, things will not go well for you. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” he said. “Thank you.”
“Folgar, would you see him on his way?” Leana asked.
The dwarf pulled the injured man to his feet and started him down the slope toward the trail. Once he was far enough away that they couldn’t be overheard, Ravani said, “That was a mistake, priestess.”
“Maybe,” the halfling allowed. “But I came here to bring the Light to a darkened land, Ravani. It’s a hard enough job without inviting a shadow into my heart.” She looked at Greghan. “Are you all right?”
He nodded. “The arrow didn’t go very deep. Whatever that herbal stuff is that Folgar put on the wound, it works; I can barely feel it.”
She held his eyes a moment longer. He knew that wasn’t all that she had meant by the question, and he offered another slight extra nod to let her know that he understood.
Folgar returned a few minutes later. “I didn’t see any sign of Vinx or that halfling fellow, but there’s a large boulder where they might have been keeping watch.”
“If they’re smart, they’re long gone,” Ravani said. “Do you want me to try to track Pral?”
“There’s no point,” Leana said. “We know where we need to go.”
Game Notes:
This one’s a tribute to all the moral quandaries that D&D gives us. At least they took the women and children out of this incarnation of the Caves of Chaos!
Leana: Charisma (Persuasion): 4 (+2): 6 vs. DC 10 (Failure)
Ravani: Charisma (Intimidation): 17 (+2): 19 vs. DC 15 (Success)
“So what do we do with him?” Greghan asked, nodding in the direction of their bandit captive. The man didn’t seem so tough now; Ravani’s shot had taken his eye, and he’d both cried and pissed himself when the warrior had disarmed him. Folgar remained bent over him, finishing the work of bandaging his gruesome wound.
“What do you mean?” Ravani asked. “He’s a bandit. Taking him back to the Keep is a waste of time, they’d just string him up there anyway.” The elf’s eyes held a hard edge as he watched the wizard tend the man’s injuries; clearly he still bore a grudge from the wound he’d taken in that earlier clash on the trail.
“I have questions I would like answered,” Leana said. “Not the least of which is who warned us they were here, and who that man who charged us from behind was.”
“Another bandit,” Ravani said. “Maybe he was guarding their camp or something before, when they ambushed us on the trail.”
“Perhaps,” Leana said. “But there was something about him… did you notice how pale he was? Not to mention his suicidal charge up the hill toward us. Did that remind you of someone else?”
“The cultists,” Greghan said.
“Let me take the lead with this conversation,” Leana said.
“As long as he doesn’t walk when it’s over, that’s fine,” Ravani said.
The three of them joined their companion and the prisoner. The one-eyed bandit looked up at them disconsolately. With him seated on the rocks, he and Leana were roughly eye-to-eye.
“Are you feeling all right?” she asked him.
“No,” he said.
“You’re feeling better than we would have, if we’d walked into that ambush of yours,” Ravani said.
Leana shot him a look, then turned back to the prisoner. “What is your name?” she asked.
“Mardan,” he said.
“Well, Mardan, I have some questions for you. I’d like you to answer to the best of your ability.”
“Why? You’re just going to kill me.”
“Maybe you’d prefer it if we dragged you over here, and asked a little less nicely!” Ravani growled, surging forward until the bandit cowered against the rocks at his back. “You’d better tell her what she wants to know, or you’ll wish that arrow had pierced your tiny brain!”
“Please, I don’t want to die,” the bandit said. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just… I don’t want to die.”
“I understand,” Leana said, placing a hand on his arm. She maintained the contact until the bandit met her eyes again. “How did you know that we were going to be here today, Mardan?”
“Pral… he had a contact, someone who knew things about what was happening in the Keep.”
“Do you know the name of this contact?” Leana asked.
“No. He only dealt with Pral. I didn’t see much of him. He wore a mask, and he smelled bad.”
“That doesn’t really narrow it down much,” Ravani said. “Every human I’ve ever met smells bad.”
“Even me?” Greghan asked.
“Sorry, friend,” Ravani said. “To be honest, most of you would benefit from wearing a mask as well.”
Leana rolled her eyes at the two men before focusing back on the prisoner. “This masked fellow, he visited you recently?”
“Yes, yesterday. He brought Devin.”
“Devin?”
“He’s the guy who ran up from the trail. The one you killed.”
“Ah, I see. Was he the one who whistled, to let you know we were coming?”
“I don’t know. He was supposed to be keeping watch with the dwarf and the halfling.”
“The dwarf and halfling?”
“Yeah. They weren’t part of our group, Pral recruited them to help with the ambush.”
“Do you know their names?” Leana asked.
“I bet I know at least one of them,” Ravani said.
“The dwarf woman was Vinx. The halfling was Jacko.”
“I bloody knew it,” Ravani said. “I knew we hadn’t seen the last of her.”
“She didn’t join in the attack, though,” Greghan said. “Unless one of you saw her.”
“I only saw that human,” Folgar said.
“Describe this halfling for me,” Leana said.
“He was short… well, they’re all short,” Mardan said. “He was about your size, I mean. He wore black, had black hair, even black makeup around his eyes. Made him look kind of like a racoon. Not that I would have said that to his face. He was… a little scary.”
“He was what, some kind of mercenary?” Folgar asked.
Mardan nodded. “He’s got a camp somewhere out in the fens. Pral gave him a bag of coins.”
“What about the dwarf?” Folgar asked. “What did she want?”
“Come on, we know what she wanted,” Ravani said.
“She wanted a sword,” Mardan said. “She said you’d taken it from her.”
“Yeah, after she nearly got us killed with her stupidity,” Ravani said.
Leana had been quiet after Mardan’s description of the halfling mercenary. Greghan leaned in and said, “Are you all right?”
She shook herself slightly. “What? Yes, of course.”
Ravani noted the exchange. “You know this Jacko guy, Leana?” he asked.
Leana smiled. “Believe it or not, Ravani, not all halflings know each other.”
“You’ll let me go now?” Mardan asked. “I’ve told you all I know.”
“Not quite,” Ravani said. “Where would Pral go?”
“I don’t know. We don’t really have a regular camp; we move around a lot.”
“What about the Caves of Chaos?” Folgar asked.
Mardan shook his head vigorously enough to incite a spasm of pain from his injury. “We never go there,” he said. “That place is cursed, everyone knows it.”
“Yeah, we’re the curse,” Ravani said.
“This man Devin, did he ever speak about a cult?” Leana prodded.
“He didn’t talk much,” Mardan said. “He seemed a bit… weird.”
“I’ll bet,” Ravani said.
“Did you see which way this masked man went, after he met with Pral?” Leana asked.
“I don’t know,” Mardan said. “He just kind of disappeared into the trees. I thought that was a bit weird, I mean the trail was right there.”
“He didn’t want anyone to see which way he went,” Folgar said.
“I’ll bet Pral knew, though,” Ravani said. “Seems like he knew an awful lot about what’s going on out here.”
“Is there anything you can think of to tell us?” Leana asked. “Your companion abandoned you, and these others, these cultists, did not sound like anyone worthy of your silence.”
“If I knew anything more, I’d tell you,” Mardan said.
“All right, time to take a short trip then,” Ravani said, drawing his dagger.
“Wait!” Greghan said. “You’re not just going to kill him in cold blood? He told us what he knew.”
“Yeah, so? I didn’t torture him, did I? He’s a bandit. Believe me, if it was us lying dying in the road, he wouldn’t have wasted a thought on us.”
“But we’re not murderers,” Greghan said.
“I’m not a murderer,” Mardan said. “Sure, we took people’s stuff, but we didn’t kill them. Pral said that it was better to shear the sheep rather than…”
He trailed off as Ravani grabbed his arm and shook him. “You’re not helping your case, bandit,” he growled.
“Leana,” Greghan said.
The halfling looked at Folgar, who nodded. “Let him go,” she said to Ravani.
“What? Leana, you’ve got to be…”
“I said, let him go.” The elf shook his head but shoved the bandit back down. Leana came forward and stepped right up next to him. “Listen to me,” she said. “You will go down to the trail. You will keep walking, to the Keep or past it, I don’t care. But if I see you in these lands again, things will not go well for you. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” he said. “Thank you.”
“Folgar, would you see him on his way?” Leana asked.
The dwarf pulled the injured man to his feet and started him down the slope toward the trail. Once he was far enough away that they couldn’t be overheard, Ravani said, “That was a mistake, priestess.”
“Maybe,” the halfling allowed. “But I came here to bring the Light to a darkened land, Ravani. It’s a hard enough job without inviting a shadow into my heart.” She looked at Greghan. “Are you all right?”
He nodded. “The arrow didn’t go very deep. Whatever that herbal stuff is that Folgar put on the wound, it works; I can barely feel it.”
She held his eyes a moment longer. He knew that wasn’t all that she had meant by the question, and he offered another slight extra nod to let her know that he understood.
Folgar returned a few minutes later. “I didn’t see any sign of Vinx or that halfling fellow, but there’s a large boulder where they might have been keeping watch.”
“If they’re smart, they’re long gone,” Ravani said. “Do you want me to try to track Pral?”
“There’s no point,” Leana said. “We know where we need to go.”
Game Notes:
This one’s a tribute to all the moral quandaries that D&D gives us. At least they took the women and children out of this incarnation of the Caves of Chaos!
Leana: Charisma (Persuasion): 4 (+2): 6 vs. DC 10 (Failure)
Ravani: Charisma (Intimidation): 17 (+2): 19 vs. DC 15 (Success)
