D1: Ashin's Commission (El Jefe judging)

[Xael]

"We have tried to speak to people three times now, once at Fallon, once at Bainlunder Lodge, and once here.
The first time, we lost our tempers and were barred from the city.
The second time, we lost our tempers and were barred from the house.
The third time, I decided we would not lose our tempers for twenty seconds -- no more, no less. I decided we would speak, and not attack them first.
At the end of that twenty seconds, Ironwolf was halfway back to getting his crystal and not only were they not going to attack us, they were going to escort us, fully armed and armored, through their lines, into Duvik, and directly to their commanding officer. We had, in short, won."

"The first time we were quite directly insulted first, the second time was yet another case of people not understanding what was said. This time, our intention was to get the damn crystal back, but it started to turn to a trip in the middle of a probably quite hostile part of an army, and they were quite clearly not letting us go.", Almayce says.

"If you're having doubts about whether following them would have been safe or not, we'll find out quite easily by asking a few questions about the situation of Duvik from the soldier.

And in the case that there is a rather hostile takeover of Duvik in progress, I don't give a damn whether a bunch of bandits disguised as an army wants to hang me."

Almayce keeps a short break and adds, looking directly at Michael: "And I'll forgive you for using your powers at your companions. I'll just have to pretend I didn't hear the part about it being intentional."

"Now both of you shut up so we can start looking for a place to hide, defend and interrogate the soldier, and thus stop the goddamn fuzz."

Almayce will convert Read Magic into Cure Minor Wounds and cast it at the soldier if he's still alive.

 

[Rystil Arden]

*Seeing Michael very soundly put down by Almayce, Zaeryl is only too happen to continue their investigation and let it drop. He has had experience with being persecuted before and people siding with the cleric, even when the cleric was wrong because the cleric heals them and was more charismatic, and he was worried that might happen again. Fortunately, it did not.*

*Zaeryl nods.*

"Wise words Almayce. Our investigation is paramount, so let us continue."

 

[El Jefe]

Michael and the others scanned the ridgeline several times in the hour after they crossed the ridgeline. They saw no signs of pursuit.

OoC: You weren't barred from Fallon. You were barred from a small town, recently built, run by a minor baron with papers from Orussus. The name of the town escapes me at the moment, but it was at the crossroads of the Fallon and Lathirn roads.

IC: Xael channeled a miniscule amount of healing magic into Private Squatter's limp form. The soldier was still near death, but seemed to be approaching no closer to death's door.

OoC: Feel free to play out the discussion between yourselves. Let me know what actions you take outside of poking either of the soldiers with a stick.

 

[ajanders]

Michael considers interfering with the soldiers choice to remain unconscious, but elects to lay the moral burden of that on Zaeryl and Almayce. Because, of course, second and third degree burns are lifestyle choices the soldiers accepted when Zaeryl offered them. Who is he to interfere in that decision, an arrogant jackass?

He turns to the other side of the ridge and starts looking for someplace to hide.

(OOC The town appears to be Fenton, which both Michael and I have confused with Fallon. It doesn't help that Fenton isn't marked on the map, but I thought it was west of the Lathirn Road.)

 

[Patlin]

The third time, I decided we would not lose our tempers for twenty seconds -- no more, no less. I decided we would speak, and not attack them first.

So...

Ironwolf is dissapointed to hear his friend admit that it was a conscious choice to try to deprive his companions of their free will.

I'm not sure I want to travel with someone who thinks to impose his will over mine through magic, even if Michael has been a good friend in the past. I prefer to make my own decisions, and someone who tries to take the ability to do so away from me has no place by my side, however well meaning they might be. Zaeryl is clearly crazy, seems to suffer from delusions of grandeur, and places appallingly little value on mercy... but at least he isn't trying to controll my mind. I can always walk away from him if his ruthlessness becomes too offensive. With mind controll, can I be sure I would retain the same freedom if Michael were to grow in power?

"We've all agreed to help the people of Duvik. Let's concentrate on that. I'll follow your lead, Almayce... let's get on about it."

 

[El Jefe]

He turns to the other side of the ridge and starts looking for someplace to hide.

OoC: Um, would the "other" side be the side with the road to Kinthriver and the path to Duvik, or the side that has neither of these and is across the valley from the canyon that leads to Duvik?

 

[ajanders]

(OOC:The road to Kinthriver with the path to Duvik...we came up the canyon, right? At any rate, not recovering the ground the party already rode across.

If the cover is as bad as you say, he'll probably wind up having to do a 360 degree sweep anyway, but that's where he'll start. Failing that, he'd think there'd be someplace to belly-up in that valley.)

 

[El Jefe]

OoC: Maybe a map would help.

   |     R     |
   |     R     |
   |     R     |
   |     R     CCCCCCCCCC
  X|     R
   |     RPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
   |     R
   |     R     CCCCCCCCCC
   |     R     |
   |     R     |

| = Ridge on either side of shallow valley
R = Road (to Kinthriver at bottom of map)
C = Canyon "walls" (not really vertical, but kinda steep)
X = Where Zaeryl rode to (your present location?)
P = Path (Duvik off the map to the right)

Obviously, nothing is quite to scale. Let's say the valley is about a mile wide, the canyon considerably less than that.

So, if I understand your last post, you want to cross back over the ridgeline in the direction of Duvik and look for a hiding place somewhere in the valley?

 

[ajanders]

OOC: I seem to have written poorly. Michael is not moving much of anywhere yet: he's standing somewhere looking for someplace that looks like a good hiding spot. At this elevation, that really boils down to: "Oh, there's a promising looking jumble of rocks." or "There's a good thick clump of trees."

Once he finds some candidate places, we'll see what happens.

 

[El Jefe]

Michael looked for a good hiding place, but was not succesfull in finding what he wanted. If anyone stumbled across the band, they were sure to be found. On the other hand, without tracking or without spotting smoke from a campfire, it would be very difficult to find anything from a distance in this terrain...well-wooded hills turning to mountains.