IC: Dichotomy's Age of Worms Redux, Part II

[TiCaudata]

“I’m not a judge here either, I was sleeping in the corner from when Boldak stabbed the guy until you healed Viktor.”

 

[worthley]

"You continually yelled to 'stop'. I then waited, to react, hoping the others would have listened to your command. Yes, from this perspective I should have been more agressive. I am going to live my life knowing that at the time, I did the right thing. I mourn the loss of Boldak, but death is a part of doing what is right. Weather you feel it's my fault or not, that won't effect my actions, as I swore to help you with the cairn, and to help protect you and your friends. I still feel I have kept to my word, even in Boldak's death."

 

[o3caudata]

"That doesn't even begin to make sense. Who exactly did you protect here tonight? You failed even to protect yourself. If this is evidence of your help, i call you useless. If you say you kept your promise to us, i call you a liar. You could have tackled someone, you could have moved to protect someone other than yourself, you could have tried. You could have done SOMETHING other than stand there like a dolt."

"If you doing what is right involves having your companions butchered, you are a liability to anyone you swear to protect."

 

[TiCaudata]

"All of this talk of vows and whatnot is nice and all, but it largely ignores the question of what was expected when we broke into a house full of drunken ruffians... Things went wrong WELL before anyone (except for maybe the wizard over there) started swinging.

Boldak waited like all the rest of us. We were all following your lead, and NONE of us are blaming you for his death. Why are you so insistent on blaming him?"

Llyr then blushes slightly and turns to the man in the corner. "Frightfully sorry for subjecting you to all this by the way."

 

[worthley]

"I didn't stand and do nothing. I stood and reacted. You barge in and yell at everyone. I wait to see if they respond. I stood between the strongest of the enemies and our party. I took blows from a weapon that could have just as easily been targeted for any of us, but they went to me, because I stood to defend everyone."
Viktor stops for a moment to catch his breath and thoughts. "I guess I just hoped we didn't have to kill any of them. These people belong in jail for their crimes. They don't deserve to die for them."

 

[o3caudata]

Alexis looks aghast at Llyr's comment, and entirely ignores Viktors, and then begins to sob. In staggered spurts she mumbles "Of course I am..... I haven't been able to stop anyone from dying but that idiot..... I'm all the more guilty for trusting him to protect any of us.... we have different priorities.... mine just include helping those i care about... Boldak was my friend... I would gladly have given my life for him... And he ended up losing it because of me."

Turning to Viktor, she says through choked tears "You can't blame me anymore than I already accept responsibility for, because i accept it all. You stood and took blows from their strongest fighter. Your pacifity prolonged the battle and we will never know what could have been done for Boldak. I can't say you could have helped any more than you did, only that i could never not try to help as much as I could.... And i don't understand how you can I guess......Take them to jail then. And take me as well."

 

[TiCaudata]

"No one's going to be jailing you. Except that jailing them without the bodies for proof is more likely to get US thrown in than them, what with the breaking and entering. Maybe we should leave them tied up, find the bodies, and then send the authorities in to arrest these thugs? Shouldn't we be more worried about tracking down the person who hired them? This Filge? We will need to rest first as well I think. Maybe ditch some of this bulky equipment that we have too.

And of course...We need to get Boldak into a proper grave. It wouldn't hurt us to get the albino in one either.

All in all I think we have a couple days of work ahead of us before we can do anything about jails.

 

[Dichotomy]

Alendar, who was silent up to this point, soaking in the emotional outbursts, looks at Llyr with a somber gaze. He speak with a voice that is so quiet and measured that it makes his assertions even more pronounced after the heat that was just in the room.

"You must not be from around here. Do you know what it would mean to contact 'the authorities' regarding anything involving this matter? I know that I don't. But the only reason I don't is because I lack the sheer wit combined with villiany and opportunism that 'the authorities' in this cesspool possess. I cannot see all the angles, but I know that if a single person with just enough power in this place would benefit in even a remote way, we could get hanged for what happened here.

"And based on the rumors we heard, these thugs are employed by Balabar Smenk. I don't know who this Filge is you talk about. Is that some side job? But it doesn't matter. Smenk is the mine manager that is on top of the pile right now. If what happned gets out, if we tell 'the authorities,' you bet he'll notice. And his competitors will notice. Where do you think that will put us?"

 

[worthley]

"Weather you trust me or not, we both know that we need to find somewhere safe to rest, because non of us are in any shape to deal with what is ahead of us. I am going to my church, and I am going to take the bodies with me. There they will get a proper burrial. Also, there you may be able to understand that you aren't the reason Boldak died. Boldak's death was a risk he knew about well before he entered this room." Viktor then begins to look for something that would help carry the bodies to the church. He will use the sheets from the half-orc's bed to cover the bodies.

 

[o3caudata]

"Alendar is right, of course. Dragging those bodies through town will not go unnoticed. Viktor is free to do whatever he wishes. He won't be taking Boldak with him though. I will see to Boldak."

"What of the law, Viktor? If you wish, i will accompany you to whatever authority you wish. Peacefully and I will confess all things done here. Full responsibility and all. I will do my best to avoid implicating any of you, but i can't say how well that will go. Or are you going to set us, and these other men free and dismiss our crimes?"