Niobe's Dilemma (Manzanita Judging)

[Bront]

"Why no, I have no family, and I'm good at picking targets. I saw a lone man and woman ride off from back her nearly a week ago while wandering, and then having spoted more people ariving to, I simply guessed they may go out for a midnight ride like the last pair. Most of these nobles are..."

An arrow wizzes by the man. "Have you lost it man? Rob them and be done with it!"

 

[Rystil Arden]

*Lasair is surprised and happy, her smile visible for all to see, though the arrow does make her frown.*

"Hush please, sir" she speaks to the archer, "I'm thinking if you were to willing give up robbery, you all might have just found something that could help you make a lot of money."

(OOC: If he tries to protest or shoot again, since it seems like just this one guy is being disruptive of the rest, she'll Charm him too)

*She turns back to the first man.*

"Ah, you are very perceptive indeed then. In fact more perceptive than a vast number of people in this area, actually. I was right that you could be a good detective. I would suspect that you picked the wrong targets this time, however, as from personal experience I was actually attacked by a very similar group of bandits near Covington with even more bandits than you have right now, and my friend Troi dispatched them. I was actually upset, as I don't like to see people die, so I'm glad that isn't going to happen again here--actually, I had a friend who was a former bandit who is doing really well for himself now, which makes me happy. Anyway, back to the point. Tell me everything you can about those two people you saw--what they looked like, what the horses looked like, which direction they went, any details you can remember. I'm pretty sure if you tell us something useful, I might be able to get some sort of reward for you from our sponsor."

(OOC: Diplomacy still at +16 )

 

[Bront]

"Well, the lady was slumped over and in front of the man, and..."

Lasair sees the one she saw as disruptive begin to draw, and casts to charm him, but fails.

"Fire!" all three archers fire, Hitting Lasair once, the horseman once, and his horse. The man grabs the reigns as his horse runs off away from the archers.

The other two riders raise their swords, one of them says, "I think we're done talking now, unless we see some gold."

OOC: Lasair takes 7. The 2 remaining horsemen are 20" away, the 3 archers are about 50" away, and the one on the spooked horse is about 40" away.

 

[Rystil Arden]

"You idiot. Didn't you hear that you were going to get gold? Well, that was intolerable--you even attacked one of your own," Lasair says, indignant at the archer's randomly foolish brand of evil.

*She turns to her friend.*

"Please, help us, my friend. See how they are shooting at you now too? I can't understand it, and I can only assume that the bastard who kept firing has some kind of wish to hurt and kill others even stronger than his greed for gold."

*Then she turns to her three allies.*

"Don't attack my friend or any of the others who cease attacking, but attack any of the others at your leisure, especially that one who ordered the shot. He at least is not misunderstood. He is so evil that he acts against his own best interest to draw blood."

*She turns to all the bandits.*

"And that goes for all of you--I have seen more bandits than this slain by my allies. If you don't aid that insane archer, you will not be harmed, and you will probably see some gold from all of this. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee your safety, and if you are lucky, you will be imprisoned for your crimes. If you aren't lucky, of course, then you shall be among the sheep of this 'Zephos' fellow I am hearing about."

(OOC: She steps back behind her allies and makes one last plea to the bandits--hopefully at least one or two of them decide that money and living is better than dying

I assume the Charm victim is going to fight for us when he can--this is one of those edge cases where the allies have attacked him and we are still being friendly)

 

[Bront]

With swords raised, and arrows drawn, the others look, and 3 or four of them shout "Show us the money," "The Money now then!", "No more games bitch!"

The one she appeals to she had charmed struggles to reign in his horse, "You fools, there were going to give us the gold, you heard the lady!"

"I'll believe it when I see it!" "You're foolin yourself" "She's playin with you man!"

 

[Rystil Arden]

[SBLOCK=Lasair's future words of wisdom]"I don't have the money, but my employer does. He has a lot of money. More than all of my friends and I have combined--frankly I come from a culture that works on a barter system, so I don't even understand this obsession over money so much and don't usually carry it all around(*). Anyway, If you work with me, you can get the money. If you want to do that, the first thing you need to do is restrain that one archer who shot both me and one of his own men too, since he is clearly working against your own interests and is a crazy radical element who could cause you to all to not get any money at all--rest assured that if he knocks me unconscious, I have no doubt that you will all be killed. I know for sure that I can work with my one friend here," she turns to him, "What's your name by the way? I'm Lasair," she smiles at him, "Anyway, if there's anyone else who wants to work with me and get money, please show me that now by restraining the one who is causing all of us a problem by insisting on an attack that will lead to your deaths. If you don't believe me about that, feel free to continue the attack, but I can't guarantee another opportunity for ceasefire later on without a full surrender, and by then some people may have died. I don't want to see any deaths. I just want everyone to come out of this happier."

(OOC: She's still okay to let the others attack this round--and in fact, the arrows triggered a few ready actions, so they get to go now, so I'll have Lasair shut up)

(*)This is true--she didn't bring her stuff along except her crossbow, club, armour, and shield, so robbing her is pretty pointless and probably whichever of the others didn't bring even his armour is worth even less [/SBLOCK]

 

[Bront]

OOC: I expected you to shut up after the last speach Wiating to hear what the others do, because things changed a little bit, you all (other than Lasair) can interupt and act at any time of course.

 

[Rystil Arden]

(OOC: I can edit that last bit out. In all likelihood, she couldn't have fit that in the time it takes for the readied action to go off )

 

[Bront]

OOC: Just sblock it, and we'll see

 

[Rystil Arden]

(OOC: Okey dokey )