IC

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus quietly gestures to Wulfka to make sure she is ready to defend his precious hide, should hostilities break out.

[shaidar]

Newton shifts his grip to his bow, ready to bring it to action.

He also considers the use of one of his spells.

ooc: how far away are they and how spread out?

[VonAlric]

Woman

"The trinkets we have would not interest you, good sir. By the cut of your dress and the quality of the steed you ride I see you are wealthy -- a nobleman, perhaps! We peasants are beneath your notice."

Gardo turns his head to Mariusz and speaks in a low voice. "Keep your eyes open." He turns back to the older woman and calls out. "Interested? Some of us have ladies back at town. You might have just the thing we need to make them happy. Why pass up the chance to sell, especially since I don't see you in a place where you are going to find a lot of other people travelling about." He will turn the horse a bit and swing down off of it so she cannot see him loosen the sword in the sheath as he readies to approach.

[thirdkingdom]

Woman

"I might have heard something of these bandits, now that you mention it. And there's the slightest chance," she holds her thumb and forefinger about a half inch apart, "that we may technically not be tinkerers. If we tell you where the bandit camp is will you let me and my companions leave here, as free men?"

http://orokos.com/roll/733513: 2d6+1 11

[sulldawga]

Telemachus

"How about this? We're going to confiscate any valuables you have on you right now. Then your friends can take a walk but you are going to come with us and show us this bandit camp. And if it's not there? Well, I wouldn't want to be you at that point."

[VonAlric]

Gardo

"Wait, they can all take a walk after we see this bandit camp. I've had bad experiences in the past when I let all but one person go. Could've killed me that day."

"Besides, I still want to see those trinkets."

[thirdkingdom]

Telemachus

"How about this? We're going to confiscate any valuables you have on you right now. Then your friends can take a walk but you are going to come with us and show us this bandit camp. And if it's not there? Well, I wouldn't want to be you at that point."

Gardo

"Wait, they can all take a walk after we see this bandit camp. I've had bad experiences in the past when I let all but one person go. Could've killed me that day."

"Besides, I still want to see those trinkets."

The would-be bandits look at each other, varying expressions on their faces. "They're that way," says the woman, pointing towards the river, "We'll leave you our blades and what money we have if you let us go now, that way," she points in the opposite direction, towards the southeast, "and we swear we won't warn them, or even look over our shoulders at them as we get out of your way."

[sulldawga]

Telemachus

The mage confers quietly with his partners.

"How about we leave them here with the foot soldiers to guard them, and we scout ahead? Once we fix the location of the camp, we can come back and grab the foot, and those clowns can scamper off."

[VonAlric]

Gardo

"I'm not about to go and rob anyone here. Just protecting my back. And flank. I would let them keep their money, any objections?"

Hearing Telemachus, he replies, "Yeah, I like that idea."

[sulldawga]

Telemachus

"If you're trying to teach someone that crime doesn't pay, letting them keep what they stole from others is sending mixed signals."

[thirdkingdom]

Telemachus

"If you're trying to teach someone that crime doesn't pay, letting them keep what they stole from others is sending mixed signals."

Looking over at meager pile the bandits have tossed down it appears that they are, if not learning that crime doesn't pay, certainly living it. There's a couple of gold coins, a handful of silvers, and another handful of coppers. One of the men very carefully places a deck of cards down onto the pile, while another puts a small wooden flute down. It's . . . not much.

[sulldawga]

Telemachus

The mage looks down at the pitiful pile of loot.

"Am I going to have to ask a couple of the lads to strip you all naked? Let's see it all, please."

[thirdkingdom]

Telemachus

The mage looks down at the pitiful pile of loot.

"Am I going to have to ask a couple of the lads to strip you all naked? Let's see it all, please."

Tinehildi

The woman laughs. "You're welcome to strip me down, young man, but you'll find nothing more than dirt on me, 'less there's something else you're looking for. My other treasure, as it were." She winks at Telemachus. "We're just the followers. We're not the ones with the loot, it's the leaders that keep it all for themselves. You'll find them down there," she says, "just south of where you can see the river bend. We were sent up here to keep an eye on the river, and toot this horn -- which we haven't blown yet, if you'll notice," she indicates a battered brass horn one of the bandits has slung over their back, which he sheepishly adds to the pile, "when we see a group of riverboats pass by. There's supposed to be a big shipment of gold ore coming south in the next day or so, all that was mined over the winter but couldn't be sent south, and the boss decided he wanted a piece of the action. Figured he'd set up an ambush here, this close to Junction, where the guards wouldn't be expecting it."

[shaidar]

Telemachus

The mage confers quietly with his partners.

"How about we leave them here with the foot soldiers to guard them, and we scout ahead? Once we fix the location of the camp, we can come back and grab the foot, and those clowns can scamper off."

Newton nods at the suggestion, "That's not a bad idea at all"

He turns to the leader:

"So, how many are there in this camp and what kind of skills do they have? Also, what kind of senty set-up can we expect? Be truthful, if we don't return our friends here will march you back to Junction and the Baron's justice"

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus: "I'm inclined towards leniency, myself. You can't blame poor folk for following a chance to earn their crust, and she's being pretty straight with us. Let's do as Telemachus suggested—leave them here with the soldiers until we scout out the camp. Then let them go with their goods and dignity intact."

Aldus throws a thieves' cant sign of recognition to see if any of the bandits reciprocate.

[thirdkingdom]

Telemachus

The mage confers quietly with his partners.

"How about we leave them here with the foot soldiers to guard them, and we scout ahead? Once we fix the location of the camp, we can come back and grab the foot, and those clowns can scamper off."

Newton nods at the suggestion, "That's not a bad idea at all"

He turns to the leader:

"So, how many are there in this camp and what kind of skills do they have? Also, what kind of senty set-up can we expect? Be truthful, if we don't return our friends here will march you back to Junction and the Baron's justice"

Tinehildi

"There's about fifty or so of them, mostly cannon-fodder like us. The boss is pretty tough, and he's got a couple of real trig coves with him, plus Danmes. She's a sorcerer of some sort, scares the shit out of me, to be honest. There's a spot along this bank of the river where it bends, and the other side is a lot shallower than this side, so the current kinda sweeps boats to the east. They're set up there, with archers in the bushes and a half dozen good swimmers ready to jump in with ropes, once the guards are all slain."

[thirdkingdom]

Aldus: "I'm inclined towards leniency, myself. You can't blame poor folk for following a chance to earn their crust, and she's being pretty straight with us. Let's do as Telemachus suggested—leave them here with the soldiers until we scout out the camp. Then let them go with their goods and dignity intact."

Aldus throws a thieves' cant sign of recognition to see if any of the bandits reciprocate.

None of the bandits seem to notice, or recognize the sign, although one of them looks at Aldus strangely. He gets the feeling that these men and women, by and large, aren't formally trained in the art of thievery, as he is, but tend to rely on brute force to take what they want.

[shaidar]

Newton looks at the sad pile of 'treasure'

"Why did you take up this life, surely there is something better than this?"

[VonAlric]

Gardo

Gardo spits at the mention of the female mage. "Just our luck that there is a mage with them, not straight-forward anymore. Telemachus, I know you is a smart guy, hope you can plan a way to keep their mage from doing us in."

He considers things for a moment and continues. "Not so sure if we can afford to leave the foot soldiers to guard just a few people. We might need all hands to keep this from going bad on us. What do you think, Telemachus?"

At the end of their discussion, Gardo will turn to the female leader. "You got any other info that is useful to share, I know I want to hear it. Since you gave us that info, let me make this offer to you. As long as my partners agree to let you go, I'm going to give you 5 gold for the info. You split it with your people. Let me also say this. My father always told me that if I wanted to get something in this life, I would have to work for it. Then he sent me back in to fight my brothers and get beaten down another time. But, I eventually got better than them and beat them down. Now, I'm out here to get even more with my life."

"I know we will be back in Junction soon. If you or your friends here want to work to make something in this life, you meet me back there. If we meet, I'll give you another 5 gold to split, maybe more if there was more good info. We might even talk about a job. We probably will need people to help us move things and set camps and such. Not the easiest life or very pretty but less likely to have the law against you. My father always said having many hands made the work lighter. Funny how it was always my brothers and me doing the work and him watching."

"Hey, Mariusz! Give this woman 5 gold, would'ja?"

[thirdkingdom]

Newton looks at the sad pile of 'treasure'

"Why did you take up this life, surely there is something better than this?"

One of the older men spits. "What, farming? Out here on this side of the river there's barely anything, and that's if you don't get killed by orcs, or goblins, or worse. So folks band together for protection, and at a certain point we need to eat, and drink, and it kinda becomes easier to just take what we want. No one starts off wanting to be a brigand. It just . . . happens sometimes."