Round Four
(this is preceded by round three, followed by round five)
"I'll handle the beast," Ben the bandit yells,
"You take care of these assassins!"
Kazzak ends
Wayne the troglodyte with a thrust to the heart.
Wayne takes 11 damage and dies!
"Look out!" No stranger to dark intent,
Morton caught the meaning behind
Ben's words. That, and the bandit referred to
Berthold as 'an assassin' once already.
"They're going to attack us next!" Demogorgon, the Fiend that looks out on the world through his eyes, sends a bubbling froth of eldritch power coursing through the half-elf, which
Morton expels through his outstretched hand...at the
owlbear this time. Sure, the
bandits were talking about killing them, but the beast just ate a woman's head!
But the
Fiend also finds entertainment in
Morton's distress. The blast of demonic foulness does no more than irritate the monster.
Irritated and in considerable pain from its various puncture wounds, the
owlbear rears up on its hind legs and snaps its toothy maw at the closest thing that harmed it:
Ben the bandit.
"ARGH!" the man yells as the monster takes a chunk out of his side.
Ben takes 11 piercing damage!
But the owlbear is still confused as to the location of its challenger. It heard the horn again nearby, but when it followed that sound before, there were only all these little creatures attacking it, rather than a rival. The smell of brimstone attracts it; it turns and lopes to the southeast and stops, sniffing.
Despite his wound,
Ben slices at the monster as it turns its back and moves away.
The owlbear takes 7 slashing damage!
The
owlbear turns and swipes a claw at the source of the foul smell:
Morton, taking the warlock across the face!
Morton takes 13 slashing damage and falls, dying!
Sora bounds over Wanda's body and runs alongside the wagon, past the skittish oxen, hopping over Aaron's corpse, and
Dashes between
Ben the bandit and
Berthold. The
bandit has just slashed at the
owlbear as it retreats; he does not attack the monk that follows the beast.
Sora catches up to the monster as it pauses to slash the half-elf.
Morton is dying nearby.
Amnestria pushes through the undergrowth and hunkers down behind the tree stump where the dead kobold, Ken, lies. She casts a
Fire Bolt, lingering on the final syllable,
Ready to send it flying at the first enemy to attack the party.
She doesn't have to wait long.
Kobold Karl moves to take cover from
Dell behind a tree and looses an arrow at
Kazzak; the missile spangs off of the dwarf's shield.
Amnestria's burst of flame scorches the bark above its head; it gives a little yelp of surprise and fear.
"You won't get us all, backstabbers!" Ben swipes at
Berthold with his sword, but his aim if off as he steps away to pursue the
owlbear. Coming up behind
Sora, he stabs at the monk with his dagger, but she hears him coming and twists out of the way.
"This was our job!" Stepping between the monk and dying
Morton,
Ben the bandit slashes at the
owlbear with his sword.
"Some days everything just goes wrong!"
The owlbear takes 8 slashing damage and gives a keening wail of pain; the accumulated little wounds are taking their toll!
"Fool!" Berthold scolds,
"That beast is our foe, not each other!"
"You attacked us." Ben the bandit looks over his shoulder as he skips out of reach of the owlbear's claws.
"It seems to me like you're all foes."
"Hold!" Antonius calls, his voice carrying across the road.
"Enough! Lower your weapons. The beast is the immediate threat. We are no assassins, just misunderstandings between us." His eyes narrow.
"But if you attack one of mine again, I will answer."
"It sounds like you want to stop fighting." Ben retorts.
"I'm willing to consider it, if you will accept a compromise. We stop when one of yours is dead for every one of mine that you killed."
Berthold steps up next to
Sora as the
owlbear is trying to crush the bandit. While the beast is distracted, the knight steps in under the heavy arm and stabs his sword up under its chin, where a neck would be on a normal creature. The blade sinks deep.
The owlbear takes 15 slashing damage and dies!
"Nice blow." Ben admits.
"Now that the distraction is out of the way, what do you say to my offer?"
Having heard
Ben and quick to respond before anyone else,
Antonius raises his voice and calls across the Road, around the wagon and oxen, to the cluster of combatants clustered around the fallen great beast.
"Death is not ours to trade. It belongs to Wee Jas. I will not barter one life for another simply because you demand a count. But there is something you can answer for. You were waiting here. Armed. Hidden. You surrounded that wagon and threatened its occupants. So tell me plainly: Who chose this place for the ambush? How long had you been watching the wagon? How did you know it would pass this road? And what were you expecting to take from them?" Antonius’ eyes narrow, and in the pause,
Ben mutters
Berthold:
"Does he always talk so much?" Not hearing this,
Antonius continues:
"Because this was no chance encounter. You came prepared for these travelers. So tell me — who told you they were coming, and why were you sent to intercept them? Answer those questions, and perhaps we can stop adding bodies to this road."
There is a moment of silence as
Ben the bandit pauses for a moment, then starts.
"Oh! Are you done? I wasn't sure you were done talking. You seem to be confused about how the life of a highwayman works. There isn't a grand plan; we're trying to make ends meet because life has kicked us in the teeth, and sometimes people come along who have something we can use. We were ready to just take their supplies and leave them be, and they attacked us. And then you did, too."
"Listen to my friend," Berthold says sternly,
"There is a narrow path you can all take, where the bloodshed ends now."
"Yes, I know." Ben nods sagely.
"I just told you what it is. You just need to choose which one of you will die. That guy over there -" he gestures at
Antonius, half seen on the other side of the wagon,
"he's not willing to choose. By all rights, it should be you that dies." He points his bloody sword at
Berthold.
"Because you're the backstabber that killed my friend." He raises his voice.
"But I'm being reasonable, and I'm letting you all choose. Which one will it be? Will it be him?" (still pointing at
Berthold)
"Or will it be her?" (he points at
Sora)
"Or maybe one of the others, like that guy in the trees?"
As if on cue,
Dell moves out from behind the rock outcropping and steps smoothly, carefully down the slope, crackling through the underbrush, his bow drawn, aimed directly at
Ben, and
Ready to loose.
"I would listen to my friends, bub, or you are the next to take an arrow."
"I am listening." Ben sighs.
"Listening and talking. So much talking! But it seems like you are not listening to me. You see, I've given you a chance to stop this in a fair and just way. All you need to do is to choose one of you - just one! - that will die to balance the scales. Then we'd leave, satisfied (after we claim our share of the loot, of course). But not choosing which one of you will die is still making a choice. And that choice would be that ALL of you would die."
Antonius Readies Toll the Dead as he approaches cautiously, crossing the Road partway and reaching the ox team.
"I have given you my answer, and you have proven what kind of man you are. Hence I believe we are done." Antonius responds for the group. Then he calls out, hoping that the other
bandits that he can't see are listening.
"There is no need for you to be judged by Wee Jas, and you may go or join us. Whichever you wish?"
Annie the archer has heard the message from her leader, but she also can count, and is not as confident in her chances of survival. So first she runs into the trees, taking cover behind a bole, before nocking another arrow.
"Now you're trying to poach my people? That does it!" Ben growls, then raises his voice to repeat his earlier command about killing the assassins.
"They've made their choice! Let 'em have it!"
Annie sees the armored wall that is
Kazzak approaching; she draws and looses.
Kazzak takes 7 piercing damage!
Dell, hearing the grunt of pain, turns, sees his friend hurt, and looses his
Readied attack on the bandit, but the arrow lodges into the tree trunk behind which
Annie is hiding.
Antonius, on the other side of the wagon, cannot see her to release his spell; he is focused on
Ben, who surely will be attacking momentarily.
21 - Kazzak (5/12) on the Road
19 - Cultists Walter Dead, Wanda Dead, Devon Dead
18 - Morton (0/15) in the Road, dying
18 - Owlbear Dead
14 - Sora (7/12) next to the dead owlbear
14 - Amnestria (9/9) north of the Road, behind cover
13 - Grallaria (0/1) spell ended
13 - Kobolds Karl, Kathy Dead, Kelly Dead, Ken Dead
11 - Bandit Ben (-12)
9 - Berthold (10/11) next to Ben
8 - Dell (6/8) south of the Road, in amongst the trees
5 - Antonius (3/10) on the Road by the ox team
3 - Bandit archers Aaron Dead, Amy Dead, Annie (-9), Arthur Dead
0 - Troglodytes Warren Dead, Wayne Dead, and Willie Dead
