Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

[Drusia]

"Matysh Markovich Gyermanov. Cut these ropes and I'll show you a greeting!"

I sigh.

"Is an outlaw worth questioning? We could just kill him and move on." I spin my Durus blade casually, although I'm careful not to channel any mana to it - I wouldn't want to accidently lop off a limb.

-- Drusia

[Alberich]

The outlaw showed bad teeth in a nasty grin at Drusia - "Yes! Death to us all! Me, then you! Kill us all if you can!" He didn't say who the last "us" was - whether it was more "Gyermanovs" or more something else. (For an outlaw even to be using a family name seemed strange - but talking to outlaws was not a well-regarded activity, since harboring an outlaw subjected you to outlawry yourself, so how they talked among themselves was not well known. Maybe they used their old names or took new ones.)

Perhaps it was his strange morbidity that made Rose notice the token tied around his neck with a bit of string - something like the "death token" Therese had found with the corpse north of their campsite.

Tim, standing nearby, wasn't opposing Drusia's idea. It was like the slavers in Port Lorrel - there was no law here to speak of, no Church to enforce justice or keep public order, no real hope of redeeming the man's soul before a proper public execution, and no public to learn the right lesson from it anyway. Also, if this was a scout, he'd be missed soon and the benefits of conversing with him would shrink with time. Tim turned to face the ridge whence he'd come - expecting to see enemy coming over it at any moment.

Udo was standing further back - his training, in contrast to Tim's, was for an extended order, assuming opponents with magical attacks. He thought this nasty little skunk sounded like an Expendable, but without the good cheer. Well, if the other poor dumb bastard wanted to die for his whatever-the-fuck-he-wanted-to-die-for, who was he to complain?

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose thought about it. <"Let me try something first,"> she mind-spoke to Drusia.

She rallied her magical energies, turned to the man, and ... cast a Hygiene spell on him. Dirt, grime, and above all, body odor fell away and vanished into the aether. (That latter was a service to those in the party, even if they learned nothing more from the fellow, Rose reflected.) His matted hair was never going to be well-combed and orderly, but at least now it was clean. Based on the startled expression on his face, that hadn't been the case in a while.

"There," she said when the spell had run its course. "Now that you have the appearance of a civilized human being, not an animal, perhaps you will speak as one. I ask you again: who are you, and why are you here?"

[Alberich]

[OOC: Creative idea!]

Matysh's look of surprise was profound. In another setting it would've been hilarious. At first he imagined it to be a strange sort of magical execution and he tried lashing out with his feet to cause some harm as he died - but Drusia dodged easily and left him thrashing alone. And then it dawned on him he wasn't dying.

He was younger than his family's outlawry, and as such had never known the softer life in Goriel city. He had simply never experienced this level of cleanliness. He was still full of hate - to change that Rose would have had to cleanse his bloodstream, or his heart - but this strange sensation caught him quite off guard. And he had nothing better to do than to answer her question --

"Matysh Markovich Gyermanov" - his heart hardened again; he was a Gyermanov! - "and I am here to find the one who killed my clan's guest, and kill him, and kill everyone with him, and die...!"

Tim cried out "look out!" as he threw up a barrier - just in time to stop an arrow whizzing down towards the group around the prisoner. Udo, further off, fired a bolt from his staff at the two new arrivals on the ridgeline who hit the ground to avoid it.

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina yelped at the sudden appearance of the new, and obviously hostile, arrivals. They were too far away with no decent cover in between for her to risk channeling, especially now, with the information she had to deliver.

The kobold scurried behind Tim's barrier (another spell she'd never learned) and patted him on the shoulder companionably.

"Go team." She said, encouragingly.

[Graybeard]

Oddly enough, Sister Rose almost felt relieved as the arrow clanged off Tim's Barrier. Now, it was all just a tactical problem ... and tactical problems were easy to solve when one had overwhelming firepower.

First things first. She turned to Drusia. "They'll be sending a runner for more forces. Can you teleport up onto that knob and stop the runner? No reason to be gentle about it or to fight fair or take prisoners, an ambush will work just fine." She gestured at a point beyond where the arrow at come from.

Next, she waved to Tim, Udo and Tamina. "Get behind them and cut them off. We'll give you covering fire. Don't let them get away. Try to take them alive, but do what you have to do." And then back to Argus and Therese. "If you can keep them pinned down, I have a thing to do with our captive." Therese nodded and launched a rather pro-forma Force Bolt toward where the two men had gone to ground; more flamboyant than destructive, and she'd still have the energy left to do more.

She turned to the captive. "Speak more civilly," she said softly. "We did nothing to any guest of your clan, nor have we any reason to be at war with your people -- or at least we didn't until we were attacked. Now explain yourself, and we may yet avoid --"

Gyermanov's eyes blazed. "I do not fear death!" he roared. "DIE, enemy of our clan! Kill me, I don't care, but my people will --" But he suddenly grew silent as he realized where Rose was directing Harker.

That wasn't the least bit unexpected. Now Luminosita forgive me for this one last thing... "Ah, but there are things worse than death," she said softly to Gyermanov. Then to Harker: "If he doesn't answer my next question more calmly and sensibly, you have my permission to chew his nuts off."

She hadn't really been in telepathic contact with Argus about that idea, but married couples eventually did start to think alike, after all.

[Alberich]

"Go team!"

Tim hadn't thought much of this strange catlike creature, but her gentle touch sent a brief thrill through him...and there was something inspiring about those words...but then there were magic bolts being fired and orders to obey. And no time to think about it.

Tim and Udo scrambled for the ridge. Even Udo didn't stop to quarrel with the Veracian for being "bossy" - or even to think about why he was doing what she said. He just moved, firing again where the two scouts had been.

[OOC: Taking a liberty with Drusia here. Can you blame me for wanting to?]

When Drusia teleported to the top - she saw something Rose hadn't. It seemed the reinforcements were already on the way up the other side. At least twenty, spread out, all on foot, with bows, spears, and swords, in rough dress no better than their captives. They weren't close, not yet, but they were on the way. And in the center rear --

There was a single figure. Tall and unnaturally thin. Beardless but with a mane of shaggy, long hair, and in a belted goatskin robe. Even as Drusia saw him, magical protection blossomed around his body, front and back. A back-teleport and stab wouldn't work this time. This shielding would be strong against both magic and physical attacks.

He was a good three hundred yards away, but something about him was familiar. Damnably familiar. But he was supposed to be dead. But then...dead mad errants don't step two yards up into the air and start glowing brighter as they prepare to attack. If this were he, or anything like him, this would not be an easy fight.

Meantime, Matysh ("Gyermanov" was his family name, though what an outlaw was doing with one of those, none could say)...Matysh was preparing to defend his future descendants with knees and feet. Meantime he growled back at Rose - "All things are worse than death! Bring it to us all, and yourselves."

[Drannin]

Argus gestured with a hand, and the ground all but exploded where the two attackers had gone to ground. A stony suit of armor formed around him, and electricity crackled over his frame. He could handle whatever came his way.

Meanwhile, Harker calmly produced a file and began sharpening his teeth slowly.

[Drusia]

At least twenty, spread out, all on foot, with bows, spears, and swords, in rough dress no better than their captives. There was a single figure. Tall and unnaturally thin. Beardless but with a mane of shaggy, long hair, and in a belted goatskin robe. Even as Drusia saw him, magical protection blossomed around his body, front and back. A back-teleport and stab wouldn't work this time. This shielding would be strong against both magic and physical attacks. He was a good three hundred yards away, but something about him was familiar. Damnably familiar. But he was supposed to be dead. But then...dead mad errants don't step two yards up into the air and start glowing brighter as they prepare to attack.

What. The. Fuck?!

He's dead. I fucking killed him. I - ...

Wait. Shouldn't he be older than that? Unless... a son? That has to be it, doesn't it? He couldn't still be alive... mysterious regeneration magic aside, people don't just come back from Durus wounds like that.

Never mind, the larger issue is that barrier spell and the twenty bandits with him. This is why I prefer ambush tactics - no shield spells.

Okay, I'm not going ot be able to take him alone, but I can at least level the playing field a bit for the others. I pick the largest concentration of bandits and reality warps around me.

I appear several meters from the Errant, keeping half a dozen of his men between him and me. Time to reduce that number.

[OOC: Cue the Crazy 88 Theme]

Whatever these men are, they aren't that well trained, and they certainly weren't expecting me to appear like that. I spin, holding my Durus blade in a back-handed grip. One man's throat opens, but I duck under the blood spray and disembowel the man next to him. I roll back, cutting another bandit off at the knee, sending him painfully - but alive - to the ground.

Two of the bandits try to attack me with sword and spear, respectively. My Durus cuts through both as neatly as it cuts through leg bones. I slice through the swordman's arms, then roll forward and open up the spearman groin to chest.

Things are getting messy here, and those bowmen are getting a bead on me - not to mention the Errant - so I concentrate and put myself on the other side of the formation. Reality warps -

- and a bandit bowman loses his head. I spin around and take another one through his spine. I roll forward, arrows thunking where I was just standing. Crap! I slam into a third bowman, his ribcage parting against my Durus. I use my momentum to pull him around, shielding myself from further arrows with his body. In my free hand, I draw my steel blade.

A swordsman charges me. I pivot, using the dead bandit as a fulcrum, and slash at his upper arm. This isn't a durus, so it won't cut bone readily - I make sure not to hit much, instead fileting the muscle. He screams and drops his sword. More arrows hit my bandit shield, and another hits the man who just attacked me. Well and good. Time to get out of here.

I pull my Durus free of my shield and throw my steel blade into the throat of one of the remaining bowmen. That will have to do. Focusing on where I left the others, I concentrate and warp reality again.

I appear before Rose and the others - and cry out as pain blossoms in my leg. I look down and see one last arrow. It must have hit just as I cast the spell. Fortunately, it went all the way through. Grimacing, I snap off the head and draw the arrow out.

"About -" twenty minus nine equals "a dozen bandits incoming," I gasp. "One's a half-elven mage. He has a barrier spell."

-- Drusia

[Alberich]

Drusia found it necessary to get out of there as the bright glowing enemy was firing force bolts of his own - and after he saw what she was doing, he didn't seem to care too much whether he hit his own men. Nor, from the look of things, did they. It wasn't going to be such a simple romp to get the last dozen. This outlaw "clan" had already lost as many men from a few moments with Drusia as they had at the Yurkashev feast a few nights ago - and how much longer would they keep even the numbers they had left?

By the time Drusia had managed all this slaughter, Udo, Tim, and Tamina had made it to the ridgeline. While he wasn't half the tactician he thought he was (what unholy military genius would it take, to be half what Udo thought he was?), even he saw the need to get on the ground and make use of the crest. The surviving enemy likewise hit the dirt and crawled behind rocks to use their bows, or else to try to crawl from cover to cover to get up close. Their bows were not so well suited to prone firing as Udo's staff. But then, once Drusia was gone, Udo had to worry with shots from their leader - for which he needed the cover of the ground, and such shielding as he could make with his own staff. This goatsucker was powerful, too -- Udo needed the cover the ground could afford; a direct hit would not be too good for the Fujomori bloodline, here. The shots were making him keep his head down, though, and limiting his effectiveness for sure.

"DEATH TO LIFE!!!!!" screamed the errant wizard as he fired.

"Kill us if you can!" cried one of the outlaw climbers.

"Kill everyone!" yelled another.

Tim, like Udo, was on the ground, with his sword out, using shields to block such arrows as came his way. He had no ranged attacks, and no enemy was close enough to come blade to blade with him. Which might be just as well. If Tim hadn't seen Drusia's fight with Eli and Gabriel -- a matter he had not yet admitted to anyone -- he would've been stunned by her brutal, bloody efficiency. As it was, he was still amazed by it. They were disgusting, arrogant slavemasters, but those elves certainly could slaughter humans with almost casual ease. Great indeed was the power of Luminosita, that had liberated mankind from such masters!

The enemy wizard down below showed no interest in coming up to the ridge just now - he hovered six feet off the ground down where he was, blasting at anyone he could see.


[OOC: Note: the surviving enemy are still scattered out, not clumped together, and using the natural cover on the far slope as they shoot or climb up. They are also getting covering fire from the errant down below. Tim and Udo aren't close to each other - they went to different parts of the ridge - and under the circ's that's probably the smartest way. Whether Tamina stuck close to Tim or moved to the side - is for her to say. To my knowledge, Argus is still back down behind the ridge in his rock armor, since he couldn't very well pelt up there as fast as the younger folks, though there's no one stopping him from climbing up the rest of the way if he wishes. Might want to keep his head down, though.

Rose is further back with the prisoner preparing to ask him questions under threat of painful beaverish incisoristic nut-chewing action. I don't know what she's going to ask him, yet, but I bet he's going to give some kind of answer. Therese is fast enough to have reached the crest if she wishes so to do. And Drusia - well, she might want to heal that hole in her leg - with her teleports she can go pretty well where she likes. Enemy's rate of fire is not extremely fast, but if it hits, you'll wish it hadn't. Boom! His shields are quite strong and cover him on all sides, including the top and bottom, so this isn't going to be a one-shot-one-kill-piece-of-cake kind of fight. On the other hand, I should point out that he can't really fly - he walked up into the air like a man climbing stairs and is hovering there, but can't swoop around like, say, Ian.]

[OOC2: "Death to Life" is not an original slogan with me. I wonder if GB will recognize where I took it from.]