Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose marveled. In all her special-ops time, she had never encountered a man before, whether friend or foe, who wouldn't respond emphatically and as desired to a threat to the family jewels. Whatever else there was to say about this man, he had cojones ... although he might not have them for long.

"Let him feel just a little pain," she instructed Harker. "Don't, ah, remove anything yet. I just want him to know we're not bluffing. But if he resists ... right one first." She turned away for the moment, not wanting to see exactly how far Harker got in enforcing the threat.

The sound of combat was getting more intense, and she was aware that she, Harker, Argus and Therese were pretty well away from it. That was good and it was bad. On the positive side of the ledger, they had the luxury of preparing a counterattack in relatively safe conditions, and a great deal of firepower, easily channeled into ranged attacks, to do it with. Less positively, if all that firepower was at her disposal, it wasn't at Tim's. The other fire team might be getting hard pressed.

She turned her attention to Therese. "What can you do here?"

The tall woman continued to be almost unnaturally calm. "You've seen most of it. Standard energy spells, Force Bolts, Fireballs, that kind of thing, plus some earth magic. We're really in no danger of them closing with us, as long as I know they're coming. I can make another landslide that'll wall them off in an instant."

Rose didn't like that. "At some risk of trapping the fire team on the other side?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I think I can find the right place so that doesn't happen, but it's hard to be sure. On defense, I can help with a Barrier. I --"

Whatever she was going to say next was interrupted as Drusia ported back into their position, hissing in pain from the wound in her leg.

"Oh, damn, I'm going to have to fix that," Rose said, and she bent to a Healing spell on Drusia's wound as the elf described what she'd seen ... and Therese's composure came down just a notch.

"A half-elf mage," she echoed. "Now that ... I have not seen before. And I do not know how effective my defenses will be against magic. That is ... worrisome."

[OOC: Do be careful not to go overboard with the Levitation capability. What Meji told Leah and Riley when they watched Ianilis flying suggests that the capabilities for that aren't very advanced in the Poe-verse.]

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina had stuck close to Tim and his barrier spell as the two of them and Udo and changed their position. Drusia's teleport would have drawn another 'oooOOOooh!' from the kobold in peaceful circumstances, but the threat of an arrow through the throat had held her attention more firmly as they'd moved.

It was time for some payback. Tamina focused on the nearest man firing at the group and waited for him to reach for another arrow. She tapped Tim, asked him 'Drop barrier sec, please?' then channeled. She flew past the priest, travelling across the rocky terrain in a magically-charged blur, and crashed into the unfortunate bandit claws first. She pulled the gurgling, dying man over to her side of the cover he'd been hiding behind, finished him off with a swipe, and dropped into a crouch as another arrow pinged off the stone.

[Alberich]

Tamina was able to dispatch a couple of the nearest bandits. This drew fire from the wizard - but he was three hundred yards away and she moved with such blinding speed that he didn't manage to hit her. Except with a shower of gravel from where he hit the mountainside. The blasts forced her to retreat back over to where Tim was.

When Udo saw what was happening, he began firing at the wizard himself - drawing some very dangerous return fire that forced him back behind the ridge. The surviving bandits were getting closer to the top, crawling from cover to cover, but they weren't there yet.

Meantime, back down the near slope, the captive bandit was determined to resist to the best of his ability answering whatever question they were actually planning to ask him while his nutsack learned what the trees felt like at dam-building time. But how much ability that would be remained to be seen. It might even depend on the question.

[OOC: Note: the "fire team" of Tim, Udo, and Tamina is on top of the ridge or slightly on the near side of it and lying down; they didn't cross over to the other side because they didn't want to be blasted by that wizard who's down on the bottom of the opposite slope. Also note that Udo is the only member of this team who can actually fire anything - well, actually, if you give her something sharp, Tamina can fire herself at it magically, as she did at the LHUC, in a projectile-like way, but that can take a lot out of her. Conceptually, Tim letting his shield down while Tamina rushes out to slash up a couple of outlaws might be considered a sort of "fire," with Tamina as the ultimate "smart munition." Also note the last thing I said about the wizard's capabilities: he walked up a couple of steps into the air, at the same speed and with the same effort as climbing stairs; he definitely can't just bob and swoop around at will. And he's pretty damn powerful.]

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose was feeling guilty: there was very little that she could contribute directly to the fight going on beyond her. Her offensive magic was unimpressive, being limited to a Force Bolt that didn't have the oomph of a real mage's and tired her rather seriously to cast, and a few other generally second-rate things. Reconnaissance magic, now, that was different ... but that wasn't what was needed here.

But there was one thing she could do. Reaching into the folds of her robe, she extracted the pistol she'd confiscated a couple of weeks ago from her cousin. It didn't have much ammunition left, perhaps a dozen rounds, but on the other hand, they hadn't exactly been using it at a high rate, either. This seemed like a time. She chambered a round and waited while Harker and the bandit began their "negotiation."

Ah, there was another bandit head, poking out of cover above the back side of the ridge. She sighted and fired, but the bullet pinged off a rock in front of him, far enough away that the man may not have even known he was being shot at. She spoke a curse word meaning impotence and reloaded ... and felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Let me see that thing," Therese said, as calmly as usual. "You're a crappy shot."

"I'm out of practice," Rose muttered, feeling slightly dumped on, but she handed the gun over to the knight of the Sisterhood. The fool on the hill hadn't bothered to get back under cover as he nocked another arrow to send off in the direction of Udo, Tim and Tamina, and Therese was able to draw a bead on him. Moments later, there was a bang, and his head erupted in a spray of blood and bone.

"That was a little lucky," Therese allowed. "Range is way too long for this thing to be accurate." Still, she kept the weapon, and Rose didn't argue. She turned back to Harker and the bandit, but not without a quick pass by Argus in his armor. "So, are you going to put that tank outfit to use?"

[Drannin]

"Just sensing the ground," Argus murmured, deep in concentration. "There." A thrust of his hand, and the ground exploded under several of the bandits on the other side of the hill. "That should be suficiet distraction," Argus commented, hefting a sparking lance of stone. He set off for the battle as quickly yet carefully as he could muster.

Meanwhile, Harker's interrogation... was proceeding.

[Alberich]

One or two bandits, anyway - the bandits being in extended order, it wasn't easy to catch groups of them with stone lances, especially when they were out of sight on the opposite slope and advancing in crawls and rushes.

[OOC: If Argus has special senses that let him know who is standing where on the other side of the mountain, please let me know that. The enemy's magic blasts are strictly line-of-sight; if he can't see you he can't shoot you. Which is one of the things that's been preserving Tim and Udo so far.]

Tamina's bold rush and Argus' lance had definitely delayed the bandits advancing in the center, towards Tim and Tamina. This was a good thing, as Tim had no fire weapons himself - only sword and knife. On the right, one especially stupid bandit had made it all the way to the top, but he had abandoned the crawl-and-rush tactics to silhouette himself atop the ridge, and had been shot down by Rose for his pains. On the left, Udo was poking his head up to fire blasts at the bandits from his staff, but when he did that, the enemy below fired massive bolts that made him keep his head down. So Tim and Udo were only getting occasional glimpses of the enemy. Both would scamper to the side before looking over the top again, making it a little harder for the enemy to zero in on their positions.

Although Argus hadn't seen the enemy yet, he noted that the bolts that struck the mountainside from the other side were hitting hard and throwing up lots of stone and gravel. Whether his stone armor would stop a direct hit - he had some doubt, though Tim's shield might give him some cover if that's where he walked up.

Back down the slope with Rose, Therese, and Drusia, the interrogation was indeed ready to proceed; and yet, as of yet, no one had actually asked the captive "Clan Gyermanov" outlaw any questions since making the enhanced threats. To his mind, he had already answered the previous question of who he was and what he was doing here.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: OK, just one question from Rose, to move things along...]

Sister Rose noticed two things. First, just the tiniest spot of red blood had appeared at the crotch of the captive's pants. She had to hand it to him; no stain on the front, no brown on the back. But the other thing ... he was still swearing a blue streak, threatening all sorts of dire things ... but a few beads of sweat had formed on his recently cleansed brow. Good; maybe he was beginning to think about what the future might be like if he didn't die.

She knelt, waving Harker back for the moment. "Let's try this one more time," she said. "Just one question for now, and your answer to this one will determine how -- vigorously the rest of this interrogation is pursued. How is it that you honorable humans will follow a half-elf mage to the death ... when that half elf is making so damn sure that he does not die when you do?"

Many soldiers, she realized, would willingly follow a charismatic leader to the death. However, the realization that the leader had no intention of dying with his troops ... well, that wasn't so good for morale. She sat back to await the man's answer.

[Alberich]

His hateful face twisted in confusion. "What the fuck's a 'half-elf'? Our chief would join us if he could!" But he didn't like the look he was getting at his answer or the feel of beaver incisors on his tender parts, so maybe it was better to answer this stupid question further. "It's better to die than not! - or you end up like Carloc!" These weird outlanders obviously didn't have any spiritual insights.

[Graybeard]

"And who is Carloc?" Sister Rose probed.

[Alberich]

He turned his head over towards the crest, and the explosions. "Our guide in the worship of Sital!" He looked back at Rose, his grin menacing despite his circumstances. "He died but didn't die - so we can see death is best! Go introduce yourself! He'll show you."