Episode 7: Bandits in the Brush
Previously, on Tales of the Inner Council
After King Ga'jam's Final Decree dissolved of the monarchy of the fledgling Kingdom of Vath'azen, two members of the newly established "Ruling Council" set out to find the racoon-like Vyrian known as Senior Historian Saklay’n whom they believe holds the key to proving the decree's validity. After an encounter with some unsavory characters in the Hajbruug District of Stoverj, councillors Chodvar Taibil, the noble lizard-like Mahnkii Master of Commerce, and Jenta Hua'zur, the panther-like Arjeev Mistress of Whispers, connected with a savvy Arjeev street urchin by the name of Dez. They learned from Dez that Saklay’n had been forcibly taken from his home by some “particularly bad folks” two nights hence.
Now, the cat-boy Dez leads the trio on a race against time deep into the Karnwood forest beyond the safety of the city, to a site he claims is the kidnappers' hideout.
Karnwood Forest, North(east?) of Stoverj
Two horses' kicked up large clumps of mud as their hooves dug deeply into the marsh of Karnwood forest's saturated floor. Three riders on two horses - the cat-boy Dez pointing the way with Councillor Jenta Hua’zur on one, and Lord Chodvar Taibil close behind on the other.
Chodvar spurred his steed alongside the pair. "I thought you said the hideout was to the Northeast," he questioned the boy-thief.
"That's right," Dez replied indignantly. "What of it?"
"Then why are we heading North-Northwest?" The noble countered.
"Oh!," Dez retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I suppose you studied ‘hideout finding’ in Noble school?"
“No, you insufferable child. But if you ever studied the night sky maps of the Elvish scholar…”
“Stop it. Both of you,” Jenta hissed. “You,” she glared at Chodvar. “Act your age and station. And you,” she plucked Dez in the back of the head.
“Ow,” he fussed.
“Don’t antagonize him,” she admonished.
Dez leaned back in the saddle into Jenta’s chest and whispered over his shoulder. “Is he always like this?”
“Always,” she chuckled.
"We're getting close," Dez warned. "Best go on foot from here."
It wasn't long before the trio could make out faint lights in the distance; lanterns or perhaps torches. A hint of wood smoke from burning fires hung in the air. A light breeze was at their backs, a tactical disadvantage Chodvar highlighted, suggesting they circle around and approach from the North side of the camp. Jenta agreed. She picked their way cautiously through the forest, pointing out more than a few traps. Whoever these kidnappers were, they clearly didn't want any unexpected guests.
"What do we know about these guys?" Jenta whispered to Dez.
"The leader calls himself 'Suulyah.'"
"The Shadow?" Chodvar scoffed, shaking his head.
"How original," mocked Jenta.
"Anyway," Dez continued, ignoring the their comments but looking to Jenta. "He's one of us."
"He's Arjeev?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow, her nose crinkling up in disgust.
Dez nodded. "Runs a crew of around two dozen. They take bounties from pretty much anyone whose willing to pay. No boundaries, these guys. They move stolen goods in and out of the city." Chodvar perked up. As the Kingdom's Master of Commerce he recognized illicit goods would go untaxed, meaning lost revenue. They could also impact the prices of legitimate merchants, making it more difficult to earn a living.
He realized Dez was still talking. "They'll steal pretty much anything, kill anyone, convince rival noble families to speak up or be quiet on a certain issue..."
"...kidnap a random Historian?" Chodvar asked.
Dez shrugged. "If the money's right? Sure."
Show spoiler
What follows is an Ironsworn RPG solo session. My notes will generally be captured in the form of:
Character Initials: action
six-sider/ten-sider/ten-sider-result(Strong, Weak, Miss)
Effect
Show spoiler
Location: Named after animal (Karn = Elvish for rabbit)
CT: Aid Ally
Secure Advantage +wits
Loyalist +1
7/3/6-S-+1M, JH+2M
JH: Secure Advantage +shadow
Dez +1
8/4/3-S+2M
JH: Gather Information
Dez +1
6/2/1-S+3M
Oracle: Bandits
20: Kynekin (!)
16: Arjeev (!)
Bandit Camp, Karnwood Forest
North of Stoverj
As they closed in on the lights, Suulyah's camp came into focus through the foliage. A series of small, sturdy wooden cabins surrounded a large wooden home on stilts above the forest floor. Wagons and crates were neatly organized throughout. Armed vagabonds patrolled the perimeter with guard dogs, slowing the trio’s approach to a crawl. Extensive placement of lanterns and fire pits chased away the deep shadows of night. Chodvar leaned toward Jenta, the large black pupils of his bulbous lizard-eyes rotating forward as he whispered, "What's the plan here Councilor?" She stared out over the grounds and took a long inhale, her short-pointed panther ears shifting on high alert. She held up a finger to "wait." Dez watched intently as a pair of guards he'd neither seen nor heard crossed maybe two wagon-lengths in front of them. "We need to figure out if Senior Historian Saklay'n is still here," Jenta whispered. "And we need to do so quickly, and quietly. Dez, you'll make your way around that side of the camp. I'll go the opposite way. We'll meet on the other side and figure out next steps. Chodvar," he straightened his back in that "snooty noble" sort of way. "You keep watch from here. If anything goes wrong, get back to Stoverj. Get Davu and tell him what's happened." She'd fully expected him to protest, to argue, to tell them how he was trained by this or that person, or was exceptional at... something. Much to her pleasant surprise though, Lord Taibil simply nodded in agreement. Clearly he understood the gravity of the situation. But as if unable or unwilling to think nice things about him, Jenta's more critical inner voice countered, Coward. "Ready?" She asked the pair. Dez's yellow cat's eyes gleamed with mischief in the moonlight. He pulled his dark red overcoat closed and nodded. "Don't get caught," she warned the boy, before practically disappearing into the shadows.* * * * *
The boy-thief Dez was smart. He was quick on his feet, streetwise, and crafty. Unfortunately, he had far less experience sneaking through booby-trapped bandit-laden forests, at night, with armed guards and dogs patrolling. He'd made it maybe thirty paces around to Codvar's left when there came a sudden crash of branches and brush from the darkness. The nearest dog tensed, bared teeth, and began growling and barking ferociously as it pulled its handler, a Vyrian male with the features of a grey wolf, in the direction of the noise.
Chodvar couldn't see what happened, but assumed the worst as the guards made their way toward the shadow's edge to investigate. He needed to do something, fast, or the boy, their task, and all of their lives could be at risk. He scanned the camp, his mind frantically searching for anything he could use as a distraction.
An idea popped into his head. The hanging sacks, he thought. It was not unusual for hunters to keep game and food stuffs in nets, dangling above the ground, protecting them from hungry predators. The sacks hung from wooden posts about a person's height throughout the camp, held in place by ropes. If he could sever one of the ropes and cause a sack to fall, perhaps it would serve as enough of a distraction to buy the street urchin some time.
Chodvar unslung the poorly crafted bow the boy had outfitted him with before setting out from Hajbruug. The arrow shafts were straight... mostly. It would be a difficult shot; not his strong suit for certain. In fact, his mind wandered for a moment, Yahri was a much better shot. But it was the best thing the Mahnkii Master of Commerce could come up with on short notice. He hoped the dog's barking would mask the snap of his bowstring.
With painstakingly practiced form, Chodvar shifted his feet to hips-width distance, his front foot pivoting toward his target. He stood tall with his knees slightly bent. Nocking the arrow, he drew the bow back until the fleshy part of his scaly right hand, between the index finger and thumb, brushed the line of his jaw. He took a steadying breath, the exposed green scales of his arms reflecting in the moonlight that peaked between the canopy of trees high above.
Twang, sounded the bowstring as he released, launching the arrow into the air. For a brief moment Chodvar was incredibly impressed with his shot, until it missed the rope and crashed into a lantern beyond the target. With great resound, the lantern's glass panes shattered and its metal frame fell to ground.
In a single, startled hop, the dog spun 180 degrees to assess the new threat. Chodvar smiled, disappointed he'd missed his mark, but satisfied he'd distracted the dog - that is, until it saw him still standing upright in the shadows. The dog yanked with such force in Chodvar's direction that the Vyrian handler lost his grip on its rope. And suddenly, with death in its eyes, the dog was racing at full bore toward the Mahnkii noble to the guards’ shouts of "intruders!"
Oh... no... Chodvar panicked, turning on heel and fleeing into the forest away from the hideout. He only hoped he'd bought enough time for the cat-boy to get away.
Show spoiler
CT: Aid Ally
Secure Advantage +wits
Loyalist +1
7/7/3-W+1M
JH: +1 next move
JH: Face Danger
Dez: +1
Aid Ally: +1
xxx 6/7/8-M xxx
CT: Loyalist 2, burn 8M
8/7/8-W
JH: Suffer Momentum
-1M
South side of Suulyah's Camp, Karnwood Forest
North of Stoverj
The bandits were on high alert. They awoke from their slumber and poured from the main house. They were armed to the teeth, vigilantly guarding the perimeter. A small party had set off following hounds, undoubtedly tracking Chodvar's scent to the North. "What the hell happened?" Jenta questioned as Dez limped toward her, hand on his right side. He opened his mouth to respond, but seeing the look on his fact, she cut him off. "Don't you dare lie to me." Her eyes burned with anger, her tone scathing. Dez's tabby-colored face twisted. His ears flattened and eyes responded with an angry glare of his own. "Are you kidding me? Don't you threaten me! You don't own me!" His voice rose. "I could have died back there, thanks for asking!" "Stop it," she warned, head lowering in a snarl as the hair on the back of her neck started to rise. "Look at you," Dez shoved his finger in her direction accusingly. "They make you out like you're 'one of the people' but I see through you. You're no different than that frog noble you're paling around with; ordering others to risk their lives for you from the safety of your high towers and castle walls. From what I hear you're just some lucky slave girl that got away from the Empire." "Shut! Up!" Jenta threatened. The underbrush to one side of the pair rustled with movement as a figure stepped into view, bringing Jenta and Dez's argument to a sudden conclusion. He was tall, but not so tall as Jenta, and athletic with medium height, rounded, white-furred ears and a short black nose. The fur of his face was white, with gray and black stripes, resembling a lynx. A brown scarf hung around his neck, situated perfectly upon his dark blue leather tunic. A plethora of brown leather straps with suspicious looking metal fasteners crisscrossed his chest and wrapped his waste. In his hands, he casually grasped a long-handled mace with a wicked looking spiked metal ball on the end. Jenta and Dez froze, eyes wide. "Oh," the lynx man began with a mock look of surprise and a predatory smile. "Don't stop on my account. I was hoping to hear more about the 'frog noble' and his runaway Imperial slave girl. Sounds like quite the... How should I put it? Lucrative opportunity?" With a quick turn of her wrist, Jenta produced a short curved knife in her hand and moved as if to pounce, but additional bandits stepped from the underbrush all around them, weapons at the ready. The lynx man clucked his tongue and sighed with an exaggerated pout. "No? A pity. No worries though. I am sure the Empire will pay Suulyah top dollar to get you back." Never! Raged the voice in Jenta's mind. I'd rather die. "RUN Dez," she yelled, lunging forward, blade chambered back at her shoulder. Suulyah's eyes went wide, tunnel vision setting in on the razor-sharp assassin's blade speeding toward his throat. He barely brought the spiked mace up in time to deflect her attack, which sliced into the surface of his leather shoulder pauldrons. Jenta dropped her shoulder and committed to her forward momentum, diving forward into Suulyah's chest in a fit of blind rage. He fell back. She toppled onto him and pulled his head close by the neckline of his armor. "You die today scum," she screamed wild-eyed in his face, pulling the blade back far enough for leverage to wedge it deeply between two of Suulyah's ribs. The bandit lord screamed in pain as his stunned band of thugs finally engaged. She rolled to one side as a pike whistled through the air where her head had been. As she came to her feet, she stabbed upward - under the chin of one of the bandits, sending him to a quick and untimely death. A club from another bandit traced the angle of her arm and caught her squarely in the ribs, bringing sharp and immediate pain. Her fight or flight brain kicked in. She knew she'd be overwhelmed if she stopped moving. Grabbing the club she pulled with all of her might, yanking the guard forward into the fray, and her out of the center of danger. For a moment, she hesitated. This was her chance to run, but the idea that one of her own, an Arjeev living in the her Kingdom, could sell her people into slavery was completely unfathomable. All of the trauma she'd suffered at the hands of her Elven "masters" as a girl flooded back. No one else will ever suffer like I did. Her mind shouted. Not while I can do something about it. She spun, slicing through the air across the back of the neck of the guard she'd pulled forward as another club smashed into the back of her head. She saw stars for a moment, grit her teeth and white knuckled on her dagger. Her head rose to meet her aggressors, death incarnate wearing the face of a panther in the moonlight. Another guard rushed in, swinging a sword in a slow overhead strike; much too slow for the Mistress of Whispers. Jenta side-stepped the attack and stabbed him in the eye. He fell to his knees, screaming. She visually marked the lynx-man Suulyah, who'd scrambled to his feet and was fleeing back toward the large house at the center of camp. She dropped another two guards with a series of flowing side-to-side steps accompanied by blade strikes to the arm, the chest, the thigh. The final two bandits in her immediate circle came at her together. She turned sideways, barely avoiding one's sword stabbing for her chest, then arched her back as hard as she could as the other's club swiped just above the bridge of her nose. Her right hand slammed her blade into the side of sword's neck. Before the sword fell, she had it in her left hand and drove it as hard as she could into club's stomach. A crossbow bolt bit into the ground at Jenta's feet, stopping her cold in her tracks. From the wooden deck surround the large dwelling across the clearing, Suulyah quickly reloaded as another wave of his bandits cautiously moved forward, wary of the pantheress. "Well, slave girl," Suulyah yelled. "That was certainly impressive. And as much as I would love to see how much money you would earn Suulyah, I am beginning to think it could cost me more to take you alive. I just cannot have that. It is not good for business. I am sure you understand. It is nothing personal, alright?" "I'm worth far more to you alive, Suulyah," she called, arms out in a 'come and get me' sort of taunt. "I don't think you realize who I am." "I do not think I care," Suulyah shrugged, squeezing the trigger on his crossbow. The bolt sailed through the air without fanfare. Jenta shuffled right, barely avoiding the shot. The bandits closed in. "You're going to have to try harder than that," she taunted again. Suulyah growled and snapped off another bolt, much faster than she'd anticipated. She lost it in the torchlight and dodged left blindly. A second crossbow fired from the underbrush, grazing her face and tearing through the black skin of her muzzle. Bright red blood began to seep slowly from the wound. Jenta dove into the shadows of the underbrush, stabbing the crossbowman in the thigh and grabbing his weapon. Not wanting to meet his end at the point of a crossbow bolt, Suulyah wisely ducked behind a set of crates on the decking. "Will someone please kill that bitch already?" He commanded while reloading. From the rooftop above Suulyah's defensive position, came a whispered sound. "Psst!" He glanced up as the small form of an agile street urchin leapt from its perch. Dez dropped down upon the utterly surprised bandit lord, driving a rusty dagger into the space where his neck and shoulder met. Suulyah shot up, screaming and gripping the blade. He staggered several steps before crashing into the deck's railing and toppling over it to the forest floor, blood pouring from the wound. Dez rolled silently through a small gap between the house and the deck, dropping into the deep shadows of the stilts supporting it. Suulyah's shocked bandits turned to see their leader lying dead by knife wound. "She's a bloody ghost," someone yelled as Jenta unleashed a crossbow bolt from the shadows into a bandit's head. Panic ensued. With their sense of self-preservation far outweighing their willingness to die without the promise of coin, the bandits fled. Dez crouched in the musty shadows beneath the house, watching the chaos. Something shifted in the darkness, causing the boy to jump and nearly slam his head into a support beam. He moved closer, inspecting the source to find a section of the ground inlaid with a set of horizontal bamboo rails, forming a makeshift roof over a deep pit. "P...please...Help us..." Came a frail voice up from the darkness. Dez rushed out, grabbed a torch from its mount, and returned to see the eyes of a half-dozen dirty and starving faces staring back up at him; one of which was a raccoon-like Vyrian matching Jenta and Chodvar's description of the Historian for whom they were searching. Dez smiled, satisfied in knowing Vath'azen's Ruling Council was about to owe him several times over.
Show spoiler
JH: Compel +iron
4/10/10-M-Crit!
Suulyah , Arjeev Bandit Lord
Trait: Athletic
Trait: Greedy
Motivation: Spread faith
Motivation: Suppress Loss
Motivation: Begin Secret
JH: Enter the Frey
8/6/2-S+2M, In control
JH: Strike +iron
Blademaster +1
8/1/8-W
Progress: 2/10, Bad spot
JH: Clash +iron
Blademaster +1
5/4/8-W
Progress
-1H
JH: Endure Harm
5/3/2-S+1H
JH: Secure an Advantage
5/4/6-W-+1 Next move
JH: Clash +iron
Blademaster +1
6/5/9-W
Progress, 3/10
-1H
JH: Endure Harm
9/4/8-S+1H
JH: Clash +iron
Blademaster +1
3/3/5-M
Burn 10M
10/3/5-S
Progress 5/10, In control
JH: Strike
Blademaster +1
8/3/4-S
Progress: 7/10
JH: Strike
Blademaster +1
6/4/7-W
Progress 9/10, Bad spot
JH: React under fire +shadow
Scoundrel +2
6/3/10-W
Suffer -1H
JH: Endure Harm
React -1
8/5/10-W--1M
JH: React under fire +shadow
Scoundrel +2
8/2/10-W
Suffer -1H
JH: Endure Harm
React -1
7/2/5-S+1H
JH: Take Decisive Action +shadow
Scoundrel +2
10/9/8-S+1M,in control
JH: Take decisive action
9/2/6-S+1M-End!
Vow: Prove the Decree's Validity
Mark Progress 6/10
Main House, Former Bandit Camp, Karnwood Forest
North of Stoverj
A short time later...
Chodvar tried not to grunt as he dragged a stool up next to the fire with one hand, holding the blood-soaked bandages over his ribs with the other. He plopped down upon it and one of the former captives offered him a bowl of hot broth. He forced a slight smile and nodded in appreciation.
"So," Jenta motioned at his bandages with her wooden spoon. "Want to share what happened?"
Chodvar stared into his broth and shook his head. "Maybe another time," he responded grimly. "I think the most important thing is to hear from Master Saklay'n."
Jenta nodded. "Of course, but that's probably not a conversation for everyone."
"Of course," Chodvar agreed. "Maybe we could step outside."
Dez jealously watched as the front door gently pulled closed behind the three.
To Be Continued...
Show spoiler
CT: Battle +wits
7/6/10-W
CT: Pay the Price
Endure Harm -1H
1/7/7-M-Crit!-1H
CT: Heal
3/3/5-M
CT: Pay the Price
Endure Harm-1H
3/1/8-W-1M+1H
JH: Test relationship
6/1/2-S-Develop relationship
Progress: 3/10
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