| Logs |
2001 December 30
| Birthright |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
| Realms: Birthright Logs |
Chapter 3
Dogged Pursuit
The morning was still bright and clear and the two bandits, propped up against one another, were still lying in the camp site. Brother Starguard was more mobile, but absolutely covered in disgusting white flakes. Nobody had disturbed either the great club or the shortbow yet, although both had cooled off nicely after Tilara's flashy burning hands. But beyond their weapons and their armor - poorly studded leather - between them the bandits carried less than three silver and a grocery list. But no groceries...
Yuri hmmed, and scratched his head. "Brother, these bandits are looking a little on the crispy side. Can we wake one up to ask him questions?"
Yuri is a young man of average height and wiry build, with sandy blonde hair and an easy, fluid demeanor. He has a ready smile and a glimmer in his eye. He is dressed in a leather jerkhin, light wool trousers, soft boots, and a fine wool clook, all in subdued grey tones. The hilt of a rapier is visible at his belt; otherwise, he seems rather lightly equipped.
Tilara tried not to look guilty. "They rushed me."
Tilara is a young woman both pretty and possessing that indefinable presence that transforms mere attractiveness into beauty. She has bright red-gold hair and laughing emerald eyes in a tanned face. Her graceful and athletic figure is partially hidden by the practical traveling clothes she wears, dark green tunic and brown leggings with black boots and a dark grey cloak. She carries a quarterstaff, and her tortoise-shell cat is usually either riding her shoulder or twining about her feet.
Yuri smirked. "They did sort of ask for it, didn't they?"
Starguard nodded. "Anyone who attacks an armed camp deserves what they get." He hmmed, and placed his hands on the less injured of the two bandits, and offered a simple healing prayer, coaxing the bandit towards consciousness.
Brother Starguard is a tall man, strangely dressed in the brown work
clothes of the acolyte cleric. The strange part is because he seems
too old to be an student in the church. His thick, bushy, mustache and
beard, once black, is now salt and pepper, the darkness interspersed
with star-like flecks of white. His face is light and lively, blue
eyes sparkling, though with a few hard wrinkles, a few laugh lines. His
nose is a bit hawkish, giving him a bit of an intense look.
His body seems in decent shape, if not particularly strong, but most
of his form is hidden beneath the cloth of his clothes. He wears a
midnight blue robe, short, with easy release clips so that he doesn't
get caught by it in a fight. Depending on the situation, he may also
wear his studded leather armor, but always has his morning star at his
hip, in case of trouble. He walks more like a soldier than a
priest...but the wooden symbol of the two stars entwined hung on the
leather strap states otherwise.
Yuri says, "Even so... there's no need to be heavy-handed about it. It's better to save that for the interrogation."
The bandit's eyes open, and he begins to struggle. "Lemme go, you bastards! I'll get you for this, we will! You'll rue the day you messed with the Red Lint Faction!" The struggling only seems to bind him tighter, and after a fwe moments he quiets, reduced to frothing obscenely at the mouth.
Yuri blinks. "The 'Red Lint Faction'? You're making that up."
The bandit goes very quiet.
Yuri kneels down in front of the bandit. "Now, I don't think I have to explain the situation to you. You attacked a bunch of travellers. You were defeated, and now we want to know what you know."
The bandit spits in Yuri's eye.
Tilara says, "Shouldn't take more than five minutes." She walks over to stand beside the bandit, sparks and flames playing along her fingertips, and Mirra twining about her ankles. "Be nice, or I'll ask the questions, boy."
Yuri wipes his face and scowls. "I'm going to give you a simple choice. You can talk to me, or you can talk to Andreth. You'd really rather talk to me. I assure you that Andreth's face isn't his most painful feature."
Starguard lets the ladies have there fun, and goes over to the other bandit, letting the younger generation have their fun as he sees to the health of the other.
The bandit looks at Tilara, before turning back to Yuri. "You're going to let some slut interrogate me?
Tilara frowns, and Mirra hisses.
Yuri scowls even more.
Mirra stalks over to the bound bandit and scratches him, ever so slowly, on his cheek.
Yuri says, "You misunderstand. I don't 'let' Tilara do anything. Tilara does what she wants. Right now I think she wants to reduce you to a small pile of cinders. Or have you forgotten last night?"
The bandit blanches. "She ... Oh, most noble lady, I do most humbly crave pardon."
Tilara scowls. "We'll see. Talk. Or I might just decide to see if I can use your eyes instead of a newt's."
Starguard idly listens as he blindly works on the other bandit, poking at sore spots.
Yuri winces when he hears that one. "Again? Wasn't the last one good enough for you?
The bandit squirms in his bindings. "Oh most noble powerful all-seeing wise lady, what could I tell that you do not know? I am but a humble bandit, who must make my poor living by robbing those who are more fortunate and skilled but less warlike than my partner ..."
Tilara snorts. "I'm not all-seeing, just easily annoyed. Who do you work for, and why is he hiring such incompetents?"
The bandit turns green. An amazing feat considering the blisters covering every inch of exposed skin. "I ... why, lady, we work for Big Joe."
Yuri continues to scowl. "Big Joe's not going to be very happy that you bungled such a simple mugging."
Starguard grunts as he pokes at a burn, electing a grunt of pain from his patient. "Figured as much," he mumbles to himself.
Tilara says, "He gave you the bow and arrows?"
The bandit nods eagerly at Tilara. "And this ... well, it was fine armor, lady, not that you shouldn't have burned it, but it is a little damaged now. And my bow, and his great club.
Yuri says, "Hey, wait a minute. Big Joe operates out of the Middens, in town. What are you two doing so far in the bush?"
"So far in the bush? We're only a few hours out. We were exploring."
Tilara says, "Where'd he get all this equipment, then? He must have a lot if he can give things to a pair of dunderheads like you two."
The bandit glares at Tilara. "We're not dunderheads; we've been through the first week of training! We're just a little ... a little new at this. And nobody told us there'd be magic involved."
Yuri says, "Just answer the question. Where did Big Joe get his arms?"
"Didn't they come attached at birth?" The bandit, aghast, cringes. "No lady, didn't mean disrespect lady, I 'spect he found them lady? I ... I don't know where he got them."
Mirra jumps on the bandit's chest, and then stalks down to his feet, walking along his leg. She mrrowls at Tilara, pawing at his boots. "Yes, love, I see it."
The bandit jerks, trying to dislodge Mirra. "Get that ... please, lady! No cats!"
Tilara just stares at the bandit. "You don't like my lovely pet? I don't appreciate it when people insult her." She waits for a moment, letting him get more nervous, then asks "Where'd you get that mud on your boots? It's not from around here."
The bandit looks perplexed? "Mud, lady? It's just mud. Same's any other mud, isn't it? We must have picked it up while training.
Tilara says, "And where was that, boy?"
Starguard moves around the camp, putting some breakfast on at the fire, and collecting the weapons, bolts, and arrows that he can find.
"Ummmm. Well. Mostly in the middens, of course, with Big Joe, but we did spend a week at the farm." There was a short pause. "Please, lady, will you let me go?"
Yuri narrows his eyes at the bandit. "We didn't just fall off the melon cart, fool. There's only one place for miles that you can find red mud."
"Yes sir. We must have got that at the farm. The well hasn't been fixed yet so we each had to carry water."
The smell of breakfast sausage and toasting bread begins to fill the camp as Starguard keeps and eye on it.
Tilara says, "Let you go? Perhaps. Tell us where this farm is."
The bandit looks hopeful. "Well, lady, it's half a day down the road, cross the bridge. You leave the road and follow the river upstream about two miles, and there's a path takes you right to the old farm.
"Promise you won't tell 'em who tol, Lady?"
Yuri hmms.
Yuri says, "How many people are there?"
Tilara says, "I don't intend to tell Big Joe anything, boy. Answer the man's questions, and maybe I won't take your eyes with me when we let you go."
"There, Sir? Usually there's the steady guard and the trainers, but they went to market. So ..." He shrugged. "Dunno, sir.
Starguard fills a waterskin, washing out the mouth of the more injured bandit, giving him water if he swallows, but leaving the interrogated bandit alone for the moment.
Yuri murmurs to Tilara, "We need to figure out something to do with these two, so that they don't blab to anyone before we get a chance to check out the farm. Any ideas?"
Yuri murmurs to Tilara, "Perhaps we can stash them at the Temple for a day, ask Brother Oak to sit on them for us..."
The unconscious bandit swallows a sip or two, the rest of the water running down his chin.
Starguard says, "Just leave them here with a note. They're hurt, but not too bad..."
Tilara silently calls Mirra to her, cuddling her and touching noses before setting the cat back on her shoulder. Very good job, love. Thank you. She shrugs. "Send Andreth back to town with them, perhaps?"
Starguard winces. "As much as I hate to admit it, that sounds like the best idea..."
Tilara turns back to the bandit. "Oh, one last thing. What's the red string for? That has something to do with your Red Lint Faction?" Mirra mrrowls again.
The bandit begins to sweat. "Ummmm, no, Lady. That was ... ummm ... when we were ... ummm ... it was just ... ummmm .... No milady."
Yuri says, "Andreth, will you wait by the road with these two, until a caravan passes, and then ask them to take them into town for us? We can't just turn them loose; this way we can keep them out of our hair and the worst they'll face is a day in the stocks.""
Andreth nods.
Yuri glances over the two bandits. "Come to think of it, considering the pounding they took last night, I'd suggest their sentence be commuted to 'damage served'.
Tilara turns her head to look at her cat, and then the cat hisses at the bandit. "It was just what? I can still change my mind about those nice eyes of yours..."
Yuri kneels in front of Bandit #1. "I trust that we'll never have to waste our time with you again, friend? We don't like having our time wasted. It makes Tilara... impatient."
Starguard says, "Anyway, let's have breakfast and move out. What's your name, son? I don't feed anyone I don't know the name of."
The bandit squirms worriedly. "I won't ... we won't ... I promise sir. The Red Lint Faction was just something when we were kids. It was just for protection, lady! Honest! We'll never bother you again. And sir? I'm Lon; you're going to feed us?"
Starguard nods. "Prisoners of War get the left overs. After Mirra's had what she wants, of course."
The bandit looks very grateful and hungrily eyes the cooking fire.
Tilara stares at him for a long moment. "Ought to have Mirra mark you, in case you ever show up again... but she hates to soil her paws. Consider this a lucky day, boy."
With that, the sorceress turns away, looking toward the cookfire and winking at Starguard.
Starguard serves up sausage buns to the party, sausage to Mirra, and holds back the seconds for now.
Leaving Andreth and the bumbling banditos behind, Tilara, Yuri, and Brother Starguard set out fot the old farm. The morning passes uneventfully, as they occasionally encounter a merchant traveling to town. Shortly after noon, the bridge is reached and crossed, and the party strikes off into the bush.
Yuri comments, as they are approaching the bridge, "Y'know, there's just three of us. There could be about a dozen of them. I suggest we try to do this the quiet way. How good are you two at that?"
Starguard shrugs. "I'm not great at it. I'm more of the fellow who mops up at the end. Sneaking is a young man's game.
Yuri says, "Right. Perhaps you should let me go first, then. I've had a lot of practice staying out of sight... mostly of my father, but I can't imagine our brigands being that sharp."
There's a small path, recently traversed, that follows the river's edge fairly closely. And the ground is indeed composed of the same red mud that lies along the bottom of the river. Two miles and 15 minutes later - the path was difficult to follow in some places - the path branches.
Mirra wanders back to Tilara, butting her shin. Silence? Emptiness. Then, meowing once, she disappears back in to the underbrush.
Tilara says, "Mirra is very good at it, though. She can scout ahead for us, and we can go where they're not looking." She communes with the cat for a moment, getting her instructions across, and then puts her down to vanish into the brush."
Tilara says, "She seems to think it's abandoned for now."
Yuri looks a little disappointed. "Well... maybe next time."
Starguard nods, walking along. "Wish Andreth was here. you'd be shocked at how that boy can fight with only his hands.
Yuri says, "Does she see any footprints, or things like that?"
Tilara closes her eyes, keeping her mind on her familiar's impressions as the cat sneaks up on the farmstead.
Starguard focuses on the rustle, hand moving to his loaded crossbow...
There's a general sense of sneakiness. And after a wary sniff a definite message of Dog!
Yuri says, "I don't doubt it, Brother. But under the circumstances, I'd rather have him oversee those two screwballs than have them get caught by Big Joe. We'll lose the element of surprise if anybody knows that we've found their farm.""
Tilara says, "Careful. There's a dog there."
The path away from the river soon leads into a heavily forested area.
Yuri nods... and hmms. "Do we have any beef jerky or something like that?"
After about ten minutes the path widens out so two men can walk abreast.
Starguard huhs. "Hope Mirra's all right," he mutters, moving slowly, watching the forest carefully. "Yeah, I've got some meat left over. It's trail rations for today, though..."
Tilara says, "There was a leftover breakfast sausage, but Starguard fed it to that mangy stray we found last night..."
Mirra comes streaking down the path, followed by three slavering dogs running full tilt.
Tilara chuckles. "Mirra's dealt with dogs before. She just... oops."
Yuri says, "Looks like we're not going to get the option to do it the easy way. Here they come!"
Yuri pulls his sap from his sleeve, presuming it will be better than the rapier versus a dog.
The dog in the lead jumps for Yuri's throat, but misses, flying wide of the mark.
Starguard moves up past Tilara to cut the dog off, swinging his mace at the flying hound so that Mirra has somewhere to run.
Yuri takes a surprised swipe at the dog with the leaded leather club, missing by several degrees.
Starguard's swing goes under the dog, missing as he overshoots his target.
The second dog, aiming for Yuri's shin, misses too, and his momentum carries him on to Starguard. He howls loudly.
The last dog jumps at Yuri, catching his left arm and worrying at it. The jaws meet, and teeth rend the arm's flesh.
Yuri yelps!
Tilara suddenly realizes that Mirra is a lot more upset by the dogs than she usually is, and when they burst around the bend she's already calling Mirra to her. She kicks off her boots as the cat streaks in her direction, catches her panicky familiar and heads for the trees.
The first dog, now baying loudly, tries to bite Starguard, but gets repelled by his armor.
Yuri smacks a sound blow to the dog chewing on his arm!
Starguard, in the midst of the dogs, grabs his starburst and closes his eyes in concentration. "Canida aidio..." he begins, hoping the dogs are distracted.
Starguard's hand waves as he casts the spell, calling forth his power. "Wilthorwen aidio...YEEEEOW!" His waving hand is clamped onto by the dog, and he loses his concentration, pulling his hand back and saying words that are definitely not a prayer.
Tilara realizes at the last moment that she's not going to reach the trees ahead of the dog still on Mirra's trail, and readies herself and her quarterstaff, taking a swing at the mutt as it leaps at her.
The mutt leaps at Tilara, taking a bite out of her thigh as the quarterstaff whistles by overhead.
Tilara swears as she misses, then hisses in pain as the dog sets its teeth in her leg. Mirra hisses from her shoulder, and jumps onto the dog's back to defend her mistress.
Yuri gets severely chewed. His arm is now badly lacerated and bleeding in several places.
The hissing cat drops onto the dog's back, her claws drawing blood but not seriously hurting it.
Yuri, woozy from loss of blood, fails to do anything meaningful to the dog latched onto his arm.
Starguard shakes the dog off his hand, pulling it back just before the bugger can snap one of his fingers. He retaliates with his mace, but hits only air as the dog jumps nimbly out of the way.
Tilara dodges a second bite from the dog that attacked her, and fades back to the tree she's originally picked out. I hate this part... She gulps down the tiny spider that's part of the spell, and scrambles up the side of the tree with her familiar right behind her. Once she's out of its reach, she looks around at how things are going, and pulls out a dagger.
Things are not going well, although the dog attacking Yuri seems to have lost his mark. This time his jaws closed on thin air.
Yuri silently thanks the Gods for small favors.
Yuri and the dog miss each other thoroughly. Yuri shouts something incoherent in frustration.
The dog moves in against Starguard to take another slavering bite into him, and is met by a sweeping blow from the morning star. The dog yelps as bones crack under the blow. Starguard grunts from the force, and turns to face a second dog as it forgets about the treed feline and sorceress.
Starguard's mace follows through into the second dog, knocking him over, but the mutts rise to their feet, growling, still game to fight as Starguard stares them down. "Bad dogs! Get!"
Tilara pauses part way up the tree-trunk and aims with the dagger she's pulled out. Her throw misses the dog badly, unfortunately.
The mutt, howling at Yuri's feet, jumps for his arm but misjudges, missing again.
Starguard swings at the bleeding mutt, his hand throbbing as he wings once more. The canny beast, having taken a half-hearted chomp at those fingers, quickly tries to slip out of the way...and does, just barely, the spikes on the star combing his fur.
Yuri gives up on trying to smack the dog and just does his best to fend it off, dodging madly at the snapping fangs.
The second dog, trying to get at Starguard, jumps up but misses.
Tilara frowns and concentrates harder this time, watching for the right moment to throw. This dagger flies true, and sinks into the side of the dog that had originally chased her up the tree, putting it down. That's more like it.
The third dog tries to get around Yuri's defenses, but fails miserably.
Yuri, looking peaked, continues to dodge, parry, twist and turn away from the third dog's jaws.
A yelp at his side alerts Starguard to the fact that one dog has crumpled. The other snaps again at him, circling at a distance as Starguard's swing proves to be just out of reach.
Tilara flings a dagger at the dog attacking Yuri, but misses again.
The dog worrying Yuri slinks down, crawling under his waving arm, and jumps up to bite him just above the knee. Yuri collapses against the tree, his eyes sliding close as the dog worries the flesh.
Tilara throws her last dagger, but misses again. "Yuri!" she calls.
Starguard lines the dog up for a crushing blow...only to have the mutt bite his other hand as he brings the weapon down! Yelling in pain, his weapon arm twitches, opening another cut in the dog's hide, but just missing a blow that could have ended the battle.
The dog that downed him now snarls one last time at the unconscious Yuri and hightails it into the forest.
The last remaining dog jumps at Starguard's thigh, taking a hearty bite out of it. Starguard, too, collapses to the ground, where the dog worries at his body. Looking up, it notices how alone it is, yelps, and retreats into the forest.
Tilara comes down from her tree as the last two dogs retreat. Damn. I'm not supposed to be the one doing first aid. She moves to the cleric, trying to staunch the blood flow.
Tilara swears as she fumbles her first attempt at bandaging, and tries again to bind up the cleric's bloody leg.
Yuri's bleeding stops, as his wounds slowly close and the blood finally begins to clot.
From down the path, Andreth comes running up, breathing lightly. He takes in the scene, and joins Tilara. "How can I help?"
Tilara almost snarls her reply. "Check on Yuri. Do you know anything about healing?"
Andreth runs for Yuri. "He's stopped bleeding. I can help a little ...
Tilara says, "Okay, help me bandage Starguard, then. He's still bleeding. "
Andreth runs back and bends over Starguard. "What happened?"
Tilara says, "Dogs. Rather vicious ones." She sighs in relief as Andreth finds the pressure point to stop the bleeding. "We'd better get off this path, too."
Andreth nods once. "Just let the blood clot for a moment. Can you carry Yuri?"
Tilara nods, worriedly. "I think so. Stupid dogs."
Andreth bends over and carefully cradles Brother Starguard in his arms. "Shall we head into the forest, Tilara? It's a long way back to town."
Tilara takes a moment to slip her boots back on, and looks at Mirra. Find us a hiding place, love.
Tilara nods. "We'll have to take care of them out here. I'll send Mirra to scout for a hiding place where we can nurse them back to health. Might take a couple days before we're back on our feet." She's looking a bit damaged, herself.
The cat disappears into the undergrowth. After a few minutes she doubles back and sends a Cave?
Tilara says, "A cave would be perfect, love. Lead us to it."
Mirra returns, meowing, and leads the party off the path. She sneaks under a bush, but there is just enough room to get around the thorns for humans. After several minutes careful walking deeper into the forest - a forest which is rapidly getting much wilder - the party reaches a small clearing, with a low overhanging crop of rock. Mirra disappears into the entrance. Empty.
Andreth follows Mirra into the cave. It's not very tall, and not very deep, but it will provide cover for the two injured ones so they can rest and recuperate.
Tilara says, "This will keep them out of the weather, and away from unfriendly eyes. Stupid dogs..."
The cave, in fact, is about seven feet wide at the opening, and the ceiling is only about five feet high, so Andreth has to bend over carefully to avoid hitting his head. The cave extends for about nine feet, but the ceiling slopes down to only about two feet at the deeper end of the cave. There's some old bones lying scattered around, but they look ... old. Several years, at least.
Starguard's bleeding has stopped, but is out cold, his breathing shallow, but steady.
After an hour in the cave, Starguard stirs, groaning, trying to move. "Damn...dogs." He struggles, his eyes fluttering.
Tilara leaves Andreth with the injured for a bit, and goes back to the scene one last time to move the dead dog and clean things up. She returns, trying to wipe out the trail they left when carrying the others on the way.
Tilara gets back to the cave to find Starguard awake, though weak. "Thank all the Gods. Save your strength, Starguard. You can try spells tomorrow."
Starguard groans. "I...I think I could heal myself. But the energy might cause me to start bleeding again.
Tilara says, "I wouldn't try just yet, then. Andreth and I don't know much about healing, and we nearly lost you the first time. Wait for a bit."
Some time during the night, Yuri groans a lot, opens his eyes briefly, and closes them again.
The rest of the day passes slowly, with Yuri occasionally moaning, and Starguard frantically trying to explain how healing works to the two attentive nurses. By nightfall, Tilara has a stronger grip on what to do, and starts carefully washing out the wounds, while Andreth builds a fence of sorts around the cave.
Yuri doesn't say very much unless spoken to. His face is a complex, shifting mask consisting of a little fear, a little puzzled, and a whole lot of frustration.
Starguard awakes in the evening, and once more prays to his deity, asking for the power to heal hoping the gods look favorably down on him. "Tilara...Andreth? I think I feel up to trying to heal us...
Andreth looks up from the tiny fire he had kindled. "Why don't you eat a fwe more nuts first, Starguard? I found a small store, and you'll need all the strength you can muster. And you too, Yuri. Here's a cup of the tea you described."
Yuri drinks slowly, and thinks.
Starguard shakes his head weakly. "No, that's all right. I'll be fine in a moment..." With that, his eyes close and he grips his holy symbol, words of prayed tumbling out his pale lips...
Yuri says, "We've missed an opportunity. The bandits will almost certainly be back at the farm, now that market day is over. Kiel probably went there when he fled yesterday, but there's no assurance that he'd still be there."
Yuri says, "Also, they might be wondering who roughed up their dogs. It's going to be a lot harder to get in there now."
Yuri sighs. "Also, Big Joe is probably back in the middens, running things. This is only going to be one of two hideouts.
Tilara says, "I know. It should be safe to send Mirra in again, though, to see what's what. I don't think the dogs are going to be in any mood to chase her this time."
Yuri says, "Well, one of the dogs is dead. Did you dispose of the carcass?"
Starguard's body glows with a strong blue light, his wounds seeping blue healing magic as they smooth and heal... In a moment, Starguard looks much better. "Erf. They know we're here, too."
Yuri pauses, momentarily awed by the ostentatious display of holy power, and falls silent in thought.
Tilara says, "I dumped it in the woods. Did you send our playmates toward town, or on a caravan heading the other way, Andreth?"
Starguard hmmphs, and gets back up. "Thank you two. I was pretty close to dying there... As for you, Yuri..." He places his hands on the slight boy's chest, and prays again, his hands warm, pulsing blue.
"I sent them with a merchant, Tilara, who had two guards. He came by just a scant two hours after you left, so I ran as fast as I could to keep up."
Tilara says, "And after a full day... I think Yuri's got the right of it. He'll know about us, now."
Yuri murmurs to Starguard, "Thank you."
Starguard says, "Good thing you did, boy. We were almost dog biscuits."
Yuri looks at the mess that was the left arm of his leather jacket. "'Almost'?
Starguard sighs. "Once more, good stars, if you will..." Concentrating, he holds on to the wooden stars and once more repeats the prayer.
Starguard sighs, unravelling bandages. A few moments later, he seems in perfect health. A smaller prayer is used, three times, twice on Tilara, and once more on Yuri.
Yuri sighs. "It's evening. I'm not really tired... in fact, after sitting here for more than a day, I really feel the strong urge to hit something. But that's not my style. And if we just waltz into the middle of a bandit camp at night, we're going to get chopped to ribbons. I'm open to alternative suggestions."
Starguard stretches, and digs out his soup pot, and a wrapped breast of chicken, which he soon chops up. Some noodles, water, dried vegetables...and chicken noodle soup is on the menu. He does save some chicken for Mirra, though.
Late in the evening, Mirra flows back into camp. Finding her mistress she looks deeply into her eyes. Men. One Paw One man. Dogs bandaged. Yelling.
Smelling the chicken, Mirra decamps from her mistress, and pounces on the leftover chicken.
Starguard smiles. "Now Mirra, next time you have dogs chasing you, would you mind going up a tree a little further away from us?"
Mirra picks up the chicken, and daintily ignores Starguard's suggestion. Big dogs. Fast.
Yuri says, "Tilara? What did she see?"
Starguard pets her head while the feline eats, chuckling. "Worked out OK, though."
Yuri does the dishes while meditating on humility.
Tilara says, "Just barely... she says the surviving dogs are bandaged up, and there's five or six men at the place. The dogs are yelping a lot, so the humans might ignore them if we approach."
Starguard says, "Not to mention that the dogs didn't have an army doctor to tend them."
Mirra stares at Tilara. Man yelling, dog whimper
Tilara says, "Very much true. Ah..." She stares at her familiar for a moment. "A correction. The dogs are whimpering. The men are doing a lot of yelling."
Starguard nods, glumly staring into the fire. "They know we're close. At least they're still there.
Yuri says, "Well... we can either hide out here, or try and get loose... or try and sneak up on the farm and see what we can discover. I think a stand-up fight right now is a bad idea."
Tilara says, "If we do get into a stand-up fight, make sure to give me a clear field of fire."
Yuri says, "I'm concerned about the remaining bandits coming to find us. Those dogs will have our scent."
Starguard nods. "I'm spell-less until morning."
Tilara says, "Mirra doesn't think the dogs will be going anywhere very soon."
Yuri says, "Perhaps we should wait until morning, then. Hmm."
Yuri says, "How about this: We wait until morning, when Starguard's back in divine favor, and then we try another quiet investigation of the farm? All we really need to do is find out if Kiel's there, and if the stolen weapons are there also. Even if that fails, when we return to town, we can tell Jane that the bandits we encountered on the first night had some of the stolen items. It's not a solution, but it IS evidence."
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