Topace flicks his hard gaze at Longinus and slowly lowers his sword towards the ground, far enough that with his other hand he grabs a rag from his belt and begins to wipe down the blade, “I don’t see any good options, Longinus. What do you want to do? Drag them back to town and sacrifice all of our progress?”
“The castle won’t blow away because we are gone,” Longinus noted.
“But something else might move in while we’re out escorting doomed men,” Topace retorted without looking up from his sword.
“It might move in while we’re in this castle, what difference would it make?”
“We’d at least have the advantage of holding the castle, finding a choke point and forcing the enemy to come to us, not us risking our lives to regain ground we have already covered.”
“Okay, wait a minute, who are these three?” Branwell asked.
“Yeah, who exactly is ‘the Misfit’ and why are you giving him those eyes?” Messalina added, “Like he’s a practice dummy and you’re about to commit to a full swing.”
Topace looked at the two and gestured with the point of his sword, “That there is Wolf the Misfit. A brigand and fiend who has made his money by robbing and murdering travelers on the road. Men… women… I’ve even heard families have fallen to this bastard’s sword. There is a bounty of a hundred gold pieces, just for Wolfe,” Topace looked over the other two, “I doubt these two are no innocent angels who followed him. The only innocent in this whole bunch may be the mule, but I’m not sure.”
“Well I guess we can figure out what they’ve got on them,” Messalina approached the luggage near the mule, holding her hands and cooing, attempting to soothe the beast as it fidgeted and whinnied in concern at a stranger’s approach.
Meanwhile, Fengir and Branwell carefully moved through and tossed the swords to the side. Fengir was the first to note, “They’ll sleep through almost anything except injury. Slap them, cut them- if you have to do anything to them besides disarming them or binding their hands, it better be a coup de grace.” He tossed Wolfe’s sword to one side.
“We should kill them and be done with it,” Topace said, “The bounty is good for ‘dead-or-alive’”
“Which means we’d have to use time dragging corpses back. So either way we’d need to get back to town, not unless you want us dragging rotting bodies,” Longinus’ voice was sharp, he did not outright fear Topace would go too far at the moment. Topace had finished cleaning his blade, replacing the rag and turning the sword so that the tip rested against the ground while Topace’s right hand gripped the jeweled pommel. Longinus knew what direction Topace would go given the opportunity.
“At least they’d be dead,” Topace said, “We wouldn’t be dragging living men through the wilderness, and put a guard on them. Hoping the opportunity does not present itself that they put their hands around our throats at night.”
Messalina returned and placed a small wooden chest on the ground, “Looks like a combination of gemstones and pearls.” Messalina placed her hand and brought up a string of pearls, “A strand of pearls, like a set of lady’s pearls, not lone stones.”
“Pearls,” Topace said, looking at Longinus, “Who knows who they belong to, which neck they took them off, but I can assure that neck is quite stiff and gods know in what shallow grave thanks to this monster.”
Longinus looked at the pearls and shook his head, “Alright, let’s see if we can ask Demelza to come with us to help guard these men.”
“You really want to make the trip back to Threshold?” Topace asked.
“Yes,” Longinus’ tone was sharp and final, he knew what Topace wanted, and he was not prepared to allow it, “I understand it’ll be trouble, but damn it all I’m not going to stand here and let you simply kill three men like this.”
Topace looked to the others and asked, “And how do the rest of you feel about this? This is an open discussion, not a one man party.”
“I could use a crossbow,” Fengir said.
“We could also use the time to give a status report to Mr. Caldwell,” Messalina said. She saw Topace’s low look and sympathized about the trouble they had been given by these rapscallions. She was sympathetic, but added, “Plus, Topace, don’t you want to sleep in a nice inn at least for a day? We’ve brought in enough goods, plus the bounty we can collect from Wolfe, we should at least be able to get modest accommodations. At least that will beat and make up for sleeping on the ground, sharing the room with a talking statue.”
“I didn’t think he’d be that bad of company,” Branwell noted.
“Alright,” Topace said, “I guess I’m up against it, but alright.”
---
Altogether, the party recovers the following:
(x6) Hard Currency - 500 sp each
(x1) Deep Blue Aquamarine - 200 gp
(x3) Blood Garnets - 100 gp each
(x2) Banded Agate - 10 gp each
(x2) Pearl Necklaces - 400 gp each
---
Topace binds the three men’s hands behind their backs and the men are slapped away. As they stir, each see weapons hovering over them, like the swords of judgement waiting to pounce. Longinus spoke up: “In the name of Baron Halaran of Threshold, you three men are accused of brigandage and are under arrest. We will escort you to Threshold. If you cooperate, you will be given bread and water. If you try to run, you’ll be cut down. You try to resist, you get one cosh, after that I am seriously considering letting my associate cut you down. This is your only warning.”
“That is starting now, in case any of you thought you’d try to fight against the rope,” Topace said, earning a glare from the trio.
Topace and Branwell were expected to act as guards for the group while Messalina and Fengir worked on coaxing the mule to follow them. So the party can move with ease, Fengir spends his last spell slot (0/2 Remaining) and conjures a floating disk to hold packs and other gear.
The group moved back into the hallway (Random Encounter 1-in-6: 4 - No Encounter)
--
The party makes their way back to the chapel and meet with Demelza. Her eyes lit up in admiration when Longinus explained the situation of how they captured Wolfe the Misfit and his companions, and that Longinus insisted on taking the criminals back to Threshold to stand before the Baron and his court. She seemed to appreciate Longinus trying to take the principled stance.
“You’re under no obligation at the moment, and you are certainly not in trouble, but we could use any assistance that we can get on the road. I am hoping you would come with us,” Longinus said.
--
Q: Does Demelza accept the offer?
A: 17 ≤ 75 - Yes, Demelza agrees to accompany the party as a 1st level Acolyte.
--
“I’m sure things will be fine for a few days,” Demelza said. Topace and Longinus had the three prisoners sit in one of the pews and wait while Demelza gathered her things. Topace specifically watched over the prisoners with his greatsword drawn while Messalina and Branwell walked down to fetch Tirnol.
--
Random Encounter (1-in-6): 6 - No Encounter
--
“What’s this about prisoners?” Tirnol’s whiskers quivered when Messalina gave him a rundown about events. At first he was met with surprise when he saw the mule she was leading, but now to hear about lugging prisoners back to Threshold. He suddenly felt apprehensive about the whole thing.
“Topace claims one of them is a true fiend and brigand, the other two are his lackeys. A hundred gold piece bounty is up for at least the lead bandit, possibly more if the other two were involved.”
“But we have to escort them back to Threshold,” Branwell said, “Sir Longinus was somewhat opposed to taking up the ‘dead’ in ‘dead or alive’ as part of the bounty.”
“I’m not the biggest fan of killing people outright myself,” Tirnol said, “Not unless my life was on the line.”
“It might be if things go wrong in the wilderness,” Messalina noted. They’re trying to get some cleric who was staying here to come with us and act as another set of eyes. That means you too, Tirnol. We’ll need to help each other in watching these brigands, possibly put them down if things go bad."
---
Before the party leaves for Castle Threshold, the group decides with it being later in the afternoon once they manage to look out the window and see where the sun is currently positioned in the sky, the decision is made to camp in the dungeon for the evening. The prisoners are led to Capulet’s old room which was at the corner facing the tower that Tirnol’s camp occupied, as well as the shepherd’s room the party was using to draw water and rest.
“Any of you touch this door, you’re going to have a lot of problems, because you will be cut down,” Longinus said as the youngest of the trio, the wild eyed Bobby Lee, was shoved in last, “There will be an armed guard waiting and given orders to kill. No warnings, no threats, you try to leave and that will be it,” Longinus and Topace ordered the men to stand against the back wall as Messalina sat down a wooden pail and three clay jugs with water along with some bread and jerky. Once she was out of the way, Topace reached for the door, drawing a piton from his kit.
Topace spikes the door leading into Capulet’s room, ensuring that even if the three men could drag the door inward, they’d have to make noise and alert the sentry. With the door secured, the party decided to split the group. Fengir was to sleep in the shepherd’s room with Messalina backing him and having the door spiked. Branwell, Topace, and Longinus, given Branwell had not used any of his powers and all three were fairly tough, would take a watch, and when not on watch, sleep at Tirnol’s camp.
Random Encounters (1-in-6)
Early Night: 3
Midnight: 4
Late Night: 5
The night passes without issue. Members come and go, exchanging tired nods as Longinus relieves Topace and Branwell relieves Longinus. The only members who probably had as relaxing a sleep as possible were Messalina and Fengir. At least their room did not smell of an impromptu stable.
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