Fear & Loathing At The Ford

Jihan asks Corrow, who is halfway across the ford leading Giselle and the cart containing Heimlin, to go back to the other side and pick up the few pieces of kit that were left there. Corrow obliges, glad to be of help.

Jihan tells the others that he is going to scout around the area to find signs of encampment and to ensure that the area is secure.

Meanwhile, the others turn their attention to their two captives. Winnacer keeps a close eye on the badly injured one, while Xavier and Darius surround the bush containing the leader. Winnacer asks Yaz to cancel his spell so that they can disable the bandit leader before he wakes up.

Yaz, however, has other plans and ignores Winnacer's words, turning his back on him. Instead he attends to Maire'. Although Maire' insists that she does not need any of Yaz's help, only her big bag of herbs from the cart, the ghostly look in her eyes tells Yaz that she does need some assistance. He casts his familiar healing spell on the wee lass and she feels somewhat better, although the shock of receiving a serious injury for the first time is something else that cannot be healed as quickly as the flesh.

Corrow arrives back with the cart. He gives the herbs to Maire' who still uses them on herself, even though Yaz's efforts seem to have healed her fully. He gives one set of manacles to Winnacer who promptly enchains the injured bandit. He then joins Xavier and Darius to wait for Yaz's spell to expire.

Several minutes later, the bush lets go of its prey. As soon as the bandit leader realizes that he is free, he attempts to struggle to get away. However, the combined might of Winnacer, Darius and Xavier is enough to overpower the bandit and he is quickly pinned to the ground. The three of them quickly apply the manacles to him so that the bandit leader is not going to be a threat any longer.

Meanwhile, Darius has been going through all of the bodies piling up the loot taken from the five bandits. His haul consists of the following:

5 * leather armor

5 * short bows

53* flight arrows

34*sheaf arrows

2 * broadswords

2 * shortswords

2 * daggers

1 * mace

1 * javelin

148* gold pieces

Winnacer asks Corrow to check out whether any of the items are magickal using the witchfinder's staff. Corrow duly obliges. Once the weapons are separated, the staff reveals that the mace and the javelin, both of which belonged to the leader, radiate magick.

At this point, Jihan returns from his scouting expedition with a broad smile on his face. It's immediately apparent as to why he is so happy, he is leading five light war horses by their reins towards the others. They all look fit and healthy, and none of them are orange (yet!)

He ties the horses to the base of a bush and comes to report his findings in detail.

'They made camp just 30 paces or so north of those bushes over there' he says pointing to the northeast. 'From the amount of burnt wood on the fire, I'd say that they have been here for around 24 hours or so, no longer. There are three simple tents erected. I left them there, as they are not as good as the ones we have. I counted the tracks of only six horses - these five plus the one that Felibarr made his escape on. Looks like we've accounted for the lot of them. Felibarr made his escape using the path that heads north of here, the one that we will be following to Heimlin's place - a fact that makes me quite nervous. There was no point in following him, even though we have the horses. At the pace at which he was moving, he would already have been an hour ahead of me.'

They then decide that it is time to interrogate the prisoners, an exercise that Darius has been looking forward to. Winnacer gives a list of questions to Xavier and Darius, who start to put on their 'good guy/bad guy' routine again. They start with the leader.

Xavier tells him that he will avoid a lot of pain by co-operating with the two of them.

The leader, however, simply spits in Xavier's face.

'F*** you' the leader replies. 'I know that you're going to kill me anyway, so I'm not going to give you the satisfaction. At least Zlodey will accept me with open arms when I go into his realm.'

Xavier gives a nod to Darius, who gleefully gets to work on the leader.

Taking his dagger, Darius lifts one of the bandit leader's arms and slowly begins to peel away the skin of his armpit, an exercise which he repeats on the other armpit. He then takes a handful of salt from his pouch and starts to rub it into the bleeding flesh.

The leader screams out in agony as a result of Darius' actions, but simply starts muttering a prayer to Zlodey whilst giving no information.

Darius makes another attempt to drag information out of the leader. He looks around him and a look of delight crosses the goblin's face as he notices a large piece of flint with a sharpish edge. He then delights in slowly and painfully castrating the bandit leader.

He screams louder as red-hot bolts of agony sear through his body. But still the tough bastard won't break.

Realizing that further torture is not going to extract any information from the stubborn son-of-a-bitch, they try on the other captive.

'Don't tell them anything, Gearic' shouts the leader between his moans 'Zlodey will never accept you into his realm if you tell them a word.'

Xavier tries to persuade Gearic that he will avoid the same level of discomfort that the leader is suffering by quickly revealing some useful information.

Gearic is silent.

Darius immediately slices off one of Gearic's fingers.

Gearic screams out with pain.

'OK' he cries 'No, I beg you, I'll tell you everything I know, just don't hurt me any more'

'Good, that's more like it' says Xavier.

Darius looks highly disappointed that he cannot continue with his game.

'How were you able to follow us?' is the first question that Xavier puts to him.

'Felibarr' cries Gearic 'He knew where you were going. I don't know how, but he knew where you were going, and where you were three days ago, which made it obvious that you would have to use this ford sooner or later.'

'So what exactly is Felibarr's role in all this?' Xavier continues.

'He's one of us, one of the Black Diamonds. He was one of the ones that were sent out to try and find out where you'd gone, so that we could get the bounty for bringing him in' says Gearic, nodding towards Corrow.

'To what Nyemetz scum do you all report?' is the next question.

'I don't know any names. I just know that we have arrangements with the Nyemetz in Pardubitze and Hradetz Kralovye. We give them a good cut of our profits, and they leave us to get on with our business. They also use us to get rid of problems that they haven't got time to deal with.'

'Has Heimlin's homeland been jeopardized?' Xavier asks. As realization sinks into Heimlin's brain as to what has happened and how foolish he was to have trusted the halfling, he is on tenterhooks as he listens to the bandit's answer.

'I don't know. Honest. I really don't know. I was just told that we were to bring in a witch and take out his guards. I don't know anything more than that.'

'What other groups are aware of our existence and are actively pursuing us?'

The bandit shrugs a little.

'I don't know for sure. The witchfinders were pretty angry after discovering that one of their numbers had disappeared. They think that you're responsible. They certainly increased the bounty a lot after they found out. I don't know whether they're still searching for you. I know the garrisons are short of troops at the moment. I don't know why. But they didn't seem to want to spare troops in order to widen the search. I guess the Witchfinder General still wants to find you badly, but I don't know whether he's using his own people, or whether he was relying on our finding you in order to get the bounty. The Black Diamond wouldn't have shared any information with them until we'd caught you, in case the Nyemetz caught you first and they could have cut us out of the deal.'

Winnacer is investigating the javelin closely. It's not a very common weapon to see in present times.

Xavier nods towards the javelin.

'What's special about that?' he asks.

'I don't know why he still uses that antique. Never looked anything special to me. Aroeron's pretty good with it, mind. Whoever he aims for, he usually hits, and it takes down most targets which it hits.'

At this point, the others notice that Maire' is shivering due to her lack of clothes and the fact that she is still wet and cold. She still has a vacant expression on her face.

Jihan suggests that the party retire to the bandits' camp for protection and to warm their wet clothes by the fire. Maire', Corrow, Heimlin and Jihan lead the cart to the encampment and Jihan starts a fire in order to warm Maire'. The other four stay put in order to decide upon whether further questioning of the captives is necessary and to decide their fate if it is not. There also seems to be some differences of opinion that they need to resolve…

Winnacer, having been informed as to the answers from the questioning of Gearic, says that a swift decision should be made regarding their fate. Winnacer believes that they should both be beheaded and their decapitated bodies thrown into the River for the fish to feed upon.

Darius, however, has other ideas.

Before any of the others have a chance to stop him, the deranged goblin inflicts even worse torture upon the leader as he slashes the leader's Achilles tendons, elbow tendons and slashes through the back of the leader's hand tendons...before sticking an ember in his eyes.

"You try kill us? You not speak? You live like this forever!" Darius cries.

In his strange accented tongue, he then suggests to Xavier that they let Gearic go free as he talked, so that he may tell the story of the encounter to any others in order that they be wary of encountering the party in future.

Winnacer is not convinced of the strategy. He tells Xavier that he holds the casting vote in deciding the fate of the bandits.

While the three of them are discussing their strategy with regards to the future of the prisoners, they look through the weapons that have been taken from the bandits.

No one is making any great claims to the weapons, but Xavier says that he is experienced in the use of a mace, and so he takes it. In return, he gives his own mace, a finely wrought weapon, to Winnacer as he too expressed an interest in the weapon.

Neither of them is interested in the javelin, so Darius takes it. Although he has no great expertise with the weapon, it is obvious that 'throwing things' is one of Darius' most favorite activities.

Winnacer picks up a suit of leather armor from the other weapons as well as a dagger and ten sheaf arrows. The three of them then bundle up all of the remaining arms and armor and put them onto the cart.

For the first time, the three of them investigate the five horses that Jihan discovered at the camp. Winnacer, who has some experience with horses, identifies the fact that they are all of good quality, with the exception of a dappled gray mare with a white muzzle. Winnacer chooses a sleek looking gray stallion, which matches the color of his steely eyes. He christens the mount, Warwinner.

Jihan chooses a palomino mare, which he names Riverdancer. Xavier, however, says that, if it were not a problem, then he would prefer that horse. Jihan bows to Xavier's wishes and chooses a light brown mare instead, which he calls Wise Nose. Corrow has no need of a fast charger, and so he takes the dapple gray, which matches his personality. He calls the mare Caeli. Only a light brown gelding remains unchosen.

Such is everyone's excitement at choosing their horses that they have not been paying so much attention to Heimlin. The gnome is sitting by the fire with his head in his hands, looking terribly anxious, to say the least. Every now and again, he shakes his head sadly. Then he falls to his knees and starts praying to Kamen, begging him to look after his son and daughter-in-law to see that they come to no harm. He then stops again and starts to curse himself for trusting the halfling, blaming himself. Then he cheers up a little and says that everything will probably be OK. After all, the entrance to his son's house is very well hidden. He then stops, goes quiet and looks close to tears. It's easy to see that Heimlin is a very disturbed gnome indeed.

Maire' is sitting on the opposite side of the fire from Heimlin. She too looks rather disturbed, but is silent, staring into the distance, deep in thought.

During this entire period, a debate has ensued between the party members following Winnacer's annoyance at the fiasco that was narrowly avoided during the previous combat. Yaz strongly resents Winnacer's assumed role as the party leader and relations between the two of them become icy to say the least. For a while, accusations and words of support fly throughout the group.

It is not long before Winnacer tires of the debate. Disappointedly, he says that he is going to move on with or without the others. He loads his possessions into Warwinner's saddlebags and makes to move out, leaving the fate of the prisoners to Xavier and Darius to determine.

Darius is keen to follow him. He is excitedly babbling about going to Boscobelous' tower to fight the undead. Heimlin looks even more distraught when he hears Darius.

'Errm…err…I'm…err…I was sort of 'opin' that we could get back to me 'ome as quick as …errm possible.' Heimlin says, embarrassed and confused. ' I must say that I am a little concerned now in case the lad an' 'is wife are in any danger. D'yers think that we could…errm…go straight there as quick as possible. I'll point the tower out to you. You'll see that it's only a day or so back from my place. You can go there after you've dropped me off.'

The time is currently 11.30am.

Just a short distance from the campfire, the others who are there notice that Maire' and Jihan are engrossed in deep conversation. Jihan seems to be giving Maire' a great deal of consolation from the shock that she received as a result of her near mortal injury. They see the two of them embracing.

Meanwhile, closer to the ford, Winnacer, Darius and Xavier are still interrogating the prisoners.

Before the fate of the prisoners is decided, Winnacer asks Xavier to ask an additional question.

Xavier returns to Gearic and asks him 'Who are the Black Diamonds'.

'The Black Diamonds' he replies 'we run Hradetz Kralovye and Pardubitze, well, the Nyemetz and us. We're into everything - robbery, fencing, gambling parlors, assassinations, prostitution, protection rackets, burglary, forgery, counterfeiting, extortion, blackmail, loansharking, smuggling, informing.'

He stops and thinks for a few seconds.

'No, I think that's just about everything, unless there's anything else that the bosses don't tell us about.'

Winnacer is interested in this information which leads to some more questions to the bandit.

Why are the Black Diamonds so interested in the party?' is Xavier's next question.

'You're worth a lot of money is the simple answer' explains Gearic. 'The Nyemetz pay a couple of hundred gold for any witches that get brought in, but the price on your witch's head went up to 500 after the witchfinder went missing, and the rest of you are worth 50 apiece as known accomplices…850gp for a few days' work doesn't get offered that often, that's why we were so interested in you.'

'Who in the organization is responsible for catching us?' adds Xavier.

'This whole operation is really Aroeron's passion' states Gearic. 'It was him who first discovered you and it was him who vowed to Quentin, who's the leader of us bandit's, that he would catch you all. That's another reason why Aroeron was so determined to get you. If he succeeded, then he would move up the pecking order in the gang. If he failed, then his influence would be lessened. However, if the Black Diamonds ever got to hear about how we got defeated, then they would definitely kill us survivors now.'

'What is Felibarr's role in the Black Diamonds?' Xavier asks.

'Felibarr is not a member of the Black Diamonds, so I don't know much about him. I'd never seen him before a couple of days ago. He is definitely a spy, but he works for some other organization that is not directly affiliated to the Black Diamonds. I guess that Quentin would have contacted his spymaster to get some outside help, as spying is not one of the Black Diamonds' activities. That's all I know about him.'

'When are you expected back to check in?'

Gearic gives a little shrug:

'We didn't know exactly when you would come through this ford, so we took enough provisions to last us for several days. We weren't even sure whether we should take you out here or whether we should follow you in the hope that you could lead us to something that the Nyemetz would pay even more for, like a witches' coven or something else. It was obvious when you cast the illusion that you were onto us, so we had to try and take you out then. So the answer is that we had no definite date or time when we had to check in by. I think it will be a few days before Quentin starts to get anxious that something's gone wrong.'

'So who were your contacts and where is your base?' is Xavier's final question.

'As I've said before, Quentin is our boss and we report to him. However, he's not the boss of the Black Diamonds. He's just the head of us bandits. Each of the different divisions has a head that reports to the ultimate boss. We never get told much about the other divisions. The Black Diamonds give out information on a 'need to know' basis, so that the whole organization can't be jeopardized if any one member gets caught. That's why we only have one contact. In fact, it's only Aroeron and I that even know about Quentin, the others in our group get orders only from Aroeron, or me as the second in the group.'

'Because we're on the road usually, we don't have a permanent base. The Black Diamonds surely have, but its location is a secret, even from us. Whenever we meet Quentin, we meet him at the Golden Bell tavern in Hradetz Kralovye. He can usually be found there.'

Xavier asks Winnacer whether he has any more questions. Winnacer just shakes his head.

"Vell my Lord, any who serve der Nyemetz deserve a traitors death. But Darius does speak true, in his defence he did talk. Vhat is your vill for this man?"

Winnacer stays with his original suggestion of giving the bandits a swift death, but more for Heimlin's sake than for the humanity of putting the bandits out of their misery. Winnacer repeats, however, that he will go with a democratic decision regarding their fate.

The three of them notice that Jihan has finished his conversation with Maire' and has been watching them try to decide the fate of the captives. He speaks:

"I cannot stand proper judgement over these men. I will follow Winnacer's suggestion, and I will have to live with it also... Oh how difficult the world becomes when one must trade lives," he says, very sadly. "Prirodna give us strength."

'Sorry Darius' says Winnacer upon hearing Jihan's words. 'Although your solution is not without merit, the majority has decided that they should die now.'

With that, Winnacer takes 'Old Bohavia' and swiftly beheads the two bandits, ignoring Gearic's pleading to be left to live. Their bodies are thrown into the River Orlitze. Winnacer says that the other bodies should also be thrown into the river. Before this is done, however, Jihan takes the black hooded cloaks of the bandits in case they could prove to be useful at some time in the future.

The party then decides that it has spent long enough at the ford and begins to make off.