Games Over

A few seconds after they do so, the grass binding the feet of Winn, Xavier, Fae and Flint goes calm, releasing them from their grip.

While Yaz was aiming his sling bullets at Winnacer, the look of unbelievable horror at being betrayed was plastered all over the young Lord's face, his eyes searing with Spravedelna's fury as the first arrows impacted upon him. It was obvious the young Lord had no idea why suddenly he was the target of Yaz's sling stones and, the way his teeth were grinding, made it obvious that Yaz may never have got the chance to explain.

Winnacer breathed a sigh of relief as Yurek surrendered, and quizzically looks upon Yaz, remembering back to the charming.

Yaz smiles and breathes a sigh of relief, then starts walking over to his friends:

"Hey, guys, that was some..."

Suddenly he sees the not-so-friendly glares of Winnacer and Xavier, then the form of Bennett coming at him with ropes in his hand:

"Wha- What's the big idea? I was just..."

He lets Bennett take away his scimitar and staff, but when he takes his sling and hides it in Yaz's leathers, and lets him keep his herb pouch, he finally clues in.

"Bastards, all of you," he says in a voice loud enough to be heard by most of Yurek's boys. "If you kill these animals, Prirodna will place their lives on your heads!"

Bennett takes great satisfaction in tying Yaz's bonds:

"I always knew you were a filthy traitor!" he says, though he conveniently misses all of Yaz's items that aren't out in the open while searching the hunters and guards very tightly.

Taking a deep breath to regain a measure of calm, Winnacer lopes over to the prisoners, calling out to Viktor and Tomas for some rope to bind all the remaining guards, the assistant druid, Yurek, and Klauf.

Tomas, Viktor and the four remaining Dragons are happy to oblige and Yurek, the assistant druid and the guards and hunters put up little resistance to being tied.

Klauf is a different case, however. Faewen'il's spell has worn off now and Klauf is back on his feet and looking mighty pissed. He shouts over to Faewen'il:

"Madam, I would be obliged if you could hand me back my weapon," he shouts, with suppressed anger evident in his voice.

"No," the lass replies. "I cannae be doin that."

Winnacer nods at her actions, obviously approving.

Klauf stamps his feet on the ground in temper and then casually walks over to one of the fallen guards and picks up his broadsword.

He then simply stands his ground, staring at Winnacer and Xavier in particular. He does not make any advance upon them, knowing that he is well and truly outnumbered by his sibling's friends, but he shows that he is not going to come quietly.

Winnacer knows only too well that it may be possible to overpower his brother eventually, but at great danger to those who may try. It is obvious that the Dragons have no wish to try their luck and so keep their distance from Klauf.

While Winnacer and the Dragons are seeing to Yurek and his men, Bennett checks out those who are leaving, making sure that none of Eladria's guards take off under the guise of bodyguards to go and get reinforcements. However, none of the guards survived the combat at the Bookies' Office and so the only surviving guards and hunters are those that are with Yurek. Bennett also checks around to see if any other guards are hanging around the place, but finds none of them.

Once the others are securely bound, Winnacer begins to look around at the others in the party, asking people to go and find the missing Jihan and Will. Xavier and a couple of the Dragons agree to go and start to make their way around the arena to their position. Bennett then asks the other Dragons to fan out and loot the merchants and nobles' bodies at their leisure, as there isn't anybody left to give you any grief.

Bennett then asks Corrow to have his elite unit fan out and take care of any stragglers while the Dragons grab as much loot as they can carry.

"Terribly sorry," Corrow replies. "But there aren't really any reinforcements. It was just an illusion, one of the highlights of my career, I would have to say."

"I knew that," Bennett mutters more to thimself than anyone, while rolling his eyes skywards, "and now Yurek and the guards do as well."

Bennett then goes to take the Witchfinder's rod but finds that Faewen'il has already taken it, along with all of the other items upon the assassinated Witchfinder's body. Seeing her investigating the rod, Bennett asks the lass if she wouldn't mind using it to detect magic over the bodyguards, Eladria, Yurek's stuff, and everything else they can throw together in a hurry. The Dragons are once again dispatched in order to gather up all of the weapons and items that they can find upon the battlefield and then lays them out upon the muddy ground.

Faewen'il then activates the wand and passes it over the collection of items. The gem on the end of the wand glows as it passes over Yurek's flail, a ring that Eladria had been wearing and a dart that was in her pouch along with her spell components.

Once this is done, Bennett then turns toward the few remaining attendees:

"All right, these games are over! If you'll kindly turn over your cash, you may orderly retreat back to whatever hell-hole you came from, and know that wherever you go, a free Bohavia will follow you. Prepare for it!"

While he is sure a more inspiring speech from Winn will follow, he hopes that between the light of Winn's appearance and voice, and the darkness of Bennett's wild appearance, which he plays up they'll convince the hangers-on that they're pretty damn serious.

While one of the Dragons opens up a large sack for the few remaining nobles and merchants to deposit their valuables into, Faewen'il checks them all to see whether they have any items of a magickal nature upon their persons, but all of them are clean.

As the middle aged woman that the Dragons were communicating with at the start of the events makes her way up the line of those depositing their valuables into the sack watched by Bennett, Tomas whispers to him:

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't take any of that Lady's belongings. She's an … errm … 'friend'"

Bennett agrees to this request, as she is only one of many nobles present.

Noting Bennett's stern warning for all the merchants to leave and nodding in approval, Winnacer then says a few brief words to them as they continue to make their departure:

"Feel not anger at what has transpired here, instead consider it an opportunity. The monies you have lost here today are being used to pay off your sins of complicity with the Nyemetz. For too long, the sons and daughters of Bohavia have turned a blind eye to the Injustices we have received at the hand of the Nyemetz and their greenskinned lackeys. By patronizing events such as this one, you have enabled their stranglehold on our Freedom to last for over a generation. Feel pride that your losses here today shall be used to liberate all of us and the generations that shall follow. Your sacrifice here today will be appreciated by your children when they no longer have to live in a world of graft, enslavement, and curfews."

"Your horses shall remain with us, giving you a long walk to contemplate what transpired here today. Your complicity with the Nyemetz shall be overlooked, giving each one of you a chance to atone for the horrors that your monies and indifference have made possible. The day will come when the Nyemetz will be gone and you can no longer hide from your actions. You can either live the rest of your life as a toady to the Nyemetz or as real men, working to make their country free for themselves and their children. Now go, and think on the legacy you are willing to leave for the generations to follow."

None of the petty nobles and merchants comment as they shuffle out of the complex. They are still extremely shaken by the whole experience and are obviously simply pleased just to be escaping the carnage with their lives.

After all that is said, Winnacer does not concern himself with the looting and sorting of the booty, instead first making sure everybody is all right, checking to see if any of the fallen are injured rather than dead and seeing to it that they receive prompt attention. Faewen'il sees to the wounds of Flint, who is the only one out of the party to have been badly wounded. She looks at those laying on the ground by the Bookies' Office and sees that there has been a bloodbath at the place and that none of those that fell are alive.

Meanwhile, outside the arena, unable to stand any more, Jihan very carefully slumps down, leaning on the trunk of the tree for support, and sits on the branch he'd been standing on. Holstering Weitbeissen, he gingerly lifts his foot up for inspection:

"How're you doing down there, brother?" he inquires of Will, not taking his eyes off of his mangled appendage.

Shaking his head, he attempts to clean the wound as best he can, putting a chewed mint paste on it and wrapping it, but not attempting to remove the boot, as it may agitate the injury further.

"Looks like more new boots for me..." he mutters.

Taking another look down to Will, the elf shakes his head and then takes his lariat off of his belt. He manipulates the knot on the loop for a moment, so that it will not slip tight, then puts the noose around his good foot and then loops the rope over the branch. Wrapping the other end around his hand from underneath, he carefully hangs over the branch and then lowers himself, hand by hand, on the lariat until he's standing on the ground on his good foot. Hopping a little to get the loop off, he very slowly and laboriously hobbles and crawls over to the fallen half-elf.

"Need some bandages or something? Not much else we can do until they come and get us..."

"Huh? Did you say bandits?" Will mumbles dizzily, then starts blabbing about tweety birds.

Just then, Xavier and the two Dragons arrive, relieved to see that the two of them are still alive, although both are in a great amount of pain. Xavier comes up to Jihan and supports him as he limps back towards the arena, while the two Dragons carry Will back with them. Once they are back with the rest of them, Faewen'il helps to bind their wounds.

Once all are accounted for, Winnacer calls out to the Dragons, wishing them to do a quick sweep of the area to make sure that it is secure, via horseback. When Boris is noted to be missing, the young Lord recommends that somebody is sent to retrieve him with horses, believing that he could not be too far away. One of the Dragons agrees to perform the task and mounts up in order to commence the search for his boss.

Winnacer then makes sure that Tomas and Viktor are healthy and apologizes for being unable to help them more in their fight, his frustration at being entangled quite evident.

Tomas and Viktor are both looking a little shell-shocked by the experience, scarcely believing the level of their losses:

"It's not your fault," Viktor says. "You did all that you could, I know. It was those bodyguards that threw us. We weren't expecting to be facing so many of them."

Winnacer then walks over to Yaz after this and looks him up and down, his poor humor at being impaled with arrows showing on his face. Winnacer doesn't say a word, but it is quite obvious he expects Yaz to speak....

Seeing that Yurek is still close to them, Yaz scowls, and scoffs at Winnacer, glaring at him for a number of seconds.

"I wish it could have gone differently, Winnacer..." he growls, then his face softens apologetically for an instant, his remorse over his injuries hopefully evident in his eyes.

Winnacer then takes a seat by Yurek, looking at the Polak and trying to get a sense of the type of man he is and then starts to speak with him:

"Well, Yurek, you have my condolences for your loss. The pain that is in your eyes reveals the deep anguish you must be feeling and the even deeper love you must feel for your wife. Your blood was not what we wanted to spill here today, but your operation could not be allowed to continue. Your sale of worgs to the Nyemetz has led to the deaths of countless innocent Bohavians, something that Spravedelna could not turn a blind eye to."

"I am Winnacer Duene Stradheim, LawBringer of Spravedelna. It seems that fate has decided to leave your judgement in my hands. While many would extinguish your life without a thought, I maintain there is a chance for redemption in some individuals. So, I offer you an opportunity to speak your peace, be it in your defense or to curse me."

It is obvious that Yurek is still in shock from his wife's death and his expression is blank, almost close to tears, as he replies:

"I can't believe that she's dead," he says, shaking his head. "That woman was the only person in the world that meant anything to me. For twenty years I saw nothing but war and it was only Eladria that showed me the meaning of love. I'm never going to find anyone that means that much to me again."

He looks up to Winnacer and his eyes are almost pleading as he continues:

"You have killed the woman I love and nothing that you or I can do can bring her back. I cannot live on this plane any longer knowing that the woman I love is gone and that those that were responsible for her death still walk free. Therefore, one of us must die. Eladria always told me that life is cyclical and that all who die are reborn afresh. I am not a man that thinks long about what awaits us in the hereafter, but I hope that her words are true. I would thus ask you to speed my journey to the hereafter in the hope that I may meet with her in the place that awaits us both. So, I give you the chance to send me off this very moment. Know you well that, if I were to be allowed to live, then I would have to spend the rest of my days hunting you all down and killing you in order to regain my honor through achieving vengeance. But I know that this will not bring her back."

"As for your reasons for doing what you have done to her and thus to me, your beliefs and mine are irrelevant after the events. Bohavia is not my country and I have no interest in your politics. I supplied the Nyemetz with worgs, it is true, but I had no love of them. If you, as rebels, had asked for us to provide you with similar services, then we would not have hesitated to do so, as we have no desire to enter into the political arena. All that we tried to do was the work that Prirodna told Eladria to do. It was the only thing, apart from myself, that Eladria cared for, and so I was happy to help her in her work."

Yurek sighs and then pauses for a while before continuing:

"So I would ask you to send me off on my journey so that I may be reunited with her. I would also ask you that my men, whose loyalty I have never questioned, be set free, as they were simply performing their duties to the best of their abilities and are all fine warriors who have served me well. In addition, at the farm there are a number of halflings and gnomes among our staff. I hear that life for them under the Nyemetz is hard, and so would ask you to ensure that they are not mistreated."

"How many people are left at the farm?" Winnacer asks.

"Most of the fighting men we brought with us here," he answers. "Back at the farm, you will find eight hunters and ten warriors. Eladria's senior assistant is there also. There is also the domestic staff that numbers around twenty."

Winnacer had planned to use his Spravedelna-granted powers to discern truth from lie as well as good from evil as Yurek speaks. He gives it a try, although Yurek's expression shows that his words appear to be sincere. Neither of Spravedelna's tests come up as positive. It appears that Yurek is neither lying, nor is he evil.

As for the hunters and guards, Winnacer suggests to Tomas and Viktor that they may seek some replacements from the captives, after questioning:

"With some luck and convincing, you may be able to replace some of your lower tier operatives with the mercenaries here. And they have shown much aptitude in combat. If not, they should probably be released at some point if they cannot be persuaded to join your cause - with some severance pay."

Tomas looks them over:

"They are certainly accomplished fighters, that's for sure, better than our boys were. If there's one thing that we have learned from today's events, it is that our regular members are no match for fighting men in a face to face battle. I think that we could make use of them, if they are willing to put their past resentments aside."

Viktor and Tomas start to questions the guards and hunters.

Viktor then looks towards the creatures still locked in their cages, getting increasingly wild by the minute and threatening to smash down the walls of their cages in order to get at each other:

"What are we going to do with them?" he asks

"Death by archery is my vote," starts Winnacer, "but if anyone else has some bright ideas, then I'm open to hear them."

Viktor looks at the frantic beasts and shakes his head:

"It would take all day for us to shoot all that lot - they're some pretty tough beasts by the look of it. I'm also worried that, if we injured them, then they would go frantic and smash through their cages. I wonder whether it wouldn't be better to let Flint dispose of them through means of his Holy Powder."

"I couldn't care less what happens to them," says Bennett about their fate, "But I would suggest that these creatures might do us a lot of good if they were under Yaz's influence, though they don't appear very susceptible to it. Other than that, it would be very cold-blooded of us to kill them in their cages, although I don't have a problem with it personally. Alternatively, we could let them loose to kill each other, perhaps after we leave, hoping that they make a nice scramble out of the dead so that they are difficult to identify. However, if this is the option then I vote we make sure we're out of the immediate area before we do it."

"NO, NO!" Yaz screams putting on a performance that Will would have been proud of. "THE ANIMALS MUST LIVE! YOU CANNOT MURDER PRIRODNA'S CHILDREN, NO MATTER WHAT THEY HAVE BECOME!"

Winnacer leaves Klauf to the end, ignoring him on purpose while he attends to everything else. When Winnacer finally walks over to his brother, Winnacer's disgust is obvious:

"It seems that only one of us has changed much since I have left Klauf. Still willing to throw away our family's legacy as Bohavian nobility and send our tenets to certain death to appease your Nyemetz overseers. Selling your soul to the greenskins that live under our roof and eat the food in our larders; it disgusts me to no end. That is why I left, Klauf. I am no coward, but I cannot be complicit with evil that the Nyemetz are. I decided that it was my mission to atone for the sins of our grandfather, to end the Injustice that our forefathers were too cowardly to fight against."

Klauf's response is far from repentant:

"This is the way it is meant to be," he replies. "The Stradheims have stood by the rulers of Bohavia for more than ten generations and have sworn to serve whoever sits upon the throne of this land. We fought for Vatzlav and Sigismund against the uprisings of the elves and dwarves and then we fought against the Nyemetz upon their invasion. However, they were the victors and thus are the rightful rulers of this land. As we are bound to do, we are obliged to support them, and they us in return, as our serfs and freemen are bound to serve us. It is the way that the feudal system works, Winnacer. You cannot simply throw away the entire system simply because someone takes power whose beliefs you disagree with. If that were the case, then anarchy would be the result, and our position in society would become naught."

Winnacer shakes his head as he hears his brothers' words and then continues:

"I cannot permit you to interfere with Justice, but it is not for me to pass judgement upon you. Nor can I allow for you to slake your bloodthirst against the Saxon, Xavier. You are the strongest Stradheim in five generations. While such strength has brought you short-term gain and notoriety, it could make you legendary if you could see past your own purse and fight for a cause worth fighting for. In rooting out the rebellion, you only sell more of your heritage to the orcs and goblins."

"Rubbish," Klauf replies angrily. "The Nyemetz support us well for our support of them, as is the way it is supposed to be. The cause that I fight for is loyalty and that is the most noblest cause of all."

"You shall be released Klauf," Winnacer continues. "After that you will have to choose. You can either seek to slay your own brother for the paltry gold his head is worth, or you can march back to Kladno and tell your father what has happened to his son. You can tell him that the smallest Stradheim is now an ordained LawBringer of Spravedelna and that he should make ready to throw off the chains of the Nyemetz. And if the least of the Stradheims make a difference, imagine what the full fury of the Stradheims unified could do to the course of history."

"For once I agree with you, little brother," Klauf replies. "The decision as to what is to become of you is not for me to decide, but father's. I will ride straight to Kladno and inform him of your actions so that he may decide what is to be your fate."

He turns to Faewen'il, all previous lust for her now gone:

"If I may have my sword now, young Lady. I am not going to leave this place without it."

Faewen'il looks towards Winnacer and the young Lord nods that it will be better to give Klauf his sword back and so she does. Klauf takes the sword and places it in his scabbard, tossing the borrowed broadsword to the ground as he does so.

He then stares at them all:

"It shall be for father to decide," is all that he says before turning his back on them all, before walking towards his horse.

After a few paces, he stops, looks back and fixes Xavier with a cold stare:

"The day I see your face again is the day that you die."

Not surprisingly, Xavier does not let this situation rest and turns to his Lord:

"Mein gott," he starts, "by Rodengast, this can not be Herr Winnacer. This whoreson is a traitor by his own mouth, and has spitted upon your honor. Brother or not, he may share your blood but not your soul or spirit. By holy law of Rodengast, this man should pay for his crimes. By holy law of chivalry shall Rodengast decide the truth of right and wrong in the chosen destiny of your family. Shall the right son of the Stradheim family be victorious by his strength of arm and blessing of his god. If you will not defend your honor my lord, I offer my life in a trial by combat. I know Rodengast knows who stands for what is true and just. It is not your traitorous sibling here. "

Turning to the glaring Klauf he continues:

"Fear not. Herr Klauf. no sorcery shall you fear. Ve of Saxony have no love for it. By holy steel shall ve meet, you vill renounce you heresy and foul words to your kinsman or you shall die!"

Winnacer shakes his head slowly, this whole problem with his brother obviously bothering him.:

"My brother's treachery is not complete. He is acting in the current interests of the Stradheim family. Perhaps if my father changes his tune, so will Klauf here. And I am not yet comfortable with fighting any of my own blood to the death, nor can I allow you to champion me in this Xavier. The day will come when we cross paths again, and we will concern ourselves with this all then."

"Rodengast be damned!" Xavier responds. "What foul interests could your family have in the whoreson Nyemetz? Damn it, my Lord, are all lords of this bloody country fools? Man should rule his own kind, as the Fey should rule their's. So different are we, that neither should rule the other. My homeland once knew this, until the usurper sold his soul and that of his people to the Nyemetz. Can your noble classes see not the error in their ways? Are they all GUTLESS TOADIES AS VELL!! $@#@#%%$@. For the sake of all that is Holy cannot they become again men?"

Xavier turns to Winnacer's brother, with strong emotion in his voice:

"Herr Klauf ,can you not see the contemptible loyalty you give to a whoreson reign? In better times, freund may ve have been. I admire your courage, but how could you give your loyalty to those not born of the loins of mankind? They are alien, they have no power over us. They rule by fear and foul sorcery. Stand aloft, restore honor to your family as your brother is doing. Have it be shouted that it vas the Stradheims that restored Bohavia to mankind. Be it sung in Ballads of Rodengast that Herr Klauf joined his brother in arms in the freedom of Bohavia. Is not the link between blood and soil strong in the blood of Bohavian Chivalry? Prove it for Rodengast's sake. The Nyemetz spit upon that which is the spirit of chivalry as written in Rodengast scripture. Your vassalage to them is not worthy of your family's glorious name!!"

Xavier stands before Herr Klauf with fiery eyes, daring him to see reason.

Klauf does not, however:

"save the speech,Saxon," he replies. "I've told you my reasons already, and it will take more than your words to make me change my loyalties to the crown, no matter who may be wearing it at the time. Until we meet again."

With that, Klauf carries on towards his horse, mounts it and then digs his spurs into its flanks and tears off away from the arena.