Dead Justice

Posted on 19 Apr 2023 @ 4:38pm by Townsfolk The Scholar & Warrior Katya Charbonnet (Shar-bon-ay) & Rogue Nazri Arisant & Mage Kithris Sabrae

2,205 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Hall of the Phantom Shadow
Location: Bandit Camp near the Imperial Highway
Timeline: Bloomingtide 7th, after 'Split Up And Search For Clues'

OOC: Bandit Camp Group: Katya, Nazri, Kithris

Nazri, Kithris, and Katya followed the bandits' tracks into the woods. All three were skilled hunters, and capable of sneaking up on even the most elusive prey. However, it soon becomes evident the bandits made little or no effort to disguise their tracks or the location of their camp. As the three make their stealthy approach, they could hear voices up ahead.

From their concealed location, the three adventurers could see the bandit camp. A large, fancy tent at the far side of the clearing, and in a rocky outcropping at the other side, the entrance to a cave. Scattered between are several smaller tents and cooking fires. Unexpectedly, many of the people in the camp did not look like bandits. There were children and adults who were neither armed nor armored, who appeared frightened and stood away from the more dangerous group gathered in front of the fancy, large tent.

"Those look like slaves," Nazri said, "or more likely captives. We need to protect them and make sure they aren't caught in the crossfire or used as cover. Does anyone have any ideas?"

Kit had stayed quiet as they had tracked the bandits. Once the three had found the camp they stayed hidden. It did not take very long to come to the conclusion that there were possible slaves in the camp. Nazri had come to the same conclusion. At his question of any idea, she spoke quietly. "I can shape change and distract a couple of the bandits., see if they will chase me.

"That sounds good Kit! Just be careful!" Katya said.

A large man with a scar across the side of his face and a heavy axe at his side stands in front of the large tent. On the ground in front of him is the recently stolen loot. Facing him are two men and a woman, each of them armed and armored. From the fragments of conversation Kithris, Katya, and Nazri catch, they are relating what happened on the road to their probable leader.

"Ok after Kit draws off as many as she can, the leader is the target. We take him out and then deal with the rest. That is assuming it goes as planned. I think I can take him but may need you to run interference with the others if you can Nazri! I'm hoping once the big guy goes down, the rest will surrender!" Katya said.

In the bandit camp, every person stopped what they were doing to turn and stare at the enormous, hulking bear that had just emerged from the forest and growled, deep and rumbling. When beer raised up on its hind legs, the tableau was broken and a woman screamed. There followed total chaos. Servants, or perhaps they were slaves, panicked and scattered, running into the forest. Surprisingly, nobody ran to the cave entrance, which had the appearance of a very defensible position.

The bandit leader issued commands to his lieutenants. "Kill that bear! Then round up my captives." Raising his voice to be heard by those fleeing, he shouted, "You scum better come back or the dead will hunt you down!"

The three armed bandits spread out to face the bear. The woman was armed with a sword and shield, a slim man with shaggy black hair held two daggers, and the bald man drew a great sword. Their leader, Chiaro Rosso presumably, stood behind them brandishing a two-handed axe. The four bandits were now defending a camp otherwise empty of people.

Katya nodded to Nazri. "Let's introduce ourselves." She stepped out to where she could be seen. "Well, well. If it isn't the cowards who attack women and children. In the name of the governor, you are ordered to surrender immediately or die!" Katya said brandishing her sword and shield.

Kithris roared again when the group of bandits turned towards her. With all the advantages that she had in any of her shifted forms, the one thing she wished she could do, was cast magic. Still, she loved shifting.

Nazri nocked an arrow and pulled back on the bow. "I'll put an arrow through your eye if you don't give up right now," he said to the one he assumed was the leader given his size and armor.

The slim man with shaggy black hair lowered his daggers. "They have us, Chiaro. We'd better surren-"

Chiaro Rossa grabbed the rogue by the back of the man's leather armor, shook him, and held the man in front of himself like a shield. "You want to spend the rest of your pathetic life in a dungeon? No? Then fight!"

The woman with a sword and shield rushed toward Nazri and the bald man with a great sword yelled a challenge to Kithris-bear. Chiaro tossed the rogue aside and then charged Katya. The rogue rolled onto his feet and started to back away.

Kithris lowered down to all fours as the bald man yelled a challenge at her. She took a few steps backward, making it look like she might be backing down. This gave the bald man the opportunity to charge. As he did he failed to realize what exactly Kithris-bear was doing. In the act of backing away, she lowered her back legs, almost like she was starting to sit.

Just as the bald man brought up his great axe and let out a battle cry, Kithrjs-bear sprang forward. The bald man only realized how fast a bear can be after it was too late. His battle cry became a scream of terror as a 10 foot 1700 pound great bear barreled into him. The axe flew from his grip, straight up, then fell back down just scraping her hind leg. This did not bother Kithris-bear as she tore into the bandit.

Chiaro was like a bull elephant. He charged with his axe trying to land a blow but Katya evaded him and sliced him. He roared and whirled around and as he did so Katya got him in the stomach. He was strong but slow and she was not as strong but much quicker. He was bleeding badly which slowed him even more. "C'mon, you elephant! You move like an old woman!"

That enraged the big man and he charged at Katya right into her sword. That finished him. She withdrew her sword and called, "Nazri, how fare you, my friend?"

Nazri had to pivot to a new target when the woman charged him. He did manage to get off a shot, but it was just a little wide of the mark. It hit the charging woman, but in the shoulder, not the chest. It slowed but did not stop her. He didn't have a choice. He dropped the bow and had just gotten his sword out of its sheath when the woman was on him.

Kithrjs-bear turned to face the rest of the group. Blood dripped from her muzzle. Spotting the rogue as he turned to run, it only took her a few strides to catch up to the rogue. With one big paw, she pushed the rogue down, breaking one of his legs. With a deafening roar, the rogue passed out. Only then did she turn to look to see if any of the others, especially Katya, needed help.

Arrow lodged in the bandit woman's shoulder, she started to swing her sword at the qunari but grimaced and bashed him with her shield instead. Then with the sudden realization that Chiaro and the others were down, she shifted away from Nazri and dove for the lifeless body of the bandit leader, then rolled to her feet. Dangling from the hilt of her sword was an amulet just like the ones taken from the two bandits earlier. Except, the crystal in the center of this amulet was still glowing.

The shield bash caught Nazri by surprise. He managed to turn himself enough so he took the brunt of the blow on his shoulder, and thankfully it wasn't meant to be a fatal attack. That didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell. It did. And he was knocked to the ground. By the time he had made it up again, the woman was past him.

From the mouth of the cave, a walking corpse emerged, brandishing a sword.

"Oh shit," Nazri said as he saw the corpse come towards him.

"Nazri, do your best to hold off the corpse. I will eliminate the problem at the source!" She turned to the bandit woman. "You think your magic tricks will save you? All you've done is earn a death sentence!" She rushed the woman, intent on ending her life and destroying the amulet. She manages to stab the woman's shoulder. "Surrender now or die!" Katya said.

The woman warrior dropped her sword, disarmed, though she had her shield. But the amulet was still attached to the hilt of her sword, now lying at Katya's feet. Blood poured from the woman's shoulder wound and she taunted Katya, raising her shield and trying to distract the other warrior from the amulet. "I will never surrender! Come and get me!"

The skeleton raised its sword and kept moving toward Nazri, ignoring the bear for now.

Nazri was more of a hunter than a warrior, but that didn't mean he couldn't wield a sword and do so with some skill. So, he dropped the bow drew his bastard sword, and took a swing at the advancing skeleton.

Nazri's sword cut the skeleton's sword arm clear off, sending arm bones flying across the killing ground to land on the unconscious bandit rogue. But the skeleton kept coming.

Katya shook her head. She wasn't stupid. Obviously, the crystal in the amulet controlled the skeleton. The woman was trying to distract her. Seeing the amulet laying at her feet, she brought her sword up and brought it down hard to shatter the crystal!

The moment Katya shattered the crystal in the amulet, the skeleton stopped moving. A second later, what was left of it collapsed to the ground.

Meanwhile, the bandit rogue groaned loudly, regaining his consciousness with the painful realization his leg was broken.

The warrior bandit would not give up, and even with her sword arm bleeding and empty, roared a battle cry and thrust her shield at Katya.

"You just don't know when to give up do you?" She sidestepped the shield and thrust her sword into the warrior woman, mortally wounding her, and releasing her from this life. "Stupid fool! Wasting your life like that! Kit, Nazri, you two ok?"

"A few bruises here and there," Nazri admitted. But nothing too serious."

Kithris-bear had started to move to help Nazri when the skeleton stopped after its arm was sent flying. Seeing part of it land on the unconscious rogue, Kithris-bear gave a bear-like rumble of a chuckle. Her attention was brought back to Katya when she heard the woman ask if both she and Nazri were ok. She gave a snort of acknowledgment and an up-and-down motion of her head.

The remaining bandit crawled toward the bandit leader's tent, trailing his broken leg and groaning with pain each time he moved.

Kithris-bear looked over to the rogue when she heard the bandit groan as he was dragging himself towards the leader's tent. With a roar, she moved a few steps toward the bandit. Which causes the bandit to stop.

The dark-haired bandit groaned and spoke through clenched teeth. "Don't... don't hurt me. I surrender. Please… I'll tell you everything. Anything you want to know."

"We'll treat your wounds and give you aid, just tell us what you know first," Nazari said as he put his hand on the wounded man's shoulder.

Kithris-bear moved to stand next to Katya, bumped her large head into Katya's arm, then nuzzled the woman's side, letting out low warm rumbles.

Katya smiled at Kit and stroked her head.

The bandit cringed away from the bear and the warrior splattered with the blood of his just-killed allies and chose to focus on the handsome qunari who'd promised to treat his wounds. "I joined Chiaro's gang a few days ago. That woman…" he nods toward the warrior Katya just killed, "was his partner. I heard them talking about a blood mage, but I never saw her. They would go into that cave, and come out an hour or more with those amulets, followed by demon-animated undead."

"Then perhaps we should investigate this cave! If there is a blood mage there then there will be further trouble if we don't deal with them," Katya said.

"I wouldn't go in there if I was you," muttered the bandit. Then he appealed to Nazri. "Please ser… you promised to treat my wounds."

Nazri nodded, "You're right," he admitted and started tending the man's wounds.

Kithris-bear let out more warm rumbles as Katya rubbed her head. She listened as the bandit talked. At the mention of a blood mage Kithris-bear shook her head and let out a low angry growl. She looked towards the cave, up to Katya, to Nazri, then back to the cave. Letting them know that she was ready when they were.

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