Cayzle's Wemic Site
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A Meeting with Bandits on the Road
One night, soon after the six members of the party all joined together, the group is about to halt and set up camp when they see, a hundred yards ahead, a man trying to fix a broken wagon wheel on the side of the road. Next to him there are three kids, probably his children, patiently waiting. They are all wearing cloaks to protect them from the cold wind of the night, and since their backs are turned to the party they can't see their faces. Whatever they are carrying at the back is covered by a big blue canvas, which is a little elevated from the great volume of goods under it.
Cosmos warns that it was a trap, and at first the rest do not agree, but he is right. The man is a human mage, the children, kobolds, and under the canvas, a half-ogre.
Seeing the man and his children in need of some help to fix the wagon wheel, Solana, Urameshi, Owyth and Sculg decide to go there help them. Cosmos, still thinking itīs a trap, went together with them, but left his right hand near his dagger. Just in case. Seeing everybody going to help, Cronis could do nothing but follow them. Going ahead of them all, little Sculg gets first to the wagon and tugs on one of the childrenīs cloak. A giggling is heard and then, just out of a sudden, the three supposedly kids turn around and what the party sees are three rusty dark brown faces with red glowing eyes. Each of them is holding a dagger and giggling franticly. They try to catch the gully dwarf but he moves away just in time, moving back together with his friends. The man who was faking to fix the wagon wheel was already standing, facing the party. He looks just like an ordinary human. As the three little creatures, he also has his hood on, and his voice comes out of it menacingly.
"Give us all your gold, and we shall let most of you live. " he gives a short evil laugh. "Turd!!" he then shouts and the wagon shakes as a huge figure appears from beneath the canvas and jumps to the ground, between the man and the small red eyed creatures. Turd looks like a very ugly version of a human, 8 feet tall with long black and dirty hair, orange teeth and an awful smell. Wearing heavy skins and furs he wields a huge club in his right hand, and keeps tapping it in his left one as he grins to the party.
"Turd smash now boss?" he grunts. The human then replies, "First collect the gold. If they resist, then you smash them. " Nodding, the huge man walks to the front of his group and grunts to the party, "Give gold or die!"
In a rage, Sculg shakes the wooden ladle at the man called Turd. "Hulgspawn! Glupsucker! Bubgruph! Me show you. You no play fair. Want gold, but that some dirty trick! You bad thing. Here, this cure bad thing. . . " Throwing the dead lizard from his belt at the mans feet, the gully dwarf proceeds to wave the wooden ladle menacingly at the monstrosity. "Cure badness. Then you serve Sculg. Be personal helper. Me important person . But first, me beat you good. That also cure badness. . . "
Sculg swings his wooden ladle at Turdīs leg, barely bruising him. The big monster looks down at him laughing, "Puny dwarf funny. Turd like crush puny dwarf" with that, Turd goes for Sculgīs head, but Owyth casts a light spell just in time, blinding the monster who misses the gully dwarf. The huge club hits the ground and Turd almost loose his balance. Seeing Cronis charging, Sculg gets out of the way, sidestepping to the left. The dwarf then swings his axe as he screams, "Die you over grown spawn of a demon!". The sharp axe cut deep in the monsterīs thigh, who scream in pain and instinctively covers the gash with his free left hand, pressing it hard. Rolling under Turd, Cronis end up in front of the strange man, who backsteps surprised but still finds some courage to cast a spell at Cronis. Putting his hands together and vocalizing the weird language of magic, a jet of searing flame shoots from the manīs fingertips to the dwarf, hitting at his chest, which was protected by his armor, but burning his shoulders and part of his neck. Though itīs not a very serious burning.
At the same time, Solana who was circling to the right, gets close to the red eyed dark little creature, and attacks it with her stiletto. The creature just couldn't match her speed and she buries her blade in its chest. The creature lets out a high pitched cry and falls shaking to the ground. The other two, sensing that things are getting ugly to their group start to look around desperately. Urameshi looses no time and throws two shining objects with amazing speed killing one of them. As for Cosmos, he starts talking in a strange language, just like the one the other man used to cast some sort of fire spell at Cronis. A blue energy bolt is produced from his hands and fly to the last one of the little creature, hitting it hard on the chest and making it drop lifeless to the ground. It seems the fight is easier gonna be easier than it looked. Turd still screaming, but now with rage for not being able to see, waves his club randomly in front of him. The other man turns his back and starts to flee, seeing that the odds are totally against him and Turd.
Sculg keeps attacks big Turd with his ladle while Cronis , from behind, hit hard high in the monsterīs hips, cracking a few bones and drawing a lot of blood. Turd screams louder and cries in pain. With not enough strength to hold his club he lets it falls on the ground. He turns around quickly, waving his arms at whoever was behind him, causing so much pain, but Cronis is too short and Turdīs arms pass high above the dwarf's head. To end his suffering once and for all, Owyth throws two daggers, one barely making a superficial cut to Turdīs side but the other burning in his back. Cosmos fires another of his energy bolts taking the monster to the ground. Turdīs body shakes from the many wounds and life is slowly drifting out of him. Urameshi gets closer to the big monster and unsheathes his holy katana. The blade shines with a blue aura and a blue fire burns in a few symbols carved on it. The ninja goes for Turdīs heart, the katana cutting through skin, flesh and bones like hot knife on a butter. As he retrieves the blue glowing blade, Turd is already dead.
In the mean time, the head of the bandit group is trying to flee but Solana runs to catch him. Seeing that she is not gonna make it, since the man had already covered some ground and can run really fast, she throws he stilettos at him. She misses the first but the second hits the manīs left thigh, slowing him. He cries in pain as he drags his left leg, looking behind for the swift elven girl running wildly behind him. Sweat runs down his face as his eyes look in horror to the scene behind.
Solana takes the missing stiletto on the ground before she catches him. She puts the point of her small blade at the area of the manīs kidneys and tells him to stop or die. The man stops, breathing heavily. "Don't kill me!!! Please!! Don't kill me!!!"
The mage shows no resistance at all, but when he sees the wemic coming he becomes hysterical, screaming "PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!!! PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!!" and starts crying.
Back to the others, Cosmos walks near the small dead creatures and takes off their cloaks to take a better look at them, "Hmpf, kobolds! Those pests are worst than hyenas. " he kick one of the corpses and spits on it. Then he check the back of the wagon to see if he finds something, but there is nothing but the big blue canvas, under which Turd was hiding. Urameshi also gets closer the wagon and takes a good look at the wheel.
"Maybe we could tuhry to fikihssuh it and use the wagon. "
The battle finished, they drag the corpses away from the road and take the wagon to their camp site. Urameshi and Cosmos were raising the left end of the wagon, the one with the broken wheel, so they could move it, pushing the horses by their reins. They tie the bandit leader up, leaving his mouth open to answer a few questions. All they could find out was his name, Blake and that he worked alone. He was new in Cormyr, so probably there is no bounty over his head. Though Cosmos found, hidden under the manīs shirt, a small purse full of coins. He counted twenty gold pieces, a dozen silver ones and a few copper pieces. Then he handled it to Owyth, not wanting the group to have any bad thoughts about him stealing the money. Sculg once more tries to cook them his rat stew but, unfortunately to the little man, they refuse. After they eat and distribute the watch turns, they try to decide what to do with Blake.
After talking with the captive, the group takes his spell book and leaves him tied to a tree, not wanting to kill him in cold blood.
Cosmos then takes the manīs spellbook, examining it, but finds nothing useful. "Bah, he's just a fifth class wannabe spellcaster!! There are only basic spells here!! But maybe we could sell it in Arabel. We need all the money we can get right? And now we even have a wagon!" he points at it smiling. "Well, friends, Iīll take my rest now. Gīnight!"
As Cosmos goes to sleep, the wemic decides to go searching for any tracks of the bandits and sees that they came from the north. Probably from the mountains since the track kept going that way uninterruptedly. They used the wagon, to go wherever they were going, but it broke somewhere near the place where the party was, well, almost robbed.
They leave Blake tied up a hundred yards away from the road, taking his money, spellbook and wagon. On the next morning, once they wake up, they find Cosmos near the wagon, observing the broken wheel. Urameshi walks to him and crouches by his side, "Can you fikkussuh it?". The eyepatched man turns to the ninja smiling, "I think I can give it a try!", he turns his attention then to the wheel, putting it back at the axle. He takes the broken part of the rim and fits it in its proper place, asking Urameshi to hold it while he worked on the spell. A few unintelligible words are spoken and then Cosmos pats Urameshi on the shoulder, saying, "Itīs ok now. No need to hold it. Itīs good as new. " he gets up and kicks the rim where once it was broken.
"See?" he smiles to the ninja and cleans the dirt out of his hands, walking back to join the others.
They take the road, now with the wagon to speed up a little their travel and by the end of the afternoon a thick dark gray line is already visible a mile or so ahead of them. As they get closer they can see some crowd in front of the gates as well as some merchant yards and other buildings lining the walls. As in Tilverton the guards just ask about your business in town and tie your weapons with a few ribbons before letting you in. And as in everywhere else, the wemic call the attentions of everyone, who look at him with disregard and fear.
As their guide, Solana takes them to a good but cheap inn, in the northeastern part of the city, called The Tired Traveler. After leaving their wagon and horses in a near stable they rent their rooms, take a bath and meet in the tap room, where they take a free table near a window and order some food and drinks. Itīs still in the middle of the afternoon and the streets are full of movement. They feel healed, sitting there, together. The cool breeze coming through the window and blowing their humid hairs. Cosmos finally shaved himself and looks much younger now. Sipping his mug of ale he turns to the window and sighs, "Finally the city. Itīs been a long time. . . " his chair beside the wall, he leans his body against it, resting his head on the open window, and gazes outside.