Back to page 5

-----At first Raven is in shock at the scene in front of him. Raven then scans the bloody field and just says, "Damn." Raven puts his bow away and starts looking for any tracks the elves and men left.
-----As Raven begins searching the ground, the others slowly survey the tragic scene. The bodies, human and elven, that litter the incline are bloodied and slashed. Weapons, some of which are broken, lay between the corpses. Some of the humans appear to be wearing ring mail.
-----Gimplefwick stiffly sheathes his cutlass and moves over toward Kazel. "Arrr. . . ." he quirks, "I’ve seen land shark attacks what looks tamer than this!" Looking over at Raven, he says, "What be afoot, there?"
-----Still looking at the scene before him, Sol re-sheathes his blade. Soon he is also looking at Raven in hope that the ranger can provide some information.
-----Kazel appears to examine one of the bodies and if there are any weapons lying close by. She looks around the field to quickly see if anyone still seems alive, as she slowly wanders around behind the fallen man's head.
-----Raven starts to answer Dread's question, "From what I can tell the elves came from the south..." Just then a strange thing occurs. Kazel then suddenly swoops down, placing a knee on the man’s chest and pressing her dagger over the man's throat. "You can stop faking now," she smiles and speaks in a low voice to the man. "Now how about telling us what's happened here?"
-----"Aye, we be a’tellin’ ya!" comes a voice from behind her. Suddenly, nine other men wearing ring mail who were lying among the dead stand up. They quickly pull short swords to face the adventurers. "Ya be lettin’ our friend up nice n’ easy, now. Then ya hand us over yer money!" The man who spoke almost has his short sword at Kazel’s back.
-----Gimplefwick glares at Kazel with one eye squinted, looking for any kind of movement from the half-elven girl.
-----Seth surveys the scene with distraction. He is not surprised when Kazel finds someone is still alive. The Butcher of Hearthorn certainly knows when someone is dead or alive.
-----As soon as Kazel hears the word "money", she makes a clean slice across her captive's throat, then immediately tumbles forward and away from the bandit behind her. "Or else what?" she taunts the men as she jumps up and whips her dagger into position to throw.
-----Raven's right hand grabs the bow off his shoulder as if by reflex as the nine men get up. Raven gives a signal for the wolf to stay by him. Raven frowns and says, "Hasn't the earth here seen enough blood spilt?" Raven quickly loads and draws back on his bow.
-----"Last one standin’ gets all the grabs!" hisses the man to the others. The bandit grits his teeth except for the front two that are missing. His tangled bush of hair is dark and mingled in with his beard.
-----"Atta' girl!" Sol yells happily. With a quick wrench Sol pulls his sword out yet again. Murmuring to himself, he launches himself at the brigand who spoke, blade held back ready to strike.
-----With a quick yell, the bandits start moving toward the party although the dead bodies lying about make running difficult.
-----With a quick jab, one of the bandits meet Sol’s advance and stabs him in his left arm, lightly injuring the young warrior.
-----Cursing and wincing, Sol immediately swings his Lathanian blade across cutting into the man’s armored torso. With a fierce thrust, Sol finishes his opponent with a stab to the abdomen. As he clutches at his bleeding arm, Sol stumbles over a human corpse.
-----Gimplefwick draws out his cutlass waving it over his head. With a mighty oath, he proclaims, "I’ll git ye fer litterin’ me poop deck, ya salty sea swine!" Keeping his head low, the Dread Pirate barrels forward toward the next available bandit.
-----The unfortunate, a bandit with a bushy mustache and a bad eye, swings down at the charging halfling. Suddenly the small, pudgy hand clutching the cutlass catches the descending weapon with a loud clang. With an odd-looking flourish, the cutlass spins in the Pirate’s hand. Gimplefwick then pivots and brings the cutlass under his arm so the blade is aimed backwards. With his back turned to his opponent, the cutlass disembowels the bandit who begins to fall to the ground dead.
-----A cursing fit then ensues when the Dread Pirate realizes his parrot got some of the dying bandit’s blood on its feathers. Gimplefwick begins to encourage the bird on his shoulder to relieve itself on the dead fiend.
-----Rinda runs at one of the bandits only to have the man barely miss a swing at the attacking huntress. Throwing her weight into her club, Rinda hits the man solidly in the right leg. Unfortunately, as the man howls in pain, Rinda falls over an elven body onto her back.

Go to Page 7