At the Market

Ari wasn’t too pleased Safir - ah it was Njáll now wasn’t it - had accompanied them into the town, yet the Drow hadn’t done anything to attack them.

Yet.

All the same, the wood elf lingered near the yuan-ti, answering their questions as they excitedly shot them off, like one arrow after another. The wood elf didn’t mind the attention, knowing they no doubt presented as a novelty and apparently a reminder of a parent who also was interwoven with the natural world. It made their stomach clench for a moment, thoughts lingering on their mother before they were brushed aside.

“I’m going to the tan-“ was all Ari was able to muster out when there a scream of an animal causes the druid’s attention to snap over. Panic erupts from the people and screaming overtakes the square.

Ari begins to rush forward to save the beasts of burden only to pause when another thief toward the north brandishes a hostage, the glint of a knife pressed against the boy’s skin.

Are you shitting me?!

Luckily, however, a tall human approaches, hand held high and begin to try to reason with the assailant. Backing up slightly, pressing their back against Amaiel with their hands resting against their back, Ari quickly looks around the square and murmurs-

“Speak,” flicking their hands backwards, before muttering an apology to the yuan-ti.

[[Speak With Animals, stealth casting, adv roll; (1d20+4) - {24}]]

Another yell, and Ari turned their head to see the knife was dropped and yelling for the beast to get under control. Turning their head forward, heart pounding, Ari took a few tentative steps toward the poor horse and held their hands out toward the poor thing.

“Calm down,” they instructed, and a quick look around noticed a couple of prince trees outside the market ground. Perhaps-

“See those trees? Run under them and try to knock off the rider. I shall assist you.”

Just as the group was entering the market square, things broke out into chaos. Two horses ran from the square, while a third was resisting its unwelcome rider. A fourth individual was on foot; he took a child hostage to help ensure the escape of himself and his companion. Instinct took over and Njáll closely examined the two thieves to see how they were equipped. He couldn't tell much about the tiefling on the horse, but there was something interesting about the dagger that the human was carrying.

A large man put his hands into the air and started trying to talk down the hostage taker. Njáll watched the thief's reaction, as he relaxed the grip he had on his dagger. He doesn't want to hurt the child—it's just a ploy. Sensing the thief's hesitation, Njáll decided to call his bluff. He rushed forward through the crowd, putting a hand on the hostage and looking the thief in the face.

"We both know you won't hurt this child. You have your horses, let the boy go and get out of here."

In reality, Njáll was bluffing too. In the bright sunlight of the square, he wasn't confident in his ability to fight the man off. Hopefully the thief wouldn't notice the drow's lack of confidence...

[intimidation for the implied threat of a drow with two clearly visible rapiers calling the bluff on the hostage situation: 8 (not great, lol)]

At the market

After tending to Ari’s leg, Amaiel had accompanied them into the town, bombarding them with questions all the way. Njáll had tagged along, much to the displeasure of the wood elf, though Amaiel was quite pleased about it - she was in the company of a druid and a drow. In a way, it was almost like being with her parents again. Sorta. Kinda. Not really. As she entered the marketplace, she found herself wondering how Havain and Senteq were doing, and if they were even still alive. It had been eight years.

She did not dwell on it for long, mostly because a terrified whinny snapped her from her thoughts. Two horse thieves sped off on their newly-acquired mounts. A third one was having more trouble. Amaiel held out his right arm, which had Noodle wrapped around it.

“Noodle,” she commanded. The snake let go, and dropped to the ground. Amaiel was about to drop her backpack and rush over when a cry from the other side of the market demanded her attention.

A man was holding a boy hostage, promising that the boy would be unharmed as long as no one would impede the horse theft, and that should anyone were to try and stop them, the boy was dead.

A tall man pleaded with the hostage taker to let the child go. The hostage taker, in response, adjusted his hold on his knife, and though Amaiel had difficulty reading the man, she got the impression his resolve was shaken.

Ari pressed against Amaiel. The yuan-ti had no idea what the elf was doing, but whatever it was, they felt the need to apologise for it.

Then, Njáll dashed forward through the crowd, put a hand on the hostage, and told the hostage taker to let the boy go. He had two very visible blades, and his threat was heavily implied.

She dropped her bags and her axe, and ran after the Drow. “Please don’t hurt the child,” she said. “You’ll regret it if you do!”

At the market

"Oh, yes, they're just delightful with a bit of mustard --"

Milly turned her head to the south at the sound of commotion and squinted her eyes, trying to make out what was going on. Standing in the northeast corner of the market, a mass of stalls and the scattered crowd obscured her vision. She saw clearly, however, the human assailant, a teen held at knifepoint, and an elf rushing into the middle of it.

Milly dropped the sausage she was holding back into its basket, swiftly drew her wand, and made no effort to conceal her incantation. With a flick of the wrist she directed the spell at the assailant and surrounding bodies.

[[Sleep, Lvl 1, one spell slot consumed. Rolled 5d8 = 14]]

A great many things happen all at once.

<<Made a nature check to identify the Drow's weakness. Rolled a 17>>

The thief takes a warry step back as Njall approaches, but then stops and snears at the drow. "Oh yes, nice swords you've got their pointy. I'm betting your less than stellar with them in the light though, ain't ya. Piss o-"

It is at this moment, that he notices Amaiel.

"... off. Piss off. Hey what sort of freak show are you lot running in this town?!"

<<John takes this moment to attempt to break the grapple and fails>>

Now struggling with his captive and backing quickly away from the horrible snake lady, the thief glances desperately at his companion when...

---

Sancho - for that is the poor horse's name - is good at following orders. Following orders is comfortable, easy, a good way to get apples. The strange creature on Sancho's back had been very scary at first, and Sancho had been mad with fright, but the creature had been trying to give poor Sancho orders and maybe, just maybe, it would be in everyone's best interest do what the creature wanted.

Then, suddenly, there were new orders to follow. Clear, concise, illuminating *perfect* instructions of the sort Sancho had never really experienced before. How exactly was Sancho receiving such a perfect idea of what to do next? More clear and obvious then even its own thoughts? It's not for a horse to know such things, but Sancho was never the less incredibly glad for the certainty of purpose.

"Calm down".
Yes. Easy. No reason to be frightened any longer.

"See the tree."
Yes. A good tree. An apple tree.

"Run under and try to knock off the rider".
Away went Sancho.

---

The thief watches in shock as the horse takes off at a wild angle and Andcis is forced to leap from its back to avoid being clobbered by a tree branch.

<<Andcis makes a successful reflex save against damage from being thrown>>

"What in the nine hells are you doing you bloody, stupid fool! Fuck it. Fuck you all. I'm out of here."

Tossing the boy to the side, the thief produces a scroll from some pouch behind his back and quickly reads out an incantation. He is just fading into mist when the sleep spell hits. Poor John falls over unconscious... and the thief appears out of thin air, 10 feet from where his Tiefling partner is recovering after having been thrown, and slumps snoring into the dirt.

Milly walked briskly across the market toward the new puff of mist.

[[Perception roll: 1d20+3 = 12. Twine obtained.]]

She grabbed a handful of twine off a nearby stall on the way over, untangling it in her hand subconsciously as she approached the sleeping body. With a practiced motion she tied the human's hands and feet together securely.

Looking up and seeing that she wasn't under immediate threat, she took a few seconds to root through the sleeping thief's garments.

[[Investigation roll: 1d20+5 = 14]]

Well, that went a lot better than Ari was expecting. Jogging over, the wood elf clicked their tongue to attract the horse’s attention over to them.

“Come over here!”

The man who had taken the boy hostage was backing away now. Amaiel ignored his unkind remarks. Suddenly, the horse his companion was trying to steal bolted, and the tiefling riding it had to jump off or get a face full of tree branch.

The hostage taker had had enough. Leaving his hostage, he pulled out a scroll and read it. He teleported away about a split second after being hit by a sleep spell. Amaiel ignored the sleeping criminal, and rushed over to the child.

She did a quick check-up, and the kid looked like he was still alive. Amaiel let out a small sigh of relief. The child’s mother was already coming for him, and Amaiel figured Alice would probably be better at helping the child recover from his traumatic experience than a yuan-ti stranger could ever be.

“If he needs healing, let me know,” the yuan-ti said. She looked over at her stuff. Noodle had slithered on top of her bags. She decided that she could leave them unattended for just a bit longer. Not many people were going to steal from the bag that had a snake resting on it.

She turned back to Alice and her son. “Is he okay?” she asked.

Kicking the ground away as he swayed slightly, Drake finally achieved his balance. He pulled his bag up over his shoulder and blinked rapidly.

"Good as new, I suppose!" He grinned at the lady standing before him. Noticing now how beautiful she was, Drake had absolutely no option but take her up on the offer.

"I would be honoured to help a lady as fine as yourself. Name the task and it shall be done henceforth," he bowed his head a little, and his grin grew.

"Perfect! See, I'm uh... looking out for some friends who're gonna be headed this way. If there's any trouble following them I'm supposed to cover their escape. Thing is, the best way for me to see what's going on is to stick to the top of the hill up there, so I can see over the trees. Problem is, I'm out of range to cast from up there."

She hefts a sorcerous implement - an onyx orb - in explanation.

"I was moving in to position to cast from down here, but I might not be able to see them coming and then I'll really be in the shit. Um... could you keep a lookout from up there and shout down to me if you see any trouble?"

"I'm betting you're less than stellar with them in the light though, ain't ya."

The thief pulled away from Njáll, who retracted back into the crowd while keeping his eyes on the situation. Mere moments later, the thief and the child were both asleep on the ground. Njáll moved to help the child, but Amaiel reacted faster. Instead, Njáll slowly walked up to the sleeping thief, watching as an aged human woman of short stature tied him up with twine and began rooting through his pockets. "Find anything nice?" Njáll asked as he approached, scanning the ground to see if he could find the dagger the thief had been carrying.

Lazily extending a finger to the hill, "Up there?"
He wanted to be closer with the lady, not further. Though, he really wanted to be closer to a nice meal.

"And I'll be getting a meal out of this?"
She nodded in response.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, don't go anywhere," he said, with a wink.

He gave a gentle shrug and started a light jog up the hill. He barely had time to wonder what he was looking for before a commotion began. Mostly shouting but a little screaming and a clearing opened up, with just a handful of figures in the middle. Two riders atop horses pulled away from the clearing with little reaction, but there still seemed to be some conflict in the square.

Shouting back to the half-elf,
"Hey lady! I see two horseriders heading our way. Friends of yours? Oh, and a few people are running after em it looks like."

When she hears the pirate's call Sohu - our half elf sorcerer - abandons her covered position in the brush and dashes into the field to the south of the market. Sure enough, two of her allies - by their size and bearing she guesses Cake Of Chocolate and Jhim - are stampeding their way across the open field in her general direction. She quickly judges them clear of trouble. They'll pass her buy and meet at the rendezvous point.

But then what about...?

Suddenly, a third horse appears in a mad dash towards a tree outside of the market grounds.

(Such a lovely tree really, the purple blossoms are a really nice contrast to the abundance of conifers in the area. All the same dark, bristling green. It's a fruit bearing tree, if she recalls correctly. Not exactly apples, but a similar large and fleshy berry. Gods she hasn't had a good apple in a while; harvest can't come soon enough. Ah the apples. And pears and plums and cherries. Well really cherries should already be in seas-)

The horses' rider makes a mad leap from horseback rolls, and start running in her direction. Damn it Andcis. Every bleeding time. A large - ridiculously large honestly - human is soon on the Tiefling's heels and, welp, she's charging to meet them.

[Sohu is going to cast Sleep as soon as she's in range of the Tiefling's pursuer(s). She's rolled a 24. Sami (or whoever) feel free to play this out. After she meets up with Andcis the pair will make it back to the woods to meet Drake. Keith you have full control over that encounter.]

---

Milly doesn't find much on the thief. Aside from his armour and cloak he's only carrying a small purse and a scroll bag slung tight across his back. There's a second Misty Step scroll within. By the weight and texture of the purse there are a good number of coins in there.

[You can open the purse in front of Njáll and the rest of the crowd, or attempt to discreetly pocket it with a slight of hand check. This can happen before the commotion below.]

Njáll, meanwhile, finds that the dagger is unusual indeed. A flat single edged blade, about 9 inches long and 2 wide, forged of some black-stained steel. The grip is of the same hard cold metal, not wrapped or padded. An uncomfortable weapon to wield, then. Silver characters run across the flat of the blade and wrap around the grip. The script is infernal.

In blood and iron our pact is struck. That the binding of Barbatorum will be no longer than a century and a year and a day, his power will be offered in supplication to true bearer of this blade. That upon his release Barbatorum will have his leave to act with impunity in the mortal world for an hour and a minute and a moment, no harm will the demon then do to the true bearer, nor their issue.

---

Sancho, purpose clear, turns and approaches the calm rider-shaped creature, understanding now that this new friend is the source of the orders. It's nice that the new friend is very calm. There are still many noises and unexpected movement happening all around, which Sancho would very much prefer not to think about. Moving purposefully towards the creature helps.

[Ruki feel free to mount/control/play as the horse as needed]



Alice answered Amaeil without turning away from her boy. "Yes. I think so. God. Yes. He's just sleeping. When he wakes up though, I..."

Suddenly an enormous dragonborn is at her side, hand on her shoulder. Hells, the man must be 400 lbs in plate. How was he not dying in the heat? He puts a comforting hand on Alice's shoulder.

"Sleep is a blessing right now, certainly. The witch did right by the lad... Alice I'm sorry, I wasn't... I-". Words fail, but Alice seems to understand. She leans into Xarjunforthuntrixths, closes her eyes, and clutches her boy.

Stalwart, Xar collects himself and then turns his head towards Amaeil. Thank you, ma'am, for coming to the boy's aid. We owe you and yours tremendously. I-"

Sccraaaawwww-PING

All conversation in the market is immediately interrupted by the terrible, inexplicable cry of a 5' tall crow suddenly having a very bad day. Snapping Lutestring enters the market from the west side, poised, collected, and furious. Black feathers wave ominously as the bird points out orders to various flunkies. In a heartbeat the area is secured, the market-goers corralled, the remaining animals in the area calmed.

Lutestring spares a moments glance for the Zuffas, seems satisfied, and then marches directly towards Milly and Njáll. A quick look after the pair of thieves now shrinking in the distance, a quick look at Sancho and Ari, and then a questioning survery of all the people standing around the sleeping thief's body.

Sccraaaawwww-PING??

[All right, the rest is up to you. The Kenku wants people to chase down the thieves, and will intimate that you'll be paid for returning the horses. Alice doesn't want Xar and his crew to go, she doesn't feel safe being left alone, but she also really wants the thieves to be found and stopped. In fact, the town is in general agreement that no one is going to sleep well knowing these folks are out there.]

The second the others had intervened and the tiefling had begun to run away, Kevyn had almost instinctively given chase, straining to try to catch up. Unable to get any real ground, he tried to scan the path ahead to guess where his target was going.

[Roll Perception, result: 7)

Before he could see anything ahead of them, his focus having been so focused on his target, a heavy feeling seemed to suddenly descend over his head. His eyes drooped as he stopped running, falling to his knees and yawning before falling face-first onto the ground.

Easily catching up to the horse, Ari mounted with a hop, swinging their leg over the beast and patting their head, stroking the long mane.

“Thank you friend, but we need to go after your other friends,” Ari said before pointing at the fleeing horses. Nudging the horse forward, the wood elf urged gently, “Please give chase friend.”

Sancho didn’t need to be told twice to get away from the commotion. Off like a rocket Sancho went, chasing after the other two horses as fast as he could get, tall friend clinging on tightly.

Ari’s mind raced, trying to think what they could do. Reasoning with the animals helped before so why not try it again?

“Friends! Please come back!”

[[Animal Handling - 1d20+5=21]]

Amaiel originally wasn’t going to chase after the thieves, figuring that they were gone, and that the loss of horses was a pity but not a terribly big deal, and that everyone could just go on with their lives. What changed her mind was Alice, and the rest of the town, making it very clear that they wouldn’t sleep easy with those thieves at large.

She turned to Alice and Xar. “Could you two keep an eye on my stuff for a while? It’s the enormous collection of bags in the middle of the square, and the big axe. You can’t miss it.”

She walked over to her bags, and held her right hand out to Noodle. “C’mon, Noodle, it’s time to go,” she said, and the snake wrapped himself around her arm. Then, she noticed that the giant man who had chased after the tiefling had fallen.

“Shit,” she said, and ran towards him, ready to find out what was wrong with him, and get him up again.

<<OK, let's see how this works>>

"Friends! Please come back!"

Umm... That's not Andcis' voice is it? Cake Of Chocolate glances over his shoulder and... no. No its some elf. Is the elf yelling at them? Is Cake supposed to know this person? He turns to look at Jhim, who gives him a shrug, and is caught completely off guard when the horse beneath him lurches to the left. A moments struggle and...

"Damn it Jhim. This thing is totally out of control"

Cake's partner grunts, struggling to whip his own mount back into line, and having a little more success. Jhim's always been willing to be a little more violent with his beasts than Cake really has the stomach for, but in this particular situation... Bah. They're turning back towards the elf, in a way that suddenly makes it very clear to Cake that there's something fishy going on. Magic, no doubt. Druidism, unless he misses his guess by far. Hells, there weren't supposed to be any casters around. So much for advanced scouting.

"Jhim, this elf is be a real pain in our collective asses if we don't take care of 'em."

A grunt. Agreement. All right then, it's on.

---

Ari is now in combat.
Jhim rolled a 24 on animal handling and retains control of his mount. Together they will act on initiative 14.
Cake of Chocolate rolled a 13 on animal handling and lost control of his mount. He will act on initiative 6.
Cake's Mount, currently still with the rider on its back, will act on initiative 16 and follow the last orders it received.

Ari has mounted Sancho and can roll initiative for the pair, then the action will begin.
Throughout this encounter any character may, as an action, attempt to gain control of an animal they don't already control (the riders by cajoling their mounts, Ari by speaking to the mounts). This initiates an opposed animal handling check, in which the current controller has advantage.
If, at any time, a mount under Ari's control moves off of the left edge of the map (back towards the market) it will be secured by the people there and lost to the thieves.

The current map is being hosted on ditzie here.

[Ari's initiative is an 8]

Jhim Libertine is not unhappy for a chance to do some proper fighting. He did not much enjoy sneaking around the market like an urchin coward.
The cloak will get in the way in a good brawl. It will be a nuisance. Jhim pauses a moment to shrug it off, draw his sword.
Riding a wild mount with a free blade is risky. Jhim takes it slow. Practiced. He guides his mount with a deft hand and approach with his guard up.

<<Jhim: Move, Dodge action>>

Cake struggles in vain as his mount trots briskly towards the elf. By the time he decides to give it up and reach for his bow his enemy is already acting.

<<Cake's Mount: Move action>>

Map with Ari on the far left, Cake on the top right and Jhim on the bottom right

Removing the shield which rested against their back, Ari brought it to their front, spurring the horse forward as they approached the two thieves. It seemed their words reached one of the horses, yet Ari wanted to save both. Noticing one drew a sword and the other a bow, the wood elf's lip pulled down into a frown. This would be incredibly troublesome it seemed, but ah, it needed to be done. These poor beasts shouldn't be simply stolen like their mother was from their home with no regard to their feelings on the matter.

"Return to the village," Ari ordered. "Your friends are worried about you."

<<AC w/Shield 15>>
<<Animal Handling 20>>

[Map]

[[Opposed animal handling roll is an 18, Jhim loses control of his mount]]
[[Beginning next turn, Jhim's horse rolls will act on initative 8. With a dex of 10 it will act after Ari.]]

Cake of Chocolate, having fully given up on gaining control of the horse, steadies himself with his knees, wraps one arm behind him, and snaps the buckle at his chest releasing its load, and deftly swings his crossbow around his body and into position. In a smooth motion (although admittedly not as smooth as he usually likes to manage) the tabaxi cocks and fires a sling directly at the elf.

[[Roll to hit: 17 vs AC 15]]
[[Roll damage: 10]]
[[Ari hits 0 HP and accordingly is unconscious]]
[[Sancho is now acting independently on imitative 14. With a dex of 10, Sancho will act after Jhim]]

Cake's aim is on point (and, hey, why wouldn't it be >>) and the sling pass just over the top corner of the elf's proffered shield to smash into their shoulder. His foe slumps. Hah! That'll show em. Now if he can get this damn horse back under control!

(Cake's horse moves for its turn: map)

---

Jhim Libertine is not happy with how this encounter is playing out.
Jhim does not think shouting orders at another man's horse is particularly honourable.
Plus, Jhim didn't even get to do any fighting.

Whatever.

He wrestles for control of the damnable horse, pushing his sword with **just** the right amount of pressure into the beast's flank.

[[With Ari not able to oppose the check, I'm requiring the same DC 15 Animal Handling roll that was needed to get control of the horses originally. Jhim rolls an 11]]

The horse screams and takes off back towards the market. Damn it! Jhim libertine leaps from horseback.

[[Dexterity Check: succeeds with a 17]].

Map

---

Our hero Sancho knows something is wrong. The very friendly creature on his back is not sitting the same way. They might fall!. Sancho is a good horse and knows without orders what to do in a situation like this. He moves to catch the friendly creature, so that they slump over his neck rather than onto the ground. But what to do next?

"Return to the village. Your friends are worried about you"

It's a memory, not a real order. A memory of an order that maybe wasn't even for Sancho. But in the moment, it will have to do.
Sancho spins around and heads back to the market.

((Sancho's movement takes both Sancho and Ari off the map, removing them from initiative order.))
((Gonna play fast and loose with continuity here and say that Amaiel, running from the market after Kevyn, suddenly runs into the approaching Sancho and can act before Ari would have to make a third death save))

---

Tugging hopelessly at his mount, cake manages a wry glance over to Jhim, watching frustration and outrage play across his ally's face. The horse Libetine had just been on takes off at a dash back towards the village. There's no way they're getting it back.

((Jhim's horse dashes off the edge of the map and is removed from the initiative order))

Map

Ah well.
Back to business. If he can't get this under control today is going to end up a total wash.