Almaric’s Tale - The Story of The Three
Feeling proud of himself, Almaric bundles all the recovered items into his large sack - the coins and gems go into his belt pouch - and packs it all onto Osgar’s saddle.
Returning to the remaining bandit, he sits down so he can see the man’s face.
“So what’s your name, who is this mad mage that you’ve been working for and what’s his plan?”, he asks the bandit. “Answer me truthfully and I’ll consider letting you go.”
The dishevelled bandit looks at Almaric, a glimmer of hope appearing in his eyes. “Me name’s Seb.” He points with his chin towards the bandit with the arrow in his chest, a brief, bitter smile touches his lips. “That’s me brother, Lew.” Turning his head he nods at the fallen chain-clad bandit. “And that be Tocca. It was 'im as got us into this mess. What with all ‘is big talk an’ fancy ideas.”
He pauses while he collects his thoughts. Finally he speaks again, a slight tremor to his voice. “We… me an’ Lew, used ta be labourers but a week or so ago, Tocca - ‘e was Lew’s mate - anyways, Tocca comes up an’ says ‘e’s got this job ‘e needs ‘elp with. Says ‘es workin’ for some wizard, a weird foreign-type, all dark-skinned an’ all. Goes by tha name o’ ‘ar-Assad. Anyways, this mage wants ta find somethin’ real bad. An’ this somethin’ is real valuable, so ‘e needs a spot o’ muscle, just in case like, while 'e 'unts it down.”
Seb continues. “Fings was goin’ just fine at first, we’s just doin’ what we always did - lug stuff about fer folks as’n can’t or won’t do it fer themsel. Then, three days in, an’ we come across a lake an’ all this green fog. Now that stuff’s just plain creepy it is. Kills ya if’n ya breathe it, burns ya if’n ya touch it. Some o’ the others found that out tha 'ard way, on orders offa tha mage.”
He shuffles a bit, as if to get more comfortable and then goes on with his tale. “We spent a coupla days on a beach at tha waters edge. Made oursells a coupla canoes an’ tha Mage ‘ad us paddlin’ all about tha lake an’ tha stream, all tha while ‘es examinin’ tha damn fog an’ makin’ notes an’ mutterin’ to ‘imself. We lost a coupla tha lads an’ their canoe when it strayed into tha fog. I ain’t never 'eard anyone scream like that afore.” He shudders as if recalling the sound again. “Damn near pissed down ma leg when I saw what was left o’ them. Right 'orrible way ta go.”
With a sniffle, the bandit continues. “Anyways, tha next day, we’ve moved on down stream an’ tha mage thinks 'e’s finally sussed the fog. Says ya kin’t go through it, but ya kin go under it!” A sad shake of his head. “Believe me, no bugger wanted to try that but the wizard was very - insistent. Now ‘e comes across all calm an’ collected at first, but man, ‘e’s got a right temper on ‘im if’n he gets all arsey. So after a guy ‘volunteered’ to try an’ swim under it, we all sat around an’ waited ta see what ‘appened, some prayin’ fer ‘is soul, some of us jus’ prayin’ we weren’t next.”
“Jus’ when we figure ‘es a gonner, ‘is ‘ead pops up out tha water an’ e’s all excited an’ stuff. Says tha fog ain’t that deep an’ there’s a shoreline not far on tha other side. Well now, don’t this give tha wizard a right ‘ard on? Straight away ‘e’s orderin’ us all to pack up an’ start ‘eadin’ under tha fog. Some o’ tha lads can’t swim, so we ‘as to tie a rope to ‘em an’ drag ‘em along behind us. Luckily, me, Lew an’ Tocca kin swim jus’ fine, so we get tha job o’ actin’ as escort fer thems as can’t, an’ baggage 'andlers fer some of tha supplies. Took us all a while, but we made it safe to tha other side. That’s when things really started to go bad.”
Seb seems to be warming to his narrative, he goes on without pause. “So me, Lew an’ Tocca, we ain’t no fighter-types, not like some o’ tha others this mage ‘as taggin’ along. We git left at tha base camp near tha landing point while tha others is off ‘untin’ fer whatever it is tha mage is after. Each day we gets ta 'ear stories about stuff this wizard ‘as done. Nasty stuff. Stuff that we didn’t sign up fer. One o’ the lads made a joke that even the dead weren’t safe from 'im. Said if’n tha mage thought she ‘ad somethin’ on 'er that ‘e wanted, ‘e’d even dig up ‘is own granma! That’s not funny. That’s just wrong. Anyways, while tha others was off doin’ whatever they was doin’, me an’ tha lads,” he indicates the two dead bandits, “decided we’d 'ad enough. We wanted out, first chance.”
“That came later that day. We was runnin’ low on supplies so Tocca suggests ta one o’ tha goons that we could get some from an inn we know that’s not too far away. Sure enough, ‘e runs it past tha wizard as if’n it was all ‘is bright idea an’ we get the thumbs up. Tocca gets given some cash an’ we ‘ead off back under tha fog. Soon as we’s safe on this side, me an’ Lew are all fer peggin’ it straight 'ome, sharpish-like. Tocca says we can’t. Says if’n we sticks anywhere 'round ‘ere, chances are tha mage will find us an’ we all know 'e’s not gonna be 'appy when 'e does. So Tocca comes up with a plan to get us some ‘orses an’ supplies so we kin bugger off someplace safe. Trouble is, me an Lew din’t find out exactly what 'is ‘cunning plan’ was until 'e’d knocked ya off ya 'orse. By then we was in over our 'eads, mad-ass wizard who’s nuttier than squirrel shit on one side, unconscious but bound ta be pissed off warrior on the other.”
He shrugs. “An’ that’s about it. We ‘ad yer ‘orse, we ‘ad some cash but we needed at least one more ‘orse an’ we needed more cash to ‘elp get away. That’s what we was arguin’ ‘bout. Lew an’ me wanted to just git gone since by now tha others was bound to suspect somethin’ was up an’ possibly come lookin’, but Tocca was all about stickin’ ta that plan. Fek ‘im an’ 'is damn plans.”
With a gobbet of spittle flung at the body of Tocca, Seb ends his tale.
[/OOC: Almaric is injured, he is down to 6 of his 9 HP. He still has MIGHT, LUCK, FINESSE and AUTOMATIC SUCCESS bonuses available for use at any time.]