The Rod of Seven Parts ::NIT-Haru-IGW::

[Haruchai]

Shadow surprised Marek as she leaped on him and those daggers took out several of their captors, and he held her for a moment to help her steady herself. He understood teamwork, and he shook his head as she told him not to get ideas. That was when he heard Sybille cry out, the arrow imbedded deep in her. He winced and knew he could help, but as the heavy footfalls of many of the bandits closed in on their location he grabbed her hand, and the hand of the dwarven caravan leader, and nodded toward one of the tunnels close by.

"A way out." he said, and headed that way. He ushered the others on ahead, knowing that his disguised form could retreat last and still likely not arouse suspicion. Everyone he'd attacked in this form were now incapacitated or dead, so if he lingered to make sure the others escaped then he could likely still get by.

The tunnel ascended in a haphazard pattern, but had no offshoots - which made following it easily done. Bringing up the rear of their procession Marek kept a close eye and ear out behind them, and as they passed one of the many timber reinforcements that helped hold up the passageway he stopped and urged the others ahead. Gathering his ki the changeling allowed his guise to drop and focused his spirit energy into his hand, striking the brace with considerable force. The timber splintered and shuddered, the impact carrying into the surrounding rock, and Marek scrambled to follow the others as the ceiling of the shaft collapsed, rock and rubble soon filling the passage and blocking them from being followed - at least by this route.

Soon he had reassumed his monkly form, and Marek caught up to the others. Exiting the underground they found themselves confronted with a night sky, now in the wee hours of the morning. "I think you should let me look at that arrow before we go any further." Marek said, addressing Sybille. He had no idea what sort of dastardly things that the Shadowfang might have coated the tip with, and he knew that the use of poison was no beyond them. He could heal it, but the quicker he got to ti the better, and if it was tainted in some way then the escape from the capture and adrenaline in her system would serve to speed things along.

Urging Sybille to sit and relax as much as possible, Marek had Shadow and Elri brace her. The removal of the arrow would be important, and simply pulling it out would likely cause more damage. Broadheads were made to tear and rend flesh. It would be better to push the arrow through and then heal the hole than try to pull it out as it had come in. Snapping off the shaft, Marek had Sybille bite down on a piece of leather as he set about removing the arrow. The changeling then called upon his Spirit magic. Not only could he use it as devastating ki, an external and imposing power, he could manifest it as chi, an internal power he could focus and use to heal.

As he gathered that magic his hands glowed and he closed his eyes as he placed his hands on Sybille's body, one on each side of the wound. He focused and the magic flowed into her, knitting flesh and tissue alike until there was naught left of her wound save for new and pink skin. Not even a bruise. Marek exhaled and the glow about his hands dissipated, and he opened his eyes, looking at Sybille with concern. "Better?" he asked.

Only once his friend indicated she was fine would they then make their plan to head to the fort.

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

Not having any time to comment on the elf taking an arrow, Jynx growled as she and Elri followed after Marek while also leading the trio of Dwarves to make sure that they were safe as well. The older male who'd been roughed up a bit ended up being carried like a sack of potatoes by Elri as they ran. Coming out into the night air, away from the disorientated and scattered bandits, Jynx followed till they were sitting and then decided to give Sybille an earful.
"So the fact that I pushed your ass to the ground didn't suggest that hey, maybe I should stay down? I could have just jumped over you but I chose to use you as a spring board since telling you to get down wouldn't have worked as quickly and would have alerted the bandits you dolt!"

Elri was quiet as she sighed and shouldered her bow, her arrows weren't poisoned simply because she aimed to kill, she didn't need poison when her arrows were aimed at kill points. Sybille just got lucky that she'd gotten to her feet unsteadily and that had made the arrow miss a vital. Jynx huffed as she looked at Marek healing Sybille.
"Handy. Glad to know we have a healer for when this amateur decides to step in front of an arrow again. Also, what the hell took you so long? One would think surrounding yourself with pirates you'd pick up a lock picking skill, or did you just flash some tits and never bothered learning a useful skill other than using that tooth pick you call a sword?"

Elri smirked as she sat at the base of a tree and stayed out of this verbal banter since Jynx did have a point. Three of the four of them managed to free themselves just fine with no help. Sybille had been stuck in her cell and had it not been for Marek, she'd still be in there. Kind of lack luster for an elite Adventurer in her opinion. Then, fencing wasn't exactly a sword style that excelled with multiple attackers so one would think she'd learn some hand to hand or at the very least, learn to be versatile with other weapons but again...no. Rather large fail moment on her part since it wasn't likely that they'd have one on one sword fights with all of their enemies so fencing was kind of limited.

 

[ImaginationGoneWild]

Grasping her wounded arm, Sybille followed the winding corridor along with the others. But about halfway towards the exit Marek ushered them to go on ahead while he stayed behind. He didn’t tell them for what reason but upon hearing the loud rumblings, and feeling the very tunnel tremble quickly made them understand what he was up to.

Having reached the outside world, Sybille took a deep breath of the fresh forest air. Still wincing at the pain in her shoulder she turned around and yelled at the tunnel, “Marek?! Marek?!”

The monk was a speedy fellow because not long after his large frame emerged from the shadows. Thank the gods, she thought to herself.

She sighed audibly when Jynx gave her another earful. She turned around briskly, “We were surrounded! How the fuck was i supposed to know that was you throwing me in the dirt and not another outlaw!? Next time warn a person before you pull shit like that!"

Sybille snapped at Marek when he urged to inspect the arrow. She sat down somewhere and tore her blouse open to give him better access to the injury. “You better hurry, we don’t know how many more of them there are.”

She dreaded what needed to be done but without another word she removed her leather belt and sunk her teeth in it, nodding at Marek while the girls helped by holding her down. She braced herself and then flinched, growling and groaning into the leather belt as Marek broke off the shaft and then pushed the arrow through her shoulder.

She dropped the belt from her teeth, panting. Marek then placed his hands on her shoulder. Wondering what he was about to do she suddenly felt a soothing warmth spread through her shoulder, staring down at Marek’s glowing hands.

Better, he asked her. Sybille moved her shoulder to loosen it up and was surprised to feel no pain whatsoever. She knew Healing magic existed but she never witnessed it first hand. Healing magic was reserved for the Clerics and priestly types, people she didn’t interact with.

“Yes, better. Thank you. I didn’t know you could do that…” And just like that Jynx manages to ruin a good moment. Sybille’s anger was getting the best of her as it was starting to affect the environment. As was witnessed by bandits earlier, Sybille had the ability to control the elements of Water and Ice. And right now the area they were in was starting to get fairly frosty as ice particles were manifesting on the leafy ground, trees, and pretty much anything else that stood its way. Their breaths were becoming visible and a chill nipped at their skin.

“First of all, you don’t know anything about ‘pirate life’. Unlike you we don’t sneak around when we battle. Second of all I was unarmed and outnumbered, and don’t have fancy abilities like the Changeling monk. I learned to pick my battles and sometimes it’s best to think things through instead of sounding the fucking alarm by massacring everyone in this camp. And if you wanna see my tits, you’ll need to earn it!”

When she was done ranting she noticed the sharp icy spikes that surrounded the group...oops.

She took a deep calming breath as the ice began to thaw out. Pushing through the group she motioned for the Dwarves, who stood by awkwardly caught in the middle of their argument. “The Fort is that way...Let’s move…before we freeze…”

 

[Haruchai]

​

Marek should have known the two would be at each other's throat, but it still caught him off guard. They were away, and safe, and they still insisted on bickering. Deciding the best course of action was to stay out of it, he shook his head slightly at the dwarves as one of the younger one started to intervene, and they all waited until both Shadow and Sybille had had their say.

Then it was off to the fort.

As they walked Marek spoke quietly. "Perhaps if we're able to get some reinforcements, or make a suitable plan, we can go back and get the ore. That was part of the job after all, and even though the dwarves are safe the cargo has been absconded with. We should really try to get it back, and I'm sure you don't feel retribution has been meted out completely." he said, his gaze lingering on Shadow as he spoke the last. She seemed a vengeful sort of person, and likely would have little problem going back and seeking to make the bandits pay. "If I had to wager, I'd think a few of those men might have bounties on their heads as well." he suggested, trying to sweeten the pot a little. They might be able to not only get the ore and get paid for a job well done, but gain extra coin by bringing in wanted men. It would be worth looking into.

The Fort could soon be seen, torchlight along the ramparts announcing the location to all who ventured close, and of course the guards wanted them to stop and be questioned. Marek spoke for the group as a whole, as did the caravan leader, the eldest dwarf - the both of them thinking that perhaps Shadow wasn't the most diplomatic, and the drow might be looked on with a bit of suspicion.

It wasn't long until they were brought into the Fort and presented to the Commander, a middle aged man with a limp and walking with a cane, who asked them to tell him the entire story of just what had happened.

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

Jynx glanced at Elri for a moment then sighed as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm herself.
"We can contact my father to send an assault party to the camp. They'll clean it out and remove the bandit threat then we can go in and get the goods. My clan will get in and get the job done without costing anything. Technically those bandits attacked me first, thus earning the wrath of my clan on that basis alone."
Elri nodded.
"Using our clan will also keep the public attention down rather than going to city guards and trying to get them to rally together and assault force."
Hearing the idea about the wanted men, that wouldn't be hard since as an assassin your main job was to bring in or bring down your target. All they'd need is a drawing or description of the person in question.

Getting to the fort Jynx stood off to the side while listening to the recap of the story while Elri wrote a small note on a piece of paper that would be put into the container that was strapped to a hawk's leg. Once the letter was written, she rolled it up then let the hawk take that information back to the clan so that they would know and they could formulate a plan. They would also send a representative to the fort to see who these criminals were. Looking over a few pieces of parchment that has drawings of certain men, Jynx noticed that most of the men were want for murder, robbery, and of course the odd occasion of rape since men weren't the only one's who traveled the roads to and from the fort.

"A representative will be here from my clan in a few hours. Once he or she has the information, they can take out the bandits and collect the criminal bounties in less than a day if that works rather than trying to collect soldiers?"

 

[ImaginationGoneWild]

Sybille didn't agree with the decisions made. Sure they were hired by the Dwarves to escort them and their cargo but at the same time it wasn't their priority. The priority was the quest for the Rod and right now they were losing to the rival parties.

"Do you think your clan could handle things on their own?" Sybille asked. "We can't waste anymore time if we are to travel to Korvosa. Could we instead take a rest here at the Fort and then pick up the trail again?"