The Osogen Grasslands, Bandit Fort

After “clearing out” the barracks and having lost the advantage of surprise we listened for the sound of any approaching bandits. Standing at a narrow window I could neither hear no see anything.

“This won’t do at all,” Timber said, and I agreed.

Casting Light on a copper piece I tossed it far out into the courtyard.

Badger quietly squeaked, “There’s nothing there.”

One thing we knew from experience was that you did not give your enemy time to prepare — at least not if you could help it.

Radella crept down the stairs into the dimly lit hallway below. She heard soft voices coming from behind a curtain, and a gruff voice calling from further away, “Calm down, calm down!”

Presently the face of a young woman peered out from the curtains. She had not seen Radella, and she quietly stepped out across the hall and behind another curtain, followed by half a dozen other women… girls, actually. Radella found a kitchen area from where the girls had fled.

So probably servants or slaves.

We all joined Radella downstairs and could hear the nervous twitter of the girls behind the curtains.

Radella, Kali and Ivan went in to talk with the girls, hoping to calm (and quiet) them down and find out what they knew of the bandits in the fort.

They were slaves and hopeful that we would set them free. The leader of the bandits was a well muscled man named Gangsum, and his second in command was a “scary and mean” man named Kamui Paro. Apparently the latter had something they called a “cat-woman” as his slave.

Meanwhile Zos, Olmas and I spread out into the hallway. Zos went to a western wall and paused, while Olmas scouted the area beyond a doorway to the south. I went north and found a room with a curtain partitioning off the northern half and a passage to the west.

The soft sound of movement came from behind the curtain, and just as Pookie said, “Uh, oh,” a bandit pulled back the curtain halfway revealing a man standing at the back of the chamber pointing at me.

A bolt of lightening flashed from the ceiling and struck me dead on. “You’ll pay for that!” Star shrieked as I cast Debilitating Portent on Kamui Paro.

But payback would have to wait, for at that moment a large hairy (“And very smelly,” added Takoda) man ran out from the passage and attacked. And thus I was introduced to Gangsum, the bandit chieftain.

I had managed to bring both of the bandit ring leaders into one convenient killing zone. As I contemplated my next move I could hear Dasi singing a song of encouragement out from the darkness behind me.

I gave Gangsum my best “Beorn grin,” but I suspect it was lost on him.

Arrows flew in and struck Kamui Paro, but bounced off with little affect. None the less it was comforting to know that Ivan was with me. Radella rushed out from the darkness and managed to dodge a zap of lightening.

Suddenly Kamui Paro and the entire area behind the curtain vanished in swirling clouds of mist — but the mists stopped at a solid invisible wall of force. “That wall is mine,” Kali called out.

Radella hacked at Gangsum as a pair of bandits closed in, and so I used Sign of Wrath to push them away and inflict damage on them and Gangsum. One of the bandits ran back into the passage, but the other foolishly rushed in, allowing Radella to end his miserable existence.

“And don’t do it again,” Beorn screamed, “I swear I’ll rip off your head and…”

I quickly interrupted, “Uh, Beorn, I think that one’s dead.” Seriously, if you let Beorn get wound up things get ugly fast. He stopped yelling, but I could tell he was already agitated… more than usual.

At that moment Olmas arrived and clove a massive gash into Gangsum’s forehead. Somehow the bandit leader managed to stagger back and say, “You swine!” before collapsing into an expanding pool of his own blood.

Suddenly the other bandit ran back into the chamber but stopped dead at the sight of Gangsum’s bloody corpse. I said, “Drop your weapon or die!” and he swiftly complied. “Now go stand facing that corner.” He did.

Then a tiger pounced into the room. “The tiger is mine,” Kali called out.

Kali dropped her Wall of Force, and instantly we were hit with the effects of a powerful Dispel Magic spell. I slowly settled an inch or two onto the floor as Huffy lamented, “Aww.” Damn, I reallty liked Overland Flight.

But Kali had responded with her own Dispel Magic and the fog cleared, revealing Kamui Paro standing nearby.

Ivan quickly sunk several arrows into him before Radella sliced into him. Kamui Paro changed into a fire elemental and so I cast Protection from Energy on those of us nearby, but there was no need. Another flight of arrows from Ivan changed Kamui Paro back into human form: a dead human form.

Then Zos showed up with a half woman, half tiger in tow. This was the cat-woman slave the girls had told us about, and Zos had befriended her and set her free. In turn she had nearly bitten in half one of the bandits. Zos discovered that Kamui Paro had exposed her to a were-cat, who bit her, and thus she was now afflicted with the curse. We promised to look into breaking the curse as soon as we had a chance.

I then questioned our surviving bandit, Hashasi. He said there were no traps in the fortress that he was aware of, and then described where the rest of the bandits were. By our calculation we had slain all but four: the two on the main gate, the one at the southern lookout, and Hashasi.

We did the usual search and seizure of belongings.

Hashasi then took Olmas, Radella and I on a tour so we could inform the remaining bandits that we had taken over control of the fort.

But we had not gone far before I realized that Ivan had been wounded. I looked at Olmas and said, “Status, Ivan’s injured! We have to run, but keep your eye on him,” pointing at Hashasi.

We arrived back at the others to find a large pit in the floor and Zos standing off to one side, throwing in blazing flasks of alchemical fire. There were shrieks of pain from the pit, but Zos yelled several choice words in response and kept on throwing in the fire until the pit was silent. Zos is usually so calm and quiet but something had obviously pissed him off.

It was the cat-woman. Zos had announced his intention to use his skin-mapping skill on Kamui Paro to “learn all of his secrets,” which the cat-woman took literally. Apparently there were some secrets between servant — er, pet? — and master that she did not wish to be known, and so she turned on Zos and the others.

I turned to Hashasi and with a, “Hmm, okay, shall we resume our tour?” we set off again.

We passed through various rooms, including an armory, where we grabbed a very nice lance before heading on.

In the next chamber were three bamboo cages along the west wall and shelves of cured meats along the far wall. I asked what the cages were for, and Hashasi said, “The girls have to sleep somewhere.”

I felt a low growl from Star and the string of profanities Beorn had been muttering became more vocal.

Passing through the stables I asked who cared for the horses, and Hashasi paused before replying, “Uh, we, uh, we need a new stable boy.” I then remembered that the girls had mentioned that they had not seen the stable boy for several days, after Kamui Paro had been angry with him.

At the top of a set of stairs Hashasi called out, and then introduced us to the bandit on duty at the lookout. It took only a moment upon learning about the deaths of Gangsum and Kamui Paro for him to turn to us and hail us as the the new bandit overlords.

We then repeated the scene with the two guards on the gate, and then returned to the others.

Hashasi had mentioned a shrine that was behind the panels in Kamui Paro’s bedroom, and so we all gathered there.

Once it had been a magnificent holy place filled with elegant carvings with delicate tracings of patterns lining the walls. Now it was a room filled with broken statuary and crude graffiti carved into the plaster. At the far end a defaced statue of a Tien god, Shizuru, stood armless. It had once held a sword, and when I asked what had happened here Hashasi boasted about how he and his mates had carved the place up and hacked at the statue of Shizuru.

When I asked about the sword he replied stupidly, “Uh, I dunno. I think we sold it.”

I exploded, “Fool! Idiot! You’ve destroyed something that held more value than this fortress and everything in it. You are the new stable boy. Go!”

After Hashasi had left I used Comprehend Languages to read the cartouches still visible on Shizuru’s armor.

I read the name “Hirobashi Akikaza” and also an inscription that read, “Empress of Heaven, touch me with your grace”. We deduced this was the secret vault and both I and Olmas tried touching it, but nothing happened. So much for being scions of the Amutatsu line.

Back in the hallway Ivan had been talking with girls and found that they had been taken as slaves from various bandit raids throughout the area. For some it had been long enough ago that they had forgotten any other way of life. All of them seemed timid and reluctant to discuss the details of the treatment, but clearly they had been used and abused in every way possible. The truly sad thing was that they seemed to think of this as normal.

For a moment the room faded away and I saw myself back in Kaer Maga. All of my friends, even Beorn, became deathly silent, but I could sense their contained fury. Coming back to the present I saw Kali shaking with rage.

“What shall we do with the remaining bandits?”

Yes, well that was the question. A message had been sent to Ameiko telling her of our victory here, and the plan was for Kali and I to go fetch Ameiko and Jiro and some of the others later on today. But we didn’t want the remaining bandits to flee or do some other horrific acts while wandering free. And there were still several bands out on raiding parties that we did not want warned when they returned.

I eyed the cages in the room and said, “Leave them to me. I think Jiro will need to decide their fates.”

Radella and Olmas joined me and we gathered our quartet of bandit followers in the room with the cage. “You need to go in here and wait,” I said, indicating the nearest cage.

“Um, I don’t know about this,” one of the bandits began.

There was a blast of rage from Beorn and the bandit cried out, his face contorted in horror, and he fell to the floor dead.

“Get. In. The. Cage.” I said again, my voice shaking with anger.

The remaining three got in the cage and we closed and locked the door behind them. They looked a little too smug for where they were, and Timber whispered, “Well, they are bandits and I think that lock won’t keep them in there for long.”

I invested ten minutes in casting a Glyph of Warding before the door, making the gestures as elaborate as possible. I then pointed at the dead bandit on the floor and said, “Anyone who leaves this cage will face the same fate.”

Judging from their reactions I guessed that they did not recognize the spell I had cast and believed me.

With the bandits restrained we next decided to check out the way into the grove. A secret door in the wood working shop opened onto a short tunnel that led out into the grove. It looked like nothing more than that: a place where a druid could relax…

Except for several piles of stacked firewood that unexpectedly had magical auras. Thinking perhaps that they were self-lighting bonfires I approached one only to have the wood spring up into three vaguely humanoid shapes.

I tried to confine them within a Blade Barrier, but they passed through with no harm.

“Hey, they can’t do that!” Takoda protested. And yet clearly they did, and when they slammed you with their woody fists they hurt. But the creatures were made of wood, and each of them fell quickly with the application of magical fire.

With only a few hours left until sunrise we decided we had best rest. We only need two hours sleep each and so one pair of watches would be all that was required. I needed to think before I could rest and so joined the first watch along with Ivan and Olmas.

I felt the need to talk with someone, and Ivan was on his way back inside to check on the girls and so I walked alongside him and began to talk.

We’ve come a long way and seen a lot of different cultures since leaving Sandpoint. I think even Pookie has been a bit overwhelmed with all that we’ve encountered. But that has made me wonder why I have stuck with the group for so long. I’ve made more than enough money to see the world, which was my original goal. This is Ameiko’s journey and not mine, and I suspect if it were not for Shalelu and you and Kali I would have left some time around Kalsgard.

From what I’ve seen of Tien thus far I can’t say that I am impressed. Self serving despots with no regard for the common folk seem to be the norm here — even before we arrived in Minkai, and so we can’t blame everything on the Five Storms. And now it seems slavery may be a culturally accepted thing here in Minkai itself.

To be honest I am not too thrilled to be working toward replacing the oni with the ”rightful heir” unless the ”rightful heir” has an interest in doing more than keeping the status quo. I want to have a chat with Ameiko after we’ve settled the matters with Jiro’s family fortress.

Ivan stopped and turned to me and replied.

I too have been struggling to continue a quest if it only means changing the people at the top that mistreat the common folk. I have been trying to figure out if Ameiko has a good heart and is willing to stand up for them.

I don’t care about the ”rightful heir” thing. I am more worried about the Oni spreading this across the world. I have to admit I would really like to know Ameiko’s position on this as well as Jiro and Hatsue. If they have no regard for common folk then this Minkai is doomed.

Right now I feel like we should take these seven women away from this god forsaken country to somewhere that they can be treated with respect.

Hearing Ivan call Minkai “god-forsaken” was an eye opener. As an oracle he does not follow the doctrine or whims of a single god, but instead lets the voices of multiple deities guide him. For him to think of Minkai as forsaken by the gods was not a good sign.

As for the future of the girls… I didn’t know, and answered in turn.

I fully understand the sentiment, but I wonder if the shock from placing the girls suddenly into a dramatically different culture would add more stress to their lives. But maybe I’m underestimating them. They’ve had to be strong to get through the lives they’ve been leading here.

Let’s see what Jiro and Hatsue have to say about slavery and Minkai. Perhaps it has arisen only since the oni have been in control, which has been for more than a generation now. And even if it was culturally acceptable before the Five Storms, I find it hard to believe that Ameiko would condone it — while she may be from a royal family, she was raised a commoner the same as us. I think the question might be, what would she be willing to do to put an end to it?

Ivan nodded once and continued on towards the room where the girls were sleeping. I turned left and went over to where the bandits were caged.

They were still there. I sat down with my back to the wall and let the wonderful smell of smoked meats waft over me.

“Bacon,” Pookie sighed with delight.

Soon thereafter Olmas walked over and sat down beside me. Apparently he too had something on his mind.

Qatana, this journey has gone for many months now and while it’s been challenging at times, one thing I’m very glad about is that I’ve gotten to know everyone in our party so much better than I did at the start. That includes you, and while I still don’t know all the secrets you keep inside your head, I know that each and every one of them contributes to you being you.

Lately, I’ve been concerned. Specifically, today I’ve been concerned. I know you’ve got a lot going on in your head but you’ve been more… surprising than usual. I’d like to understand. Can we spend a little time bringing each other up to date?

Concerned? What the hell was Olmas talking about? I answered cautiously.

What? I’m mostly the same as I ever was and mostly acting the same way. I do not know what has happened today that raised your concerns. We had a lot to do dealing with what could have been an overwhelming force of foes. And with the discovery of slaves — those young girls used as sex slaves — I think our actions were more than restrained and fair. Some of the bandit fiends still live unharmed, and any bandits that arrive from their patrols will join them.

Olmas replied.

Neither of us is the same, really. I’ve gained in proficiency at both riding and fighting, and you have gotten more skilled too — I’m constantly amazed at the new spells you come up with.

I’m now capable of killing somebody with a single blow… and you with a single spell. At times that’s convenient… but it’s also a little scary. We can heal injured people that we were ”overly skillful with”, but once they’re dead, fixing any errors in judgment are, well, quite a bit more expensive.

So when I say you’re surprising, I guess I mean is your reactions have been more deadly. As have mine, no doubt… but I feel that perhaps we should be using more restraint and stepping a bit more carefully since our skills now carry more consequences. What do you think?

What I thought was, “What the hell is this about? Does he feel guilty for slaying the cruel and unjust, and now he wants, what to give up Ameiko’s quest, or stop harming anyone else?” But what I said was something else.

I have come to realize that in these strange lands that if not for us there would be no justice for folk who are unable to defend themselves. The people who should protect the innocent are either unwilling or unable.

As such I have no patience for those who choose to prey on the weak, and have no issue being the arbitrar to mete out justice. And I have no time to waste on thugs that when show mercy try to parley for terms. The time for thinking about justice was well before they decided to pillage, loot and rape those who were weaker than themselves.

The area is now free from a large band of state endorsed brigands and an ancestral home has been returned to its rightful owner. I’m fairly sure I am ok with those consequences.

Olmas pressed on.

Ultimately, getting Ameiko where she ought to be should address that. But in the meantime, yes, the land we’ve seen so far is essentially lawless.

I would ordinarily agree with you. Here, it seems though, there is a more appropriate arbiter for justice… I’m thinking of Jiro. While he may decide much the same, I think the decision should be his. Clearly any who were killed in battle are not covered by this thinking, but those who are left… we could learn more about Jiro by seeing how he treats them.

I am uncomfortable with showing mercy to these bandits only to then kill them individually. Having captured them instead of battling them, I think we would learn more by handing them to Jiro.

And that said, yes, I think we still have much more work ahead of us in bringing even the hope of justice to these people. I want to make sure that in returning that to them, we don’t also usurp their authority and right to rule themselves.

Wait, now he wants us to be lawful? Like that’s done anyone any good!

These bandits were operating under the approval of the regional government. You can’t get much more lawful than that!

Rule themselves? What do you think we’re doing here? We are replacing one autocratic government with another autocratic government. Ideally one that will act more kindly and will look after the masses, but if we are successful the only ones doing the ruling will be Ameiko and those she appoints.

Jiro will indeed determine the fate of the survivors. Thus far the only only bandit killed after our initial onslaught was the one breeding dissension. Our position here is not secure enough to tolerate this for one moment, and by making an example of him we’ve effectively subdued the remaining three to behave until Jiro can decide their fates.

And still Olmas persisted.

We agree that Jiro is the right authority. It may seem odd to ask this of a follower of Groetus, but before you end the life of one who is otherwise completely under control, please consider if there is a better earthly authority who should pass judgment. I don’t want our actions to appear, at least to uninformed onlookers, to be as lawless and independent as those we are ridding the area of.

Again with the concept that lawlessness is bad. Does he not have eyes that see? And why does Jiro suddenly have the right to decide what’s right and fair when he has been powerless to do anything about these abuses? I simply wanted to ask him what should be done with the bandits to see how the local culture deals with people like these.

These bandits were operating under the authority of law. The law has been doing absolutely nothing good for the local folks, and for all of his talk of honor, Jiro has done precious little to help them. Perhaps a little lawlessness is exactly what is needed.

We are the ones who have made the difference, and we are the best authorities here to ultimately decide the fates of those whom we defeat.

I wish to consult with Jiro because we are restoring his ancestral home to him. We. Not him. Not the local authorities. Us. I am also curious about the local customs of Minkai and whether slavery is an accepted part of their culture. I have no desire to overthrow one set of tyrants to simply install another.

Olmas was quiet for a moment and I thought, “Great, we’re done here.” This seemed like a pointless conversation. But Olmas had more to say.

You have given me things to ponder on. But since you used the word ”we” I would ask that we make that word work. I’m not sure we as a group had agreed on how to treat/punish/adjudicate the prisoners. We may be at that point now, but may I suggest that we make sure going forward that agreement has been reached before taking action?

So what, he wanted us to vote or form a committee for every action we take? That seemed absurd and I said as much.

I used the word ”we” both as in each of us individually and as the group as a whole. We already trend toward discussing issues and plans when there is time, and I see no reason for that to stop. But we also have a history (and need) to act individually when situations demand it. We seem to have found an elusive balance between these two that have allowed us to work together extremely well and to be incredibly effective as a team. I’d hate to disturb that equilibrium by making promises that I cannot keep.

Olmas looked perhaps a bit disappointed… I don’t know, maybe instead he was relieved to be done with this conversation. I know I was.

He stood up and said, “We don’t talk often enough! This has been helpful.” and walked away.

Was it helpful? I found it more puzzling than anything else.

Oathday, Pharast 28, 4713 afternoon
Beneath the House of Withered Blossoms

Our plan for sneaking up and ambushing the the two guards at the bottom of “the drain” before they could make a noise went almost according to plan. We did sneak up and kill them, but in the process of doing so a blast from a flask of some oily explosive concoction gave us away.

From deeper within the cavern came the sound of heavy movement and a loud gruff voice called out, “Who goes there? None shall pass. Identify yourselves!”

By this time most of my companions had flown off to the far end of the pool, where there was some sort of commotion, and so to delay any attack from another enemy I answered, “It’s Icharou” while infusing my voice with as much oily obsequiousness as possible.

“Not today!” came the response.

“It is too Icharou! Yassu said to come see mother.” I was counting on the voice being familiar with just how craven and stupid Icharou was to aide in my deception.

“Oh, remember what happened to you the last time you saw Yassu? If I were you I’d keep away.”

Joy! You really can’t go wrong assuming everyone else thought Icharou was a worthless fop. “I’m more afraid of mother than Yassu!”

“If I were you I would be afraid of both, but do what you will.”

By now the rest of my companions had gathered near the entrance to the cavern. Most had a grim look about them, and Zos’ giant twins were absent (I later discovered that something had swallowed them whole!), but this was not the time for questions.

We carefully moved in to where we could just make out the owner of the voice. He was a large samurai mounted upon a gorgon. He seemed bored, as did the gorgon, and with little wonder: how many invaders could there have been that had made it this far over the centuries. Not many, I warrant, and so perhaps he was not quite as alert or suspicious as he otherwise would have been.Piles of gorgon dung (some still steaming) gave off a pungent stink of sulfur and rotting flesh.

Kali and I used our usual confuse and confine technique, which had the desired affect of the gorgon and samurai attacking each other. Meanwhile my companions used ranged attacks to wear them down even further. Eventually the samurai fell and the gorgon smashed through Kali’s wall of ice, but it was grievously injured and the combined efforts of Olmas, Zos and Ivan put it out of its misery and cleared the way.

There was a door to the west, which Zos opened and stepped in while I picked through what the samurai had been carrying.

The room to the west had been the samurai’s bedroom. Zos said that the floor was a carpet of beatles and that the bed was full of over sized lice. I took a peek later, and really, I know I am not the neatest of people, but how could anyone sleep in a room like this?

“That’s just Gross,” Timber squeaked, and the others quickly agreed, except for Beorn who simply cooed, “Mmmm, bugs.”

There were some nice items in the room which are now ours.

We faced a small dilemma. While the panel and treasure could have fit inside a bag of holding the gorgon could not. Yes, we needed the gorgon’s body, or more specifically Zos did. As I had mentioned his giants perished back in the pool and to replace them he wanted a gorgon that he could ride.

I actually had a solution to this problem, and pulled a bolt of fabric from my pack. It unfolded to a ten foot square of silk which we spread onto the floor on top of which we were able to place all of the loot and the body of the gorgon. I then cast Treasure Stitching and the entire pile collapsed into an embroidered image of the same. I rolled up the silk and put it back in my pack.

And moments later we heard voices approaching from the north.

“Oh I can’t believe we’re doing that again. We should let the others…”

A squad of hobgob warriors came into view and started shooting arrows at us. Some of us fired back and the rest closed in and quickly reduced them and their pet giant into piles of gore and bone.

The hallway from which they had come was odd: there was a ramp that led up from a rubble strewn floor — the ramp had clearly at one time been a bridge, but the archway in the far wall to which it would have led was bricked in. The walls were decorated with scenes of oni-centric decadence and depravity, including the scene of a female oni suckling a pair of nagas.

Pools that probably led to the lake outside were to the west, and further north was an eastern door beneath the balcony from which the ramp descended. The door was wooden and swollen shut from moisture, but Radella and Olmas forced it open. The small damp chamber beyond was uninteresting except for the small potted bonsai tree that was withering within.

This must be the tree one of the kami had asked us to rescue. It looked to be in poor shape because of its prolonged exposure to darkness. Just why someone had bothered to steal the tree and bring it down here was a mystery, but we took it in the hope that it would recover once it was back outside.

We picked our way across the remains of a collapsed bridge that led us back east and into the western end of a long pillared hall that stretched east into the darkness.

We had hardly all moved into the hall when we heard the sound of hobgoblins and a giant approaching. A moment later and I was eye to eye with a giant (I was floating some teen feet up) and the brute walloped me.

Kali cast Cloud Kill, which stretched across the full width of the hall engulfing a number of hobgobs before moving eastward. We killed everything on our side of the cloud and then followed it along, swiftly slaying the occasional warrior that stumbled out, gasping and wheezing. Ivan aided us greatly here by entering the cloud (safe with Delay Poison) and luring the attackers on the other side of the cloud in to their deaths.

Nearly ten minutes and six hundred feet later and we finally reached the end of the hall and the cloud began to waft out over a pond to the southeast. We heard a loud “Crap!” from Ivan, who was still before the cloud. He had suddenly come face to face with a large wide mouthed hump backed lizard (his words) sporting a lot of razor sharp teeth, but having no eyes.

Moments later we were blasted with the force of one of these things screeching. Dasi was stunned, but Ivan managed to find his way back through the cloud to join us. Another, lower key shriek pounded us, and we realized that these reptilian frog, lizard like beasts were probably the most dangerous things we’d faced all day.

I placed a zone of Silence in the middle of the cloud to buy us some time to regroup and Kali put up a wall of force. We decided to let the poison cloud do as much damage as possible before pressing our attack.

Presently the cloud drifted out past the lizard things and dissipated. We moved in, but this time Dasi was prepared and matched his singing to counter the sonic attacks.

Even still the creatures were tough and took a lot of punishment before falling. We were all a bit tired by the time the last one dropped, and those of us who use spells were feeling a little depleted.

On the further side of the pond we could see what looked like a pile of hobgoblin bones on the shingles. So the lizard things ate the hobgoblins? Then which way had the group of hobgobs (plus hill giant) come from?

We must have missed a secret door somewhere along the hundreds of feet of hallway we had traversed. Radella seemed upset by this, but even she needs to focus a little more than was possible when we passed through.

We’ve decided to set up camp either at the far end of the pillared hall or maybe the chamber before that. While this seems risky, we do need to rest to regain spells, and it is a far better option than to drop back to some place “more safe” — or I should say “less dangerous.”