OTHER PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS.

[murderbaby]

WHO: Fitcher, Mhavos Dalat, Lino Nieri, Derrica, Leander, Laura Kint.
WHAT: Some rich dicks got dicked around.
WHEN: Early Kingsway.
WHERE: The Wounded Coast.
NOTES: Violence, probably. Will update if More Happens.

To Review,

• Mhavos recieves word from former employers, the wealthy d'Antret family, that their ship to Kirkwall has run ground on the wounded coast.
• He's stopped from throwing the letter in the fire by Fitcher, who bullies convinces him to assemble a search party.
• Lino Nieri, Derrica, Laura Kint and Leander end up volunteering.
• When the wreck is found, it's not all that wrecked; the ship is largely intact, just beached. The wealthy nobles are nowhere to be found.
• However, there are some supplies of tea, coffee and sugar, only lightly damaged. There's also a ledger indicating a d'Antret heirloom (a Dalish amulet) should be on the ship, but can't be found.
• Everyone outvotes Mhavos, and the party decides to try and find the missing nobles.
• They track them to a cave filled with bandits, planning to ransom the nobles back to Orlais for a lot of cash.
• The bandits aren't too difficult to defeat, and the nobles are... moderately grateful. And not giving up their amulet or any of the stuff still on the ship.
• ...Unless you feel like stealing it / cajoling them more? Only Time Will Tell.

Please feel free to make top levels at various points in the mission for maximum versatility.

Comments

[tender]

"How do you suggest we plan how to attack them if we don't talk?" Derrica asks. She drops her voice to match his volume, though she's taken to swinging the heavy head of her staff back and forth. Her eyes are bright with anticipation. So what if it's ten bandits? Between them, she thinks they'd have no trouble.

[imbroccata]

Lino digs the butt-end of his boar spear into the ground and levers himself to standing. An unnecessary but ingrained feint of bad knees.

"With hand signals." The delivery is deadpan, but he's not serious. Probably.

[tender]

Absently, Derrica draws the toe of her boot back and forth in the sand as she watches him push back to his feet. The knees are noted. There could be a poultice drifts through her thoughts before she directs her gaze from him back into the mouth of the cavern.

"It would be easier if we draw them out."

Fights in enclosed spaces with innocents make her nervous.

"Small number or not, we'd still be at a disadvantage."

[imbroccata]

"Hm," He nods, yes it would be simpler, if they can manage it. Even better if there's some other entrance to the cave that they can use to force the bandits out into the line of fire.

Lino looks behind them, retracing the footsteps that lead into the cave to see if there's any divergence, a splitting of the party further back, but no. The tracks, new and old, and the location of the cave both point to this being the only way in or out. The possibility of a secondary entrance or exit still exists, but the likelihood of it being accessible is slim.

"Bottle-neck them here, pick them off as they come out. Until they catch wise." He holds the spear up horizontal across the cave opening. It's pretty narrow, as far as caves go. The spear can only just pass through the opening held this way, and it's just over two meters long. "Hm."

[tender]

"We could see if there's a way in from above."

No one seems especially in a hurry. As long as their presence here hasn't been detected yet, they'll have some time to waste.

"But if you're right and there are so few, then it shouldn't be so hard to deal with them as they come out," Derrica agrees, eyes on his spear. "I think we're all better when we have a little room to move."

Derrica turns to look at their little party. She doesn't know exactly what Mhavos is intending to do in a fight, but she knows Fitcher carries a crossbow. Laura may very well be fine in close quarters, but the rest of them...

"Maybe I could try to lure them out, if everything else fails."

Whatever, she'll be bait.

[imbroccata]

"Good idea," he says. He stabs his spear into the ground by his feet and abruptly grabs Derrica, getting her into a choke hold minus the pressure. He doesn't want her knocked out--in fact, her struggling would be better for the act.

With his other hand, he puts two fingers to his mouth and whistles sharply, the sound reverberating off the walls of the cave.

"YOU IN THE CAVE," He booms. "GOT A LITTLE PRESENT OUT HERE FOR YA. SHE'S A FEISTY ONE, TOO."

[tender]

This is not the first time someone larger than her has grappled her into a headlock. For a brief, terrible moment, Derrica feels some genuine, desperate urge to escape. But there's no need to panic. She thankfully reminds herself of that before she starts trying to claw at Lino's face.

So she's bait. This isn't what she'd expected, but she can breathe, and she can be angry about it later.

If she curses, it's lost in the muscle of his arm. Instead, she focuses on trying to convincingly wriggle free. If she kicks him in the shins a few times, well. Accidents happen.

[imbroccata]

It takes several moments for a response to come from the cave--almost long enough to instill doubt that they would respond at all. But a voice, heavy with Ferelden vowels, hollers out:

"Whaddya mean, a geft?!"

Lino doesn't answer, hearing the sounds of footsteps getting louder. It seems the bait is working fine. Derrica's heel hits Lino's shin just as a pair of unwashed ruffians step into the light of day.

"Aye," the second one says, higher pitched and nasal compared to their cohort. "Who the fuck es that then?"

"Shit, did we miss one?" The first, this time, looking confounded. "I thought we got th' whole family."

"How the fuck should I know?"

Lino puts a blessed end to their bickering, shoving Derrica forward to try and catch them off guard while he retrieves his spear and extends it past Derrica's shoulder and through one of the bandits' throats.