Chronicle of the Scavenger Lands (Exalted 3E) - IC

[Esbilon]

Ysandre lets Quill's words pass for now, but makes no admission of her own nature. Instead she looks to the guard and says "how many people are up those stairs? And could you get your boss to come down here quietly with a minimal escort?"

 

[jaydude]

"There are about a hundred or so bandits around our base, but they'll likely be all over the place. As for the boss, yeah, he's expecting me to tell him when you all wake up, so he can go and talk to you. I don't know if I can talk him into coming with a smaller escort, though; that would rather be giving the game away, wouldn't you say?"

 

[Esbilon]

"I simply meant that he wouldn't bring the whole gang, and if there's a hundred of them, I expect that is a given." She looks at the others for a moment before turning back to the guard, "I say bring him, and we'll give him a surprise when he shows."

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Quill looks at the others, smiling at Ysandre's non-admission. She might be a Solar, or maybe a Dragon-Blooded or maybe even one of those elusive Lunars he's heard about. But whatever the case may be, she doesn't seem inclined to discuss this, and he wouldn't press the issue right now. "Whatever escort the bandit lord brings, these are tight quarters, and we will have the advantage in either case."

 

[jaydude]

"You needn't worry. He'll only bring the six ettins." replied the bandit guard. "So anyway, if you lot go inside the cell and wait there, I'll get the boss."

 

[Rykon]

Ryan continues his exit. He makes his way back down the corridor toward the cell, still holding his Daiklave drawn just in case.

 

[Esbilon]

Ysandre follows along, content to keep her sword in its sheath. For now at least.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Quill follows, but not before he banishes Sun's Brush to wherever it is he can banish it. At some point, he'd have to study that.

 

[jaydude]

The five Solars go back inside the cell, and the bandit guard closes the door, but leaves it unlocked. Then he goes right, towards the double doors at the other end of the corridor. A few minutes later, assuming you all choose to remain inside the cell, you all hear several sets of approaching footsteps coming from the direction of the double doors, before the ettins come into view, and stop in front of the cell door.

As the bandit guard had warned you, there are six ettins, all of them male. Each one has two heads, and is at least six feet tall and packing enough muscle to out-wrestle a bear or a great cat. For clothes, they are all barefoot, and wear nothing but tattered shorts or loincloths held up by belts. Five of them have two tetsubos hanging from loops on their belts, but the sixth, evidently their leader judging by the way he carries himself, has a pair of greataxes instead.

"So, the lot of you finally decided to wake up." says one of his heads with a smirk, this one sporting long and messy black hair and an equally long and messy black beard.

"Dare I ask who you are?" asks Opal Child, sounding snarky.

"Why of course!" says the leader's second head with mock politeness. Unlike the other head, this one's completely bald, and sporting a prominent chin. "My name is Rakash, and I am the leader of the Twinskull bandits!"

"I'm guessing it's obvious to you lot why we picked that name?" asks the bearded head, looking as though he doesn't consider it a good name, if only because of how uncreative it is.

Inside the cell, Zen'th and Opal Child are keeping their weapons out of sight of the ettins. What about the rest of you, and what do you do?

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Quill bows at the ettin, and says "Well, I can see the reason for thy name, oh mighty Rakash, but I've got a question for you. Why kidnap us? and what are your intentions towards us? I do have a wonderful tale I'm writing, of the time i had spent with Saverush, the Mighty Ettin from Kilgar Keep, who leads the Kilgorate Horde, which, if I am honest, sounds like a better name than Twinskull. But I digress. I spent some time with him, and learned to admire your kind."

 

[jaydude]

All of the ettins appear slightly surprised to see Quill display such respect towards their kind, and a few of the twelve heads discuss in whispers whether or not he's being sarcastic. Both of Rakash's heads are quiet for a few seconds, before the bearded one decides to speak.

"I can see why you think we kidnapped you. But the truth is...we didn't. The five of you were delivered to us by a group of other people a couple of hours ago, all of you being carried on their shoulders and sleeping like babies. They said they wanted to join us, and that you and your weapons were a gift to us, and seeing as they managed to grab a load of scavenger lords with fancy golden weapons, we weren't going to complain."

"As for our intentions...well, that depends." says Rakash's bald head, addressing the group as a whole. "Do any of you have people who'd be willing to pay large amounts of money to see you safe?"

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Quill gasps in surprise "My oh my, do tell me about these people... I am a jeweler, and also a part time scholar, of little note, but it would be a fine tale to add to my story, about these men who kidnapped me" and in a dismissive tone, after a short pause he adds "oh, and the rest of these folks, no offense. But I do have to say, I don't think anyone would pay large amounts of money to see me safe."

 

[jaydude]

Rakash shrugs, and his bearded head replies to Quill, while looking a little puzzled. "What does it matter to you who those people were?" You get the impression he doesn't feel any pressing need to tell you.

"And if no-one will pay your ransom, I expect we'll just sell you as a slave. Though I can't imagine the Guild would pay much for a middle-aged man like you." says the bald head with a smirk, clearly the less serious of Rakash's twin skulls.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Using a read Intentions on the boss ettin, specifically, trying to see if I can find a flaw to get him to quarrel with his other head.

Wow, 5 successes.

 

[jaydude]

From what's been said so far, Quill gets the impression that while the bearded head disagrees with the gang's name on the basis that it's silly and uncreative, the bald head thinks that naming the gang the Twinskull bandits was a great idea.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Quill's jaw drops "What does it matter to me?! these people kidnapped me, and you think it shouldn't matter to me?! that's like you saying that Twinskull is a silly name... i actually quite like it. it has a nice ring to it, don'tcha think?"

 

[Rykon]

Ryan stood silently in the corner. He appeared to lean against the wall but did so to obscure the sheathed Daiklave behind him. For the time being, he was sufficiently entertained by the game Quill seemed to be playing with the Ettins to not interrupt until any of them grew overtly hostile.

 

[jaydude]

Rakash's bald head grins at Quill's words. "I have to admit, I didn't really think about that. I just figured that I should make the name somewhat unique so that people will remember it, and also allude to the fact that some of us have two skulls..."

"And you think that name's a stroke of genius?! Anyone with half a brain can come up with something like that! It doesn't change the fact that it's lazy, and the bare minimum of being creative!" replies the bearded head.

"I didn't hear you coming up with a better name when we were deciding on what to call ourselves!" retorts the bald head. It quickly devolves into a loud argument between the two heads, both turned about 90 degrees to glare at one other with the other ettins just staring at them. The prisoners have been forgotten, and even if they weren't, the bulk of Rakash is blocking the cell door's window, preventing anyone else from looking inside the cell.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

At that moment, his existence temporarily forgotten, Quill turns to Ysandre with a simple hand gesture, as if to say 'I have set the tone, now work your charms'.

 

[Esbilon]

"There is a saying among my people," Ysandre begins, almost as if she is musing to herself rather than addressing the Ettins, "beware of Guildsmen bearing gifts. While the twinskull bandits are mighty and their name spoken far and wide, is it not a cause for wonder that a group of decidedly single-skulled people would abandon their prize like so? And if nothing else that they chose to make a gift of our weapons rather than use them themselves? But of course, a wise and powerful leader would be able to see through any deception with ease, yes?" she finishes, prompting Rakash for an answer.

 

[jaydude]

At Ysandre's words, the two heads of Rakash stop their argument and turn their attention back to the occupants of the cell. The bald head gives Ysandre a curious look, while the bearded head appears decidedly unimpressed by her flattery. It's the latter who speaks.

"Just what are you getting at? Are you suggesting that the people who bought you here only did so as part of some kind of scheme?"

 

[Esbilon]

"Yes," Ysandre replies simply, indicating that in contrast to them, she has no schemes going on. "But perhaps I'm just uneducated in these matters. Is offering up prisoners and weapons the usual way people join the Twinskull Bandits?"

 

[jaydude]

The look on both of Rakash's faces, as well as the fresh outbreak of muttering among the rest of the ettins, tell you that no, this isn't the usual way people join the Twinskull bandits. Within a few seconds however, Rakash's facial expressions return to normal, the bearded head letting out a grunt of annoyance before speaking.

"As long as those five are willing to fight for us and pull their weight, I could not care less about how they joined."

"Yeah. And besides, if this is some sort of scheme, what would they have to gain by giving us an exiled princess, a random southerner, and three scavenger lords with fancy golden weapons?" asked the bald head.

"Oh, perhaps they just wanted to try and suck up to you, and make you drop their guard around them. After all, you bandits seem to like getting tributes from people you're trying to extort." Opal Child replies acidly from where she's sat on the floor while tapping her foot with a look of annoyance, making clear her impatience with the current lack of progress on the breakout.

 

[Rykon]

Ryan began to grow anxious with the wait aswell. Any chance they had to capitalize on the foolishness and strife between ranks seem to have filtered between their fingers by his own reckoning. However, he did hate to squash his cellmates' banter with their 'captors'. He eventually spoke up but avoided releasing the full pressure of his presence. Even withholding the utmost of his glory, it was clear Ryan bore the countenance of the unimpressed predator eyeing his next target.

"These five, where are they now? Surely they owe us all an answer for this colossal waste of time." Those with more acute social graces could sense that Ryan was rather sore to have been overtaken by such a pitiful lot as these.

 

[jaydude]

Completely by coincidence, Ryan's words are followed by another set of footsteps coming down the corridor from the double doors, and the ettins turn to investigate.

"Boss. Those five who bought in the prisoners and their weapons...they're gone. We've checked the whole fortress, they're nowhere to be found." a voice says from somewhere to the right in the corridor.

"What?" asks Rakash. Both his heads appear confused at first, his pair of brains trying to figure out why they would leave, but then they suddenly look uneasy, as if they're beginning to finally realize that things aren't what they seem here.

Making a decision, he turns to the nearest ettin. "Go and check the room where we're keeping their weapons! Now!" he orders, tossing him a key. The ettin in question nods with both heads, and moves off towards the room in question.