Crus 2015/05/11(Mon)11:26 No. 639709 ID: 05171d
File 143136880747.png - (107.41KB , 900x666 , 32.png )

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

I scream and snap awake. How long was I asleep?! No, no! What’s happening! Help! The door is rattling.

>>639709
calm down, sit up, ask who's there

calm down, it could be anyone. could be the owner asking what you are doing.

Crus 2015/05/11(Mon)11:55 No. 639716 ID: 05171d
File 143137053240.png - (78.21KB , 900x666 , 33.png )

“Wh-who’s there?” I say, trying to sound as casual as possible.

“It’s Ollie. Why’d you beat up my servant? Open the door!”

wiggle the door one enough to see through.

"you see these scars, people walking in on me make me freak the fuck out"

"She snuck up on me and I got spoop'd and hit her. Is she okay?"

apologize for smashing her face in

say you're sorry, but she startled you. Ask what he wants and if he's alone.

Helmet on. You have to look strong and mysterious, not scared.

>Why’d you beat up my servant?
She disturbed me. Why do you disturb me now?

>>639716
You were sleep deprived and paranoid.

Crus 2015/05/16(Sat)20:01 No. 640983 ID: 05171d
File 143183168097.png - (78.51KB , 900x666 , 34.png )

I put the helmet back on. It makes me look more intimidating, and masks my voice as well. “She sneaked up on me and startled me,” I say.

“I think you have a bit of a problem. You need help,” says Ollie. “Can you let me in?”

“Are you alone?”

The innkeeper groans and pauses. “Yes. I’m alone. I’m trying to pay you like I promised, but I hope you can understand if I take a little away to get my servant some medical treatment. I’ll give you sixty grimps, and I’ve gotta ask you to leave.”

Accept his terms. Take the money and go.

You'll have to be more careful in the future. You can't let fear and paranoia make you lash out at innocents.

>>640983
Those terms are acceptable, but consider that he knows you're not a guard etc, and his maid saw your face. She may have been outright instructed to barge in on you to find out who you are. If he dug deep enough he may know that you are wanted. Let's not assume the innkeeper is on our side.

Move the dresser and bed so that the door opens enough that you can see out. Be fully armored and armed. Ask him how this is going to go down.

"That's fine. I am sorry for hurting her, I'm a bit twitchy."

Crus 2015/05/18(Mon)10:37 No. 641210 ID: 05171d
File 143197063347.png - (86.29KB , 900x666 , 35.png )

Ollie hands me a small bag of coins when I open the door. He is alone. “Here’s your money. Sixty grimps. Go ahead and count ‘em if you want, but you gotta leave after that. I can’t have violence in my inn. If anyone else catches wind, there will be more fights, and I don’t want to have to hire security.”

>>640990
>maid saw my face
>instructed to spy on me
>might know that I am wanted

I rush back into the room to grab my things, then leave as quickly as possible. I was a fool for trusting strangers’ hospitality.

Crus 2015/05/18(Mon)10:37 No. 641211 ID: 05171d
File 143197065609.png - (81.06KB , 900x666 , 36.png )

I lost track of time while I was asleep. It’s dark now. Really dark. I must be brave. I am now fully rested and freshly bathed, and I have a bit of money. I know the realm well enough, so I just need to decide where to go next.

we should check on the dagger.

I say we find a cave or something we can hide out in. Inns are too dangerous, too many eyes, too many ears, too many people. Threats.

>>641211
I think you should go somewhere vaguely near the Cathedral and check up on it by asking about local news.

Who would think to look for you in a supposedly monster-infested church? Whatever's inside aught to be no challenge at all for you, and then you can stay there without a care in the world. Other than, well, food, but that's something to worry about later.

>That maid was a spy!
I think we're gettimg just a bit too paranoid.
We should probably head to the church. Guard that knife. We need to stay out of sight while we do it, though: Being seen there will just be a signal for "IT'S RIGHT HERE."

Crus 2015/05/19(Tue)10:04 No. 641492 ID: 05171d
File 143205505676.png - (34.29KB , 900x666 , 37.png )

> return to the cathedral

I guess it is important to protect the realm. I just need to make sure that I am not seen while I am there, or that will be the end of it all. If I can manage to get there unseen, then it would be a sanctuary for me. I feel much safer around monsters than men. Judging by how far I am from Als Eyvor now, it will be a night’s walk to get there. I’m very hungry, but I have given up on the prospect of finding food.

Crus 2015/05/19(Tue)10:04 No. 641493 ID: 05171d
File 143205508211.png - (31.16KB , 900x666 , 38.png )

There are strange, hunched figures sleeping like gargoyles in the rocks. If they did not ebb and swell with breath and flicker in the wind, I might mistake them for sculptures.

I hear something, but I might just be paranoid. I think I really do have a problem. It’s probably nothing.

Crus 2015/05/19(Tue)10:05 No. 641494 ID: 05171d
File 143205515777.png - (125.78KB , 900x666 , 39.png )

“I HEAR THAT FOOKIN’ PURSE RATTLIN’! GIVE IT HERE!”

CLANG

Throw the purse to distract them, and then smash their ribcages in.

Loot them afterwards.

You look like a guard under the employ of the White Dragon. Maybe you can intimidate them by claiming to be one.

Curt 2015/05/19(Tue)12:23 No. 641505 ID: b9cef6

Alright. Experienced (But weakened) fighter with milotary arms and armor V two jackasses.
With your weapon, all the force comes from distance. Optimum targets are the wrong sides of joints, but arms will do fine.
Keep your distance, and whap them as best you can. I reccomend focusing on Spear Dude if you can, because you can't block that as easily as a sword swing.

Crus 2015/05/20(Wed)01:16 No. 641624 ID: 05171d
File 143210980723.png - (150.80KB , 900x666 , 40.png )

>throw the purse
No. If they make off with the purse, I'm not in any condition to catch them. I doubt they're stupid enough to dive for the purse like dogs after meat with an armed opponent in front of them.

>Pose as a guard
It wouldn’t work. Ortise’s van wears white armor, and this is the armor of an eastern soldier.

>make distance
>strike arms
I dance aside from the spearman’s jab, and it pierces my cloak. Using my staff to push him away, I seize the opportunity to strike his forearms. He wails and drops his spear, reeling back with his arms quivering in pain. I strike his chin, and he bites off his own tongue.

Crus 2015/05/20(Wed)01:17 No. 641625 ID: 05171d
File 143210982712.png - (95.37KB , 900x666 , 41.png )

AH!

I feel a bite on my shoulder, forcing me to cringe. The swordsman cleaves into the boiled leather of my armor, dragging the rough, rusted blade through my skin. It feels so familiar and so frightening. I become disoriented in the dark of the pass and run forward, away from the pain.

>>641625
Hope you don't get tetanus from that hit. Don't run, though. You can't. Turn around, defend yourself. Parry any follow-up strike then feint to get him to try to block. Hit anywhere he's not blocking at. Preferably the face or legs. Just injuring his legs will let you escape.

and that's why armor is important,

finish this other guy then yo really need to get to the cathedral. remember is has a healing fountain.

Crus 2015/05/20(Wed)10:46 No. 641689 ID: 05171d
File 143214400297.png - (88.05KB , 900x666 , 42.png )

>turn and fight
Yeah! I’m finished being helpless!

I turn around, ready to parry…

Crus 2015/05/20(Wed)10:47 No. 641690 ID: 05171d
File 143214403399.png - (52.40KB , 900x666 , 43.png )

“A pity you had to witness that, sir. Stabbing a man in the back reflects poorly on my honor, but I assure you that such an underhanded slight is one that I reserve only for the most dire of circumstances.”

Oh, it's that vigilante from before. Thank him, but also ask why he's following you.

He just helped you, but be on your guard. Don't start bashing unless he threatens you, and ask him what he's doing out here.

Crus 2015/05/20(Wed)12:08 No. 641706 ID: 05171d
File 143214889644.png - (52.45KB , 900x666 , 44.png )

“Why are you following me?” I ask.

> “I’m not, and I was about to ask you the same question,” says Mister Disotto, wiping his sword clean on the stabbed man’s shirt.

Both of the highwaymen are still alive. The stabbed one is slowly bleeding to death and struggling to breathe, and the other is knocked out, bleeding more mildly from his mouth.

“Why would I be following you?”

> “It is not an accusation, sir. Merely an observation. It seems we’ve both gone in the same direction, and there needs not be suspicion in that.”

“Why did you help me?” I ask. I don’t feel the need to thank him. I could have handled it myself.

> “You were in need to it,” says Disotto, sheathing his rapier. “You appear to be in pain, and rightly so. You should seek medical attention, however I fear I am not qualified to give it. Should you need accompaniment, I could offer that.”

“I got you kicked out of the inn. Why would you want to help me?”

> “Amid my evening patrol, I came to realize that my behavior there was not in accordance with the manner of a civilized gentleman,” he says, “and I now realize that I was, in fact, in the wrong. I do not fault you for upholding your word to the innsman.”

I’d never expect a man as pompous as him to admit to being wrong. I don’t know what to make of him. I also need to decide what to do with the highwaymen.

He's the vigilante. He should decide, he has more experience with it anyway.

As for you, just head to the nearest town, wherever it is. Bonus points if it's a different direction than where you were going, because then he'll have to either admit to following you, or move on and no longer be a problem. Get medical attention, maybe pick up a few basic supplies now that you have money (backpack, food/water, bandages, change of clothes?), then keep going towards your true destination.

>Highwaymen: what do?
Wake the KO'd one. Tell him to tend to himself and his friend and get the hell out of here before you finish the job.
>Guy: What do?
I see no reason that he can't come with us. Why was he headed this way?
Don't mention him being wrong. If he thinks he's some honorable guy, he would take offense to us being suprised by him admitting wrongdoing.
Also,
>Become childishly angry over him assuming you needed help

>Stabbing a man in the back reflects poorly on my honor
Considering he stabbed me in the back first, I'd say he deserved it.

>>641706
/shrug
eh, sure, for a while. There are things I need to do alone, however.
Keep the fact you aren't a Sir hidden. Don't actively hide it, just don't tell him otherwise.

Crus 2015/05/21(Thu)00:01 No. 641801 ID: 05171d
File 143219168122.png - (62.04KB , 900x666 , 45.png )

> “Oh, you’re going south?”

He says as I stop to wake up the unconscious highwayman. He is mute, having severed his tongue, and his mouth is crusty with scabbed and clotted blood. He reels in horror at the sight of his dying friend, and retreats.

“What?” I say, distracted by the mugger.

> “I am going south myself.”

“Why?”

> “I’ve decided to elevate my cause. Word has reached me of a new order which has arisen in the bluffs to the south, not far from here, which seeks to cure the sick and heal the wounded. A peasant came to me with word that a man there has taken to performing astonishing miracles of healing. Someone like that can be nothing short of a saint walking among us, and I seek to be in his service.”

I take one last glance back at the remaining highwayman. He has passed out from loss of blood. The adrenaline has worn out of my system, and the pain begins to course through my shoulder.

> “This man has taken residence in an old cathedral,” says Disotto, “An unlikely thing, if you ask me. Well, follow if you will. I don’t care.”

My heart skips a beat, and the adrenaline nearly returns.

>>641801
...right. Yeah, this seems legit. He's got a rumor that sounds quite valid, and it means someone's in the cathedral. Wash out your wound at least so that it doesn't get SUPER infected. You can get it healed at the cathedral.

>>641801
Put that bandit out of his misery, or carry him along to be healed when you arrive.
Either way, we'll want to not have him pop up later to try and kill us for killing all his friends.

>>641801
well alright then, lets just loot the bandits and be on our way then. Also might wanna patch up your armour (and shoulder) with something nearby.

Crus 2015/05/21(Thu)11:25 No. 641841 ID: 05171d
File 143223275856.png - (67.01KB , 900x666 , 46.png )

>loot

I look over the groaning man. He has nothing of value. No money, no food, no water, no possessions. Just his clothes and his rusty old Messer. Maybe that is why they were robbing us. He is shivering under my hands, and will probably die within the hour.

> patch armor

I will need a bandage or at least a poultice to do that. I don’t want to disturb this man anymore by tearing his clothes. I am not bleeding very severely, as the blade was not able to cut very deeply. It just hurts.

Crus 2015/05/21(Thu)11:26 No. 641842 ID: 05171d
File 143223277851.png - (43.00KB , 900x666 , 47.png )

> “Perhaps this will teach them to take up an honest line of work for a change. A job well done, I’d say. Will we get a move on, then, or will I have to leave you behind?”

Suggestion 2015/05/21(Thu)11:32 No. 641844 ID: 353142

>>641842
Assuming you can make it to the church on time, carry him with you for healing. He might learn a lesson, and it's not like he'll be very dangerous if he's still hostile once healed; both of you are more than a match for him.

the bandit is as good as dead. let's go

They would have killed you or worse given the chance. Regardless of what brought them down this path it was there choice.

So leave them here and get a move on.

Crus 2015/05/21(Thu)12:02 No. 641849 ID: 05171d
File 143223494564.png - (61.54KB , 900x666 , 48.png )

>>641808

Taking the brigand with me would be a burden, but killing him would be a mercy, and I have none of that to pay forward. I proceed to the south with Mister Disotto, wary of him all the while. Maybe by some stroke of luck we aren’t going to the same place.

END CHAPTER THREE