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*Kaylan chuckles at Janus and gently slaps him on the shoulder.*

"Feel free to expend your rage at Faust on any bandit that acts in a manner that indicates he is looking to give up the right to breathe."

*Kaylan raises his hands to Nell in a playful gesture of surrender*

"Well...I cant be blamed if your genius just spills out at the right moment in such a memorable fashion now can I?! Besides, it was damn handy even if it did just mean we had to kill the bastards twice...since I didn't mind killing them the first time either.

As for the hostages, you should ask Dakkon. My information comes form him, but he didn't mention seeing such. Its possible such has happened in the time between the event and now, but I cant see why they would. Hostages make great shields for such scum, and they cant know how valuable, in ransom demands, any one hostage may prove."

Janus glowers. "Of that, you can be sure." He freezes at the shoulder slap, and turns his gaze away from Kaylan, towards the dark elf.

"Kindly refrain, lord dwarf. I do not like to be touched." He is careful to keep his face blank and gaze steady, but Janus cannot shake the feeling that Faust is snickering behind him.

Nellie continues frowning. "If they were targeting people of great wealth, I'd agree with you. But hostages bring a great risk - they're always trying to escape, you have to feed them and give them water which taxes ones own resources, and in order to gain any compensation from family or friends you have to send an envoy to negotiate the issue. Without knowing ones target before hand there's no gurantee of the reward being worth the hassle. Of course, that's assuming they took hostages for blackmailing friends or family - they might have taken particular hostages for their skills or knowledge in some endeavor they wish to complete."

Nellie shifts her vision to Dakkon. "But mostly I ask if they've killed because that gives a hint as to how ruthless they are and how far their moral fiber has slipped. It also may give us an idea of whether or not they can be diplomatically dealt with instead of outright killing them."

*Kaylan glances back at Janus when he feels the man tense up. The dwarf slowly lowers his hand and replies to Janus in a soft tone*

"You, good sir, are in the wild lands. I would learn to endure what you do not like...if I were you. This isn't the kind of place to maintain a presence in if such minor things annoy you so. You see when some savage, chaos magic, warped ferret mauls you, the healers will need to touch you. Such a fact limits a persons choices to endure, to get past it, or bleed to death."

*Kaylan turns his attention back to Minister Duncan*

"Any hostages can bring ransom even if its not kingly riches. While its true that captives do seek escape, its unlikely any commoner would risk their own death, or the death of friend and family by not doing as a captor instructed.
I would also agree, that those they have likely would not retain their value for longer than a day, or two at best, there is no telling how close to crime lord or simpleton these bandits are. They may have already released them in an attempt to escape, or may be inclined to keep them as slaves. No matter the what ifs about this, we need to get moving and soon."

* Kaylan turns back to the inn, and stands with his hands no his hips*

"Where is that sharp eared mage, all he was going to do is try to get Cirrus to join us."

Kaylan turns to see Alinar gliding up the group.

"Slavery is the likely intended role of the hostages. Slavery or food - to be used or sold as such. Those in the Inn have been encouraged to join our endeavors."

(sorrysorrysorrysorry)

Cirrus emerged with no small delay from the Inn, feathers immediately puffing up under her armor from the cold. "Whooh! Bracin'."

She trotted up to the group, clearly pleased the group had chosen to wait for her. "So! Bandits. I'm surprised you gropos are still here, a group of Havenites makes enough noise, anyone stupid enough to need to be taken out likely saunters up and makes themselves not a problem anymore."

The old man and the Young Valkyn'vi follow behind. The old man is wearing his mask of broken mirror and Kami's hair is billowing int in the cold wind. The clang of the staff rings out.

*Kaylan slowly nods as Alinar speaks, His hands moving unconsciously to the potions on his shield and belt as if taking inventory or to assure they are secure*

"We have no intent to let either occur if they can be found. However to be honest I rather they are held by slavers than cannibals. Cannibals tend to smell horrifically."

*Kaylan turns with a grin to comment to Cirrus, his grin draining quickly at the sight of the staff carrying wizard. With a perturbed glare he glances to Alinar, hissing out an obviously annoyed sigh*

" You asked Abaddon to join us? Even after the conversation inside?! I cannot say I can fathom the logic of elves...not even a little."

*The dwarven knight pivots back to face Cirrus, giving a genuine smile and a nod to Kami as he does so.*

"Bracing indeed, Haven't you grown winter feathers or something like that yet?"
"Whom might you be speaking to and calling a ...gropo? Of course we are still here, we were waiting for the scout and a healer to ensure only the bandits die, or ensure such as much as can be done"

((no need to apologize, I'm waiting on Keaton to lead or to try to rope Brad in to GM this like the horsemen thread; this is Keaton's RP thread))

Alinar shrugs. "Of course. One conversation does not change Abaddon's numerous contributions, nor his effectiveness. Also Abaddon and Kami are, more or less, a package deal."

(Brad will be helping with the NPC portion of this! Yay!)

"We should probably be going. Bandits in broad daylight don't tend to stick around for long, and we don't want to lose them. Who are our trackers? I will lead the way along with them. The bandits weren't far from here."

"Cirrus is likely the most skilled, but Nell states she can help also if needed and..."

*Kaylan tosses a nod over shoulder in Abaddons direction*

"... I would not be surprised if the Abaddon can raise one from the dead; or has a few tortured soles, trapped in some device he can use to control them, that have the talent; or even a device that can strip it from Cirrus for use if the whim strikes him."

*Kaylan sighs heavy and shines a sarcastic smirk at the wizard*

"While I can do all of those things, I was just going to do it the old way. Looking for footprints and Trail sign." The old man says with a smirk behind his mask. "Knowing how to hide one's tracks is a helpful skill."

Sorry for the delay, I’ve been a bit busy.
Dakkon leads you to where he was accosted. It’s Brennondale’s market square, if you could call it a market square. The flat open ground is surrounded by only a handful of shops on three sides and a large fire pit for public meetings on the fourth. It’s usually busy with people this time of day, but the shops have all closed early after the ‘incident’, and there are only a few stragglers around. You talk to them, and they confirm Dakkon’s story of bandits rushing into the market and suddenly taking hostages and demanding money. There were somewhere between 8 to 10 bandits, depending on who you ask, but the bandits definitely left with hostages, and several townsfolk, not taken, were left with bruises in the chaos. Those with tracking are able to follow their trail. It leads through town. For now, just roleplay the journey, and I’ll post what you find later this evening. Anyone not immediately here who wishes to follow and join later, may. The townsfolk will point you in the direction everyone else has gone.

((Brad, didn't we have a discussion about how you trying to have a life was interfering with our RP?! Shame Shame... ))

*After a brief survey of the square, Kaylan turns to the group to organise efforts*

" Kami, Nell ... would you two please see what, if anything, can be done to aid those injures residents that were not abducted. Also see if those who were hurt have any important details, as they were obviously closest to the bandits at one point. They may have seen things the others did not."
"Cirrus, looks like your up. Will you use if the tracks can tell you how many bandits and hostages we will be dealing with? Janus , will you go with her to make sure she doesn't run ...afoul... of anything she cant handle. Be sure to hang back enough not to hinder her tracking please."

*Kaylan shoots a grin at Cirrus when he makes the bad bird pun*

"Alinar, Faust... will you see if you can gather a list of names of the hostages from those towns folk remaining please?
Dakkon, you stay will me and tell me what happened in detail here, as well as how you got away."

*While Dakkon relates his story, Kaylan also moves to get to as many witnesses as possible, in order to try comparing similarities and separate fact from exaggeration.*

The Valkin'Vi woman follows closely behind Abaddon as they travel to the travel to the market place. Most of the journey she spends looking at her shoes. When she does look up, she glances up at the back of Abaddon or over to Cirrus.

Upon arriving to the market place, she watches the glowing embers of the fire - somewhat lost to everything else around her.

When Kaylan speaks "Kami," her attention drifts from the fire over to him for the moment. She then looks at Abaddon.