Passive Perception for Merric is: 14   If you meant roll perception - 17

[I meant roll perception deleted posts on repeat]

Sen

Perception: 9

Passive is 17

 Merric and Sen hear the distinct sound of twigs snapping and the sound of someone cursing. They look toward the trail and the trees to see four armed men approaching. They have crossbows and swords. 

Merric let's out a yell to his companions.  "Behind us in he trees!  Armed men!  Take cover!"

He grabs his shortbow and nocks an arrow, then moves to gain some cover from their crossbows behind the wagon, and then readies an action to put an arrow into the first one that raises their crossbow.

Sen stands out in the open in front of the wagon, He grabs the handle of his crossbow and aims it up from his hip toward the trees. "It'd be wise of you to lower those weapons of yours," Sen says matter of factly. "It's been a hell of a day so far." 

Phyllis was just about to resettle in the cart too. She didn't trust the two women as far as she could throw them, but they weren't her problem as they walked towards the town the group departed from.

But Merric's warning about armed men had her standing back up, wand still in hand as she let go of her other spell. From her pouch she grabbed a cured piece of leather and, a different chant on her tongue, pointed her wand to it before slapping it on herself. A pale outline of blue encompassed her as she finished casting Mage Armor on herself.

"I tire of these delays," she begins, hopping out of the cart and moving a couple steps to the right, just about ten feet away. "If they could wisen up and scatter, that would be lovely."

Dathyra didn't even have time to process everything. One minute, she had seen the two women off, already a lecture brewing in her for Sen and Merric, and the next, she heard them ready their weapons and threaten some as yet unseen foe. She froze where she was, not wanting to make a sudden movement lest whoever it was watching them got a little trigger happy. She slowly and deliberately turned around to at least see in what general direction Merric and Sen were pointing their weapons.

Harivaldr dispelled the illusion with a huff and a wave of his hand. He was glad that there hadn't been any further conflict, but he was mentally kicking himself for wasting his energy. He'd have been better off just sticking to shouting, and he couldn't help but be thankful for Dathyra's presence in the group. Of course, he nearly slapped his hand against his forehead when the shout came up that there were armed men approaching. He muttered a few choice curses in Dwarvish under his breath and turned to look towards the newcomers. He stepped just out to the side of the cart, where he was plainly visible but could take cover at a moment's notice. There were seldom days where Harivaldr wished the road was quiet, but the skald couldn't help but think that maybe he'd be fine with a little more boredom on the road.

Merric  calls out, his quick wits and keen perception picking up the sound of armed men sneaking up on them. "Armed men, from the tree line!" He darts behind the wagon for cover and readies his bow. 

Sen remains cool as ever, even if he has had just about enough of this. He provides an object of focus for the armed men, giving the rest of his party precious moments to prepare. He naturally calls for their surrender. 

While Sen calls out his challenge, Dathyra feels like maybe she's caught in the middle of everything, turns around slowly hoping not to draw fire from anyone. 

Phyllis has about had it with these delays and all these personal issues people are having. Thinking that if they were wise they would scatter, but knowing they probably weren't.

Harivaldr curses and spits in ways best not translated. Having just wasted some Arcane energy, he readied himself for a new challenge. He stepped out from the wagon a bit but was ready to take cover if needed.

Durven  tells Lara and Nyla to hide under the wagon. He hops off the wagon so that it provides partial cover and readies his crossbow.

A voice calls out from their leader. "Oi, you'll not be claiming out bounty! Hand em over or yer done for."

[so it looks like the picture showed up several times?? when I went to post. Sorry for the distractions]

Merric, his vision to the bounty hunters being blocked by both the wagon and Phyllis (OOC: I think?  Not sure of all the character depictions yet), steps out a little more (square 5R) behind Phyllis, knowing he often can't be seen when hiding behind larger folk.  He continues to have a nocked arrow READIED to release should a bounty hunter move to attack.

Naturally Stealthy: 21

Sen yells out, "maybe mate! How much are they worth?" Sen pauses for a moment. "Probably not worth your lives I don't suppose." Sen takes a step forward the bounty hunters, crossbow still trained on the one that's parlaying. "Now the way I see it, we caught them before you did and now their fate is in my hands. For today at least." Sen keeps his eyes locked, hoping the party backs up his talk, if not he's going to have a hell of a fight ahead of him. "The way you came is an appropriate direction for you all to go now."

I'm not sure which is worse, dying at the hands of bounty hunters or the tounge lashing coming from Dathyra. But Merric, he's alright. Backed me up without hesitation. I owe that little fella if we ever catch up with the ones wanting him. Do or die Sen, do or die. Sen takes another step forward. "Gets to moving, mate......"

Once more unto the breach, though Harivaldr. He was going to have to talk with Sen about his risk-taking habits, assuming he'd have any ears left after Dathyra was done with him... Still, now was not the time for that, and regardless of what he thought Sen's bluff was now their little party's play. To bicker amongst themselves was to lose whatever advantage it would earn them, so they could not afford to stand anywhere but with him. This in mind, Harivaldr stepped closer to Dathyra and muttered, "Play along," then took up a position between the two, and loudly proclaimed, "It's four against five you daft fools, and take it from me, you'll need all four of you alive and well to take this quarry back." He spat on the ground before himself, hand resting confidently on the hilt of his longsword as he gave his best sneer. "Back off."

"600 gold. That's what I'll give ye for em. We aim to collect the bounty on the blind woman and the monster!"

You see him gesture with his crossbow at Lara and Nyla.

"You kills em both now and turns em over to us and I'll cut you in. 600 gold." 

Dathyra wasn't entirely sure if Sen was genuinely bluffing or if he meant what he said. He hadn't exactly been a trustworthy partner in this endeavor thus far. Then again, that was an issue they would have to decide once the bounty hunters were taken care of. And Harivaldr had a point. If they played this right, they may just be able to scare these men off. Or was that too much wishful thinking on her part? She didn't immediately go reaching for her own weapon, though. If they were as serious as they acted, she wasn't going to provoke them any further. Instead, she did her best to steady her own breathing. If they were going to have to fight, she would need to focus. As of now, Phyllis' armor spell only proved that there was at least one magic user among their group. She and Harivaldr still held that advantage up their sleeves. She said nothing, and gave the dwarf room to provide extra cover.

However, their bluff was about to fall apart when the men demanded that they kill the two to prove their little lie. She gave a worried glance over towards Sen. Time for him to prove his character.

Sen audible laughs, very sarcastically. "600 gold?" Sen changes his tone to a stern one. "Six. Hundred. *******. Gold? You must be fribble!" Sen takes another step further, trying to listen if anyone is behind him following. Hearing the bard buck up made him feel better, not great, but better. "I got a feeling this is not going to get negotiated out today. Either they walk one way and you the other, or I guess this is going to come to a head." Sen pushes his hat up and out of the way of his sight. "How much do you think I get if I kill you instead?"

Phyllis saunters up a little more (O7), wand tapping on her chin while seeming deep in thought. A ruse, however, since she did not take kindly to their earlier threats. She cared little for the personal plights of the two women they sought, and may also hold a dislike for them for bringing uneeded trouble to the group, but the thought of exchanging their freedom for coin soured her mood.

After all, even if one was a strange monster, she didn't threaten to kill anyone, while these grimy gentlemen still had weapons raised.

But she didn't speak, unsure of herself in keeping up pretenses that Sen was creating. Instead, she mentally orders her familiar to do a wide sweep of the area, the owl taking flight high into the sky.

"You as clever with that crossbow as you are at talkin?" he throws the insult back to you. 

"Mattis, they can have my share," a bounty hunter with red hair calls out from the tree. "I ain't in this for the money." His voice is edged with hate. 

"Uh huh," Mattis replies. "Been tracking them for weeks and we ain't goin nowhere without them heads. Gessup here, just offered you his share, he's in it for revenge,"  Mattis had a way of inflecting the word that showed what he really thought of moral justifications.   "I ain't gonna let that thing, that monster roam the country. It needs to be put down. 'fore other folk get killed."

"Okay--- So I guess that's 900 gold then. An awful lot of coin to let slip through your fingers." 

Things were quickly escalating. Sen may have had a good idea when he first came up with this plan, but these men were desperate enough to keep upping the stakes. She wasn't sure how much longer they could keep up the ruse.

"You seem awful free with your gold," Dathyra said. "Exactly what did these two do to you to warrant such a desire for their death if it isn't the coin? Why do you seek revenge?"

She hoped that by forcing them to talk longer, it might give one of her companions an opportunity to better position themselves while they were distracted.

"He's almost as good with that crossbow as I is with me bow!" Merric calls out from behind Phyllis. 

"You tellin me you sorry lot carry around that much gold with you all alone like you is in the woods?  How abouts you drops half o' that on the ground and we let youz all walk away from here!"

Merric carefully stays hidden behind Phyllis, hoping to create a little concern with a voice heard, but not seen.  The bounty hunters likely know the source of the voice but hopefully, Merric thinks he is still out of sight.