"Oh, between you and me, my choked opponent, that's the intention." he whispered. Then spoke normally. "While you put it very crudely and in an unsophisticated manner, one must be a gentleman when courting someone as beautiful as your captor - she is strong like a crushing wave and lovely like a summer flower. Now, if we can get down to business. We will be asking the questions here." Jasun said casually.

Zaf seemed fairly surprised initially at the turnaround of things, but would give Jireal a thankful head bob all the same. "We seek the Lady Argentia, I believe the name was. A noblewoman who by our understanding was kidnapped by highwayman working alongside the Wintertouch. If you would kindly tell us where she is, or where those responsible have taken her-...." He puts away his scimitar and holds a talon over his chest.

"You have the word as a follower of the Lady butterfly, or Desna, the Tender of Dreams, as you may know of her, that you granted freedom from my friend's grasp." 

Deception: 13.

"We've got her holed up in our hideout under lock and key. Boss has some plan with her, probably ransom as a hostage."

"Is that so? How curious. A few more questions then, if but for a generous bonus and compensation for having troubled you so. Just only-..." Zaf paused to lightly scratch at his neck. "Three more. The first is, the exacting direction of this hideout? The second, do you or any of 'The Boss' other underlings know exactly why the wintertouched have been assisting you and yours? And three, which to be clear, what are some defenses we can expect at this hideout?" 

"You see this trail? It'll take you to the hideout. I don't know why, that's not for me to know. The hideout has more of us there. And the boss."

Jirel would roll her eyes at the bandits initial outburst of swearing, flexing her muscles to tighten her grip at his lack of manners. She'd relax her grip only slightly after just to allow him to breathe. The goliath would cast a side glance at Jasun before returning Zaf's head nod. She'll growl close to his ear, "How many of you?" the barbarian would add to Zaf's questions.

"Eight. Now will you let me go?"

Jirel will chuckle. "No." And she'll snap his neck.

The bandit goes limp in your arms. With the three of them dispatched, you now see the loot that they were fighting for.  On the ground there is a longbow  with 12 arrows; a dagger; a  handaxe, two potions of healing, and a pouch containing 14 gp, 25 sp, and 18 cp.

Area H1

After climbing at least a hundred feet into the hills, the snowy trail finally levels off. In a clearing among the trees, a large wooden lodge overlooks a ravine spanned by a long rope bridge. Smoke rises from the lodge’s two snow-covered chimneys, and large woodpile is stacked against the outer wall. A small outbuilding stands east of the lodge, and a stone well nearly blanketed by snow is barely recognizable to the north. Several tracks lead southwest toward a detached stable.

Rose let's leaves the interrogation to the others, at most standing in the back as a sort of moral support for them as they questioned the bandit. Her grip on her staff tightened when the man revealed they had the lady hostage, her gaze also hardening on the man as he continued to unveil more useful information to them. But she is unable to suppress a gasp sucked into her throat when she sees Jirel so easily snap his neck. The firbolgs gaze is instantly ripped away from them before he falls to the snow, dead. She knew they were going to have to do it anyway, but that doesn't mean it still wasn't a surprising sight to the sheltered cleric.

She stays back while the others handle the looting, she briefling looking over the items prior to turning away and waiting for them to continue forward.

Jasun gives a pitied look to the bandit, but he knew this was the course of action the situation would take. He quietly reminded himself not to get on Jirel's bad side, but couldn't help just one more glance at her arms. He then helped gather the loot.

Sera doesn't even bat an eye as Jirel snaps the man's neck - in fact, if the goliath had seemed inclined to show him mercy, she would have run him through with her glaive on the spot. She snags a healing potion from the loot pile and nothing else.

As they approach the compound, Sera glances at the tracks leading towards the stable. "Clear the stables first?"

Area H3

Twin doors open into this low stable, where five stalls hold three horses and a mix of loose straw. A rack of riding gear hangs on the east wall, and a cast-iron tub sits empty in the corner. Nothing else of interest is in the stable.

"We don't have to kill the horses, now, do we?" Jasun joked. "Although they might come in handy later.." he quickly glanced at Jirel. "..to RIDE. Not eat." 

"We should leave the horses alone. If we spook them, they could alert the bandits," Sera says grimly. "Let's go in the back and start clearing the house."

Zaf just looked down at the fallen bandit without any real degree of feeling. "It is fortunate he never asked the means by which he would be granted freedom, or what the bonus would entail. But I would think he understood in part now." He admits, nodding sagely on that point. After which, he'd take the dagger at least from the pile, and with Jasun's assistance, see about the coin being divided among everyone. Noting, as he did so, Rose's surprise, he makes a mental note to stick by the cleric's side, if only to be an awkward yet comforting presence if she needed it; fielding any questions or concerns there could have been over the event.

But he volunteers nothing more on his own apart from offering to hold on to the potion if Jireal or Jasun did not wish to.


(When Divided(if everyone is fine with it)
Everyone Else: 3gp, 5sp, 4cp
Zaf: 2gp, 5sp, 2cp)

At the hideout, Zaf offers little in the way of dissent against Seraphina's suggestion, though would keep a close eye on the building as the group pressed on for it. "We should certainly make accessing them difficult for any wishing to flee upon them barring ourselves. Otherwise, the only mercy would be to kill them, rather than free them only to die in the cold... But, this one will defer to the Serafina's judgement."

Area H2:

It's an outhouse. It's cold and it smells bad. That's it.

Area H13:

You pass through the doors to find a large table and two benches run the length of this hall, and a twenty-foot-high vaulted ceiling rises into the rafters overhead. To the west, a roaring fireplace provides a welcome heat and light while to the south, a flight of stairs ascends to a wooden balcony overlooking the room. A set of double doors stands in the wall to the east. Also in this room are five bandits, who immediately draw their scimitars upon encountering you. Roll for initiative.

Bandit1:20
Bandit2:8
Bandit3:19
Bandit4:9
Bandit5:17

The cleric had been relatively silent as they made their way to the stables, not really noticing Zaf's presence as she was too preoccupied muddling around in her mind until the subject of the horses came up. "When we're done here, we could always take the horses with us..." Rose lightly suggests to the others, and she wouldn't add much else in unless prompted to. She hangs to the back as they checked the outhouse prior to the pain building, where she was sure they would be fighting once more. Upon seeing the bandits, she readies herself for the fight.

Init: 9

Sera gives a slightly wolfish smile. "Hi."

Init: 18

Jirel would hover over the others to glance over the items. Disappointed hums would finally interrupted by a grunt. "No one gunna take that?" The barbarian will reach over to pluck the handaxe out of the pile. She'd inspect the blade and test the weight of it in her hand. Looking over in the direction they were headed, Jirel hurls the axe at a tree.

Jirel would grunt in approval as the axe hits its bullseye, it's blade digging deep into the tree. She'd retrieve it on her way by, adding it to her collection of axes.

The goliath would follow the others to the stables. She'd raise a brow to challenge Jasun's quip "Can't be both?".

Speaking of which, the barbarian was going to have to dip into her stash of meat pies if there was no excitement soon. Jirel would continue to follow the others along through the next set of doors. Oh look a table to eat at...

Initiative: 8