Though there are more skeletons yet to subdue, it seems that Bjorn's plight draws the rest of the adventurers in, forcing them to attack the largest skeleton, the king, to keep it from hacking Bjorn to pieces while the Northman is down.

Judoc acts directly, swiping his staff in an overhand blow that smashes downward on the skeleton crawling on Bjorn.  The staff meets the thing's elbow, smashing the ulna open and spraying shards of bone in all directions.  The distraction is just enough for Bjorn who arches his back, throwing all his weight into throwing the skeleton off with his shield.  The thing rolls off to the right, and Bjorn makes his way to one knee.

Gustav charges, his weapon slashing as he runs with a blow that cuts deep into the bone man's thick spine.  His defenses completely dropped for the moment, Gustav holds his breath as he sees the mass of bone turning, but the black sword this time lashes out towards Judoc, who leaps back just in time, the blade swiping less than an inch from his chest.

Finn too rushes in, placing himself just behind the bone king, ready to grab the things arm to disable the deadly blade, though the thing slashes out again, hacking towards Gustav, though the swordsman parries the blow with his own blade, showering sparks with float towards the ground for a moment before winking out.

Judoc and Gustav attack back, the mage's staff swatted away by the sword as the shield smashes Gustav's sword to the side, Finn too, jumps in to grapple the thing's arm but by now the massive hulk of bone has turned enough that he sees the rogue's advance and shivers his arm backwards, smashing his shield into Finn's shoulder as he attempts to step forward.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the room, Magnus steps back from the skeleton, hurtling his mace downward in the small space between them.  The blow catches the skeleton on the shoulder, though it doesn't stop there.  Instead, it crashes through collarbone, ribs, even knocking the thing's pelvis out of place before it falls, completely useless, to the floor.  Magnus is so surprised by the force of the blow that he barely thinks to turn himself towards the rest of the combat as he watches the shards of bone clatter to the ground.

Off near the entrance, Terri continues to hack away at the legless skeleton which attempts to gain purchase on hands and knee...

OOC:  I completely forgot to add in the last post that you are half move and dodge Judoc.  Somehow, the dodge still managed to succeed against the Bone Sovereign's attack.  You are however, exhausted and can check your fatigue on your character sheet.  The sovereign is facing Gustav and everyone but Finn is at range 1.  Finn, you are in CC and may attempt another grapple this turn.  Unfortunately, you had too much ground to cover before the Grapple, during which time the Bone Sovereign turned, putting you in a side hex and he made his dodge.  Gustav, I had to change your All out Attack to a Move and attack, due to your range, though you still made the roll and did significant damage.  Bjorn has made it to his knees and still seems to be in the fight somehow.  His skeleton is also on it's knees.  Terri is standing with her skeleton on it's knees and grappling her by the leg.  Magnus is facing NE.  Bjorn, I think your post was cut off, I opted to have you aim at Sadda for a turn rather than shoot.

Let's do another 2 rounds of combat.

Carefully aiming at Saddas heart, Rondald squeezes the trigger. The silvered bolt flies true...
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:17, Fri 10 Jan 2020.

Never before has Finn had so much trouble wrestling with a foe, then again he's never faced a magical creature made only of bones.  Despite his best efforts this towering beast slips through his grasp time and time again.  Razzel would be highly frustrated but his worry over his friends is louder within his mind.

Not where he wanted to be, he makes the best of it, trying to keep attacking the spine under the ribs as the only potential weak spot he can reach readily.

Magnus, unwilling to let Terri be assaulted just a few feet away from him, attempted a quick "hop" over behind her attacker, when he swung the head of the mace down towards the back of the skill and upper spine.

He hoped it would be more or less an execution, as one eye was still bent towards preventing Saddas escape.

Crack!

The breaking of bone sounds like a blast as Terri pulls back her knife arm, a self-satisfied smirk across her face as the skeleton facing her reels one mangled arm back even as the other continues to clutch at her feet.  Magnus leaps to her defense as well, smashing his mace down the the small of the skeletons back, shattering the thing into dust as it slumps back to the cave floor.

Twang!

Across the room, the string of Rondald's crossbow unloads, sending the silvered bolt into the air and straight towards the demon which turns even now to face Rondald.  For a moment, Rondald had pondered where exactly a demon's heart may lie...  would it be in the normal position? or perhaps somewhere around the stomach?  Would it have a heart at all, or just a soft interior of sticky bile that pumped itself by magic and hate?  Deciding not to think overmuch on the issue, Rondald just shrugs and aims for center mass, thinking that will do the most damage.
 Indeed, the bolt flies true, though at the last moment, the demon whirls in a roll midair, and the bolt passes harmlessly by its wing before the wood shaft shatters against the cave ceiling beyond.

But the demon sails down, increasing speed as it dives towards the sailor!  Rondald jerks to the side, his crossbow slapping against his chest as he tries to let it settle on the strap, the razor sharp claws whizzing just inches from his face!  Panicked, the sailor tugs on the handle of his axe, trying to get it clear again from his belt.

Meanwhile, the mass of bones faces four foes all at once, it's black sword slashing and hacking slamming Judoc's poorly timed swing well away, as its shield bashes Gustav's weapon away.  Finn takes the moment to step back and attempt to grapple the undead again, though the thing moves so much it is impossible to find a grip!

The black sword slices forward, catching Gustav just below the shield and slicing open his chain shirt all across the front, flaying a wide stripe across his lower ribcage!  Gustav double back with the blow, his breathing labored and the wound painful.  Though the cut only ebbs a trickle of blood, Gustav feels as if the black sword has taken not only his breath, but far more besides...  Still the swordsman pushes himself to stand and fight on to keep the monstrous bone thing at bay.

Crash!

Bjorn's axe smashes through layers of bone, hacking through the monster's side on his unprotected flank.  The single armed skeleton at his side charges the northman, his one hand clutching forward for whatever purchase it can make, thought the barbarian's shield comes up and forward, smashing the skeleton in the face and sending it tumbling backwards onto the floor where it lays still on the cavern floor.

The thing turns, now facing the Northman directly, it's black sword leaping toward Bjorn in a backhand swing.  The Barbarian's shield gets in place just in time, the blade wedging itself deeply between two of the planks which crackle with stress as the begin to break free from the supports.  But Bjorn's axe is already moving again, the wide, pitted blade swinging just under the thing's right arm.  Unable to break its sword free from the shield, the bone monster makes a weak attempt at jumping clear, though it is not enough and the axe crashes into the monster's side, shredding through bone and stopping only at the center of the things chest!

With a groan, the bone monster crashes to a single knee before falling apart entirely, littering the floor with broken bone.

Overhead, Sadda swoops down again, intent on attacking Finn from behind, though impossibly, Magnus swings his mace, catching the monster midair and surprising him completely.  The mace crashes into the demon's side, swatting him from the sky and slamming him bodily into the wall of the cavern!  Sadda shrieks with pain, stumbling in a small patch of purple mushrooms to get back to a standing position, though the mace crashes down again, Magnus intent on ending the being once and for all.

Crunch!

Though made of far stronger stuff than skin and bones, even the demon cannot withstand the full weight of the mace flung down by a Minotaur.  skin and scale buckle as the life fades from the hateful, red eyes...  for several moments the demon smolders like a coal, shriveling ever smaller and blacker until all that is left is an ashen black lump the size of a human fist.

And just like that - the room is quiet again, the soft purple fungus emitting a warming glow, making the rubble of bone look almost pinkish on the cave floor...

OOC:  Perhaps I nerfed this adventure too much for you guys...  I never expected everybody to make it through unscathed.  That being said, congratulations.  The bone Sovereign and Sadda are both dead, Magnus having scored a critical success on an attack to finally take the thing out of the air and render it mostly defenseless on the ground.  The following are the spoils of the fight, all worn with age and rust:

1 staff
1 nunchuku
1 great axe
2 axe
2 broad sword
2 medium shield
1 spear
2 Clubs
1 Morning Star

Also, the Bone Sovereign dropped:

1 Large Shield (mostly unblemished)
1 Black Broadsword (this is Gustav's Magic item earned in the last random roll)

Gustav and Bjorn are both severely injured.  Gustav, please roll vs. HT to stay conscious.  We are out of fighting and you guys can again post general actions as you desire.

Had Magnus possessed even a modicum of Finn's wit, he might have said something memorable as he crushed Sadda beneath the two handed blow.

But, the Minotaur did not. Nor did he possess Rondalds grace, Judocs gravity or Gustav's form.

No, for poor Magnus it was just a messy, yet effective end to the whole affair as he pulverized the stunned bird again and again like a frustrated caveman, grunting with the exertion.

After the third, or fourth two handed over head blow he paused to look around frantically, wide eyed and frothing at the mouth, his chest heaving beneath his mail hauberk as he sought out his next foe.

Only to find of course that they had all been dispatched. Even the great engine of bone that had barreled into their line lay broken into so many fragments upon the ground.

So he paced, this way and that, mace at the ready until he was sure that nothing else was about to leap out at them.

Only then did he take stock of their numbers to find....everyone more or less intact. They had, against all odds, come through without a single casualty.

It was perhaps a sign of the experiences he had endured among them that he did not collapse this time. Nor did he vomit or even dry heave. No, when he realized they were done, he just bent over at the waist, put his gloves hands on his knees, and just tried to breath.

"Ugggh" he groaned long and loud before he straitened and stretched his shoulders painfully, eyes screwed shut. "That things dead right?" He eventually shouted and jabbed his mace at Saddas flattened remains. "Or do we need to say a prayer...or get a priest or somethin?" he asked through deep breaths as he put his hands on his hips and bent over to take the weight of the armor off his shoulders.

Rondald recovered himself and looked around, panting heavily as he drew his axe, looking around for anything else that threatened them. But only they still movies.

"I was hoping that crossbow bolt might have done him in, but at least it held it's attention. Good job on that bone thing...did it fall because the demon fell, or became Bjorn killed it? Not that it matters. Lets try to patch everyone up now..."

He moves to Terri first, both to see if she is OK and also to see if she is able to help others.. He himself then tries to patch up Bjorn and Gustav.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:11, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

Gustav staggers, shield still up and tries to swing at the enemy.. except it's not there ... the pain is intense, making him want to double up, but you can't fight or defend doubled up, so he stands and looks for the demon bird, by that point Magnus is Tenderizing it seriously. Gustav sags to the floor and tries to get his armor and gear out of the way so he can deal with the wound, but soon Rondald is there helping. Gustav mumbles his thanks.

At some point he'll recover the black sword and try and assess it.

History is rife with stories of heroes and morons.  One such hero is General Augustus Barbarosa who most Azerians have heard of if at least only by name.  He lead, to his credit almost successfully, an ill fated rebellion which most felt never stood a chance because of inferior numbers and equipment.  But Barbarosa showed his genius by taking long odds and keeping his rag tag bunch on the winning side of things far longer than anyone imagined.  That is until General Richeon Tyrkyl came along mid way through the campaign.  General Tyrkyl's most valuable asset was that he wasn't afraid of anything.   He did feel fear, he just chose not to succumb to its sometimes paralyzing effects.  One such story that Finn loves is when Tyrkyl was relatively new and his officers were nearly trembling as they discussed the events of a recent battle in which Barbarosa crushed a larger force.  Irritated at what he saw Tyrkyl finally butted in and blurted out, “Shut up.  The way you're talking you'd think Barbarosa was going to do a back flip and end up in our ranks.  Bring some artillery and horses up here.”

Razzel is cut from similar cloth.  He fears.  But he chooses to find a way around, under or over an opponent if he cannot get through them.  And as the bone monstrosity falls and the room settles into quiet once more Finn looks around.  They are battered and nearly exhausted but not one of his friends suffers horribly.  Just as he knew it would be all along.

Stuffing his knife back into its holder Finn makes a mental note to spend more time in the training grounds with larger weapons.  And, he needs a new strategy for adventures like this.  People just cant be trusted.  What's the use of going to all the trouble of stealing someone's stuff if someone else is just going to carelessly burn it up?

In no time the plucky mage-thief assesses the danger noticing two of his comrades in serious trouble.  Seeing that Rondald is headed for the swordsman Finn rushes to Bjorn's aid.  Dropping to his knees he begins to murmur and wiggle a few fingers.


OOC:
For the record the line about people burning up his stuff, this isn't directed at the group.  As far as Finn was told it was the enemy who burnt up his stuff.

Run to Bjorn.  Begin casting Major Heal to stop the bleeding and keep him out of danger.  Then move to Gustav and do the same.

If we're ready to fast forward this is the plan.  Take all valuables that we can carry and go see Mika'il.  Assuming that he is still there, alive and exhausted have Magnus swing the mace to break the rock holding him there.  I dont want Mika'il dead but if he gets injured in the process I'm ok with that.  Broken fingers/hands wont hurt him long term.

Then we go back to camp to rest and regroup.  First order is rest and diagnosis to see who needs more healing.  A close second is retrieving the lost animals.  Can Aiah help there?  If not I have animal spells that can help.  Following that we need to decide what to do next.

This message was last edited by the player at 23:58, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

Who can say why we fight? Toe to toe, even the best of us can falter when faced with foes of superior skill and insight. But in this case, it is numbers, not skill, that threatened to overwhelm the group tasked with stopping the necromancer and his assistant, but somehow, they have battled through. The skeletons lie defeated, piles of bones scattered across the floor, even the gigantic skeleton that could somehow absorb and spawn skeletons of its own. Sadda lies destroyed as well, crushed by Magnus's mighty mace.

"Demons tend to stay dead," Judoc says when Magnus asks. The Templar student leans wearily on his staff as he takes in the carnage. "The body will decompose, just like a mortal's, and if we leave Sadda there, it will one day be nothing more than a skeleton." At least, that had been what had happened to the imp. Do demons stay truly dead, or are they somehow banished from the world when killed like this?

"Amazing work, all of you," he says with warmth in his voice. He had been certain that they would prevail, but faced with the numbers they had encountered, doubt had begun to creep into Judoc's thoughts. Even now, he can recognize how fortunate the group is. Many of them bear wounds, but no one is dead. "I'll help heal when I can, Finn, but right now, any casting at all is going to nearly wipe me out."

OOC: Judoc will accompany the others and rest when he gets a chance. Aiah can help in spotting the horses, but Judoc hasn't been able to communicate with her since they've gone underground. When Judoc gets a chance, he'll rest, and then begin helping to heal the group.

Let's make sure we take any weapons that might have resale value (if any) with us..
This message was last edited by the player at 01:10, Tue 14 Jan 2020.

Gustav remembers his healing potion and thinks this might be a good time for it (after ensuring he won't be wasting it after Finn's and Rondald's efforts).
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:18, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

Magnus gradually relaxed, and began to help where he could. Judoc's words gave some sense of closure to the whole affair. They had traveled so far, and endured so much, that to be finished with their work and heading home seemed almost the stuff of fantasy. Even now their close call in the burning building haunted him, and he suspected it would continue to do so for days to come if not longer.

"Hell of a way to make a living" he grumbled as he eventually took a seat. "What'da say Finn? What'd we do now?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:20, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

Though Finn is eager to get moving it takes longer than he had hoped for everything to get settled and ready to move.  Gustav and Bjorn are still grievously hurt, Terri with a crippled arm, and Judoc exhausted, putting more than half their number in no fit state to make a hasty departure.

Rondald moves first to Terri, who has put her knife back in her belt and is now holding her right arm with her left, her face in a strained grimace.  After giving the wound a quick look, Rondald finds that most of the bruising has been already healed through Judoc's magic, though the swelling and the tenderness remain.  Rondald cuts a narrow slit through her leather armor to remove it from just above the elbow then fashions a sling out of a wrap of cloth from the first aid kit.  Once the sailor is finished his wive looks back into his face, her expression somewhat relieved and she barely whispers, "Thank you." the moment of emotion overcoming her.  As Rondald moves on to Gustav, Terri walks towards the back of the cave, taking a moment to herself.

Finn too, hurries to heal those who are wounded, moving first to Bjorn, who by now has a thick pate of blood drying brownish red on his chain link shirt and soaking the undershirt beneath.  Finn quickly casts his magic, far from healing the Northman completely but at least closing the wound enough to keep things from getting any worse.

Gustav proves a bit trickier however.  Finn's magic seems to betray him once or twice, though eventually he managed to pull his spell off...  Along with Rondald's simple bandaging, Gustav seems improved enough, though he opts to down his own healing potion, just to ensure there is no further internal damage not already cured through magical or mundane means.

"Well, here's this."  Terri says as she walks back in from the small back cave, tossing another eight inch tile on the floor of the cave near the others.  This one, like the others, is gold, it's face depicting a wide-eyed screech owl.

Indeed, there are other small treasures at the back of the cave as well, including a long and lean leather jacket, a handful of small stones, and a beautiful silver emblem, the size of a small shield that is smithed into the shape of a skull with a scythe in the background.  Rubies are fitted into the horrific thing's eyes and from its crown is sprouted ropey tendrils of emerald laden hair.  There is also a small quiver of arrows and a thin bottle of potion laying idly in the corner.

Eventually, however, the group makes its way back to where they had left Mika'il.  The mage hangs, quite litterly, his wrists buried in the thick of the stone wall, completely unconscious.  He is slumped almost midair, his features drawn and pale as death.  The mage lives still however, though his breath is thin and uneven.

"Go on Magnus,"  Finn says offhand, pointing towards where the mage's arms are sunk into the wall of the cave.  "Get him out of there."

OOC:  I'm in the fast forwarding mode and I will get to all the questions eventually - forgive me however for what may seem like arbitrary stopping positions, I promise they are not.  Here's the loot from the last cave:

Enchanted Leather Jacket Defense +3 (Rondald's Magic item)
Skull symbol
3 gemstones (citrine, tiger's eye, and amethyst)
Quiver of 18 arrows
Potion

I'll add them to the group items.

Rondald is in no hurry to move. His wife's show of emotion touched him, and he continues to tend her carefully and carries everything he can, looking for any options to heal her arm. The Leather Jacket is easiest to carry by wearing it, so he does so. Once they make it back to the mage, he gathers things and suggests getting everything and everyone back to the mules, and finding a defensible location to set up camp. He was not sure the trip home would be safe or without complications, so he suggested they delay leaving until all were well enough to travel, or even fight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:59, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

Magnus seemed almost eager to get the prisoner out of his stone restraint. But as he looked over the stone more carefully, he sucked in a breath and shook his head.

"I can do it...but I'm probably gonna hurt him pretty bad." he informed the group. "I mean, you got something hard enough to break stone, what chance does a man's arm have?" he gestured to the man once more. "You'd need like a chisel, and a hammer. Maybe a little pick or something."

OOC:Magnus will grab that Large Shield for the moment to replace his destroyed one.

Finn does not smile as he bends over to pick up the golden tile of the owl.  While he is immensely satisfied at their victory he is loath of the argument he knows is coming.  Ever the capitalist Razzel has a mind not to leave this place empty handed.  Aside from their mission he came here to line his pockets and after recent discussions its clear few of his fellows share in his vision.

Too the plucky mage-thief gathers what fallen valuables he can.  He is tired, oh so tired, and hurt though neither facet of his being troubles him greatly.  He trudges through quietly knowing that some rest and magic will have him good as new in no time.

Minutes later the band of brothers stands before an exhausted and helpless necromancer.  Magnus hesitates at freeing the evil man.  Finn smiles warmly.  The big minotaurs conscience is so cute.  ”Dont worry mah friend.  This...”, Finn says as he pats his friend on the shoulder and holds up some fingers while wiggling them.  ”These 'er the tools uv'a wizard.  Few broken fingers is better for us an' it gonna kill him.”


OOC:
Take all of valuables listed and as much of the junk as we can carry now.  Later we'll sort out what junk we take and what we leave behind.

Finn is telling Magnus to go ahead and smash away.  Finns reasoning is that we either need to kill Mika'il or bring him with us.  Finn doesn't trust a mage out of his sight for very long.  And Finn isnt done with Mika'il yet.  Such as I'd like to know where are the rest of his people.  The ones we fought yesterday.  Did they leave, did he kill them and turn them into skeletons, what?  I also don't believe him when he says he doesn't have any stuff here.

Finn is saying that if Mika'il winds up with 2 broken hands he wont die and not being able to use his hands is actually a plus for us.

This message was last edited by the player at 19:42, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

In reply to Finn Razzel (msg # 97):

I am assuming we brought everything. Rondald will want a shield as well, probably the lightest one.

Magnus hesitatef. For here lay a quandary that he had now considered before.

Mika'il was an evil man, that was unarguable at the point. Necromancy, trafficking with Demons, slavery, and the threat of unleashing God one what against the Empire and all of Christendom.

He had tried, and very nearly succeeded, to kill Magnus and his friends on more than one occasion.

But now he was a prisoner, not harmless, in face still dangerous in his way. But he was bound up before them.

Would the time taken to try and track down the right tools justify the danger? How far out of their way would they go for this man? And it was not like Magnus was trying to hurt him, it was just a byproduct of the messy process of trapping him in the first place.

And besides all that, Finn had become something of the defacto leader, and Magnus believed that Finn was smarter them himself, even if he did doubt his judgement at times (the siege came to mind)

And so, of nobody else protested, he shook his broad shaggy head at the hapless Mika'il. "I'd stay real still if I were you." he warned the mage, and when the others were ready to "receive" him, Magnus lined up his best shot and went to work.

When Judoc realizes what Finn intends for Magnus to do, the Templar student grimaces and turns his head in distaste. ”Must we be so uncivilized?” he murmurs, though he does not object to Finn’s directions. Mika’il has done little to earn any kind of mercy, and Judoc knows well a wizard’s reliance on gestures and incantations, but the solution seems so brutish. It would be better to simply kill Mika’il than to subject the apprentice to such torture.

Judoc looks with interest at the items found in the cave. ”Another tablet,” he says thoughtfully. Even though he knows that Sadda had been a manipulating Mika’il into opening Perdition’s cells, part of Judoc mightily desires to know what might be hidden behind those doors. They had bested Mika’il, Sadda, the skeletons, and the sentries, but could they handle a threat like the giant lizard that had apparently killed so many men? Judoc finds it easy enough to squelch any kind of lust for power or riches he might be experiencing, but it is not so easy to deny that nagging idea in his head that he would dearly like to see what is locked away within Perdition’s vaults.

But first things first. They are nowhere near full strength to tackle Perdition’s doors. Mika’il first, and then rest and the horses.

OOC: Is anyone else getting a Prometheus/Alien Covenant vibe here? Judoc’s leaning towards opening the vaults, but we could very well be facing Xenomorph level foes if we do.

If there is a decent light shield lying about, Gustav will take it to replace his battered and chopped up leftovers he has been using as a shield.
He puts the sword he had been using over his back and puts the black sword in his scabbard after having the two mages  surmise what it may offer compared to the one he had.

Finn watches the brutish looking minotaur hesitate at his request to free the necromancer, the hard way.  In this moment Razzel again for something like the tenth time stands in awe at the duality of this race.  On the outside they look frightening, menacing, even monstrous.  The huge bulging muscles but more so the bulls head.  The horns, the rough animalistic mood portrayed.  But in truth Finn has found that Magnus might be the most human among them.  He is filled with more compassion, humility and patience certainly than their leader.  Why are people so quick to 'judge a book by its cover' as the old expression goes?  And will people ever learn their lesson and see that to judge someone a person must look for deeper and intangible qualities.  Finn finds it funny, and not in a humorous way, that people study history.  But most miss the lessons.  They learn facts.  They remember names and dates but they fail to learn the lessons that history offers.  One would think war and other miseries could be avoided if we learned from past mistakes.  But no, people seem almost destined to repeat the mistakes of their fore fathers.

Pulling himself from his waxing philosophical the optimist turns to Judoc and frowns slightly.  ”What would ya have me do Judoc??!!, Finn spits out.  ”Heal him an' get so tired I cant stan' up?”  Razzel glances at the man they've chased for so long.  ”Ya.  Its necessary.  When a man comes at me with a stick I aint gonna fight 'im off with words.  If you don't think it's fair he shou'n't 'a come at me.”  Finn nods at Magnus signaling the go ahead.


OOC:
Never saw them so no vibe here.

Taking my discussion of the vaults to the OOC.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:38, Thu 16 Jan 2020.

"Why hurry? We can rest, then get him down humanely, right?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:11, Fri 17 Jan 2020.

For a moment, Judoc reflects on the one-aided fight that led to his moniker The Merciful. Whether Judoc truly earned the title or not, he has refused to kill a man he hopelessly outmatched that day. Mika’il is a different breed of man than Thresher, but nevertheless, bile rises in Judoc’s throat.

”You could just as easily free him with your magic, Finn,” Judoc says, still weary from the battle. ”Intentionally breaking the man’s bones? That’s torture. Is that how your Row normally operates?” Judoc shakes his head and frowns in distaste. ”From my perspective, Mika’il here is a prisoner of war. He doesn’t deserve our mercy or pity, and he probably deserves death for what he’s done to the people he was supposed to lead and guide, but to casually inflict harm? That’s stone cold, my friend.”

Judoc shrugs. ”I’m not going to stop you, and I have little interest in debate here, but the morality of the situation strikes me. If we treat Mika’il so callously, I fail to see how we are much better than he, and torture would certainly be in line with some of my superiors’ actions. Kill him if you need to, but I fail to see the merits in prolonging his suffering.”

OOC: Judoc isn’t on board with torture. He prefers to either kill Mika’il now or bind and gag him and return him to his village. However, I don’t want to bog things down with an ethics debate. Basically, Judoc hates what he has seen professors at his school commit, including torture, and seeing Finn advocate similar actions makes Judoc recoil.

A very nearly exhausted Finn turns to Rondald.  The man is tired after the long grueling fight but the truth is that his spell work has taken the mickey out of him.  ”The horses.”  And he leaves it at that.

When Judoc blusters about morality Finn laughs out loud before throwing back his response.  ”I could use my magic...but I aint gonna.  I'm close to fallin' down I'm so tired Judoc.  And I aint gonna waste what I got left so's this a'hole...”, Razzel thumbs at the apprentice necromancer, ”...can live in comfort.  You say murder him to spare him a couple 'a broken bones?  I say that's stone cold.  He's a God Damned wizard Judoc.  If he lives through this he'll heal his'self someday.  What's a little pain?  He brought this misery on his'self by tryin' ta open those cells.  An' I aint got no sympathy for 'im.”


OOC:
I dont mean to prolong things with a long IC role play scene so I'll try to explain myself here.

Finn wants to get back to camp to rest ASAP.  While there anyone who is able can begin to go out and search for the animals who fled the stables when Mika'il attacked it.  Finn sees getting them back and returning them to camp as the highest priority.

Finn has only a few fatigue left.  Yes, Mika'il might suffer some pain and broken bones.  If Finn were fully rested and we didn't have the issue of our missing animals to deal with, which is a direct result of Mika'il, then I would take the time to get him out without risking him injury.  But due to the current problems we face Finn doesn't feel as though spending our limited resources to save Mika'il some temporary pain is worth it.  Again, Finns philosophy is that if you don't start shit then shit wont happen to you.  Any pain or broken bones is just desserts for being an asshole.  Plus, if he is left alive Mika'il can heal himself in time using his own magic.  His pain is very temporary.  Finn is quite shocked that Judoc would suggest that the humane thing to do is end the mans life to save him a few weeks of pain.  Further, Finn would say this isn't torture.   Finn could do much, much worse to this man for what he and his master were attempting to do.  Finn is actually showing restraint and compassion by not beating this man within an inch of his life for attempting to basically launch a nuke at our people.