Lenelle concurred, more or less, with Wick - "Hunting down every henchman connected to Eliphas was never the plan, as far I understood.  We broke the back of the smugglers' operation, and Eliphas himself is dead.   Perhaps that will lead some of those connected to the man to rethink their lives and choices." 

Pathwyn was relieved to find everybody safe and sound, lounging around at the inn, but her eyes narrowed at the sight of Damon's guard from the church.  An instant later a deadly sheaf arrow was nocked, pointed directly at the man tending bar, and the string pulled back ready to fire.

"That's encouraging.  Shipton is a good place to catch him, especially if he insists on wearing that cloak everywhere," she says to Dak, never taking her aim and attention off the man behind the bar.

"You should've left town when I told you to," she said icily to the bartender.

"Great fight out there, guys.  The crew of the Ananke would like to hear all your thoughts on what to do next outside."

She took a few steps to the side of the door, clearing a path for Cannibal's lackey.

"You first."

---

Pathwyn has a short trigger with the bartender unless he sets down what he's doing and heads for the door.  She's OK with a little backtalk, but no false moves, or stubborn refusal to leave.

I'm going to meet Chree Alvador announces. He leaves and heads for the church.

"Do we have to kill everybody?" Dak asked, shaking his head at the Blood Priestess' actions.  At least he hadn't gone out to fight with the others.  It hadn't even looked like he'd been watching.

"You better do what she says," Dak said to the barkeep before he filed out after Alvador.  Rather than the church, he'd head for the stable to see if Myrick were around.

"Ain't like anyone else be givin' me work while I be mostly laid up," said the bartender, with a look of venom at Pathwyn, though he clearly saw the value of discretion in following her instructions to head outside like the others.

The woman on the stairs looked quite forlorn, pulling her leg back through the balustrade and making her way up the stairs.

With no one behind the bar, Hewney wonders where his next drink will be coming from.

"Please ring the church bell a few times while you're over there," she said to Alvador on his way out.  "That should bring the townspeople out."

She hoped he would join the group after interacting with Chree.  Hewney didn't look like he was going to leave the inn with them at all.  She wondered if it was because of the crew of the Ananke's animosity towards Eliphas.  That would make sense.  Like Dak, Hewney had a high opinion of the departed smuggler mage.



Pathwyn certainly wanted to shoot Cannibal's bit-too-loyal thug when she first saw him at the bar.  After all, she told him that's what they'd do if they saw him in town again.  But he wasn't a threat and killing someone she didn't have to didn't sit right with her.  Come to think of it, Dak was probably trying to put the fear of death in this guy's mind to help convince him to cooperate.  He'd done that yesterday with the captive they'd let go.

She marched the man with the broken hand out into the middle of town where most were gathered.

"Here's one more of Cannibal's men.  We told him to leave town, but he had other ideas."

"You're a deft hand with the rope, Westin.  Got any left for this one?  If not there's some in my pack near the top that you're welcome to use."

Pathwyn didn't want to drop her aim on the thug to go rooting around in her backpack.

Alvador raises a hand as e proceeds. Soon, after Chree and he are reunited, the bell peals, perhaps the first joyful sound heard in the village for some time.

Close enough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIxjHFHq9FQ

"I agree," Westin says. "Besides, the motivation for following Eliphas was to free Dak because at the time, some of were convinced he was spellbound to Eliphas."

"I feel like it's really the villagers' responsibility to deal with these men. If they ask us we could always take them to Monteci," Westin says. "However, someone is going to have make a case for them deserving to be punished, whatever that may be. Most all these men were incapacitated before the they could join the battle so they certainly didn't cause us any harm."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:14, Thu 01 July 2021.

Finishing his drink, Hewney follows the others outside.

As the bell chimed in Farnworth, Myrick could be seen, poking his head out of the stables.  Another pair of men--one from each of the two buildings in the center of the village, with expressions of uncertainty on their faces.  In the distance, there were a few people in the fields who seemed to be looking toward the village itself.

As Dak approached the stable, he waved to Myrick.

"Could you round up some townsfolk," he said to the man once he'd closed the distance.  "We don't know what to do with the men we've captured and hoped there might be some ideas we hadn't thought of.

"I was thinking some of them might not be as guilty as others, but we haven't been here as long as the people that live here."

Myrick nodded an agreement and said, "I can do that."  With that, he started towards some of the people in the fields around Farnworth itself.

"Any justice we mete out, it needs to be done here, among those who were the victims. Once we leave, it is simply their word against ours."

The men who had come out to fight at Cannibal's command sat, bound and quiet.  The quartet who had come from the house which had been Eliphas' were now awake, but not so quiet as they pronounced their own innocence and the indignation that this group would defend a murderer.

Ding-dong, ding-dong....

---

She nodded at Hewney's comment.  The townspeople would probably want to execute Cannibal's gang if it came to that.

If Westin or one of the others tied up the former guard she marched out at arrow-point, good.  If not, Pathwyn sighed, quivered her arrow, got the rope out and tied the man up herself.  Afterwards she addressed Eliphas' bound men.

"Profess your innocence all you want, but I don't want to hear one more word out of any of you about Dak being a murderer!" Pathwyn scolded the men.  "Four of us, Dak included, did a job for Eliphas and we showed up here only to find him freshly slain.  He'd been stabbed in the back with a poison knife just minutes before.  In fact, it was so recent that we saw the culprit, in his green cloak, scurry off to the church.  It was Penrhyn.  When we fought him later, he even used the murder weapon and poison on us before deploying magical powders to escape.  Luckily, no one was killed this time."

"You messed up twice joining the battle while we were taking down Cannibal, and you're lucky as hell that a little nap and rope was all that came of it.  Most of these people," she said, gesturing to the heroes who had banded together to kill the werewolf and stop his gang from terrorizing Farnworth.  "Have been attacked by Eliphas' men in Monteci, so they don't care if you're with Cannibal or not.  They want to see you in a dungeon or a grave."

"I have a third option for you.  You better shut up and listen like your lives depend on it.  Farnworth is going to need a few good armed men around to keep the peace when there's trouble, so another gang of ruffians doesn't just wander in and take Cannibal's place.  If you know enough about Eliphas' business to keep it running in his absence you can prosper here.  Peace and quiet is good for business and it's good for Farnworth.  Win-win."

"And if any of you really seek justice for Eliphas' murder, you can come to Shipton with us and help us hunt down Penrhyn."

"So what'll it be?  Dungeon?  Grave?  Or run the business and protect Farnworth?"

Of course, this was all contingent on the townspeople not saying that Eliphas' men were just as bad as Cannibal's gang.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:38, Tue 06 July 2021.

"Myrick is gathering some of the townsfolk," Dak said to elf after walking up to hear the tail end of her speech.  He wondered if she'd been working on it while waiting in the tower by herself.  It sounded like a good plan.  He was just glad he wasn't deciding on what to do with the men.

Wandering around the edge of things, Hewney looks for any town folk who have arrived to watch the goings on. At each, he stops and says a few words.

"We are going to deal justice to these people. The more of you who are willing to speak as to the goings on around here the better. I would hate for an innocent to get tangled in with those who were actually working with that beast."

At which he points to the animal-corpse on the ground.

"For those of you who did not see, that there is what became of Cannibal when he died. The man-thing that. as we understand it, terrorized your town."

He repeats these things to any town folk who are there.

"You might want to gather your neighbors and such, so we can get a complete story."

While Dak's crew wandered about the village Telemachus huddled with his companions and listened carefully to what they had to say.


"In fact, we only followed Eliphas to find Dak."


The druid smiled at the priestesses optimism, "Perhaps they will let Atu show them a better way to lead their lives."


"Agreed, Westin. And it appears that we...rather...I was completely wrong. Dak joined Eliphas willingly and when he attacked us it was under his own free will."



Telemachus shakes his head as he listens to the priestess of Veja speak.

He whispers to his companions, "She is advising Eliphas' men to take over the smuggling operation! Or to join forces with them!

It seems to me that the majority are leaning to leave the prisoners here for the villagers to deal with.

Nonetheless, let's listen to what the people of this village have to say...I expect it will also surprise me."

As Pathwyn laid out options to the men who had been in Eliphas' employ, Myrick came to the center, bringing another half dozen men who moved to stand in a cautious clump with the two men who had emerged from buildings in the village itself.  In addition to Myrick, the Forhorns would recognize as the man who had been praying at the church on their earlier visit to Farnworth.

Was there any response to Hewney's words to the locals?

[Have the locals gathered, or does Alvador keep on ringing?]

Pan looks at Mac, "We killed or captured almost all of Eliphas' men who fought against us, only Dak and Eliphas seemed to slip away.  We cost ourselves and the town a heavy price to try and rescue that ungrateful cur.  Given Dak turned on us at our direst time, I'd let it go if he were magically charmed, as it is, I'd just assume see him hung along with the rest of this lot.  Don't forget, if Cannibal wasn't taken down, they'd be slitting our throats about now. Just cause they fell to our spell-crafting doesn't suddenly redeem them"