Ati charges the nearest halfling, hoping to serve its little furry belly a fourth meal it would never forget.  But his footing is off.

02:30, Today: Ati rolled 2 using 1d6+1.
02:30, Today: Ati rolled 6 using 1d20.  To hit wspear. (Unadjusted) fails to hit AC 10
This message was last edited by the player at 06:32, Wed 31 Mar 2021.

 Thertryd only looks like she is about to shrug, when in fact she is hefting her hammer.  The priestess closes the distance with the nearest sleeping halfling, and swipes at them horizontally.  Nothing fancy like when she fights a shield-bearer or a duelist, just plain, direct sweeps.

11:13, Today: Thertryd rolled 14,2 using 1d20,1d6+1 ((14,1)).
Attacking nearest halfling.

Due to the casting time of sleep, Sil's spell doesn't actually go off until the end of the segment, so none of the halflings are asleep when the rest of you act.  Since you pretty much all went for the nearest halfling, that means the boss.

Though the halflings were prepared for trouble, your party still manages to react first.  Walker fires first, but his arrows go wide, and the rest of you charge the halflings' leader.  He's nimble enough to evade most of you, but Lenny and Brian manage three good hits between them.  Sil's spell follows shortly after, leaving the leader unaffected but dropping the four henchmen.  The leader himself was turning to run even before you engaged, and turns to do so now, but in the process he leaves himself open - and that is enough for Lenny to strike a killing blow.

With the leader dead and the other five halflings asleep, the battle is over almost before it began.

19:13, Today: DM Maleketh, on behalf of Lenny, rolled 24,7 using d20+9,d6+3 with rolls of 15,4.  Attack vs. Fleeing Leader.
19:04, Today: DM Maleketh rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,2.  Initiative (Party/Halflings).

Sil'qian watches the halflings drop as their leader falls to the blows of his companions.

"Well done." The elf turns back to the dead body against the west wall, and proceeds to look for any valuables.

He will then do the same on the halfling leader, if no one else does.

"Do we leave these brigands here to wake up, and perhaps track us down with reinforcements, or do we send them to the afterlife now?"

Walker had meant for his shots to be warnings, to get the attention of these bandits and perhaps intimidate them into leaving the party alone... but everything had happened so quickly! The leader and another were dead and the remainder were at their mercy. He looked upon the elf they called Silk and nodded. "That... that is some useful magic. The consequence of which is that now we must make a hard decision."

He rummaged through his pack and produced a length of silken rope. "I've been saving this for a climb or something similar, but this might be the best use for it."

"After that... Maybe we could take them back up top and see if there's some kind of reward? Or, maybe, they'd consider new employment."

Lenny's voice hardens. "They die now or they cause more trouble later."

He considers. "Better with a blade than with my hammer."

OOC 1 Vote for execution. Walker as leader breaks a tie if we have one.

Sil'qian continues to rifle through the humanoids belongings looking for valuables, and does not even look up to add,

"It is blood-thirsty, and I do not like it, but a quick death at our hands is more merciful than I believe they would have given us.

There is no law in the ruin above, Walker.

If we march them to Newmarket what charge would we lay? Collecting an illegal toll in the halls Areden Vul? Or failure to deliver their taxes to the crown on the tolls collected?"

 "Had rope..." Thertryd mumbles as she grasps at her backpack.  "You've all got valid points.  I vote to execute here, and now, as well.  Take them to town, if they don't stab us in the backs or run the way there, they'll swing for sure.  Try and get them on our side... well, don't seem too trustworthy."  She levels her hammer with the sternum of one, but does not really rear back for a swing.  Yet.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:03, Tue 06 Apr 2021.

“Although there is no honor in it, I also vote to execute our sleeping foes, as this is the most practical and efficient course of action.  I do not expect any bards to sing my praises for having done so, of course.  But not every aspect of the adventuring profession is glamorous, and I prefer this to letting an enemy live.”
This message was last edited by the player at 02:36, Tue 06 Apr 2021.

Walker sighed heavily, his cousin's unseen mantle weighing heavily upon him for some reason. "My shots were only intended...," he began again. "Very well, but doing this sets a bad precedent, and it will become easier and easier for us to justify such actions in the future..."

He did not participate in the killing, but forced himself to watch in order that this sort of practice should never become mundane. It was one thing to dispatch monsterous foemen thusly, but doing so against these halflings was something else...

"Killing during a battle is accepted as necessary. Killing someone as they sleep is murder. I will not condone such an action." Brian frowns at his companions as they, one by one, vote to stain their hands with unnecessary blood. "What crime are these people guilty of aside from attempted extortion?" He glances at Atla, "Are lives so cheap that we should toss them away because it is inconvenient?"

 Thertryd seems deep in thought.  She exhales, lowers her hammer, and prepares her holy symbol.  "Zodarrim will tell me who among these brigands is evil, just as he told the patriarchs long ago what delves were most prosperous and what delves were most dangerous... While he did not reveal the nature of the prosperity and danger to the patriarchs, he will not tell me the nature of these halfling's misdeeds."  She seems a bit calm, and a bit eager to play judge, jury, and executioner, but that's adventuring priests for you.

 She begins to intone and gesture, and then focuses on the clump of sleeping halflings.

Detect evil on the sleeping halflings.

Ati leans on his spear and watches with great interest as Thertryd consults her deity.  This was a course of action he had not anticipated.  Admittedly, he had never completely understood the terms ‘good’ and ‘evil.’  Perhaps this was a chance to learn something new.

Thertryd's spell reveals that the halflings are indeed evil.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:59, Tue 06 Apr 2021.

 Thertryd sighs.  "There is indeed a weight of misdeeds about them."  She turns to her companions, the head of her hammer softly tinking on the ground.  "We could let them go, or take them with us and pray that we needn't watch our backs... but ask yourselves this: Do you really want to risk them committing any other misdeeds?  Would you be able to sleep well at night wondering whether they went on to become ferrymen or cobblers, or just as likely went right back to extortion and assuredly worse things?  A cornered goblin will beg for her life, maybe even repent of her actions and promise to never again hurt another living being... only to stab her benefactor in the back the minute it is turned to her."

 She then adds, "If it be more conscionable, we could wake them, and then bring them to rights.  "

Sil'qian finishes dealing with the corpse, and stands. He draws his sword, and walks towards the halflings.

"Thetryd's god has confirmed their inclination, as their actions had already done so."

He whispers, "Go to your god," as he slits throats.

---

No, Sil'qian is not a crazed sociopath; just an elf in an old-school D&D game!

Walker swallowed very hard and tried to say something... several times over, but for some reason he was unable to form words. Both himself and his cousin, Sir Durke, had seen and experienced disquieting deeds, and had committed some of their own during their journeys after taking up the Quest. It was a fine line to walk, hardening one's heart on the one hand or risking becoming cold and murderous on the other.

"Let's at least not leave them laying there," he said quietly. Steeling himself, he began to drag the small bodies over into the corner of the hall, crossing their arms over their chests and closing their eyes. Even though they may have been evil at heart, they probably deserved some degree of dignity in death. Life wasn't always black and white. Who could know these halflings' reasons, even though deific consultation seemed to indicate they were dark of heart.

"I suppose we should continue our search." It would take a little while for enthusiasm to return.

 Seeing his discomfort, Thertryd aids Walker in laying the halflings to rest.  She then takes some Copper Pieces out of her coinpurse and lays one over each halfling's eye.  "...for the ferryman."

 The deeds done, Thertryd takes up her place beside Lenny once again, symbol in one hand and hammer in the other.

Sil'qian is very quiet. Not at all enjoying what he is doing.

Yet, once the bodies are dragged against the wall, he takes the time to search each one for valuables.

"It pains me to say that scavenging dead bodies has been the source of most of our treasure..."

Lenny looks upon the handiwork of Mr. Silk with satisfaction. Six restrained yet decisive incisions later and the work had been done. Lenny ambles up next to the elf and spots a few stray drops of demi-human blood on the exposed skin of his wrist. Amiably, he retrieves a beloved cloth from the depths of his pack and delicates sops up each of the red deposits. Behind, he leaves a smear, despite his great care, of (a) something he had intended to eat on the go or (b) something that had crawled into his pack and had been subsequently crushed by the hurly burly of dungeoneering.

Housekeeping done, he returns to his place next to the font of true beauty.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:44, Wed 07 Apr 2021.

The humanoid seems to be a human man, and rather recently deceased at that.  He doesn't seem to have much in the way of valuables, but Sil does find a scroll tucked into his pants.  The halflings aren't much better.  The spearmen have a handful; of silver coins (58 between the five of them), but otherwise just have mundane spears, studded leather, and slings.  The boss isn't carrying any money, but he does have a potion stashed on his belt.  Less excitingly, he also has a short sword, a dagger, and leather armor.

(Also, I completely failed to mentioned this earlier, but Qadar did notice one oddity about the statue: there's a large open stone chest at its feet, which seems to be build into the base.  The chest is, unfortunately, empty.)

“Has anyone checked that chest for a hidden compartment?  Secrets have been known to hold secrets of their own.”

With the deed done Brian continues to frown. He waits for Sil to finish looting the bodies, then produces his holy symbol and steps forward. "I was less concerned with the contents of their souls than with the contents of our own." Kneeling down over the bodies he nods approvingly at the copper pennies Thertryd had placed in each of their eyes. As his hands present his holy symbol he offers up a short prayer.

"Holy Demma, as you watch over our families and our communities you guide us towards a more perfect life of gentle comforts and fertility. I pray you watch over the departed souls of these people. Judge them fairly and guide them to whatever end their actions have earned. Blessed be your name. Amen."

Rising up from the ground he replaces his holy symbol behind his armor and turns his attention back to the group. "Are we taking any of their armor or weapons with us? Or leaving it for scavengers to find?"

Brian's words, those of them he can follow, find no purchase within Lenny.

"It was their time to die," he reminds the holy man.

He remembers the staked man from the other room, whose bones now dwell within his pack. "Was it his time to die?"

He looks at all of the exits from this central room. Which one would Mr. Silk choose?

“I only have time to kill,” Ati says in good spirits.