Uphill Battle

[Brian]

First of all, status of the defeated:

Thanks to healing magics, none of the survivors (even those in critical condition) need to be left to die.  Phil hasn't bothered sparing any healing attention for the defeated yet, and their own hands are bound.  That being said, two Questioners (of the original six, minus the one that fled), and three knights (of the original nine) are still alive.

Each of the knight figures carried a musket, and each of them also had a horn of powder and a pouch of bullets.  None of their guns were loaded, so they obviously were expecting to use their swords, which are heavy, and of sturdy construction.  The total volume of powder is probably near two kilos, and there's a good 162 bullets total.  In addition, there's nine suits of armor that are too large for Phil.  Taken apart and reassembled, discarding the parts that have been smashed and debliterated, Tom could get two former-thrall-sized suits of armor.

Beyond that, it appears that a good deal of their gear was on the horses that were being led away.  Each horse (there are six of them) has a bedroll, all the normal horse equipment (saddle, bridle, etc.) and a saddlebag with water and grain in it.  The only other items are clothing, grooming supplies (combs, soap), and writing materials -- all of it either blank, or more copies of the church bible.

The freed men have tied up the captives, and then gone so far as to gag them with strips of their own clothing.  Maybe a good idea, all things considered.  If Phil doesn't intervene, or Tom doesn't allow one of the priests to, one of the knights is going to bleed to death within the hour.

[Carthrat]

"Phil, take care of the wounded- as well as can be done, I guess," permits Tom. "Simmons, distribute the swords- they're a better fit than the sabers. See if you can get the armour cleaned up, too."

Curiously, Tom's eyes flicker over the knights- was Garcia one of the survivors?

[Brian]

Garcia was in fact a survivor.  His armor wasn't, really, thanks to a large, cudgel-ey dent.  At the moment, he's unconscious, with a rather large welt on his forehead.  His helm is one of those in the heap of armor.

Seven approaches the armor and begins wiping it clean with spare clothing from one of the dead knights.  Nine asks, "What about bodies?"

[Carthrat]

"Good question.. I guess we should bury them," replies Tom, at length. "Or whatever the local customs say. Phil?"

[Dracos]

"Mmm, not as well as hoped at all," Dracos began his chant and touched the man with his hands of glowing healing, only using a minimum amount to ensure that he would not die pre-emptively.  He looked over the others, healing as needed to ensure none would die, though being somewhat spiteful from being stabbed, he didn't spend his energy to ensure they were all completely healed.

He briefly consulted with Tom, considering what to do and letting them stew for a moment.  "They don't seem to have anything important written...  Nor any means of quickly communicating between places outside of horseback.  I may pull from them the details of their chase of me...  but what else do we want to do?  I could try to lead them upon the path of righteousness or whatnot, but somehow I doubt that'll work with heretic hunters."

OOC:
Dracos> roll 1d6 healing
<Hatbot>
ACTION --> "Dracos rolls 1d6 healing and gets 2." [1d6=2]

[Brian]

Phil is able to stop the bleeding, and curb his healing power to make sure that the wounds aren't gone.  The unconscious knights still don't wake up immediately, but the Questioners are now glaring daggers at Phil.

[Carthrat]

"What *were* you hoping?" mutters Tom, rolling his eyes, which continue to bulge out of their sockets by the time Phil's done.

"Anyway. Can't you use your psychic powers on them? Then we can save the questioning and just keep them as prisoners. Maybe ransom them for safe passage somewhere... I dunno, I don't wanna just kill them or let them go."

[Dracos]

"I can try...harder to pull it over," Dracos agreed.

Answering Tom's question, he continued "And really, I was hoping to silence them.  We found out a fair bit already about the church's capabilities.  Notice that they were wielding muskets, rather than anything more advanced.  It could be there's a strict ordianance they hold to as regards what tech goes where, but I didn't see anything like that in the scrolls.  They also have no technology to allow rapid communication.  So even though they'll know due to that escaped priest, we can know that when we do things, it will take time for their leadership to even receive that knowledge before reacting.  It also means we're in a lot safer position as a mobile target, since the best they can do is identify places we were several days ago, rather than get immediate notification of where we are now.  We also know two forms of their arsenal, the templars and the thralls, alongside a bit on how they tend to work.  It isn't  pleasant, but we're loads more informed already than we were a few hours ago and now they don't have anyone cleanly on our tail, though that won't stick."

[Carthrat]

"One of them already got away," replies Tom, through gritted teeth. "So letting a few more go wouldn't matter... and call me whatever you want, but I find that preferable to slaughtering them now.

"I'd much rather keep them as prisoners. It's doubtful they'll escape, and- hell, what're they going to do to *us*?"

[Dracos]

Over his shoulder before walking over to the prisoners, "Being the one most likely to be shot over such, I would rather you not say such lines."

Dracos finished heading back towards them and considering which was the highest ranking one, if there was any notice. If not he sits by the one most undamaged, looking over him for starters and taking in the small hints, is this a man wrathful, is he frightened or confused...

He watched with his eyes the man's thoughts, attempting to listen in on any surface thoughts or reflections on the path recently traveled.

OOC:
<Dracos> roll 3d6 analyze (social)
<Hatbot>
ACTION --> "Dracos rolls 3d6 analyze (social) and gets 14." [3d6=3, 5, 6 : Versus 13

Bringing over 3 dice of telepathy real quick

<Dracos> roll 3d6 telepathy
<Hatbot>
ACTION --> "Dracos rolls 3d6 telepathy and gets 7." [3d6=1, 2, 4

Man I wish those dice rolls were reversed.

edit splitting to make rat's comment less confusing

[Brian]

The first man Phil eyes, though they don't have any obvious symbols of rank to indicate that one is higher, looks frightened and angry.  Hard to read, socially, but then, this is a very atypical social situation.  Him being bound and gagged, and all.

Trying to read into the man's thoughts reaches directly into an iron wall of mental resistance -- Phil can't even get a surface emotion.

[Dracos]

OOC: Switching to pulling 3 points persuade, 3 points deduct, and 3 points conversation.

IC:
"It would be best to prevent unnecessary bloodshed," He remarked in almost a sad tone.  "Perhaps instead... we could talk?" Dracos ungagged the man, and watched his response.  "On right and wrong..."

OOC:
Let me know whenever you want me to roll stuff.  Figure I'll be using some mixture of conversation, oratory, and persuasion through this, with possibly a bit of deduction to lead him into dialogue traps.

[Brian]

"Right and wrong?" the man says, trembling.  "Deacon Bloom, you are a blight and a shame upon us!"

[Dracos]

"I am a blight among a church that has lost itself in excess and savagery.  Who would take a man from his home and rip his very being from him," He intoned, his eyes penetrating as he solemnly continued.  "I break from this because it is wrong.  Because we have lost the way.  We have the knowledge, but not the divine understanding or right."

Dracos is keeping very close track of the man through every word.  Primarily, one of his concerns is seeing how very deeply these concepts are ingrained within the clergy.

Dracos

[Brian]

Well, in this priest, at least, they're very firm.  That doesn't mean that non-Questioner priests might be more open minded, of course.  At a glance, however, all Phil is doing is stirring up his ire.

"The Church has a duty to protect its people!  With our power comes a grave and terrible responsibility.  Would you have us allow the holy shroud that protects us be torn down, as those heathen Anabarites do?  Then we'd all be damned -- lost to the eternal fires of Sun and, the ices of Luna!"

These are interesting words; they did not appear in Phil's bible, but this man puts peculiar stress on them.