DnD-style roleplay!

[Nail Strafer]

"AAAAAGH!"

The wolf's arm bone nearly popped out of place, as Chadin yanked it up. The deer's throw sent him flying at the bandit who had Chadin's back just before. However, the time it took to throw the wolf gave the bandit enough time to sidestep.

Augustine started to get up to help Chadin, but a heavy hand immediately clamped down on his shoulder. The bandit behind him put the sword point against Augustine's lower back, poking him hard enough to where he could feel the tip against his flesh.

"I wouldn't do that." He then turned to his friends. "FELLAS! Stop!"

The other two bandits looked over towards Augustine, chuckling a bit as they saw the situation. Meanwhile, the wolf roared out his anger as he climbed to his feet and brushed his coat off. While he seethed with rage, he did give Chadin a chance to talk.

"Well, since we've got a hostage now, I think we're going to do things the hard way, as you put it. Give me your weapons."

Augustine remained still, aside from his eyes. They darted around, looking at everything on the ground in front of him and in his peripheral vision. He needed to find something just within arm's reach he might be able to use as a weapon.

[Chadin]

[Sorry for the delay. One part writers block, one part unable to think of a way out of this mess that doesn't come off as 'super-human']

Chadin shrugged, seemingly not all that intimidated by the bandit's demands to hand over his weapons. "You asked for it." In a flash, Chadin's hand grabbed hold of his knife, yanked it from it's sheath and flung the knife, aiming right between the eyes of the bandit holding Augustine. Given the awkward nature of the throw, Chadin didn't expect the blade to hit the bandit, but even a sideways, or ideally a direct hit from the haft of the blade would cause the bandit's eyes to water and inflict a significant amount of pain, giving Augustine time to get into the fight.

This of course would leave Chadin unarmed, in theory at least, but Chadin never liked to heap all his eggs in one basket anyway. His attention quickly turned to the other bandits; one of which if he chose to fight would be doing so from a handicap which substantially increased the odds in his favor.

[Nail Strafer]

[It's funny. The reason I had Augustine get caught was because *I* couldn't think of a good way for him to get out of being a hostage without it feeling like BS. I was hoping to lead us down the path of having a tense standoff, but oh well.]

The bandit holding up Augustine just managed to catch sight of the throwing movement, before he ducked back down behind his hostage. But in the process, Augustine felt the sword tip move away from his back. The hybrid reached around over his shoulder with his right arm, grabbed the man's left hand, and pulled as hard as he could. The bandit hollered as he suddenly got flung forward by the grab and pull. He accidentally put one foot in the campfire, which set his pant leg alight. Yelling and screaming, he rolled on the ground and worked frantically to put it out.

"Marco!" another bandit called out, this one a Terrier dog. Growling, he returned his gaze to Augustine. Gritting his teeth, he charged straight at the hybrid, swinging his sword in a wide arc as he came closer. "You'll pay for that!"

Augustine just barely had enough time to draw his sword and block the attack. The pair of them struggled together, pushing back and forth and trying to knock each other off balance.

Meanwhile, the wolf leader and his last henchmen (a wolfdog) both stared down Chadin. Grimacing at Chadin, the wolf rubbed his arm in pain. It still hurt quite a bit, especially after that move the deer had pulled on him.

"Alfonso, you go get him," the wolf said to the wolfdog.

"Right boss!" Alfonso barked, pulling out his sword. Alfonso extended his arm as far as he could, swinging the blade in a wide arc at the deer. After seeing those martial arts moves, he obviously was planning on keeping his distance.

The wolf stood off to the side, watching and waiting for Chadin to move farther away from Geoffrey.

[Chadin]

Chadin stepped back wary of the glistening sword. And yet, Chadin couldn't help but notice that the bandit was hardly attacking him so much as keeping him at a distance. He was scared of him. More importantly, he'd never be able to strike him unless he took a more aggressive tactic. It also meant the bandit's attacks, given he seemed to be trying to keep Chadin away, were somewhat predictable.

Chadin would keep stepping back, closer and closer to the base of the tree, waiting for the bandit to either make an obvious mistake or for him to leave an unexpected opening for him to strike.

[Nail Strafer]

"You coward! Get in closer Alfonso!" the wolf called out to the wolfdog attacking Chadin.

Gulping, Alfonso ever so gingerly followed after Chadin, keeping his sword up and pointed at the deer at all times. He obviously didn't want to follow the boss's orders, but he was afraid of getting taken out by Chadin's moves like the last guy. As the deer moved closer to the base of the tree, Alfonso decided it was time to make a move before his boss yelled at him again. He decided he'd do a simple quick thrust directly at Chadin.

Meanwhile, the push back and forth between Augustine and the Terrier continued. Eventually Augustine decided he'd had enough of this. With one more push forward to temporarily knock the terrier off balance, Augustine stomped hard on the Terrier's foot. For his trouble, the hybrid got a nice loud howl. Augustine followed that up by slamming into him with his shoulder, knocking the Terrier backwards and onto the ground.

[I feel like this post could be better but I think I've waited too long to post. I really think it was a mistake introducing a fight scene at this point.]

[Chadin]

[DnD DM rule #1: Always expect the players to turn a situation into a fight scene. Even more so when said player knows a few clever fighting moves. ^_^]

The stab was just what Chadin was waiting for. As the stab came in, Chadin hollowed out his body as he stepped off to his left, away from the tree. Simultaneously, he used his height and greater reach to slam his outstretched left hand over the bandit's sword hand, deflecting the attack. His other hand quickly followed up, taking a firm hold on the bandit's sword arm as he pulled the bandit closer still. Exploiting the bandit's already existing forward momentum and the added energy given by pulling him along Chadin raised his elbow up, ready to slam it straight into the bandit's exposed face.

[Nail Strafer]

Surprised by the attack, Alfonso dropped his sword and got a nice elbow in the muzzle. It almost looked like a cartoon, as the muzzle appeared to crumple a bit from the impact. Alfonso was a bit too stunned from the impact to do much else, as he fell backwards with his hands clutched to his face, almost looking like he was crying from the hit.

Terrier tried to get up after Augustine knocking him to the ground, but Augustine was already standing over him with a sword pointed at his throat.

"Don't move."

A triumphant laugh could be heard from the area outside the campsite. It sounded like Wolfie. The forgotten wolf leader soon appeared again, this time holding Geoffrey in front of him with a knife to his throat. Despite his injuries and the humiliating defeat of his men, Wolfie looked pretty damn smug.

"All right! We're going to do it right this time! You..." Wolfie pointed at Augustine. "Get that sword out of Terry's face."

Augustine looked back at Wolfie with impassiveness, as if he were asking about the weather. "No."

Wolfie's grin instantly vanished, as his eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"You'll just kill him as soon as I let your friend go. He is leverage for us, just as much as Geoffrey is for you. Why throw away our advantage when it cancels out yours?"

Wolfie frowned, keeping both Chadin and Augustine in sight as he held up Geoffrey for a shield.

"Why do you trust this human anyway? He's got to be lying to you about seeing the Lanigiros."

[Chadin]

"And what makes you so certain of that?" Chadin spoke up at last as he plucked the bandit's fallen sword off the ground and tossed it far off into the bush somewhere.

"You were surprised when we first mentioned where we were going. What's so special about the one's who live there? What is it you seem to know that we don't?" Chadin pressed again, somewhat casually walking back over to where his kit lay beside the fire, keeping an eye on the bandit lying on the ground clutching his nose.

"Now, you can either answer the question, or we can all sit here at a stand-off all night until I lose my patience again. I've already lost my patience once tonight. Don't make me lose it again." Chadin added with a threatening tone.

[Nail Strafer]

Wolfie narrowed his eyes a bit at Chadin's threats, then he glared at his other men. One who got his pant leg on fire. One with his nose possibly broken. And one that got thrown round like a ragdoll. Such a miserable, miserable showing. Four of them beaten so soundly by a deer and a scrawny fox. But maybe now the tables would turn with a hostage. In any case, he decided to answer the deer's question.

"Provenan is said to be one of the first, if not THE first settlement just for beast folk. And the Lanigiros are the ones who founded it many generations ago. They are the wealthiest beast folk family in the whole world. I don't see why they wouldn't just go to a beast folk doctor. So far as anyone knows, humans have never seen, let alone set foot in Provenan. It needs to stay that way."

"So who made you the sheriff in charge of keeping humans out of Provenan?" Augustine asked, suddenly butting in. "You four sure don't look like the law. I'm pretty sure vigilantism is a crime on top of being a bandit too."

Wolfie growled. He couldn't believe these two just couldn't see things their way, even though it was about their shared kind.

"Why should it only be the law's job to keep humans out? This is a problem that concerns every beast folk here, not just us. If you value this human's life, then you should turn around now and take him back to whatever hovel you picked him up in. You think we're bad?"

He waved to his other men with his free hand. Although as he did it, he looked kind of embarrassed as he observed the injuries.

"Anyway... When you get closer to Provenan, it just won't be bandits. It'll be the law. And every other self-respecting beast folk you just happen to come across. Are you ready to fight and kill everyone you meet on the pathway just to get this human where he wants to go?"

Meanwhile, Geoffrey just looked around wild-eyed, but otherwise keeping very quiet and very still. He figured it would be best to just let his captor say his piece, so he'd stay nice and calm.

[Chadin]

"I very much doubt your ilk are a fair representation of an entire village, no matter how old it may be. At the very least, I'm sure they can be reasoned with, unlike you." Chadin replied coolly. "The very fact this family reached out to a human doctor might well speak of how dire and desperate the situation is. If this family is so important, don't you think you are doing a disservice by obstructing us? As for the law, we will cross that bridge when we reach it."

Chadin bent down, grabbing his long bow from his kit and drawing as single arrow from his quiver. "Now, I grow tired of this pointless rambling." Chadin notched the arrow and pulled the bowstring back, leveling his aim directly between the wolf's eyes. "Release Geoffrey, take your associates and walk away with your tails between your legs and never trouble us again... or I will lodge this arrow straight through your skull. And do not test me. You already saw me throw a knife out of it's sheath and still hit your companion between the eyes. I assure you, my aim with my bow is even better. Decide quickly. This long bow has a very hefty draw weight. I won't be able to hold it for long."