Snippet #2535256

"You know...you're very, um...good at this sort of stuff." The horned man just grinned wider at the bird girl's comment and began leading the group out the door. "I've found that," He started, "sometimes, the threat of violence is more effective than actual violence. You just need to convince someone that pain is in the realm of possibility. Of course, it does help that I have a such handsome face that people have trouble saying no to."

As Bliston marched out of the office he grabbed the attention of the first two soldier he found. Since nobody had gone to get the commander like he asked the horned man had to get somebody else to go flag him down. One solider was asked to do just that, the other he instructed to head back to office and detain the captured bandit. He also asked where the nearest lake was for a better reference for the camps location. With that out of the way the party made their move down to the stable where the wagon and their supplies were.

"Now, it would be nice if we could just run in there, swords swinging. Being a bunch of roving thugs, I doubt many of them have much discipline for being on the defensive." He grunted as he hefted his war-club out of the wagon and began checking his weapons.

"However, with the peasants in their hands, they could probably just drag them out and use them as living shields." Bliston personally didn't care if they did that, but considering said peasants were the reason they were getting dragged into this mess, he had a feeling that a few in the group could be cowed into hesitation by such a move. "So, in order to remove that potential option from their use, we will need to find a means of separating the hostages from them before we hit them full on. And to that end..." He returned to face the rest of the party. "We'll need a distraction."

Resting against the wagon he flicked a glance towards the green haired mage. "Bird girl, can you levitate other people?"

Noticing she was being addressed, Sylphine began to reply, when suddenly a message from Pirika interrupted her thought process again. Bad news, Sylphine. The info the bandit gave us was correct, yeah...but the entire camp seems to be in high alert mode. It's probably because you guys took out too many of them. You'd better be careful!

...oh no, Sylphine thought, knowing this could spell disaster. "Bad news, everyone...I had my familiar go over to the bandits' camp to see if that guy we captured was lying. It was exactly as he described it, yeah, but...they all seem to be on edge right now, since Adrian and I took out a bit too many of them for comfort. Will this affect anything?"

Bliston groused to himself for a moment. "I figured they'd probably get skittish once a few of their members failed to check in." He rubbed his chin. "I was hoping we could get there before they went on alert but..." He shrugged. "Never-mind it for now. We'll deal with it when we get there. In the mean time though I asked you a question. Can you levitate another person?" He stared hard at her as he asked this.

The emerald-haired girl felt herself tense up a bit from the stare, but she returned it with a look that was...probably just as (un)friendly. "I could pick up more of you, yes. What of it?"

The daemon squatted down and began drawing symbols in the dirt with his fingers. "Lets say this is the bandit camp." He said, pointing to one drawing. "And this here is the cliff above it." He continued to draw a few more 'locations' on his impromptu 'battle map'. "Now, if we are to pull this off correctly, we'll need to draw their full attention towards one particular direction. We'll call the group doing the distracting team 'A'." He drew an arrow facing outwards from the camp, towards an 'A' symbol. "While team A is getting their attention, a second group, team 'B', that will be positioned up on the cliff behind the camp, and will attempt to move down to get to where the hostages are. Either to free them, or at least cut the bandits off from direct access to them. That is where your levitation comes in."Sylphine nodded in understanding.

"That just leaves a reserve team on standby to deal with any unforeseen circumstance, and to reinforce once we've gotten the peasants out of immediate danger." Bliston leaned back, contemplating his work and the glancing about to the assembled party. "So now it's a question of who goes in which team."

He looked thoughtful as he pondered out the arrangements. "The distracting team would have to be both noticeable and a bit sturdy. So I'd volunteer myself for that role. And, perhaps the Vasqueran girl for support." He paused, then rubbed his chin. "Well," he said to no one in particular. "Any preferences?"