Felix yells into the mine.

"This mine belongs to us now, and I fully expect you lot to be gone by the time I come back with reinforcements!"

Walking back to the others, he asks "So what do we do with these two? Let them go? Take them to jail? I'm open to ideas."

Arkady looks down at the man on the ground. "So, who is in there?"

He's going to try to get a read on these two.

"Nobody!" snaps the man, angrily.

Arkady takes a good look at the angry man.

Arkady: Empathy: +5 Roll: +0 Total: +5
Bandit: Resolve: +1 Roll: -2 Total: -1

The man is, to put it bluntly, frightened, and trying to cover it in bluster and swearing. As far as he is concerned, he and his fellow - bandits? - well, he and his fellows, anyhow - were perfectly safe up here, where there was shelter and nobody ever comes. Then this bunch of strangers turns up out of nowhere, takes him down like it was nothing, and proceeds to evict him and his fellows from their nice, comfortable cave (from which they are no doubt planning further acts of banditry). He thinks that there's a good chance that you're going to kill him, and he's determined to be as uncooperative with you as possible in the meantime.

Insofar as he has a single motivating principle, is appears to be that he is Spiteful.

Felix binds the other bandit as he did the first.

"These guys aren't worth our time. We can pawn their weapons for food, though..."

Felix relieves them of all their weapons. As he does so, he looks at the men.

"I want you folks out of here. This mine belongs to us now and I'm coming back with a crew to relieve you of it right and proper."

Arkady nods, and turns to the other one. "So who was it that threw you from the mine?"

Trying to get a read on him too.

Both bandits express their displeasure at being tied up in a burst of foul language.

However, neither is in a position to do much more than that.



"None o' yer business, lawman!"

Like his friend, this Bandit is Spiteful when cornered; more concerned with disadvantaging someone he thinks of as an enemy than advantaging himself. The more he's forced into something, the more he rebels against it; tied up and humiliated as he is, he'd cut off his nose to spite his face in an instant if his face had been the one humiliating him.

"I think we've done all we can here. Let's head out. If they're still here when we get back we'll roust them out by force if necessary. "

Felix waits until everyone has their back turned and is on their way out. Once out of sight, he grabs the nearest bandit by the hair, lifts his head up, and whispers in his ear.

"If you animals aren't gone by the time I get back I'll kill the whole lot of you."

Felix picks up the remaining crossbow and leaves.

Tag Bound and Restrained, Afraid, Disadvantaged, and Taken out in One Turn to boost intimidation roll. Attempting to place aspect Afraid for my Life.

Arkady polices up his brass then goes. Before he's quite out of sight he glances back to make sure the bandits are still alive. Felix is starting to get a bit intense. But that aside, on the way down the hill he comments: "We should tell the town about those men. They may come this way before they go."

No matter how many times you rename it, you can't tag the same Aspect more than once. However, you do get a bonus to Intimidate - over and above the Aspect - for your opponent being currently helpless.

Felix: Intimidation: +0 Aspect: Thoroughly Defeated: +2 Roll: +0 Total: +2
Bandit: Resolve: +1 Roll: +3 Helplessness: -2 Total: +2

From the volume of the swearing that both bandits emit, Arkady can tell that they're both about as healthy as can be expected - and Felix can tell that they're probably not quite as intimidated as he might like.

--------------

Heading down the wider path brings you most of the way down the mountain, on a more circuitous route but an easier slope. When you get to the base, near the bridge, though, you find out why you didn't find this route on your way up - an old avalanche has blocked it. Nothing you can't scramble over on foot - and nothing that can't be cleared with the help of a few explosives - but it does make the road very hard to see from the lower end.

You might also want to replace the wooden bridge over the gorge with something a bit sturdier before you start bringing trucks up here.

Nonetheless, there is definitely both iron and gold up there (possibly other minerals as well) and you know of no impediments to mining them that can't be handled by a well-guarded Terran mining team.

So. Where to next?

"I vote we split up. Arkady and Roger go with Sir Ulath to see Vanire about our promise to the good Count Stoke. We should probably give him a radio so we can communicate long distances with him. Nate and I head back to the colony and set up a mining caravan to come deal with the mine. Then we meet back up and go back to trading and chasing rumors for magic."

Felix grumbles a bit but makes no other indication of what he did or said to the bandits.

While they're still here, Felix will see if anyone in the village wants to buy some gently used daggers and crossbows.

Arkady goes looking for the local law enforcement types while they're there and tips them off about their neighbors. He also inquires of Sir Ulath which is closer to Chyrellos; the capitol or Fangorn Forest.

"I would be happier staying together. It will only cost us a day, and that priest of Zemoch worries me."

"If you're worried about it we can stick together. Vanire. Mining Caravan. Trading and Rumors. Does anyone object?"

Thinking for a moment, Felix turns to Sir Ulath.

"Will anyone object to us taking over the mine?"

The local farmers don't seem to have any particular desire for crossbows, but Felix can trade the daggers for a small supply of bread and vegetables if he likes.

Local law enforcement is told about the bandits, and promises to look into the matter. Since local law enforcement seems to consist of a single elderly sheriff, he might need to call in some backup to actually deal with the bandits, and it's probably a good idea for the mining team to be prepared to deal with bandits themselves.

Sir Ulath's maps are consulted. As the crow flies, the capitol is slightly closer to Chyrellos - and the way that the roads go, the quickest route from Fangorn to Chyrellos passes right by the capitol in any case (there's a major highway directly from there to Chyrellos).

Incidentally, Chyrellos is not part of one of the Elene kingdoms - rather, it is a point where several of the separate Elene kingdoms meet, and is considered out of the jurisdiction of all of them (hence, known as the Free City of Chyrellos). Since it is also the residence of the Arch-Prelate, one can make a number of mental comparisons to Vatican City on Earth.

"Doubtful," says Sir Ulath. "The bandits took over. If there had been an owner, he's lost it. You could always petition the Crown for the deed, but I don't think the Primate likes you much."

Arkady chuckles. "I can not imagine why not. Well, let us be on our way."