Private Tales The Plight of Cinderwood

[Dimitrius Tirtius]

Cinderwood was a troubled town. Not that it’s people were particularly violent or troubled, or that it was in any way out of the ordinary. It was troubled by a large group of bandits that had essentially taken control of the town and the surrounding villages. Of course, this was kept out of the knowledge of authorities, which is why they hadn’t been driven out. They frequently came in, demanding payment in the form of money, weapons, armor and “tithes” which were usually humans demanded for slave labor. Travelers were either allowed to pass through while uninformed, and if they discovered anything about what was going on, they’d be held there as a captive.

One such visitor was a little less inclined to be trifled with than most, and he had with him two other men. He wore a lorica, musculata, a muscled chest and backplate that looked precisely like the ideal form of a man, ripped muscles all over, and was wrought of high quality steel. His helmet had hinged cheekplates and covered everything except his face, and bore a horsehair plume on top. He wore bracers, graves and carried a tall, rectangular shield that went from his chin down to his knees when standing upright. His retinue of two soldiers were similarly equipped, with their armor being consisted of segmented plates of steel and with horizontal crests atop their helmets. All of them bore the Scutum shield and gladius sword, and red cape that reached their ankles.

They marched into the town, and tried to get a few rooms in the local tavern, but not without attracting attention from the Bandits’ inside men. Also in the tavern was a small woman with cat ears, which caught his curious gaze for a moment or two before he moved on. The bandits who were watching the public places, specifically the ones in the tavern, kept a close eye on both newcomers, and intended to exploit them. This did not exclude Sienna Barok.

 

[Sienna Barok]

The young feline glanced up as she heard the newcommers enter the tavern, she noticed three men clad in steel. Out of habit she murmered to herself softly "Neck, armpits, thighs and the back of the knees" if anyone would've asked her what she had just said she could not repeat it. Her cautious nature automatically made her seek out all weak points that a possible enemy could have, she glanced down at the food infront of her.
A sloppy home made oatmeal that didn't really taste like anything, at least it seemed edible.
Taking a look at her own clothing in comparrison to the three steel clad men she smiled, she was wearing her red and black top hoodie with a skirt and soft ankle boots. Not exactly the clothing of a warrior she thought to herself.

Sienna had left her weapons up in her room, it didn't really matter to her if they were to be taken by the bandits since she could always remake them. So far she had spent 5 days in the village after it was taken over, she had been spending her time trying to figure out who the inside men were.
She had been hired after all to try and free the village from the bandits' grasp, she took another glance around to her left and right, very carefully making sure not to turn her head too much but just enough not to draw any suspicions.

Far from finishing her food she stood up, left some coins on the table and started making her way towards the door. Anyone paying close attention to her would have noticed she had not left the food on the table but instead took it with her. The blue hue of her eyes drew in all attention of those who looked at her, if not her eyes they would be looking at her ears and tail.
Lionmen were not common around these parts, especially not the females. taking a small detour towards the door she eventually passed the three newcommers. As she passed them her eyes drilled themselves in those of who seemed to be their leader. The feline stopped in her tracks and leaned over slightly, her face was getting incredibly close to that of the man she leaned towards. She then whispered softly "Try not to look, the two men sitting at the bar counter as well as the three sitting in the far corner are all bandits... don't cause any trouble if you don't want them to jump you".

Leaving the newcommers with those words she dissapeared through the door and walked towards one of the houses across the street, she put the food down infront of the door and knocked a few times. The feline returned to the tavern and made her way up to her room without giving a second glance at those who had just entered or anyone else in the tavern.
Closing the door behind her she hoped the men would listen to her words, if not it could mess up everything she had done so far. Dimitrius Tirtius

 

[Dimitrius Tirtius]

The feline stopped in her tracks and leaned over slightly, her face was getting incredibly close to that of the man she leaned towards. She then whispered softly "Try not to look, the two men sitting at the bar counter as well as the three sitting in the far corner are all bandits... don't cause any trouble if you don't want them to jump you".

He was no stranger to difficult and delicate situations, so her warning, though taken with caution, was heeded, and his eyes moved through the room and spied the five enemies. He whispered a speedy thanks to the cat lady and gestured with his chin towards the two groups of bandits with his chin, telling his men who to keep tabs on. They did so, but the gestures weren’t unnoticed, and when’s they went upstairs to their rooms a few minutes later, the three men followed them upstairs. But unbeknownst to them, an ambush had been set, and the three bandits were swiftly bound viciously by the three soldiers.

The two others went after the cat lady who had clearly given the newcomers hints. They would attack her with the typical coordination of bandits, which is to say minor coordination.

Dimitrius was busy interrogating the bandits, and it took a while but he eventually got them to crack under threat of skinning them alive and hanging their mangled bodies by their intestines in the town square. He didn’t have all of the answers then, but he did have a reason to stay in the village. First, he’d need to find the cat lady, well, first he had to dispose of the bodies of the bandits, then he had to find her.

 

[Sienna Barok]

Having closed the door behind herself the feline leaned against it for a brief moment, she sighed with her eyes closed. She was pretty sure the bandits knew what she had done, if there was anything those sneaky thugs were good at it was underhanded stuff like bullying the weak. Sienna kept her eyes closed for a few minutes, she heard the stumbling of people walking up the stairs and a few seconds later the rough sounds of people scuffling about in the room next to her. Guessing it were the bandits trying to quiet the three strangers she smiled "Those bandits have no idea what they're getting themselves into, those steel clad men are strong" she thought to herself.

A few minutes later she heard whispers right outside her door, wasting no time she moved towards the head of her bed and grabbed hold of her halberd. She had just barely turned around and two filthy clothed males bursted into her room, all they saw was a small feline with a short staffed halberd.
Sienna crossed the halberd infront of herself and her usually warm and friendly eyes suddenly looked like those of a wild and dangerous animal. The pupils in her eyes had turned to small splits and to the bandits their concern the girl started to grimace "You must be seeking death to be bursting into my room like this, i will give you one chance only to turn around and leave, if not you will lose more than just your jobs" she spoke in a quiet yet ominous tone.

Despite her speaking softly the words carried over clearly to the bandits, they looked at each other then one of them started chuckling "Hahaha what can a little girl do by herself?", starting to move closer and closer the man on the left suddenly stopped. His companion looked at his fellow bandit and noticed he was drenched in sweat and just staring blankly at the feline infront of them.
Following the gaze of the other man he too suddenly broke out in a sweat, he didn't understand how a small girl like Sienna could exert this much pressure.

Taking their advancement as an answer to her warning Sienna took a deep breath, she shut her eyes only for a second or two. When she opened them she completely relaxed her shoulders and her eyes showed a small glimmer of light. A child that was crying outside because of the loss of their doll by the hands of some other children suddenly stopped. The moment the child stopped crying the feline jumped forward and in a swift motion of her short staffed halberd she disposed of the two bandits, Sienna stood up right and looked down at the motionless bodies in front of her "Such a waste of life, they should've realised they never stood a chance" she spoke softly. Covering their faces with some cloth she grabbed the rest of her belongings and left the room, she went downstairs and asked for a different one.
Setting down her stuff in her new room she sighed and stretched, finally she could sleep after a long two days of research and fighting.
Dimitrius Tirtius

 

[Dimitrius Tirtius]

“Let me make this plain and simple.” Dimitrius said to the three bandits. “You are going to tell me what I need to know, and your going to do it without lying.”

“Idiot, you think that you can put us on the run? Or stand up without being knocked down again? We own this town, and now that you got yourself involved, you aren’t going to leave here alive. You idiots are dead!” One of the three assailants bragged.

“Then you should have no reason not to tell me what I want to know.” He said calmly. “What do you and your people want out of this town?”

No answer.

“How long have you been in power?”

Still no answer.

The next question, “how many of you are there?” Still had no answer.

Sighing Dimitrius pulled out a dagger. “I’m starting to loose my patience. Gag him.”

One of the two soldiers obliged, shoving a rolled sheet into his mouth then cut the shirt off of him. (Censored scene due to extreme violence and excessive blood C=< ). After Dimitrius had his men throw the Now skinless bandit in the corner none too gently, and since skinning itself wasn’t immediately fatal, he felt the impact even more than a normal person would, not that he wasn’t already in a lot of pain. So Dimitrius turned to the two remaining, now horrified brigands and spoke.

“If you wish to avoid such unpleasantness, I suggest that you answer my questions.” The now blood covered Dimitrius said, slipping the dagger point under the chin of the second brigand and lifting his gaze while crouching down to meet his eye. “Are we going to have any more problems? Or are you going to answer my questions and avoid ending up like your friend there?”

The bandit, with the sight of his mutilated friend and the feeling of the bloody dagger under is chin as well as the cold, cruel gaze of the Legatus in front of him, also covered in blood, was enough to convince him to comply.

“We came here to get regular tribute from the town, gold, weapons, ale and some women. Most of us guard the roads and patrol the forests to make sure that messages aren’t sent out for help.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Four months, we’ve been collecting biweekly tribute for four months.”

“How many of you are there?”

“Our chief managed to get a few hundred together, six or seven hundred total.”

“And where do you hide out when not in the town?”

“A fortified camp roughly three leagues north of the town.”

“Thank you.” Dimitrius says, right before cutting his throat open, the other bandit’s Adam’s Apple was swiftly cut open by the soldier behind him. He sent one of his men, the sneakier of the two, to put the two bodies in the middle of the town, while he and the other removed the other man’s intestines, made a noose out of them, and tied them to a lantern post somewhere near the middle of the city. Than on one of the walls, in blood, Dimitrius himself wrote one word, WAR.

Then, he went to find the cat woman, they had much to discuss. Coming back into the tavern, earning a nervous glance from the tavern keeper he asked. “The woman with cat ears, which room is she in?”

“Th-the third sir.”

“Thank you,” so Dimitrius walked upstairs and knocked on the door, once let inside he’d have his two soldiers stand guard outside the door. “You and I have much to discuss.”

 

[Sienna Barok]

After leaving the corpses of the two thugs in her old room and went downstairs to get a new room she was finally able to relax, she closed her eyes and sighed as she leaned against the now closed door behind her. In doing so she was able to hear muffled voices from a few rooms over, the voices stopped after a few minutes and Sienna decided it was time for her to lay down in the bed for a while.
As she put her head on the pillow she heard the slight creaking of the floorboards out in the hallway followed by a couple of knocks on her door. A little bit annoyed that people kept pestering her as she was just trying to get some sleep she put on her belt and walked up to the door holding one of her two small hand-axes. Upon opening the door she was suprised to see the three men from earlier that evening, Sienna had not expected them to come up to her. She quickly stepped back a little bit and let the small hand-axe hang losely from the loop on her belt.

The serious look on her face changed to more of a passive look, the bright blue hue of her eyes leveled themselves with the eyes of the men opposed to her. Letting the silence drag on for a few more seconds as she gathered her mind to be able to speak without any agression, the feline finally spoke "Good evening noble warriors, were you visited by some of those bandits as well?". Her tone was flat and one could hear a small undertone of caution in it were they listening carefully.

Realising she still stood in a fighting position she straightened herself, then without waiting on an answer she walked over to the window and opened it "There was a child crying outside earlier, I wonder if those thugs caused the child to cry" she said to the warriors as she looked outside to the streets noticing the body hanging from the lantern post.
She turned around and the look on the feline's face momentarily saddened "It is kind of sad to see humans throwing away their lives whilst fighting those who are clearly stronger". Sienna leaned against the window sill and waited to hear the men their reactions. Dimitrius Tirtius

 

[Dimitrius Tirtius]

The Cat lady answered the door axe in hand, he could only assume that she had been attacked as they were. He stepped in whilst the two guards remained outside. He didn’t respond to the cat lady’s questions but rather waited for her to be finished before saying what he had intended to say.

“You knew about what was happenings, at least to some degree and you warned us. So I can only assume that means that you’re our ally in this mess. I need information, I’ve already interrogated one of the bandits that attacked us, but any information from them is suspect, so I need you to confirm. What has been happening here? How long has it been going on? How many bandits do you know of? And what is your role in all of this?”

One of the soldiers came in, “Legatus. The bodies were found. And the occupation has started looking, a couple of bandits came in, asking questions. I recommend that we find a more secure location.”

Dimitrius nodded his acknowledgment. He faced back to Sienna, “I suggest that you come with us, you are the one who haven us the information, and I doubt that the tavernkeeper can keep quiet in the face of those brigands.”

He would leave with his men out the back, with or without her. They would go through the alleyways, until they reached a secondary tavern and rented another room. There, if she decided to come with them, that’s where they would continue their discussion.