Gods and Men

Jocasta snorted.

"I doubt you can afford me, man. I don't take half rates. It's either full pay or charity."

The man pulled a gold ring off of a string around his neck. Holding it out, anyone nearby could tell it was quite expensive with a very rare gem set in the centre, and more gems circling around it.
"It was my wife's before she died, and if it means getting a young girl back with her family, I know my wife would want me to use it. Please take it as a payment and help me! It's worth a lot..."

Axel sighed. "We might as well help. We aren't going to be able to continue with our journey until Lillia has recovered."

"I'm okay..." Lillia said quietly while leaning on the doorway, "really..."
Lillia seemed to be telling the truth, as her skin seemed a more pink and healthy colour, and her breathing was more regular.
"Just need a little more sleep tonight than usual..."
As usual for her, she was much more talkative than normal due to slight shock from her healing.

Jocasta held out a hand.

"Let's see."

She examined the ring briefly and nodded. "That'll do. But we'll need some more details before we go in to tackle this."

"Last I saw they were holed out in the east end of the village in the tavern. I'm not sure exactly why they're there or what's been happening since I was hurt. I'm sorry but I don't have any more information about it than that. Oh! Wait! When I first was forced to join those men, I saw the leader speaking with a stranger in a dark hooded robe. I though this was a bit odd as I haven't seen a lot of strangers in this area in the time we've lived here, and he seemed to almost be in charge..."

Jocasta snorted. "Of course you have more information. Were they armed? Are they professionals? What does this tavern look like, how many exits are there and how many men do they have guarding them at one time? Do they want to be there or are they just afraid of this man? And what's going to happen when we take them out? How deadly do you want us to be?"

The man looked a bit overwhelmed by all the questions, but set about answering them anyways.
"They had a few swords and bows, I don't really know what you mean by professionals, as they're just men from the village, it's an old run down tavern, with the main entrance and a back door- though I suppose in a pinch you could use one of the three windows as an exit- and I have no idea if anyone's on guard or not, I'm not entirely sure if they want to be there or not, or if maybe some of them do, I know many of them have wives and children so I would prefer if you didn't seriously harm any of them. They also have important jobs to do for the town, so losing any of them would be a strain on the village."

Lillia yawned and leaned her head back against the doorway before sliding down to sit with her legs across the door and her back and head against the frame.
"I'll help if I can..." she mentioned to no one in particular.

Jocasta shook her head.

"Girlie, you're a liability in a fight. Same with Book-brain. No, I'm not going to risk getting you two in the middle of this. Not when I have some nice, burly men here to help me."

Jocasta grinned at the man who had brought them there. Once again, it wasn't a nice grin.

"Wait!" the man said, "You want the four of us to go up against all of them? Are you crazy? We need some sort od strategy first!"

Jocasta rolled her eyes.

"Zath, Shara and Yir above, do you think I'm a moron? Of course we need strategy, but what's going to happen if the plan goes south? I can't protect the hostage, myself, glow-girl and the kid. You're a decent fighter and you're already involved. Buck up, laddie, you're coming with us."

The man grumbled a bit, but finally agreed to go with her.
"So..." he asked, "what's the plan?"

"What're our assets?" Myrddin piped up, looking at Jocasta.

"Hmm, let's see. A forest man and his wolf, a mercenary, a decent village fighter, a fainting glow-in-the-dark healer and a know-it-all. We have three swords between us, a crossbow, a longbow and a couple of daggers. Rope, cooking pots, basic rations, dried meat, a couple of blankets, a tent and a bedroll. One horse that won't spook easy but won't be any good in a fight. Anything I'm missing?"

"I have some poisons...some deadly and some not..." Ashera said, looking down at her feet, "they're difficult to administer though..."

"And therefore, unless we can get the people to consume them, they're not of use, and even then, if we're trying to be non-lethal there's no way to ensure there won't be an overdose as even if we had an inside man, individually dosing a large collection of people isn't feasible." Myrddin concluded. "What sort of numbers are we looking at, anyway? If we're trying to come up with a strategy, it would help to know how many people we're trying to incapacitate, and furthermore, I take exception to being called a know-it-all. I prefer the terms 'scholar' or 'intellectual' but you are correct that I wouldn't be useful in combat. And, I regret to inform you that I have nothing to add to our list besides my carving knife and funds."

"I told you I'm not sure how many there are, especially now..." the man began, "there were a lot to start with, but some of them may have left like me when they saw what was happening...not that it did me any good..."

"What about a sedative?" Ashera asked Myrddin, "it's easier to administer..."

"You said you didn't know about guards, not people." Myrddin replied, "anyways, as for the sedative, unless we know exactly how many there are, and their weights, they'll start falling unconscious at different times, so unless we can dose them all simultaneously there is no way to ensure we'll get them all. Furthermore, the application, though easier, still requires getting it into their bloodstreams, which isn't simple. I'd say subterfuge is our best bet."

Jocasta grinned.

"Keep talking, kid. I want to see what you come up with."

"You said that some may have left, that implies a certain internal unrest and uncertainty regarding the decision, yes?" Myrddin asked the man. "Now, you also said that they are holed out, which might make entrance rather difficult, but you are from around here, and were initially involved; do you think they'd take you back in? If so, our options open up."

The man shook his head saying,
"I made it pretty clear how I felt about the whole thing, and they knew about my injuries...they would know something was up if I went back."

"Okay... I can work with this." Myrddin said, closing his eyes to focus for a minute. "How on edge are they?" He asked after several seconds, not opening his eyes. "Would it be possible for us to get in at all?"

"Well," the man began, "I believe the tavern is still open, so I'd assume they're in a back room or something, so a stranger coming into the town and going to the tavern wouldn't look odd, but I'm only guessing about that..."

"Trying wouldn't look odd, but I'm more concerned about actually getting in than not sticking out." Myrddin said "After all, if we succeed, it doesn't really matter if we stood out a bit, and if we fail... well, it won't matter either way. No matter, I'll just plan for either case."

The man shrugged and said,
"Planning and strategy aren't my style, so you go on ahead and make some plans..."