Soubarian' Hijacking.

[kkrazlite]

News, Gossip, and Violence seems to spiral out of control in Soubar. Many Travelers, Merchants, Mercenaries and Families seem to be on edge and hostile to any who seem to approach them. All the residence don't seem to be in the mood to answer questions to investigators to why the town was so hostile at this time. . . But if searched hard enough there would seem to be one or two stragglers then would give a brief overview of the situation. A rumor spreads through Soubar quite rapidly of a very skilled and crafty bandit in the region. The bandit seems to halt any caravan and traveler on the roads and with haste "Collect" what ever they have on their possession. There have been quite the handful of victims some being unharmed while others are left on the roads unconscious or even. . . "Dead". . . With what ever valuables they had on them stripped from their wagons, pockets, and hands. Not much is known about the bandit other then the occasional victims left alive reporting the use of a sling the bandit uses to quite a useful effect taking out a large group of those willing to resist with even a single shot. . .

This rumor seems to be the talk of the town recently. . . few have tryed rallying together to find the bandit but have not yet returned or have been found sense their expeditions as 4 very powerful travels have already seemed to have been waylaid and even more to come as the passing days go on. . .

//DC: 25 vs Diplomacy or Intimidate to Find out more information if investigating.

[realayer]

After encountering the bandit, the victim spreads words about what he had experienced.

"I can attest this is not merely a rumor. This is real! For I am ashamed to disappoint my god - the Morninglord - by falling in front of the said bandit, I failed in my duty as a paladin to make the road a safer place!"

Although it is a painful experience, mentally and physically, he recounts his fight against the bandit.

"I met this bandit in Boareskyr Bridge on my way to the Gate. It was at night so I cannot see clearly, but I am sure the bandit is a female halfing for the short stature and feminine voice. But don't be fool by her little stature! This said bandit is, no doubt, a formidable foe. In a blink of an eye, not even I can utter a word for my prayer to the Morninglord to grant me strength, the halfing using a ranged weapon, for I cannot see clearly what it is, knocked me out on floor!"

The victim continues.

"Luckily I did not lose any belongings as my gear is too heavy for that halfing. They may hinder her movement, it seems. Everyone traveling in and out of Soubar should be careful of that halfing."

[TheKai]

The hooded Elf sat quietly on a mound within the high moor. Around him lay the bodies of the foolish hobgoblins that decided they wished to meet their God this day.

He sat quietly, but his thoughts troubled. In the cave of the mysterious spirit trolls, he met a halfling whom he severely underestimated. Two centuries walking this world and he was foolish. Brash. He thought she was kidding. After all, never had he met a dangerous halfling before. But for all his training, all his experience and all his discipline, the halfling female laid him low in the matter of seconds. Not even her curious hat shifted during the fight. He could still feel the dents in his skull where her stones, powerfully enchanted they had to be, impacted his head. And they hit...very hard.

Another lesson learned from Labelas. A humble lesson he had to learn the hard way. The elf knew now never to underestimate his foe. And to be particularly wary of halfling women.

[WookieWarlord]

Cragnus came to consciousness amongst the bushes where he'd managed to drag himself after the attack. His open wounds and cracked ribs already beginning to mend with the regenerative properties of his cloak as well as other, more mysterious powers.
The details of the assault still tumbled around in his dwarven skull, fractured and confused, a simple bandit encounter just north of Beregost leading to a sound bludgeoning at the diminutive hands of halflings, of all people.
Cragnus gritted his teeth and took up his axe. Two more fools who will come to regret awakening the ire of clan Krinkrak.

[Kron]

Descending the hill leading to Boareskyr Bridge, a wounded dwarf bandit boldly led an uphill charge against Kron, who freed the bleeding dwarf from his suffering with one blow. When a bullet ricocheted of Kron's pauldron, he charged himself at the halfing who launched it. The target, however, fell to the ground before he could be reached. An ironic death, since he was struck by his own weapon of choice, a bullet flying at him from Kron's direction.

Not having launched the shot himself, a slightly annoyed Kron turned around to notice another hin, masked this time, a swinging sling at hand, was approaching. Kron's size didn't put the hin off from demanding him to render his possessions. Already annoyed at the uninvited hin's intervention, now even more so at the little lady's absurd demands, he told her to take a hike or end up on a pike.

Kron's refusal to play along earned him two acid bullets, one to his knee cap, another in his ribs. They hit like giant rocks, each one of them, and Kron was made stumbling. In an attempt to shrug off the pain, Kron looked up and focused his anger in a wreckless charge, but her devastating slingshots knocked him out before he could even touch her.

The hin, happily surprised by her victory, used the half-orc's blackout to search his body for possessions, but Kron's groggy recovery didn't give her enough time to claim her prize. While Kron was gathering his senses, the sling-wielding halfling waylayer ran off in the shadows whence she appeared, leaving the half-orc with a headache and a sore knee.

[Asmodea]

Isabella Villame was travelling south on the Trade Way from Baldur's Gate to Candlekeep holding in her arms a box when she was set upon by the bandit. A short exchange was had by the tomb of Sir William near the Friendly Arm Inn where in it seemed Isabella refused to hand over the container having claimed it without value. Shortly after Isabella woke up... without her box and with a rather large headache.

[taylorstar]

After recent reports of a masked female Halfling bandit robbing or mugging people on the roads surrounding the Friendly Arm Inn, Medune the hin went in search with a hopeful and longing intention but returned to the Phoenix company Lodge with dampened spirits and a few coins lighter.

[kkrazlite]

News in Soubar begins to stir once more as a large caravan is seen slowly entering the town. The caravan leaders seem to ask for aid from the nearby townsfolk and directions to a priest or a medical center. A small crowd begins to form as the wagons all line up together and injured mercenaries and guardsmen are all gathered from the back's of the caravans and carried towards the priest in the back of town who now seems to have her work cut out for her. After the injured soldiers are finally all taken care of the caravan then begin to unpack some a small amount of tucked away goods and valuables placing them all together with sighs of frustration before one of the caravan leaders hops on the front and begins to speak to the gathered crowd.

"Another caravan laid waste. . . As yet ANOTHER bandit rises up from the shadows! We have not only lost lives and coin but now we have lost safety! We now walk these roads only to expect this bandit to show up! And even WE took her for a fool. We had the little @#%&! surrounded we did! Cornered her right into the tree line! But the reports seemed to be false in this. . . We were expecting only one bandit but instead in our flank of this hin bastard we soon found ourselves flanked by not only one hin but dozens! DOZENS OF THOSE LITTLE @#!$%! I warn all of you now! Tread lightly on these roads or don't even take the roads at all for these group of hins are nothing to laugh about in first glace. They are Strategist, Tacticians! They will be the bane of us!

[Flasmix]

An elderly man wearing a turban with a fine mustache is seen drinking and smoking a pipe in the Soubar pub. When asked about his business in the city, he replies with "I am here to see ze famous Hins and get robbed by zem." When pressed onto why he would be so foolish, he responds with "I matched vits vith Rina Littlefoot in my day, I vish to see if zey can live up to her potential."

The man would depart towards the Boareskyr Bridge and only return at night fall.

[Paul325]

*A young scout, adventurous elven archer sits with glass of wine in Friendly Arm Inn speaking about the hijacker*

I hate to admit it.. yes I was robbed by that hin too. Seems the hin tried this time Wood of Sharp teeth. I want my healing supplies back... !
*frown and continues with his drink*
This time I'll be having my bow ready..

[Halo Deity]

Rumours circulate of Cillian, an Elven male carrying a red haired female drooped unconsciously over his shoulder towards the Winding Way. The descriptions of Sirion and Viridiana are noted to have followed and aided the male transporting her with looks of concern.

Further investigations state that the female Bardess Rose, was brutally attacked by Dragonspear Castle on the road to Boaresky Bridge. A description of a halfling female, wearing a mask carrying a sling was the culprit of such dastardly deeds and had taken off with gold and some gems that Rose had hidden in her pockets.

[genbor]

Near the road leading to Candlekeep, Eustace was enjoying a nice jog. He was working on a new song about a heroic hin named Jack, when he was set upon by a female halfling bandit. She threatened him, asking for all of his valuables, but Eustace didn't have anything at the time, other than a gold ring, so he flicked it to her, not really caring to trouble himself, and finding the situation amusing.

The hin seems to have accepted it and ordered him to run off, so he did as he was told. Later on when he deemed it safe, he said this to nobody in particular,

"The halfling bandit had a mask and a sling at the ready.. I think I'll make another song about this mysterious but amusing short-legs."


With that he just grinned and started whistling a new tune, already working on the new song...

[Step_Mac]

It happened on a well-traveled road, hardly outside Baldur's Gate. Cillian found a halfling in a mask -- red with white stripes -- demanding that a much larger, heavily armored man turn over his belongings. The scene could have come from a penny-farce on some street corner.

Alas, it transpired that Cillian too was an actor in the play. To make matters worse, the large man did not know his lines. His punishment: a flurry of bullets from the halfling's sling, acid flying from them as they pounded the man's armor, and then his body. The entire scene took less than ten seconds.

From farce to tragedy -- well, still farce, really -- the scene shifted to Cillian.

He paid.

He did note before leaving, however, that the halfling had behaved most professionally. While the name he received was undoubtedly false, perhaps he would meet her again someday.

[Step_Mac]

Rumours circulate of Cillian, an Elven male carrying a red haired female drooped unconsciously over his shoulder towards the Winding Way. The descriptions of Sirion and Viridiana are noted to have followed and aided the male transporting her with looks of concern.

Further investigations state that the female Bardess Rose, was brutally attacked by Dragonspear Castle on the road to Boaresky Bridge. A description of a halfling female, wearing a mask carrying a sling was the culprit of such dastardly deeds and had taken off with gold and some gems that Rose had hidden in her pockets.

And meet the halfling bandits again, he did. This time, Cillian and another encountered a masked female bent over the badly injured body of Rose, a bardess who had provided him with at some moments of pleasant conversation.

The question was, what would they do? Based on the last performance of this play, Cillian felt it was in their interest to salvage what they could. His partner expressed similar ambivalence about the possibility of beating the halfling.

But then, the thought occurred -- the gods bless the brain in these moments of danger! The halfling couldn't know either how the standoff would end! Or so Cillian hoped. He'd give even odds on the pair taking down the halfling, personally, but then he'd never been a bookie. Still, there's no accounting for crazy, as, er, someone used to say.

Blessedly, professionalism proved the order of the day once more. After a brief negotiation, the parties agreed that further bloodshed was in no one's interest. The halfling could keep what she'd collected, Cillian and partner would retrieve Rose and see to her injuries. All in all, as satisfactory an ending as one could hope for.

[Darradarljod]

Several Thayan Agents have been spending time in Soubar recently. Herein, they have requested confirmation of the local tavern concerning the authenticity of employment of a halfling waitress named "Lo". They explain this woman to have been suspected as the recently slain bandit who troubled the land and are trying to learn of any habits or permanent lodging that the deceased woman was known for.

For whatever reason these agents have requested specifically that Michael Dunn, Ranger Sergeant of the Ebon Blades, contact Knight-Commnader Boris Vyacheslav with any information concerning her.