Two horsemen ride up to a tavern...

Two bandits move in to flank Kou, but the Keeper is untouchable, dodging both attacks with ease. A bandit circles around the bush and fires at Ascian. He is joined by the bandit on the tower. Both crossbow bolts miss wildly. One of the "Kings Guard" fires up at Kaed, the arrow digging into the barbarian's thigh without causing much -- if any pain. Kaed takes 8 points of piercing damage to vigor, reduced by 3 to 5 by DR, resisted to 2 by barbarian rage. Two previously unseen bandits fire at Katrin and Callahan from prone positions beneath large bushes behind the party. Both bolts meet armor, drawing a little blood from the two, but not much. Katrin takes 9 points of piercing damage to vigor, reduced by 4 to 5 by DR. Callahan takes 6 points of piercing damage to vigor, reduced by 2 to 4 by DR. Thrandimir's action.

Bolts start flying in all directions and Thrandimir grabs his hat, running for the nearest free horse. Throwing himself to the ground to evade the next volley of bolts, the wizard waits for his moment to mount up and ride.

Kaed sighs as once more Ascian gets the glory of the kill, but his eyes light up again as another of the enemy eun almost right under him in an attempt to take Kou down, an attempt which fails miserably. The tribesman nudges his horse to the side to give himself room and lashes across the back of the leg, tearing through the man's hamstring, bringing out a scream of pain, which itself is abruptly cut off a second later as Kaed smashes the metal edged frame of his shield down on his head, the spray of blood as the man crumples in a heap gets mostly lost in the swirls of darkness that are growing around Kaed dimming the light slightly. Seeing a chance to better aid his friend he steers his horse around behind Kou's other adversary, drawing a wary look from the man, and granting the agile man an opening if he chooses to take it. "Let us see how he likes it when the tables turn!"

Surveying the battle erupting around him, Cal is momentarily captivated by the dizzying array of blows that find purchase on the hobgoblin. Despite the recent cadre of clashes Cal had found himself a part of recently, the fury of battle still had a habit of catching him off guard. He didn't mind the violence entirely - not when there is  a reason to seek justice against wrongdoers. But much like with the orcs the other day, he found himself wishing once more they had been able to talk a bit more first. Perhaps that was on him though? He'd had some fun taunting the bandits with their own words, but perhaps he'd gone a step too far? It's alright , he assured himself, after a few more fall we can try and call for their surrender and I'll simply patch up th- The bolt didn't even sink that deep, really. It found some purchase through the padding of his vestments to be sure, but it was more a flesh wound than not. Yet he had never been shot by a crossbow before. The sudden jolt of pain jolted him from his thoughts. But it triggered something within him. Something instinctive and reactive. A primal kind of fear.  The swirl of lights erupted from Cal, starting first with the familiar glow of his eyes and followed up by the mass of miniature stars and constellations as his expression jumped from panicked shock to tranquil fury. He didn't even notice he'd gathered another radiant bolt in his hands before he saw it crash into the previously-hidden sniper among the knolls behind him. Without hesitating, he drew his hands back - the radiant image of a trained archer shimmering confidently over his own for just a brief flash before a starry arrow careened out and directly into the man, searing his skin in a flash of white.  "Choose wisely bandit - your first words or your last breath."

Sinking into his stance as the bandits surround him Kou slows his breathing and watches their stance, preparing himself to move as soon as his foes make an aggressive action. Though he needn't have worries the men's attacks were telegraphed so much they might as well have shouted them out beforehand.   Smiling up at Kaed as the man eviscerate the bandit infront of him he says "Nicely done" Looking up to the watchtower he says "Watch my back I'm going to take their mage off the board" Taking off at a full sprint, the bandit he left behind was able to slash into him with Kou barely twisting in time to avoid a more deadly blow. As the mans blade cuts through his clothing Kou's eyes spark with lightning. And his body glows as he unleashes a blast of lightning shocking his foe. As he nears the platform Kou leaps up grabbing the edge of the watchtower. Before he could pull himself up the bandit up top tries to slash down at him with his blade. Kou effortlessly dodges and grabs the man's foot pulling him off the platform before Kou lifts himself up. Once he is up top Kou rushes forward and tackles the mage knocking the man to the floor and placing him into a headlock. Resting his claws next to the mans throat he says "That's enough out of you".

Despite the mage's face being turned away, Kou can practically feel the man's sneer of derision at his words. "Oh, I don't think so," the mage bites out just before he disappears in a cloud of mist. He reappears on the ground below and hurls three arcane bolts of energy at Kou. He turns and flees toward the east. The hobgoblin's last breath leaves his burnt lungs.

There's a moment of clarity where Ascian determines he needs to join Kou - that the best vantage point he can make for himself and his bow is high up on that tower. It is, almost certainly, the strategic choice. And yet even as he squints up at the monk who had so impressively pulled himself to the platform and sees the mage dissipate to smoke in his arms, he thinks instead this might be something worth following. Nudging his horse into action, a dusty grey creature, he gallops instead in front of the barricades, wheeling around the bandits to pursue the man who had vanished and reappeared as if it were nothing. The still spring air seems to shake to life as it rifles past him, forcing unkempt too-long hair from his face a his hand pulls the bowstring perilously close to skin. Tension releases, and his exhale has barely mingled with the wind before he sees the corresponding arrow dig into the mage's shoulder, though seemingly not enough to stall his feet. "I have him," he calls hoarsely up to Kou, spurring his horse forward.

Satisfied with the hobgoblin's crispy end, Katrin spurs her horse to the left, heading towards another bandit. She ignores the small cut on her arm, sliding off the horse and running the last few feet forward. As she runs, she whispers, "Tempus, burn bright." Her sword lights up with a shimmering blue flame and she thrusts her sword, scraping against the bandit's armor, the blade biting into the leather and barely scraping flesh. The bandit bursts into flame as the fire leaps from her blade to his body. 

Two of the bandits rush forward toward's Kaed. "Kill the horse!" one shouts. Both scimitars slash at the beast's flank, but only one makes contact, and barely at that. Kaed's horse takes 4 points of slashing damage to vigor. The bandit Katrin set on fire pushes against the dwarf and limps away, still burning. He is able to quaff down a vial of red liquid that seems to ease his pain slightly, and looks ready to stop, drop, and roll as he moves away. Keen on revenge for his fall-broken nose, the bandit Kou pushed dashes up the ladder and snarls at the monk. "You'll regret that," he shouts. Radiant energy still burning at his flesh, the target of Callahan's starry arrow drinks a potion and hobbles off toward the west. His ambush partner fires a crossbow bolt at the firbolg, but the projectile bounces off his armor. Callahan takes 2 points of piercing damage to vigor, reduced to 0 by DR. Thrandimir's action.

Seizing his moment, Thrandimir pushes up from the ground and leaps atop the nearby horse, before galloping after the robed spellcaster. Holding his staff out before him as he rides, the wizard utters an incantation, conjuring bolts of force that streak towards the man, hitting him in the back with pinpoint accuracy.

No sooner had the first bandit taken the hint and bolted had another to the south failed to. The bolt that came at Cal found direct purchase on his person, but seemed to bounce right off of him. The glowing firbolg slowly turned his gaze in the man's direction, settling his glare upon him with disquieting calm. "I apologize," his hand quickly wreathes itself once more in blinding flame. With a flick of his wrist, the pulsing ball of light starts to trace a path towards the man. It moves differently this time, though; slowly. As it unceasingly advances on its target, Cal draws another radiant arrow across his frame, "For your flesh is about to burn. I have seen it."  The arrow rockets forward, cutting through the air with fervor and straight through the bolt of flame, seemingly absorbing its energy into itself as it does so. As if guided by fate towards its final destination, the arrow homes in on the man with unwavering velocity.  As light erupts around the bandit, Cal turns toward the rest of the battle.

Hearing the unmistakable sound of a horse crying out in pain Kaed's face turns stony, he locks eyes with the bandit who slashed at his mount and they both remain frozen for a second. The man, sees a furious wild-eyed Kaed with shadows swirling all around him, surrounding them all in a dim light, blood dripping from his sword move towards him. The bandit does the only thing that makes any sense, he runs, or tries to. As he turns Kaed's blade flashes and nearly severs the leg closest to him " No, no you are going to die for that, and I will enjoy watching you bleed out." He cracks the man on the back of the neck with his shield, and is rewarded by seeing his adversary slump to the floor, his leg coming clean off under the weight of the rest of him the blood rushing out of his body quickly pooling at the hooves of Kaed's horse. " Do you still want to try and kill my horse? " The tribesman asks the remaining bandit standing next to him, who looks as white as a sheet.

Sighing as the bandit yells something about regret. Rather than respond Kou simply sinks into his fighting stance and shifts his weight forward as he smashes his foot into the mans ribs sending him falling back down the ladder. Though to Kou's surprise and disappointment the man is able to tumble as he hits the ground preventing injury and keeping himself on his feet.  Climbing down the ladder after the man Kou simply says "Impressive" before he unleashes a series of blows on the man. First slashing up with his clawed hand cutting into the man. Taking a step back he leaps forward again using his left hand to grab the man pulling him closer as his right jabs forward his claws plunging deep into the mans stomach. Slowly pulling his clawed hand out, he is once again surprised by this bandit when the man stays on his feet and somehow continues to cling to life

The mage looks over his shoulder to see Thrandimir bearing down on him on horseback and frantically casts a spell. Thrandimir feels his body begin to lock up, but through sheer force of will, he pushes through the spell and continues riding.

Ascian’s horse skirts around the nearest bandit as he gallops for the vantage point promised by the tower, looking between it and the fleeing mage and Kaed, still fighting on the other side. Pulling to a stop beside the scaffolding, he’s quick to scramble onto the back of his horse, balancing carefully on the saddle and jumping, flipping, reaching, as he has a hundred times for similar heights - confident and easy and sure . It makes the betrayal that much more alarming when his fingers close around air. Unending shock douses over Ascian as the tower in front of him seems to disappear beneath his outstretched hands, vanishing in a ripple of grey. There’s a vague sensation of falling, of a watercolor wash of dread, and then his spine slams into the grass and he blinks – finds the tower exactly where he had expected it to be, but for ten feet above his reaching fingers. A ring glints unassumingly from one of them – had it been there when he'd reached for the platform? He doesn't remember, and doesn't know which answer would unnerve him more. What's happening. A shudder of cold creeps through him and he sits upright, driven by a brutal surge of adrenaline and a fiercely pounding heart. A quick scan of the battlefield tells him that if anyone else had noticed the disappearance of the tower and the split-second shadowy desaturation of the world around them, they don’t seem fazed by it - and he tries to swallow past his dread, scrambling to his feet and back atop his horse to try again.  But confusion and panic are twin waves building steadily into a tsunami with every step – swirling, building, climbing; sloshing bitterly against his chest, his throat, his mouth in its surge from somewhere deep beneath the narrow confines of his ribs. There’s a breath as he balances atop his horse's spine where he thinks it’s going to drag him down again, where everything might again grey out of view - lifts a hand to try and stop his inevitable fall and – Smoke, thin and pale and ephemeral, lifts from his fingers. Or maybe it's ash. If there were time, he might have studied it, but it happens so quickly then - the shimmer with which the mist moves, both lazy and lightning-quick; the way he knows without knowing how that when it finds someone it will bring pain. The twitch it makes towards Kaed, fighting just behind him, and the involuntary thought of no that steers it elsewhere, blitzing instead into the bandit some twenty feet north still shrieking under the impatient lick of Katrin's fire. The tendril of smoke slams into the man, invading his eyes and ears and gaping, screaming mouth, and all at once inside Ascian the tidal wave settles. What is happening . It's a flat, numb, thought that seems to resonate through him as he looks away from the man whose shriek had been silenced with the smoke and now smolders quietly, forcing his attention instead back to the tower in front of him. Innocuous, and sturdy, and real. It is real, isn't it? It had to be. He tenses, reaching forward again, and leaps.  Outstretched hands again miss the edge of the platform, but this time it's not for missing - his momentum carries him atop the landing and he darts across its surface, corporeal and whole and real. At least, he's sure the tower is.

As another victim of Tempus' holy fire falls, she turns her back and moves quickly along the barricade. Almost like a heartbeat, she can feel a pulse emanating from the burning man on the ground behind her, but it's fading fast. Not long for you now. She rounds the corner, stomping up behind another bandit, one who is standing under the iron gaze of Kaed upon his horse. A smug smile crosses her face. "How much more do you think you and your friends can take? Before there aren't any of you left?"

The man Katrin addressed quickly sucks down a vial of red liquid and then drops his blade. He shrugs.   The bandit Kou pushed off the tower twice drops his blade as well and wipes the blood from his mangled nose. "I surrender."  The mage, realizing that he has no chance of outrunning Thrandimir on foot, stops and drops his staff. He raises his hands with a sheepish grin. The other two bandits run off toward the west of the roadblock-turned-battlefield.

Keeping her sword at the ready, Katrin kicks the bandit's sword away from him. Her eyes are as hard as the mountains of Hol. "Sit down. And don't think about getting up."

Kou relaxes his stance after the man wheezes out his surrender. Seeing the bandit scrambling to stop the flow of blood pouring from his wounds, causes Kou's own natures to war against themselves. Reconciling the warrior and the healer was an all to familiar struggle for the former Keeper.  He cherished opportunities to use his medicinal skills to ease the suffering, that the world so often heaped upon it's inhabitants. But in the rare moments he was truly honest with himself, the truth was obvious. The thrill of a worthy fight is what he lived for. He suspects it's what drew him to the power of Tempus or drew Tempus to him.  Though today the healer wins a small victory, seeing the man struggling to  patch his wound. Kou sighs as he shakes his head and says  "It's a deep cut to your stomach and likely has caused some internal bleeding. For now cut off a strip of your cloak, soak it in  alcohol  and wrap it tightly around the wound. It should stop the bleeding and reduce the likelihood of an infection. Though you will need to seek out a medic."   After the bandit follows his instructions he leads him back to Kou's horse where he binds the man's hands with rope. "Stay here" Rejoining the rest of the group he takes a deep breath and says  "What should we do with these men?"

Katrin feels her concentration on her spell fade as the bandit's life expires. Another bandit gives up the ghost as well. The two that fled to the west are nowhere to be seen.

Thrandimir draws his horse up in a canter and cautiously approaches the surrendering mage. Sliding from the saddle, the wizard brandishes his staff in front of him as he approaches the enemy spellcaster. Conjuring a leather strip and some rope to rise from his pack, Thrandimir first gags the man and then binds his wrists behind his back, before searching him for a spell focus or pouch of components. It's not long, before the wizard comes across a spellbook and his eyes gleam as he leafs through its pages. Nudging his prisoner between the shoulder blades, Thrandimir begins to march him back towards the others.

Gathering up the bandits, removing their weapons, and tossing the dead to the side of the road takes but a few minutes. Tied up around the tower, the mage grunts through his gag. Thrandimir cautiously removes the gag, pressing his dagger to the mage's throat.  The mage speaks, "So what will you do with us?"

Thrandimir twirls his knife in his fingers, trailing it around the man's neck and up and down his spine. "You know, I haven't decided yet," he muses idly. "Why don't you make a suggestion ."

The mage sneers and pushes against the knife hard enough to draw a bead of blood. "Why not just kill us and be done with it?" One of the other bandits looks alarmed. "What? No, fuck you. Don't do that. Take us to The Crossroads and turn us over. Don't kill us!"

Thrandimir contemplates this for a moment before replying. "As you wish," he tells the man, before flicking his blade such that it cuts just deep enough for his victim to be able to choke and drown on his own blood before he bleeds out. "Anyone else?" The wizard asks, turning to the remaining prisoners. 

His starry form still brightly ensorcelling him, Cal strides towards the rest of the group, and Thrandimir in particular. ”Stay your base instincts wizard, these are nothing but common bandits and we are not executioners.” Looking to the other remaining bandits, he gestured towards the gurgling body of the mage, “He chose a pointless end but you need not. Justice, not senseless retribution, await you.”

The remaining two bandits look at each other, then turn back to the group. "We're not with him," one says, gesturing to the mage. "Let us go, turn us in, do what you want. Just please don't kill us." His voice catches and the last few words of his plea turn to sobs.

Thrandimir wipes his knife on the mage's robes and stows it. "Speak for yourself, Callahan. Do what you will with the others." Taking the man's spellbook, Thrandimir hops up on the back of the cart and sits there studying it.

Kou's fist is clenched so tightly that he nearly draws his own blood. Killing the Orc's to spare Fireblade their army's retribution was distasteful but necessary. Murdering a restrained man for mouthing off was unconscionable. His eyes flashing with lightning he leans close to Thrand and through clenched teeth he growls out  "We will have words when this has been dealt with."  Moving back to the center of the remaining bandit's pointedly ignoring the bleeding corpse that Thrand left behind he says "I have questions for you, answer truly and you may have the chance to live through this ordeal. You have seen what happens to the foolish, lie to us at your own peril." Clearing his throat and ticking a finger off with each question he begins "Are you a apart of a larger group, if so tell us everything about this group and it's dealings? What do you know about the Manticore that plagues these lands? And Where have you stored the rest of your stolen loot?"

The bandits look at each other and return Kou's gaze. The one that has been speaking continues to do so, his voice cracking again from time to time. "We were recruited by him," he says, pointing to the crispy body of the hobgoblin that Katrin is busily pulling the armor off of. "No idea if he worked for someone else. Don't know nothing about any Manticores. And we haven't got any more loot. Just what we had on us."

Kou's eye watch intently as the man speaks, when he talks about the manticores and if the group had an employer. His breathing is even, his eye contact doesn't break and his rate of speech remains steady. That all changes when he gets to the loot and to top it off the man steals a glance at the treeline north of the road. Suppressing a sigh, Kou walks up to the speaker and grabs the mans restraints and roughly drags him to where his eyes wandered. The man tries to resist but it only serves to make him look the fool as he is drug through the dirt. Throwing the man forward he says "Your friend was killed for less, lie again and you will be reunited with him. Now show me exactly where the loot you have stolen is hidden!" 

Katrin, having finished with the armor, watches as Kou drags the man towards the trees. She gives a disgruntled laugh as his methods seem to be lost on the bandit. Oh well. There was still one left, if this man did indeed choose to go the way of his...…friend. She shoves the crispy hobgoblin onto his back with her boot.

The bandit lays in the spot where Kou deposited him. "If I tell you, will you my brother and I go?"

Katrin steps over to the brother. She stares down at him, looking him in the eyes, and leaning on her sword. "If your brother is honest, we won't harm you, but you must never cross our path again. You cannot return to banditry. If we find out that you have, we will hunt you down and we will kill you. Understand?"

Kou pauses for a moment, and nods once at the mans "Though you will have to swear by Tempus' name that you will no longer engage in banditry. But be aware Tempus does not tolerate oath breakers.  Or you can chose to continue our battle. I will  retrieve  your weapons and we will fight until one of us leaves this world for good. " crossing his arms he looks at the man again and says "So what do you chose, trial by combat or an oath to Tempus to renounce banditry?"

The bandit tied up by the tower looks up at Katrin, then looks over to where Kou dragged his brother, then looks back to the dwarf. He nods, and opens his mouth. Katrin can see the mutilated remains of teeth and tongue. Not a fresh wound, but an old one. This man is not capable of speech. The bandit sneers half-heartedly through his broken nose at Kou, then looks back toward the tower. Kou watches the man's shoulders slump. "Alright, I swear not to go back to robbing," he says. "But my brother can't swear. He can't speak. Was kicked in the face by a donkey. He's mute. Can you just take my word for his?"

Katrin kneels down in front of the mute boy. She looks into his eyes for a long moment. And in that moment, she doesn't see a bandit. She sees a young boy, scared for his life. She sees her little sister. Standing, she looks at Thrandimir and Ash with stone-cold eyes. "Let them go. There's no need for further bloodshed today." 

Seeing that the man seems to be sincere he takes off his  Lamannian Oak amulet of Tempus holding it in the palm of his hand and says "Swear by Tempus. And you and your brother are free to go."

"As you say." Kaed nods solemnly, then turns to the bandit,  "You may have the sense to be grateful, where we in my lands, you would be dead for this, but I hope you take the chances for a different path. It is always a shame to have to kill someone because they were too stupid to see an opportunity when it presented itself."  Staring at one of the red vials, he shakes his head. " They seem to have been doing well, plenty of gold by the look of it and these potions can't be cheap. Oh well, I hope they have some other skills." He moves over to the corpse of the magic user and looks with a skilled eye at the wound that killed him, then at Thrandimir, as the old man studies the new book. "It was brutal, and possibly not necessary, but I dont like the idea of leaving enemies who can appear wherever they want in the blink of an eye to follow us and plot their revenge. The old man may have been wise."

Ascian flashes down from the tower he'd painstakingly vaulted himself onto, heading towards Thrandimir as he stows his bow when Katrin seems to address them. He meets her eyes and shrugs. "Not my decision."  His gaze drifts over the boy at her feet before up to Kaed beside her, where a bony shoulder lifts and falls again. "He was. They report to someone. Everyone does."

The bandit places his hand on the amulet and says, "I swear that we will not resort to banditry." He swallows and points toward a large tree nearby. " All the rest of our stuff is buried at the foot of that tree. You can see the hole if you get closer."

Kou eye's lock with the man's as he takes his oath and adds "By Tempus' name it will be so." to the end of the former bandit's pledge. Leaving the bandit he digs out the chest briefly noting the potions and other goods before closing it again. Looking back to the man he unbinds his feet but leaves his hands restrained "Lets retrieve your brother and get you on your way." Walking back to the group he stands in-between his companions and the mans brother "We are   letting them go. Getting them to the authorities would take us far to long.  There has been enough blood shed today, let's give these men a chance at a different path.   He has sworn an oath to Tempus vowing to renounce banditry. And will face the retribution of the Gods and the rest of us if he fails to keep his word." Glancing at Thrand who seems engrossed in his book Kou turns his steely grey eyes back to the rest "Let us show that we aren't senseless butcherers, that we have a code of honor that we live by."

Katrin sets her sword next to her on the ground from her kneeling position in front of the mute boy. She pulls out her ax from it's loop on her belt. She quickly cuts the ropes from his wrists. She pulls him to his feet and gives him a gentle push in the direction of his brother. She drops her ax back into it's loop and picks up her sword. She nods to Kou. "I appreciate that, Keeper. Tempus does not always require us to kill. Mercy can be an effective tool. Thank you."  

The two brothers head back to the road and head east without another word, hurrying away from the party.

As the brothers disappear into the distance, Cal places a bulky hand on Kou's shoulder, "Well said, Keeper of Sea and War. It is good to see there yet remain some in this group with hearts unblackened by bloodlust." He does not look to Thrandimir or Ascian as he speaks, his glowing eyes burning brightly ahead, towards the two boys-branded-bandits beating it away from the group. "We ought to continue,"  he says, stooping at one point a few moments later to retrieve a discarded crossbow from the ground and turning it over in his hands, "The stars may not remain aligned towards our success if we continue to be sidetracked as we have."

Kou returns Katrin's nod and looks to Cal. "Thank you. But you're right it's best we get we get moving." Gently placing the chest on the ground he pops it open and says "They had a bit of treasure hidden away. Some potions and other magic"

"Let me see those," Katrin walks over, and kneels next to the chest. Over the next five minutes, she calls on the magic of the forge to reveal the nature of the items inside.  "Well, we've got a magic rope, some choking dust, and a potion that'll let you breathe fire." She gets to her feet with a grunt. "Any takers?"

"I was right banditry was doing them very well indeed. If this saving the world business doesnt pan out it's good to know there are other ways to keep the wolves from them door." Kaed doesnt really seem set on a criminal life but also does not seem overly troubled by it. "I will hold on to these" he says brandishing a pair of the healing potions he has found on the dead bodies of the fallen bandits. "Their former owners will not need them anyway,  I need nothing else from those items, fine as they no doubt are."

Tegan J. said: Walking back to the group he stands in-between his companions and the mans brother "We are   letting them go. Getting them to the authorities would take us far to long.  There has been enough blood shed today, let's give these men a chance at a different path.   He has sworn an oath to Tempus vowing to renounce banditry. And will face the retribution of the Gods and the rest of us if he fails to keep his word." Glancing at Thrand who seems engrossed in his book Kou turns his steely grey eyes back to the rest "Let us show that we aren't senseless butcherers, that we have a code of honor that we live by." "Yes, I'm sure that the Gods have nothing better to do than to chase after two bandits who broke their oaths," Thrandimir remarks, without looking up from the spellbook. The words drip with sarcasm. Finally the wizard closes the book with audible clap and looks Kou in the eyes. "Their fate means nothing to me, but stand by your decision with conviction, Keeper .   You know as well as I do that no God will lift a hand in this matter. Your choices are your own."

Kou glares at the wizard, his usual solemn expression broken by barely restrained anger. Nearly growling at the wizard he says  "You have styled yourself as Thrandimir the Great and Powerful. I name you Thrandimir the foolish, Thrandimir the reckless, Thrandimir the sadistic. For a man as educated as yourself, at every step you choose escalation   and brutality  without even a thought of the future cost." "   Do not lecture me on conviction, if I find the man has broken his oath I will carry out Tempus' will."  Pausing he takes a breath reaching inward to find his center and quickly his stance loosens and his calming voice returns   I stand by every decision that I have made and when my end comes and I stand before the gods as they judge my worth. I will hold my head high with the certainty  that I balanced my strength with mercy. I fear what awaits you Thran when the gods peer into your soul."