10 Chirreb 4385: Into Exile

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

(stillllll 5 Chirreb)

So we couldn't let them go and we couldn't keep them prisoner without somebody watching them and renewing the spells to keep them from casting because there's any number of really easy spells that can get you untied and we just didn't have any place to put them that was really secure. Purrzhon muttered a lot about how we should've killed most of them during the fight instead of taking them prisoner and that we hadn't needed more than one alive to question. He didn't go so far as to suggest we should kill them now. Probably because he knew we wouldn't anyway.

Mirhandrax wanted to turn them over to Ulmarn's city guard to do whatever it is that Ulmarn considers justice. None of the rest of us were really keen on that because (a) we'd have to go the rest of the way to Ulmarn and (b) we'd have to testify against the Cani and deal with Ulmarn's courts and (c) the Rassimel who were the actual victims weren't going to testify except maybe Moika and then only if her parents didn't stop her. So we might not even be able to convince the guard that the Cani were guilty. When Purrzhon also pointed out that the guard would execute the mewellicaps without a trial, even Mirhandrax didn't want to do it any more.

In the end, Mirhandrax tore up a few heavy dead tree trunks. We tied all four of them to the tree trunks and dropped them off the edge of the world-branch.

Mirhandrax sponted a new special rope that would only last an hour. When it disintegrated after an hour, they'd be free and the mewellicaps would be able to fly. We even gave the Cani flight spells from the Little Bird. Mirhandrax was sure that (a) they could fall for an hour without hitting another branch and (b) an hour of falling would take them so far away from Ulmarn that it wouldn't be practical for them to fly back under their own power. "Your best course is probably to hang onto the trunks until you can see another world branch and then start flying on your own," Mirhandrax told the prisoners before we dropped them. They weren't exactly happy about it but being sent into exile is about the best they could hope for and they knew it. We even gave them some bound healing spells from their dead comrades (that Nightbloom or Purrzhon had Twice-Bound during the fight so they wouldn't trigger then) in case something went wrong along the way.

By now it was late afternoon and the sun was looking pretty dim. Purrzhon and Mirhandrax (both of them! We didn't even have an argument about that part!) wanted to move against the snag that night before the bandits realized something had happened to their extortion group. Waiting 'til dawn so we'd be fresh on cley would've been nice but none of us were very low and taking the bandits by surprise was more important. We flew back at the best speed we could manage while discussing how to take on the remaining bandits. This part actually was more discussion than argument because no one had any ideas they were really keen on trying. Mostly it was Mirhandrax, Purrzhon and Nightbloom discussing. I tried to calm Trust down because he was all distraught about the fight and dealing with the prisoners. I don't think Trust is meant to be an adventurer.

Comments

[zeeth_kyrah]

That actually sounds like an excellent solution to a queasy problem. I should try it myself sometime, should I ever find a means of doing so.

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

Really do you have prisoners you need to exile too?

[zeeth_kyrah]

Well, to be honest, no. But I may end up playing a game or writing a story in which a creative form of exile is needed, and this works quite well.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Jeez, you were *really* nice to them. Did Mirhandrax give his word of honor? It sounds like he was trying awfully hard to make sure they didn't die or get crippled from the exile even by accident.

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

I think Mirhandrax did? I was kinda distracted by itchy mewellicap poison ugh. But it was something like promising that we wouldn't kill or cripple them which doesn't really apply if they get attacked by ulgrane on the way down or something. But we were trying to exile them and not kill them permanently because permanent death is kind of a harsh penalty for primes for extortion. And falling off the tree is pretty dangerous.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was a really ingenious solution!

Do any of the major city states that you know well have any official treaties regarding the taking of prisoners, the treatment thereof, the ransom of them, and other such matters? Or is that stuff limited to behaviour restraints for official representatives of the city, like knights and the military and hired mercenaries and stuff?

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

I don't know? Nobody cares what you do with monsters or in the Verticals generally and in a Mene it's expected that you'll take action against anybody who's wronged you which is why Purrzhon can go after the bandits. As long as they're not more important than you are anyway which bandits generally aren't.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

So you didn't discover that the bandit leader was the son of the duke playing at being a pirate or anything, then.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Yay for the successful disposal of at least some of the bandits! Unless they figure out a way to escape before they fall too far. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

I hope not because it took long enough to get rid of them once I don't want to have to do it again!