"So you suggest we just sit here and hide for the rest of the day?" Tamas asks Endre. "Let's at least go and scout the surroundings ahead before dark. That will help us tomorrow. Endre can you track to see in what direction the horses are riding? If you and I go scouting, Emil stay here with Adelinde and Meffrid and keep a low profile until we come back. We will be back well before dark so we can make a small fire and a camp for the night."
"Not the rest of the day, but perhaps an hour or two," Endre says, "after that, they'll probably be done with their looting and head back to their camp, or base." He looks at the sun's position, "my guess is that they'll leave early enough to be be well away from here before nightfall. There are supposed to be teutonic knights patrolling these parts to protect pilgrims headed for the Holy Land, so I doubt the brigands will linger too much."
Emil also urges Tamas to wait, "Master, I can't protect you if I have to stay behind. There are simply too many for us to do anything but get caught. I can go back, if you want, to try and learn more. That way I'll be able to come and fetch you when the raiders leave."
"Alright" Tamas says. "Emil go and see what happens and when the raiders are gone you come back and we will continue for a bit. But we need to find a very good spot for a night camp before it gets too dark."
Once Emil is gone, Endre says quietly to Tamas, "You're right, sir, we'll need to find a good place to camp. But not right now. Let's keep as low a profile as possible, until we know the raiders are gone."
Time drags on as the group waits for further news. Less than an hour later, though, Tamas hears the sound of hooves not too far from them. Spying the path they've left not so long ago, he sees a small group of horsemen passing by. Two men ride point. Three more are leading a string of mules and pack horses, as well as three bound women stumbling after the animals. Finally, two more riders closing the march. The riders match Emil's description of them, wearing fur items and pointed helmets.
Tamas watches the group of riders as they pass then he looks at Endre to see if he shows any reaction or sign of recognizing the riders. When the riders are out of earshot he asks him "Did you recognize them?"
He also looks at Adelinde and her servant's reaction.
"We stay until Emil comes back and says the road is clear ahead."
Time drags on, without any sign of Emil. It has been over an hour.
(OOC: How long will you wait?)
Tamas waits for another halfhour. If Emil hasn't come back by then he tells Endre to stay here while he goes to check on Emil. Then he moves in the same direction Emil went keeping some distance from the path the riders and themselves earlier travelled along.
Moving at the edge of the woods, it takes over an hour for Tamas to get approach the site of the attack. By that time, he has seen two other groups of riders moving down the path. Obviously, there are still some of them around.
He knows he's getting closer when he spots the first bodies lying on the path.
He stays in the cover of the vegetation as much as he can and when he hears and sees riders he stops to hide until they have passed. He looks for any prisoners the riders may have taken if Emil happens to be among them. If he doesn't spot him he keeps moving ahead a bit longer keeping a distance to the dead bodies as well.
None of the prisoners look anything like Emil -- most of them are women so far and the younger ones at that. It also isn't hard to keep away from the bodies, as they are on or close to the path while Tamas is moving a bit deeper inside the woods to keep out of sight. That makes for slow movement, but seems a fair price to pay for safety.
Just as Tamas arrives at the site of what seems to have been the main site of the attack, he is faced with a conundrum. The trees are getting much less dense here, which increases the chance of discovery. And he spots another group of dismounted riders just ahead. Three of them still rummaging through the dead's belongings for valuables, while another is keeping watch over their horses and a pair of prisoners. One of them is the woman who approached your camp the other night, while the other one is a younger girl, perhaps 13 or 14. Their guard may not have been very attentive, for you see the younger girls start edging away, then start running for cover... right in Tamas' direction.
Tamas quickly looks around for a shrub or some bushes that are big enough to cover him when kneeling down. He then waits to see if the girl passes by him and if the guard comes after. He prepares himself for the worst, a Pilum of Fire against the guard but preferably out of sight from the other riders and hopefully without scaring the girl too much either.
The rock behind which Tamas was crouching should be enough to keep him out of sight, Tamas believes, but if he is to see how things will develop he is at least marginally exposed.
With a yell, the man guarding the horses warns the others that one of their prizes is getting away, The trio reluctanly leave off their plundering to run after the girl, who is still headed almost directly at Tamas. The area where all of this is much more open than he would have liked -- which is probably why they picked that location for their attack, given they were on horseback -- so there seems to be little chance that he will be able to prevent them seeing the source of any blatant magic.
The girls, meanwhile, isn't moving very fast compared to the three men coming after her. Her hands are tied before her and she stumbles quite a bit. Still, she will be past Tamas' hiding place before they catch up with her. Which severely brings down the chances that Tamas has of remaining undetected, if he remains where he is.
[Are there any others within sight except for the four armed riders and the two women?]
(Not that Tamas can see from his current position. But his field of vision is limited, so there might be more raiders farther off, or people hiding in the woods or amongst the rocks.)
Tamas crouches as low and closely he can to the rock he is hiding behind and hopes that he won't be seen from the direction the girl and the plunderers is coming from. He listens for the oncoming runners.
Hopefully the girl runs past him and soon after the three men. Before they reach the girl but after they have passed him he will rise and cast Pilum of Fire at them using his Multiple casting ability to cast it three times at once, one each.
Hope springs up into Tamas' heart as the girl's weaving path take her at an angle from his hiding place. It seems that the raiders may not come too close to him. First one, then another of the raiders run past his position. But just as he thinks he will be able to take all three by surprise, the girl stumbles and falls. And, as she looks back at her pursuers nearing her, she seems to notice Tamas crouching behind the boulder. "Help me," she cries out at him.
That seems to confuse the raiders for a moment, before they start looking around.
(Giving Tamas a chance to react.)
Tamas rises quickly and cast his Pilum of Fire at all three raiders.
(Spellcasting rolls are 7, 7 and 4. Damage totals are 21, 20 and 24.)
The spears of flame hit all three raider, burning them badly as well as destroying much of the full clothing they were wearing -- also revealing they are wearing chain mail underneath. (Two of them suffer medium wounds, one only a light wound.)
Crying out in pain at their burns, they take stock of their situation. Tamas is between them and their horses, so two of them charge toward him. The third one (one of those with a medium wound) decides to flee into the woods, even dropping his sword in panic.
Tamas starts running in the opposite direction of the oncoming barbarians, he then turns left in a loop back towards the forest but away from the opponents. If he sees that they follow him even as he turns he will look for higher ground somewhere and try to get there with time to prepare and give them another Pilum blast.
As Tamas runs, he hears a distant "clack" followed by a much -- very much -- closer "thunk" as a crossbow bolt digs deep into a stump right beside him. He has still some distance to cover before he makes it into the forest.
Then there is yelling behind him and the sound of a clash, then whinnying as the horses react to the fracas. And another yell, intelligible this time. "Run, master! Keep running!"