Hamish continues his vigilant stroll, ears perked to hear dogs in pursuit or people ahead on the road. [Per + Awareness: 7]
You get the last bits and pieces on the carts, and Laureen and Ruedi hide as best they can under blankets and tools and sacks of opats, or whatever else your carts carry. The road is decent, and the cart makes good speed, but carts cannot compete with feet. You have barely started, when you realise that the hounds are leaving the village, heading towards you.
Under the blankets, Laureen whispers to Ruedi, «w-what did that gentleman do to you, chanting like a priest and all?»
The hounds do not move fast through the fields, as they seem to take time to sniff around, and when they get to the campsite, they take some time to investigate, allowing you to gain another hundred paces.
Ruedi is back asleep, though he is tossing and turning, as if the howls outside trigger something deep inside of him.
Hamish takes out his blade, giving it a few swishes.
"If we're set upon by the dogs, we need to kill them quick. No one can fault us defending ourselves."
He looks at the Leofric and Nauvi. "This could get ugly very fast. We need to keep our cover story that we are simple travelers who are heading to meet up with others. But the dogs need to be dealt with. Besides my sword and shield, what else we got to take them out?"
The dogs are on leads. There seem to be about a handful of them, and a similar number of men. When they leave your campsite, they are at least 300 paces behind you and they are only a tad faster than you. You reckon you have at least an hour, maybe two, before they catch up, but catch up they will. Why would anyone leave the road?
"I can protect myself with my staff, as well as Roxie, but that's about it," replies Leofric.
Ruedi's turning and tossing intensifies, and he removes some of the cover, and a mix of howl and whimpering can be heard, similar to a wolf. <Flee! there's a terrible beast in these woods, and it will kill you all! Save yourselves!>
(Animal Handling roll of 16 to make the dogs run away, He has Voice of the Forest, and Alluring to Animals)
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Nauvi mutters a few words, and he takes a step to the side. "I can throw rocks a little, and if I try really hard I might make one hound go to sleep like I did with the guards. That's a big pack though."
[Nauvi casts wizard's sidestep - he rolls a zero, but doesn't roll a botch on the next die and it's a low magnitude spell]
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"Leofric, can you talk 'em down if they get close?" asks Hamish, shield now on his arm.
"I can try, but I'm just a lowly monk. I doubt they'll pay me much heed," the burly young man squares his shoulder. But he keps walking, leading Roxie farther along the road. The donkey seems a bit nervous, her ears twitching to catch the approaching sound of barking..
When the men with dogs on leads get closer, Hamish calls out in a loud voice toward Leofric, attempting to be loud enough for the men to hear.
"Father, pull over to the side here. These good fellows have got somewhere to be in a hurry. Let 'em pass."
The big guy stands at the rear of the cart, waving the men with dogs to move on past.
"Let 'em through before the donkey gets scared and bolts."
"Yes, yes, of course," Leofric leads Roxie the the side of the road and stops.
The carts pull aside and Ruedi howls. The hounds come to a halt, howling back. The handlers seem to struggle a bit to keep them. They are still a hundred paces behind you, so the human voices cannot be made out.
One man leaves the hounds to approach you. Do you act before you can make out his features?
Nauvi is going to wait. He is not the legendary Janus the incinerator, so will make sure he can recognise the man before he takes any action.
Hamish turns toward the approaching man.
"Can you move your damned dogs on?! Buggers are spookin' our donkey."
The man is tall, with an oiled cloak, and a wolfskin cape on his shoulders complete with a head. His face is fully covered in burn scars. «You are hiding the witch, don't you? It seems that she has some power over the dogs. You surrender her, and we shall leave you in peace.»
Those who pay attention think they can see the blanket moving as Laureen trembles under it.
Leofric remains focused on keeping Roxie calm, but is attentive as to what the others will answer. He's anything but a glib liar, so having him remain silent might be better in the end.
The talking voices caused Ruedi to wake up, groggily from his troubled sleep, he sits up from under the blanket and sack of flour "What's all this noise about? Have we reached the village yet?" He blinks at the burned man, and shakes his head. Then he looks at him again, and seeing the confused look at his face, he realizes he spoke his native language and switches to his broken English "Are... I.. Safe..."?
OOC: His first sentences are said in High German.
Laureen whimpers and pulls the blanket tight around her as Ruedi removes it from himself.
«Who is ever ... safe?» asks the wolfcaped man. «How are you young man from overseas?»
Hamish steps away from the cart, hand on his sword.
"I don't know who the f*ck you are, fella," says the giant of a man, anger rising in his face and voice. "But we ain't in your business and you ain't in ours. We're travelin' with the good Friar here. So what would be doin' with witches?"
Hamish looks back at Ruedi with a sharp glance and then back to the wolfskin-cloaked man.
"So.. you move on with your business, and we will leave you and your dogs in ... peace. Deal?"