At first you think they're mounted on horses, but as they draw closer you realize that, in fact, they are centaurs. They have the body of horses and instead of a horse's neck and head, a human torso, head, and arms. They are big, much bigger than you, you'd guess maybe about two and a half to three meters tall, and the backs of their horse halves are about two meters tall. Each of them is wearing leather armor and a helmet and they have spears in their hands and bows worn over their shoulders. It's hard to tell what color their fur is aside from dark, brown or black probably. Their skin is somewhere between light and dark but you can't tell whether it's natural or tanned. One of them steps forward; now that he's only a few feet from you, you can clearly tell that he is a male as he sports a bushy black beard.
"You claim to have been brought here against your will, but you speak our language perfectly. How can this be true?" The centaur's voice is deep and rich and you can feel his eyes boring into you as you wince mentally. Didn't think of that; still, I don't know enough of the Realms to even try and bluff them. Best to stick to the truth, at least partly.
"Please, good sir. I have a Trait which gives me a bonus to languages. As you can see, I am barely armed and completely unarmored. The three of you could easily kill me if you make that choice and I doubt I could land a single blow on you before you do." You slowly kneel down and set your spear in front of you, then push it away from you. "I have disarmed myself. As I said, I mean you no harm." A prompt flashes into your vision.
Congratulations! You have reached level 1 in the Persuasion Skill.
"Hmph," the leader (?) grunts. "Looks can be deceiving, and I don't believe your story. But there's enough that doesn't make sense if I assume you're lying about everything that I will not have you killed here. Derwyn, Lail, bind him. We will let the Council decide the truth of his words."
You think about trying to run, but then you realize the utter stupidity of that. Outrun a horse? Yeah, right. Instead you hold out your hands as the other two centaurs approach with a length of rope. One of them you believe to be a female, as long hair spills down her back and the front of her leather breastplate protrudes a bit farther out from her chest than her companions' armor does. The two of them quickly and efficiently tie your hands together and then seal your arms tightly to your torso with loops of rope. One of them, the female, holds onto the one end of the rope and begins to tug you along. The male bends down and retrieves your spear.
The three centaurs lead you on in silence for hours, and exhaustion begins to set in for you. You ask for a break at one point after you stumble and fall to your knees, but the female just orders you to get back up and keep moving, tugging harshly on the rope for emphasis. Finally, just as you are starting to wonder whether it might be worth it to just fall down and let the centaurs drag you across the ground, you see a the flickering light of a small fire through the mists. After a few more steps, you realize that the dark shapes in the mist in front of your bleary eyes are actually centaur-sized buildings. The leader tells the female, Lail, to keep you here while he and Derwyn find a Council member to report to. You collapse to the ground now that you've finally stopped moving, and you begin to doze off almost instantly. You're woken up almost immediately, however, as Lail nudges you with one hoof.
"Sit up. Sorry for the **** march, Steffan is a bit of a **** driver even to us, and he's got a stick up his tail about rules and regulations. While he decided not to kill you outright, he didn't have the authority to let you go and he couldn't let you linger any longer than strictly needed. Here, I imagine you're at least as thirsty as you are tired." Her voice is a warm contralto. She waits for you to sit up, then kneels down on her forelegs in front of you and carefully pours water from a large waterskin into your mouth. You greedily gulp it down and the water tastes pure and clear and sweet.
"Go ahead and get comfortable, catch a little nap if you can. I doubt any of the Councillors are awake at this hour and he's certainly not going to be waking up Fionn or Anwn to deal with you -- they'd both be at least as angry with him for interrupting their sleep as they would be at you for being a trespasser. If he finds anyone, it'll be Eilwen, Gerwyn, or Ailis, and those three are all a lot better for you. Anyway, get what rest you can. I can tell you're not going anywhere." She ties the rope to a nearby fence post and you roll over onto your side, not even caring about the feeling of your head sinking partway into the soft earth. Within less than a minute, a deep, dreamless sleep claims you.
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