Now that night had fully descended and most of the bandits had retired to their respective tents Linus finally made his move. He carefully circled around his target sentry, flaring [Sneaking] on himself to mute any sounds or sights, crawling through the between he underbrush and any other plants he could place between him and the man. Once he had pulled up alongside the man he gave himself a quick pep talk then lashed out with his shortsword and [Sneak Attack]. Before he knew it there was a dead man impaled on his sword and he was panicking. There was more blood than he expected and the man was much heavier than he was prepared for as the body went limp, dragging his sword point down as it slid off and plopped to the ground.

Internally Linus screamed, cursing himself for his carelessness and not thinking ahead on what to do with the body. He was sure that the neighboring sentries and half the camp had heard the body land. One pounding heartbeat, two pounding heartbeats, three, no response. Okay, you’re fine, just keep going with the plan he thought to himself as he started moving towards the camp once more. Hopefully he could get in and out before anyone noticed the dead sentry. Moments later he was at the edge of the tents and [Sneaking] was starting to be strained by the still blazing bonfire just feet away. He continued to make his way, putting the tents between him and the flames as he circled around the fire towards his target. He hugged the dark, shadowy side of the tents, quickly darting to the next each time he reached the end of his current tent.

Several tense minutes later found him at the last tent next to the side of the prison building. From his scouting later he knew there were two on the front door and at least two more inside. He continued along the building to its back side and then the far side, disappointed to find all the windows too small and high for him to easily sneak in. Back at the entrance he prepared himself for his back up plan. Replacing the punch dagger on his belt and pulling a throwing knife he snuck as close as he dared. Approaching the edge of light cast by the torches on either side of the door, Linus activated [Blades] and threw the knife at the far guard. As it sunk into his side with a wet thunk, Linus took advantage of the distraction and [Sneak Attack]’d the closer one with the shortsword. This time Linus was prepared and pushed the body off his sword, onto the wounded other guard, before putting him out of his misery as well with a slash to his throat.

Committed Linus immediately pushed the door open, relieved to find the last two guards nowhere in sight. He turned around and pulled the two dead doorsmen into the building before pulling the door shut behind him. He retrieved his throwing knife from the one guard and wiped it clean before moving down the hall. Creeping forward he could hear the two additional guards talking. Peering around the corner he could see one but not the other. Several tense moments passed as he tried to figure out a way to surprise both of them before resigning himself to the fact that at least one would be faced head on in a fight.

Retreating as many feet back from the corner as possible while still keeping the one guard in sight he let loose with his throwing knife then grabbed his swortsword with both hands and prepared for battle. Fortune smiled upon him as the other guard rounded the corner and practically stabbed himself on the sword. He managed to dodge it at the last minute but was clearly thrown off for a second by Linus’ [Sneaking] skill, just long enough for Linus to get a lucky slice in on his sword arm. Then they were engaged in battle, with Linus leaning heavily on [Blades] and pulling out the punch dagger to have a second blade. The guard recovered quickly from his injury and surprise, responding with a swing of his own that Linus barely blocked in time. Several swings later Linus also had a cut down his arm, then a nick on his shoulder, saved both times by his leather armor taking the brunt of the attacks. [Minor Regeneration] started the healing process as the fight continued.

Finally Linus managed to redirect the guard’s sword, leaving an opening for the punch dagger to take him in the neck. As he finished off the guard he heard a raucous bell peal from further down the hall. Damn it, he cursed in his head as he rushed towards the guard injured by his throwing knife. Apparently they had a system in place and his time was up. The injured guard didn’t put up half the fight as the previous thankfully but the damage was done. Linus could hear people stirring outside the building.

After he dispatched the second guard he hurried on through the larger office area they had been seated in and down another hallway where the cells were located. One of the cells was empty but the other held a rough and dirty looking Archie and Luke.

“What are you doing here?” Asked Luke.

“Hello sir, you shouldn’t have come.” Added Archie.

“No time to talk, busy saving you both. Now where are the keys?” Linus said, looking around the hallway then back into the office. They were nowhere to be found, including, on either of the guards. “Fuck, did either of you see where they put the keys?”

“I think the head honcho took them with him when he left.” Luke responded.

“Crap, okay.” Said Linus reapproached the cell to inspect the lock. It was far too sturdy for his sword to cut and sandwiched between two bars, giving him no angle to swing at it. While studying the lock he handed off the rest of his throwing knives to Archie.

He tried to jimmy the lock first with his shortsword then his punch dagger, both being too large to actually fit into the keyhole. In a moment of inspiration he sheathed both weapons and conjured his [Mana Blade]. The small blush white blade fit almost perfectly into the lock. Twisting it around didn’t seem to move any of the tumblers but at least cut them. Several more twists and wiggles later the locking mechanism was destroyed and Archie and Luke rushed out of the cell to join him. Archie stopped to give him a hug while Luke proceeded to the two bodies, relieving them of their swords and arming himself and Archie, who awkwardly accepted it in his off hand.

They quickly walked down the hallway and opened the doors to find a group of bandits waiting outside, backlit by the bonfire.

“Well look at what we have here. The noble delivered himself to us, isn’t that convenient boys?”

“Wait, I know that voice.” Linus said as the men stepped aside, revealing Jeremy’s bookie friend.

“No shit,” responded the man. “You took all my money last night so now I’m taking it back. If you make it easy and lay down your weapons and hand over the gold we’ll look into ransoming you back to your family. Give us trouble and we’ll kill you on the spot and take everything you’ve got.”

“Oh, well that sounds reasonable. Let me just find you that gold.” Linus said as he started digging around in his bag, whispering to his friends “hold your breath and get ready to run.” He opened both the Waterbreathing and Eyes Deceive potion, quickly combining and recapping before pulling it out of the bag and throwing it into the fire behind the bandits.

A sharp crack was followed by a small cloud of steam that enveloped most of the bandits before drifting away, leaving the majority of them disoriented. That’s when Luke struck, cutting down several of them in an instance and creating an opening for all three of them to run. They rushed past the people and the fire, holding their breath to avoid any residual potion. Once past the bonfire and approaching the woods Luke took the lead, his Ranger skills showing themselves as he guided them quickly through the trees.

They ran until Linus complained he couldn’t breath, then continued walking. Luke coached them on how to move to minimize their trail and led them on a circuitous route away from the camp. Hours later he called it safe enough and they stopped for what remained of the night.