An arrow flies from the trees heading straight to the Stygian.

Katslk!

He parries the arrow with a wave of his hand, shattering the shaft.

“We should be more cordial seeing that we’re the only ones in this forest,” he says with an amused voice, “Have your friend come out — it’s rude to keep one’s face hidden.”

“Stay where you are!” you bellow at Thomas.

You see him nod in response.

“So be it,” he says angrily. “Deal with him.”

The massive bandit charges with his axe as the Stygian and the other bandit look on.

You start humming as a precaution other bandits that you might have missed and you meet the charge of the rushing bandit.

Clangsht!

You deflect the descending axe with your shield — but the bandit dashes back to avoid the hit from your hammer.

Kathunk!

An arrow hits the bandit on the shoulders — penetrating through the armor but not deep enough into flesh to cause significant damage.

The bandit roars — more out of rage than pain.

He tries to charge to Thomas’ direction but you rush in to block his path.

“Someone on my flank?” your blindsight alerts you to an unseen enemy to your side.

The axe-wielding bandit strikes with a sweeping strike in an attempt to force you back.

You take the full force of the axe strike with your shield — the axe stopping amidst a flash of black.

Two more arrows hit the stunned bandit, hitting him square in the chest.

The unseen enemy acts.

It rushes you with a bladed weapon — thinking you were unaware of its attack.

You veer to your left at the last second and land a hit on the invisible assassin’s side.

Karthak!

The assassin flickers into existence as Skybreaker hits his side — sending him flying into one of the trees.

The bandit you’re facing rushes you with his axe — gripping the edges of your shield in an attempt to yank it off your grip.

He pulls down the shield and smashes his axe down.

You launch Skybreaker upwards in a strike that meets the axe head.

Kaaargh!

The glow of demonfire envelops Skybreaker the instant it meets the blade — almost doubling its force and causing an explosion where the two weapons meet.

The axe is bent out of shape and sent flying from the bandit’s grip.

The Stygian draws his sword seeing that the ruse had failed and one of his companions in peril because of it.

He rushes to the unarmed bandit’s side — giving him time to recover his weapon.

Thadunk! Kathink!

Two arrows hit the stunned assassin before he can recover — pinning him to the trees and ending his life.

“The archer!” the Stygian screams as he directs the larger bandit to head to Thomas.

He lunges at you with his sword, before pulling another sword from his waist.

“Two swords?” you are utterly flabbergasted.

No sane soldier would use two swords in an actual battle — especially with all the mechanical disadvantages it gives the wielder.

The Stygian launches a barrage of strikes — continuous… rhythmic…

Useless.

He doesn’t get more attacks using two weapons — and he loses most of the power behind his strikes.

You shove him away with your shield — but he dashes right back in with two separate sword strikes, one to your chest and one to your groin.

“Really?” the absurdity of the situation has you wondering how this person managed to become a notorious bandit.

The two blows are nullified by simply angling your shield and you force him back with a strike of your hammer.

You would show this fool what it’s like to wield two weapons properly.

He attempts to dart to your right and you meet his movement by punching with your shield.

You ward off both his swords with an upward shrug of your shield and you strike with your hammer without leaving the shield’s guard.

He evades the strike.

He’s quick — you give him that. He would have been better served by a spear or a single sword.

“Time to end this,” you say to yourself — your amusement slowly turning to irritation.

You block his next attack high, exposing an opening.

He takes it — thrusting a sword into your chest.

You ram the side of your shield into his arm as you move forward — barreling into him and forcing him off balance.

Karglash!

A glowing Skybreaker smashes the chest of the reeling bandit — smashing ribs and pulverizing organs as the concussive force sends him crashing to the ground.

You turn towards Thomas and see a brilliant flash of light.

“That’s not good,” the thought flashes in your mind and you rush towards the light.

You see a panting Thomas and an arrow riddled bandit up ahead.

“He’s still alive?”

“No,” Thomas replies as he sends an arrow through the eye and into the brain of the weakened and blind bandit.

You start dragging the body back to camp but Thomas shakes his head.

“You don’t need the whole body for the bounty,” he says as he grabs the dead bandit’s head.

Sding!

Silver flashes and the head is easily separated from the body — sending blood gushing everywhere.

“You should have checked for loot first,” you chide Thomas. “Now there’s all this blood.”

The two of you check for loot and find a pouch with some coin and a few gems.

You return to the camp to inspect the assassin and the bandit leader.

“The dagger is clearly magical,” Thomas declares. He gives the dagger’s pommel a twist and murky liquid spills out of it. “The pommel serves as a receptacle for poison. You were lucky you detected him.”

“I could still see him sitting by the fire — yet, he was already hiding near me,” you recount. “Is that from some kind of magical item?”

“No,” Thomas replies, “those are trained skills of Milic assassins”

“Formidable — but of little use in a grassy forest.”

“That’s what gave him away?”

“Yes,” you lie, rather than explain your blindsight that you mimicked from bats.

You find another pouch of coin and gems in the assassin’s body and Thomas cuts of its head when you were done.

Thomas approaches the fallen bandit leader and gasps.

“Your hammer did that?”

“Obviously.”

“You almost put a hole in him — what the-“

“A thrust of a sword would have had the same result.”

Thomas gives you a questioning look.

“A thrust of a blade would have killed him the same — the extent of the damage shouldn’t determine the efficiency of the kill.”

He nods finally understanding your point.

“Two swords huh?”

You shrug.

“Was he any good?”

“No.”

Thomas laughs. “Of course he had no chance — you had a shield.”

“Which is why you should consider getting a buckler.”

“Maybe soon,” he relents.

You search the fallen bandit leader and find another pouch of coin and gems.

Thomas inspects the two swords and says one of them is probably enchanted.

He looks at the small pouch in your hands suspiciously.

“This can’t be all of them?”

“They’re not,” you reply. “There are several trails leaving the campsite — one of them probably leads to where they hid their stash.”

Thomas nods. “Let’s start searching then.”

After a few false trails and dead-ends — the two of you finally stumble upon a suspiciously well-concealed trail.

The concealed tracks point to something hidden in the area — but you see no signs of upturned soil.

Thomas starts searching under rocks while you inspect the surroundings for more clues.

“Got it!” Thomas yells in delight as he uncovers a hollowed-out tree that concealed the hidden loot.

The tree held four large packs of both coin and gems — this was probably the bandit’s whole stash.

It takes you two hours to get back to the cave and the prisoners.

Thomas was a macabre sight as he carried one of the bandit packs on one hand and a bleeding blanket with the three heads in another.

The sight of him almost drove the already scared prisoners insane with fright — especially when he tossed the blanket and the three heads of their leaders rolled out of it.

It took seven hours for you and Thomas to make the trek from the town to the cave — so you delay your return by another day.

The limping prisoners won’t be able to keep up with the pace — and you’ll be overtaken by the night if you leave now.

“We can make it – we can make it,” begs one of the injured prisoners — eyeing the severed heads unconsciously.

Thomas leaves the cave and comes back with a few lengths of wood. He then unbinds the uninjured bandit.

“Make a splint for your injured friend,” he barks. “If he can’t walk tomorrow — then we’ll be leaving his body here.”

The injured man’s eyes flare up in understanding. “I’ll make the trip! Please! I’ll make it.”

Thomas unbinds the other captives under your watchful eye. He gives them strips of dried meat and some bread — before letting them drink a few mouthfuls of water.

His actions calmed the frightened prisoners — making them more docile after realizing they had a path to survival.

Dinner was the same — but this time, the distant howling of wolves put the prisoners on edge. Thomas tries to calm their nerves by asking them about their lives before they turned to banditry and the reasons that forced them into it.

Soon, night deepens and Thomas orders the prisoners to sleep in the cave before turning in near the fire.

You take the first watch once again — your eyes closely watching the forest, but your ears alert for suspicious sounds within the cave.

A few hours before dawn, you wake up Thomas and both of you drag the prisoners out and line them near the fire.

Thinking they were going to be killed, the prisoners start to panic.

Thomas calms them to submission with a flash of his sword — sending them into sobbing torpor.

“You won’t be killed,” you reassure them. “You’re only getting warmed up by the fire so we can leave at the break of dawn.”

The prisoners nod — still shaken by the rough awakening.

Thomas takes over the watch and you get a couple of hours of sleep.

You wake up to see the prisoners eating rations and Thomas preparing the packs.

He gives you one of the heavier packs while also taking one for himself. He gives a lighter pack to the uninjured bandit and he gives the lightest one to the bandit with the injured foot.

The bandit with the broken leg had the lightest of loads — the four severed heads wrapped up in a blanket.

This made the bandit even more motivated to press on — regardless of the pain, as the severed heads served as a grim reminder of what might happen to him if he wasn’t able to continue walking.

The walk back to town proved difficult — especially for the injured prisoners. Thomas even took out a flask of healing potion — giving it the bandit with the broken leg, just so he could continue to keep walking.

It seems their sad plights and stories of their previous lives sparked a bit of pity within Thomas. Now he wanted to take the bandits safely into town — not just for the reward, but also to preserve their lives.

The three-day outing with Thomas proved to be massively fruitful. The quest rewards earned you 40 gold for the herbs and venom, 200 gold for the Stygian’s bounty, 60 gold for the dead bandits, and another 90 gold for the prisoners.

Your quest rewards already earned the two of you 290 gold — but that number paled in comparison to the loot you got from the bandits.

In total there were a little more than 4,000 gold pieces in the packs and another 2,000 gold in gems — not to mention the two magic weapons.

After stocking up on potions for the party’s future endeavors — you and Thomas still had more than 2800 gold each.