True Monsters – Act 2 Vine Garden - Chapter 15 – Brotherhood Of The Black Hand

Alice didn't dream peacefully, she didn't sleep very well. It was an odd combination, she saw bats with bows trying to shoot her. She woke up sweating breathed sharply. It took a few minutes to slow her breathing. She turned over gripping the covers tightly screwing her eyes shut. She eventually went back to sleep, she was again chased by creature that were half batt and half archer. Vivian dreamed of the moment she had sent that arrow flying, she had focused on her target. She could see a spinning arrow now, it cut through a cord. A life ended a fate cut short and a body fell to the floor.

David dreamed of walking down the streets of the noble district, in the cathedral city. His purse filled with gold coins. He wore fine robes he clenched his fist, finding a pair of dice in it he grinned. Martin remembered his wife’s face, she looked at him judging. That was more terrifying to him than any monster. He had work to do, he might be seeing her again soon.

They woke to the sound of the church bell calling Morning Prayer. They rose form there marginally more comfortable beds. David and Vivian attended the brief service, David went more for Vivian. Martin looked for peace in the church, no ordinary alcohol could really help him now. He had to find his solace elsewhere. After a few words of comfort from the priest, they went back to the shared rooms. Vivian was a little despondent, she regretted having to kill the forester.

Alice would be dead if she had not. They had barely gotten a silver each from the last days work. Even though they had faced some very dangerous wildlife. David reflected that a monster had to raise a nuisance of itself, to get any decent bounty on it.

The church was a large public building. As well as the main hall, there were rooms where various people gathered. For anything from singing practice to a weaving class. There was the crypt of internment, where people would come to remember their relatives. There were for practical purposes a store of food and water. A tenth of what was produced was held as an emergency, if there was a siege of the village.

The pews even folded out to make uncomfortable beds. It was designed as a literal last refuge. The priest had some separate private chambers, a small library and the few rooms where visitors could stay. Those visitors went to the church kitchen for a brief meal, porridge and some bread. The lay brother who helped the priest coughed. He laid down a neatly folded piece of parchment on the table. It was their orders from the steward.

Martin was the first to finish, he unfolded the paper. “The local lord Cain had received a letter, a demand. He had been threatened by a group of bandits. Un-imaginatively they are calling themselves, the brotherhood of the Black Hand. They have supposedly stolen the contents of one of the last caravans. Several particularly valuable vintages. Which explains why the local lord is so angry. There were demands for a ransom for the survivor’s, the merchant guild members and employees. The letter has not been specific about the number of survivors.” He handed it to Vivian, “They even dared to say that Lord Cain, has to pay them a tax to use the local roads.” This letter had sparked events causing the local lord to call in anyone he could, leading to the current situation.

Martin guessed, “With the thrall taint it must be the work of a vampire, behind the scenes”. His profession would lead him to determine that it was part of a wider vampire plot. Vivian was less convinced, what would be the motive for this. “It seems to brazen not subtle enough, its surely part of a wider thieves guild initiative, a deliberate piece of misdirection, in preparation for a larger crime.” David was certain that it was just a less subtle group, “you have to factor in a veteran. Someone with an ego and a lot of followers, they did this no plans within plans”. To him it was what it appeared to be on the surface, no more. Alice chimed in, “why could it not suit all three. The long term goals of the thieves’ guild, the vampire that’s spreading the taint, and the short term goals of this particular group of bandits, these black hand Burks.”

The missing caravan had consisted of three carts, three drivers’ three mercenaries and one more senior guild representative. Not a small group but they should have waited for a few more guards before heading out, considering how valuable there cargo was, someone tried to be cheap.

David looked over the important information, the information important to him. “One gold if the goods are found and returned intact, additional bounties payable on bandits on confirmation of kills.” He paused, “The shame is it may take a few days for a response from Good Ford the nearest city for confirmation, also we may need to collect rewards posted there.” Vivian grinned, “after this is over we can go to the local city, get our reward invest it in some new equipment. Then take a few days off to relax, before they hand out new assignments”.

Alice scanned the rough map, “don’t book your holiday yet”. She held the map up the other way. “We still have to search along the route for the carts, looking for anything supernatural or magical. Martin has his holy symbol for the supernatural, I can sense magic”. Vivian looked at her, “that is not the only skill set of this group. Me and David are more than two extra sets of eye's sets of eyes, we are trained to anticipate this sort of threat.”

David cleared his throat, “between the four of us we had only killed, that one poor sod, who was mind controlled by the taint. This is different we will be going out to kill, or be killed.” “We have levels skills and equipment, but do we have the resolve to kill. Can you do it, could you kill the bandits?” He let it sink in, “In The free mercenary companies, were trained to fight such groups. To show no mercy, when we were young raw recruits. They told us all the things that the thieves guild did. That had stuck with me probably Vivian to.”

He turned deadly serious, “can you do this Vivian?” She nodded without hesitation, “yes”. He turned to the vampire hunter, “Martin can you?” The eyes of a zealot met him, “It goes without saying, any bandit out there has struck a deal with the vampires.” He pulled a pistol for dramatic effect, “I won’t hesitate” He turned to the final member of the group, “what about you?” She paused considering her options, this was a line, she was not bumping into an armed stranger. She was deliberately setting out to wound and kill another human with magic.

Some like David would consider the crimes these people committed, made them less than humans. The law actually made it so that the bandits, had about as many legal rights as a wandering monster. If they killed all of them, no triune court would judge them. They she signed, “I don’t want to, but I owe all of you and it is my job. Perhaps they will surrender, with a bit of a show of magic?” David nodded, “perhaps”

They left the church and headed out of the village. The gate was well guarded, but then they were reasonably well equipped adventures. They formed a rough line, Martin at the front holding his holy symbol with David behind him. Then Alice trying to sense some magic, with Vivian behind. They carefully moved along the road, in the direction that the caravan had taken. David stopped with Alice almost bumping into him. He pointed down, “look someone smoothed over the side of the track with a shovel, as if they were hiding something”.

Vivian looked into the bushes. “The bushes have been moved, cut up then more branches added let’s check it out” Martin moved into the brush, “there are track hear a lot of them, hidden by the cover”. David moved some branches out of the way. “There are some cart tracks the bandits that captured the merchant caravan lead it off the main road.”

Vivian looked amongst the pile of branches, she stopped, “shit”. She pulled a bundle of branches away. There were two dead mercenaries from the caravan. She sighed, “This is the grim reality of our work, this could have been any of us.” Alice looked around feeling with her magic, “I can’t feel any magic” Martin held out his holy symbol, “I don’t think there was anything supernatural”.

Vivian pointed to a similar spot, just below both guards’ helmets. “They used a simple tactic, kill the guard at the front and the back. The bandits hit them at the same time with arrows, they didn’t see it coming”. David looked down, “They left a sheath and some arrows behind, they didn’t strip them they didn’t steal their stuff, they had other things to worry about. They were much closer to town than we thought. They had to be quick so they just dumped them in this ditch and covered up the tracks and moved. They probably had archers on all three carts skilled ones. They can’t be very far away from town. Let’s follow the tracks and see what we can find.” The remains of the dead mercenaries were laid out and covered up again.

They got fifty foot down the path and Vivian stopped, “let’s be sensible about this, they will see us coming they are going to go all out. Not letting us get close and not bunching up, if they see a dangerous mage”. Alice looked reproachful, “I’m not that dangerous”! She looked at her, “Alice you have the fire ball spell, so you really are quite dangerous”. She looked bashful, “yes” Vivian grinned “but I have an idea”.

The bandit camp was three quarters of a mile away, the group had set up in a spot where they could just respond to a look out on the city gates. Mobilise ambush a cart or caravan and retreat. If the guards and militia found them, they had enough time to pack up and run. Camp was a rather grand word for the small collection of tents and shacks that formed this group. It had the three carts that were now prominent additions. The captives were in one of the larger tents, inside a small wooden cage, they would be useful for something.

The adventures neared the camp, after twenty minutes. With this sort of opponent it was David and Vivian’s time to shine. They were trained specifically to take down these sort of threats. The bandit camp consisted of 14 relatively low level bandits, 5 more specialised unseen rouges and 3 scouts that were the eyes and ears. There was a tent that was decidedly diffident, the green smoke gave it away. A mad hermit hedge wizard had been adopted by the bandits, adding his mystical knowledge to their arsenal. The overall leader was a bandit veteran, a tough guy who had survived more than the punks under him could imagine.

The group of bandits was pretty large, you needed to be in a decent sized group or the local wildlife would be sizing you up, let alone your business partners. Small groups had to be very high level or work for a bigger group. The group consisted of a different mix of skills. The rogues used stealth and ambush to deal damage. The rogue job was created by one of the oldest thief’s guilds, the hidden hand. Rogues required very little to do their jobs, just a dagger and some picks. The bandit job was created as a less subtle enforcer job. By one of the later guilds, the red blades of Saul.

Bandits relied on light armour, short blades and manoeuvrability they favoured skirmishers hit and run tactics against better equipped foes. They were not much more talented than militia or village guards. The few scouts were much better trained and much higher levels. The scout job was one developed by the nobility, back when they had large armies that needed to be guided from one area to another. Not that scout’s couldn’t operate independently, if they were good enough.

The bandits gave the mad hermit hedge wizard a wide birth, he was useful in a fight. He was so was so pickled on wild mushrooms, it was amazing he could stand straight. The bandits were in a good position, they had hostages merchandise. If the local lord didn't pay up then they could sell both to the vampires, the thief’s guild or a mix of the two. The bandit veteran Bob Wells was thin, dressed in light armour blacked and unobtrusive, easily hidden easily forgotten. He received word from the scouts, a group of adventures were heading in. A mercenary's shield at the front, a vampire hunter probably a “tough bastard” and two archers. They could handle that especially since they had the wizard with them, the bandit grinned more hostages.

The party was surrounded, they kept walking forwards into camp, there weapons held ready. The bandits slowly grouped up, anticipating being able to intimidate the party into surrender. The party stopped on the outskirts of the camp, Martin and David at the front Vivian and Alice at the back. Bob had a hostage, a driver wearing a blue uniform. The skinny red head was paraded in front of the group. Her mouth was gagged tight enough to draw blood, her eyes covered, her wrists and elbows were bound with cord. It was tight enough for her arms to be useless possibly even damaged with her circulation cut off.

Bob grinned holding a knife to her throat, “It’s a simple transaction, you give me your equipment and I give you your lives, for a bit at least.” He pushed the dagger tighter against the hostage’s throat, “You will be our guests, until the local lord gives in and buys back his merchandise and people”. He grinned, “I don’t know if he will, if not a couple of ladies there that will bring a little coin, maybe even the other two as raw materials for one of my associates.”

David looked round counting up the number of opponents, he slowly moved into position, “I suggest you give up now”. The bandit leader gave a nudge to one of his colleagues, to get the wizard. “You aren’t veterans, and even if you were there are two veterans in our ranks. You don’t stand a chance.” The adventures were not budging and seemed unmoved by threats. Martin countered his offer, “Time in jail is better than dyeing hear is it not?”

The bandit leader looked around, making sure that he was not being surrounded by other forces. The group in front of him had three people in good armour, they would not go down quickly. He could lose quite a few people perhaps he had miscalculated, “we outnumber you five to one, we have you covered” Vivian looked dismissively at the equipment the bandits had, “I don’t think that you can do much, I favour our odds”.

Bob felt a bit of fear well up in him, this lot were two confident how powerful were they? He still had cards to play where was his wizard? “Give up or I kill the hostage”. There was a pathetic muffled scream from the cart driver, as he held the dagger tighter. David looked on, “it’s just some cart driver, you would kill them anyway”. The cart driver made several more pathetic cries.

Martin shifted his stance, “we won’t surrender!” the bandit leader checked that his scouts were in place arrows notched. He pointed at the group, “I warned you, now I will leave one of you alive to replace the driver.” The grip on the knife tightened. Martin had a pistol in one hand and his holy symbol in the other, the chief looked cocky. Martin moved fast, his pistol lined up with a focus shot, right at the bandits head. However at the last moment the thief’s body seemed to blur, he dodged out of the way. An arrow shot through the same space as Vivian fired, the thief was no longer there dodging again, back to his original position. He laughed as his knife cut away from him. The cart drivers life blood shot out over the ground, there throat slit.

The bandit leader felt invincible, “You can’t do shit to me, I have focus Dodge .I .. ” Martin had one response, “smite”. A lightning bolt shot out from his holy symbol. At the last minute the thief dodged to the side, the lightning changed path and collided with him. His armour burnt through smoke coming off his chest, he looked surprised and staggered back. He gasped emptying his lungs amazed, then fell to the floor. Martins face became one of rage “god will catch up to you.”

The cart driver was dead, no healing magic or blessing the group possessed could save her now.

The scouts let lost their arrows, Martin ducked so one hit his hat rather than his face, two hit him in the back they didn’t go in very far, they were wedged into his armour. The bandits pelted him with throwing knives axes and sling shots. Most missed or bounced off his armour, a few connected and wedged into his flesh. He was already drawing a second pistol and moving towards the next bandit.

Alice had Vivian’s bow cover over her staff, they thought that she was an archer. She carried spare arrows that Vivian would need. She was already moving towards cover, before the bandit leader hit the dirt. Without the leader his group was disorganised. Martin acted as more of a distraction, soaking up attacks with his armour and health.

Vivian and David moved keeping the bandits off balance, they closed the distance. Alice used a fire ball next to her to create a distraction, then ducked behind a tree. She was a far less visible target and could now provide support. The bandits were not expecting a mage or the abilities of Martin, they were off balance. Martin he activated his, “fortress of faith” blessing there arrows and daggers chipped away at him. He went for them, even though he was not terribly effective, as they had the dam dodge ability’s but it cost them focus and they could only keep out of the way for so long.

The rouges attacked trying to perform stealth attacks. The one that tried it on David didn’t get very far. David turned round as the dagger slid off his chainmail, he gutted the rouge with a single power attack. Rouges could not dodge a fire ball, two of them were fried trying to flank Vivian. The remaining two tried to attack Martin, his defensive blessing absorbed there attacks. Vivian picked one off with an adrenalin power attack. The last rouge was grabbed by Martin, it was impossible to dodge a point black pistol shot.

Vivian was very irritated, the criminals dodged out of the way of her attacks. There was a skill the double shot that was designed to hit rogues. They could not avoid both projectiles. As a technique it was very limited with draw backs. like halving damage and doubling ammo consumption. The criminals could only dodge so many attacks before they miscalculated or simply ran out of focus. The scouts were the better archers, they were targeted first. One died to a fire ball a second to a power shot the third two fire bites to the face.

Two fire balls into the main cluster of bandits broke the opposition, Vivian switched to finishing off the criminals that survived the fire balls. The bandit sent to get there wizard crept back after rousing him. He was a stealth focused opponent, he pickled the weakest target and hatched his brilliant plan. The bandit seized Alice’s staff and pulled it from her grip, “I have your staff you can’t use magic n..” he had made a mistake. Severely lacking in his knowledge of magic. Alice’s response was “master fire bite”, the bandit fell to the floor, “agghhh hhhhh gh aaaaaaa”. He was hit between legs with the spell, his lower body a smouldering ruin.

David was finding it easy a few quick jabs, the criminals depleted there focus desperately Dodging. Then slam they were gutted on the floor bleeding out. Bandits had little chance at this range. They had a little Armor, but it was not much against the mercenary’s strength. Knives bounced of his shield as he ploughed into the opposition. The last couple of bandits tried to flee, but were hit by arrows and spells as they ran.

The Mad wizard was a hedge wizard, a job that maxed out at level 50. He was a veteran exactly at level 25. He was mostly self-taught, even a full wizard had a weaker version of mage job. The job would max out, 25 levels lower than a mage. It was still better than a conjurer, who maxed at level 25, still a conjurer could level very quickly.

He had been waiting in his tent, not wanting to be taken away from his alchemical bliss. He knew he might need to come out to scare the adventures into surrendering. Then the bandit came to fetch him, it sounded like the adventures had been underestimated. He had to save what he could. At his level he could maintain two spells he chose, “Physical shield” he could still cast one offensive spell. He walked forwards, he quickly realised how bad it was.

He noted the vampire hunter, the man’s wrathful eyes the few cuts to his face the arrows and knives imbedded in his armour. An arrow bounced off his magical protection there was an archer at the back. he had to overwhelm them before he ran out of mana. The hunter took a step forwards, his hold symbol held out. The wizard sneered, “Fire bite” the ball of flame formed and darted forwards. The hunter held up his holy symbol, “No” the fire bolt shimmered and ceased to exist, a few inches before it hit the holy symbol.

The wizard felt fear and took a step back, “Acid bite” the mass of corrosive green goo shot forwards. “No” it faded and the hunter stepped forwards. The wizard felt his heart beating. “Frost bite”, the chilling spike of ice shattered into nothing. “No”. The wizard felt the sweat on his brows his fingers shaking, “Shock bite”. The ball of electricity surged forwards “No”. The hunter was getting very close. “Sonic bite”, the compressed sonic distortion evaporated. “Poison bite” the cloud of green grey gas puffed into nothing. The wizard was shaking all over. He recast his defensive spell “Physical shield”, a bubble appeared around him. He was on his knees.

“Don’t kill me, I can be of use to you, I can be”, when he was certain his attacker was distracted he tried to use his most powerful spell. So that Martin would not have a chance to block it, “Master kinetic strike”. The holy symbol was in place, “No”. The wave of energy disappeared, the mallet in Martins left hand struck down on the wizard, hitting him on the shoulder. “Aggaaah” the magic barrier stopped some of the force, “aagggghh”.

The next blow hit his elbow, “nnnnnnnnnooooooo” the next blow crushed his hand. “aaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh”, the wizard felt his hip shatter. “aaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhh”, three ribs cracked he was on the ground. “no please I mean it for real”. The next blow struck his collar bone, “aaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggggghhhhhhh”. The next crushed his ankle, “aaaaaggggggggggghhhh!!!!!!!!” The wizard coughed up blood, “I surren...” the mallet struck him on the forehead, “aaaaaagggggggghhhhhh” his body became unresponsive “ggggul....g......uu....”, a final strike to the head and he was gone.

The rest of the group were standing several feet back. Alice choked down her lunch, even Vivian and David were looking hesitant. Alice spoke pointing to the wizard on the floor, “that is why mages don’t hold much power”. Martin started to pull the daggers and arrows wedged in his armour out. His empty eyes met her, the rage left his body. “I didn’t think many mages knew we could do that”.

Alice nodded hands up, almost as if in surrender. “I didn’t, but I guessed that there was something like that, a lot of the more powerful vampires have magic of some form.” Martin turned to Alice and to the mercenaries, “it’s not a good idea, to reveal this information”. They looked at him David pointed to the dead body. “I get it most magic users that find out, end up like him right”? Martin nodded as he began to reload his pistol, “oh yes”.

The Bandit veteran Bob had survived the initial attack. He had a particular perk, the ‘hardened criminal perk’. At full health he could just survive one overwhelming attack per day, leaving him at 5% health, he was slowly trying to crawl away. David noticed the movement and twisted round, he closed the distance with an adrenalin strike. “Aaagggggggggghhhhhhhh” the bandits career was now definitively over.

They levelled up then woke up Alice. Alice hit level 17 now she possessed the greater version of the fire ball spell, her mana was quite respectable at 165. Vivian and David both hit level 18 progressing steadily, Vivian’s speed shooting was now up to level 7. She would need a bigger quiver quite soon. David had maxed out his sword proficiency at level 8 and was close at level 7 at maxing out his shield proficiency. He could raise those skills higher, if he found a rare training manual or instructor. Though both took time and money to find.

Martin had hit level 25, he was now a veteran he needed to kill another veteran or a monster of similar strength. To perform a special action, a feat of martial strength and unlock the ability to level higher. It was easier said than done, he would need a complete solo kill in order to do this. Still he had access to some of the best blessings available, even if he didn’t have the levels of focus to truly make them powerful.

It was a redundant gesture, David walked over to the cart driver and checked there pulse. They were definitely dead. He removed the bindings from their arms, the gag and blindfold. He laid them out shutting their eyes so that they looked peaceful. He sighed picking up a blanked and draping it over them. Martin pulled out his flask of tip and drained the entire thing, he pulled out a second flask and swallowed half of that as well.

“I was a fraction of a second off”, Martin sighed looking regretful.

“We killed that coach driver”, the weight of the fight caught up with Alice

“No we saved the rest of the hostages, and anyone else that gang would have killed”, David had a more pragmatic point of view. “Perhaps we should have used a different tactic?” Vivian mused, “But we can’t second guess ourselves, if we hesitated we could have been killed. It is a pity, but so were the two dead guards, we could be dead and so could the other hostages. Unless we vastly out level an opponent. Even then there is no guarantee. You can’t save everyone every time.”

Alice looked over the dead bandits. “I think we need to talk this over more, if Martin was familiar with their tactics then the coach driver might have survived. It is painfully obvious we need to learn”. “That is right, but a discussion for latter”, David added.

Vivian looked around, “Alice can you heal up Martin and David, then we check the bandit leader and the wizard.” Martin shook his head, “don’t worry about me, save your healing for the remaining hostages. I have healing blessings divine favour, divine favour” he seemed to stand up straighter one shoulder popped back into the correct alignment. “It will take me hours to patch this lot up”, he felt over his armour, with a little regret at his hubris. Despite armour and blessings he had lost over 200 hp in the fight, if he was not resistant to poison he would have taken a lot more damage. The bandit’s blades were quite heavily poisoned.

An application of the healing spell and David was restored to full health. David and Vivian checked over the two senior members of the group, the dead wizard and the veteran bandit bob wells. Martin and Alice went to check on the hostages. On the bandit leader David found a hidden compartment in his jacket, easy to miss amongst the padding there were two silver coins and a letter Signed I. It describing a deal between them, which was something that they could read over latter. The bandit had a magic belt, Alice would later identify as a belt of armour + 5. He also carried a fancy looking dagger, that Alice would identified it as a plus + 5 poison damage enchantment, one way to subvert armour.

The mage had a ring of boar’s endurance, effectively a + 3 endurance ring that added 15 more hp to the mage. It made him a little bit more resilient, making up in part for his weak constitution. He also had a very fancy looking mage's staff. It was effectively not any better than Alice’s original tower issue staff. In fact she had a sneaking suspicion that it was just a standard student staff, with a lot of decorative garbage tied to it, to make it look impressive.

The hostages were in a cage tied hand and foot, blindfolded and gagged. Martin undid the latch on the cage. He carefully pulled the hostages out, cutting there bindings and checking them over. They were malnourished dehydrated, suffering sores and other pains from being kept bound for so long. Martin had to pop a shoulder back in place, on the remaining caravan guard and straighten out one of the cart driver’s ankles. Then Alice used her healing magic. The people would need some water and a few meals, a rest and there would be nothing else physically wrong with them. Psychologically the priest father Richard had some training, the local merchant had a few herbal mixtures to help people sleep.

They found two of the bandits to still be alive. One that Vivian had shot was at deaths door. The one that had tried to overpower Alice by taking her staff, was also somehow alive after the point blank spell. They were bound and thrown into the cage, which the hostages had been left in.

Vivian was finished with the wizard, “The bandit leader made a fundamental mistake, he was used to dealing with mercenaries and knights, guards. They have a degree of self-preservation, our mission is to get paid and live long enough to spend their pay”. David nodded looking over at the wizard. “A crusader or monk might have given him pause to think, a vampire hunter is worse, they accept their own death when they join. I understand not all of them are as fatalistic as Martin, but they are used to the mission before their own lives, and they are taught that some collateral damage is inevitable.” Vivian nodded in agreement.

The survivors of the caravan came into the camp, they had a little trouble walking at first. Soon they were sitting down wrapped in blankets around a camp fire. Drinking and eating the former bandit’s rations. They occasionally looked over to the dead bandits and there former colleague.

The adventures grabbed some food for themselves. They sat apart from the rescued hostages. Around a second camp fire, Alice sat down as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders, “I killed maybe six or eight people, burnt them up. I can’t believe I did that”. “If you were an archer at a siege you might have killed the same number”, Vivian tried to comfort her. “They were bandits and they were trying to kill us, we gave them a chance to surrender.” David, added supporting her point of view.

Alice ate some dried meat, “Maybe we should have given them a few fire balls as a warning shot?” “They had their own magic caster, he would have responded back.” Her idea was dismissed by Martin. “He killed that woman to intimidate us. The group of bandits killed two caravan guards, people just like us. Earning some coin, putting their lives at risk to keep the roads open, we would be just the same”. The mercenary made a good point, it was likely that the bandits would have killed them if they had surrendered helping no one.

David looked to Vivian, “How are you holding up”. She seemed kind of numb eating a thick pottage the bandits called food. “It’s strange, it feels different from fighting those foresters. They were being mind controlled and they didn’t have a choice. These bandits they did have a choice, now they are smeared across the floor. I shot one in the back, she tried to run and all I could think about was finishing her off before she got away. I didn’t see a fleeing woman, I saw a target. She had been trying to shoot me a few seconds before.”

David seemed almost proud, “I remembered my training, close the gap against weak armour. Overwhelm there dodge ability with lots of quick trussing attacks, nothing to get your blade caught up in. Keep moving so that you can’t be encircled, get them reacting to you. I don’t think many of them were above level 8, this group was made up with numbers not quality.” Martin nodded his agreement, David continued, “the bandits had a little armour, an adrenalin strike can go right through it.”

Vivian spoke in a hushed voice, “We will keep it quiet about that technique you used on the wizard”. David nodded, “ok”. Martin was not telling them that it cost focus to neutralise each spell, that he would have been worn out long before the wizard ran out of mana, he kept that limitation to himself. He looked at the wizard’s body, “he could have done a lot of damage, killed us. I had to shut him down”. “You were a little violent”, Alice hesitantly added. “It was not an easy death, he was not a necromancer or a sorcerer so perhaps it was not justified”. Martin thought about it, “He had the barrier spell, so it took more effort to kill him. I suppose I could have used the thermite, but I wanted to save that for monsters.” The rest of the group grimaced, the wizard had perhaps had the easier death.

The group looked at the magic items that they had taken. Martin looked at them, “it’s between you three I can only benefit from armour with a divine blessing”. David looked at the belt, “this should go to the least well armoured member of our group”, Vivian nodded Alice already had three trinkets that boosted her armour and some light padded armour. It paled in comparison to the sturdy chainmail that Vivian and David had, she nodded. “Thanks”, she had to wind it round her waist twice, to make it fit even over the armour. The effect activated and she felt the permanent effect five point boost to natural armour.

She paused, Alice could see what David was doing, and he had made a good tactical decision. The mage’s ring of bores endurance would be useful to both of them. Vivian shot from a standing positon so didn’t need it. David charged round the battle field, he needed to swing a sword and block with a shield when he got there. The + 3 endurance was more useful than the effectively 15 more hp. It would be useful to Alice, the extra hp and endurance to push up her pitiful endurance to normal levels. She had been outplayed for the more utilitarian item.

The dagger from the bandit veteran, with the + 5 poison damage was an easy decision. David had a silver dagger as a backup weapon, allice could use her staff and preferred the reach. Vivian didn’t have a backup weapon, now she did. Alice checked that there was no surprises for the wielder. The remaining magic staff was not better than Vivian’s original and certainly outclassed by the one she currently possessed, they would sell it and split the coin.

The merchant and cart drivers hooked up there horses. The remaining caravan guard recovered his equipment. He kept an eye on the two barely alive bandit prisoners. The adventures striped the bandits of all there equipment. They pilled them up as neatly as possible onto two of the carts, with the original merchandise the carts were quite overloaded. The bandit’s equipment provisions tents and anything else that could be of use was also piled up.

Alice called Martin over, “there were two locked chest we can’t find the keys you have a bit of metal working skill, and can you open them.” Martin reached into his jacket and pulled out leather case, he slipped a knot and opened it out. The contents were not so much picks as sturdy tools. Martin attacked the lock with fever, twisting and prying jimmying and forcing them not so much picking them as dismantling them. Alice almost felt sorry for the mechanism as there were clicks and the tortured grinding of metal. The small chest in wizard’s tent yielded a potion of adrenalin, it could restore 120 points of adrenalin and remove the fatigued condition. It was most useful to David as a front line fighter so he kept it on his belt for a hard fight.

The larger chest from the bandit leader revealed a few coins, and a few bags of powdered material. Martin stared quizzically at it. Vivian came over, “it’s called red sand and blue moon dust, they are illegal narcotics. Red sand makes you think your invincible, blue moon dust makes you really mellow they are very addictive.” David turned to them, “we finished searching the dead bandits, the local militia could use their equipment”. He turned to Vivian, “what money did they have”? She counted through it again, “ten silvers, it’s not much the thief’s guild use drugs as a form or currency, we also found several smaller doses and some yellow arrow root paste. Its hallucinogenic it makes you a bit dull.” David sighed and prepared to throw the narcotics into the fire. Martin had an idea, “what about the blue moon dust?”

David misinterpreted him, “with your poison resistance plus endurance you wouldn’t even feel it, to me and Vivian it would mess up or concentration and it would flatten Alice.” Martin shook his head, “I have some flash bang grenades distractions, but if I loaded them up with this stuff it could give an enemy a face full of numbing drugs so they can’t fight back!” David shrugged, “be careful I don’t think that is really approved. Also you have to be careful not to hit one of us, if you start throwing it about”, “ok I will be careful”.

They lead the carts down the trail back to the main track. The two dead mercenary’s bodies were loaded next to the dead cart driver. The caravan slowly made its way to the village gates, the entire group was checked. the living the dead and the almost dead bandits. The cargo was examined and they were let into the village. The bodies were taken to the church. There was a secure cold room in the cellar where they could be kept. The remaining members of the caravan were left with Alan the merchant at his premises. The goods were returned to the local lord Cain. They were intact, as they would not have been worth selling otherwise.

The steward invited the group of adventures into the lord’s manner. It was an old solid building decorated with sturdy furniture and various tapestries and paintings. The art might have been decades or centuries old. The lord had a large wooden chair that had presumptions of being a throne, it just bore his weight. He was now warm and friendly, he opened his arms in a magnanimous gesture, “excellent my triumphant friends, my goods are returned. Those bastards that dared to defy me are dead to a man!” David paused, “Two of them were brought back wounded”. The lord grinned showing his teeth, “they won’t survive interrogation”. As if to emphasize the point, a room away someone started to scream and gurgle.

His features took on a more sober aspect, “I regret that two of your colleagues on guard duty were slain. Also that one of the hostages was killed in the ensuing fight, but all of them could be dead, they were presumed dead to begin with.” The steward stepped into the room. “I am sorry to interrupt, can you see the merchant guild representative...” The door was pushed open by Harrold, a moment later Alan walked in his stick was tapping away, he looked furious.

He turned to the group, pointing his walking stick accusingly, “you are incompetent, I knew her for five years she has worked for me as an apprentice”. He turned to Lord Cain, “All you care about is your shipment, torturing the remaining bandits to death, won’t bring my people back”.

Vivian met his eyes, “we were outnumbered nearly five to one”

Alan didn’t flinch, “you should have gotten back up”

David answered, “in that time they could have set traps or moved away”.

The merchant looked at the lord, “I lost one of my people we will speak on this. Everyone else out”.

Everyone else got out of the room, ten minutes later the merchant left with his body guard. The lord looked a little deflated, he looked at the group, “I am sorry to say that my counterpart in the merchant’s guild has affected, the bounty that I can provide. He has invoked an obscure contract rule to remove part of the reward, to give to the dead woman's family.” He looked over to David and Vivian. “Frankly we didn’t know that the woman was still alive”. “However technically the two of you failed part of your contract to the merchants guild, so he has got that right. The reward is reduced by 30 silver”.

David looked the most disappointed, Martin and Alice barely acknowledged it. The steward handed Lord Cain a bag he offered it to them, “Still its 70 silver a good prize, not quite a gold coin”.

The lord gave them a drink of wine a toast, then sent them on their way. Martin looked at the mercenaries, “I don’t think that the merchant would be amicable to organising a deal on what we recovered from the bandits”. Alice looked at the steward, “let’s try him”. The steward looked over the mages staff and the other items. After a little negotiation the steward gave them another 5 silver. At the end of the day they were a level higher and 85 silver richer.

They went back to the church to get an evening meal. The priest father Richard greeted them, “you brought the bodies back, I have given the mercenaries last rights and they have been cremated. There ashes will be sent back to the free company, where they have their own Chapple. The cart driver who didn’t make it, she was a local the service will be tomorrow morning.”

Martin paused, “What about the bandits?” The priest shrugged he seemed disappointed. “The lord Cain is asking for them not to be given last rights, for their ashes to be spread outside the settlement, so that they are seen as rejected in death as outlaws. Alan is of a similar mind, they were his people that died. I said that they were people once, that they deserve last rights. That even if they did horrible things they were still people and deserve some guidance in the next life. Plus it stops them coming back as ghosts.”

The adventures ate a small meal, divided the coin between them and went to bed after a night’s sleep they would feel a little better.