Miro hides on the palisade about the Outposts wooden gates.
Bob, Natalia, Otto and Vaneer hid in the Storage pen where
the bandit’s loot was waiting for collection.
Kyrander hides round the corner of the nearby main hall with
bow ready to shoot should things go pear shape.
Just as the 1st hour after sunrise passes the
sound of horses could be heard in the distant moving at speed and getting
closer, the group ready themselves for what ever happens next.
Shortly 4 horseman ride into the outpost and stop in the
courtyard, looking very confident they observe the area almost spotting Miro
skulking up above, the lead horseman a big burley man whom could learn a lesson
in grooming dismounts his horse and opens his mouth to shout “Oi!! Where are
you?! Oleg you stout little mongrel my payment best be ready this time
otherwise me and your lovely lady are gonna have some good times! If you catch
my drift!!”.
Oleg opens the door he is hiding behind slightly and points
towards the storage pen, the bandit leader looks back at his cronies and nods
at them at which the other 3 bandits dismount and make their way over to the
storage pen unaware that three of our heroes are lurking inside waiting to
pounce on them.
As the door to the storage pen opens Otto releases the sleep
spell that he had ready to cast for when the door opened, the sorcerers spell
goes off without a hitch and works better than he could have hoped as 2 of the
cronies and the bandit leader fall subject to the spells magic energies and
collapse to the floor in a state of sleep leaving only the bandit who opened
the door still standing.
It was too late for the one remaining bandit, just as he
notices what had happened to his comrades he turns his face to see where the
spell came from only to see Vaneer’s Morningstar swinging its way into the
bandits face, the blow sent him stumbling backwards tripping over one of the
sleeping bandits.
At that moment Kyrander let the arrow he had ready fly into
the stumbling bandit hitting the bandit in square in the chest, Miro attempts
the same from atop of the palisade but his arrow misses it mark.
Bob runs out of the storage pen and charges towards the
injured bandit tearing a chunk of the bandits arm off and kills him. Pleased at
how smooth the plan went the group give themselves a minute to relax during
which Natalia takes her scimitar to the throat of one of the sleeping bandits,
Otto then makes a move to dispatch the other sleeping bandit whilst Kyrander
ties up their slumbering leader.
The group then discusses what to do with the now tied up
bandit leader, after some debate Vaneer comes up with an idea and the group tie
the bandit leader to one of the outposts broken catapults before slapping him
awake.
As the bandit wakes Miro tells him that unless he answers
their questions they’ll see how far a bandit can fly, the bandit remarkably
believes Miro’s bluff and doesn’t notice that the catapult is not in any
working order what so ever.
After 10 minutes of questioning that group are able to find
out that the bandits name is Happs Bydon, he is part of a small bandit camp
situated 30 miles south and 5 miles west of the outpost near a river bank. The
camp expects Happs and his men back by this evening and that the bandit camp is
lead by a vicious women who wields axes and that the camp is a small hold of
the “Stag Lords” larger group.
Once all the questioning had died down, the group left it to
Oleg and Svetlana to decide the bandit’s fate, Oleg seemed keen for the bandit
to be punished and loose his life at which point Happs starts to plea for his
life promising that he will change his ways and leave the region for good.
After much deliberation the group decide that enough blood
had been shed this morning and agree that as long as Happs keeps to his promise
he can live but if they hear or see him acting in any criminal way they won’t
think twice of hunting him down and exacting Oleg’s wishes.
With Happs released and gone the group finally sit for
breakfast and discuss the fight and what to do next, Oleg grateful at his
outpost being saved from Bandits suggest the group head east and seek out the
hermit Bokken and pick his brain about the local area if they wish to explore
the greenbelt further.
Oleg then looks about the room and notices that his wife is
nowhere to be seen he asks the group to help him with an issue, it seems that
the bandits previously stole Svetlana’s wedding ring and would really
appreciate it if they could retrieve it for him (See Missions for further
details).
Just as the group are getting their mounts ready to head east,
Svetlana also asks them for a small favour. She would like to treat Oleg to
cheer him up but to do so she needs a supply of Moon Radish and would be
terribly grateful if the group could find some and bring them back to her (See
Missions for further details).
With an idea of where to go and a couple of extra side
missions to see to, the group mount up and head east in search of Bokken.
After travelling east for half a day the group came across a
small hut amongst an small cropping of trees where an human male could be seen
pottering around the front of the small hut. The group cautiously approach the
hut stopping a short distance and announced their presence to the gentleman.
The gentleman seemed a little out of place in front of a
group of people and came across as an nervous and jittery person. Starting his
conversation with “What d’ya want!!”.
Otto and Vaneer between them explained to the hermit that
they had been charged with the exploration of the greenbelt and had been
recommend by Oleg to come and talk to him about the surrounding area as he had
been referred to as an expert in the area.
Playing to the hermit’s ego seemed to work as he became a
little more relaxed and seemed happy to give out some information about some of
the nearby landmarks. Once he had finished talking about all he knew he then
asked the group if they would be interested in purchasing any of his wares.
Curious, Otto asked what wares he was talking about and with
that Bokken disappeared into his hut to shortly return with a number of flasks
cradled in his hands, “Well Potions obviously!!” Bokken said with a gleam on
his face, “I only have a small selection but I can probably make you any potion
you want….for a cost of course!!” as he winked at the group.
“Well we don’t exactly have a lot of cash on us to be
honest” returned Vaneer, Bokken gave a big grin “Well!! No worries I’m sure we
can make a deal, as a matter of fact I’m in need of some Fanberries! Bring me a
load of Fangberries and we’ll talk about a nice little discount on my potions”.
“That sounds fair I guess!” said Vaneer, “Where would we
find these Fangberries?” asked Natalia, “Ah! My dear that’s easy, you should
have no problem finding them along the forests edge. Collect me a mass of
berries (See Missions for further details) and we shall talk further”.
The group bid the hermit good day and decide to head south
east, after a few hours travelling over open grassland the group spot a heard
of Elk nearby, thinking that the sun should soon be setting it would be a nice
idea to obtain some supper for the evening.
Natalia agreed to assist Otto by using her druid abilities
to keep 29 of the 30 elk calm whilst Otto cast an sleep spell on the 30th
so that Natalia could respectfully deal with the sleeping Elk.
With supper obtained the group set up camp under the stars
for the evening and enjoyed some roasted Elk.
I like the title, The Bandit Surprise Technique sounds like the title of a big bang episode. Been watching a lot have we???
ReplyDeleteLove the series but have to admit it had no influence on the title :-) but love it more so now that you say it sounds similar to an episode title.
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