Not long after leaving the city, Vera and Craig came across a group of brow-beaten Inox trudging down the path in the opposite direction as them. The tall, muscled creatures were pulling carts laden with carious miscellany, mostly furs and crudely crafted goods. The rest had armloads of much of the same. It was fairly obvious that this was everything the Inox had—their life's worth in their arms and wagons.
"The beast awakens!" the shaman at the head of the group called out to the two of them. "The mountain is aflame! Beware you do not anger it!"
Vera looked at the horizon behind them and saw something dark at a far-off peak. It could have been just stormclouds, though.
"Oh dear," Craig rumbled, looking at the soot-covered group of Inox. "Maybe we could help you carry—"
"Sorry but we can't do anything," Vera spoke over Craig's voice. "Carry on, fellas, you're not far from Gloomhaven now!"
She patted Craig's leg, signalling him to move on—and thankfully, he did. If it was up to him he would stop and try to fix every little problem, for which Vera had very little patience now. One didn't simply interrupt their hunt just to help poor folk carry stuff!
Still, as they moved on and left the group of Inox behind, Vera looked at the distant mountains once again. The shaman's ramblings aside, there was something ominous about that darkness. Probably not simple stormclouds, after all.
"Let's just focus on the job for now," Vera said to Craig as much as to herself.
The hill of Black Barrow was easy enough to find; a short journey past the New Market Road and Vera already saw it jutting out on the edge of the Corpsewood, looking like a rat under a rug. Moving closer, Vera saw that the mound was formed from black earth. Its small, overgrown entrance presented a worn set of stone stairs that led down to the darkness.
As Vera descended with Craig in tow, she noticed light emanating from below. Unfortunately, the light was accompanied by the unmistakable stench of death. Vera's sensitive nose twitched while she contemplated what kind of thieves would make their camp in such a horrid place. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, she found her answer; a rough group of cutthroats who didn't seem to have taken very kindly to her—no, to Craig's sudden appearance. Yes, it was definitely Craig who had given their presence away. The big rocky dude's footsteps were not exactly silent.
Vera's eyes flashed across the assembled bandits. Four in total, with one in the back matching the description of their quarry.
"Take care of these unfortunates," the man said offhandedly, walking out of the room. Vera could vaguely make out his silhouette as he retreated down a hallway and through a door to his left.
"Well, it's not every day we get people stupid enough to hand-deliver their valuables to us," grinned one of the larger bandits, unsheathing a rusty blade. "We'll be killing you now."
The joke was on them. If Vera and Craig had any valuables, they probably wouldn't have been down there in the first place.
Action Sequence Start
Glorious Gatherers vs Black Barrow Bandits
Fight!
Vera groaned inwardly at the floating window that appeared in her vision. Now even the gods have acknowledged their group's name! She was going to die of shame. Still, she didn't let the message distract her from the situation at hand. Not knowing the abilities of her opponent, she opted for caution.
Power flooded her veins, cold and chilling. Her mind expanded, touching the minds of nearby rodents, calling them to arms. Her [Gnawing Horde] ability didn't even need to create rats out of thin air; there were enough of them in the dirty room to form a small swarm for her.
+2 EXP
The bandits shifted their posture, watching warily as the rats skittered across the floor. Taking advantage their hesitation, Vera cast the secondary effect of [Into the Night], calling upon the darkness to envelop her and make her invisible to mundane vision. Then, in the safety of her invisibility, she allowed herself the luxury of bringing up her Ability Status and taking a look at it.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Available Active Inert Exhausted Empathetic Assault Gnawing Horde Into The Night Fearsome Blade Feedback Loop Parasitic Influence Perverse Edge Scurry Submissive Affliction The Mind's Weakness
"Let's do this!" Craig hollered. The air in the room suddenly felt heavy, small pebbles floating upwards around him as earth-energy saturated their surroundings. Vera took a cautious step away from Craig—it was better to be safe than sorry. Even the three bandits seemed to be losing their earlier flippancy after witnessing the swarm of rats and the floating pebbles.
Craig attacked abruptly, an unseen force ripping out a chunk of earth from behind him and launching it at the foremost bandit. The man took the boulder had on, grunting as he blocked it with his shield. The chunk of earth exploded into smaller debris, showering the other two men with dirt.
"Here I come!" Craig yelled, charging into the group of bandits. The pressure in the air became even heavier, and the ground around Craig exploded in a shower of dust as the big guy used up the earth-energy in a violent explosion. Yeah, definitely better to stay back for now. Although Vera was a safe distance away, she felt the life of some of her rats wink out.
"Enough with this shit!" the foremost bandit cursed, panting from exertion but still on his feet. He raised his rusty blade to strike—only to find no one in front of him. Craig had punched a tunnel into the ground becoming one with the earth as he moved beneath the group of bandits, upturning the ground as he passed. The bandits found themselves ankle-deep in the loose ground, unable to move even as Craig emerged behind them. They turned around to focus him—
—and that was when Vera struck. She directed her rats to swarm around the leftmost man, their tiny teeth biting through his inadequate armor. Even as he screamed in pain, Vera pushed her power forward, invading the foremost bandit's mind with [Submissive Affliction]. The other bandit didn't even suspect a thing as the man Vera had possessed whirled on him, plunging his blade into the base of his neck. Vera closed in the distance to the remaining bandit to give him the same fate; deftly jumping up to his chest, she activated [Perverse Edge] and slashed her dagger across his neck.
+1 EXP
"Easy enough," Craig said as the last of the bandits fell to the ground. He walked to the body of the one chewed by the rats, and put the small floating shape—the bandit's soul—into the Soul Orb on his belt. Vera did much the same with the other two, pocketing them while she took another look at her Ability Status.
Available Active Inert Exhausted Empathetic Assault Gnawing Horde Into the Night Perverse Edge Fearsome Blade Submissive Affliction Feedback Loop Scurry Parasitic Influence The Mind's Weakness
"Don't let your guard down," Vera said, even as Craig moved towards the door though which their target had disappeared. "We've used way too much abilities on these small fries."
It was likely a mistake, Vera admitted to herself. But she didn't know what awaited them, so it was better to be careful—the leader of the bandits might have some dirty tricks up his sleeve. As Craig opened the door, Vera performed a [Recharge], sacrificing her [Into the Night] in order to get her other abilities back to their available state.
Available Active Inert Exhausted Empathetic Assault Gnawing Horde Perverse Edge Fearsome Blade Into the Night Feedback Loop Parasitic Influence Submissive Affliction Scurry The Mind's Weakness
Whatever nasty surprises the bandits had for them, she would be ready.