“I think you might be onto something.” Replied Bjorn. His comment gained him a slight glare, but he paid it no mind. His mind went other directions. To call the building in front of them a castle wasn’t entirely correct. It was more like a stone fort. It had low stone walls around it each no taller than 10 feet tall. With his body being enhanced over what his human body could do back on earth Bjorn could easily get to the height to grab ahold of the lip of the stone wall. From their slightly elevated position he could see that the walls had crenellations only on the outside of the wall. So if they took the wall there would be no cover from down in the yard. The walls themselves were crumbling, it looked like there were 3 sections where the walls had collapsed and gave easy access to the interior of the compound. Unfortunately the bandits seemed to have piled stone in two of the entrances to make it harder to gain access. The compound itself was located in a large clearing in the forest, with small hills surrounding the entire clearing.

There were different levels to the wall, the 10 foot section and another that was around 15 feet tall. The lower section held 6 different buildings. They couldn’t see into the taller section, but from where they stood they could see a roof of a building that was tall enough to be taller than the upper section of stone. There only seemed to be one entrance into the taller section, and it was only accessible from the inner courtyard.

There were no signs of any of the villagers. From what they could see on the walls of the compound there were 18 bandits patrolling the walls. If they were any good there would be another 4 or 5 bandits as scouts outside of the walls.

“Alright, let’s make a plan.” Bjorn said. “First things first, we should scout around the perimeter and make sure there aren’t any more scouts around.”

“Consider that done.” Tayla said. “That won’t be a problem for me.”

“Would you like some help?” Asked Kallie.

The question made Tayla shake her head. “I’m sorry Kallie, you are well on your way to being able to hold your own. But in this case you would just slow me down, and be more of a risk than an asset. I appreciate the offer, but I got this.”

“Alright, with that taken care of, we should come up with a plan in case something happens and Tayla gets spotted.” Meira picked up where Bjorn left off. Her comment brought a snort from the tiefling. With a look of annoyance Meira continued. “Anyways, I think it would be best for us if we retreated and regrouped. We are not in a position currently to fight the 18 bandits they have on the walls, let alone however many there are left inside. Tayla if you could it would be great if you could bring one back alive, if you can’t though, don’t worry too much about it.”

“That is a good idea, we should be able to find some useful things out of one if I can, if I can’t capture one without raising the alarm I will do so.”

“Oh, I think I have something that could help with that.” Bjorn pulled out a vial and threw it over to Tayla. That is the paralyzing poison, I picked it up from the apothecary before leaving Vanta.”

Meira looked at Bjorn. “Why would an apothecary sell poisons? And to top it off, why would you ask for a poison of that sort, or why would you buy one.”

“It is actually surprising how close a medicine is to a poison. Most medicines are actually poison, just in small enough doses to not cause harm. As to why I would buy such a poison, I would think that is obvious. Just in case we find ourselves in a situation just like this.”

Alaric couldn’t help himself and leaned in. “I think he was going to use it on Tayla tonight. That way he wouldn’t have to listen to her babble, or worry about waking up next to her again.”

Meira’s eyes narrowed slightly at Alaric’s comment, and Tayla grew her customary shade of red at this point. “I think it would be best if something happens, we meet at the clearing where we ran into that golem earlier.” Meira continued pretending that Alaric hadn’t just butted in.

“Nice and tactful.” Alaric commented. His comments earned him a swat from Meira. Chuckling to himself he moved out of easy striking distance.

Nodding, “Let’s start there, Tayla go do your work. If the alarm is raised we will harass them and retreat back into the woods.”

The tiefling got a bloodthirsty smile and as they were watching her she took a few steps back into the foliage of the surrounding forest and then she disappeared. With nothing else to do so far they settled down to wait.

Not wanting to sit by idle, Bjorn pulled up his character screen. With his 6 free points to do with as he wished Bjorn decided to put 3 into agility, and 1 point into constitution, dexterity, and charisma. While waiting they also stripped the dead bandit of his gear, all of which went into the portable pocket, they then pulled the dead body down the hill and hid it among some bushes.

It took Tayla three quarters of an hour to finish her task and then make it back to the group. “There were only 3 of them, I killed two, and as I was moving in to take the last one he turned around. Making a snap decision I killed him instead of trying to catch him and keep him alive. Oh and I think I found us a better vantage point. So if you would be so kind and follow me.”

They followed Tayla around the outside of the clearing and to a hill almost directly across from where they first laid eyes on the stone fort. This hill was slightly taller, at the apex of the hill there was a large Boulder there. It was tall enough that they had to boost Tayla up. After she was up there she called down. “Come up here.” It took some work, but they were able to get everyone on top of the rock. It had a flat surface at the top with enough room that all 5 could lay down with no issues.

From their new vantage point they had a good view of the rest of the compound. Inside the taller section there were a bunch of cages that they could tell held the villagers. They could see another 6 bandits standing guard around the cages. There was only the one building in the taller section of wall, but the building looked to be excessively large. It was easily 4 stories tall.

“That makes 24 bandits, I bet there are easily double that many inside the buildings. I don't think we have a chance in a straight fight.” Bjorn said with a look of consternation on his face. “I still think we need to do something.”

“Agreed.” Said Meira, “I think our best chance is to attack tonight and try to smuggle the villagers out.”

“Yeah but look at their defenses, we have a better chance sneaking into the king's bedchambers.” Replied Alaric.

They spend an hour talking and hashing out a plan of attack. As they neared a solid plan there was a commotion down in the camp. The suns were right on the horizon when the commotion started. A group of three bandits left the large building and started making their way towards the cages. From where they lay they could hear voices drifting up from the fort, but they couldn't really make out what was being said. The guards ended up opening up a cage and went inside, soon they came back out with a person in tow. It was a little hard to make out from where they lay but it was pretty obvious it was Aiko. It would be hard to miss the ears on the top of her head.

“That's Aiko.” Kallie said through her clenched teeth.

The bandits stayed there talking to her for a brief bit before the trio who started the commotion grabbed her roughly and tied her hands together before starting to head through the inner section heading for the outer section. By this time the suns had fully gone down and the bandits lit torches and placed them all over the compound. They were making their way towards a building that they hadn't seen anyone go into or out of in all of their time watching. When they got to the door the bandit standing behind Aiko pulled her close to his chest before groping her chest quite violently, and then pushing her through the door.

With steel in his voice, “I think they mean to rape her.” Said Alaric.

Alaric’s words reignited the fire in Bjorn’s belly. “We can’t let that happen, we have to go now.”

Kallie put out her hand. “We have to wait.” Her assertion drew a look from all of the party.

“Why would we wait?” Bjorn said testily.

“I haven’t asked you for much since I have joined you. But I am telling you now, we have to wait. We can get into position but we need to wait at least 40 minutes.”

Her request made Bjorn’s blood boil. “You are young, I don’t think you know what exactly it means to be raped.”

“I’m sorry Bjorn, you are wrong. I am a woman. We understand, we all understand. Aiko is a strong woman and she will be fine, but if we make our move now we will likely all die. We have to wait.”

Meira put her hand out. “Bjorn, you need to calm down. She is right, we all know what it means. And if she is insistent that we need to wait. I am willing to trust her, if you won’t trust her, at least trust me. Please.”

“Alright, if you trust her, I am willing to trust as well. So we have 40 minutes. We should get into position, and, slight change of plans, we need to get Aiko first.” Everyone nodded in agreement. Backing slowly up they shimmied their way down the rock. Making their way slowly through the surrounding woods and back to the north side of the fort, right by where there was a section of destroyed wall. They laid in wait.

In those 40 minutes nothing had changed in the guards patrolling the walls. The section that they were at was the least well guarded section, it was on the north eastern side of the fort. There was only one guy who got close to the crumbled section. The other two broken wall pieces were closer to the raised section of wall, making it more likely for them to be spotted when scaling those sections. So they lay there in wait.

At 5 minutes before the agreed upon time both Bjorn and Kallie started to creep they way closer to their chosen point of attack. The guards had torches in their hands, which helped them see in the night and illuminate anything. But at the same time it was actually a hindrance. The light from the torches destroyed their night vision and it made it almost near impossible for Bjorn and Kallie to be spotted in the night. They crept to within 100 feet of the guards patrol path, and waited for him to make his way back over. Once there they prepared their bows and waited.

They didn’t have to wait long, for they timed them getting in place perfectly. As soon as they both had their bows nocked and ready for the man to come back he made it to their section on the wall. His slow walk brought him to the edge of the wall, and he stopped. Before he turned around to make his way back, he stopped and leaned over the edge of the wall looking down into the dark. Using his torch he brought it over the crenellations. Bjorn and Kallie drew their bow back at the same time and both took aim.

Bjorn barely breathed out, “Now.” As they both let go of their arrows, and they streaked away in the dark. Both arrows flew true and struck the man, one in the chest, and one in the throat.

For your part in slaying level 11 Half-Orc Bandit you have been awarded 446 (base 357) xp.

As the man jerked backwards from getting hit by two arrows a dark form pulled itself onto the top of the wall and quickly ran to the orc. The form caught the torch from his hand and let the body finish falling to the ground. It slowly started to walk across the wall as the sentry had. Bjorn held his breath for a few moments expecting to hear cries of alarm. Luckily for them none came.

Meira and Alaric came out of the dark moving slowly towards their ticket into the fort. He and Kallie joined them as they made their way to the base of the wall. As quietly as they could they started to scale their way up the piled crumbled stone. Once they pulled themselves up the section of wall they quickly made their way down into the lower courtyard. Where they stood there was no one, so they made their way over to the closest building as quietly as possible. From there it was easy to make it to the building they were heading to. It was only 2 buildings down.

As they made their way from the first building to the second one Kallie froze in place. A look of pure terror and pain crossed her face. “Time is up. Get there now.” She went from a hunched position to one where her back was arched to an unhealthy degree. There was a crunch as her arm moved, her skin started to roll as what was underneath started to reposition itself. “GO!” She screamed at them.

Not knowing what to make of this the remaining three friends all looked at each other before Bjorn and Meira ran towards the building they were aiming for. Alaric stayed behind with Kallie.

On the run to the front of the house Bjorn stored his bow and drew his sword. Throwing open the door, there were shelves and shelves of flour, cheeses, and dried meats. Quickly moving inside and in-between the shelves they made their way to the back of the building. Halfway through the building the exact same crunching and popping sound that they heard from Kallie also came from the back of the building. Rushing the rest of the way, after the shelves was a small open area. The three men were all standing there with looks of horror on their faces as Aiko was writhing around on the ground, accompanied by the crunching and popping. It wasn't just her moving her body around with her mouth open in a silent scream. It was her body actually also writhing, her arm way around 6 inches out of place, her shins had snapped and both of her feet were hanging forward at roughly the same degree. As they watched, fur started to sprout from her body in places where hair had no right being.

Wrenching his eyes away from the horrid scene in front of him Bjorn maneuvered behind one of the men, the one who had his pants down around his ankles and was standing closest to Aiko's body. Grabbing the man by the throat Bjorn thrust his sword through the man's back, using his grip on the man as leverage. With the leverage and the force he stabbed with the sword easily penetrated the man's body and stuck out the far side. Bjorn's thrust ran right through the center of his back as the tip severed his spinal cord. All of a sudden Bjorn's sword grew heavy as the man's legs gave out and he collapsed paralyzed from the legs down. Out of the fight, but not dead. Dropping his sword, Bjorn pulled out his dagger. The other two bandits were distracted by the scene from a horror movie that was Aiko’s body and didn’t react right away to their fellow bandit being attacked.

A blue white blur came hurtling out from being Bjorn and struck one of the other bandits. It struck him right in the middle of his side, the force of it knocking him back. It was a shard of ice easily 18 inches long and 4 inches wide. As it struck the man the impact site had small tendrils of frost build up around the wound. The magic that formed the ice started to dissipate quickly and the ice shard started to shrink at a noticeable rate. As it shrunk it allowed blood to start to flow out of the wound. The impact was enough to bring the bandits' attention to Bjorn and Meira.

They turned towards their attackers, for one it was a little too late as another ice shard quickly followed the first one, impacting near where the first one had. As for the second one he squared up to Bjorn, set his feet and raised his hands ready to receive Bjorn. Bjorn started to move forward with the dagger held in his left hand, with his right shoulder forward he adopted a stance similar to some military stances back on earth. When they got within striking distance from each other the bandit threw out a jab aimed for Bjorn’s face. Ducking under the blow he stepped in closer. Reaching for the arm he realized too late that it was a trick. The bandit didn’t actually commit to the punch, instead when Bjorn stepped forward the bandit planted his foot forward and got ahold of Bjorn’s knife hand.

Bjorn tried to pull his hand free, but the bandits grip was like Iron on his wrist. That one move was all it took for Bjorn to realize that he was actually way outclassed here. Not only was he outclassed as a fighter, but also stats wise. Taking his free hand he tried to punch the bandit. Who caught the blow and using his grip stepped even closer to Bjorn and threw him to the ground, as Bjorn flew through the air he had a second to regret his life decisions before landing flat on his back. Not stopping he didn’t let his momentum stop, rolling at Alaric had taught him Bjorn was back on his feet quickly. When the bandit closed the distance Bjorn was ready for him. Stepping to the side he let the bandit slide past him and let the dagger trail across his skin.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

You have cut Level 9 bandit for 17 points of slashing damage.

Not for the first time, and likely not for the last time Bjorn swore mentally at Charon for giving him the weak demerit. This level 9 bandit had the edge on Bjorn, in terms of strength, speed, and reflexes. And on top of it all Bjorn was also a spellcaster, so he had to divert his already precious attribute points into the mental stats as well. It was a stark reminder that someone who focused would be better in their respective chosen path on the road to power. His Weak demerit would give him the same effective stat pool as a level 12 human currently. Let alone one of the other races, such as elves, who got 5 attribute points per level.

Continuing to swear under this breath Bjorn and the bandit stood there looking at each other. His train of thought at how much of an asshole Charon was made him realize how stupid he had been, he hadn’t been using part of his combat abilities. Using the same tactic he had used underground he put his free hand behind his back and started casting a spell. Starting to cast his new spell, light bolt. Behind Bjorn’s back a brilliant white light started to glow behind his back. In the low light of this room it stood out like a sore thumb. The bandit, wary at what his opponent was doing, stood there in a defensive stance.

His folly nearly undid him. Once Bjorn’s spell was almost completed he brought his hand out from behind his back and said the last word of the spell. A beam of pure white light shot forth from his hand and slammed into the chest of the bandit. Which quickly turned a bright red as the skin quickly went through the stages of a sunburn. At first it was red, then the red deepened. After that the wound grew small pouches under the skin which popped releasing a white fluid which soaked through the edges of the bandits clothes. When the beam hit his chest it quickly burned through the cloth shirt that covered it.

The damage was devastating, as the beam of light ravaged the man's body. All of that happened in a moment. The light was there and then gone, all that was left behind was the pocked skin of the impact site. Realizing his issue the man ignored his new injury and tried to tackle Bjorn to the ground. Closing the 10 feet between them in a second he dove into Bjorn, who wasn’t able to get the dagger into position fast enough. As the two of them slammed into the ground the dagger went flying as Bjorn wasn’t able to keep hold of it. The bandit started to rain blows down on Bjorn, who didn’t have anything he could do to defend himself. All he could do was watch his health bar quickly fall down.

All of a sudden the weight was gone, as the bandit was pulled off of Bjorn. It was hard to see as his vision was a little burry. Bringing himself to his feet, he swiped at his eyes trying to wipe the involuntary tears from his eyes. Once fixed the scene before him was no better.

A large furry half human half wolf stood before Bjorn with its teeth sunk into the bandit’s neck. The creature was over 7 and a half feet tall, with long powerful arms. The only word that came to Bjorn’s mind was ‘Werewolf.’ And so Bjorn did what any naturally curious person would do in this situation he used identify on it.

Name: Aiko

Race: Common Werewolf

Age: 29

Level: 18

Were creatures come in all shapes and sizes. As a common werewolf they turn to every full moon, and when they do so their physical powers are increased. When a common werewolf is transformed they gain 1 point in strength, constitution, and dexterity per level. This stat increase is gained on top of their normal stat pool.

He had so many questions, but now was hardly the time or the place to ask them. He also seriously doubted that in her current state that Aiko would be able to answer them. Using her hands she pulled on the bandit that was in her mouth as she pulled backwards with her head. There was a sickening wet tearing sound as the body was pulled free from the neck. The head of the bandit lulled to the side as a large chuck was pulled from it. Aiko dropped the body and the head lay sideways on his shoulder.

Not really knowing what to do Bjorn found Meira and put himself between the werewolf and himself. Meira whispered into his ear. “That is Aiko.”

Reaching behind her he groped around until his hand landed on her dagger, pulling it free he put it between himself and Aiko. “I know, if she attacks me, run.”

After swallowing the piece of neck that she tore off Aiko dropped down on all fours and slowly moved towards the pair. As she neared she lowered her head presenting the top of it to Bjorn. Tentatively he reached out with his free hand and set it onto Aiko’s head. Feeling her relax under his hand he quickly pet her head. Lowering Meira’s dagger he got out of his defensive stance. Aiko raised her head and licked Bjorn’s cheek, her tongue was long and shaped just like a dog's tongue. The lick left a long bloody streak that ran along his face.

“Gross.” Commented Meira. “Aiko, do you understand us?” Her question was met with a bob of the werewolves head. “I am assuming you can’t talk, is that the case?” Another bob. “Alright, we are here to help save you, there are the three of us, and a tiefling named Tayla. Are you the only werewolf in the group?” Before Aiko responded, Meira continued onwards. “No, you can’t be. I am pretty sure that Kallie had started to go through the transformation process as well. Are you all werewolves?” Another bob. “Well I am guessing that your fellow villagers are still locked inside the cages, let’s go see if we can turn the tides of our fight.”

The group turned to leave. Bjorn retrieved his dagger, and went to pull his sword from the bandit, only to find him still alive. His eyes were wide and full of fear as he watched Bjorn walk towards him from where he lay on the ground. Shoving the man mostly onto his belly Bjorn slowly pulled the sword free. Letting the man roll onto his back Bjorn positioned his blade above the man’s face. “I should leave you here to suffer until you die, but I can’t just leave you here. And that would be a waste of experience. I want you to know before you die, I am glad that I get the chance to kill you myself. You do not deserve mercy, or love. You either raped Aiko, or were going to. And for that you earned what is coming to you.” Taking his sword he plunged it into the bandit’s neck. There was an intake of breath as the body tried to save itself. Unfortunately for the man there was a whistle as the air escaped through the hole in the side of his neck. After he pulled the sword out there was a large arterial spray of blood. Bjorn stood there and watched as the spray of blood slowly lost its pressure and turned into a trickle of blood. Bjorn watched until he got the kill notification. The entire process took less than a minute. Turning his back he followed the two women out the door.

The entire fort was a clamor of activity shouts could be heard from the walls, and from all around them. Before they went any further Bjorn drank his one health potion, as his health was down to the halfway point. Another werewolf came loping out from where they came from, with Alaric quick on its heels.

Not stopping as he made his way to the three. “Bjorn, Meira, Kallie is a werewolf!”

“We know.” Meira called back. “I think the entire village is werewolves. We need to get to the cages and free the rest, if they stay locked in there the bandits will have an easy time killing the rest we are here to save.” Calling out at the top of her lungs, “Tayla, make your way to the cages we need to release the villagers!”

An arrow came streaking out of the night barely missing all of them. Drawing his bow Bjorn followed the trajectory of the arrow and found the bandit on the wall. Nocking an arrow he drew and loosed. Also barely missing the bandit. “We need to move.” Bjorn said as the group started towards the gate in between the lower and upper section of the fort. As they were making their way towards the gate a few of the guards on the walls noticed the group and rained arrows at the group. Most missed, Alaric intercepted a good number of arrows with his shield. Only one made it passed and found its target. The arrow struck Kallie in the side, it was enough to wound her, but not stop her. All the while Bjorn shot arrows back at the bandits, with mixed results.

About halfway to the gate a group of 5 bandits came out of a building, all in various states of readiness. Two were fully clad in leather armor and carrying spears. Another had a shield and was carrying an ax, but just wearing his normal shirt and pants. The last two were shirtless, hair all a mess, and had a sword, and a mace each. Upon seeing the two werewolves and the three newcomers they immediately charged forward for an attack.

Kallie and Aiko wasted no time and also rushed forward for an attack. Meeting the group head on, Alaric also rushed forward, but was noticeably slower than the women so they had already slammed into each other by the time Alaric made it to the melee. Aiko slammed into the shirtless, mace wielding human bearing him to the ground. From there it was short work for Aiko as her claws dug deep gouges in the screaming man. Not daunted by the sight before him, one of the spear wielders charged forward and stabbed Aiko with the spear. It took her high in the chest and it struck with enough force to push her backwards off of the hapless man on the ground. The sword wielder grabbed his companion and started to pull him away from the fight.

Kallie on the other hand was a little more reserved when it came to attacking the fighters, she got engaged by the ax wielder and the other spear wielder. They were doing a good job fending Kallie off, not leaving her with an opening to grab one of them or slash at one. Each of her attacks were caught on the shield of the ax wielder. The stalemate lasted until A brief, bright flash of light arched over the ground and struck the spear wielder. Meira cast her Weak Lightning Bolt spell. As Meira started to cast her spell the air got a heavy copper taste, which got worse as the seconds moved on. When Bjorn could swear he had copper in his mouth the feeling and taste disappeared and a brief bit of lightning shot out of her hand and into the spear wielder’s body.

When Alaric made it to the chaotic melee, he charged at the man trying to pull the other bandit to safety. Seeing the charging dwarf he dropped the crying bloody man and raised his sword to meet Alaric head on. Alaric leapt forward with his ax raised, in a bid to gore the man and end the fight. Unfortunately for Alaric the sword wielder was ready for Alaric and put his sword in between both of them directly into the path of Alaric’s leap. With the sword in Alaric’s path he would end up impaling himself on the tip of the sword, unfortunately for the sword wielder Alaric was prepared for it and abandoned his swing and brought his shield in the path of the blade. Quiet effectively knocking the sword out of the way all while Alaric’s body slammed into the sword wielder and they both tumbled to the ground. Alaric was the first to recover and used his ax to swing down to the bandit who was trying to get to his feet. The man threw himself backwards and the ax instead of killing him on the spot instead dug into the meaty part of his thigh. From there the fight was a foregone conclusion. The bandit was wounded in such a way that he lost his mobility. Alaric was just fine. In the end Alaric killed both bandits, but not before the sword wielder was able to get a lucky strike on Alaric leaving a gash on his arm.

Aiko howled in pain as the spear tip dug into her flesh, the spear wielder did not stop moving forward, he continued to push his spear into Aiko’s flesh forcing her backwards until she lost her balance and fell backwards to the ground. Not wasting the opportunity he put pressure onto the spear and held the werewolf on the ground. He was ruthless, and entirely focused on Aiko, not noticing the rapidly deteriorating situation for him and his bandits, he just kept pushing into Aiko, as the spear tip also continued to sink into her flesh. That was until an arrow came streaking out of the night and slammed into the side of his head, and went limp. Without the strength behind the spear Aiko was able to tear it out roughly from her body and free herself. Bringing herself back to her feet she took a moment, standing there breathing roughly before she dove forward and latched onto the leg of the ax wielder.

Screaming out in pain he tried to drop to his knees, but the strength of Aiko’s bite onto his calf held that leg in place. Instead it looked like his free leg buckled and he fell to the side. Kallie lunged at the man, who in his pain dropped both the shield and the ax unintentionally, now disarmed he raised his arm to put in-between Kallie’s mouth and his throat. Biting down she latched herself onto his right arm and began to pull. Aiko also started to pull. Their combined strength and pulling power was too much for the bandit to handle, and something gave. It was his shoulder, as his humerus came free of the socket the muscle that connected his arm to his shoulder was all that held the arm to the body. Soon that too wasn't enough as there was a tearing sound and the arm pulled free of his body. The man’s screams of pain didn’t last long as Kallie went in and clamped down on his throat, silencing him forever.

During this entire confrontation, which had lasted less than a minute at this time Bjorn continued to shoot arrows at the bandits on the walls. Luckily for him he had a stock of over 100 arrows in his portable pocket. But with his attempts to keep the archers from hitting the group he had burned through over half of his arrows. He was entirely focused on the archers, trusting in his companions to handle the group that blocked their path. That was until he heard a dog sounding whimper, looking briefly he saw the werewolf that was Aiko pinned to the ground with a spear protruding from her body. This angered him. Turning he drew an arrow and launched it at the man. His aim was true, and with the spear wielder towering over the stationary werewolf the arrow caught him in the side of the head, right by the temple. Causing him to go limp, not dwelling on Aiko, Bjorn turned back to the bandits on the walls and kept shooting.

Meira for her part continued to rain hell down on the spear wielder who had engaged Kallie, she continued to alternate between Ice shard and Weak Lightning bolt. Each time the lightning bolt struck it would stun the bandit as the electricity would go coursing through his body leaving him wide open to the follow up Ice shard. It didn’t take long for the man to succumb to the barrage of magical spells. Meira burned through hundreds of Mana points, but in the end she was the only one who had an easy time with her opponent.

After the sounds of death subsided Bjorn spared a quick glance to the battle on their path, seeing that it was finished he yelled. “Let’s move.” And the group continued onwards. As Bjorn continued his barrage onto the walls he hadn’t quite thought about it, but most of the arrows were coming from one side of the wall. If he wasn’t so focused he would have noticed that Tayla was making her presence known and making her way along the wall killing the archers that were behind the group. For her the work was easy, she would stealth, slink towards the unwitting archers and sneak up behind them. From there she would quickly dispatch them with either slitting their throats, or with a stab to their back. Before dropping into stealth again and moving onwards. She had killed 4 of the defenders before one of the bandits noticed and brought her to attention to the rest. From there she had a harder time making her way along the wall. But she still did her job admirably, because of her they only had to worry about arrows coming from two directions. One was the opposite wall, and another was the archers on the wall in front of them.

It didn’t take them long to make it to the gate. Which was left undefended and open. Passing through the stone archway the cages holding the rest of the villagers were to their right. The grounds of this inner section had little in it. There was the large multi story building, the cages, and the rest of the grounds were an open courtyard. There were 12 bandits standing in front of the cages all equipped with bows who were trying to get organized. Inside the cages there were 15 werewolves all fighting against the metal bars of their cages, with little success.

Not wasting any time they charged at the bandit’s with their backs to the group. It was pandemonium again, Aiko and Kallie slammed into the backs of the bandit’s raking them with their claws and biting. Alaric used his ax to start chopping into the backs of the bandits. Bjorn’s arrows kept biting into the backs of the bandits, and Meira started casting Ice Shard over and over. The first 5 bandits fell rapidly before the other 7 realized they were being attacked. Once that happened shouts started to sound from them. As they scrambled to find weapons that weren’t their bows. It didn’t take long for the group to kill the last 7 bandits who were ill-equipped for close quarter combat.

There were 3 cages holding 5 werewolves each, and each had a separate metal lock on it. “Where are the keys?” Bjorn asked. And they looked at Aiko. Who shrugged. It was an oddly humorous situation, watching a werewolf shrug. Not able to help himself he laughed. Aiko just growled at Bjorn before slinking off looking through the bodies. Everyone started searching through the piled dead trying to find the keys. They were on a time crunch and they knew it.

The main door of the keep opened up and fully equipped and armored bandits came pouring out of the entrance. There were the better part of 30 bandits who came spilling out. For the most part they were wearing leather armor, there were a good number wearing scalemail, and chainmail. But there was one bandit who was wearing a full metal breastplate over a shirt of chainmail. They were running out of time.

The obvious bandit leader walked forward from the group forming up behind him and hailed the party who had wreaked havoc on his camp. He was larger, taller, and uglier than the rest of the group. Using his identity on him made Bjorn afraid.

Name: Aaron Fitts

Race: Half troll

Age: 39

Level: 29

Profession: Warrior

No one really knows, or wants to know how half trolls are made. The size difference between a troll and their mate are often so large it's a wonder that the smaller party doesn’t die. But somehow it happened and made this creature standing before you. Half trolls gain 2 points to constitution, 1 in strength and endurance, and 1 free points per level. The genes of trolls are so powerful that they take over whatever race the other parent was. Because of that the half trolls charisma is permanently set to 5

“Guys, what is a profession?” Bjorn’s simple question was only met with swears.

“I’m assuming because you asked the big ugly bastard is some sort of professed combat fighter.” Alaric asked as he stood, angling his body towards the half troll and stood there in a loose combat pose. To the untrained it looked like Alaric was just standing there casually, but closer inspection would reveal a different story. His weight was forward on the balls of his feet, his legs were bent, even though his posture was lackadaisical Alaric’s eyes never left the half troll.

The half troll walked forward towards the group, stopping over 20 yards away. Sweeping his eyes across the gathered few until his eyes landed upon Bjorn, and he smiled. “Give up, you are outmatched, outnumbered, cornered. You have no hope for escape.”

(If you don’t care you may skip to the next part.)

You have advanced your skill level in Stealth, reaching skill level 5. You will now be 20% harder to spot while stealthing.

You have advanced your skill level in archery, reaching skill level 6, and 7. Damage from arrows you shoot is increased by 21% over base damage.

You have advanced your skill level in swordsmanship, reaching skill level 4. Your attacks with swords now deal 12% more damage over base value.

You have advanced your skill level in small blades, reaching skill level 2. Your attacks with swords now deal 4% more damage over base value. Additionally critical strikes done with your small blades will deal 2% more damage.

Due to your constant inability to not get hit in a fight you have gained the new skill: Light Armor. Armor doesn’t always have to be big and clunky, sometimes you just need an extra layer of skin that protects the more vital parts of your body. That is where light armor comes into play.

You have advanced your skill level in archery, reaching skill level 8, 9 and 10. Damage from arrows you shoot is increased by 30% over base damage.

You have reached the milestone going from a beginner to a novice in the skill: Archery. You have gained a perk: You may now invest some of your stamina into your shots to increase their accuracy.