Private - Operation Save the Little Ones

A small fair filled the streets of Finweald, the city was known for being very receptive to adventurers and the fair was pretty much a small weekly thing that happened to supply said adventurers so they would be able to keep up with their journey. It wasn't something too big, but it was enough to bring a soft welcome feeling to any player.

That was more than enough for the Faerin duo, Hanno and Daedalus. Both of them were looking for some materials to do a small tinkery project: Music boxes. Hanno made a request for his tinker friend to build a few custom music boxes for him, something he planned to give as a gift to some of his acquaintances.

"Thank you a lot for helping me out on this Daedalus!" The Faerin grinned at his friend. "It will take a while to make so many of them, but I'm sure it will be worth."

Hanno turned to look at the several gears of all sizes and types, picking a few up to analyze intently, though he didn't have any knowledge on how those things were going to work for the small item he wanted to be built. Showing a small gear, the Faerin turned to the tinker companion.

As he was about to ask something, he noticed a small Faerin girl that was clearly worned out and looking around with a very troubled expression. Her clothes were slightly ragged and dirty, clear signs that she has been running on the woods and her eyes were turning from troubled to a desperate look. Until in a fit of despair, she suddenly ran to Felis villager, pulling her clothing to call her attention.

"Please miss... M-My village- My f-family... I can't save them by myself! Please!"

The small girl bursted into tears pleading for help, though she was clearly having trouble to put her words together between hiccups and sobs to explain anything. The Felis villager and the small crowd could just stare helplessly at the situation, there was nothing what they could do to help. Though a few adventurers like @B.P. Rumblehide, @Daedalus and Hanno were at the area on the moment.

"This isn't good..." Hanno looked at Daedalus. "We should go see what happened, we can do this later." He said to his tinker friend, walking close to the Felis and the Faerin girl.

"What happened?" Hanno looked at the girl, but all she could do was sob uncontrollably. He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, that made her flinch a bit and look to Hanno. "We are going to help you, but we need to know what happened. Can you tell us?" He asked, and the girl tried to stop crying, without much success.

Hidden: OOC Small Considerations~

Just to make sure we are in the same page, we will be rescuing slaves from a Faerin village that has been raided by bandits!

Don't hold back and put any elements/NPCs you want and control anything that already exist in the thread to make our lovely journey run smoothly!

Now let's save some Faerin and have fun!

 

"Look, I'm only giving you five gold for that."

"Eight is the price, and I will not go any lower."

Battle Princess Rumblehide and the stubborn stall owner were at an impasse. In the weeks since joining the game, the faerin had toppled countless challenges. Slimes splatted, goblins bruised, wolves battered, and even a kobold or two. She was wearing the bleached skull of one of the latter as a helmet; the beginning of the macabre trophy collection that she'd soon adorn herself with.

But this man who towered over her, stained with sweat and blood? Definitely the hardest challenge she faced yet.

The barbarian's finger pointed at meat rotating on a spit over the open fire. "Your craftsmanship is lazy, my friend. Clearly you do not put any care into your work."

"Young lady, I will have you know that these drumsticks have won countless awards from all over the land." The chef crossed his arms across his wide chest. "The turkeys are free-range and fed with non-magically modified corn, oats, and beans. There is no finer meat in all of Astorea."

Rumblehide peered over the counter, her eyes scanning the food for something telltale. "And what did you use to season it?"

The man let out a hearty laugh. "Just a bit of salt and pepper is all you need when the meat is this juicy and flavorful already!"

Rumblehide blinked. My gods--what sort of heresy is this?!

"And there's your problem, sir," the faerin spat. "You need the herbs! The chili, onion, and garlic powders! You can just put it on a spit and expect the smoke from the wood to add all the flavor!"

And yet, the man would not budge. He glanced over at the three medals that hung from the wooden tent support, gleaming in the midday sun. If his bare-bones recipe was enough for the judges of various cooking competitions around Astorea, it was enough to feed the throngs of people assembled in Finweald.

For the first time since joining Terrasphere, the Battle Princess knew she was beat. The rumbling of her stomach was the dirge that heralded her defeat. The cook clearly heard it too, for his smile only widened. The faern's thin lips stretched in a sour line across her face as she dug through her inventory for eight pieces of gold.

"Fine," she grumbled. "Here's your money. One drumstick, please."

The greasy man gladly accepted her money and freed up a turkey leg from the spit. Once she had her lunch, she turned from the stall and left. Rumblehide took a moment to look over every square inch of the juicy limb, cautiously inspecting it. There was something about unseasoned food that you just can't trust.

But when she took a bite of it, she felt a small wave of shame wash over her.

She was loathe to admit it, but... hot damn, this IS pretty good.

A commotion was happening in the square not far off from where she stood. The faerin's heroic curiosity got the best of her, and she walked over to where a small crowd had gathered around. She heard the cries of another young lady--faerin, like her. The girl was latched onto the dress of another young woman, this one a felis, begging for help with saving her family.

Rumblehide quickly wolfed down the rest of her drumstick and tossed the bone aside. A rescue! This calls for heroism!

Stepping forth, the faerin adjusted the kobold skull helmet that sat on her head and wiped the turkey bits juices that coated her lips off on her arm. Producing her great axe from her inventory, she wrapped her hands around the haft and slammed the pommel into the dirt.

B.P.'s smile widened as she addressed the little girl, a certain boom in her voice. "My friend, allow me to assist you!"

The only effect she had on the girl was to startle the shit out of the poor thing. The nervous little wretch turned to face Rumblehide.

Maybe I should turn down the bravado a little bit, the faerin decided.

Letting her weapon fall do the ground, Rumblehide decided to try a different tactic. "Hey, hey, kid," she cooed, lunch still strong on her breath as she crouched down next to her (but only by a few inches, since B.P.'s avatar was designed to be the smollest of the smols). "Battle Princess Rumblehide's here to help you, okay?"

A hesitant nod of understanding came from the girl.

"Good," B.P. said with a smile. "Now, why don't you tell me everything so we can go save your family together, alright?"

The faerin considered her triple-zero set of masteries. Me and anyone else who'd care to step up, she thought.

 

The day had started off as a quiet one, with Daedalus quietly and avidly tinkering around in his tavern room, making ever more prototypes that would hopefully one day see the light of battle. He had been halfway through putting together a rudimentary flashbang when @Hanno Futaba showed up and asked him whether he could help with a certain side project. Of course, he had agreed happily.

Puffing on his hand-carved pipe as they strolled through the Finweald adventurers' fair, Daedalus and Hanno were in the middle of picking out fine-toothed gears for the more finicky, small music boxes when his day was turned abruptly upside down by a certain small Faerin girl, desperate for help.

He was about to ask his companion if he needed any help when he too noticed the distressed child latch onto a passing Felis' clothes, clearly half-hysterical in her cry for help. Puffing on his pipe, intrigued, Daedalus turned and told the mechanics' store owner to hold their order for now. Nodding and agreeing with the shieldbearer's suggestion, Daedalus blew out a puff of smoke and followed Hanno to the small girl.

Before they could reach her, though, a berserker-looking woman, also a Faerin (@B.P. Rumblehide), had already gotten there and shouted loudly a heroic declaration that seemed to scare the girl.

Shaking his head, Daedalus took a large step forwards, smiling, and put a gentle hand on the weeping child's shoulder. Fishing around in his pocket, his fingers closed on something and he drew it forth before the girl, clutched loosely in his fist.

"There, there, little girl. Stop crying, alright? Look here..."

Opening his hand, he revealed a tiny wind-up chicken figurine, and knelt down beside the girl, turning the knob on the back of the toy a few times. As his hand left the knob, the little chicken began to pace and peck around in circles around his palm, emitting brief, sporadic cheeping noises.

"Don't cry now, kid. What's the matter, hmm? You can tell us, we're adventurers."

 

Hanno nodded at his tinker friend and smiled at the girl Faerin that also decided to help, giving a small look at the little girl that was calming down. "See, everyone is here to help you!" He said smiling as his Gargantuan Shield looked at her with a friendly expression while waving it's tentacles.

The troubled Faerin stared intently at the small toy, reaching her hands to grab it and have a weak smile covering her lips.

She turned to see Hanno, flinching a bit at the sight of the weird Shield. But as she looked at the smiling warrior, the confident barbarian girl and then at the tinker man. They were all Faerin and were willing to help her, the girl felt a comfort that made her calm down and take a deep breath.

"S-Sorry, i-it's just that I'm so scared... M-My village was attacked by some bad people! I hid, but they ran away with my family and my friends. I don't know what to do!"

The girl said with a shaken voice, she clearly was still shocked about what happened.

Hanno showed her a warm smile, ruffling the girl's hair gently. "Don't worry, we will help you-" He looked at @B.P. Rumblehide. "Like this lady said, we are going to save them together!" He said grinning with confidence and staring at the fellow Faerin.

"Battle Princess Rumblehide, right?" Hanno asked offering a handshake, while his Gargantuan Shield stared intently at the barbarian. "My name is Futaba, Hanno Futaba!- Nice to meet you, and I hope you don't mind working together to save her family."

He gave a small glance at @Daedalus. "Considering what this girl said, these 'bad people' are probably bandits. There are a lot of those in this region, right Daedalus?" The Faerin nodded at his tinker friend, reminding himself of the mission they went through together to escort a wagon to Astorea.

 

The faerin barbarian reached out to tousle the little girl's hair to comfort her, but Hanno beat her to it. Left with no other support to give that wouldn't scare the bejeezus out of her, Rumblehide let her hand awkwardly fall to her side.

"That's right," she echoed the blue-haired shieldbearer's sentiment, trying to save some face. "We'll beat up the bad guys and save your parents! That's what heroes do, right?"

When @Hanno Futaba introduced himself, B.P.'s grin stretched from ear to ear as she adjusted the kobold skull that rested on top of her noggin and gave the boy's hand a hearty shake. "Nice to meet you too, Hanno! I'm sure that between me and my axe--"

She slammed the pommel of her gigantic weapon into the dirt again.

"--you and your..."

Rumblehide sized up Hanno's incredibly creepy-looking shield, with all the tentacles oozing off of it and dangling in the air like thick strands of spaghetti. The eyeball in the center where the boss would normally be seemed to be giving her a once over as well, and being incredibly judgmental about it.

"...shield," she said hesitantly before moving on. "And whatever this guy over here has--" The barbarian shot a thumb @Daedalus's way.

B.P. immediately caught herself. "Sorry, that was rude of me. Battle Princess Rumblehide. Pleasure's all mine. And you are?"

 

Stepping back and squatting down next to the little girl as his companions comforted and reassured her, Daedalus smiled as she toyed about with his handcrafted toy. At least he could do that much for the kid.

As @Hanno Futaba introduced himself to the newest addition to their improvised rescue party, Daedalus noted her name, @B.P. Rumblehide, and her equipment; she seemed to be a barbarian sort of character, probably focused on pure damage output. That would go well with Hanno's tanking abilities and his own support powers. Nodding sagely, he agreed and expanded on Hanno 's statement.

"Mmh. There's a few bands across the place. Never thought they'd raid a full village though. This is new to me, anyway."

Putting out his pipe (they were around a kid, after all) and chuckling lightly at Rumblehide's reaction to Hanno's Ghast, Daedalus stood back up, dusting himself off and extending a friendly hand to the battle princess.

"That there isn't just a shield, it's a living thing; got a name and everything, too. We call it Ghast. I'm Daedalus, Faerin Tinkerer extraordinaire. Pleased to meetcha."

 

The Faerin laughed quietly when the barbarian girl stared at his Shield, while Ghast just waved at her with one of it's tentacles while having a friendly look in it's eyes, apparently the Shield was pleased by the fact there were so many Faerins gathered together.

He nodded at @Daedalus. "It's something bigger than usual, we will need to be careful." The Faerin said, still perplexed about that situation. 'That's probably a very big plan, but they are still bandits, they shouldn't be organized enough for that... Which probably means they have someone leading them, similar to how that Yladian did...'

Thinking without any hints wasn't going to lead them anywhere, so Hanno was already getting ready to go to the little girl's village, but as soon as @B.P. Rumblehide said something about heroism, his ears perked up. 'A fellow hero?!' His eyes sparkled as he looked at the barbarian girl's eyes.

"YES! That's what heroes do!" He was pumped up. "With your axe, my shield, Daedalus's brain and the power of heroism. There's nothing that can stay on our way!" Hanno poked the barbarian's axe with his shield, as a sign of cheer.

The little girl waited everyone to introduce themselves, now having a smile on her face. As weird as that group of adventurers were, they were very determined to help her out.

"Thanks everyone! Th-This means a lot to me!"

Her sadness tears turned into joy tears, she was now with high hopes as she believed soon her family would be safe and sound. Looking at the adventurers, she carefully grabbed the Rumblehide's hand and pulled it gently.

"I can show where the village is- It's not too far from here... But it's hidden inside the forest."

With a grin, Hanno looked at his comrades. "I guess the little girl here is in high spirits now." He looked back at them. "We can't let her down, right people? Let's do it!"

 

Rumblehide rubbed her chin and leaned in closer to the eldritch tower shield, trying to get a better look at it. The thing's yellow and red slit of an eye followed her every movement. Tentacles writhed in the air, a friendly reminder not to get too close lest she wanted her mind munched on.

I have so many questions, the faerin thought to herself. Chief among them, how was she to slay such a monster should Hanno lose control of it when the monster itself was a freaking shield? By definition every single blow she'd rain down upon it with her trusty great axe would be deflected by its thick, scaly, bubbling surface!

Maybe if she tossed it into the river, it would sink to the bottom and drown.

...but then it could crawl back to the shore with those tentacles...

The Battle Princess was occupied with the notion of how to beat the stupid shield while the young child led the adventurers back to her home. The trip was long, lasting an hour or so. By the time they arrived, the sun had begun its arc towards the horizon.

And she still had no idea how she was going to kill the evil lurking in Hanno's shield.

She would have to ask the spirits of her ancestors for guidance later. But for now, they had a bandit problem to solve.

You didn't need your investigation mode on to see that the faerin village got absolutely murked by the raiders. Charred husks for little wooden huts still smoked, the fires having long since died away. The air smelled of death and destruction. Carts were upturned, wares of merchants scattered along the dirt paths. A few bodies here and there, lying still in the dirt and grass.

Rumblehide, having taken the lead in the trek, held her hand up and motioned for everyone to stay still and be quiet. She'd been in situations like this before--seeking blood and glory since the first moment she spawned in Terrasphere, the Battle Princess joined every quest she could that plopped her ass down in front of a dangerous pack of wolves, or a giant cave monster, or at the business end of a goblin raider's stone spear.

It was kind of hard to gauge how much trouble she'd gotten herself into this time around. The prospect of facing down a bandit group that had the capability to wreck an entire forest settlement both unnerved and excited her. Her muscles were tense, her axe was crying for their blood. This was going to make for one hell of a story.

They just needed to find out where the bastards went.

"Everyone stick together," she said quietly. "We don't know who might be lurking around here. Keep an eye and ear out for any survivors."

 

Frowning to himself briefly, Daedalus nodded as @Hanno Futaba observed the irregular nature of this raid. Perhaps the bandits were getting more ambitious as of late? If so, this could be more than what it seemed, and not in any good way either.

Dismissing the demoralizing thought with an idle hand-wave to himself, Daedalus smiled and shook his head as he heard Hanno's uplifting statement about how nothing could stand in the way of their combine heroic powers.

"My brain? Well, I guess that stands to reason. Sometimes well-honed wits can be more dangerous than any sharp blade."

Adjusting the straps on his ever-present backpack, Daedalus put his pipe away in his pocket and tucked his hair into his beret, ready for the long trip ahead.

---

"By god...this is...this is...who could have..."

As the four Faerin overlooked the scene of carnage before them, Daedalus slowly doffed his beret and held it over his heart as an act of mourning. So many lives lost...even though he knew they were all expendable, replaceable NPCs, the very fact that even an AI would be cruel enough to enact such cruelty upon its own creations was deeply disturbing.

After the initial shock had passed, Daedalus nodded slowly at @B.P. Rumblehide's words, sticking close to the party as they ventured through the ruins. Occasionally, as they passed a fresh body, Daedalus would raise a hand to stop the party, run over to them, and check for any signs of life. So far, nothing yet.

As he turned over the fourth lifeless corpse, Daedalus sighed deeply and turned to look at the little girl, eyes full of sorrow and condolence.

"Kid...I...I'm sorry. All this...how did you even get away?"

 

The Shield's interest perked up as the barbarian girl stared at it with curiosity, it followed all her movements carefully and kept staring her when she moved on, until the group finally reached the raided village.

Hanno frowned in both disgust and horror... Calling that a raid was an underestatement, that was a huge massacre. Anyone that saw that scene could picture the mayhem that happened hours ago. Ghast frowned and stared intently the surroundings.

The Faerin nodded at @B.P. Rumblehide, giving a small knock on his shield. "Ghast, stay alert too." The Gargantuan Shield waved a tentacle affimatively, opening all it's eyes intently as it wiggled it's tentacles in a very hostile way, combat could start at any second. Hanno gave a small glance at the troubled Faerin, clenching his teeth in anger. 'Whoever that did this was a monster.'

"Th-This is worse than I-... C-Could imagine."

The little girl was once again with tear in her already dry eyes, but she tried to maintain her calm, it was time to be strong and not to cry. She looked at @Daedalus with a sad expression, giving a small nod at his condolence.

"I... I was helping my father with the farm. He noticed something was wrong and said to me run away and began alerting everyone... Some bad guys chased me, but I hid in a crevice that they couldn't enter."

Nodding at the little girl explanation, Hanno looked up at the area again walking along with his comrades. Hanno was concerned about the Faerin kid's situation... Seeing what happened there, it had a big chance that her family was dead.

'Stop thinking about this, focus.' He shook his head, letting out a brief sigh.

Getting focused again, Hanno blinked when noticing something weird. In the middle of the whole destruction, there was a completely intact handcart that probably even had a few crate supplies on it. "I wouldn't doubt if someone was still here like you said, Rumblehide. Look at that." He said pointing and wielding his shield in a protective stance, prepared to block any incoming attack at his companions.

It only took a few seconds to suddenly a sound of metal hitting the ground came out of the house, followed by a scared yelp. Startled, the little girl hid behind Rumblehide's back and Hanno's cover.

"Who's there..." The Faerin whispered, frowning when looking at the house's window attempting to glance who was in there.

 

She had to admit, the handcart was especially curious. The one thing that survived all the chaos, it seemed--and usually when all hell breaks loose the carts are the first thing that get destroyed. Just watch any action movie for proof.

Rumblehide's knuckles grew white as her grip around her weapon tightened. She took a cautious step towards the cart, signalling the others to stay back. "Ancestors give me strength," she softly whispered into the afternoon breeze. Within seconds, she felt the cool touch of faerin spirit joining her, making its presence known by the soft cerulean glow in her hands and arms.

The barbarian was ready to strike at anything that might pop out of the wagon. Shame that nothing interesting was actually in the thing--no; a new presence made itself known with the clanging of metal and a high-pitched yelp.

Rumble instinctively raised her axe in the air, drawing it behind her and ready to strike. But when she realized that no immediate danger was before her, she lowered the gigantic weapon. The fae exchanged cautious glances with Hanno and Daedalus while she tried to figure out their next move.

She quickly decided that the cart was probably nothing more than a decoy. The barbarian instead pointed towards the wreckage of the house where the noises came from. She whispered to her two companions, "Let's go see what that was. Be quiet, be cautious--we don't know if its a friend or foe."

 

"Goddammit...if only we could have been here a little earlier..."

Dropping the topic with a sigh, Daedalus stood up and was about to go back to his task of checking for salvageable survivors among the corpses when he too saw the suspiciously intact handcart of supplies.

Yes, something was majorly off here; why would something like this cart, ripe for the looting, be sitting perfectly fine and dandy among all this wreckage, untouched? There was another force at work here, for sure. Its intent though, was anyone's guess. The metallic clank and exclamation from a nearby house only served to heighten his suspicions.

"Open, Astral Eye."

Daedalus quietly bid his Astral Eye into existence. The unblinking purple orb hung over his head, following his gaze as his eyes darted around urgently. He moved behind his companions and ushered the little Faerin girl along with him, protecting her from danger and getting ready to buff his allies or disrupt the enemy if danger arose. So far, nothing had piqued the interest of his Astral Eye, but that was bound to change at any moment.

"You two, don't worry about me, I'll take care of..."

Looking beside him at the child, he ruffled her hair and tried to put on a nonchalant smile for her, as if nothing could be less tense than this situation.

"Hey, what's your name, little girl? I can't keep calling you 'kid', can I?"

 

"Your call, captain." Hanno whispered back to @B.P. Rumblehide, so far the barbarian girl looked very reliable, so he simply followed her lead, carefully walking toward the house.

The Faerin looked at the purple gaze that slowly hovered, intently trying to watch the surroundings in order to see if it could spot something. Hanno looked back at @Daedalus, seeing he was being protective toward the girl, making him smile warmly.

"Alright, keep sharp eyes on her!" He nodded at his tinker friend and the little girl gave a small smile at her protector.

"Liri. My name is Liri."

The little girl said her name, leaning closer to Daedalus, with both of them being behind the warrior duo.

When the finally got closer to the house, Hanno raised his gargantuan shield toward the door. The shield was big enough to cover most of the passage, so it was probably going to be safe enough to get in like that. "Warn if you see anything, Ghast." The Faerin said, making the shield nod with a tentacle.

Hanno slowly pushed Ghast against the door, and the shield's tentacles slowly opened their way to get inside the house. Briefly walking into a narrow hall, it didn't take long until suddenly footsteps sounds could be heard followed by the sound of an opening creaking window.

"YER ARE DEAD-!" A male voice yelled.

"What?!" The Faerin looked back, seeing a few bandits jumping out of the window and charging toward the barbarian girl. "Watch out!" He warned, trying to move back to assist his comrade, but suddenly-

"Be gone yer monster!" The bandit growled as he slashed a blade through Ghast's tentacle, cutting it off and making the shield twist in anger.

"HEY YOU-" Hanno frowned and slammed the shield on the bandit's forehead, making him back off and shake his head, before staring back at the Faerin.

Meanwhile all that happened close to the house, other bandits sneaked out of the ruin's debris, finally being spotted by the gargantuan Astral Gaze from Daedalus, that alerted the tinker man about the danger.

 

"Eyes on the girl, got it. Alright, Liri, I'll make sure you stay safe, no matter what, so long as you do what I say, alright? Good girl."

Watching his two more combat-proficient allies advance and scout out the suspicious areas ahead, Daedalus looked around with both his natural sight and Astral Eye, seeking out any possible safe refuges in case things got dire. Sure enough, there were a few inconspicuous bushes a little ways to the left of their current position.

"Liri, see that bush there? If any bad guys show up, I want you to run over there as fast as you can and get as low as you can. You have to stay safe, alright? No matter w-"

His sentence was cut short by raucous yelling from the direction of the supposedly abandoned houses; so someone was in there! And it appeared to be quite a few very hostile someones too, he observed, spotting several bandits beginning to swarm @B.P. Rumblehide and attack @Hanno Futaba's shield.

"Go! Go! Run, make sure you don't get found! Hide if you can, run if you have to; we'll take care of this, just -"

"WE GOT ANOTHER ONE HERE, LADS!"

"Crap. Run. Go, now."

Pushing Liri away gently as he stood between her and the bandits he could spot approaching, he hoped that by blocking their line of sight he could at least buy Liri some time to hide. Deep breath. Okay, so what. It was just combat. If his fellow Faerin could do it, so could he.

"YOUR ENEMY IS ME! HEAR THE LAMENT OF A THOUSAND TORTURED SOULS! SCREAMER!"

A purplish-black spectre manifested itself from Daedalus' shadow, growing larger and more menacing until it was almost a full eight feet tall, looming over the bandits it faced. Mouths appeared on the thing where mouths decidedly should not be...and then the screaming began.

 

Rumblehide's grip tightened on her weapon as the pair of bandits bounded out of the house towards her. With a quick nod of her head, the kobold skull helmet fell into place. As the spirits of her tribe filled her with energy, the skull's eye holes filled with a brilliant blue light.

There is no honor in murder, she thought to herself as her muscles tightened and wound themselves into coils.

But there is honor in avenging the innocent who died here today.

The faerin steeled herself as the first bandit lunged at her, sword raised overhead and coming down fast. She quickly parried the blow with the haft of her axe and brushed the sword aside. A growl escaping her throat, Rumbehide immediately took advantage of the opening and buried the thick top of her helmet into the groin of the bandit.

She could hear his whimpering cry of pain and the clanging of his weapon hitting the dirt, but she already moved on to the next bandit who dared step up to the Battle Princess. The grubby man's glazed eyes darted back and forth between the barbarian and his comrade, but apparently he was either too brave, stupid, or drunk to run away.

His hesitation was all Rumble needed to put him down, The woman moved with a swiftness that belied her short stature and curvy frame, quickly closing the distance and swinging her great axe at the bandit. Sharpened steel glinted in the sunlight as it traveled in an arc through the air and found its mark in the right knee of the stunned bandit.

The axe cut clean through the leg and nearly took out the other before the villain hit the ground screaming. As Rumblehide tore her weapon from what remained of his left knee, she had half a mind to end his misery. Then, she looked around at the destruction he and his brethren wreaked on the small forest village.

No, she thought to herself as she cast a venomous glance at the bleeding bandit. You have not suffered enough for what you've done here.

More of these scumbags might be hiding around the village. It was unlikely that the ones who rushed them were the only bandits still lingering in the shadows. And so, Rumblehide decided to draw more of them out.

The lights in her eyes and cloaking her hands flashed brighter as she swung her axe around at the first man who attacked her. She twisted the weapon before impact--but the sickening crunch that filled the air when the butt of her axe head connected with his spine almost drowned out the fresh wave of pained cries that came out of his mouth.

He fell back to the dirt, his upper body writhing around but his legs absolutely still. A pair of shrill, piercing cries broke the otherwise deathly silence choking the village.

Rumblehide slammed the pommel of her axe into the ground and adjusted her kobold helmet. Soon, the other bandits would come to check on their friends. She would be ready for them.