Brigands, Bandits, and Outlaws, oh my!

"Let's see... Risen job... Risen job... huh. Must be military. They mentioned both 'Revenants' and 'Entombed.' And lessee here... bandits," Jacob read out. Only three jobs this week. "Hold on. The Bandit one has something else," the lieutenant continued, amusement in his voice. "Not just bandits, there's bandits, brigands, and outlaws, it says."

"Oh my," Alaine said sardonically. "If it's just fuckin' bandits, you'd think they'd write about only bandits. Still, I've had enough of those Risen creatures. I'll take that bandit one. Tell Osney to take Torvald and Verana with him on the first one. If there are any of those massive Entombed around, he'll need those two. You and James can handle the so-called 'military' one. Tell Terris and the triplets that they'd better hold down the fuckin' fort."
---
Some time later...

The village magistrate was lucky he'd been able to send the notices to other surrounding towns. He now had multiple prospects. Alaine at last arrived. The magistrate was meeting them in the village square during the afternoon on a partly cloudy day. Rather nice weather, as a matter of fact. "I'm Alaine, sometimes known as 'the Profane.' You are the Magistrate of this village, yes?"

"Yes, I am," the rather slight man responded quickly. He regarded her with sharp eyes. "I've heard of you. Glad you came in person, but was there no one else you could have brought?"

"Please don't underestimate me, sir," Alaine said after a short silence. She had to rein in her temper. "I'm more than a match for any bandit."

"Hmph," the man responded. "If you say so. There should be a few more coming, and then we'll get to briefing you."

Alaine frowned. Competition.

"Worry not, my dame."

The voice came from behind Alaine, belonging to a lady of a similar age who nevertheless stood just a bit taller than the mercenary. The contrast between the two ladies-of-war was striking. Whereas Alaine's hair and eyes glowed with a vibrant red, the lancer's hair and eyes were almost colorless, a gray tinged only with what seemed to be a light shade of brown. Whereas Alaine easily looked imposing and harsh, the other lady seemed to easily and amicably regard the world with a kind of casual amusement. And whereas Alaine wielded swords, her counterpart carried two lances. It would've been easily to assume - from her weapons and her attire - that she was some kind of knight; that this was Ylisse - along with a certain windswept quality in her otherwise long and partially braided hair - seemed to suggest that Ethelia Sreda Cervickova was a knight of the skies, a lancer with wings bound to the service of this country. Her pegasus was nowhere in sight, however, although the winged steed would probably rematerialize when needed.

"I get my cut via commission directly from the country's war coffers," said Ethelia in a tone that sounded half-friendly, half-lazy, openly friendly yet just as openly wry, "so you shall not be losing a single coin due to my presence, unless you're the type to be worried about your kill count." There was a smirk there. Ethelia had probably overheard the conversation between Alaine and the magistrate, made an educated guess at the former's occupation, saw her frown, and put two and two together. That being said, she threw a casual glance over her shoulders, indicating at the others who were apparently to be part of this job as well, remarked, "Of course, I cannot say the same for the others, so perhaps the creases upon your brow may be very well justified."

The early morning sun turned Baron's old, brown tent luminous, revealing its true colors. Baron crouched over in his tent, straightened his clothes, and went outside. The familiar sun was peaking its head on the horizon, sending streaks of light stroked across the sky. Baron stretched for about ten minutes to limber up, letting the warmth of the sun relax his muscles. Baron opened the flap of his tent to leave again, hopefully for the last time.

He went over to his stuff, laid out on the ground at the side of the tent. He tucked his dagger in his belt, holstered his sword on his back, and put his bow around him as a means to hold it. Oh yeah, and the note. He couldn't forget that, or else he'd be pretty lost. He read over it again to refresh his memory, since he was still slightly drowsy.

Go to the enclosed location. There will be an old man and some other people there waiting for you. The man will tell you more.

Not exactly his cup of tea, but it was the job. It had certainly been a while since the last time that a person walked up to the table, dropped off a note with the money, and left. He did give more money than usually asked for, so the job must have been important. It was about time to head out, now that the sun was up, so Baron went outside to take down the tent for the eighth time on this journey.

~~~​

Baron caught sight of the village, finally. The good thing about the job is that he gets paid beforehand, so he doesn't have to worry about his pay being worth all of his work. Although there had been traps in the past... And that happened to be the same job as the last time a note with the money was dropped off. Baron didn't want to risk capture again, especially since he had no idea what his job was. Was there some way to get in stealthily...? Yes, there was a part of the wall that looked broken enough to climb.

Baron jumped from roof to roof, looking for any old men that might be his informant. The sky looked like a beautiful painting, and Baron needed to resist the urge to rest for a few minutes and stare into the horizon. In the square, he zeroed in an old man... wait, that was the magistrate. As much as Baron hated the idea of working with law enforcement, he was the only old man in the square that looked like he had a job. Also, there was a young warrior girl who was making her way approach him. No mistake, that was his target. Then again, as long as he wasn't about to get caught by people who might hunt him down, there wasn't too much wrong with the idea.

Baron prepared himself at the edge of the closest building, crouching so he wouldn't arouse suspicion from anyone else wandering around the square. Hold on, another warrior, possibly one who rode on a flying mount. No matter, more women to impress. In a single motion, he stood up and sprung outwards toward the magistrate. He landed a foot behind him, not even slightly off-balance from his perfect landing. He stood up, and gave a concise greeting to the small group. "Good afternoon."

Blake began to read the assortment of papers on the wall again. He hated doing the sort of work posted, much preferring jobs where he could truly take advantage of his stealth. Still, he had no contracts at the moment, and he needed to keep himself busy. After all, having something to do beats waiting around bored. He stopped at one that caught his eye. Bandits, huh? Well, it might not have been his first choice, but hey, a job is a job and the dumb brutes that usually became bandits would probably be easier to defeat than an army of risen. Besides, the pay was decent. He tore it off the wall and read the paper more closely to see where he was going. Blake smirked. Finally some action.

---

Blake looked down at the paper again, checking to confirm that he was indeed in the right place. Perfect, right on schedule too. He scanned the group of people he'd be working with. They consisted of a red headed woman in black armor, probably a mercenary, a greyish brown haired knight, most likely a pegasus knight judging from her armor, and another practitioner of silent killing. Although this one looked a good deal more experienced than Blake was. "I'm Blake." he said simply. "This everybody?"

"Indeed, this is," the magistrate replied to Blake before turning to the man who'd landed behind him. "Good landing, next time make your descent more quiet if you wish to surprise. My hearing's pretty good." He walked away before turning back to them, keeping all of them in his line of sight. "You do know the premise of this arrangement. Bandits have been harassing my town and the roads in my vicinity. The army's helping with the other problem, but this little infestation of bandits would be a dangerous distraction to them should they come in contact while fighting the Risen."

He looked from one to the other on all four of them. "Your job is to infiltrate the old, run down fortress they've acquired, and exterminate them. Down to the last starving bastard in the bunch. Got it?"

"Can do, old timer," Alaine confirmed, nodding. "Shouldn't be too much trouble with a group like this." She checked her weapons. Sharp as ever. "Now then, payment. You a half here, half when we're back kinda guy? Or is it all up front with you?"

The man reached into his jacket and threw two bags, one at Alaine, the other at Blake. "That's half. Mr. Acrobat there got his half already, and the lady's an army regular. The other half is waiting for each of you three when you get back. Feel free to help yourself to any riches you find up there."

Alaine caught her sack. Felt heavy. "Can do, sir," Alaine almost purred. She set the bag in one of her coat's inside pockets.

"Then go. It's up thataway," he said, pointing up into the forested foothills of the nearby mountain.
----
Later...

"So, Miss Army Regular. You got a name?" Alaine asked. She looked to the acrobat. "And what about you, Sir Dynamic N. Tree? What's yours?" The group was climbing the foothils, but there was a startling lack of visible trails, so they were roughing it, but it wasn't that easy. Rough terrain and rocks everywhere. Risen were always a risk, too.

Baron couldn't help but chuckle at the new name. "First time someone's called me that. And I've had many interesting names." Baron's response to her question was delayed by several seconds, and that wasn't because of her. Well, maybe a little. But he was thinking about the job. This was only half?! He got more than what he usually charges already, and it was only half! Were the other people in the group getting paid as much as he was, or did he happen to get a little extra to make sure he made his way over here? Or was he getting paid less; a question he pondered for a second. "Name's Baron. Baron Quickveil, if you're into being official."

Baron wished that the conversation would end there, but doubted it. Personally, he would have rather taken the job alone. Might even be better to just go off on his own at some point. He could go ahead of the group or just find his own way into the fortress when they got there. Get as much treasure or loot as possible on his own.. Yeah, this idea pleased him. Then it occurred to him that the magistrate was in charge of the other half of his money... might not be a good idea to come back alone and expect the rest of the money, and the other alternative is to be probably chased back to the village. Best to stick with them, at least until they were in the stronghold, then go off on his own. Kill a bunch of bandits, loot some treasure, stuff like that all on his own.

The magistrate's behavior amused Ethelia a little. True, she was able to detect - barely - the approach of two gentlemen who seemed to have chosen less-than-gentlemanly professions, but then again she had training to know what to look for, regularly spotting targets kilometers away from the skies. That the magistrate seemed utterly nonplussed - and even heard their approach - was a little interesting. And then there was how he made a show out of stepping back to ensure everyone was in his line of view...former soldier or officer himself, perhaps? Were old habits kicking in, or was the Pegasus Knight just looking too deeply into things.

Regardless, Ethelia temporarily banished those thoughts to the back of her head. The magistrate was already giving half up front - most unusual, given how thrifty government figures tended to be with rewards and bounties - which she herself missed out on - no surprise there, given where her cut would eventually come from. The bags seemed heavy, too, a not-insignificant amount even for "half". Given that this was a village, and not precisely a very opulent-looking one, Ethelia figured that she'd half a very interesting time going through the magistrate's finances and finding out precisely where all this money came from.

...Well, if she could be bothered doing so, anyways. As it stood, it really wasn't much of her problem.

With the team deploying to the last known position of their targets, Ethelia took her time regarding the other hires. Two sneaky-types, no surprise there, with the younger one - he introduced himself as "Baron", a most amusing name - being the more immediate threat; he packed away a bow and looked like he had seen a few different things himself. The other didn't seem much of a combat type, but Ethelia still made sure she trailed near the group's end anyways, keeping everyone in front of her. Most of her attention, however, was directed towards the last - or first, really - member of the group. After all, Alaine was rather easy to look at, her hair a lovely shade of blood-red, and how she masked half her face with her hair was pretty cute...even though all indications seemed to indicate that she would probably protest against the descriptor of "cute", complete with all the swearing of a sailor.

...Oh, right, and she was asking a question.

"Ethelia will be fine," the Pegasus Knight informed her in that amused, casual, friendly way. She doubted the woman would remember her full name; even if Alaine was the type who was good at names, Ethelia recognized that her name could be a bit of a mouthful.

"Baron, Blake, Ethelia, and Alaine. Someone think of an acronym for that, in case we need to do this agian," Alaine said, finally reaching a flatter region of the foothill. There seemed to be a slightly worn-in path here, going down the opposite side, into the forest that was now visible on that side of the hill. Alaine looked over it with her crimson eye and thought she saw something hidden amid the trees further on. It was somewhat difficult to tell, what with the sun starting to get in her eyes.

"Either of you three, you all have better sight than I do. What is that?" Alaine asked, pointing perhaps a half-mile into the trees.

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

Looks like a crumbling bit of stonework peeking out from between the treetops. There may or may not be any wooden beams from where you can see.

Baron paid close attention to the trees. His honed eyes could see a stone structure through the canopy. It did not seem very stable, as it appeared very jagged and crumbled. Baron wasn't a liar, and there wouldn't be any use lying anyway, so he decided to give his opinion to the group. "It looks like there's some stone edifice or other structure past the treeline. I know the magistrate said the fort was run-down, but if that's where they are, then they're either cocky or stupid."

Baron had some small work in acronyms and deciphering them, so he had quickly come up with one for the group. BABE... But that sounded stupid to him, plus he hoped to never be part of BABE again in the future, and probably wouldn't be. So instead he just kept his mouth shut.

Blake nodded. Basically what Baron said. He walked away from Baron a little bit to walk besides Ethelia instead. He still kept some distance from her, but he had decided he wanted to stay away from Baron if possible. It made Blake uncomfortable working with someone with such a similar set of skills to him. Thieves and Assassins usually worked solo.

"It looks like there's some stone edifice or other structure past the treeline. I know the magistrate said the fort was run-down, but if that's where they are, then they're either cocky or stupid." Baron said, describing the fort. The others hadn't said anything, but Blake wondered. Could they really be that stupid? Bandits weren't known for being the sharpest knives in the drawers, but something about the whole situation just seemed very off to Blake. He made a mental note to stay on his guard, though he didn't say anything out loud. He didn't particularly like most the people he was traveling with and besides, he had no proof. They'd probably just call him paranoid anyways.

"An Archer, too," Ethelia added to the group assessment, tapping a finger on her chin. She, like Blake, felt that something was a little off, but she was a bit too focused on the fort ahead to the west to take notice of his reaction, especially since the sun was beginning to set in the afternoon, putting it squarely in their vision, forcing her to concentrate. "At the top. I look out for shooters; occupational hazard. Although I don't think that's really much of a fort up there, just some patchy stonework." She gave the situation a bit more thought. "If necessary, I can circle around in the air beyond the range of their arrows, get a better idea of what we're up against from the air, but if we were intending to hit them while they're completely unaware, I doubt they'd miss a Pegasus Knight flying in the sky. Taking out that Archer will also give me more freedom in providing us air support."

"Hm?" An archer? Wait, but what about... "You didn't see if he was aiming, did yo--," Alaine was beginning to ask, but was cut off when an arrow came out of nowhere and cut her cheek as it flew passed it. Shff!. At that same moment, Alaine heard multiple charging warcries. A group of bandits was charging out of the trees, weapons bared, at them.

Her eye widened momentarily, and then narrowed as her face adopted a scowl. "Fuck!" she cursed. "Shoulda fuckin' known better!" She gripped her newest sword, the icy one. Drawing the sword, she shouted at her comrades, "Scatter! Get in those trees! Baron, Blake, one of you take out that goddamn archer! He'll take us out like sitting ducks! Go!" She charged at the incoming bandits. The nearest held an axe above his head as he ran at her yelling his lungs out. Alaine chose him as her first victim.

The battleaxe met soft dirt as Alaine sidestepped out of the way, arced her sword above her head, and brought it down upon his hands. He cried out, but he couldn't finish it. The icy broadsword bit deep into his neck before Alaine slid it out and kept going for the trees. Shhfff!

Fight! (open) Fight! (close)

Okay, so there's some bandits charging at us. Expect more in the trees. No more than twenty total. Five are out of the trees, there's the archer, and then some more in the trees.

Classes are varied between Barbarian, Fighter, Mercenary, Myrmidon, Archer, and Soldier. You all choose which of these six types you fight. And yes, there is more than one archer. The others just can't see us and are on foot, not in a sniper's perch.

Baron did not see any archer over the trees. Before he could look any harder, a shimmering object flew through the air toward their direction. In the split second that he could see it, he traced it back to its origin with his eyes and... there he was. That shadow must've been the archer, but the sun was in his eyes. He hadn't used his bow for as long as his swords, but even he knew it would be a very difficult shot to make.

Baron dodged to his right to try and flank the archer, charging almost head-first into the mob. A bandit charged at him from his left, holding his axe above his head. In one motion, Baron took out his throwing knife and threw it at the bandit's exposed chest, then followed up with a decapitation with his scimitar. When he reached the treeline, he stopped to climb a tree, preferring the element of surprise just in case. He hopped from tree to tree, making sure to not lose sight of where the archer was.

He reached a small clearing in the forest shortly after beginning his tree journey, where there were two bandits standing together below him, as if they were waiting to ambush someone. Not today. Baron took out his throwing knife from his belt and threw it at the guy who wasn't as close to him. Baron dropped down with his scimitar onto the other guy, almost cutting him clean in half, while the guy who had been hit in the shoulder was stumbling around and screaming. Baron removed his sword from the body slashed at the survivor, removing that title.

Baron retrieved his throwing knife from the corpse, then turned to face the archer. Yes, this clearing provided the perfect shot at the archer's side. But all of the noise Baron made attracted his attention, and the archer had his arrow pointed at him. Baron pulled out his bow, keeping his eyes locked onto the archer until he unleashed the arrow. Baron dodge rolled to his right, then stood up and pulled out an arrow. He made sure he saw the archer, then unleashed the arrow right into the archer's abdomen. The archer tucked over, as if he wanted to pull it out, while yelling and cursing his head off. But he was so off balance that only a few seconds passed before he fell off of the side.

Baron's next priority was the rest of the bandits. He couldn't care less about his "group", and only that there wasn't anyone else about to kill him in the near future.

Blake ran for the trees. He wasn't useless, but melee fighting wasn't exactly his forte. Now if he could use the element of surprise on the other hand...

Suddenly he stopped in his path. One of the bandits was blocking his way. The bandit swung an axe at him, but Blake was able to dodge the swing of the lumbering beast easy enough, and then counter with a slash to the chest with Talon and a stab to the arm from Fang. The bandit hadn't been killed, but he was wounded enough for Blake to make a getaway.

Upon reaching the trees, Blake scanned the area. He saw nothing at first and began to relax. Then he saw it. Standing behind a tree at the edge of the forest, an archer pulled his bow back, an arrow already notched. Blake ran, but he released the arrow into the wind before Blake could get there. The archer turned around, but Blake reached him before he could prepare another arrow. Blake stabbed Talon and Fang into the man;s body simultaneously, and he fell over dead. That was one down. Good progress so far.

Archers were down in a flash as Ethelia tucked her fingers into her lips and whistled, a shrill sound echoing through the landscape even as she sprinted towards the treeline, practically pole-vaulting into the air at the last few steps. Which was not so much a showy escape as much as it was a tactical necessity; her airborne maneuver allowed a flash of white to materialize under her from the skies, and with less arrows in the air to have to worry about, Ethelia was free to soar into the air upon the back of Neige, free to pick off ground-borne targets that must wait for her to make a move. The initiative was hers, any exchange of blows would have to be at a time of her choosing.

Skimming just above the tops of the trees, Ethelia was difficult to spot from the ground amidst the leaves and branches, and she was already instantly at a flanking position, where the opponents could not quite divert much attention towards a Pegasus Knight that may or may not being in the sky, at least not without remaining largely defenseless against her colleagues on the ground. Thus, one highwayman was caught entirely off-guard as a javelin suddenly materialized in his chest, its thrower rematerializing from the treeline a split-second later to deliver a thrust with her pilum towards another foe in a high-speed low-altitude flyby. The blow didn't quite take - the second man had seen the fate of the first man and was experienced enough to expect a follow-up attack - but the spearhead still managed to cut a gash across key muscles in his right arm, preventing him from managing a counterattack as Ethelia simply flew right back into the skies, taunting all the poor opponents who did not possess wings.

Alaine was about to reach the treeline when shhffthck! "Aahgoddammit!" she cursed again, the arrow having embedded itself into her right shoulder, worryingly near that side's lung. The arrow had come from the trees, which was also alarming. Gripping the shaft, she snapped the arrow's end off. She looked up in the nick of time. A sword was coming for her. The mercenary stumbled to the side, the incoming sword scraping her armor. Alaine caught herself on her right hand, pushing off the ground and back into a standing position.

Alaine sidestepped a swing that would have caught her hard in her sword arm and swung with it. Her blade caught the man in the gut. She punched the man in the head with her right fist and pulled the blade away, whirling around to catch another attack. The lock did not last long, however, as Ethelia's javelin sprouted from his chest, having gone in his back. Alaine checked the man she had eviscerated. He was not long for the world, now.

No time for thanks, however. Alaine ran at the treeline, finally entering the forest. First thing she saw was a dead archer, bleeding from two cuts in his chest. Alaine looked quickly around, checking her immediate surroundings. One bandit with a bad arm was going up to another that was bleeding heavily. Two men, one wielding a lance, one a heavy-looking sword, were running at her from the same direction. Neither wore that much heavy armor, and neither were wearing shirts.

Huh. I like the muscles I see, Alaine thought, but shook herself out of it, raising her sword.

The first man's heavy sword was swung at her, and the mercenary ducked, stabbing him with her magic sword. It pierced and shattered his kneecap as his momentum took him away from her.

Alaine looked up and saw the soldier charging as if to impale her. She parried with her sword and saw the lance stab the downed man in the back. While he just stood there in shock, she laughed, "Ha ha!" before her sword's pommel met his gut. She swung the blade at his head after he doubled over, ending him.

"Let's go, come on," she chanted at herself as she jogged through the forest, the sounds of battle all around her.

((OOC: So that's... *counts* nine dead(including this post), two wounded/debilitated. 'Nother round of combat and they'll be dead, then. I should've mentioned that they're between levels 1-5, mostly toward 5, but I think you all conveyed that very well in your posts. Good job there. Now then, more fighting!))

"Well, lookie here... Mr. myrmidon should be a little more on his toes." It certainly wasn't as fun when they didn't notice you, but it beats being injured. It would be wrong to say that Baron snuck up on the bandit, but he certainly didn't notice Baron behind him. How about a little fun, then? He climbed up into a tree, and squatted so that he could easily rest in the branches. He pulled out his bow and aimed at the Myrmidon, who wasn't paying attention. Baron unleashed the arrow, which had a direct hit on his target's knee, enough to wound him but not kill. The myrmidon screamed, yelled, and cursed, and Baron held back his laughter as he kneeled and frantically looked around, trying to find him.

A soldier appeared soon after, while he was trying to pull the barbed arrow out of his knee. Baron let out another arrow at him, and both bandits were too wounded/stunned to attack Baron as he dropped from his perch. He brought out his knife and threw it at the still-standing soldier, then walked over and finished off the myrmidon. "Ah, that was certainly fun." Baron laughed.

Some faint moaning came from nearby while Baron was retrieving his projectiles from the dead. Baron walked over to investigate, only to discover the archer from earlier bleeding out. "Well well, who's above who know?" Baron said before sending his foot crashing down on the archer's head.

Blake was starting to enjoy himself. Now that he was finally able to fight with the advantage of stealth. He savored the hunt. It was the best part of a mission. And the hunt was in full swing.

Unfortunately, the rest of the bandits appeared to have been ones that had charged out into the clearing. Well, as much as he hated the thought, he'd have to re-enter the clearing to continue fighting. He scanned his surroundings and saw something. On the outskirts of the clearing was a dead tree, with branches that reached over the edge of the clearing. Perfect.

Blake climbed the tree quietly, being sure not to bring any notice to himself. If he was going to leave his cover, he would leave it with a bang. He reached the branch, and balanced himself on it as he walked it's length. Then, keeping his eye on one of the bandits, he jumped.

Perfect! He landed behind the startled bandit, and before he had time to process what was going on, Blake stabbed him with Fang and Talon. That took care of him.

Unfortunately, another nearby bandit had seen Blake. The bandit swung his slow, but powerful axe over Blake, and while Blake dodged in time to avoid the brunt of the attack, it did scrape the side of his arm. He'd get it taken care of after the fight, it was only minor wound, not a serious one, and it wouldn't impair his ability to kill this bandit. Blake quickly recovered and kicked the bandit, surprising him and knocking him off balance. Then, he plunged his daggers into the chest of the bandit, who died shortly after.

Seeing that the tide had turned against him, the last remaining highwayman ran from the three combatants on the ground, fleeing in the other direction, escaping the cover of the forest in favor for a straight path away from the combatants who were clearly more experienced and competent.

It was a pity, then, that men generally did not run faster than pegasi could fly, because Neige easily caught up to the running man, and Ethelia - despite being a "knight" - had very little reservations about running someone through from behind, something which she did with smooth ease, shoving the spear through the man's back and out of his chest as the Neige came galloping to a landing, moving forward while Ethelia allowed the corpse to slide off her bloodied lance.

She took no delight in death, but the adrenaline was admittedly a little addicting, at times.

Returning to her temporary team, Ethelia remained upon her mount, guiding Neige to the dead bandit with Phantomschmerz embedded into his chest. With the shaft of the weapon sticking straight upwards, she easily grasped the weapon with her gloves, pulling it out from his chest with a bit of an unpleasant wet sound. "Well, that's that," she remarked, quite pleased with the result. "No one seriously injured, I would hope?"

((OOC: It was mentioned that there would only be one round of combat left, so I took the liberty to assume that - as the last person in the sequence - I'd indicate that things were wrapped up. My apologies if this was not what was intended.))

OOC: So fourteen total, then. Well, actually, sixteen, including those guys that were injured. Blake's has bled out, and the last one, Ethelia's, will do so in this post. So yes, Kei. Perfectly alright, and thank you.

IC:
"Well, that went about as smooth as I could've hoped for," Alaine said, smiling at her comrades. They were all competent at what they did. Well trained, with a bit of experience to go with it. These bandits, if they had training, seemed very lacking in the experience area. Hm... Hope that changes when we get up to the fort. The mercenary felt her adrenaline draining away.

"Hmph," a voice said from behind her. She looked, and there was one bandit still left. He looked incredibly pale, and his right arm was injured. He was likely bleeding out. "Don't... ha ha... don't think you... got us all." Alaine frowned, but didn't move. "That... t-tower there? ...Stopgap. Outlier... on the edge of... our territory. You all... have..." The pale corpse toppled, dead.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Alaine quoted the maxim. As she sheathed her icy blade, she felt her chest hurting more. Her shirt felt kinda wet and sticky, too. The mercenary took a step and winced. "Agh... shit... forgot about this thing...," she seethed through gritted teeth as she held the broken shaft that was still lodged in her chest. "Ethelia, I'm going to need your help with this... ggh... thing."

The walk to the broken tower was an eternity of pain, but at last, Alaine was there. There was some hay nearby the fire in the center of the circular lodging. The sun was setting, and soon they would need torches to reach the fort.

Alaine shed the armor that adorned her arms, keeping her face straight even as the muscles twinged in tremendous pain. She loosened the straps on her breast-and-backplate, and gently opened the pieces. Once the broken shaft was inside the hole in her armor, she slid the armor off like it was a second shirt.

"Blake, Baron, keep watch, and look away," Alaine ordered as she began to remove the upper portion of her clothes. Nothing majorly awkward was revealed, but she did have to put the bleeding wound in the firelight and male comrades were at their best when not looking. Alaine pulled out a small knife and held the hilt out to Ethelia.

"You're going to need to cut the entry point open wider, then put the blade of the knife in the fire. Once that's done, carefully pull the arrow out. You'll have to grab the arrowhead with your fingers. Don't jerk it, because that's... damaging. And even more painful," Alaine instructed. She'd had to do it herself, and she'd had it done to her. "Afterwards, cauterize it with the knife blade. Should be hot enough by then."
----
The broken tower had little enough in it of value, a couple of chairs, a wooden staircase to the perch the archer had used to snipe at them, a couple of tables. There were two chests beneath the staircase, however. Perhaps aught of value was hidden in them?