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Darik ran through the woods. He had just watched as Belster was set upon by the caravaners, unable to escape. Darik had no time to waste, and he hurried back to the main camp.
As he arrived, the other bandit that fled was already in the camp and had explained to the others what had happened. As Darik enters, everyone stops talking and turned toward him, expectantly. After a few moments, Darik realizes they are seeing him as the leader, with Tradak now gone.
Darik goes over the details of what happened again, and finds out any information he was unaware of by asking the other bandit that escaped. He gathers everyone together and they head out toward the clearing to bury the bodies of their fallen comrades.
The entire group rallied under his leadership readily and were obeying his orders. There were 18 others beside himself now, and as they approach the clearing it is eerily empty. Bodies are scattered around the clearing, but the caravan was nowhere to be seen.
Darik sends a few men to the edges of the clearing to watch the roads for anything approaching, and the rest begin burying the bodies. Once Darik reaches the body of Belster, he realizes that the man is still alive, that he was merely knocked unconscious by the caravaners and not killed.
After a few minutes, he wakes up, puts his hand to his head, and looks around, noticing everyone. "What... What happened?" He tried to sit up, but suddenly clasped his head in pain. "The last thing I remember is getting hit by a chair..."
One of the other bandits speaks up, "Looks like you took a nasty blow to the head... Though you're lucky they didn't kill you!"
Belster takes a moment to clear his head, looks around at the others, and narrows his eyes on Darik. He points and says, "YOU! Darik! How the hell could you just leave me to die like that, you piece of shit!" The sudden outburst shocked everyone.
Darik, staying calm, responds, "Had you been paying attention to your surroundings and not awestruck by the shot that I landed, you would have seen that there were too many for us both to take out. There was no sense in us both dying and getting your head out of your arse was the most I could do. It is good to see you still alive."
Belster keeps his eyes narrowed, but begrudgingly quiets down. Another bandit bandages his head and helps him to his feet.
The remainder of the bodies have been buried, and Darik now gathers the group near the edge of the clearing. It is getting close to dusk, and Darik speaks to the group, "We've all had a long day. Let's get some rest. Tomorrow, myself and two others will be going into Foabur to try and learn what became of our attacker. No doubt she went with the caravan. We will hide our weapons and hopefully not raise any suspicions."
Darik rises in the morning, all the more eager to find the woman who slew his friends as if they were flies. He suspected she might be dead by now from the poison, but if they made it to Foabur in time it's possible they had an antidote, as it was simple Otiroot poison, which is rather common around the area.
He looked around and began deciding who would accompany him into the town. The first person he decided on was Keveak, a capable and strong man who wields a heavy axe. He was one of the most prominent members under Tradak, and had been leading one of the other groups of which had been observing the clearing at a different shift.
The second person was Vicod, an unextraordinary bandit, but he was a close friend of Tradak and would be motivated to try getting some revenge. He preferred using a mace. The three of them hid their weapons in packs as best they could, keeping only daggers at their sides, and tried cleaning themselves up so as not to draw as much attention and appear as farm workers.
They set off toward the town, taking some of the few horses which the group had "acquired" over the last few months from caravans. It takes several hours of riding, but eventually the trees thin and are replaced by large tracts of farmland. In the distance ahead is the town.
The number of people on the road steadily increases, but no one seems to pay much attention to the bandits and just go about their own business. As they neared the center of town, they stop at the edge of a public market. It would be rare for multiple caravans to have come to the town simultaneously, and sure enough there were a few wagons off to one side of the market, and Darik believed they were the same group that had escaped the clearing the previous day.
They were simply selling their wares to the townsfolk, but Darik did not see any sign of the strange woman that had slain Tradak and the others. Thinking that the town's cleric would be the best place to look, he tells Vicod to appear a bit ill and asks for directions from a passerby.
It is only a few minutes away down a couple of streets. Trying to make their way there took several minutes longer than expected, though, due to the crowded streets of people moving in every direction. Eventually, the cleric's place comes into view, as noted by a plain sign situated in front of the structure.
They dismount their horses and knock on the door. Darik thought he could perhaps hear arguing occuring inside, but couldn't make out any words through the walls. A few moments later a man opens the door, "May I help you?" the man asks dryly, his face not very friendly at the moment.
Not wasting any time, Darik pulls his knife and steps forward toward the man. Using his foot to prevent the door from being closed, the knife comes up near the mans neck, and he pushes the man several steps into the room, allowing Vicod and Keveak to follow him inside. "Check for others and keep them silent but alive... for now."
Entering into the room, there was a boyish man sitting up on a bed, utterly surprised by what has transpired. Seeing the knife at the cleric's throat, the color drained from his face. Darik sees that his left arm is heavily bandaged, so he assumes him to be a patient. Vicod, reaching him with his mace in hand, says "Say anything, and my little friend here will be saying hello, and he is really looking forward to it..." in reference to his mace, which he waves back and forth viciously. The young man is stunned, and just nods his head slightly, obviously scared.
Keveak looks around the rest of the room. It has numerous other beds, but no one else is here. He glances into some of the adjoining rooms, still seeing no one else.
Darik nudges the door shut with his foot. With the hand not holding the knife, he grips the collar of the cleric's shirt and whispers menacingly into his ear. "There was a woman here! Where is she!?"
A bit in shock at the situation, the man opens and closes his mouth several times. He begins speaking, but stutters several times, "I am but a s-simple cleric... I-I treat women all the time, who c-could you be asking about...?"
Nudging the cleric against a wall, Darik tightens his grip on the knife and collar. "Shot by an arrow in the shoulder! Where did she go!?"
The cleric's eyes widen a bit, but before the man can answer the boyish man on the bed speaks, "T-they already left! They said they were headed for Chorster to c-catch a ferry or something."
The cleric nods his head quickly, but Darik doubts he was told the truth, "She came in with a caravan, and we just saw that caravan still in the market! Tell us where she is if you want to live!" As he says this, he pricks the cleric's neck, drawing some blood.
He seems to give in, "Please! He's my son," he says, indicating the person on the bed near Vicod, "I don't care what you do to me, but please spare him, he is young and has a full life ahead of him!" The man pauses, breathing.
Pressuring him further, Darik speaks loudly, "Where is she!? Tell me and we will spare his life!"
Desparate, the cleric seems about to speak, but the younger man, now Darik knows him to be the cleric's son, calls out, "NO! Don't tell them!" Stopping him from yelling any more, Vicod covers his mouth and then says to the cleric, "Tell us now or you get to watch your son die right in front of you!"
The man has thoroughly been broken mentally. He explains that she left with several others barely 15 minutes before you had arrived, headed to the stables, and that they were going north toward Nalvo, and after that Triln.
Satisfied at the response, Darik looks over at Vicod. "Knock the boy out. Neither will wake until after we are long gone." Darik forcefully hits the side of the cleric's head with the pommel of his dagger, and Vicod gives the boy a nice wallop to the skull.
Leaving, they hide their weapons again and nonchalantly mount the houses and begin heading north again. As before, wading through and around people moving about the streets slows them down, but before too long they are on the main road, riding north at a decent speed.
Trying to catch up to them as quick as possible, they push the horses to move faster. About halfway to the clearing, Darik sees them in the distance. It appears to be about a half-dozen silhouettes, but he cannot be sure of their number from this distance.
He had not anticipated so many, and he realizes he cannot take them on with just three. Darik sends Keveak and Vicod to keep their current distance and follow them, and Darik heads into the edge of the forest. He'll be able to move unnoticed but slower. He will meet with the bandit pack and organize an ambush in the night.
After a time, he sees wagons going down the road, away from Foabur and toward the north. He stays out of sight as they pass, and then continues down the edge of the road.
It takes Darik about another 2 hours to near the clearing. Keveak and Vicod should have passed through the clearing about an hour ago, with the wagons reaching it about 30 minutes ago.
As he nears the clearing, he sees four bodies strewn across the area, and recognizes one of them as Belster. None of them are moving. Swearing at the turnout, he realizes they must have tried to do an ambush while he was away, likely because Belster recognized the woman.
He clenches his teeth and squeezes his fists in anger at their stupidity... Belster probably riled them up and convinced them to do it; if only Darik hadn't left him with the group, this might have been avoided.
Turning away, Darik heads back to the camp for now. It was several miles away, but Darik reaches it quickly. Entering into the camp, it is now dusk. Darik sees the men scattered around, including Vicod, Keveak, and several others, but it is notably less than the 18 it had been that morning.
Approaching the closest one, he asks what happened. The man just shakes his head a bit, "It was terrible... That woman, she... She's not normal! We had her surrounded but then there was this giant pit or something! It was the most horrifying thing I've ever experienced. The hands! Those hands tried to pull us into the pit! Tried to pull us into hell!"
Everyone else appears downtrodden and many are obviously traumatized. Keveak and Vicod seem disturbed but still functioning fine. Darik assume they've been listening to the others for the last hour before he got here...