Upon entering Restov my senses were overwhelmed. I’d never been to a city so large, or so dirty. After spending the day among the locals I had a revelation that city life would never be for me. That night I found the local Lodge for Erastil on the outskirts of town and took shelter and food for the night. The keeper of the lodge, Ionas, told me of an expedition headed southwest to wilds and that were I interested I should present myself to Lord Mayor Ioseph Sellemius in the morning. This was exciting, the opportunity to venture into parts unknown, and even better, to get out of the city.
The next morning I arrived at the palace to await the lords pleasure. It was there I met perhaps the largest man I’ve ever seen. He looked (and smelled) a bit unkempt. There were also 3 women waiting with us, a slight woman carrying two small curved swords, the likes of which I have never seen, an exotic woman with fiery red hair and slightly pointed ears and a rather nondescript human who seemed intent on filling any lack of sound with incessant chatter.
Upon being called into his lords chamber we were told that we would be headed to an area in Greenbelt, also known as the Stolen Lands, to rid the area of bandits and make it hospitable for inhabitants. Surely Erastil has set me on this path to do his work and I am anxious to set myself to the task.
That night I returned to the Lodge and prepared myself for the journey. The next morning I met my companions and we set off. Mary seemed to be as anxious and excited for us to start our expedition as I was. She spoke in great length at anyone who would listen and seemed genuinely interested in all of us.
The second day into our journey we saw smoke in the distance, Mayumi and myself scouted the source and found it to be the scene of what appeared to be attack ground of bandits. We were both taken in as we approached a woman who was cradling a dead man. As the rest of the group caught up with us I only became suspicious at the last moment as my healing had no effect on the woman’s wounds. As the dead men rose I felt the fool for having been so easily taken in. We, however prove to be a poor mark for our would be robbers as Grimnar, The giant I spoke of earlier, lept down and began laying about with a sword that stood taller than myself. I unleashed several arrows. Isara unleashed a blast of fire on one of the would be robbers, she appears to be some sort of magician. Everyone in our little group proved to be able in this little skirmish. In less than a minute we had dispatched all the bandits but two and they were subdued.
Mary seemed to be convinced that the woman was repentant and let her go, this I disagreed with worrying that she may give warning to others in the area. Grimnar made quick work of the other survivor and we hung the corpses as warnings to any around that robbery would no longer be tolerated. Later in the day we arrived at Oleg’s Trading Post. Oleg and his wife Svetlana were relieved to see us, but he seemed disappointed when he learned that we had not been sent solely to save his post. After assuring him that we would help him he was much happier. Oleg told us that a group from the bandit camp would be by the next morning to extort money and goods from him. That night I hunted and was blessed with a fat boar and we ate well.
The next morning it was our turn to set the ambush, Mary and I waited atop the roof of the stables with Mayumi below and Grimnar and Isara waited in the store house. The attack could not have been any better executed as Isara blasted two with fire, I unleashed an arrow on the leader that must have been guided by Erastil Himself, as it found its mark between his eyes. Grimnar proceeded to cut two of them down with one blow as Mayumi danced among them a flurry of blades. Mary even used her small darts to great effect.
In the space of 10 seconds the battle was over and the remaining two bandits threw down their arms. On the back of one of the horses was an Elven woman with white hair who managed to free herself during the short skirmish. She introduced herself as Freya and said that she had been fighting the local bandits as she could.
We got the information out of one of the bandits as to where their camp was, Freya dispatched the other with efficiency and my approval. I am of the opinion that we ride immediately for the bandit camp before they grow suspicious of what has happened to their fellows.
