Move boldly into the deeper chambers - your guard raised.

"Unhand those women, men," you order sternly. There are a few grumbles, but the men comply. You raise your voice to make sure it carries throughout the chamber, to all your men. "We've not yet caught the She-Wolf we're here to find! I see another passageway heading off this one. You two -" you point at two men who were not engaged in the groping - "gather up the slaves and lead them outside. The rest of you, you're with me."

Heading to the back of the chamber, you peer into the narrow passageway you noticed. It's barely wide enough to allow two men to move abreast; no way can all of you fit down there easily. For a moment you toy with the idea of sending a few men in first, but then discard it. After all, where's the glory if you're not the first one into the fray? You turn and pick out two of the men. "You two, you're with me. The rest, let us get a bit ahead and then follow in teams of two. We're going to find this She-Wolf!"

You move cautiously into the passageway, {if Gladius Held=True}sword{else}spear{endif} held tightly and ready for action. The two men you selected follow close behind you. It's a narrow, crooked passageway, and it winds deeper into the rock. As you move forward your heartbeat quickens with excitement, but you **** yourself to move slowly and carefully, watchful for traps. This is it - it's leading to something, you can feel it. There's a great prize to be won soon if you're just cunning enough to claim it!

The passageway suddenly opens out into a small but wondrous chamber, an underground grotto of sorts. A hole in the rocky ceiling lets in sunlight, and a small, twisted pine tree is growing in the shaft of day. The tree stands on a small, rocky mound surrounded by a pool of clear water. No wonder the bandits have been able to hide out here - they have a source of fresh water within their encampment itself!

Just as you take all this in, there's a blur of motion from your right. You're on guard enough that you manage to twist away and avoid the worst of the blow - your armor coat deflects it, though the sheer **** behind it sends you staggering back a step. The attacker, a tall, muscular blonde woman, snarls in rage. She might be a Germani - she's clad in strange-looking leather armor, painted with wolf's head motifs, and is wielding two massive bearded axes. At least there's no questioning who she is...

"The one they call the She-Wolf, I assume," you say, trying to make your voice sound less panicky. The two farmers beside you spread out slowly and uneasily, makeshift weapons at the ready, as you keep her focus. The barbarian spits on the ground.

"Roman swine. I'll kill many of you before you take me," she growls in thickly accented Latin.

"You don't want to surrender now?" you ask. "It could avoid a lot of unpleasantness..."

She scowls. "Surrender boots me nothing. The Empire will kill me either way."

Well, given all she's done, she has a point there. She's a common bandit, not some foreign queen.

One of the farmers - brave fool - darts forward, swinging a hatchet at her with a yell. She dodges, hacks his hand off with a single blow, and spins toward the attacker, swinging her second ax into his neck. As he topples, though, you and the other man lunge forward. The farmer wounds her in the side with his crude spear, getting her attention long enough for you to leap in and bring your {if Gladius Held = True}sword down on her forearm{else}spear haft sweeping around into her gut{endif}. You don't do much actual damage, but one ax clatters {if Gladius Held = True}from her nerveless fingers. She lets out a howl of anger{else}as her breath comes out in a rush. She staggers back, recovers,{endif} and swings the other ax at your face - you barely manage to dodge out of the way, feeling the wind of it as it whistles past you.

The She-Wolf retreats, leaping across the small channel onto the rocky isle. You and the farmer follow as she turns to get her back against the tree and prevent you from surrounding her. She swings the ax with both hands now, keeping you at bay for a few moments - until the farmer desperately lunges forward. She deflects his spear and catches him in the ribs with her battleax, but the blade gets caught in his ribs, and you lunge desperately forward, deciding to risk it all. You body check her with a shout, and manage to wrest the ax from her as you both fall away from the collapsing farmer.

You're pinning her against the tree, and for a moment you find yourself face-to-face with the She-Wolf. You feel her hot breath on your face as you gaze into her wild, angry eyes. "Surrender," you growl.

Her lip curls. "Never." And she headbutts you in the face.

You stagger backwards, but by this time more of your men have poured into the cave, and three of them rush forward and tackle the She-Wolf in a messy pile-on. As you blink the pain away and clutch your nose - is it broken?! - you see that the She-Wolf is struggling violently but restrained beneath the scrum of **** farmers. You hear cheers and whistles as well, and turn to see the rest of your men have begun to arrive. They surround the isle as you grab the dropped ax and realize that you've done it. Your nose may be bleeding and you're in pain, but you've defeated the bandit who was plaguing your land.