Perspective Shift: Flynn; The Bandit Stronghold

Clutching the crimson herb close to my chest, I surveyed the bandit stronghold from the tree I had climbed. The front entrance where the girls had been taken was far too heavily guarded for me to enter from, not to mention the various bandits digging graves out front. It would seem the only option would be to find an alternative entrance, after all, why would they guard the mountainside if there wasn’t a side entrance?

I carefully got out of the tree without making a sound. I moved further away from the encampment, so as to not draw attention, and burned the herb. I kept an eye out for any incoming bandits as the red smoke rose into the sky. Luckily, no bandits seemed to notice, or if they did, care. I turned my head to the flapping of wings behind me to see Minerva turning back to human form from her crow form.

“Oh? Just you?” she asked.

“Yeah. Just me. The others got taken,” I said, grimly. “Please, I need your help to save them. I’m begging you.”

“Oh very well. I did grant you that herb for a reason. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon. You really do just attract all sorts of trouble, don’t you?” she sighed.

“Thank you so much. I owe you one,” I said, vigorously shaking her hand.

“Yeah yeah, what’s the plan here?” she blushed.

“They were taken in the front entrance, but that’s too heavily guarded for me to get in through. Any chance you can bring Gor in as backup?” I asked, ****.

“It’s going to take a while...” she said. “Is that a risk you want to take? Who knows what’s gonna happen while you sit here waiting.”

“I know that dammit! Just bring Gor here and have him attack the front gate when you return. I’m gonna find another way in and try to find them in the meantime, but I don’t see us getting out without a good distraction,” I said.

“Very well. You do realize that a single misstep could result in the deaths of both you and your friends, no?” she said with a dark look in her eyes.

“Yeah. I do,” I said, turning back to the bandit camp and activating shade. Minerva transformed back into a crow and flew off. I clutched the bandit’s dagger in my hand, and began heading towards the mountainside, bypassing the blocked off cave entrance. I followed a narrow trail leading up the mountainside, careful not to accidentally kick something.

A bandit watchman stood further up on the path, scanning the woods below. I knelt and picked up a pebble, tossing it on the other side of the bandit. He turned towards the noise. I snuck up behind him, slitting his throat and muffling his cries. I hid his body behind an outcropping of rocks and moved up.

Continuing along the path, I came up to another bandit. Checking to make sure he was out of view of others, I killed him like the last one. Moving along, I saw one last bandit guarding a mineshaft that lead into the mountain. Still invisible, I slowly walked up to him, impaling him through the forehead. Disabling shade to conserve mana, I entered the mineshaft.

The mineshaft was lit by torches, the ceiling supported by wooden beams. I followed along the wall, moving slowly and cautiously observing my surroundings. The shaft itself looked as though it hadn’t seen any mining done in several years, with several veins of ore completely untouched. At the end of the mineshaft, there was a rope tied to a rock formation, leading down to a lower level in the cave system.

I climbed down the rope after testing it would hold my weight. At the bottom of the rope was an open cavern, once more lit by torches. There were three passageways leading out of the cavern. After peering down one of them, I determined that it lead back to the main entrance I saw earlier.

“How much longer till those assholes are done?” asked a bandit coming down one of the other passageways. Panicking, I ducked into a corner to conceal myself as I observed the bandits.

“Dunno. That’s a lot of graves to dig. It’d be a different question if Guzno were out there, but the lucky bastard got to guard the new batch of captives. Made us leave too,” complained a second.

“Just dig one and toss em in, eh?” Laughed the first bandit.

“It’d speed up the process,” agreed the second.

“For all that shit the boss talks about us being brothers, he doesn’t even raise a hand to dig the graves,” spat the first bandit. “I’m sure he’s as eager to get a turn with the captives as we are.”

“Bah, who knows what goes on in his head. Besides that shady guy is coming for his cut soon. I doubt the boss’d wanna be caught with his pants down,” said the second.

“Fuck. Bastard gives me the creeps. That shit eating grin he gets lookin at em...” muttered the first.

“I know what you mean...and I sure as hell don’t wanna be sober when he gets here,” said the second.

“Then let’s get to the mess before they finish diggin!” said the first jovially. The pair headed down the other passageway. Based on what I could gather, it would seem my party was down the corridor they came from, and were likely guarded by a single bandit. The other passageway had some sort of place for food and drinks for the bandits, likely having several more bandits present than the two of them.

I mulled over which way to go, getting the feeling that if I followed the bandits, something really bad was going to happen.