The Bandit King

Mel was surprised at the size of the man who opened the door. He had to be almost seven feet tall, and his muscular frame practically took up the entire doorway. He was wearing a simple black vest that showed off his musculature, along with black pants and boots. "Ah, what have we here?" He licked his lips as his eyes alternately wandering between Mel's figure and the jewelry. "It seems you brought me," his eyes wandered over to the necklace and her cleavage, "ample treasure." He grinned. "Well done. I'll take over from here." With that, he pulled Mel inside and closed the door.

He released her and she caught her balance and looked around the room. It was a spacious room, the walls adorned with tapestries and a few large valuable looking mirrors. Urns and small chests full of coin and jewelry were scattered around the room. A few chairs and one large throne were scattered around a large very sturdy-looking wooden table off to one side of the room. A large sword was leaning up against the throne, and a smaller blade of some sort was in a sheath hanging from a belt draped across the back of the throne. A few other assorted weapons and shields were piled in one of the corners of the room. The light in this room was generated by large gems set into the walls. Certainly magical, but the style was in keeping with the gaudiness of the room. In contrast to the numerous tapestries adorning the walls, the floor was the same bare stone as the hallway.

A doorway led off into darkness, probably an adjoining room of some sort. For a moment, Mel thought she heard movement in that room, but wasn't certain. She turned her head to look back at the large man and she caught him staring at her ass. The man didn't seem to care and laughed once. "Ah, dear, so tell me your name. I am, the Bandit King." He bowed slightly. Mel took a deep breath and turned to face him her arms crossed beneath her chest. "I am Melanie, a travelling bard. Or at least I was traveling until your men accosted me." She decided to curtsey. The Bandit King's eyes took advantage of the curtsey to enjoy the nice view of her ample cleavage down her blouse. His eyes lingered on her chest for a moment as Mel rose from the curtsey and recrossed her arms beneath her chest, before meeting her gaze. The bandit smiled at her, "I have not been able to enjoy the...ample talents...of a bard in some time, Mel. Perhaps you will indulge me?"

Mel smiled slightly and returned his gaze. "So you want to hear a song or a tune from an instrument, then?" The man laughed deeply, then said "I was thinking more along the lines of making you sing by playing your... instruments." His gaze swept over her body again. "But first things first. Please remove the bracelets and necklace and place them on the table." Mel bit her lower lip and looked at him, before moving to stand next to the table. She slowly reached up and unclasped the necklace, setting it on the table. The bracelets followed, but she took her time with each, trying to buy more time for Dante. She turned and faced the man again, trying to think of some way to delay things. Her eyes caught the weapons pile in the corner. She slowly walked along the table, running a finger along it's edge and throwing a little extra sway in her hips to distract the bandit. His eyes were locked onto her figure as she neared the edge of the table.

She then made the dash to the corner where the weapons were, boots clicking on the stone floor, and pulled a rapier and shield from the pile. Whirling, she turned to face the bandit, and much to her surprise found him facing her, weapons in both hands. The large sword in his right was a broad blade, which oddly narrowed to a very thin point near the end of the blade. The other was a shortsword. "A twin-fighting style..." Mel said aloud. The man smirked at her and, with eyes wandering to her chest, said "I know how to handle...twins." Mel muttered under her breath and slowly circled around the open space of the room, facing the bandit. He was surprisingly quick and managed to slide forward and slip the tip of the large blade past her shield. Mel jumped back, but the thin tip of the blade caught one of her blouse buttons and sent it flying across the room.

The bandit licked his lips, eyes wandering to take in the additional amount of chest now exposed. "Ah, yes. I think I shall quite enjoy this." He darted in again, and Mel moved her shield more quickly to block the blow. However, he surprised her by striking the shield with the shortblade and then spinning around to land a stinging blow with the flat of the large blade to her ass. She stumbled away, her hands reflexively starting to move toward her rear, and thus was a bit too slow to stop the motion and bring them back up. This time, instead of a button, he managed to slice the cloth of the blouse by her right shoulder, resulting in her blouse only being held up by the left shoulder. The Bandit King cackled, enjoying the view of Mel's bouncing chest and the black lacy bra that was exposed by his last slash.

Mel thought... where are you Dante.

Dante was actually in the stables. You see, he had been transformed into a horse, by magic, instead of hiding in the wagon, to help ensure he would make it to the lair. And now, having changed back once the men left the stable, he made himself invisible and followed the wizard back to his room. On a table in the room was the container Dante was sent to retrieve. He quickly knocked the wizard out and bound him, and stashed the trinket into a sack. He also proceeded to loot the room for a few more magical trinkets and coins. After turning invisible again, he crept up the hallway and came across a large meeting hall. He felt a slight breeze from an alcove in the hall, and discovered a secret passage. He followed this and heard the sounds of what sounded like a swordfight. He reached the end of the passage and found he was at a tapestry of some sort. He peered through two thin cutouts, obviously made for eyes, and saw Mel and a large man, presumably the Bandit King, engaged in a fight. Well, perhaps it had been a fight at some point, but now was obviously the end. Mel's weapon went flying to the ground as she was disarmed by the bandit. Her clothing lay in tatters on the ground. The bandit dropped his weapons and tore her shield aside. He picked her up, saying "To the victors, go the spoils! Time for that song." The bandit placed her on the table.

Dante pondered. The man was quite a physical specimen... perhaps it would be best to let him tire himself out a bit with Mel, then sneaking in to deal with him. On the other hand... just as Dante was pondering his course of action, a voice came from a darkened opening in the room. "You weren't going to take all the fun for yourself, were you?" The speaker stepped into the light. Dante's eyes widened slightly as he saw it was the same dark elf he had seen accost a group of adventurers near Neverwinter some time ago. Surely he couldn't have defeated all ...was it 4 or 5 of them... by himself? Discretion is definitely the wiser course now. Dante decided to wait and watch what happened.