[coronatiger]

Thoughts on October 13th

Our friends joined us early in the morning, while we were having breakfast, and they sat down to eat with us while they told us what they’d learned. When it got dark, the bandits had lit torches on the outside of the palisade. Another point of interest was that the bandits didn’t have a water supply inside their walls, and had to go to a small brook nearby to fetch it. The bandits also had trenches outside the palisade for when they had to relieve themselves, but that was just outside, so we’d have more luck making an ambush where they fetched water.

We spent some time planning. I told Ilzo I had fire resistance potions if he wanted to run through a burning field, although he wouldn’t be able to set his armor on fire for extra effect; the potion precluded that, since it also protected his gear. That hadn’t seemed reasonable to me when I first bought the potion, but it was magic, so it could work counter-intuitively if it needed to. I was certainly not the right person to say what could be done and what couldn’t, with magic.

My best idea was to stand among the trees and shoot at whatever peeked up from behind the palisade. Flying in might give us a better vantage point to shoot from, but if we were discovered, we’d have no safe retreat. Leopold proposed burning down the oil field a couple of days before the actual attack. He was also daunted by the prospect of the four of us fighting thirty bandits.

A final plan slowly coalesced. We would make an ambush at the brook. They’d probably send someone to check why the water carriers didn’t return, and we could ambush those as well. Tonight, we’d attack. Va’lyndra and I would drink flight potions and carry Leopold with us. Ilzo could make a distraction on the outside while we landed on the roof of the central tower. No, we wanted him to come with us. We needed a strong melee fighter to protect us. He could carry Leopold while I took out the tower guards nimbly and quietly, and Va’lyndra would hover outside, shooting at anyone that began to react to my intrusion. Once the tower resistance was quelled, we’d launch fire arrows at the oil barrels. If anyone raised the alarm, the bandits might believe the attack was coming from the outside and show us their backs.

Va’lyndra pointed out that three flight potions cost almost half the promised pay for this quest. That didn’t matter, though. We were filthy rich already, and really did this quest to have something to do while keeping our heads down. I thought perhaps the bandits may have a treasure chest or some such with all their loot, and Va’lyndra mentioned that we could sell the bandits’ weapons and armor.

During the Landfall heist, we discovered that it took several minutes to heat up a steam cannon, so if that was what was hidden in the central tower, nobody should be able to use it. Keeping it ready for hours on end was not safe. Anyway, if we took the central tower, we didn’t have to worry about it, and if the bandits were daring enough to prepare it for us, we could turn it against them. Or at least Leopold could. I don’t think anyone else knows how to work it.

We needed fire arrows. Va’lyndra took count of her supply. She had eighteen arrows of normal quality, for she hasn’t used her bow in like forever, and hasn’t thought to restock better arrows. I have a cornucopia quiver which gives me as many arrows as I need, but they disappear one minute after I create them, so we couldn’t prepare them as fire arrows. Fire arrows are more wobbly than normal arrows, so we didn’t convert all of Va’lyndra’s stockpile. I helped gather grass and moss, and Va’lyndra used her magic to attach it to arrows and to dry it out. I think she made ten fire arrows, but I didn’t keep count. Va’lyndra also made some fire bombs for Ilzo to throw at the bandits’ tents. We’d soak it all in oil before flying in.

We prepared to head for the watering hole, but Olivia didn’t like the idea of remaining alone here all day. There were monsters in the woods, in addition to bandits, who to Olivia was just another kind of monster. I suggested that Va’lyndra and I handled the ambushes. I didn’t want to take Ilzo and be alone with him for however long – Leopold had shown that he didn’t count as a chaperone, and I didn’t think he’d be very helpful in the ambush. Olivia didn’t want Ilzo to stay with her either, so the only solution was for me to remain with her. It was almost as if she had planned it. Now she’d get me alone all day again, or at least until the others were done. It might take two hours or ten, but I realized that while I wanted to show off my shooting skills, I had a much stronger desire to stay with Olivia.

As soon as the others had left, I began to flirt with Olivia. I didn’t want to postpone sex any longer than I had to, and it would be less awkward if we were done when the others came back. Afterwards, we talked for a long time, before Olivia asked me to help her with the camp chores. She didn’t want to be alone when we attacked the fort tonight, but knew that everyone else was needed there. We decided we’d pack up everything and leave her just a couple of minutes away from the fort. She’d have the horses ready to go, and could flee on Marvin if necessary.

It didn’t take many hours before the others returned. Leopold was practically glowing with excitement. He had actually been quite helpful during the ambushes. The first ambush took out two water bearers easily. When those didn’t return, four bandits went out to check on them, and a real fight broke out. Ilzo took a deep cut from an axe, which made Olivia smirk, and Va’lyndra had to be carried away after using so much magic. Ilzo was overjoyed; he had put all the bandit heads on spikes and was allowed to urinate on the corpses in sight of the fort. The rest of the bandits refused to come out, and Va’lyndra, Ilzo and Leopold decided to call it a day. Va’lyndra had just enough energy left to make a hailstorm to cover their tracks while being carried away by Ilzo.