<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/7b/BanditLeader.JPG)</div><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/4/40/Bandit0.jpg)</div><br/>The bandits watched Thea warily as she stepped away from the wagon, and their leader gave a nasty smile. "Glad you see things our way," she gloated, taking a step towards the wagon.<br/><br/>She seemed unprepared for the possibility that the party would actually fight back against the ambush, and certainly wasn't expecting Thea to draw a glowing greatsword from the mote orbiting her. "Gah!" she shouted, barely stepping to the side in time to avoid the blow. "She's a Sarenite paladin!<em>Get her!</em>"<br/><br/>Meanwhile, Thea's comrades sprang into action. Curra charged at the right flank, and her greataxe cleft straight through the midsection of one bandit, who fell to the ground in two bloody pieces. The next bandit in line shrieked and dropped his bow, then drew a long knife and lunged at Curra. Her powerful strike left her overextended, but his dagger clattered off her armoured right arm.<br/><br/>Kye had vanished from sight before the bandits even made their appearance, and neither friend nor foe seemed to know where she was until she buried her knife in the bandit leader's back, an expert stab that was sure to pierce a kidney or something else important. The leader staggered forward from the force of the blow, but when Kye withdrew her knife, it was clean. There was barely even a rent in the fabric of the bizarre tunic.<br/><br/>The leader spun around to glare at Kye, then laughed. "Think you can hurt me? I wear the armour of the gods!" She made a deft flick of her wrist, and a short, squat wand sprang into her hand, seemingly from nowhere. She aimed the wand at Thea, and a bolt of lightning sprang from its tip, striking Thea in the chest. The thick material of her hauberk seemed to soak up the blast, but the scent of ozone and the way Thea's hair stood on end told her that it was a narrow escape. In the time it took the bandit to take aim against Thea, there was an opening that both she and Kye could exploit if they so wished.<br/><br/>The rest of the bandits took their leader's exhortation to heart, and loosed a volley of arrows at Thea. One struck home, while the rest whizzed past her head or clattered off her armour, and one pierced the blanket that Haysel had thrown. The shifty-looking scout ducked behind a boulder, then emerged at an unexpected position, sending an arrow in Thea's direction that she had no time to dodge, but fortunately it landed short.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">The PCs all beat the bandits on initiative!<br/><br/>Kye executes her trick attack successfully, and hits with her dagger. Thea activates her solar weapon and gains 1 point of photon attunement, and misses with her attack. Curra performs a Cleave attack that kills one bandit. Haysel throws a blanket and misses.<br/><br/>The bow-wielding bandits, including the scout, all fire their bows at Thea, except for the one that's dead and the other one that Curra attacked. One arrow hits Thea, for 4 points of piercing damage.<br/><br/>The bandit leader pulls out a wand and fires it at Thea, and barely misses. This provokes an attack of opportunity from Thea and Kye.<br/><br/>End of round 1. One bandit is dead. Five generic bandits remain, plus the leader and the scout.<br/></div></div>