<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/thumb/5/50/Liem.jpg/445px-Liem.jpg)</div><strong>Name :</strong>倒藪 林  Dào​sǒu Liem<br/><strong>Element :</strong>Wood<br/><strong>Location &amp; Time :</strong>Bandit Den, afternoon > Market Place, evening<br/><strong>Tagging :</strong>open<br/><br/>"Elder sister, please let us come along!" The voice of one of the younger men rang out as he bowed, right fist in hand. Zhao Ping, a man with long braids running down his back, who would be handsome if not for the ugly scar running along the right side of his face, from brow to chin.<br/><br/>"Please, elder sister!" echoed his brother, Qiang. Smaller, slightly pudgy but a hard worker nonetheless. Both were dressed in plain leather and carried curved swords at their side.<br/><br/>In Dào​sǒu, the Bandit's Den, this was far from an unusual occurrence.<br/><br/><em>Surrounded by thick trees to one side and up against a small mountain to the other, the 'Bandit Den' was quite the miniature fortress. Upon a stone wall foundation stood a large wooden palisade that surrounded their claimed area, usually patrolled by three archers. <br/><br/>Inside stood a few sturdy buildings crafted from stone, mainly the chief's quarters, the kitchen, the smithy and the large dining area -- and many smaller housings from wood, where most of the bandits slept. <br/><br/>Finally, there was the cave. Originally, it had been the hiding hole used by their clan founders, but with time, increasing numbers and success, they had built around it. Now it was mainly used for storage and safety in case of an assault. A mountain river ran through it, providing plenty of cool and fresh water.</em><br/><br/>In front of the two pleading brothers stood the current chief of the Dào​sǒu clan, Liem. Beautiful, fiery, but very down to Earth, the woman clearly didn't care to indulge their begging. She wore a dismayed expression on her face, her weapon slung over her shoulder as she was prone to do out of boredom. "I told you, you can't! The guards get nervous when too many of us are about in the city! And you're too rowdy! Last time I took either of you, you ended up in jail! No, no and no!"<br/><br/>She glanced upwards towards the heavens, sighed, rolled her eyes and then added. "I'll bring back some good wine and then we'll have a little 'festival' of our own! So quit it and go make yourselves useful before I have to beat some discipline into you!"<br/><br/>"But sister, you're more rowdy than any o--" Stopped by a well-meaning elbow in his side, Zhao finally gave in and bowed apologetically. "Of course, elder sister. We're sorry."<br/><br/>"You better be!" she exclaimed, threw the bundle she had prepared over shoulder and began to walk towards the gate. Liem had no intention to do much there but make use of the convenient assembly of merchants to get some shopping done, maybe find some odd jobs to take care of and listen for rumors, so she had not bothered to dust out any of the few formal dresses she owned. She would probably stand out, but there was no law that dictated what a proper swordswoman could wear and she didn't think of her origins and lifestyle as something to be ashamed of.<br/><br/>At the gate, she briefly paused to hand the horse waiting there for her a treat and in turn was happily nuzzled by the animal in response. They only had two horses, but the trip to Pai Sun would take too long on foot and as chief it was Liem's right to claim one as hers.<br/><br/>She tied her bundle to the saddle and quickly leapt right on top, took the reigns and started into a quick sprint out of the den.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Both her arms crossed beneath her chest, the bandit eyed the large gourd in front of her with careful uncertainty. "It looks kinda small. Are you sure this is the biggest one you have?" She briefly scratched the scalp beneath her long mane of hair to let the merchant stew a bit more and hopefully make a better offer, but she had already decided that she'd take it.<br/><br/>"Come on," she whispered, leaning closer. "You're from out of town, right? Tell you what. You give me a good price -- say, 1 silver tael -- and some wine to fill it with and I'll see that you won't have to pay any taxes passing through the forest." She gave the man a wide smile that somehow didn't seem very reassuring.<br/><br/>"You lot already fleeced me on the way here," the bald merchant returned unhappily, but knew all too well that the profits he'd return with would outweigh the loss made here. "Grrch … fine, take the damn thing. But you better keep your word, Dào​sǒu Liem."<br/><br/>"Always," she quickly replied, now genuinely beaming as she grabbed the large container with both hands. "Fill 'er up!"