Oleg nearly jumped out of his skin when Anatoliy entered the trading post, then he realized they weren't a bandit. Or at least not one of the bandits who came to collect. When they came up to introduce themselves, Svetlana's cheeks grew red and she chuckled, "Quite the charmer, aren't you? The pleasure's all mine, Ana. You can call me Svetlana." She took Ana's hand first and shook it.

Oleg raised an eyebrow and paused for a moment, then finally shook their hand. "Medvyed? And you're with this lot? Haw! I suppose King Surtova will be comin' through the gate next!" He laughed at his own joke, but his laughter died quickly when he saw nobody else was joining in. "Anyway, it's as your friend here says, you're party's offered to help with some bandit troubles in exchange for free room and board. That sit alright with you?"

"Oh Mr. Oleg, if it's robbers and thugs you're expecting through that gate, then 'Good' King Nole may very well be leading the lot," Ana laughed, "At any rate--"

Ana considered the scenario had just been presented. Would they fight bandits here and now for free room and board, or would they leave these people in order to fight bandits later, elsewhere, for no immediate reward? All things considered, the answer to this question was obvious:

Yes.

"--I wholeheartedly support cleaning up around here," Ana shrugged off their pack and haphazardly tossed it aside after withdrawing a light crossbow, "I would be remiss in my duties otherwise. And it does seem like this place needs it."

They turned on their heel and brought a hand to shade their eyes. scanning the area with wide, green eyes. There were plenty of options around, but unlike the others, Ana generally didn't make a habit of roughness. At least not this kind of roughness.

"I think that I..." Ana pointed to the platform next to gates and the unfortunately unusable catapults. "...will go up there."

The couple left the new arrivals to prepare for battle- Svetlana retreating to the Leveton home and Oleg waiting by the front gate.

Almost directly after our heroes took their places, the sound of hooves could be heard making their way up to the front gate. The party heard a gruff voice yell out loud and clear, “Tax day! Hope you’ve got more than last month’s pitiful excuse for a payment; otherwise, we might make good on our offer to that wife of yours.”

Oleg cleared his throat, opened the gate, and spoke up, playing his part, “Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get this on with.”

Four bandits passed through the gate, followed by two horses drawing a wagon. The cloaked man sat astride one of the horses, and looked around as he entered. As soon as he passed the threshold, his eyes caught Kesal.

“AMBUSH!” he cried.

The elf tensed up as he heard the battle cry come from the other side of the cart. The jig was up. They'd spotted him. He figured this wouldn't work, but if they had been able to block off the entrance by obstructing the gate... No matter. It probably wouldn't do them much good now anyways - moving it into position would probably get them killed. With a grunt, the alchemist clamored up on top of the cart. Kesal had the foresight to prepare a javelin in cave things went pear-shaped as they currently were, and he intended to do some serious damage in the split second that he had to take the bandit group off-guard. Aiming for someplace vital with the hope to take him out in one blow, he quickly chucked the javelin at the mysterious figure.

"You inconsequential cur!" Kesal hissed furiously.

Although his blow landed true, even the proud elf would be hard pressed to admit that such a strike was little more than a fluke. Had the cloaked figure been prepared, he probably could have even avoided the thrown spear. In any case, what's done is done: if luck was on his side, he was not about to bid it farewell. Taking another quick glance at the cloaked figure, he tried to estimate if he had hit anything that would have neutralized the figure. While Kesal couldn't get a good "feel" for how much damage he had done to the man, but he was certain it was a rather powerful throw nonetheless.

Odin grumbled silently to himself as he watched the scene unfold. The bandits had detected them before they could successfully ambush them. On the bright side, at least, they were able to nearly take out their driver, the cloaked bandit on one of the horses. Whether or not he was a person of authority or just the one in charge of driving the carts mattered little to Odin, who knocked a blunt-tipped arrow and took aim. Seeing as his positioning was poor, Odin shuffled slightly to the side, letting the arrow loose prematurely. Incidentally, his attack had missed. Cursing to himself, Odin decided to instead call out to his allies in hopes that they would follow his lead.

"The one on the horse! Knock him out!" Odin called, his hand hovering over his quivers as he began to decide on his next target.

Kesal's javelin landed squarely in the cloaked man's side. Blood poured out of the wound as he shrieked in pain. Odin's arrow whizzed past his head, alerting the other bandits to Odin's presence.

Two bandits clamored onto the wagon while the other two made their way towards Odin. One climbed the ladder leaning against the guest house, while the other drew her bow to cover from the base of the ladder.

The warning shout made Rosie slump against the wall and look at the sky. A frustrated little breath escaped her mouth. Not a second after, she rounded the corner, leaving her backpack behind, and ran around the trestle table to catch up with the bandits climbing the ladder.

She whirled her chain around her head as she closed in. "You picked the wrong time to collect from our mark, arsehole!"

The chain caught around the bandit's shoulder, digging into any unprotected skin and raking back painfully. Rosie brought the chain back behind her just as quickly, holding her buckler out ready to catch any reprisals in spite of the bandit having his bow out right next to her.

The bandits came. The bandits saw. Now it was the team's job to make sure they didn't conquer 'cause that was their job. With a shark-like grin, Ana brought the sights of their crossbow to their eye and began to take aim.

Meanwhile, Kesel struck.

Ana aimed. They would line this up perfectly, and take one bandit with a well-placed bolt soon enough.

Odin missed.

Ana continued to aim, the grisly results of a critical hit already forming in their mind's eye.

The bandits moved.

'...Damn it. These guys really had to do that, huh?'

Ana had a target all sorted out and everything! This turn of events was truly disappointing. Ana sighed, then reconfigured their aim to fit the changing battlefield. From his vantage point, they only had a good sight on two opponents: the cloaked bandit and the bandit on the roof coming after Odin. Unfortunately, only one had a javelin stuck through him, and Ana wanted that one alive.

After all, the only person wearing a cloak is clearly the superior one on the social hierarchy.

Their target, then, was clear: Ana sighted the target and loosed an arrow at the bandit creeping on the rooftop sniper...!



'Nice.'

Ana's arrow met its mark, piercing the rooftop bandit's left arm, just as Rosie's chain ripped the flesh out of her target's shoulder. The two howled out curses and staggered under the blows.

“I’m gonna skin every last one of you!” This from the wounded and enraged man in the cloak. He nocked an arrow with a grunt and aimed it at the one who threw the javelin, but his accomplices on the cart had gotten in the way. He swung around to find the man on the roof with the poor aim. He lifted his bow, aimed, and… gravity shifted, pulling the javelin out of his side. This caused a good deal of pain and threw his aim off at the last moment. By chance, his arrow flew into the side of the horse next to him, prompting both horses to rear up in panic and charge forward.

Without much room to maneuver, the horses cut a sharp turn in the center of the square, throwing the wagon off balance and flipping it over, which in turn pulled the horses to the ground. The cloaked man leapt from his mount but landed awkwardly, injuring himself further in the process.

Gascon was not the most agile, and the heavier armor he wore made him even slower, so he knew he wouldn't be able to get to the bandits before they could hit him; however, he did not care. Gascon knew that any foe that downs him is worthy of Gorum's attention, and it was obvious that Gorum never favored these men. Gascon climbed into the wagon and began advancing towards the bandits. "You are maggots unworthy of being stomped by my boot, but I will strike you both down anyway in service of our Lord in Iron," he said as his eyes began to focus on the bandits in front of him, reflecting the manifestation of his internal impetus.

Keeping watch of the other events on the battlefield, Kesal observed the first few moments as they played out. A faint smile crossed his face as he watched the cloaked man fall off of the cart. He was still alive - this was good. Taking him alive might be a good idea. The fact that he was essentially the only one wearing such strange clothing made Kesal wonder if it was perhaps a sign of rank. Once the two bandits and Gascon had joined him on the cart, however, he shifted his focus back to immediate issues. This time, he'd have to rely on his own readiness and ability to fight at close range.

With a scowl, he gripped the longsword resting at his hip and drew it, tensing up as he kept a cautious and careful eye on the two bandits before him. Stepping closer to the two bandits, Kesal prepared himself to land a strike when the moment seemed most opportune...

Seeing the bandit climb up the latter to meet him, Odin gritted his teeth as he knocked another arrow. Because of the uneven footing, however, Odin once again messed up his shot, the arrow zipping right next to the bandit's shoulder. Grumbling to himself in annoyance, Odin made made his way to center himself on the roof more, in case the bandit had the idea of trying to kick him off. While doing so, he drew his hunting knife, eyeing the bandit carefully for any sudden movements. At the very least, he has Ana to thank for weakening him. All Odin had to do was finish the job...

The bandits on the wagon drew their weapons, one of them stepping forward into Kesal's waiting reach. Kesal swung his longsword, but the bandit sidestepped the attack and dove in for her counter. The edge of her short sword found a weakness in Kesal's armor, and the blade bit at Kesal's torso. She laughed gleefully at the sight of blood and cried out, "Too slow!"

The second bandit on the wagon wasn't having as good of a time. His sword shook in his hand as his opponent approached, and he struck out at Gascon too high. Gascon ducked and the sword swung overhead; the bandit growled in frustration.

The bandit on the rooftop drew his short sword as well, just as Odin's arrow whizzed past his head. He chuckled as Odin drew a dagger, and swung out as his opponent closed in. Confident though he was, his blade missed its mark, and the smirk was wiped from his face. He took on a look of intense focus and prepared for the melee that would ensue.

The bandit at the base of the ladder took a step back and nocked an arrow. She took aim at Rosie and let loose the arrow, but her reaction was too swift. Poor aim and a weak draw on the bowstring sent the arrow wide. She spat out a curse and made ready for another attack from the do-gooder.

Rosie flinched aside as the arrow flew past. She quickly retaliated, aggressively stepping to follow the back-pedalling bandit. "Oh no you don't!" Rosie snarled through her teeth before swinging her chain low. The bandit had relatively little reach to stop it wrapping around her ankles.

"You stay right here!" Rosie punctuated herself by using her whole body to pull the chain up and back. The bandit found herself sliding and flipping onto her back with a thud.

Ana waved a stick of butter in the air, muttering an incantation. The butter disappeared and the back corner of the wagon and the grass around it became covered in grease. Normally, they would have said something crass and laughed at the cloaked bandit, but their mind must have been elsewhere in that moment. The bandit in combat with Kesal slipped on the greasy wood and fell on her back. The one fighting Gascon managed to maintain his footing.

The cloaked man swore profusely, "You think you can fucking stab us in the back and live to tell about it? I'll burn this whole shithole to the ground!" He retrieved something from his belt, and threw it into the barn before maneuvering around the opposite side of the fallen cart. There was the sound of glass breaking, followed by a whoosh, and smoke began pouring out of the barn door. From inside, a horse whinnied in terror.

Grateful for Ana's quick thinking in attempting to knock the bandits prone, Gascon gave him a quick nod. Then, he quickly brought his greatsword above his right should, following this movement with a quick and brutal diagonal slash across the heart of the bandit engaged in combat with him down onto the bandit Ana succeeded in knocking prone. As the first victim fell to the floor Gascon examined the blood on his sword. It was a perverse adornment he could barely stand, not because it was blood but because of whose blood it was. "Gorum lives within this blade," says Gascon as he brings his fiery gaze to meet the now fading eyes of the fallen bandit, "AND YOU DARE TO SULLY IT WITH YOUR FILTHY BLOOD!"

Now that the two bandits in the wagon with him were no longer a threat, Gascon stepped over the now dead bandit to walk to the other side of the wagon. He planned to move on to disarming, and restraining the cloaked bandit; however, he was still furious about the blood on his greatsword, and forgot about the grease on the other side of the wagon. The moment his hefty boot dropped down onto the other side of the bandit he began to slip. He crashed down onto the other side of the wagon muttering a curse to himself.

Touching at his wound, Kesal frowned and winced a little. The bandit's attack had fortunately not struck anywhere vital, and there was little cause for concern, but it still stung a little. The real damage he had sustained was to his pride, sullied by not just one, but two instances of considerable embarrassment brought on in this particular encounter. To say that he was irate would be an understatement. When Gascon had managed to knock the whelp down, Kesal decided to finish them off. Drawing the blade back, the alchemist shoved the longsword into the dying bandit's torso. He must have driven the blade in quite far - a bit of a needless act on his end, but he wanted to make sure the brigand was very much dead before he could enact the next part of his plan.

Trodding over the now considerably more dead bandit, Kesal took care to make sure that he didn't make the same mistake Gascon had, focusing his footsteps as he stepped forwards, reaching the end of the cart. His eyes set upon the cloaked figure, who had just begun burning down the barn...

Odin jabbed at the rooftop bandit with his hunting knife, but the leather armor stopped the blade. The bandit heard the dying screams of his accomplices as they were slaughtered and, enraged, he thrust his short sword at Odin. The blade pierced the ranger's shoulder, and blood trickled down his arm. "Give up and I'll make your death quick!" He screamed, followed with a mad laugh.

The bandit that Rosie had tripped pushed herself back to her feet, but not without taking another lashing from the swashbuckler. She cried out in pain once more and, having also heard her allies’ deaths, decided she’d had enough of this ambush. She turned and ran towards the entrance of the palisade.

"Hey! Stay down!" Rosie lashed as hard as she could at the scrambling bandit in front of her. A solid hit didn't quite stop her as she retreated around the corner.

Rosie grunted in frustration but did not dwell on it. The cloaked leader was still at large. She caught his eyes and ran forward shouting for his blood. "You son of a bitch!" She swung too high on closing in and her opponent ducked under the chain.

"Get that fire out!" She shouted over her shoulder at a spare moment.

Ana looked down at Kesal and Gascon as they began loading their crossbow. "Lads, I have come to an executive decision," the youth announced, pressing a bolt into place, "I will leave fire management to your capable hands."

With crossbow loaded, Ana brought the sights to their eye, searching for his next target. The crosshair centered on the retreating form of the female bandit that Rosie had apparently been engaging earlier.

A bandit getting out to tell their friends all about what happened here? Not on Ana's watch.

"Oy! Miss! Where do you think you're headed off to?" Ana called out, squeezing down on the trigger to loose a bolt in her direction.