Cyber

Shards of the Sky

We stayed at the inn another night and headed out for the Red Hills the next day. For the longest time, the Red Hills had been one of the safest and most peaceful regions in all of Cyber. It was a mining region, full of iron and clay, with little to offer criminals, until now. With the players starting to set up, they would be sure to head this way for supplies to craft armor, weapons, gear, decor, and anything else that could be made from the resources of the land. Most of these players would have goods and money on them as well, and wherever there was traffic with goods and money, there would be bandits.

After accepting the mission, I had done some research. There were a few different groups that had sprung up in the Hills, but the one causing the most trouble was a clan of about thirty that had a nasty habit of ambushing travelers near cliff-sides. They favored the intimidate into surrender approach then letting the victims go free approach. Arrogant.

I was looking forward to ending their reign of terror.

As we started approaching the Red Hills cliffs-sides, I heard Scalina ask me for the hundredth time since I had explained my plan to them in the inn, "just to make sure we are all on the same page here, the plan is to let them ambush us?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Yep."

She growled something about a horrible plan, and poked me in the back hard. She had developed that nasty habit recently, and I couldn't help but find it really cute. It was better than getting stabbed or left alone anyway.

There was something else that had been on my mind since we had entered the region though, and it was starting to consume my mind. Should I show them? Is it worth the risk? The questions and doubt's floated around my head so violently that I had almost missed the movement to my left, on a cliff side.

I pretended to have not seen it at all and kept going, while preparing my surprise. This had all been discussed ahead of time, how we would take on the far superior numbers.

As we progressed further I could see more and more evidence of the impending ambush. A movement here, a shadow there, a reflection to the side. It wasn't long before the bandits' trap closed around us.

A man clad in dark heavy plate mail armor stepped out from behind a rock and casually twirled his oversized, massive great sword. From the tops of the surrounding cliffs came archers with both crossbows and regular bow and arrow. From behind us came a troop of 6 bandits with mismatching large shields and axes. It was a near flawless ambush.

"Halt travelers!" The voice in black boomed the command with authority. "You have two options! Either give us your gold and resources peacefully and be on your way, or die and let us take everything!"

I gave the figure a one over and shook my head. "You're a cocky one."

The man gasped and sputtered in sudden rage. "WHAT!?"

"Apparently hard on hearing too." I laughed and asked loudly, "this bozo can't be the real leader, where are you boss man?"

The man roared in rage, and charged. He held his 7 foot long great sword high over his head, screaming as he plowed forward.  I couldn't help but smile at the idiot.

At the last possible second, I dashed forward and slammed my body into his legs, causing him to faceplant and lose his sword. I slid to the blade and in a single quick motion decapitated the moron.

As the rest of the bandits stood too shocked to react, I called out again, "where are you big boss man? Show yourself!"

The body of the bandit dissolved into an item pack while the real boss, a slightly worn looking older gentleman worked his way down the cliffs from the archers. When he finally reached the ground he said, "I am the leader of these bandits. That was an impressive display, one that shows very high level sword skills, but you are still far outnumbered, and the offer remains the same."