The Bandit contract (solo mission)

Another day, another contract. Bound in blood.

Today Aberham received a contract from a woman. She had lost her husband to a group of three bandits when he attempted to resist. She had posted an illegal bounty on their heads, the contract was for both wedding rings to be retrieved and for proof of kill to be provided for the bandits. He offered her a contract and after swearing he would not disclose this information with another soul he wrote his name in blood on it and she followed suit. She had the least trouble of anyone so far when she had to sign her name.

Aberham arrived on the site they had been attacked on. He found a dead man who had been that way for a few days and was starting to smell. It just so happened that he had a compact shovel on him at the time. He dug a shallow grave, dragged him inside and buried him. It was deep enough to cover the smell and prevent the wolves from getting to him. He figured the wife might want something to visit, and in the end making the client happy was his only job.

He followed the tracks of the bandits, he was not equipped with a gift that could aid him with this process so it took quite awhile. They went off the beaten path and without a bunch of broken sticks to follow it was very difficult. Eventually however he saw smoke in the distance and when he arrived at its location in the dead of night he found what he was looking for. It was their camp. A couple of tents, one for the people and one for the loot. He pondered for a moment weather or not he could sneak into the loot tent. Then he remembered that he was in full armor now! The way of the night could no longer possibly lie in stealth. Still he had an idea to use his gifts and talents to his advantage.

He retrieved a skin of water from a nearby spring and when he returned sure enough one of the bandits was standing guard while the other two slept. Weather this was because the tent was to small for all of them or they actually had the sense to guard their loot with something other than a bunch of cans on string was beyond him. But he knew what he had to do.

He walked forward from the darkness towards their camp,  his armor was roughly made and would not shine under the very pale moonlight. He had his sword drawn and was ready for combat. When the half asleep bandit heard the clanking of his armor (about a mile away) he called out in the darkness. "Hey! Is someone there?" He said with a mouth that was missing to many teeth. Aberham walked forward some more, drawing closer but still remaining out of site. "Hey! Stop right now! Identify yourself!" He drew a short bow, his companions were still sleeping. No doubt recovering from an evening of robbery.

Aberham took another step forward and finally he appeared in the light of the fire, which had very little wood to work with and was basically just a bunch of hot ash with a faint glow to it. The bandit notched an arrow into his bow. "Come no closer!" He said pointing the feeble weapon at Aberham. He knew he was outclassed entirely, this man was in full armor and was heavily armed! He was wearing a smelly shirt and had a bow that could bring down a squirrel in ten shots! He called the alarm. "Boys! BOYS GET UP NO-" He yelled, turning his had to the tent. Aberham was fast enough to stab him threw the heart before he could get a single shot off. The man moaned and fell over, dead as a stump.

Noise was coming from the tent. Aberham quickly took out the skin of water and doused the fire. Thanks to his blessing he could see in the deepest of darkness perfectly fine. The me inside the tent however where freaking out. "Dave!? Dave what this about!?" They were terrified when they did not get and answer. Two idiots came out of the tent, one was wielding a massive ax and the other had a short sword and a wooden shield. "Dave whats going on!? Why did you turn the lights ou-" The man with a sword tripped over his dead friend and screamed once he saw it.

Aberham stepped in to kick him on the side with an armored boot but immediately after the man with the ax hit him with the handle and pushed him away. "Who you yee? Show they self!" Aberham knew that the man with an ax would be hist biggest challenge as an independent adventurer yet. He really needed to make sure he could not bee seen. He reached into the hot ash and grabbed a fistful of embers. Aberham threw it in his eyes and he had no way of knowing that it was coming so he could only cry out as his eyes were burned and try to claw out the ash.

The one who was on the floor grabbed a lantern and stood up. "SHOW YOURSELF!" He said striking a match and lighting it. For slightly less than a second he caught a glimpse of a man in full armor before her got his head lopped off and his body as well as the light source fell to the ground. The man with an ax cleared his eyes and his hand flashed to the lantern. He caught more than a glimpse of Aberham as he stepped back into the darkness.

He hoped that he could wait for him to turn his head and strike again but he underestimated the lanterns light and little did he know he was partially in view. The ax man secured the lantern on his belt, took his weapon in both hands and lunged forward. Aberham was ready though, he sidestepped the attack and the ax got caught in a tree. He  raked his sword along the back of the man before he could pull it free and he heard a satisfying cry of pain. The ax man performed a sideways chop this time, Aberham braced his entire body behind his mighty shield and *CLANG! the ax rebounded off. While the man was still reeling from the recoil Aberham whipped around and slashed out his throat.

Aberham took a good long while searching through the bandits loot, they really were not good at their craft. He found a few rupees that were were the change in his pocket, a lute, and several wedding rings. He picked out the two that best matched the woman's description and left everything else. He saw that the lantern had broken when the last man had fallen, the flame was still lit. This gave him an idea.

He piled up the body's in the center of camp. He cut off the ring fingers as proof of kill. Then he covered them in a bit of lantern oil, struck a match and burned what remained of them and their meager camp to the ground. As he walked off into the sunrise he uttered one word.