Deciding that half a day has passed and they only managed to get just across the border, and it would be pointless to call it a day after traveling such a short distance, our party decides to saddle up. TRITHAL, THRAX, and AXEM went up to the room to retrieve CHRIS just before they turned in their room key. They saved their progress at the records booth and with CHRIS in drag, they walked right out the door to continue on up the Dolmaiyan River trail...
TRITHAL: "Don't you mean, 'in tow'?"
Well, maybe both! Look at what he's wearing! That's definitely sissy-looking!
TRITHAL: "Whatever..."
Anyway, once outside the city of Tankia, TRITHAL, THRAX and AXEM decide that dragging CHRIS in TOW is a waste of time and energy, so they ultimately decide to dump his corpse into the river, figuring that if the party ever obtained ALLY DOWN or a revival spell, they would know to come back to this spot to find him. AXEM takes CHRIS's wizard's staff and stows it away in his pack, figuring such an expensive weapon would be of no use to a dead person. Ali lashes out in accusation to the trio for being so heartless. TRITHAL reminds Ali that CHRIS is a deserter, and in the real world's military, desertion is a capital offense.
The Plains of Tanchi is a pretty flat grass-land area where trees are sparse... much like the state of Kansas. Tanchi has always been a decent agricultural region given it's flat, fertle land, it's many clean rivers, and it's mostly-clean environment. For as long as anyone can remember, Tanchi was where most of the area's food came from... that was until after the insurgency overthrew the government and allowed the land to go to spoil. There were a few places in Tanchi, however, where people still lived and grew crops so they could survive themselves, but the giant farmer's market that was Tanchi prefecture is no more than a memory now.
A while up the trail our party is confronted by a group of 4 bandits. Although they are short in size, they carry an arsenal of long, sharp, pointy things which make them appear to be the mechanism inside a slaughtering machine.
Bandit #1: "Stand and Deliver, muthafuckas!"
THRAX: "Just who... and what... the hell are you?"
Bandit #2: "We'z da niggas gonna take yo' shit!"
Bandit #3: "Yall's ridin' around on 'dem fancy-ass horse lizards wearin 'dem nice, clean clotes. No one in Tanchi is that bling anymo. Yall's gotta be from Sabretooth."
Bandit #4: "So jus' do az we say & we might not shit on ya'z after we chop ya'z into little bitty pieces!"
TRITHAL spends 3 SP and uses his "ARCTIC WIND" magic attack to temporarily freeze the bandits in their places. The bandits each loose 4/45 HP. The party rides on, when a minute later the bandits thaw out and, moving as fast as light, catch up to the party.
Bandit #2: "Man, what'ya gotta go and do 'dat shit for?"
Bandit #3: "That was cold, man! Literally!"
Bandit #4: "We'z just tryin' to get by, man! That's all!"
Bandit #1: "Yeah man! Our mama'z in da hospital wit sum kinda disease and we need money to pay her billz!"
AXEM: "Then go get a job, fuckers!"
THRAX spends 2 SP and uses "DANCING FLAME" to create a whirlwind of fire around the bandits, causing each of them to loose 7/41 HP. The party then rides off leaving the burnt, smoking bandits behind. Another minute later, the bandits catch up again to the party.
Bandit #3: "Man, they ain't been no work here in years!"
Bandit #4: "Yeah, man! Times been tough!"
Bandit #1: "We all gotta do what we can to get by,"
Bandit #2: "Ever since the duke was killed 15 years ago ain't nothin been right around here!"
Bandit #3: "And that's why we gotta relieve yuz of yall'z excess money!"
Ali: "If you don't like the way things are, then why don't you do something to change it?"
Bandit #4: "Like what?"
Bandit #1: "Ain't no one care what anyone thinks anymo'!"
Bandit #2: "Not since the Periande took over in Tanchi City!"
TRITHAL: "The Periande, you say?"
Bandit #2: "That's what I said, nigga!"
Bandit #1: "They'z the guys Liiche-sama ordered to take over dis prefecture."
Bandit #4: "Since then, ain't no farms makin' no money,"
Bandit #3: "And ain't no one wanna trade with us no mo'."
Bandit #2 withdraws one of his blades and says, "So fork ov'r yo' cash or I'll cut yo' head off!"
AXEM spends 4 SP and uses "IMPACT" to cause a giant rock to fall from the sky and flatten the bandits, causing each to loose another 6/34 HP. The party once again resumes course when a minute later, yes once again, the bandits catch up to the party.
Bandit #4: "Hey hold up, y'all!"
THRAX: "How the hell do you guys keep catching up to us?!"
Bandit #1: "Y'all wouldn't happen to be da mercenaries who they say killed Liiche-sama, iz ya??"
AXEM: "And what if we were?"
The bandits then fall to the ground in prostrate before the party and say in unison, "We wanna help you!"
The party is kinda suprised as these four stubby, miserable excuses for highwaymen have an instantaneous change of heart. Ali then asks, "What do you think you can do for us?"
Bandit #1: "We've been waitin' fo' someone to come along and stand up to the Periande."
Bandit #2: "We'll march all da way to Tanchi City whtshya!"
Bandit #3: "'Den, when we get 'dere, we'll cut'em up so bad 'dey gonna wish we not cut 'dem up so bad!"
Within the exact same instant, THRAX uses heat magic to heat up the blades the bandits are carrying, TRITHAL uses a weaker form of ARCTIC WIND to immediately freeze them, making them crack, and AXEM uses his earth magic to cause small pebbles to shatter the blades into tiny pieces.
Bandit #4: "What da fuck, man! How come you do 'dat?"
TRITHAL: "Listen up! If you want to help us, here's what you need to do... go out in the area and round up anyone willing to fight the Periande and have them meet us in Oldajon, just outside Tanchi City. All together we'll march in and have one hellatious battle. How's that sound?"
All four bandits respond in agreement, then Bandit #1 says, "Give us fo' days and we'll bring the biggest, baddest bad-asses in the prefecture!"
The bandits then take off to the north as our party resumes their course west down the river trail.
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