The Adventure Begins...

Oleg’s trading post is surrounded by a wooden palisade that stands 10 feet high. At each corner of the palisade are 20-foot-square watchtowers, each armed with a run-down catapult left over from the site’s original use as a border fort. These catapults are in no condition to be fired, and repairing them would take many weeks of work. There’s one entrance through the palisade—a 30-foot-wide wooden gate.

You have come to the marketplace at Oleg's bearing your charter, ready to begin your explorations. You are greeted warmly by Oleg's wife, Svetlana who has prepared a hearty stew, warm bread, and has even cracked open a bottle of wine. She smiles happily and bids you enter the main building. Oleg himself climbs down from patching the roof of the guesthouse, covered in a sheen of sweat. He greets you gruffly, "Welcome. It's good to see you."

The man scans the charter disinterestedly. "Yes, yes. We were told to expect you. So, what is your plan? How will we deal with this scourge? Where are the rest of you?"

"What?" Oleg shouts. "What do you mean? You weren't sent here to... argh!" He throws his hands up in disgust and swears loudly.

"Please," Svetlana begins, "We are having a bit of a... bandit problem. We've sent to Restov for aid, and we naturally assumed that you were... well... please, we have no one else to aid us against these bandits. All that we can offer is free room and board if you will help us."

Svetlana seems relieved to hear you agree to help. Oleg, however, is dubious.

"Their first visit was three months ago.", Svetlana explains. "They threatened to burn down the trading post and take me back to their camp for their amusement if we didn't agree to hand over all our furs and trade goods that we had collected over the past month. Of course, we did give them everything. Since them, they have returned twice more, each time within an hour of sunrise on the first day of the month."

"They seem eager to return to their camp, which makes it seem likely that it is about a day's ride away. The first visit, there were ten of them, led by a cloaked man and a woman who wielded two small hatchets. She did the majority of the talking and she has a very dark sense of humor. It was very frightening, especially when she threatened to cut off Oleg's right hand! They took my wedding ring, as payment for not doing do."

"On the next visit, it was just a crude man and six other men, and the one after that was just him and four others. We think that they believe that they have us cowed. Hopefully, when they visit tomorrow, the woman with the hatchets won't be with them and there will be fewer of them."

"My plan was just to lure them in and then have you come out of hiding and kill them," Oleg states plainly, "but I'm not a soldier. I will defer to your judgment and discretion. I'm willing to serve as bait, but only if Svetlana hides in the safety of our bedroom."

Svetlana nods her agreement and Oleg says, "Good enough. I'll lure them in." The remainder of the day passes in terse preparations and routine chores. By nightfall, everything is in readiness.

The next morning, about a half-hour after dawn, you take your place in the guesthouse and settle in for a wait. You don't have to wait long, as exactly one hour after the break of day, you hear a gruff voice. "Open up or we’ll start tossing some fire in to speed your asses up!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Oleg shouts back.

You hear the sound of the gate being opened, and several hoofbeats enter the trading post. You can hear the sounds of someone dismounting horses.

"Only three of you today?" Oleg says, loud enough for you to hear and sounding surprised. There is no response. Rather, the bandits immediately set about making crude comments to Svetlana and threats against Oleg.

You wait, watching until the moment is right. As the bandits dismount, you launch your attack! There are three bandits; one of which is the leader. You have surprise and a free round of actions.

If I am right, your sword slash may be a critical. Go ahead and roll to confirm, please, doing the same amount of damage if it is.

Your attack catches the leader off-guard and throws him to the ground, unconscious and bleeding. The remaining two bandits look at each other and quickly mount their horses, putting them to the spurs and taking off running. Oleg looks at you in surprise.

"Well, I must say, I didn't expect that! " He moves to the downed bandit. "What should we do with him?" he nudges the body with his foot.

"Yes," Oleg mutters. "Justice. I'll see his body hanged outside the gate as a warning."