Millispil: Bandit Hunt!

Runar examines Kara's wounds, relieved to discover a faint pulse. "She lives, but barely," he says. "Can you do anything for her, Godi?" he asks Rin. He begins tending to the shield-maiden's injuries.

Sheathing his blade, Oren hustles over to the fallen shield maiden's side and kneels beside Runar. Though he has no skills as a healer, the bard softly sings the song of the Valkyries in case the brave woman should need to find her way to Valhalla.

Now that the bandit Styr is is subdued and the shieldmaiden’s wounds are being attended, Yäns climbs down into the cave entrance to recover his arrows and search the witch. If no one else is going to do it, he will start severing heads from bodies next.

The huntsman begins searching the witch and delving into the cave. The witch appears to be no more than 25 winters, and her fair hair and blue eyes look quite at odds with the filthy and desperate men who had once lived in a cave with her. Adorning her is a golden torc of some value and a pair of bracers with magical runes carved about. An ornate dagger is at her waist, and a small belt pouch contains dried mouse dung, spiderwebs, and 20 hacksilver (the equivalent of gold in this setting).

Within the cave, Yäns is able to find several small piles crudely hidden containing 32hs (hacksilver) in total, along with one containing 75hs and two potions. The far side of the cave has a small opening that appears to be where the witch had lived. Various occult and arcane items — many of them completely useless but nonetheless intriguing in shape, something Runar would know — line natural shelves on the east wall. The walls of her cave are covered with scrawled shapes, geometric designs, and meaningless arcane writing; evidence of someone being driven mad by power. Back outside, the roving party of bandits led by Ambrus carry no treasure aside from the leader himself, who wore a belt pouch containing fifteen hacksilver and a piece of carved amber.

When Yäns reports the arcane writing on the cave walls Oren descends and examines them thoroughly for signs of spellcraft. He is hoping to glean a new incantation from the ramblings of the witch, and to that end he searches her body and the cave for any sign of her spellbook...

Indeed, Yäns is surprised by the apparent youthfulness of the witch. He secretly assumed that she would revert back to some foul hag upon her death. He knows little and cares less for magic.
He gathers the booty and tosses it up the ladder before ascending himself.
It appears that we have recovered some interesting trinkets. Runar? Take a look.

Oren finds no book of spells, nor any sign of actual magic. Strange, that.

Seeing runes on the bracers, Oren examines them for signs of magic or tells of the bracers legacy. Though he makes no claim to them, he is certain they are enchanted and looks them over to see just how enchanted they may be. The bard likewise examines the dagger, pouch, components and torc...

While the bracers appear to be magical upon closer inspection, their function or history is beyond both Oren and Runar. They may have better luck finding someone in town with such knowledge. The torc and dagger appear to be merely finely crafted goods, and the droppings appear to be authentic but nonmagical.

After the battle, Rin gently approaches Kara and puts his hands on her wounds, invoking the healing powers of the gods.

The healing is enough to return Kara to consciousness, though a very painful consciousness. Her hand blazes with agony, though she can see that her initial worries of losing it were unfounded. There would be a scar and it would likely ache in the winters and when it rained, but it would be functional.

Several of the party members make plans to return at a later date to study the strange markings in the witches chamber. At the moment, they do seem like nonsense, but enchanted eyes may reveal dark secrets.

But for now, it is time to return home. It is a long day's journey back to the hold, and you now have the weight of some treasure and several heads to handle. In addition, Styr the Ugly will be a burden to challenge your speed. But you do make it back to the hold, and the jarl is roused to see your return. He looks more tired than anything, but you can see his satisfaction slowly creeping across his face. You are given praise, though not as much as you had received for rescuing his daughters. After all, this was simply completing a task you had been given.

The heads of the bandits are thrown into a pit, after the faces are identified. Many were nobodies that had fallen on hard times and made poor choices. But Ambrus was a known outlaw, and the witch- who you learn was named Astrid- was thought to have been lost to wolves years prior. For Styr and the others, you are given a bounty. The jarl offers you your choice of an arm-ring of some value, or an item from his huscarls personal armory.

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Some time later when you return to the cave, Oren and Runar discover that the scrawlings were in fact magical, similar to a book of spells, but using a writing system and covering topics that seemed strange. Perhaps fae in nature. Nothing is to be learned here, as it hurts the mind to think on, these crude markings.