26 Going Stealth

Dawn arrived a few hours later. The sun's first rays were appearing, chasing away the lazy morning mist. A few Iron Shield bandits were stationed around the perimeter of the area for security. Sitting around playing cards, they kept a casual eye on the surrounding area. None of them expected a young man to emerge from the woods. They grabbed their nearby weapons reflexively.

Before they could even call out he threw a rock at them. It whizzed through the air and nailed one of the guards. By the time they'd realized what happened, he'd ran back into the woods. Enraged at the assault, a half dozen men chased after him. They didn't notice him ducking and jumping strangely over the gaps between some of the trees as he ran. Just as they thought they were going to catch him, several of the bandits tripped, while others crashed into the ground.

Small threads had been tied between the trees. Thin enough to hardly be visible, they had incredible tensile strength. They had been put between specific trees, some around ankle height, and others around chest height. Running at full speed into them had devastating effects. Screams of agony rang out as there were sprains and even broken bones.

Those screams didn't last long, as several men in black armor moved in to finish them off. Waiting cautiously, they observed the camp. Seeing no reaction they moved into the formerly occupied perimeter post. Moving quickly and avoiding detection they prepared the area.

A few moments later an even larger party of Iron Shield bandits came over. Unlike the previous bandits they were much more alert. The perimeter post hadn't checked in and they were sent to investigate. When they found the post abandoned they immediately sent a guard back to report. After the guard left they searched the nearby area. Finding nothing, they came back to the outer guard post.

Seeing a small man inside shocked them. They had just left and the the post was empty. Several bandits approached the building with the intent to question him. Caught unaware, they fell directly into several large pits. Spikes covered the bottom resulting in a fatal fall. The remaining bandits quickly fell into confusion and chaos. The pits were too large for them to jump over or cross. They could only watch as the youth mocked them and laughed.

"Hey what's that?"

The young man pointed behind them. Several men in black armor had appeared behind the remaining bandits. They were all lined up together and had strange looking shields. Charging with great speed, they rushed the bandits. The impact was enough to send the majority of the remaining bandits flying into the pits. Only a few of the bandits were able to resist the impact. However they were quickly overwhelmed and tossed in.

Once again an eerie silence took over the outer area. Having several people turn up missing the inner camp was now on high alert. They were preparing to hunker down and fortify the area. They had no way of knowing it was all for naught. The enemy attack they expected never came. It didn't take long for the bandit's tension to peak. Rumors were starting to spread that the mine was haunted. The spirits of the innocent had come back for revenge.

An hour later screams rang out from one of the tents. Bandit's ran over from all across the camp. There were unmistakable sound of combat and metal clanging. Moving quickly, the strangely armored invaders were surrounded by bandits outside the tent. Holding the entrance as a choke point, they began to retreat further inside. Charging inside the bandits saw the men escaping through a small tunnel.

Just as the last man went through the tunnel, it closed up. The mountain bandit chasing behind him crashed into the wall with a thud. Flabbergasted the bandits grabbed shovels and picks. Tearing into the wall, they dug several feet before they opened it back up. It looked like someone had dug a secret tunnel into the building. Naturally they had to report something like this.

Nobody wanted to explore the tunnel. With more and more of the camp disappearing it was obvious what would happen. Anyone who went down there wouldn't be coming back up. The bandits decided it would be better to just block it off. By this point the entire camp had come together in the central area. Only small groups were being picked off and no one wanted to be the next to disappear.

With all of the bandits concentrated together stealth would no longer work. Several of them had been eliminated but many still remained. It was time to change tactics and step it up a notch. They were about to find out why it was a bad idea to gather so many targets in close proximity.