Bandit captain

Creeping through their towering headquarters, I penetrated deep within the Ironwood Bandit fortress. There I found many fine guards, some of whom have very poor manners, standing tall and proud at their posts. As I climbed the stairs, I began to sense something amiss. The guards would often glance nervously at one another and whisper quietly as I passed. I managed to pick out phrases here and there like: "King Borgia" "King's Man" "the fool!" and "the plan will not fail!"

Naturally, I grew suspicious having heard such things, and I began to investigate more thoroughly. I pressed further upward fighting my way past the guards, each more ferocious than the last. Finally, I reached the top floor and sat for a moment to rest. As I sat munching on some salted meat, my keen ears picked up the cries of a female and by the sounds of it, human. My curiosity piqued... I found myself creeping along the hall towards the cries. The hallway ended in a rather solid door, which was closed.

I crept up to the door and peered through the keyhole. From what little I could see, it appeared to be a bedroom rather lavishly decorated with fine goods. I could only see one occupant in the room. A young female human huddled upon the bed with her knees to her chest crying. Her dress suggested she was an innocent village girl, but the tears and intense fear in her eyes suggested she had lost a bit of that innocence. At that, I slipped silently through the door and caught my breath as I spied a very large man before me - quite naked. He turned to me and spat, "Begone! You putrescent and vile guttersnipe!" The man began putting on a set of fine plate armor, a shield, and then he hefted a massive claymore. He was quite impressive and carried himself with an air of authority. I understood then that this was the man I sought. I gritted my teeth and a thin hiss escaped my lips as I drew my blades. Deftly, I circled Violte and slammed a blade into his kidney. Violte howled in agony and swung his blade in a wide arc forcing me back. We danced around one another exchanging blows and clashing steel. More than once, I cried out in pain as I foolishly fell for one or two of Violte's moves. If nothing else, Violte was a very good swordsman and I knew that I could very well die facing him. We fought long and hard, but finally, as luck would have it, an opening presented itself and I thrust my dagger into his neck. Violte slumped to the floor as his eyes rolled back into his head.

A sudden rush of movement approached me from the corner of my vision. Instinctively, I spun extended my blade and felt it slide into soft flesh. I looked and realized far too late that it was the damsel and she had rushed forward to thank me. A look of anguish was locked on her face as she slid from my blade and crumpled to the floor. With a shrug, I collected what valuables I could find and headed home knowing I had rightly served my King. As for the damsel, I've only had one thought since - It's her own damn fault for being dumb enough to get kidnapped by Captain Violte.

## Librarian's Note

This tale is a combination of fact and fiction. It is provided here as an anecdotal tale to provide adventurers with some insight into an Ironwood Bandit captain, and the types of fighting tactics and habitat he or she would inhabit. The events detailed are all true, but this one story is a compilation of tales regarding Bandit Captains. They are joined in order to provide a more useful entry in the Bestiary Compendium.

It is unknown whether any "Captain Violte" actually exists within the hierarchy of the Ironwood Bandits. If there is, and he is located, the Kingdom of Sable would be well served if he were wiped out of existence or captured and brought back to the Justicars (if that is at all possible!).