Rushing forward, Nyx and his companions reach the battle scene. Ari brings the cart to a halt as they all jump out. In the middle of the road are four dead bodies, presumably the bandits. Blood trails lead off the road into the tall grass surrounding them. Nyx bends down to inspect one of the bodies. This one a young half-elf, the bodies look like they probably belonged to a ragtag bunch of bandits struggling to get by. Nyx stomps the ground and looks around furiously.

“They aren’t even here!” Nyx yells as he walks to the side of the road to sit down. Ari tries to put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him but Nyx swats it away. Felix pokes one of the bodies with his lute and then jumps away scared, expecting the body to get back up. Vola picks up a knife off one of the corpses and sniffs the air.

“Hm, this smell. The bandits’ blood was masking it a bit but there's something strange.” Looking at the dark blue blood on the blade of the knife, Vola gives it a nice smell. “Yeah, this was definitely them. Only tieflings and dark elves have dark blue blood like this. If you give me a moment, I can probably use this to sense where they went.”

“Nyx if they wanted to kill them then they would have done that from the very beginning, there’s gotta be a reason why they took them so I’m sure they’re safe.” Ari says as she reaches her hand out to him.

“Fine, I’m not one to give up this easy. If there is even a slight chance, they are alive I’ll take it.” Nyx says as he gets up accepting Ari’s hand.

“Well if we are all done here then I think it might be ideal to start heading away from here. I don’t know about you guys buy I don’t really like being around dead bodies, what if the rest of the bandit group comes ba-.” Felix tries to say as an arrow quickly flies over his head taking the feather off his hat with it and landing into the side of the cart. Felix screams and runs to hide behind Vola, as she pulls her large battleaxes from off her back. Ari activates her eyes and peers into the tall grass.

“Come out before I make you! I can see you all hiding in there.” Ari calls out. Walking out of the grass with his hands holding up a crossbow aimed at Nyx is a middle-aged elf. Dressed in similar garb as the dead bandits lying in the road, the elf gives Ari a creepy smile with his French beard.

“Well hello my friends, I told you all that it would be smart to wait for more travelers.” He says looking to his side as four more armed bandits come from out the grass. “I’m afraid that any travelers coming by are required to pay a small fee for using this road.” Nyx slowly approaches with his hands up.

“Oh yeah? And who might you be?”

“How rude of me. I am Sir Hendricks, knight of the Crystalis Empire.” Nyx looks up and down Hendricks and the men at his side trying not to laugh.

“Ha. Yeah, and I’m Nyx Crystalis the prince of the Crystalis Empire.” Nyx jokes sarcastically. One of the bandits shoots his crossbow at Nyx’s feet to stop him from moving any closer.

“Ah we have a jester here my brothers.” Hendricks laughs. “Either be cooperative and hand over your coin, or I believe I will have to retrieve it from you myself.” Ari looks at Nyx from the other side of the road and gives him a look to just settle down and give him some coin. Nyx ignores the look and keeps walking towards the bandits.

“Well, ‘Sir Hendricks.’ I’m sorry but you caught me in a bad mood. You see I already had something taken from me recently, and I’m a bit too focused on getting that back to deal with a punk like you.” Hendricks laughs and aims his crossbow away.

“My young friend, no need to be so disrespectful. Just stop where you are, and we can handle this like adults.” Nyx ignores the order and keeps walking, only a couple yards away from them now. “Well it seems you have forced my hand.” Hendricks motions to his men to fire, and four crossbow bolts shoot towards Nyx. With a startling speed, Nyx ducks down and dodges the arrows as they sink into the dirt next to him. Vola rushes towards the men with a roar with her two axes at her side. Ari pulls two daggers out of her pendant and charges, Felix however running to hide behind the cart.

Hendricks gives a laugh and shoots his own arrow at Nyx, who grabs it in midair and throws it at one of the other men, piercing him in the neck as he falls back disappearing into the tall grass. Hendrick grunts and yells for the men to attack and they rush forward dropping their crossbows and pulling out short swords. Hendricks draws a rapier and attacks Nyx. One bandit runs to Ari, the other two rush Vola. Swinging their swords at the same time, the two on Vola get knocked down quickly as Vola charges through them. Aura surrounds the half-orc’s body as her muscles start to get even larger. Vola snorts and picks up one of the bandits from the ground, lifting him into the air. The bandit screams as Vola throws him on the ground and uses one of her axes to cleave him in half. The other bandit gets terrified and tries to get up to run away. As he starts to run Vola gives a loud grunt, and Bo comes charging from out of the grass towards the bandit. The bandit screams as he gets impaled by Bo’s large tusks and thrown to the ground lifeless.

The bandit fighting Ari is also quickly dispatched. Dodging each of his attacks with ease, as if fighting a child, Ari quickly cuts up his body with her two daggers. With no energy left and sustaining too much damage from all his wounds, the bandit falls as Ari thrusts her blade into his chest. With no men left, Hendrick focuses his rage to Nyx.

While his combat style may not be as elegant as Ari or as fierce and brutal as Vola, Nyx is actually a very good fighter. Ari watches him impressed as he dodges Hendrick’s attacks and strikes back dealing surprisingly hefty blows despite still being unarmed. Knocking Hendricks’s rapier away, Nyx grapples him to the ground and puts his foot to Hendricks’s throat.

“Why did you attack that caravan?!” Nyx barks, spit flying into Hendricks’s face.

“Wh-what caravan. I’m a b-bandit you have to be more specific.” Hendricks says with fear in his eyes. “L-listen kid, I’m sorry we attacked you just let me go and I won’t bother you again.” Nyx presses his foot with more weight into Hendrick’s neck, causing him to cough and spit up blood.

“Don’t play games with me! The caravan that just passed by not too long ago. Was there a human mom in their with her kids?” Nyx questions.

“Oh! Ha, yes yes! That caravan I’m sorry, of course. Yes, I think I might have seen some kids in the cart, but I didn’t get much of a good look. The mages driving the cart were very strong, so we had to leave quick. I’m sure you probably guessed that.” Hendricks says gesturing to the dead bandits from before.

“Where were they heading?”

“Well their insignia was from the Coastal Coalition, and they were heading south so my guess would be that they were going back to Midgard, right?” Hendricks chuckles nervously. “Can you let me go now?”

“Thank you for your cooperation old man.” Nyx says as he starts to crush Hendricks’s throat with his foot. Hendricks tries to claw at Nyx’s feet, struggling for air, until his hands finally let go. Nyx gets up and stares at the dead body of the man and wipes the blood from his face.

“Nyx are you okay?” Ari says walking up to him, concerned about the sudden show of bloodthirst.

“Let’s just go. We have to catch them on their way to Midgard.” Nyx says, climbing back into the cart. Felix peeks his head from the cart with a sigh of relief now that the danger is gone.

“Wow that was amazing!” Felix exclaims. Ari and Vola both climb into the front of the cart, as Ari gets the horse going.

“Yeah you two are impressive. Where did you learn to fight?” Vola asks.

“Well… My dad is kind of the leader of the Crystalis Empire’s army.” Ari chuckles apprehensively.

“So, you really are like a princess!” Felix pronounces. “I think that calls for me to sing another ditty.” He says pulling his lute out.

“NO!” Everyone yells.

“What about you Nyx?” Vola inquires.

“Well my dad taught me most of my skills, before he was sent to die by the Crystalis Empire’s army.” Ari hangs her head down and there’s a moment of awkward silence as the group rides down the road for a while. Felix then perks up and puts his hand on Nyx’s shoulder.

“Well I think he would be proud. Look at you now, you’ll save your family with the strength of your father inside you. And we will be right there to help you!” Nyx turns to Felix and smiles.

“Thanks Felix. I really appreciate you guys being here with me.” Nyx says, looking back to face the road. “Now let’s head to Midgard, I’m sure we’ll find another clue to follow.”