It happened faster than Grukk could react. He was crossing the stone bridge over the Dawi River when his left leg was pulled out from beneath him. Sinking like a rock into the river due to his armor and weapons. After a short moment of panic, he looked about. The waters were murky, but his orcish eyes could make out the shape of rope tied about his left ankle. Some kind of snare trap, to pull him into the river. It was nailed into the underside of the bridge and was keeping him from being swept away by the current. Pulling along the rope, the fighter surfaced his head out of the water, coughing as air filled his lungs. With a firm grip on the bridge, he cut the rope around his ankle and moved along the bridge back to shore.

“Grukk?! Grukk!!” Alydrezea called out in worry and surprise, eyes scanning the surface of the river. They had no time to think about what happened to Grukk, when a large crossbow bolt went flying through the air and punched clean in the shoulder of the druid. She let out a pained cry from beneath her deep purple hood, staining the fabric with her blood. “Drezea!” Boris called out, pulled the bolt from her shoulder and looking around for where the bolt came from. His eyes were distracted by the sound of a whip cracking the air, and a large beast charging them. Another Owlbear! This beast was fatter than the last one, but still had the collar marks and scars from lashings with a whip. The ground rumbled as it charged straight at the party. Kara dodged out of way, rolling on the ground, landing upon her feet. The beast did not stop, it was heading directly for the druid and barbarian. Boris answered the monster’s charge with one of his own. Kara believed the two of them could handle one owlbear on their own, her hazel-eyes turned to the brush thicket where the beast had charged out of. Her perception was, as Grukk put it, unnerving. She spotted a figure wearing a cloak, stained the same color as the vegetation around it. The man was loading a heavy two-handed crossbow. The thicket was only fifty feet away, and Kara wanted answers. She dashed in the direction of their assailant. The thief was panting by the time she got there, a second crossbow bolt buzzed past her, grazing her right arm. It hurt but did not do that much damage. She was now face to face with her attacker.

It was a man. Human. He stood five and a half feet tall, wearing leather armor reenforced by metal studs. A heavy crossbow in his hands, a scimitar attached to his hip. His eyes were brown, and his skin was a dark bronze. Upon his exposed arm, was a tattoo of tiger’s paw with claws fully extended. Kara froze; she could feel her heart sink. Her hand, wielding nothing more than a dagger, was trembling. This man was from Raja. That tattoo was one she recognized, and so she recognized this man as a bounty hunter from Raja. Kara tightened her grip on her dagger, but before she could attack, the bounty hunter turned tail and ran. “Stop!” She cried out, throwing on of her daggers into the man’s back. It hit clean, but the man only grunted and kept running. “Damn it! Damn it Damn it Damn it!” The thief gave chase, running parallel to the river.

Grukk huffed and grunted as he dragged his drenched frame out of the water and onto the riverbank. Coughing and panting, his grey-toned skin soaked to the bone. It was freezing, but he couldn’t worry about that now. The half orc was greeted to a strange sight. Another owlbear, standing large upon its hind limbs and swiping at Boris with its sharp claws. The minotaur was holding his own, swiping at the beast with his glaive. Alydrezea was there as well, weaving nature magics that summoned grasping roots and vines to hold owl-faced monster back. Getting back to his feet, Grukk drew his claymore and charged into the fray. He slashed the back of the owlbear, the beast shrieking in confusion and pain. “Where’s Kara?!” The half-orc shouted out, his normally smooth voice rough with shouting like solider once more.
“Someone was shooting at us. She ran off into thicket!” Alydrezea responded, holding out her hands and focusing on the spell. The vines did little to hold the brute back, and it broke free, the magical roots withering away. It lunged forward, Boris put up his glaive to block the blow, the owlbears sharp beak snapping down onto the shaft of the weapon. It took all of the minotaur’s strength to keep from being knocked off his cloven hooves. Grukk shouted once more; “Alydrezea! Change into something and attack it!”
“Are you sure about that?! I can’t use magic in my wild shape, what if you get hurt?!”
“Worry about that later! Just do it so we can put this thing down!”
With a nodded, the druid took a deep breath, her form alights with starlight, and her body morphed and magically changed into that of a black leopard. With a growl, she pounced upon the larger beast, using her claws to remain upon the haunches of the owlbear and biting down with strong jaws. The monster relented its grip on Boris, flailing about to shake the cat off. Boris saw his opportunity. His eyes alight with infernal energy, the movements of the owlbear became clumsy and oddly sluggish, its eyes glazed over a bit, as if the minotaur had put an odd curse upon the monstrosity. Wanting to end the fight quickly, Grukk activated the magic of his giant runes once more. This time, only his bracers glowed with the strange giant magics. Red hot chains erupted from the ground to ensnare and burn the owlbear. Boris, Grukk, and Alydrezea all continued to slash and hack at the monster. Altogether, it wasn’t long before the beast was dead. As the three of them calmed down from the fight Grukk spoke up; “We need to find Kara.”

“Ah-Shit!” Kara screamed out in pain. Thick riparian vegetations and thickets were all around her. The only noise was the sound of the running river. She pulled an iron caltrop from her right foot. Looking closely, they were scattered all over the place. Of course, the bounty hunter would have set up traps. And now she lost him again. She cried out in pain; another crossbow bolt hit her in the back. It packed such a punch that is drew the breath from her for a moment. “F..fuck…” He hissed out, turning to see where it came from. She could not see. The bounty hunter had clearly thought this out. Now that her mind wasn’t full of thought of her old home, she could see it now. She was alone, and her allies were stuck fighting a monster…Grukk was probably swept halfway to the ocean by the current by now. She heard the rustling of vegetation, but it was masked by the sound of the river. Every time the bounty hunter fired a shot, he was repositioning. How much did they pay for this guy? “Mask damn it all…you’re in the shit now, Kara.” She looked all around her with worry, the ground was likely littered with all kinds of traps. Not enough time to check them all, she’d be a pin cushion before long. She looked up, there were some clusters of aspen trees thanks to the nearby river.

The bounty hunter from Raja peaked out from his hiding place, scanning the thicket for his quarry. Nothing. He could not see her. The man cursed himself in his head. This plan was risky, he knew she was a slippery little minx. Still, she was injured and the owlbear could hold her friends off long enough for him to make his catch. Slowly, the bounty hunter moved out from his hiding place and walked towards where he saw his prey last. There was blood on the ground. He touched it and rubbed it between his gloved fingers. It was fresh. The blood left a trail, leading to…an aspen tree? Thunk! The man grunted in pain; his back-left shoulder punctured by a crossbow bolt. He spun around on his heels, ready to fire off his own shot! But there was nothing there. He waited, moving towards the direction he felt the shot had come from. Thunk! Another bolt, this time to his leg. The man growled in frustration, spinning about once more to fire off a blind shot from his own, larger, crossbow. Still nothing. Gritting his teeth, and pulling out the bolt from his leg, he stayed still. The trees…she was using the damned trees! This was a problem; he hadn’t laid down any traps up there. His breath grew less steady. Her crossbow was small, but her shots were precise. Every shot so far had been aimed at a weak spot in his armor. He was still, listening. The sound of the river as masking her movements…but he heard it. Rustling in the tree nearest to his left! He turned, aimed his crossbow, and fired! A woodpecker flew off, startled. The bounty hunter’s breathing was shaking. His heartbeat grew louder and louder in his ears. Before he knew it, he was turning and reacting to every little sound he could hear over the river. Birds, frogs, a deer. Nothing. The aspen trees all looked the same! Thunk! Another bolt hit the Rajan man, this time in the left elbow, where there was no armor to protect him. It hit with such a force in the exposed flesh, that his left arm was rendered almost useless. Bleeding, in pain, with nerves shaken, he darted off in a random direction. Running as fast as he could, retreating. He would have to wait, come up with another plant!
His right foot was caught in a snare trap, the rope clutched his ankle and hoisted him ten feet into the air. He was so caught off guard, the dropped his weapon. Upside down, his face was fully exposed. His breath was quick and shaken, nervous sweat and dripped from his brow as blood dripped from his arm. The bounty hunter fumbled for a knife in his belt. Thunk! A crossbow bolt, right through that same hand. He cried out in pain, his eyes now full of fear, darting around the thicket and aspens woods. Then, he saw her, Kara Marsh, his quarry, descending from a nearby aspen tree with the agility cat. Her Hazel eyes glaring at him, and her light crossbow pointed directly at his head.

Kara saw the man was shaken; he was hanging upside down from a snare trap. One of his own that he blundered into. He held up his hands in surrender. “Who are you?” She asked in a demanding tone, her beautiful voice now very threatening. “Who hired you?! Was it the Stripes?! Talk!” The man cowered, gesturing with clasped hands, begging for his life. But he spoke no words. “Why won’t you answer me?! Talk right fucking now or I put a bolt through your worthless head!” The man opened his mouth, pointing at it. Looking closely she saw, his tongue was cut out. She lowered the crossbow, defeat in her eyes. Of course, the Stripes can’t have blabber mouths in their ranks. The bounty hunter still begged for his life, Kara looked him up and down. “Don’t come after me again, or I will kill you. Got it, you little crybaby?” The man nodded fiercely, and Kara fired off a bolt. It ripped through the rope of the snare trap and the man fell to the ground with a painful thud. He spared her only one glance before scrambling to his feet and running off. He was just out of sight when Kara heard him scream again.
Her eyes went wide, something was coming! Out of the thicket came a black leopard, with blood on its lips. Kara stiffened, “Easy now…I really don’t want to fight…”
The black panther got closer and closer, and gently licked Kara’s hand. Rubbing up against her like an affectionate house cat. The thief sighed and let herself fall onto the ground, as Alydrezea changed back into her drow form with a wicked smile. “I scared you, didn’t I? Admit it. I scare youuu~.” The druid teased, and Kara rolled her hazel eyes. “Shut up, Cat Lady.”
“So now it’s Cat Lady?! I have a name!”
Out of the thicket came Grukk and Boris. The latter dragging the bounty hunter’s body by the leg. “This man was the cause of our trouble?” The minotaur asked. The Rajan woman sat up and nodded. “He’s from Raja. A bounty hunter.”
Grukk chuckled, his smooth baritone voice returning. “You weren’t lying about those debts, were you? He’s riddled with crossbow bolts…you’re an excellent shot.”
Kara chuckled, extending her hand to the half orc. “If you’re going to kiss my ass you could at least help me up. He got me good, too.” Grukk smiled and took her hand. Pulling her up onto her feet. Boris let the body go.
“He is your kill. Drezea got to him in the end, but she said she didn’t want anything off him.”
“And I already took the money he had. He had 50 gold on him.” Grukk added on. Looking over the corpse, Kara took only his scimitar. It was a well-made, curved blade that was flat and wide in the Arabian style. She gave it a few test swings. “I can use this. I’ll be in trouble if this happens again, and I’m stuck with daggers. I can’t hide behind you boys all the time.” She gave a wink, Grukk rubbed the back of his head. Boris simply snorted.
“Let’s get back on the road, and patch these wounds up.”

They did not set up camp, as the sun still shined on them from high in the sky, but they stopped by the bridge to patch up their wounds. A few helaing potions and a quick rest and they were all better. Alydrezea, of course, helped with the healing. "Hey Kara? Why was this guy hunting you?"
"I told you, I have debts."
"Must be serious for your debtors to send a bounty hunter after you." Grukk commented.
"He was a fine hunter as well. He knew how we fought, how we would react." Boris added on, with Alydrezea nodding along with his words. "He must have been following us for days."
"Probably since we left Red Wake." Kara sighed, taking a swig from her waterskin. She saw all eyes were on her, expectantly. "Look...my debtor is a very powerful man in Raja. I...owe him a lot."
"How much?" Grukk asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Too much." The thief sighed. "I was part of his...gang, you could say. We were pickpockets, thiefs, burgalers..."
"A Thieves Guild?"
"Exactly.I grew up on the streets of Raja. I had to take what I wanted to survive. Survival was easier with a little group like that. As I got older…well, they had me doing more…messy, jobs. It didn’t sit right with me, so I got out. I figured if I could travel to Iroas they couldn’t touch me. But I also knew that the cost would be great. I needed coin, and lots of it, as quickly as possible. So I…. stole something, from the guild’s bastard in charge.”The others were paying her their full attention at this point. “What did you steal?” The dark elf asked with wide eyes.