Spring Bandit

It was a bright and sunny morning. The sun was shining onto the meadows and forests surrounding Esior's Haven . The grasses swished back and forth as if inviting all the grazing animals for a light snack. Trees, despite it being the early month of April, where already dressed in their dress of bright green showing of to the world for the first time after throwing off the heavy winter blanket of snow and frost. Everything was blooming and flourishing and it seemed that everything in the world was smiling. Everything except Till who was using a hike through the forest as a means to get used to an immobile arm which he would most likely have to carry deep into the summer months and indulge himself in a rare moment of self pity.

Till was a Nightfall Bandit and even though he ended up with an injury and almost defenseless because of it he understood it could have been worst. After all it was one of the four festival season and you could never expect anything from THAT! People died during these occurrences and many a bandit where injured to the extent that they had to stay at their camp for many a moon and still had scars as a memorial of what sylestians called the holidays. As for the commander the damage accumulated on him so much that the old man could barely step out of his tent, and had to be attended by his granddaughters day and night. Compared to that a couple of burns from an overzealous Draeyl were nothing. Actually the fact that he could move so well was a little miracle onto itself.

However even if he was lucky Till couldn't bring himself to feel a drop of gratitude. All through the long winter with it's bitter cold and scarce supplies he thought of spring. He couldn't wait till the days grew long again and he could walk the woods unhampered and bask the sunshine. And while he would never admit this to anyone at the camp, he had some basic alchemy and crafting skills from the time before he became a bandit and was hoping he could secretly tinker around with something. However as soon as the festival began life became a struggle. Hordes of adventurers flooded Virgin Meadows attacking bandits without distinction. They were after the various items that the bandits usually carried and Till found it understandable not being above stealing himself. However his camp, the Nightingale had a strict policy which included offering some manner of repayment either in gold or secret favor. Also his camp always stole on the sly, usually from sleeping households, and never attacked travelers and the such. Fighting was for necessity not profit or entertainment, at least most viewed this so. Really the people of the villages and towns were more bandit like then all the Nightingales combined.

Till was deeply engrossed in his thoughts and yet he somehow managed to see or sense a movement so at the point of impact he managed to keep his footing. The dark blue Morkko cub rammed into his chest and he was instantly reminded of the time when Neome dropped a sack of flour on him. Worst of all one of the Sylesti 's claws ripped through the bandages around his right arm and scratched the skin beneath sending a stab of agony through the burn and upwards. For a couple seconds Till stood stock still coping with the pain, then grabbed the morrako's scruff with his good hand, pulling the offending creature off his tunic where it decided to cling.

"Ursa!" The yell came from further up the path Till was following. Looking past the animal looked to see a fairly young individual with shoulder length straight, windblown, almond colored hair and eyes the color of maple sap. Then Till's eyes rested upon the ear tips poking out from beneath the hair. Too sharp to be a human's, too dull for an elf's, an indicator of a halfling. He was armed with only a branch that Till with all his creativity could scarcely call a club.

Irritated to the edge of wrath, Till stared at the adventurer before him. Then with a sudden motion threw his pet back at him. The adventurer was obviously not expecting this turn of events, and so as the full weight of the pet hit him he lost his balance tumbling onto the dusty road. Till meanwhile settled into a guardedly relaxed pose waiting for his opponent's next move.

"Wh- what are you waiting for?!" The adventurer's voice was full of fury and bitter sarcasm as he struggled underneath his pet. "Aren't you type supposed to take advantage of poor traveling folk such as myself?"

"Do I look like I am in the mood or condition to rob you?" Till answered not able to bite back an acid tone.

"Eh...No?" The young man's streak of now obviously false bravado was broken by Till's response, which must have seen a bit unorthodox.

"Now I would like to establish" Till continued pressing his advantage, "that I wish to resolve this situation peaceably and without further injury so if you will tell me what as an adventurer what do you want from me."

"Ah, I am not an adventurer" Till's conversation partner answered. "I was just traveling from the Sanctuary of Saerielle to Esior's Haven to visit my uncle who lives there, I started out about a month ago. Could you perhaps tell me if I am anywhere close?"

Even though Till was in a rotten mood that explanation dragged a curt laugh out of him. "Esior's Haven? Well either you have been sitting on your tail this part month or walking in circles, but this is just about the boundary of Umbra Forest."

"So I am lost..." said the traveler in a sunken voice.

"Till sighed Yes, you are, well here is a map I think you need it more than me, you just follow this marked trail here and you will get there. If you move at a fast pace you will be there in about a week, a few days if you can hitch a ride with somebody." Till gave a hurried set of instructions along with the map. Then before the duo on the road could give him any more problems walked into the undergrowth. He was sure he wouldn't see the half breed and the cub again.

***

A few weeks later as Till lay napping in his tent with Nyx his Zolnixi curled around him (she quite considerately avoided his burned arm) he was woken up by a light kick, thankfully in his good shoulder.

"Hey Till, there is some weird guy on the edge of the camp and he has been waving around a piece of paper he said was important. Problem is, it is written in that gibberish the elves use. We need a translator." said Bruno who was on patrol duty that evening and probably wrestled down a full grown Morkko before that.

Till sighed and extracting himself from Nyx's tails got up. Even though he had tried his best to hide his former education it was now a well known fact that he understood runes.

Coming to the edge of the camp Till was greeted by a sight of the duo from his day of sulking. The cub pressed close to her master's legs and the halfling was fidgety, obviously unnerved by the company of so many outlaws. Upon noticing Till he seemed to perk up if only just a bit.

"Hello, you are that bandit from a few days ago."

"Lost again?" Till inquired tiredly.

"No not exactly. You see my uncle was a Haven guardsman, and he died three months ago, in a bandit raid..."

"Continue." said Till, trying to drown out the indignant muttering tat greeted this remark.

"Well he left a letter for me and it contained directions to this place. I am supposed to give you this paper, I didn't read it." The hafling said uncertainly stretching out a hand that held a neatly folded piece of parchment.

Till took the offered document and unfolding quickly scanned through it. Then he blinked again and read it over more slowly. This couldn't be right, a guardsmen would never write... "This is not our level. Come on I will take you to see the commander." Till turned around and without looking back walked toward the center of the camp.

***

Half an hour later Till emerged from the central tent with a bewildered half elf on his heels.

"Could you tell me what all that was about?"

"What is your name?" Till asked instead.

"Kyle, Kyle Yarrow. But what does that have to do with anything?" Till's companion was becoming more confused by the moment.

"Well Kyle, my name is Till. As for what is going on, you are one of us now. the Nightingales are stuck with you, and you are stuck with the Nightingales! Now lets go to my tent. I need to learn more about my apprentice..."

Authors Note/Space to Talk

My fanfiction contains a few critical changes from the game. While still called Nightfall Bandits as a whole the rogues of the first zone, are divided into groups and camps which have their independent leaders who run the camp to their liking. The Nightingales are what you would call noble bandits who while still stealing for a living have a very strict code, which most of the camp dwellers adhere to.

At first this was supposed to be a story that illustrated the feelings of the bandits about the festivals through Till encountering a nameless traveler. However since my creativity tends to get out of hand the nameless individual on the road morphed into Half elf Kyle Yarrow (who I have grown tired of giving nicknames to since I couldn't name him till the end. Also I don't know how to age a halfling so I need some advice on that, I was thinking him a bit younger than Till who I imagine in the 17-23 age gap.).

The story holds a promise of continuation and I am not sure the characters will leave me alone. But I am a very hard person to motivate and an avid procrastinator so I am not sure I will ever type my ideas if I do get them. Actually it's a miracle I finished this story in one afternoon. So for now regard this as a solitary fanfiction. If a continuation does come along It may be posted her or in another thread. If it is another thread the link is on my profile and I will post a comment here to. But don't get your hopes up.

All that said and done I apologize for the many grammer mistakes that most likely riddle my work and my horrid writing style. I am open to criticism and getting pointers on any part of my story however don't be too harsh. (Also I am wondering weather or not to post any of my previous works that are stored on my computer into the Other Works category )

Congrats to myself for first major work on Sylestia and first published fanfiction. Yay!:)

Enjoy this thing and comment.

Man, I love this story! I can't wait to see another post!

A few spelling errors... i think first you need to consider what the age of an adult elf is and what the age of an adult human is... in the dnd world half elves have the same age as humans... so the age of a adult half elf would be 18-20ish

to flesh out your story - if you want to make it a bit more....
take this
It was a bright and sunny morning. The sun was shining onto the meadows and forests surrounding Esior's Haven . The grasses swished back and forth as if inviting all the grazing animals for a light snack. Trees, despite it being the early month of April, where already dressed in their dress of bright green showing of to the world for the first time after throwing off the heavy winter blanket of snow and frost. Everything was blooming and flourishing and it seemed that everything in the world was smiling. Everything except Till who was using a hike through the forest as a means to get used to an immobile arm which he would most likely have to carry deep into the summer months and indulge himself in a rare moment of self pity.

and make it this
It was a bright and sunny morning.^{this is redundant to what your saying next}
The sun was shining onto the meadows and forests surrounding Esior's Haven ^{Remove this extra space}. The grasses swishedwaved back and forth as if inviting all the grazing animals for a light snackmeal. <switch these two sentences>Trees, despite it being the early month of April, where already dressed in their dress of bright green showing of to the world for the first time after throwing off the heavy winter blanket of snow and frost. Everything was blooming and flourishinged and it seemed thatmaking it seem as if everything in the world was smiling. Everythingone except Till who was using a hike through the forest as a means to get usedbecome accustomed to an immobileinjured arm which he would most likely have to carry deep into the summer months which would not heal for months to come.and indulge himself in a rare moment of self pity.^{change to this to make it its own sentance}He also used his hike to indulge himself in a rare moment of self pity. all this mess then becomes this ---v

The sun was shining onto the meadows and forests surrounding Esior's Haven. The trees, despite it being the early month of April, where already dressed in their dress of bright green showing of to the world for the first time after throwing off the heavy winter blanket of snow and frost. The grasses waved back and worth as if beckoning the grazing animals for a light meal. Everything was blooming and flourished making it seem as if everything in the world was smiling. Everyone except Till, Who was using a hike through the forest as a means to become accustomed to in injured arm which would not heal for months to come. He also used his hike to indulge himself in a rare moment of self pity.


this is just a small example of word changes and slight correcting can do to a story... the first sentance in the corrected tell you the season and the location. teh second then tells you what the weather is like.

if you are having problems with your grammar i highly reccomend downloading this for chrome
Grammar check free
or using this. it has a max of 600 words but it also has a few other need tools
free online

So good!~