RoJ is to use on quarriers and posts as usual. You can also spike a target using 1>2>3>4>5>6>7.
Need alcohol and the divine favor hammer.
-"Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt.”
A group of a dozen bandits had suddenly popped up from the dark of the cold autumnal night and entered the bar, their leader a young female monk with an authoritarian gaze.
Rumors of the ruthlessness of the bandits have long fueled the fire of the inn until late at night. Everyone immediately stopped drinking as the group made its way toward the counter. The Innkeeper, a fat, big and bald man with red cheeks, was standing behind it with an air of uneasiness on his face. No word was yet spoken that the bandit leader banged her fist on the table.
-“Innkeeper, a drink!" she ordered. She then leaned towards the innkeeper, purposedly exposing her breasts to the innkeeper's gaze, touching his collar from her small hands. The man's cheeks grew crimson. She added with a whisper: "And please not your average hunter's ale; somebody told us you got some special shipment of krytan brandy... my friends here would be very pained not to have a taste of it.”
The innkeeper's face turned green.
-“N..No, I can't ! And how... who told you that ? I'm sorry, I really can't. The brandy is for king Adelbern and his court ! He'll kill me if I lose it, and even more to bandits !”
The girl released her grasp.
-“Really? The great, the mighty, the fair “King” Adelbern? He wouldn't harm his fellow subjects now, would he ? And to think such a great, wise, educated man would even drink alcohol? I guess this means we'll have to leave immediately now…“
She snapped her finger and a second later two bandits were pointing their fire staves at the innkeeper.
-“Now, enough with the jokes, the young woman said. You have but one choice. Either he kills you later or we kill you right now. We came to get that brandy, and we won't go back without it. Also we are not bandits, we are royalists. Adelbern is but a uneducated mercenary, not even a guard or soldier fighting for his country, but a coward constantly living in fear behind his walls! It's true nobles have made mistakes during the guild wars, but they have received the best education. Only them have the knowledge and strength required to deal with the Charr once and for all. ”
She took a deep breath and sighed. She continued:
-“I’d prefer avoid hurting anyone here. That brandy is the only thing we want. Give it to us and we clear off. If your stupid king asks about it just tell him that the shipment was hijacked by... by... well some racist dwarf guild while crossing the Shiverpeaks. He’ll probably believe that.”
Suddenly, a ranger stood up and walked to the counter. A tall figure, with a white medium stubble beard and long white hair. He was unmistakably a hunter, although his bow was clearly cheap.
-“Mister Innkeeper, please serve them something. On my note.”
In a moment, all bandits were around him, their weapons ready to strike. The hunter was looking at the trembling innkeeper. The young monk looked at the newcomer with furious and scornful eyes :
-“Do you have a deathwish, hunter ? And maybe you have troubles with your hearing. I said we won't go back without the brandy, so we won't settle with just some random ale”
The hunter patiently waited for the drinks. The innkeeper was shaking nervously, ready for the worst. All eyes in the pub were fixed on the ranger.
The ranger took a sip of his own pint.
-"I'm not gonna die. But you should take my offer, he said to the monk. At least your team gets free drinks. "
The bandits were muttering among themselves, wondering whether they should accept the offer, but the girl glanced angrily at them and they immediately came back to silence.
The girl came closer to the ranger, her face nearly touching his.
-"I'm not against a free drink but we. want. that. brandy. Adelbern stole the vineyard of my parents and led me and many other nobles to flee in the countryside to avoid being killed. Now the usurper is quietly getting white hair and drinking Amethyst from the vines that once belonged to my family, without a care about the work and feelings that went through it... but just thinking about it makes me want to vomit. We are not strong enough yet to face the whole army of Ascalon, so the only thing we can do in the meanwhile is make his life as uncomfortable as we can."
The hunter slowly took a sip of his pint, then replied :
-"I think you are making a wrong decision. If his life is uncomfortable because of you he will get angry and chase after you, and you will have to run away again."
He put the pint back on the counter, and for a moment the monk pondered what the hunter said. But she shook her head:
-"You are trying to manipulate us with ale and smart words. We'll just burn this inn to the ground if we have to, but we won't leave empty handed. Guys, let's show this fool what we do to sugary tongues. We'll get the ale and the brandy later."
What came afterwards happened in a flash. The bandits were ready to attack, but the ranger suddenly dashed backwards and throw off a table as a shield, removing in the process one of the few torches to light the pub, and the inn turned even darker. The royalists closed in but the hunter had disappeared. Seconds later, the sound of a vibrating bowstring resonated in the room. Five times. Five bandit corpses fell down on the solid ground.
-“Alf ! Blackjack ! By Balthazar ! the monk said. She took out her staff and started casting a spell. Kill the ranger ! Fire at will!”
But before any 
Flare could be cast new arrows had reached new targets. Three more bandits embraced the soil without a sound.
The monk dodged a shaft and counterattacked with a 
Bane Signet that knocked the ranger down somewhere in the shadows. She saw her fallen teammates and fire burst out of her fingers and fury twisted her face.
-“How dare you harm my brothers-in-arms? She shouted. You’ll not leave this place alive!”
A 
Fire Storm was brewing in the room. The monk was ready to burn everything, regardless of the wooden furniture. But something hit her in the back. She turned around, and saw necromancer minions surrounding her.
She cancelled the spell and stepped back. There's no minion without a minion master, she thought. Looking at the door, the necromancer was nowhere to be found. Luckily undeads are easy to deal with for a monk. She casted a 
Symbol of Wrath, and the bone horrors fell all around her.
Other bandits were struggling against the minions. The monk got rid of them one by one with 
Banish spells, all the while trying to avoid arrows.
But something was amiss. Their attacks were slower than usual and they felt suddenly weakened, as if ill.
Curses, the monk realized. That Necromancer wasn’t just some mere minion master, but also used curses!
Too late; she was the only one from her group, the remaining bandits were all lying down.
Pete, Shade, Silent Glen... The bandits were her only friends and company, and she couldn’t save any of them. Maybe it was that, or her undefeatable enemy, but tears rolled out of her eyes. She remembered her parents' and Countess Nadya's dead bodies, all killed by an adventurer. She remembered the promise she made never to heal any guild mercenary, those that kill people only for money. She cried:
-“Balthazar curses you. All of you! Curse you adventurers who cannot do anything but kill? When will you ever be satisfied in your lust for money and blood ? I'll burn this inn to the...”
But something hit her head violently, before she even could cast her last spell. In her darkening vision she just had enough time to see a round ended arrow on the floor before she fell unconscious.
***
She woke up late in the daytime, and realized that she was lying in some sunny glade. She had a strong headache as if having drunk too much, although she wished she had drunk at least a drop of alcohol. With relief she saw the other bandits there too, most still unconscious, but none of them had any serous injury, only bruises that remained from the fight.
Something else nearby caught her attention. A keg of aged hunter's ale with a note attached to it. She walked up to it and read it.
The note was saying “Please forgive me for what I did. I didn't mean to. Let’s talk some more next time. Without arrows, skeletons or fire.”
The monk sighted.
-"Dumb ranger. You should have kept that keg for you."
Relique De Ruine
