Somehow Druidly dodged the bandit’s blows long enough to put half a dozen of them into a magical sleep. Those left promptly returned the favor and he fell unconscious. While the bandit leader shouted, rats crept up from behind. He screamed as they swarmed him but lived long enough to flee toward the stairs, ordering his followers to keep Druidly inside the barrow.
Gravelgnasher saw an opportunity and killed one bandit with an arrow to the forehead. Trying to keep the peace, Bancroft stepped into the barrow and healed Druidly, promising to keep him from casting again. The situation was tense as Druidly and Bancroft tried to leave while the rats pursued and the bandits frantically roused one another. In a surprising display of mercy, Druidly rescued one fallen bandit and closed the door behind the last of them, locking the rats inside. The bandits punished Gravelgnasher by stoning him into unconsciousness but let Bancroft and Druidly go with a fine of 10 gp.
By that time most of the rest of the group had disappeared down one hole or another and the bandits left for safer loot. The rats remained locked inside the barrow along with the two remaining opals, the last treasure they knew of. In the confusion Jemma had fled back to town on her own.
Two newcomers, Tohru and Flan, introduced themselves after the bandits left. They were friends and wanted a share of the treasure. The party offered partial shares if they would guard them on the way back to town, since things had become dangerous, and they agreed. Gravelgnasher eventually awoke with only a headache to show for his experience.
With Gravelgnasher awake they were able to track Jemma toward town. She made most of the way, but they found her body in the swamp — cut, slashed, and stomped into the ground. The golden jackal-head figurine she had been carrying was damaged but still valuable. Jemma could not be revived. The group decided to award her friends full shares in her memory; she had at least kept the figurine safe from the bandits. Bancroft held a funeral service, commending her body to the swamps to be recycled, as is the natural course.
They made it back to Helix with heavy hearts and heavier pockets. Between the figurines and the rubies their haul was almost 300 gp, about 60 gp each.
With the party’s first big score and a fallen friend, the drinks flowed freely. Bancroft ordered round after round as did the rest. The next morning he woke in a gutter with a sore head, luckily with his purse mostly intact. The others were not so lucky. Druidly even ended up in the stocks after challenging the local wizard Mazzah to a magical duel and then trying to burn down his tower when the wizard refused.
For better or worse the party were now known in Helix as adventurers.
