Pro tip: if you ever find yourself in a stand-off with superior forces, don't start by killing one of their pets.

There was one silent second after Josh put an end to Cujo, where everything was still, no one breathed. Then, arrows started to fly, and men with swords began charging into our camp.

I'm not sure why I was considered a target when there were so many other (bigger) targets around, but an arrow was aimed squarely at me. Instinctively, I used my Dodge skill and slid around the speeding shaft. It buried itself in the fire, and I drew my knife preparing for the next attack.

When one of the swordsmen came at Tanner, she issued a blast of wind at our fire, blowing flames over his foe. The man's cloak caught like kindling, and he veered off trying to rip the burning shroud from his body. The merchant grandmother pulled her crossbow and popped one of the bowmen in the shoulder, disabling one of the ranged attackers. Josh was locked in battle with the dog's owner, parrying blows from a cudgel using his staff. The merchant mother and her daughter, Gretta, had their swords out and joined the fray.

I seemed almost forgotten about, except for the remaining dog that was charging me down, fangs flashing and maw leaking strands of drool. I didn't have time to be humiliated by the fact my enemy was a dog, or the fact it stood taller than me while still on all four legs (not to mention, it probably out weighed me by a hundred pounds). It came in, lunging for my throat. With a nimbleness I never felt before, I stepped to the left and grabbed a handful of fur. Using the beast's momentum, I swung myself up onto its back.

It did not like me being on top one bit, and I rode it around the campsite as it bucked and kicking like a bronco. I held on to its nape, bouncing up and down on its back. My dress rode up past my hips, displaying to the world a full moon and a whole lot more. Luckily, everyone was too occupied to notice. Or so I hoped.

An arrow whizzed past, but I didn't know if it was directed at me, or if we'd gotten in its path. My knife was supposed to be for throwing, but it was still plenty sharp. I jabbed it hard in the side of the beast's neck and used it as a grip to better position myself. The dog yowled, slowing and listing toward its injured right side. I yanked the knife out, and a spurt of blood erupted from the wound. Three more hits with the blade and the dog collapsed beneath me. 

I got an alert that I was now level one, but was too busy rolling off the dead dog and dodging the sweep of one of the bandit's swords (not to mention, yanking my dress back down) to read it.

While I was dealing with the dog, the battle had transformed. I counted four dead bandits. Mack and Griff were back from collecting firewood and had joined the fight. The mother and Gretta were keeping another one of the bandits occupied, as did Griff. Mack was taking on the bandit leader by herself, and although she was getting some blows in, her enemy was pushing her back toward the trees, and a large gash bled freely from her forearm. Tanner was fighting with her staff, trying to keep a bandit with a mace at a distance. This suggested she was all out of Mystic Energy. I'd give her some of mine, if I could. It wasn't doing me much good. If only a had an offensive spell instead of just Starlight. What I wouldn't have given for a good old fireball.

Josh was pummeling a bandit with his staff. He had two arrows embedded in his back. When he finished off his foe, he bolted across the campsite to help Tanner.

Mack got knocked to the ground, and the bandit leader raised his sword for the finishing blow. I flung my knife with all my force.

It slammed into his eye socket.

It didn't take much longer before the remaining three bandits were dispatched. Our party was in pretty rough shape, but luckily the merchants were feeling grateful for our help in protecting their goods, and gave us each a healing potion. I didn't need mine, somehow I'd managed to get through the whole battle with only 1 point of damage (from my wild ride on dog-back), which would heal with a night's sleep. So, I stashed the potion in inventory. After a great deal of debate, I decided to put my free attribute point from leveling up into Finesse, since both my attacks and defenses were mainly based on it. There were other scores I would have loved to have raised, but they'd have to wait.

I pulled up my updated character sheet:

Hmm, I guess that critical hit bumped up my knife throwing skill too.

Tanner was saying to Josh, "No. Put into Intellect. Trust me."

"But I want to be strong."

"Intellect will make you stronger."

"It will? Okay, then."

Tanner turned to the rest of us, "Well, it's up to three now."

"And everything is back to normal," Mack said with a mock contented sigh. "Now then, lets rifle some pockets and steal some shoes." 

Looting the bandits didn't yield a whole lot. Eight of them had been level 1, and their equipment weighed more than they were worth. Only the level 4 leader had anything interesting: A tier 2 saber, a tier 1 leather jerkin with a +2 defense bonus, and a cloak of hiding. We wanted to give the clothes to Josh, but he took on penalties if he wore anything more than his "garments of poverty," as the game put it.

With each of our restrictions and skills, it made the most sense to give it all to Mack. Not that there wasn't some grumbling about this. After all, everyone wants some of the loot, but in the end we were all practical about it. 

The armor swap, meant Mack's black leather vest with the sewn in coins was gone, and in it's place, she wore a black leather shirt with sleeves so short they only covered her shoulder. The hide had been treated until it was glossy, and it held her torso incredibly tight. It was fastened by several ties down the front, and no matter how tight she tried to make them, it always left a gap with her skin peering through. Admittedly, I'd been fighting for my life and hadn't and hadn't been paying close attention, but I didn't think it look like that on the bandit leader.

The money that we'd gathered tallied up to 32 silvers, 10 coppers, a gold ring, and a small ruby. We decided to keep it pooled until we accumulated more than we'd spend the first night we were in a town.

We were settling down to finally get some sleep, when Mack whispered to me, "So, I found out how to unlock the special skill."

"Really? How?"

She jerked her head in the direction of Griff, then giggled when I mouthed the word, "sex." The realization filled me with equal parts awe and dread.

"What is it?" I asked.

She said, "I'm never telling." Mack seemed amused at leaving me in suspense, but there was an underlying horror in her eyes that left me uneasy.