Lucy's arrival (solo)

…a pair of male humans walking towards her (bandits, stealth 3). They were dressed in shabby, torn clothes, but their leather armour seemed in good condition. One had a scimitar drawn, and the other was holding a loaded light crossbow. Lucy had stopped walking. She saw them glance at each other and exchange grins. They held their ground 30 feet away and gave Lucy a menacing look.

‘Your coins for your life,’ snarled the man on the left, casually holding his scimitar (intimidation 9). The man on the right had his crossbow raised.

Her years alone in the forest had toughened Lucy up, and she wasn’t easily intimidated. ‘Yes,’ Uziken said in Lucy’s head with glee, ‘now it’s time to use the gifts I have given you.’ While Lucy tended to disregard any and all advice Uziken gave, this time she was in complete agreement.

Lucy (Initiative 9) wasted no time chatting with the men. She mouthed the Infernal words and gestured with her extended right hand in an entirely intuitive fashion, casting the cantrip Eldritch Blast. Her eyes glowed bright yellow as a beam of pale gold light was formed in the palm of her hand, shooting forward towards the man with the scimitar. It slammed into his chest, (attack 15) causing him to take a half step back and doubling over in pain (damage 10). But he remained on his feet.

He managed to regain his composure in a second (initiative 7). He was, Lucy realised, a seasoned fighter. He ran up to Lucy at full pace and swung his simitar at her (attack 20). She tried to sway out of the way, but his blade caught her in the side (damage 7).

His mate wasted no time in firing the crossbow. The bolt flew towards Lucy (attack 7), flying over her head by a foot. ‘Bugger,’ he muttered. ‘Damn short-arse Halflings.’

Although she was wounded, Lucy was not discouraged. She grabbed her hand axe from her belt and swung hard at the man’s throat, (attack 16), connecting solidly. Her blade ended the man’s life in an instant (7 damage.) She felt Uziken’s pleasure at taking the man’s life, and although she hated herself for it, felt the strength that she drew form it (dark one’s blessing.)

‘Jeffery, nooo!’ screamed the remaining man. ‘I’ll get you for that, you runt!’ Lucy didn’t waste her breath to reply, eyeing the man carefully. He had reloaded his crossbow, raised it, and fired again (attack 15), grazing Lucy’s thigh (damage 3). Lucy was really hurting now, but somehow kept her feet as the man, crazed with fury, rushed towards her.

Lucy considered using her Eldritch Blast again, but didn’t feel comfortable using it at such close range. So she elected to cast Burning Hands, even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to cast it again before getting a chance to recover her strength. Again, her intuition took over, as she dropped her axe, raised her hands and spoke the Infernal words. Flames sprang from her fingers, engulfing the area in front of her. The man managed to duck under the flames, but still took damage from the heat (damage 6).

The man jumped up from his crouch. He had dropped his crossbow and drawn his scimitar which he swung at Lucy as he rose (attack 13). It hit Lucy hard in her torso (damage 3).

Lucy was feeling tired but refused to give up. She reached into her cloak with both hands, pulling out her two daggers. She stabbed with her left hand (attack 17) feeling it enter the skin on his shoulder (damage 2). She followed this with her right hand (attack 17), this time stabbing at the man’s stomach (damage 1).

They were both on their last legs now. The man seemed to have had enough and turned and ran. Lucy didn’t have time to react before he was 30 feet away, so she raised her hands again to cast Eldritch Blast (attack 7). Unfortunately for Lucy, she failed to hit the moving target, and he disappeared behind a bend in the road. (Xp 50.)

Lucy was tired and in pain, but knew she had to act fast. There was no knowing when the man would be back, and whether he’d bring friends. She quickly collected her hand axe and searched the dead man’s body, finding a grand total of thirteen copper coins. ‘Well done, child,’ hissed Uziken. ‘See the strength I grant you? You defeated two grown humans. You wouldn’t have done that without me.’
‘True,’ Lucy said out loud as she pocketed the coins. ‘But without you I’d still have a family and a home and I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!’ The last was screamed at the top of her lungs, before she collapsed on the ground sobbing uncontrollably.

Lucy allowed herself sixty seconds to feel sorry for herself before picking herself up and walking into the forest on the side of the road. ‘Right,’ she thought to herself. ‘I’ll find a place to lie low and lick my wounds for the night. Tomorrow morning I’ll make for Waterdeep.’

She found a hollow log and crawled into it, covering the opening with branches and leaves. As soon as she was settled she drifted off to sleep, her aching body grateful for the rest.

The next morning…