> With Holy Reading, mind-read the greatsword guy and figure out what pisses him off the most. Use this knowledge to taunt him.

DM note :This is a minor action that can be done between turns so that means I'll be doing it now. Holy Reading is an inbetween turn ability but you can only do it once between two seperate rolls.

You look to the south west where a large man covered in studded leather and you start to try and read his mind. Your eyes go milky white and glow for an instant as you read his thoughts. His mind is filled with anger and hatred, but drowning it all out is a lot of fear. Something has scared this man almost senseless and he is switching between thoughts as fast as possible.

God damn this place. I've got to get me and my crew out of here.

Pushing through his thoughts, you find the source of his anger and discomfort. The images are blurry, but with enough detail for you to make out.

A towering knight with black and red plate armour. In the bandit's mind, he seems to be trying to run away from him, but this knight seems to be able to teleport and was destroying his group of people one man or woman at a time. This is what makes him angry - the thought of losing his friends. Otherwise, he seems focused on you. It appears you are his first target. But digging deeper into his mind, you find out that his name is Sandrew, a local variant of an older name. When he was young, people used to bully him by calling him Sandy. Perhaps that'd work as a way to get his attention?

EDIT : I knew I forgot something from the roll last night. Enemy gear and stats. Whoops I suppose.

Bandit with Greatsword/ Sandrew
Visible Inventory
Studded Leather Armour - Equipped. Blocks damage 4 to 8.
Dull Iron Greatsword - Equipped. 4 to 12 damage.
Traits
Adrenaline Overdrive
Allows the player to make three actions simultaneously. This ability is tied to a number of circumstances. If the human being is under attack by a large number of enemies, the ability can be triggered. It can also be triggered if the human has been heavily wounded or if they are fighting a powerful enemy.

Bandit with Mace
Visible Inventory
Leather Armour - Equipped. Blocks damage 4 to 6.
Mace - Equipped. 7 damage.

Bandits with bows
Visible Inventory
Leather Armour - Equipped. Blocks damage 4 to 6
Pine Self Bow - Equipped. 1 to 6 damage
Iron Arrows Equipped. +3 to bow damage maximum.

If these guys are driven by fear rather than the want for loot and/or money, perhaps we can try to gain some allies?

"Hold, Sandrew! I have seem your fear! A marauding knight in black and red armor, yes? Lay down your arms and we can help you escape this place, conflict with us will not spare your friends!"

> Try to bring them to our side. Else, just distract.

Sandrew goes pale as you mention the knight.

"How the hell did you know my name? Or know the knight?"

He sighs.

"How do I know you are telling the truth?" He looks down and sees your surcoat. It is made of long white cloth and has a large depiction of a shield in the centre, surrounded by golden light.

In a snap of realization he drops his sword. "You're...you're a paladin!"

He smiles, then turns to the woods and shouts to his comrades.

"Guys, don't shoot! The paladins have arrived!"

One by one, they step forward out of the woods. Sandrew's face is covered with relief.

"Sir Autumn said he was going out to get some reinforcements to hunt down that demon, that was three days ago. We all thought he was killed but he must've made it out afterall."

"Did he...Did he tell you what's been going on out here?"

"That must mean that Sir Autumn didn't make it, gods damn it. Still, it's good to have some help out here. First, let me introduce you to the guys."

He gestures to the other human, a large man. "He's Little Tim, he was a miner."

He then points to the other two elves. "They are twins. Coolin and Kalas. They were hunters before he showed up."

He looks into the sky, checking the time. It's starting to get dark.

"We gotta hurry back to the town, fast. Everyone out after night doesn't last long. I'll take you to our leader, he was a soldier from the Great Campaign. He's been coordinating us all. He'll fill you in on the situation. If it wasn't for him we'd all be dead by now I'm sure."

He points up the road.
"The town is just up the road. Only a short walk."

He then scratches the back of his head and chuckles. "Almost forgot. Sorry for uh, trying to rob you guys. You can't blame us for trying to get out of here with our skins intact. James group went missing yesterday and it had ten men in it, all of them better armed than us."

Little Tim speaks. He has a deep voice, speaking a little louder than he should probably need to. "We best get moving before he finds us."

>Follow and listen intently to their tones of speech during conversation, observing whether they seem to mark a certain stance of existence or action. Catalogue these tones.

The nameless thing speaks quietly with a voice that amalgamates all the speech it has heard.
"Campaign?"

Sandrew looks at both the Wraith and the Elf confused.

"You guys don't know what the Great Campaign was?"

"It was only two decades ago! Still, I was born the year after, but bloody hell how do you guys not know this?"

He looks at the both of them, desperately hoping that one of them would laugh and that it would be a joke. After their confused looks in response, he sighs and continues.

"Oh god you are serious. In a nutshell, Emperor Alexander Maximus led an invasion of the Divided Lands with a few legions. It was called the Imperial Expeditionary Force and he set off trying to conquer the continent. Nearly succeeded, too. They got beaten back after a lot of costly battles for the armies of the Divided Lands and it ended with the Emperor blowing himself up to stop the army going to the Imperial homeland. Some of the people in town say it was intended as a peacekeeping mission, stop the Divided Lands from killing each other you know? Others think it was a preemptive strike to stop the kingdoms from falling under one control and being a threat to the Empire."

"Me, I don't know. Maybe he was out to stop them getting strong or maybe it was something else. "

What areas of the map are the Empire, the Divided Lands? And where does each race live on the map?

The eastern continent is the Empire homeland, the western one the Divided Lands.

The Greenland style land in the north is where the Kingdom of Terris is, with the other races scattered across the western continent.

The capitals for each of the nations has the name next to it. For the Empire, though, their capital is Nova, with the capitals of each of the Great Houses also being shown.

Axar for instance, is the homeland of the Axin, Sikhar for the Sikhari Elves and so on.

The party is in the forest, heading deeper in towards a town.

I meant explain to the wraith!

Maart3n, Offendo and Foa, action please.