The friends help untie the villager and decide what to do next. Not accustomed to leadership, Quinn second guesses himself. Rhys suggests that they head to Midra and take the villager with them. They decide to leave the unconscious bandits where they are.

Quinn rides his horse and the villager and Rhys share a horse on the way to Midra. A few miles down the road, they hear the clash of swords coming from somewhere off the road. They tie their horses up and have the villager watch them so they can explore.

Venturing slowly into the forest, they see a group of six bandits attacking two elves, one female with short dark hair and a male with long, fair hair. The elves are using some kind of magic to defend themselves. Quinn and Rhys decide to intervene and start attacking the bandits. After several minutes of Quinn swinging his sword, Rhys attacking with his rapier, and the two elves using magic and weapons, all of the bandits finally go down.

The elf woman introduces herself as Noxsa, a head druid from a nearby forest grove just outside Midra. She says that they are generally peaceful, but the bandit problem has gotten worse over the past few months and they’ve had to defend themselves many times.

Quinn explains that he and Rhys have come to help deal with the bandits, and Noxsa looks delighted. She says that it would be a great help to the grove if they had help. She introduces her companion Nylian Tallmeadow, the fair-haired elf who wields a shortbow and sword.

Rhys and Quinn are happy to have another person to help, and greet Nylian gladly. He seems eager as well. The trio head back to the horses to plan their next move.