Pinetree Family/Long/The Raid

The following is the letter written by Long soon after the raid:

My brothers and I were coming back from our daily training, tired and exhausted. I was barely learning how to defend myself as well as Big and Tung did. That's when it happened. The fifty bandits were coming up our mansion's path with blades and daggers at the ready, yelling to call everybody out. Our father and uncles prepared themselves, for the up-coming assault. The bandits threatened to kill us all if we didn't hand over jewels at least worth 500 gold. Of course, we didn't give in, so they attacked.

My brothers joined up with the other men to defend our house, but I sneaked away with the Emerald jewel and my double daggers. I was planning to ambush the remaining bandits that would try to escape, but they surprised me first. At the exit gate were 10 more bandits, guarding it so no one could escape. They quickly surrounded me, giving me the choice to fight or hand over my Emerald. The Emerald was one of the 3 very valued jewels passed on by eight generations in my family before me, so I was forced to fight the bandits.

With luck, they were of the poorest fighters I had known, making the bloodshed less than I expected. I managed to make them flee or unconscious, except for one pretending to be knocked out. I was taken by surprise when he pulled his sword on me, but I fended it off with my daggers and knocked him on his knees. My daggers were situated on either side of his shoulders, in a scissors position, ready to kill him at any second. He begged for mercy, to be spared so he could flee. I had to think a bit, before I decided. I removed my daggers from his shoulders, and told him to leave. But, before I knew it....

The rest of the letter is incoherent due to bloodstains smearing the words. The following is a note added by Long though:

But before I knew it, the bandit was on his feet and knocked me down to the ground. I was taken by surprise and could not retaliate. The bandit then made deep slashes into both of my wrists, rendering them almost useless.

He took my Emerald, and joined up with about 30 other bandits who were fleeing from the mansion. I saw the other 2 valued jewels, the Sapphire and the Amethyst, and then saw my brothers following close behind. I wrapped a few pieces of cloth I found off of some unconscious bandits around my wrists, and joined up with my brothers.