“Now… about that fun you didn’t think we would be having,” the brigand leered, his rancid breath assaulting Kara as his rough hands began undoing the clasps on her leather vest, pulling back its sides to reveal the firm ripe breasts beneath in mere moments, despite her screams of objection and desperate thrashing. But that humiliation wasn’t enough, and, to her horror, he continued to her breeches, dragging them down her curvaceous hips to leave her exposed to her knees. Then he went to work on his own as he sneered lewdly; “By the time we’re all done with you, you’re going to regret not being a whole lot nicer to us!” “That’s no way to treat a lady!” a strong male voice stopped the brigand before he could continue, and all eyes turned to the figure that leaned casually against a near by tree. Tall and lean, dressed in the serviceable cloths typical of a traveling dalesman, the handsome blonde intruder bore neither armor or visible weapons. “Begone toad… or we’ll have some fun with you when we’ve used this bitch up,” the brigand scowled, as the others took up confrontational stances. “That’s a small threat,” Coran mocked with a confident sneer, then shifted his eyes lower and added; “That’s a very small threat.” “Kill him!” the brigand leader roared, fumbling with his breeches, as the other five roughs advanced on Coran with their weapons at the ready, thinking to make quite work of the unarmed fool. However, they quickly found themselves easily outmatched by a skilled martial artist. As each man charged him, Coran gracefully sidestep their attacks, turning their own momentum against them and landing strategically placed blows with fists, feet, elbows and knees that left them scattered about the ground, dazed by the unlikely turn of events, but not significantly harmed. Then he turned to face the lead brigand, who had restored his composure and seized Kara’s spear, warning him; “This doesn’t have to get any worse for you… collect your thugs and crawl back under what ever rock you slither out from.” “Your fancy moves don’t scare me… monk!” he growled. “You’re the one that’s about to be skewered!” Letting out a sigh of regret, Coran activated the enchanted bracers about his wrists which sheathed his hands in auras of magical force as the thug charged. Nimble avoiding the spear, he drove a powerful punch into the brigand chest, which collapsed beneath the lethal blow with the sound of snapping bones and sent the man staggering backward before he crumbled to the ground in a lifeless heap. Kara could do little but stare in disbelief as the handsome stranger who had interrupted her rape easily put down five armed thugs, and then, with a single punch, left their leader dead at his feet. The sight wasn’t lost on the other brigands either, who collectively scrambled to the feet and bolted for the trees as fast as their legs could carry them. “I wish I didn’t have to do that,” Coran sighed regretfully as he approached the bond young woman. Despite a lifetime of discipled training, he couldn’t help but allow his eyes to drink in her slender, yet wonderfully feminine form as he approached. He had to stand uncomfortably close to her nearly naked body to reach up and cut the ropes that held her arms above her head, but quickly retreated and turn away, distracting himself by focusing on how to free her feline companion from the pit while she restored her cloths and cast off the chainmail coif with a scowl of disgust. “Now, how do we get you out of there?” he inquired, not really expecting an answer as his eyes roamed from the cougar that paced nervously at the bottom of the pit, to its edge and the surrounding area hoping to see a log or large branch that the cat could climb.