The bandits hid, lije they had many times before. They took their usual positions, a few in the trees, a few hidden among the reeds, and some were waiting for the caravan to come into view, so they could hide in the water. They knew where each and every member was supposed to be. This was just like every other robbery they'd done before.

Except for a few things. For one, their leader was dead. Secondly, their plan for this was different. Instead of just taking the victims' stuff, they were to take everything. From the loot to the cart to the victims themselves. They may have been bandits, but thwy seldomly kidnapped anyone, and when they did, they certainly nevsr brought them over to their base of operations. Still, none of them wanted to burn to death, so they had no other choice but to go through with this new objective.

...

Girania waited. She was watching the bunch of bandits that she scared into worjing for her. Normally, she would've just killed them and move on, but she had been working on a new spell of sorts, and she needed some test subjects to perfect it. Using these bandits to get those test subjects was much easier. She also had to admit that it was entertaining to watch others do stuff.

Oh! Girania saw the caravan in the distance. She turned her head and found that the bandits had seen it as well, and were hiding. The show would start soon.

As soon as the caravan got close enough, the bandits jumped out, and were upon the poor merchants...and their bodyguard!?