This one is a contract job. A trader named Octavius wants two bandit leaders dead, and Basket brings along Johnfal_92, a player who has done the quest before and agrees to play it as if they hadn't. Two camps, a lot of chests, one death, and a choice at the end that the game says will change future quest lines.
A job from Octavius
Octavius opens with a question: do you have any compunctions about killing thieves and ruffians? Basket picks "None whatsoever." Octavius is head of the Five Axes Trading Company, bandits keep hitting the caravans, and the City Guard is "completely inept." Kill their leaders, "of the bandits, not of the Guard, haha," and there's a reward.
The quest is Bandit Troubles, short and easy: assassinate two bandit leaders at their camps north of the city and bring proof. The compass and the map don't agree at first, until it turns out there are two camps.
The door that was closed on purpose
The way north is quieter than it used to be. They talk about how there seem to be fewer mobs in the early areas now, though one of them later stands corrected when a creeper shows up after they stay in one place for a while. A sign at the first camp reads "Legitimate Mining Camp and Village. Private property. Stay away."
They hole up in a tower, and Johnfal_92 blocks the door with dirt because mobs are heading their way. Basket doesn't know that, backs up to escape through the door, and the chat reads "BasketMC was slain by Bandit." It makes sense, Basket says, but the plan was knockback, set them on fire, run away, and the running away part didn't happen. It's a long walk back from town, and by the time Basket gets there the camp's reset clock says 18 minutes.
Clear first, loot second
They agree to clear the camp before opening chests, so nobody wastes the lucky helmet on an empty room. There's an executioner who hits hard and moves fast, and archers with knockback in a dark tower. One of them finds their boots have broken and gets a leather pair from the other.
The first leader goes down and drops a book. On the way to the second camp they stop at the northern mines for coal and torches. A creeper blows up a chest there, and it turns out an exploded chest still drops its loot.
The second camp
The plan is to split, one left and one right. They both go right. The second camp is busier: a Bandit Sniper with a shield, more archers, an executioner who gets stuck and then doesn't. Someone falls and calls out "Oh, I'm alive, I'm alive." The second leader goes down too, and then the chests win. "They're bandits, they steal lots of stuff." Both of them run out of inventory space and leave things behind.
Three stacks
Back near town they split the experience and arrows, and Johnfal_92 logs off. Basket turns the quest in alone. Octavius offers a stack of enchanting bottles. Basket answers with the book the bandit had, the one that said "insurance." "You're smarter than you look," says Octavius. Yes, something questionably legal is going on, and there's an extra stack to keep quiet.
The chat warns: "This decision will change future quest lines!" The options are to ask for three stacks or to go to Captain Murano. Basket takes the money. "A shrewd negotiator," says Octavius, who will mention Basket's name to an associate who sometimes needs someone with Basket's "scruples." The reward is 192 Enchanting Bottles and an Imperial Coin, and a new quest unlocks: Buried Blade.
