This story is told at almost every tavern in Paldaris, and is not hard to find.
“Hey, did you guys ever hear about the bandit king of Hechakel? No? Oh you will love him. This guy would wait in the trees for a rich person to come traveling through. He would set up some sort of trap, maybe a woman trapped by robbers, maybe an old man with a busted cart, in the middle of the road. When the rich travelers would stop, he would swoop down with his bandits, and rob the rich folk of all their valuables. And then he would strip them to their underclothes and leave them to walk back.”
“One time, he robbed some higher muckity-muck from the church was traveling through the woods, in his gold encrusted carriage. Now, this church guy, a priest of Illiir I think, he was so rich, he could barely walk with all the gold he wore. He was fat and lazy, and weighed probably eight hundred pounds. So anyway, the Bandit King, all by himself, devised a plan to rob this priest blind.
“The Bandit King leaped onto the carriage, and in one fell swoop, knocked the driver out. He took over the reigns, and drove the carriage to a small-secluded spot next to the river right before the flooding happens. He then tore open the door, and smiled at the fat priest. ‘What are you doing here?’ asked the priest, his jowls flapping with the shout. ‘Well my not so good man’ explained the Bandit King, ‘I am here to rob you. As you see, I have a boat. If you would be so kind to fill all your valuables in that boat, I will spare you life.’
“Now you can imagine what must have been going through the priest’s head. Boat? What? But, the priest complied, filling the large rowboat with all of his valuables, while the Bandit King looked on. He slowly unhooked the horses, and shooed them away too. The sun started to rise higher, and the Bandit King began stripping off his clothes, down to his underclothes. Sword in hand, he walked over to the boat, and casually sat down in it. Looking at the sun, he asked the priest a question. ‘Can you swim?’
“The priest looked around confused, only seeing a river some several yards away. He nodded his head no. Then the sound was heard. It was a thunderous crashing sound as rushing water traveled through the woods. Trees breaking and hitting each other with such a force that it would hurt your ears.
“’Then I suggest you hop onto the carriage, my large round friend, and hope that your weight does not make it sink.’ The water hit just as the priest made it into the carriage, which of course shattered upon impact with the water. Four days later they found the priest in a tree, alive, clinging on for dear life, muttering in a daze ‘I float. I float.’
“Well, the fat priest was the brother of a famous general in the legions. This legion scoured the forest for five years, and never once captured the Bandit King – or found his treasure.