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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 7583799" data-attributes="member: 1210">In the aftermath of the riot, the city hunkers down. The White Battlet triples the number of patrols it runs and increases the number of soldiers in each patrolling group. The farmers lock themselves in their homes. The gangs minimize their street presence. Everybody knows that the army's patience is as thin as the toe in a well-worn stocking.Cafes and taverns are only lightly populated. In time, things will return to normal- surely they will- but for a few days, the Army is intolerant of troublemaking of any kind. Summary justice is the order of the day. Even the city's central market is quiet. ***“I can't believe Mad Max did that,” Hungus sighs. “I know what you mean.” Bix shakes his head and takes a drink. The events of the previous day still spin round and round in his head. “He murdered a kid!”Rorin shivers. “I think that gaining a third leg must have driven him crazy.”“Look at that!” Morsado barks a gravelly laugh. “Even the Butcher of Fandelose is distubed!”Hungus finishes his beer and orders another. As quiet as the city is, they have the brewery almost to themselves. “There's nothing that we can do for him now anyway. And even if there was, should we? He straight up murdered that child.”Morsado tugs at his beard. “What do you think the army is gonna do with him?”“I don't know. Execute him? Lock him up for the rest of his life? Exile him?”The four of them fall into a deep, brooding silence. This ends when the door to the brewery opens and a man walks in dressed in the raiment of a Pan Lung monk. Taking in the meager company available in the place, after a moment, he approaches the adventurers. “Hello,” says Hungus warily.“Greetings!” the stranger replies. “You look like adventurers.”Morsado shrugs. “That we are, at least from time to time.”“I am Krillan the Chronic. I am a monk of the Pan Lung School, and I seek to test my skills in the world!” He pulls out a pipe and begins packing it. “My masters wish me to seek adventure, so I'm looking for companions.”“It is a dangerous world out there.” Bix nods. “As it turns out, we just lost a companion.”“Oh? Did he die fighting some monster?”“Not exactly...”“What my friend is saying,” Hungus declares, “is that we have room for one more.”“Excellent!” exclaims Krillan, and hands his pipe to Carl Hungus. “Care to smoke?”****Once they are all good and buzzed, the party, including their new friend Krillan, strikes out for Red Bank. Red Bank is a small village about 12 miles north of Fandelose. Its existence is contentious; the resources required to keep it safe are greater than any value Red Bank has to the city, since it is a ripe target for giants, evil humanoids, and monsters. Despite the inherent danger, the lack of support makes it is a favorite destination for farmers who break the law and leave their plots. The farmers and Red Bank supporters are deeply intertwined. The people of Red Bank need to know about the results- so the priest at the Black Temple told Hungus when he reported in afterward. He would have the party carry a message to an elder in the village, a man named Pursadin. Given their less than stellar performance vis-a-vis the white haired elf, the party feels obligated to agree. Especially since they might need to call upon the Black Temple for aid again some day.Just north of the city, harsh hills rise, the river cutting through them. The party walks up stream, following a rough trail. They pass goat herds they go, the animals well-suited to the uneven terrain.“They sure could use a road to Red Bank,” Hungus remarks as they walk.The journey is full of rises and falls, but overall leads uphill. Though the party members, excepting Bix, are fairly fit, they all find the walk taxing after a few hours. When they break for a mid-day meal, perched atop a hillside, Carl Hungus says, “This is harder going than I remembered. Good workout.”“Ugh,” groans Bix. “You know,” the dragonborn continues, “while we're here, we should go after the Hacker.”“Who?” Krillan asks. “He's a local bandit leader. Last I knew, he was hiding out in Bandit's Rook; that's on the way to Red Bank, more or less.”“Is there a reward for catching him?”“Probably. Maybe? There's the reward of taking his loot, anyway.”Morsado grins. “Well, if it's on the way...”***Speaking of bandits...Ambush!The party hasn't yet reached the hilltop known as Bandit's Rook when they suddenly find themselves surrounded. The bandit leader demands their gold and silver. Instead, the highwaymen receive the party's steel. The fight is brief and brutal. When it is over, the adventurers continue toward Bandit's Rook, reaching it in another forty minutes. Bix and Krillan attempt a stealthy reconnaisance. They return after half an hour.“There aren't bandits in there,” Bix tells the others. “There are gnolls.”“I saw two hyenas on watch,” Krillan adds. “How many gnolls?” Hungus asks.“I saw three,” Bix answers. “We can take 'em,” Krillan says. “Hell, I can probably drop one or two of them from here, if I can get a good line of sight on them.” Rorin thumbs his bowstring and grins.“Right,” says Bix, “let's go!”As the others advance toward the hilltop, Rorin scrambles up a tree, setting himself in the crook of a thick limb. He pulls out an arrow and takes careful aim. Thwizz!The arrow plants itself in the first hyena's neck. It collapses. The other rises, bristling, and begins to yip. The gnolls, alerted, stand up and draw weapons.The hyena yelps, staggers, and falls as the Butcher of Fandelose shoots it in the throat.  Suddenly the other adventurers emerge from the night, screaming battle cries as they rush up the path. The gnolls turn to meet them, but it seems they have no chance.Then something comes screaming out of the sky, a dark blot across the stars. Sharp horns tear through flesh. Bix screams in pain. Something large and heavy smashes into Hungus' shoulder, sending him spinning. One of the gnolls screams, diving away from the airborn predator. What the hell is that? Rorin thinks, and fires a succession of arrows at the creature. It zips through the air, twisting and turning evasively, but he still manages to catch it once or twice. But his arrows seem to have difficulty harming it. There is something supernatural about the beast. Hungus deals a mighty blow to one of the gnolls, dropping it, as the winged creature wheels through the night sky, almost impossible to follow. Rorin hits it again even as Morsado and Bix combine their magic to finish off another gnoll with vicious mockery.The final gnoll tries to run, but the winged monster descends on it, wicked talons tearing into its back. The gnoll cries out and falls, and the creature lands atop it, flipping it back over so it is face up.The gnoll gives a final terrified shriek as the creature rips out its heart. And then flies away with it. There is calm on the hilltop.Then: “What the hell was that??” Bix yells.***The Hacker might not be at Bandit's Rook, but the gnolls did have a human prisoner. Besides him, the party takes one of the gnolls prisoner, staunching his wounds before he bleeds out. “We can question him,” Hungus says, making air quotes around 'question'. “Also, I could maybe use a slave.” “You can't enslave a gnoll,” Bix protests. “They aren't civilized. He's probably not even housebroken! We should just kill him.”“Maybe he knows something,” Morsado points out. “We question him first, then- we see.”“I can't support slavery,” Krillan adds. “You guys,” sighs Carl Hungus.***Yarrfurr, the gnoll, proves to be eager to help in return for his life. He promises to lead the party to a hidden treasure, as well as to the Hacker's new hideout. The gnoll claims the Hacker has taken to running with orcs. All this, if the adventurers merely spare him.  The party agrees. After questioning the human prisoner, Krillan gets him mightily stoned and then they release him; though he was a bandit, he's no threat at the moment, and there are few enough humans left that even a bandit's life is precious.The party returns to the road to continue their journey north; the Hacker's hideout, according to Yarrfurr, is just outside of Red Bank. Therefore, they can complete their mission even as they continue trying to find him. But when they reach the path, they are pleasantly surprised to find- “Dzedz! What are you doing here?” Rorin grins and clasps the dwarf's hand. “The bartender at the brewery told me where you guys were headed. I didn't want to miss out.”“Excellent!”“Hi, I'm Krillan.” Once introductions are exchanged, the party continues north.***Red Bank! It's a tiny community that survives largely by hunting and fishing. The ground is too uneaven for easy farming. There aren't enough people for any businesses to exist; the party is disappointed to find that there is no inn or tavern, but instead, they must stay on dirt floors or sleep rough outside. Pursadin is easily located; everyone seems to know the old man. He has a shock of white hair above a deeply wrinkled face. When the party tracks him down, he is first somewhat suspicious of them, only relaxing after reading the note that they bear. “Too many times, strangers try to extort us or take our goods,” he explains. “But we're so small here that money is meaningless. All our trade is barter. What good are coins up here?”“You can always take them to the city,” Hungus says.“And be pressed back onto the farms we left behind? No thank you.”A burly, bristling dwarf enters Pursadin's hut and speaks incoherently. “What was that?” Bix asks.“This is the Iron Patriot,” Pursadin says. “He is our greatest hero. Our protector.”The dwarf makes mouth noises again. “It can be hard to understand him.”Morsado nods. “So I see.”The dwarf continues talking, clearly trying to make some point or other.“Well,” Hungus interrupts, “we don't want to take any more of your precious time. We have another mission up here. Have you guys had any trouble with orcs?”The Iron Patriot exclaims something. Hungus is fairly certain the word 'orcs' was in there somewhere.“From time to time,” Pursadin answers more comprehensibly. “Well, I believe an old enemy of mine called the Hacker is in league with a group of them, and we're off to try to catch him.”The Iron Patriot speaks again, jerking a thumb at his own chest. “I think,” Pursadin explains, “that he wants to go with you.”“Why not?” says Bix. “The more, the merrier.”Next Time: The Hacker's hideout!*The careful reader might notice a common trait between Mad Max and Krillan. That's because Krillan is Mad Max's player's new character. Pretty much any pc run by that player is bound to be a serious pot head and/or heavy drinker.</blockquote>

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