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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1159312" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the Seventh:In which: the party attacks, the result of which is much moral debate.Dennis bursts out of the woods into a small clearing.  The first thing he notices are signs of a small camp: several tents and a cookfire.  The second thing he notices is the man in an apron tending a cookfire, looking surprised as hell.  It’s not until third that he notices one of the bandits and the female caster mounting horses to make their escape.Three of them, one of me, two of them are on horses.  Oh sure Anvil, this set-up has “smiting” written all over it…Suddenly, two more bandits burst out of the woods from another direction. Dennis draws his weapon in a game attempt at inflicting Kettenek’s Justice and is about to charge, when he sees that the two bandits running at him are immediately followed by Thatch and Reyu, storming out of the woods in pursuit!“Get ‘em, Bob!” Thatch cries to his mount, and attempts to charge his two mounted foes.  But Bob, a farm-horse unused to combat, panics and rears up into the air.  Thatch struggles to maintain his balance and calm his mount.Reyu dashes forward—attempting to cast animal friendship on the woman’s horse.  As she gets close, the woman raises her quarterstaff and cracks the Druid over the head.  Reyu stumbles back, blinking as the two horses wheel off into the woods.Thatch has finally managed to dismount, but by the time he finds his feet, the two have already made their getaway.  Thatch watches them gallop off, absently stroking Bob’s neck to calm the skittish animal.  If I could teach Bob not to be afraid of fighting, they won’t get away next time…“Don’t hurt me, whatever you do, don’t hurt me! Please!”The three members of the party turn to where the man with the apron has dropped his cooking spoon and put his hands in the air.   The two more classically bandit-looking bandits appear less sanguine about the prospect of being apprehended, but with the departure of their boss, they seem at a loss whether to maintain the fight or attempt to follow.  Obviously, this was not part of the plan. They wisely choose surrender.  Dennis takes their weapons and secures them. By the time the rest of the party—including Edmund and the wagon—arrives on the scene the only tasks that remain are interrogating the prisoners and going through the bandits’ collected swag.Along with various goods, cash, and gems, items of note are several vials of liquid which glow brightly under Reyu’s detect magic, a blank piece of vellum (probably a used scroll), and a silver holy symbol of Alirria, the goddess of Spring, Air, Rebirth and, presumably, the patron of the woman who was casting at them during the fight.The holy symbol is unusual, however.  Most holy symbols consist of both the symbol the god and the symbol of the specific sect to which its wearer belongs (Lira’s symbol, for example, consists of the symbol of the Questors, overlaid onto the general sun symbol of Ehkt).  This symbol, however, contains no sect marking.  It is an unadorned symbol of Alirria.Anvil, meanwhile, has been focusing his attention on the prisoners.  “You will answer my questions,” he demands of them.“Piss off,” one responds.“You stand accused of banditry.  The penalty for this crime is death.  The Law does not specify by what means, or over how long a period of time.  Answer my questions, and I will request mercy on your behalf when we deliver you to the proper authorities.” “I said, piss off,” one bandit responds.The other one coughs nervously.  “Um, I’ll talk,” he says.    “Who was that woman?” Anvil demands.“Boss’s woman. Bad news.”“Why’s that?”“You know how it is.  Women getting mixed up in business.  She was the one as told us you’d be coming.”“How did she know?”“How should I know?  But she shows up two nights ago and the next morning the Boss tells us a group with some serious cash’ll be along sometime next day.  Then there you were.”This is most worrisome to the party.  Toroth told them there were bandits in the area, but there’s no reason they would know the party was coming… unless someone has betrayed them.  However, the most immediate concern is what to do with the prisoners.  Obviously, letting them go isn’t really an option.  Anvil declares that Kettenek’s Justice would normally demand they be handed over to the local authorities.  Unfortunately, the nearest city-state is Dar Und, where the local authorities consist of whichever crime boss happens to be on top that day.It takes Anvil a beat to register that he is the “local authority.”The party lacks resources to imprison the bandits or take them back to Dar Pykos, even if this were in a Pykosian jurisdiction.  Enslavement is not a popular option with the party members, even if it were at all feasible.  “We might have to execute them,” Anvil finally admits.  “They are admitted bandits.  Justice demands it.”At this Dennis, only lately a petty criminal himself, turns slightly gray.  Edmund falls uncharacteristically silent.  Reyu is disgusted, such punishment being nearly unheard of among her people, but she is well aware this is not her affair.  The cook likes the idea even less, and tells the party his opinion on the matter loudly and at great length.Eventually, Anvil rules that the cook never took up arms against them, thus neither he nor their informant should be executed.  Instead, Anvil uses his holy symbol as a brand so that they might be known by honest folk.  Their last living companion, however, is hanged.  His body, along with those of the bandits slain in combat, is strung up along the side of the road: a warning to others in the area that would defy Kettenek’s Justice.During this process, Dennis goes off to gather firewood.  Lira sticks around for a while, but having started the day with her first acquaintance with intestines not served as tripe she eventually opts instead to withdraw and retch quietly in the bushes. The next day, the party resumes the road to the Dwarven mines.</blockquote>

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