Traveling, the Party finds yet another body: apparently a soldier who dragged himself to die by the side of the road. The Party follows his track back to a small mountain valley in which, to all appearances, a vicious battle was recently fought. Some of the bodies are wearing the red and white insignia, but most wear no distinctive device. The Party cannot decide if the bandits are exceptionally competent or if the black snake soldiers have been masquerading as bandits to take out their rivals in such bloody conflict.
Dark falls before the Party reaches the next town. In the dark, they are accosted by a strange figure who attempts to drag Fiamma off her horse. He does manage to damage her, so the Party races to the town and persuades the guards there to bring a healer. Their assailant was, according to the locals, a ghoul of some sort. Fiamma suffers no permanent harm.
The next day Fiamma seeks information from a stable boy and learns that the locals don't seem to know who the bandits are, that the bandits don't seem to trouble civilians - except for the occasional lone traveler killed by the side of the road, and that the soldiers belong to rival two lords of the north whom the emperor seems to prefer to have settle their differences in this land.
The contents of this site are copyright 2004 Sheryl A. Knowles unless otherwise specified. All rights reserved.