On the western edge of Arthfell Forest our small band of adventurers meet in open battle with bandits! The previous owners of the inn already murdered in their tents nearby the blackened and smoldering ruin of what was once the Falcon's Rest. Were these bandits the same ones responsible for the murdered halfling caravan on the road to Piren's Bluff?
Weathering a magical sleet storm, the bandits are run off or killed with the aid of a gnome hunter and his deadly pair of clawed reptiles. The sorceress and her veteran guard escape on horseback. A moment is taken to prepare, rest, and to make introductions before the crew head into the woods following a road not much more than a rutted trail.
A day and half later our band find the abandoned wagons they had hired to transport supplies from Oregent and follow the trail left by the captives deeper into the wood. A moss-covered ancient fort is discovered housing nearly 2 dozen bandits but are alerted by a sentry soon silenced with a resounding crack and roar of felled tree.
The battle is large with multiple hit-and-run skirmishes on three sides of the abandoned fort that inevitably swings in favor of the adventurers. The sorceress and two armored knights make good their escape on horseback, leaving the bandits to their fate. The remaining bandits bargain the lives of the captive craftsmen and valuable tools in exchange for their own lives. Both sides part ways with a warning to the bandits to never to interfere with their business again or else suffer a worse fate. How will they know, the bandits ask. Periadoc answers, watch for their emblem: a blue coiled whip.
