Episode L008: The Rhyme Tree Bandit Crisis
General Summary
After being shown the barn where he is to take shelter, screams of “Fire!” break the stillness. As he looks around, Hasdreak sees smoke coming from a burning thatched roof, south on the main road. Then he spots two armed men strutting down the road by the barn.
Hasdraek engages and defeats the larger of the two bandits, and the other flees. Looting the body, he finds a few coins. He severs the head and takes it with him to the scene of the fire, hearing the sounds of fighting. There, he finds four more bandits, and the dead body of Gaenbert Pigwhistle. He dispatches two of their number and the other two flee up the road as well. Looting their corpses he finds a Lapis Lazuli and a few more coins.
After several hours of hard labour, the villagers get the house fire under control, but Ram Rosewood’s house is destroyed. Hasdraek retires to the barn exhausted. On his comfortable pile of hay, Hasdraek runs through the events of the day in his mind. Despite slaying the bandits, the villagers are, on the whole, less than enthusiastic about his feats. They fear reprisal by the group that those bandits belonged to: The Torence Flackland Gang.
The taproom if full of men arguing over yesterday’s events when Hasdraek enters. An angry hush falls upon those assembled when he enters. His entreaties to fight for the defence of their town falls on mostly deaf ears, but some - including Garan Haverstraw - are sympathetic to his call.
The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon are spent trying to drum up support for a plan to defend the town, and even take the fight to the bandits’ lair. Hasdraek surrounds himself with supporters, Sage Ganders, Garan Haverstraw, Avery Snow, Griffo Took and others, and he scrounges for materials to make a bomb.
The meeting of villagers went about as expected. Most villagers angrily denounced Hasdraek acts as reckless and advocated for the defence of the town. The women decide to move the villagers into the abandoned manor house, with Griffo Took preparing its defence. Meanwhile a small contingent of 17 men and women (and a couple of children) volunteer to take the fight to the enemy.
With all the ingredients at hand, Hasdraek loses himself in the construction of a bomb. He ends up making 11 smaller bombs. However his plan to reconnoiter the bandit lair will have to wait until the following day. it is deep night by the time he finishes his work.
Ringday, the 18th Day of Colding, 4078
Report Date
16 Jul 2019
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