<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/7b/BanditLeader.JPG)</div><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/0/03/RosaCandlemass.jpg)</div>The bandit leader - whose name turned out to be Miriam, if anybody asked - grumbled about her continued captivity, but suffered herself to be bundled onto the wagon. "I don't suppose you'd at least untie me?" she asked, casting a hopeful glance at Senna. "I'm hardly going to run now that my men are all gone. And surely there's something I can do for you when we stop for the night..."<br/><br/>Whether she was untied or not, Miriam pointed out the hazards and shortcuts of the path to the plateau, evidently trying to appear helpful. With her guidance, and the added haste that came from a mission that was no longer a simple clerical visit, they were able to reach the outskirts of the monastery just as the sun crested noon on their fifth day of travel.<br/><br/>For about twenty miles before the plateau, the ravine walls began to slope away, exposing the horizon on either side once more. To the north, the land descended into a scrubby valley, warmer and greener than the surrounding mountains, though hardly ideal habitation for civilized folk, with nothing that looked like good farming or grazing land. To the southeast lay the eastern reaches of the kingdom of Cordovia, and if one squinted, it was even possible to spot the great forests that marked the elven kingdom east of Cordovia.<br/><br/>Where the path joined the plateau itself, the land to either side sloped down quickly enough that it would be a difficult climb - and impossible for a wagon - to gain access to the plateau without following the path. A four foot high stone wall had been built across the path, with a gap large enough for two wagons to drive abreast, sealed by a large wooden gate. The gate was standing open, with no sign of force having been applied to it.<br/><br/>"This gate was closed when we got here," explained Miriam. "We came in from the southeast, and when we'd looted the place and wanted to leave this way, the gate was closed. Didn't look like it had been forced or anything, and there were no recent tracks on this side." She nodded towards the ground, where her band had clearly passed, but there were no other signs of recent activity. There was a small building attached to the gate, where one or two guards might sit and watch the road, with a cot and a cooking hearth. The building was abandoned, but with no signs of forced entry.<br/><br/>The interior of the monastery was clearly where the fighting had been. The female warriors who guarded the monastery all lay dead, left where they had fallen, some with bloodstained tabards from what looked like arrow wounds, others with deep scorch marks, as Miriam had described. There was damage to furniture all around the monastery, with doors off their hinges, precious vases shattered on the floor, and tapestries fallen and ground into the floor by muddy boots. Everything of portable value had been looted, presumably by Miriam and her band. The cells belonging to the nuns themselves had been broken open, and many of them showed signs of a struggle, with pieces of Sarenite garb torn against the edges of furniture. No bodies of the nuns themselves could be found, though.<br/><br/>A search of the perimeter of the plateau would reveal that the bulk of the fighting had happened on the northeastern edge of the monastery, with some blood spilled on the ground of the plateau. There was no wall on this edge, just a drop down a rough scree slope leading into the valley. With the density of loose rubble on the slope, it would be difficult to detect the passage of any creatures up or down it.<br/><br/>Rosa bowed her head and sat down on a wooden bench, tears streaming down her face as she surveyed the slaughter. "Who would do this?" she wondered out loud. She took her holy symbol in her hands and clutched it tightly. "This is beyond the brutality of bandits, or even orcs or goblins... but it wasn't monsters who did this, it was people."<br/><br/>She took a moment to compose herself, then drew herself upright again. "Thea, help me gather the fallen and perform their last rites. They died defending the innocent and their faith. Sarenrae will welcome them into her embrace." She looked around at the rest of the party. "I have your payments here, ten gold each. If any of you will help us look for the ones who did this, I can offer you each five gold per day that we search, and a hundred gold pieces each if we bring them to justice and rescue any survivors. Who among you will pursue justice with me?"