After a taste of battle,<strong>Karyna</strong>and<strong>Shirvan</strong>decided that the adventuring life did not suit them as much as they originally thought, and they departed for the South Rostland Road and more civilized lands. At least Shirvan was kind enough to spare a cure spell to bring the captured bandit back to consciousness before he left.<br/><br/>After Rory showed Oleg and Svetlana the silver stag skull and asked them about it, Svetlana recalled something.<strong>"Now that you mentioned it, I got a closer look at their leader -  the woman with two hatchets - when she came the first time and she took my wedding ring. She was wearing a silver stag skull just like this one too! And if you find my wedding ring on her, please return it to me, and I'll reward you more than you could get fencing it elsewhere."</strong><br/><br/>The bandit was all too eager to talk to Rory to save his skin and his toes. From the questioning the following relevant information was obtained:<br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li>Bandit's name and origin: Gekken, former corrupt Restov guard.</li><li>Where bandit's HQ is located: The local gang has a camp at the Thorn River Ford about 25 miles through the Narlmarches forest to the west.</li><li>Who was cloaked leader: Happs Bydon, second in command of the local bandit gang.</li><li>Bandit's leader (if cloaked leader had boss): Kressle, the scary woman with two hatchets.</li><li>Security/Passwords if any what bandits use to each other (ID or such): None, they're few enough to recognize each other.</li><li>How far is bandit's hideout/camp: (The local gang has a camp at the Thorn River Ford about 25 miles through the Narlmarches forest to the west.)</li><li>How many bandits are in same gang: 8 plus Kressle remaining at the camp.</li><li>How many known gangs are in region (local land of rivers region): There's a bigger boss known only as the "Stag Lord" with an even larger bandit gang deeper in the Stolen Lands.</li><li>Any other threats known by bandits residing in region besides them?: East of the Thorn River (i.e. on this side), some trapper's been leaving bear traps around without marking them for other people. West of the Thorn River, there're monsters everywhere, the bandits don't go there.</li><li>Any known interesting locales and what bandit knows about local area in geography wise: Nothing else on the east bank of the Thorn River which is the bandits' ground.</li></ul><br/>After extracting all the information the bandit knew, there was the issue of what to do with him... although their charter was clear:<em>The punishment for unrepentant banditry remains, as always, execution by sword or rope.</em>Oleg had an opinion too:<strong>"No point taking prisoners when their sentence is death anyways. Now, if you're heading out, you might think about heading south first. Crazy hermit by the name of Bokken lives there, but he's the finest potion maker I've ever seen, and his wares might save you from a tight spot."</strong><br/><br/>For the now-reduced party of two, the bandit gang would be quite the challenge. But fortunately for them, newcomers were just now arriving to bolster their ranks...<br/><br/>Then they would have to decide where they would start exploring: the forests of the Narlmarches to the west, or the hills of the Kamelands to the south.