And so it begins...

It is with a distinct distaste for all the subterfuge and covertness of their actions, that Janin waits in the small copse of trees not far from the bandits’ campfire. He subconsciously reaches up and closes his hand on the silver flame symbol suspended from around his neck. This isn't exactly how he thought that 'spreading the word' would be.

He adjusts his location slightly, boredom and a little frustration creeping into his mind. Looking over at the bandit camp he mutters an oath under his breath. That bloody shifter seems to be taking far too much pleasure in bludgeoning his share of those bandits into unconsciousness.

Scanning his eyes around he spots no new threats, not as far as the strange new vision he has been given, can reveal anyway. A strange thought occurs to him and he takes one step backwards.

Yes, the ground is definitely softer where he was just stood. He crouches down and quickly examines the area. It's hard to adjust to working without any colour, but it's still easier than working in the dark.

He eventually manages to discover an area of ground about two foot wide, six foot long, which looks to be reasonably freshly dug. It's been a good few years since Janin did any kind of agricultural work, but he'd guess that it was dug about a week ago.

A quick but quiet trot around the grove of trees soon reveals a second such area near the first.

The others head over to Janin, carrying the bound bodies of the unconscious bandits. Janin shows the others the freshly dug earth and they agree that there is little doubt that they must be two graves. The question is though, are they graves of some of the bandits or some of the bandits victims.

Janin grabs his shield and uses it to start digging, hoping to find the answer to that question. The others head quietly back into the bandits cave and start to club the remaining fourteen bandits unconscious. They manage to get five unconscious before one of them wakes up and raises the alarm.

"Intruders!" He yells out before stumbling out of his fur covers, feeling through the darkness for the cave wall and retreating away from his foe.

A brief and surprisingly bloodless fight ensues. Even though the bandits are on home turf, take up defensive positions and prepare to fight to the death, they are quickly rendered immobile by a 'Web' spell from Gargamadua, and then soon afterwards they all but one fall into a magical sleep too.

The lone half-orc bandit is the only one that resists Dua's magical assault, but he drops his weapon and surrenders when he realises that the fight is lost.

The bandits are each given a solid blow to the back of the head and tied up. Their belongings are pooled and the caves searched. All bandits are placed outside the cave, apart from the bandit leader who is kept in the back cave where they plan to question him when he awakes.

"Look at this", remarks Vaelas, "all these bandits have a similar tattoo on their forearms, it’s a serrated blade, dripping with blood." They examine each bandit in turn and find the same tattoo. Many seem to be done by different tattooists, and at different times, but all are clearly meant to signify the same thing.

"There is also this", says Hawk holding up an embroidered leather belt pouch he had found in the cave. He opens it up and his eyes light up as he spots the contents. "By Balinors tail, I’ve never seen gems so large!"

He up-ends the pouch and reveals eight gem stones. Six of the gem stones are each about an inch in diameter and seem to naturally glow but only with enough light to illuminate an open palm. The seventh gem stone is marginally bigger but doesn't glow, and the eighth gem doesn't glow but is nearly four inches square.

Dua frowns. "They're not magical, but I can't work out what they are....I don't know of any natural gem that glows. Most mysterious. Is there anything else in the pouch to help explain this?" Hawk holds the empty pouch open and points it towards Dua so he can see inside.

"Er....that would be a yes then." The kobold remarks, his keen eyesight picking out some strange markings. He takes the pouch from Hawk, turns it inside out and discovers a strange design inked onto the inside surface. "This looks like it could be a map of, or to something." The group gather round, examine the markings and discuss ideas of what each symbol on it could represent.

Finally Vaelas brings the discussion to an end. "Bah, enough fumbling in the dark, let us question our captives and see what they are willing to tell us about it. Janin, wake the bandit leader if you would be so kind."

Janin nods and spends a few moments checking the health of the bandit leader, before crushing some pungent leaves under his nose and gently slapping his face to wake him. The middle-aged human slowly seems to come to his senses and looks around himself, taking in the scene and saying nothing.

"My friend!" exclaims Vaelas, which is greeted with some raised eyebrows from the bound man who has just regained consciousness. "Why don't you tell us what you are doing up here, and why you are robbing trade wagons from Breland to Darguun."

The heavily-scarred human ruminates a moment before spitting onto the floor and speaking. "Friend? Ha! We ain't doing anything wrong. Just living up here in the hills, trying to get away from savages like you who steal into our camp in the night and try to murder us in our sleep."

Everyone except for the bandit rolls their eyes. They can see that this is going to be a long interrogation. Dua wanders outside to keep watch on the other bound bandits. Dirk heads back to fetch the wagons to get the prisoners inside them before they wake up and need subduing again.

The questions are bandied back and forth in a ricochet-like exchange. The bandit leader is stubborn and un-cooperative, but they do eventually manage to extract a little information from him before he tries to escape and is rendered unconscious for the second time in as many hours.

"So what have we found out?" Vaelas asks rhetorically. "We are pretty sure that they are the remains of a military unit, left over from the Last War; the tattoos alone pretty much confirms that. They claim to be innocent but admit to having killed some 'savages' that crossed their paths, including two foreign-looking savages that had the gems."

Hawk makes a "Hmph" sound. "It seems they consider everyone to be a savage one way or another. Some of these so-called savages could just be innocent travellers that got in their way if you ask me."

Vaelas nods. "Agreed. We also don't think that they knew about the design on the inside of the gem pouch. We should finish examining those graves and see if they can reveal anything related."

"And we have this too." Says Janin holding a holy symbol in his finger-tips. "This is the symbol that Dua took from one of the bandits. It represents an evil god, one of the Dark Six!"

"I believe that it specifically represents the figure known as 'The Mockery' and I am quite comfortable in out-right condemning anyone who follows such a foul code or ethos. Mockery followers care nothing of honour, justice, law or good. They seem to value treachery over honour, they fight for the joy of killing."

Hawk narrows his eyes and watches the Silver Flamer speak, but says nothing in response. Thoughtful silence descends in the cave.

Outside, with the light of dawn slowly beginning to creep onto the horizon, Dua continues his watch over the bound bandits. There's been something subtle nagging at the back of his mind for a number of hours now. He's not been able to put his finger on what it is, but the feeling has been growing.

Suddenly he has a random thought and looks around himself. That mountain to the right....it looks....familiar....if you were viewing it from round to the left a good few more miles it might look like an upturned basket.

He swings his head to the left. Yes! That mountain looks familiar too. He closes his eyes momentarily, draws a triangle in his head, calculates a couple of distances, journey times and comes to a conclusion.

A wry smile appears on his snout as he realises that he's only about sixty miles south west of his home! Well, his ex-masters home. "Intriguing" he surmises.

Janin and his shield eventually make headway on the grim task of digging up the graves in the copse of trees. He finds a body in each grave, but isn't sure what to make of them. He calls the others over to get their opinions.

"Well, I've found two bodies, and they look human.....ish. They both have slightly more angular features than most humans, and there is an almost other-worldly element to them that I can't quite put my finger on. Am I imagining mystery where there is none? Oh, and their clothes too, definitely not any kind of garb that I’ve seen before."

"I have." Answers Vaelas. "They are Kalashtar. An unusual race of people from the continent of Sarlona, many thousands of miles to the east. They rarely come to Khorvaire, and not usually without a very good reason."

"Naturally Psionic, many Kalashtar possess powerful mental abilities that would confound even some of the most powerful wizards. An achievement I hope to accomplish myself one day. Presumably these two were not so skilled to be killed by these bandits."

Whilst Vaelas speaks, Janin briefly examines the bodies. "Dead about a week, and killed by a number of stab wounds. Probably short swords and crossbow bolts. That pretty much matches our bandits’ weaponry."

The clunk and rattle of the prison wagons can be heard in the distance, slowly approaching with Dirk at the head.

"Lets get these murderers caged before they start to wake up." Suggests Hawk.