May 23, 2026 3:33 pm
As you continue to question the two captives, the following becomes clear:
- the two survivors are so committed to a sociopathic concept of individual responsibility that they legitimately don't understand why you hold them accountable for their companions' actions. They can't feel remorse for something they didn't do.
- Black has organized several bands of independent operatives such as their group into a loose network of squads that are occasionally called upon to perform tasks that are generally beneficial to all of them.
- Black sometimes shows up himself to deliver such orders, or sometimes he sends a kobold courier. The PCs remember the Dungeon Busters' account of bandits working with kobolds in the attack on the mill. When he comes, Black is usually cloaked and/or disguised. When the PCs ask whether they can be sure that it's the same person each time, Fern and Ene seem genuinely surprised and a bit disturbed - the thought clearly hadn't occurred to them.
- They think that at least two of their number - Fern calls them 'Jet' and 'Som,' but from her description the PCs recognize them as Hider One and Hider Three - had come from Orlane before joining their band; they had been sharecroppers but they'd had to leave when trade dried up and there was no work.
- Black hasn't sent any instructions for a while, so they'd been trying to make do on their own as best they could. The last communication was to "Be ready; a big opportunity is coming." The PCs are suspicious about the timing, but when you discuss it later you realize that this message doesn't coincide with the attack on the mill back on Day 1: that was nearly a month ago, and this message, delivered by a kobold speaking terrible Imperial, was from about a week ago. The group has been wandering the Dim Forest, scrounging for food and avoiding undead at night, ever since.
- It seemed a godsend when they found this abandoned farm two days ago. But the farm is clearly meant to support a smaller number of people; their group ate through all the vegetables in a day. Abe was pretty mad at this; he'd been getting pretty demanding lately. But he explained that this had potential to be a good setup for them; with a little "forethought" and "planning," they might be able to live here for longer than a few days.
- Knowing they had some farm experience, Abe left Jet and Som behind with instructions to "figure out how to get the crops going again" along with Kiil and Punt (the party figures that these are Hider Two and Hider Four), while the rest of them went foraging yesterday evening. Kiil had said he saw a guy snooping around at the edge of the farm, so they were also supposed to look and see if they could find some rival gang trying to take the farm from them (obviously this was them mistaking Dell as a rival bandit).
- They didn't find anything last night - Fern doesn't say it herself, but Ene's attitude makes it seem like Fern and Abe had a tryst. Ene didn't want to hang around for that, went off on her own, and ended up running from undead most of the night.
- All the searchers returned this morning, meeting at the path, and then came back home to find the wagon with the dead people and the party's ambush. They didn't realize that the corpses were Jet and Kiil until after the party attacked. From their veiled references, it's clear that Fern and Ene are hoping to survive for long enough for Som and Punt to sneak into the farm tonight and rescue them; they don't realize that the party already killed them and stowed their corpses in the barn.
- the two survivors are so committed to a sociopathic concept of individual responsibility that they legitimately don't understand why you hold them accountable for their companions' actions. They can't feel remorse for something they didn't do.
- Black has organized several bands of independent operatives such as their group into a loose network of squads that are occasionally called upon to perform tasks that are generally beneficial to all of them.
- Black sometimes shows up himself to deliver such orders, or sometimes he sends a kobold courier. The PCs remember the Dungeon Busters' account of bandits working with kobolds in the attack on the mill. When he comes, Black is usually cloaked and/or disguised. When the PCs ask whether they can be sure that it's the same person each time, Fern and Ene seem genuinely surprised and a bit disturbed - the thought clearly hadn't occurred to them.
- They think that at least two of their number - Fern calls them 'Jet' and 'Som,' but from her description the PCs recognize them as Hider One and Hider Three - had come from Orlane before joining their band; they had been sharecroppers but they'd had to leave when trade dried up and there was no work.
- Black hasn't sent any instructions for a while, so they'd been trying to make do on their own as best they could. The last communication was to "Be ready; a big opportunity is coming." The PCs are suspicious about the timing, but when you discuss it later you realize that this message doesn't coincide with the attack on the mill back on Day 1: that was nearly a month ago, and this message, delivered by a kobold speaking terrible Imperial, was from about a week ago. The group has been wandering the Dim Forest, scrounging for food and avoiding undead at night, ever since.
- It seemed a godsend when they found this abandoned farm two days ago. But the farm is clearly meant to support a smaller number of people; their group ate through all the vegetables in a day. Abe was pretty mad at this; he'd been getting pretty demanding lately. But he explained that this had potential to be a good setup for them; with a little "forethought" and "planning," they might be able to live here for longer than a few days.
- Knowing they had some farm experience, Abe left Jet and Som behind with instructions to "figure out how to get the crops going again" along with Kiil and Punt (the party figures that these are Hider Two and Hider Four), while the rest of them went foraging yesterday evening. Kiil had said he saw a guy snooping around at the edge of the farm, so they were also supposed to look and see if they could find some rival gang trying to take the farm from them (obviously this was them mistaking Dell as a rival bandit).
- They didn't find anything last night - Fern doesn't say it herself, but Ene's attitude makes it seem like Fern and Abe had a tryst. Ene didn't want to hang around for that, went off on her own, and ended up running from undead most of the night.
- All the searchers returned this morning, meeting at the path, and then came back home to find the wagon with the dead people and the party's ambush. They didn't realize that the corpses were Jet and Kiil until after the party attacked. From their veiled references, it's clear that Fern and Ene are hoping to survive for long enough for Som and Punt to sneak into the farm tonight and rescue them; they don't realize that the party already killed them and stowed their corpses in the barn.
