April Events Pt 7
[X] Get reinforcements from your keep, then attack. It's best to do this right, so you can minimize casualties and catch as many of the enemy as possible.
[X] Bring some extra archers along to make sure you can handle any further problems.
You send to Corzu Keep for reinforcements, which arrive well after dark. Dita shows up well before that, apparently unable to stand missing out on an adventure. Her appearance quite distracts Chesna from dwelling on the aftermath of the battle, although she gives Dita a bit of a scolding for misleading her. The three friends end up having a bit of a reunion that night, but you miss out on most of that due to the need to organize things and then rest up for tomorrow.
The next day you return to the scene of the battle with Jarislaw, the rangers and a dozen archers to round out your force. It only takes an hour or so to locate the hamlet, a sorry little cluster of huts surrounded by a few small fields cleared from the surrounding woods. Two of the buildings have recently burned down, and no one is working the fields.
You find that the bandits have all fled after looting the settlement, taking with them all the food and portable wealth. They left behind a dozen women and a gaggle of children, but no adult males. The surviving residents have a harrowing tale to tell - the bandit gang found their tiny settlement last summer and, noticing the lack of patrols in the area, decided to just move in and take over. They killed several of the men while forcing the older boys to join their gang, raped all the younger women, and used the peasants as slaves for the whole length of their stay.
After a bit more questioning you discover that while the locals don't know where the bandits went, they do know there were around 20 survivors who left in three different groups. One was probably headed to join up with a gang they'd heard of in Pischia, while the other two could be headed anywhere. Jarislaw notes that while some of them left by boat at least one party set out on foot - but it looks likely to rain later today, and even if you can track them they'll be well over the border into someone else's fief before you could catch up.
Meanwhile, Ezti draws some of the survivors into conversation and discovers why they were here in the first place. Apparently they fled Pischia when there was a bad harvest a few years back, knowing they couldn't pay their taxes but Nikolai would never accept an excuse. They've been hiding out here ever since, trying to get by on their own and hoping no one would find them.
Needless to say Chesna is shocked and appalled it discover that the poor abused villagers she was feeling sorry for are tax evaders, and from her own lands no less. Now she doesn't know what to think - on the one hand, they're abused women and children, but on the other hand they're criminal scum who need to be hung immediately. Dita is appalled that Chesna would even think this is an issue given the circumstances, while Ezti puts on a pretty good poker face and quietly watches to see how you handle this.
This… is a problem. Tax evasion is one of the worst crimes a commoner can commit, and always warrants the death penalty. Hanging is actually merciful - a lot of nobles torture tax evaders in various creative ways before killing them. But normally it's the men who get hung for such things, because it's trivial for the women to claim they didn't know what their men were doing and no one is especially interested in punishing them. Sadly this is one of the few cases where they can't plausibly plead ignorance. But… you're not entirely sure your men would obey an order to hang these poor women after all they've been through, and if you do the children are all going to die.
You:
[ ] Put up a gallows, and hang the villagers. The law is the law, and you can find someone who'll do the dirty work.
[ ] Officially hand them over to Chesna. The crime was committed against her, so she should take them back to Castle Pisch to face justice.
[ ] Give Chesna a good excuse to defer dealing with them for a few hours so you can let them escape - there's no need to punish them further.
[ ] Officially declare that you aren't going to prosecute them, and move on.
[ ] Write In
With that dealt with, you:
[ ] Pursue the fleeing bandits no matter where they go. They won't get away with this!
[ ] Pursue the bandits… unless they head for Rogatica. No sense risking Ezti or starting a war.
[ ] Go back to riding the borders.
[ ] Spend a day helping the villagers and deciding what to do with them, then go back to riding the borders.
[ ] Write In
