Second checkpoint and bandits

The next town we reached was the next checkpoint. To be safe I put on the cloak of human guise especially since there were far more guards here. We stayed the night and Mr Macca-nee tried to get some more information about what was going on.
Apparently, something had been stolen from a local noble which was part of the reason why there were more guards in town. He had wanted to help, which is admirable and I would have fully agreed under different circumstances. However, as things stand, every minute spend more in the country would be taking unnecessary risks and it will become far more difficult to get out once a war has started.
 
Early the next morning we got on the wagon to cross the checkpoint. Not having my wings feels incredibly strange but it is far easier to pass through wearing the cloak.
Before we left a small group of soldiers came into town from the central province, bringing news that they would be drafting able-bodied people from the families there. Naturally, the civilians weren't happy about it. We heard complaints that half of the healthy people had already joined the soldiers and that there were barely enough people to work the lands.
We quickly left and luckily the guard was too distracted by the starting ruckus in the town we left behind to notice my lies about my hometown. They did check for magic items but were far too focused on finding a specific neckless, presumably the item that was stolen from the noble, to care about the specific enchantment on my cloak. they didn't notice Mr Gimdalf had disguised himself as an old man with magic either. We were even warned about Bandits further down the road.
 
Due to all the unfriendly attention I would garner if my cloak stops working I instructed Mr Gimdalf on how to guide Dar and Din so I wouldn't spend more time in the open than needed. Once he seemed to get a hang of it I went inside the wagon to continue experimenting with the displacer beast meat.
 
Since we had been warned about people being robbed Meneer de Uil was sent to scout the path ahead in the forest and did indeed come back to report bandits blocking the road with trees. They seemed to have several predatory animals, such as wolves and bears, as mounts but to not be particularly alert. Mr Macca-nee and I are both confident in our ability to sneak around and Mr Gimdalf still looked like a very old dwarf. Therefore we decided that Mr Gimdalf would draw the attention of the muggers as an attractive target while Mr Macca-nee and I would sneak through the undergrowth to get behind the robbers for a surprise pincher attack.
The reverse ambushwas very effective and the Brigands quickly fled. We did take down a few of them and one of their bears. Bears aren't eaten that often in the Eyaw empire because they have a strong taste of their own and they don't appear that high in the mountains either. However, I do know a few good recipes for bear meat. Though it takes quite some time to prepare we'll have enough meat between the three of us for at least a month.