Nikolai's scruffy bandits
People say that we are baddies
Bandits from The Musicians of Bremen
This group, which numbers at least 6 people, lives over a day's ride south of Vladykino. Whether they have an abode more permanent than spots around a campfire is not clear, as they usually appear in the woods while it's raining. The only one of the scruffy people who gave his name is Nikolai - ostensibly, their leader. They otherwise never identified themselves - they could be displaced peasants, or bandits. To the best of the PCs' knowledge, they have never attacked anyone.
Whoever these people are, and whatever their goals, they appear to be knowledgeable about what goes on in their locale. In their first appearance, they told Lokan, who was traveling north through the woods, about the Kochmak raid on Vladykino. They were also aware of the fact that the mill survived the onslaught, but that the miller was taken by some people for 'dark deeds', and transported to face the archbishop's justice at Malinka. When they meet Lokan and his new companions a week later, they tell them that they likely will not catch up with the raiders, who are probably traveling southwest toward the city of Udyn, where a major slave mart is located. They are also aware of the island in the Udena river where the slaves are probably warehoused. In exchange for sharing this information, they pressed the party to tell them what happened to the mill and the miller. Yuri and Fedor fill them in about the magical nature of the mill that grinds bones into coin, the sorcerous abilities of the miller, and the fact that he is now held in Malinka. In response to questioning, Yuri speculates that the mill survived because Zbigniev was in cahoots with the raiders. The scruffy people then try to get the party to accept their hospitality, but Yuri begs off, citing the need to purse the raiders as an excuse.
These same people were encountered a day or two later by Kesha and Bjorg, who did not tarry with them for long. The scruffy people only indicated that they had encountered their companions, and pointed them in the direction where they went.
The scruffy people appear in Chapters 5, 6, and 7.
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