Road Raid

Two days out from the village of DogKeep , the caravan came upon five men on horses. Several of the guards rode out to meet them, and determined it was safe to pass. Blink sent his familiar into the air to search the area, and discovered a larger group of men hiding in the woods. Aldrich and Barrett took a group of scouts forward to search the woods, but only found hoof prints and signs of the men passing. The caravan moved on forward.
As the party had suspected, the five men on horses circled back to pursue the caravan. The wagons had already been drawn into a circle for the night, and Blink used his magic to cut deep pits into the ground.
A total of twenty five mounted men attacked the caravan. Unlike the battle against the stirges, the caravan had no fatalities during this encounter. By the end of the fight, eleven of the attackers were killed, ten had fled, and four were captured after Blink made them fall asleep. The party searched the bodies and found 55 gold pieces, 1 healing potion (given to Aldrich), and 1 empty potion bottle with Elvish inscriptions on it. Blink figured out that it was a magical bottle that could turn water into any common or uncommon potion after the water was inside the bottle for 24 hours. Blink kept the potion bottle.
The party decided to interrogate the four prisoners they had acquired after the fight with the bandits. Each man was buried up to his neck in the dirt, with each one facing away from the others.
They started with interrogation of a man that was identified from a wanted poster. There was a bounty of 1,000 gold available (dead or alive) for his return due to burglary and other mischievous deeds. Quinn cast guidance on Blink, and the gnome went to work. He used some oil, pepper, and salt, and threatened to cook the man with an illusory fire that moved as questions were asked and answered.
After learning that the wanted man's name was Saul , Blink discovered that he was not the leader of the bandits. When conversation began to slow, Blink cast message to tell Barrett to mimic the voice of one of the other bandits. Barrett's voice made it seem to Saul like the other bandit was being tortured and killed.
Saul asked what was wanted of him. He admitted the full force of their group had attacked the caravan. The party figured that only ten bandits had fled from the combat. Stubing voiced his order that he did not want to pursue the bandits as too much time had already been lost.
One of the other prisoners was made to believe that Saul and the others had been executed. The prisoner stated that the bandits were once headquartered in Sleetfell, however they were run out of town for obvious reasons.
All the bandits seemed to have a tattoo of a black rose on their backs. The bandits wouldn't explain the significance of the black rose, though they seemed to indicate that the party should know about it.
The party left the bandits buried in the ground (otherwise unharmed), and the caravan headed out.

Body Count:

• 11 dead bandits
• 10 bandits turn tail
• 4 bandits captured

Loot

• 55 gold
• 1 healing potion
• 1 empty potion bottle that can turn water into any common or uncommon potion