Black Finger Bandits

With dramatically appropriate timing, the inn door slammed open, just as a flash of lightning, followed immediately be a crash of thunder lit the sky. Jeriel, owner of the local curiosity and specialty shop, stood in the doorway, dripping wet. “I’ve been robbed!”

The adventurers in the back corner of the taproom looked at each other. “What? It wasn’t me!” Nimble says quietly to his companions.

Someone had escorted Jeriel in, closed the door, and handed him an ale. An off duty city guard asked him what happened. “I was in the back room reading, and I heard a noise coming from the shop. I know I locked up, so I went out to see what it was. When I opened the door to the shop there was someone stuffing my wares into a sack. I don’t know how he saw anything, since the only light came from the back room. When he saw me, he just grinned, walked into a shadow, and disappeared!”

“What did he look like?” the guard asked.

“I couldn’t see much, he had on a dark cloak, which was wet. It left puddles in the shop. What I could see was... ghastly. His face was very pale, but his eyes and his mouth were dark... even his teeth!”

“Crap” Rathgar swore quietly before draining his tankard. “We can either deal with this, or get out of town.”

“Can’t it wait till morning?” Feris asked. “I’m bushed”

“Nope.” Rathgar said. “I can’t sleep in a bright room, and any room with shadows isn’t even remotely safe right now.” He stood up and called out to the guard “Where can we find the bandits?”

---

One of the distinctive properties of Dark Honey is that repeated use permanently stains the fingers and teeth of the user, thereby marking anyone with those stains as someone not to be trusted. Recently a band of ruffians has been spotted with the distinctive stains raiding caravans, pillaging locked shops, and even kidnapping and assassinating those that would oppose them.

Of late, their tactics seem designed more to terrorize than to simply gather wealth. This is due to the influence of a cleric that has begun to minister to them. Sendoc, Prophet of the Sleeper, is a tall, slightly pudgy follower of the Lord of Nightmares, a demonic entity that feeds on the fear of things that lurk just out of sight. His gray eyes peer out from behind heavy lids. Like his new flock, his fingers, lips, and teeth are stained black because of his use of Dark Honey. His hair and beard are both long and unkempt. He disdains combat and will generally spend his time directing the bandits or cursing his opponents with his nightmarish liturgy. He is however armed with a mace and wears chain mail under his midnight blue robes, and willingly uses his powers to defeat his opponents.