Heroes on the Borderlands · Session 05
An investigation turns a hated bandit into the centre of a rigged conviction.
Scene 01 · Follow the case backward
With the execution approaching, the party retraced the case against Xanthe through taverns, records and reluctant witnesses.
Praal had harassed Xanthe’s niece, planted cult evidence in her home and hand-picked the magistrate who convicted her. The anonymous tip, the search and the tribunal had all been built to produce one result. Praal’s later exile merely turned a corrupt minor noble into a bandit chief.
Scene 02 · Time, not absolution
The four adventurers carried the cultist note and the history of the frame-up to Castellan Winvarl.
Winvarl already feared the growing bandit threat. He agreed to delay Xanthe’s execution, but he offered time rather than exoneration: the party would have to bring Praal to justice and prove the conspiracy in full.
“Bring me Praal, and bring me proof.”
Scene 03 · Choose the battlefield
With Xanthe’s life now measured in days rather than hours, the party travelled toward the meeting place named in the note.
They chose their ground before Praal could arrive: oil jars beside fragile bridges, caltrops in the approaches, concealed firing positions in the reeds and choke points controlling the island. Their hatred of Praal had become preparation.
The trap was ready. The people setting it still had to survive the road.
Session 05 · Aftermath
“Bring me Praal, and bring me proof.”
