"Thing is, they may be dressed like bandits, but they're behaving completely differently. Bandits wouldn't dec

"Thing is, they may be dressed like bandits, but they're behaving completely differently. Bandits wouldn't decimate the peasant population, burn their fields, and poison their wells — then there wouldn't be anyone to extort next time! Much more profitable to just shake them down every once in a while. That's why local thugs tend to be well known. But nobody recognizes these new ones! And all that's left behind after their raids are corpses and scorched fields. It's gotten to the point that 'our' bandits are fighting these 'outsiders.' Some of the villages are even gathering weapons and supplies to help 'our' bandits, because they at least let them live... but they're still losing."