Valaith eyes the strange energy on her weapon cautiously as she interrogates the bandits. "How many casters are left in your camp? What time do you all go to sleep? Why did you cast your lot in with these fiends?"

"And the elf... is he alive? where is he?" adds Thurston trying to recover from what had happened. He didn't felt any fiendish presence on that man before, but if all are capable of call demons... he should purge them all.

"Damned if I know," the first one answers Vark. "Korinn's crazy. Scary as hell too. Has something to do with those accursed sisters of hers. I'm just here for the pay-day."

The other nods his head vigorously.

"We don't know much. We don't get to go below. I know of at least one other, plus Arathac and Korinn I guess. She might have more inside. She promised riches and a life free from the law. I didn't have anywhere else to go..."

Thurston is starting to lose his temper. 

" You should look for a job that doesn't involve killing and stealing from honest people. For the day pay? You sicken me. Your souls are tainted and are like a fertile field for the fiends to thrive. I've asked twice, I will not do it a third time. The elf. " he says grabing his warhammer with both hands now. 

"The elf! Right!" The nervous one adds hastily, clearly unsure who's questions to answer. "Yeah, he was brought in a few days ago. Some bigwig. Korinn said he was important. They took him below."

The man shudders as he mentions this.

"I don't think anybody is likely to see him again."

Thurston remains there, judging them and finally, very slowly retreats some steps and waits for the rest of the party to end their questions and then talk between them to make decisions.

"Sisters? Arathac?" Vark is quiet for a moment, trying to think. Eventually he turns to the others, shaking his head. "This looks bad." 

"They're just lost in th' world." Bründir walks to the front of the prisoners, "At first, I thought we were thump y'all 'round a bit, then drag ye in t'sit in a jail fer a while." He hangs the crossbow over a shoulder and rests the other hand over the hilt of his sword, "Truth be told, if yer whole camp is in with demons, it's gonna be purged."

Archie starts pacing back and forth around the bandits.  “Where are your families?  What do they know of your life choices?”

 Both men turn away in shame when they hear Archie's question. Eventually one pipes up with a quiet answer.

"Me ma's back in Langford, prob'ly thinks I'm dead..." he says with regret in his voice.

"My home is far from here," the other says, with a distant look in his eyes. "In Tanem."

Now that he says it, his slight accent makes a lot of sense.

"My father cast me out. So here I am."

Bründir's talk of a purge make both men go quiet again.

“Now seeing that my associates might not have any more questions.  Maybe they will; you will answer the truthfully.  There is another question is if we can risk you staying alive while we go deal with your camp.”

Archie pauses and looks at them in the eye one at a time. 

“I believe in second chances, you boys need to find a new... more honest path in life.”

”Go back to your families, apologize even if you don’t think you’re in the wrong and become honest hard working men.  If I see you stray back into this life again.  I will kill you

The trouble is I won’t remember your faces if we meet again.”

”what do you say boys, can we feel confident you’re going to chose the right path if we let you go?

.....The trouble is I won’t remember your faces if we meet again.”

(if they say yes) Archie will do his thing and carve an “A” into their left cheek before letting them be untied.

(no) just slits  their throat

"You should take the chance he is giving you. For you all are tainted with the fiends and I should purge you all.. " 

The pair of bandits look at each other uncertainly, before turning and nodding to Archie. However, as the gnome approaches them with his knife glinting in the sunlight and that wicked gleam in his eyes, they begin to doubt their decision.

"Wait, wait, we said yes!" One begins, before he is cut off by his own wailing scream of pain as as his comrade looks on in dumbfound horror.

Archie leaves him sobbing quietly to himself, unable even to cradle his ruined face with his hands still bound. He'd once been considered a handsome man by many, but that was over now.

As Archie approaches the second, he finally finds his voice.

"No! No! Please! Not my face! Please not my face!"

Another blood curdling scream fills the air as the gnome goes to work on the man's flesh.

"Yer a right bastard with with those damn things. Remind me if ye every get'em near me to stow'em in yer arse."

As Archie continues without looking up to Brundir.

”Your face, my arse... going by looks I might get them confused anyways.”

"Ye'll know ye got it wrong when one stabs ye back."

Valaith stares unflinchingly at the men. "Be glad it's just your face and not your entire head like that bastard. So quit your crying and be gone. The gnome's threat is true, you ever find yourself on the other side of my hammer and I'll make it slow."

“We’re done here, go back into town.... take your gear and gold.  Wait for the others to come to and give the same rousing speech I gave.  I expect you to mark them with the “A” as well.  If we see you at your old camp, you die first.”

Archie begins to walk away.

Thurston growls at them to make them run away. All has been told. 

As the first few depart, Bründir stays near the captives. They were justified criminals for banditry, but they were still just lost in the world. He fished in a pocket for a moment and pulled out a small coin, different than the currency of the realm, and handed it to one of the two, "Ye want t'make yer place in th'world? Go t'Sheercleft, fin' th'mine foreman, tell'em ye've done Bründir wrong an' owe me a debt. He'll set ye on th'right path. It'll be tough, but ye've seen worse, it seems."