Adventure: A Halt to the Grind

The wheel of power keeps on turning, and we’re all crushed under it in time
Setup: A stranger has taken up residence inside the village mill, setting up traps and bran-
dishing weapons at any who would get close. Folk in the locality are starting to run low on
flour, and the local miller is eager to seek an end to the problem before they’re driven into
the arms of her competition. Hired to put an end to this situation, our heroes are about to
trip face first into a nest of danger and intrigue far exceeding such a simple seeming mis-
sion. 
Adventure Hooks: 
 The intruder is a semifamous outlaw by name of Dwyer, originally a poacher on the lands of the
local Baroness who escalated to ransom when he realized his trapping skills worked equally well
on noble hunting parties and carriages. The bounty on his head is substantial and his live capture
will likely to put the party in the Baroness’s good graces, but the drinking songs about Dwyer
mention that he’s a veritable fortune in ransoms squirrelled away somewhere in the wilds, some-
thing the party could have a piece of if they were to help him escape.  
 If confronted face to face, the party will discover that Dwyer holed up in the mill to recover from
a near fatal injury, one he claims he got in service of a good hearted noble in one of the neighbor-
ing baronies. To hear him tell it, the baroness has kidnapped one of this nobles close relations for
unknown means, and his campaign of ransom over the past few years has all been a smokescreen
as he searched for information on the victims location. Even now the baroness’s forces hunt him
and the cyphered scrollcase he carries with him, leaving the party with the choice: Believe a
known outlaw and help him escape across the border, possibly becoming outlaws themselves,
leave this possibly imaginary prisoner in the lurch by turning him over to the baroness, or leave
the wounded man behind to draw the pursuers attention and deliver the information themselves. 
 Word’s gotten out that the party has been approached to solve the problem at the mill, and while
they’re gearing up in town they’re approached by a representative of one of the miller’s business
rivals. This disruption has been VERY profitable for the representative’s employer, profits that
could be shared should the party discover, that the intruder has done longterm damage during their
occupation of the mill. Careful to speak only in insinuation, the representative offers compensa-
tion relative to the amount of damage the mill might have sustained, going so far as to hint at an
offer of patronage should their confrontation with the intruder result in the establishment going up
in flames.