The leader just looks at you like you were a crazy person for asking him that question.

"Official tokens? What the hell are you taking about?"

Even the others mumble to themselves, clearly confused by the question.

See, they don't have any brains.  Clearly they are nothing but pawns for Centuari to throw away.  You guys are lucky I'm in a reasonable mood tonight.

Byron starts to strip them naked.

Any attempt at resistance and I will be happy to end your resistance immediately and permanently.

Aliana chuckled at Amara's words
"There will be no tokens.   I'm sure neither group wants proof of association.
Centauri wouldn't want to admit hiring such dreggs and these layabouts probably know better than to have proof they work for such a vile man."

"C'mon, then. Let's go. It's best if we're gone before their friend returns.

Did someone wake up the new wanna-be farmer? Because he's not going to be safe here."

She had wasted two spells for nothing of substance...

Roen talked to each of the men as Byron stripped them to their birthday suits and were escorted off the property and down the road.

"I really feel sorry for you guys that you have to live off rewards set by Tyrants like Pervis Centauri. Hopefully this bit of humility will get you guys to rethink your lives."

Myarra scowls (professionally) at the captives while helping strip them naked.  "I really am starting to believe you really are stupid.  You had me thinking it was an act for a while, but no, you're dumber than rocks.

Look, actual guards carry identification, be it a uniform, badge, or token.  Because any brigand can claim to be an official.  It's the identification that tells travelers that they actually have to obey orders.  Without them, you're just criminals preying on travelers.

Centauri knows about us, and our capabilities.  If he sent you after us without any identification, then he sent you to your deaths.  Maybe he hoped you might be able to gang up on us and maybe take out one or two, but he knew full well that all of you were going to die.

What he didn't foresee, is that we're not murderers.  We'll kill to protect ourselves, but none of you are really a threat.  So, while some of my companions might be willing to inflict a little pain to find out what we need ... which we have, more or less ... you're in far more peril from Centauri, when he finds out you've failed, then you are from us.

You have my pity.  And, if you have even an intelligence at all, you'll really think about that."

Kali stood by to the side, not saying anything because she didn't have to. the others had this under control

Twiggy goes and wakes up the farmer by knocking on his window.

Dwight wakes up startled that somebody is knocking on his window. Twiggy hears some rummaging and a couple bangs and some profanity from the man inside before Twiggy hears,

"It's the middle of the night. Who is it?" Dwight said with an annoyed voice

While Twiggy is knocking on Dwight's window, the Ruffians are stripped naked one by one. They make vulgar comments which suddenly cease when Myarra gives her speech after kicking the leader right between the legs, which sends him to the ground throwing up and curled into a ball.

Roen just shakes his head as he escorts the ruffians off the property and up the road towards Triel. With it being the middle of the night, he looks for their horses with his darkvision and brings them back to the party. He informs the ruffians that he's not stealing them.

"You will find them quite a ways away from here, well away from this abandoned farm. Long enough for us to be well away from you. I'm sorry for your friend that died. If I could have brought him back from the dead, I would have. I just hope you have learned something from this. May Ilmater be with you."

"There's no point in trying to leave before dawn," Myarra advises the group. "Let's finish off this watch and as soon as everyone can see, let's get on the road and out of the area.

I think everyone will have to agree that we've worn out our welcome. We've tried very hard to be good citizens, to not cause any trouble, and it hasn't done us a bit of good.  Quite simply, the Centauri are nuts."

Going on the last shift, most of you don't get much sleep. You load the dead body of the Ruffian on one of the horses Roenthelm found down the road after you escorted the naked Ruffians that way. You also talk to Dwight about what happened and he's not happy at all. You use a Detect Magic spell to see if any of the equipment off the Ruffians is magical, but none of it is. The horses appear to be common riding horses with common gear. No money is found. You're convinced this was a botched assassination attempt. 7 people versus what they thought was going to be Byron, Roenthelm and Amara.

The rest of the night is uneventful. Twiggy was the only one who really fell asleep. Just like Myarra suggested, you leave as soon as its dawn and head on up the road to Soubar. You have a couple days worth of travel before you get there. After about 5 miles of travel from the farmhouse, Roenthelm ties off the Ruffian's horses and their clothes/gear near a large tree  and you ride on. That's also when you notice that Dwight is going down the same road as you. Looks like he took your advice and got out of there.

You eventually stop for lunch under a shady tree along the road and maybe 10 minutes later you see Dwight in the distance also stop for lunch. It appears that he took all the Ruffian's horses.

Amara was uneasy spending the night - she'd rather have started moving right away.

As they traveled, and out of earshot, she provided some explanation. "So you know - so that you can at least be neutral instead of making things harder - I don't like hurting people. I've done enough of that before I really understood right from wrong that only the mercies of the gods and goddesses will wash that blood from my soul. So if they need to - while, if they can forgive what I did in the past, well, they can forgive me for the present.

But I do find intimidation fine. I wouldn't have had to hurt that man had he been scared - but with the coddling, he wouldn't believe in any threat if he didn't receive an injury.

Please, next time, don't give them assurances that they won't be hurt. And don't be so obviously against something I'm doing. If you play along, it'll be easier to intimidate and we can get more information with less damage. I have no intention of killing someone outside of combat."

She noted Dwight in the distance and rolled her eyes. She didn't really feel any need to leave the bounty-hunters with her things like Roen did, but it was annoying and stupid that Dwight took things that they clearly left behind on purpose and that he now seemed to be tracking him. "You want me just to put him to sleep and send the horses on their way? Without someone leading them, I think they'll return to their known home - right Kalliyan? I'm not an animal expert, but I've heard that."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Myarra agrees.  "I take a dim view of thievery ... these days. Especially when I'm liable to be blamed for it.  Dwight is an idiot, and does not deserve to prosper from it."

"Please forgive me then, Amara. Your performance was quite realistic and if I would have picked up on that, that would have saved us a lot of time. I don't approve of those activities at all, but if we're putting on a show, I would go along with that. I would feel bad for tricking them, but scaring bad people once in awhile won't hurt anything."

Roen looked and saw Dwight in the distance with the horses,

"In a way, I don't blame him. He got beat up badly and lost his new home all in one day. He probably sees the horses as compensation for his troubles."

I couldn't care less about the horses. Attempted murderers deserve to lose something. Weren't you going to question him or something? Those other guys that beat him up were pretty upset at Dwight over some girl. No sense bringing all that trouble to Soubar.

Twiggy dismounted Fitz and gave him some water "It seemed to me that those ruffians just supposed to die and be used as examples at how horrible we are. I am sorry for not playing along Amara and I will try and do better next time. But... It is hard to be menacing when I am laughing. You stabbed him and I thought it was hilarious. He asked what you was going to do and recieved a swift answer."

Twiggy just shakes his head at Dwight "I say let him take the horses and their stuff. I am glad we helped the farmer but we can not save every single person, even from themselves. He knows that we left the horses and gear and Centari and his men track him down, so be it. We need to get back on track of slaying the dracolich and rescuing the people who are enslaved."

"You didn't know, it's okay. Just for the future I think we'll work better together," Amara said, smiling at the two. "I agree, Twiggy. I think they wanted some martyrs."

About Dwight, she shrugged. "We could question him, I suppose. But I don't think he'll have much useful. But if you want, I can invite him to ride with us and talk. Heck, I could even charm him if we felt that would be best."

Byron shakes his head and looks at Amara.

No, let Dwight go and keep the horses.  We brought the additional trouble on him.  He doesn't need any more.  Hopefully he will learn to live a better way and become a better person.  As for the other idiots, well hopefully they will learn that thinking they can earn a quick gold piece isn't going to be easy at any time and think twice before they do something like that again.

I knew you wouldn't hurt them any more than needed.  I just wanted to scare them into thinking you would.

Perhaps until we reach Soubar? He'll be able to find a job there easy and he'll have some gold in his pocket when he sells the horses. Being alone is no fun. I was wasting away at the Tower for a long time before you guys found me.

Amara nodded, turned her horse around, and rode over to Dwight. "If you're going to follow us, you might as well ride with us," she said.

Dwight was busy looking through some of the saddle bags, tossing clothes and other things that didn't interest him on the ground off to the side of the road. He found a few apples and was busy eating one as he fed the others to the horses.

"My hand doesn't come with the apple, dumbass." Dwight chided a horse

Upon seeing Amara riding up, he stops feeding the horses apples.

"Why are you offering?"

"Because you're going to get yourself killed if you don't come with us. As far as anyone else is concerned, you are now a horse thief." Amara said. "We'd rather not see people killed without purpose. And you might be able to help us by providing some information."

Dwight laughed at Amara's explanation.

"I saw that dead body on the horse while you all were riding away with them. Whoever you fought last night isn't going to blame me for stealing anything, let alone come around trying to find them in Soubar. But, I'll travel with you all because it's safer with numbers."

Dwight gets on his horse and leads the other 6 towards the rest of the group.

"Besides, why do you give a shit about me?"