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The dining halls of Sturnes are host to lavish feasts, with venison, poultry and pork galore, day after day. This is to the benefit of the poor as well, as leftovers of the feasts become alms distributed by the Church of Diloter. The alms having meat is almost unheard of in Nix history, and this taste of meat endears the poor to them, as this is a clear instance of plenty. The Church of Diloter does make the Ashen Dawn's contribution known, ensuring no hard feelings by the Church of Hilda, who otherwise holds almost uncontested dominance in attendance among the poor.
This also brings a change in Sturnes itself, the many decrepit poor districts start getting cleaned, slowly but surely a century of squalor is being dealt with, now that the residents have the energy to do so. With this, many ill Nixen are recovering, increasing the manpower available to Ordalan. What difference a meal can make.
>Action 1: Prospecting at the Hunting Grounds.
Nixen gather at the hunting ground, living in houses of timber and mud, but there are those who start digging. The Nixen have a proud smithing tradition, but that is nothing without a reliable source of iron or bronze. The location of these deposits is lost knowledge, so the Nixen start scouring the land anew, venturing into caves, looking for surface deposits, etc. anything to find workable metals to renew their weapons and tools.
>Action 2: The Huntsnixen and the Red King of Hounds. The barbarian scion is hunted, but ultimately escapes, albeit heavily wounded.
As the bandits continue to struggle against the Spears of Ashen Dawn, the barbarian scion will have to make his play. He makes his appearance known by the snarls of his warhounds, frenzied beasts with a taste for Nix flesh. The Nixen soon spot the barbarian scion, by his red hair and stolen regalia, he is Conri Ruadhan, styling himself as the king of these lands, warming his bed with Nixen slaves, who obey out of fear of being his hounds' next meal. But in facing the Spears, he has left his back open to the huntsnixen, who assault his bodyguard with bows and swords. The huntsnixen whittle down the bodyguards but Conri is a mighty warrior in his own right, and charges into the Nixen with his steed, cutting down a dozen before one huntsnix manage to hit Conri in the body with an arrow, making him slip the reins and fall to the ground. Even so, Conri keeps fighting, the huntsnixen waver in the face of Conri's might, until a second arrow hits Conri in the chest and he falls to the ground once more.
Seeing their leader gravely wounded, Conri's bodyguard rushes to him, sacrificing a number of themselves to put him on a horse and ride away. When the bandits notice their leader running away, their morale finally gives away, and the Spears of Ashen Dawn pushes on. Conri makes his escape, but his bandits and influence are reduced, while Ordalan's morale is bolstered by a decisive victory.
