A gang of plague bandits

By the standards of the Screaming Vortex, Ludlum's Dare was incredibly peaceful, or at least well-ordered. Most of the fighting that goes on was pre-arranged duels or formal battles between two individuals or groups with scores to settle and/or boredom to advert.

This being the Screaming Vortex, though, there was still plenty of random attacks to go around...

The first sign of trouble was the faint popping of gunfire, somewhere else in the teahouse. Normal humans wouldn't have heard it over the moans, but Jessica was both superhuman and trained to notice threats.

She put down her sandwhich and turned to Pearl. "Threats divination, please."

The sorcerer, confused, did as her mistress asked, and an image appeared in the incence, shimmering in the narcotic clouds - two dozen plague-ridden men with stub revolvers and rusty blades. Each had a strip of black cloth tied over his mouth.

"Plague bandits." Pearl said, stating the obvious.

By this time, the Nurglites were close enough that Jessica's warband could hear the gunshots, and there were scrapes and clicks from outside as they readied themselves.

The smoky vision showed the bandits splitting up, with seven heading into the deserted main hall of the "Honoured Guests" wing, leaving Jessica with a choice. Stay here and enjoy her meals, or head out and fight?