Hilda makes it to the village

The rest of the journey to the village is long, but uneventful.

By the time Hilda arrives, its starting to get dark, and she has no greater desire than to get a warm meal and find a nice bed to rest in.

The village is called "Pilla" on the king's maps, but known as "Pillage" to the locals, largely because it was originally founded by a group of highway men.

The story goes that they had grown tired of the danger associated with their profession and had decided it would be easier to separate people from their wealth by opening an inn and over charging their customers.

Pilla's mayor insists that's untrue, but rumor has it few travelers emerge from the village without a significantly lighter coin purse and the occasional valuable missing.

Hilda heads towards the inn, when a rather scrawny woman covered in rags approaches her.

"Hail mighty knight! Will you spare a coin for a poor widow, **** to beg on the streets?"

Hilda looks the woman over. She can't be more than 20, and while she is covered in rags, she's also wearing very nice boots...