They broke into a trading house, and the grain inside was indeed piled high, just as Old Jack had said.
There seemed to be plenty, but after they handed out a sack to each of the two or three hundred people who had followed them, the warehouse was essentially empty. There was no longer any point in guarding it.
The people following the players were satisfied, too, and headed home clutching their grain.
But that hardly mattered. An empty granary here did not mean there was no grain elsewhere in Votradnoi, and although those two or three hundred people were satisfied, they were hardly the only starving people in the city.
When Kan Jie and the others set out again, following Old Jack to their next destination, the number of starving people trailing them did not decrease. Instead, it doubled to more than five hundred.
With the players leading the charge and the starving NPCs cheering them on, providing support, and acting as local guides, Kan Jie's group rampaged through Votradnoi, looting, killing, and stealing grain wherever they went.
Even Connie, far away at the western city wall, could see what was happening, and it shocked her.
Had a fourth faction appeared, or had things inside Votradnoi spiraled out of control?
It never occurred to her that Prince Chris's Barbarian Guards were behind it.
With her limited imagination, she could not conceive of how the players had conjured up an army in such a short time.
Even Connie was frightened, and the three factions still locked in battle were no exception. They realized a fourth force had intervened, but they could not disengage just like that... If you said you no longer wanted to fight and tried to run, would the others simply let you go?
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