Zaranak rubs his chin while listening to the beggar's story.
"Interesting indeed. I would like a more detailed account of why this queen was dethroned so resently, however. Though, more importantly -the rise of the new order which took the kingdom over. Who were they, where did they come from and why are they so bent on claiming a reasonable war as treasonous? Something does not sit right with that order... And what is the general populace's opinion of these happenings?" he mused.
"It seems to me as if the monarchs are far more interested in abusing their powers and forcing their people to live the way they want them to, rather than allowing the kingdom to prosper properly. One does not simply take over a kingdom such as this and then attempt to change the fundamentals of it without an ulterior agenda..." Zaranak added with a thoughtful thrown upon his head.

OOC: waiting!

In the commercial district

Kamelion visited the commercial district (OOC: informed me via PM). Compared to the heavy activity at the gates, the commercial district painted a much bleaker picture of the economic situation in Hammerhall. Apparently the Vasar traders that you saw earlier are here on a stopover only, as there are few vendors and customers to be found.

There is little here, other than 1) a blacksmith, 2) a bakery, 3) a general store and 4) an armorer. Kamelion ponders his choices and decides to......

At the shack, near the inn

Characters engaging the men who attacked Lucas:

-Exile (Commanding three undead, an Earth Elemental)
-Lucas
-Jack the Knife
-Leh Dzebo

______________________________________________________________________

Lucas jumps off the window sill, swinging his sword at the lone guard. (OOC: Lucas rolls 1/5 Athletics: Critical Failure!). The guard retaliated with his axe as Lucas fell to the ground. Lucas took 20 damage (critical failure + retaliation.)

"To arms!" the guard cried, grabbing for his horn, "The fight is on!" He reached for his horn but only for a moment, as an earth elemental slammed through the door and punched the horn out of his hands. The guard has taken 10 damage.

A small army of barbarians have emerged from the shadows. They outnumber you 2:1. Their leader emerges, and beckons to you,

"Lay down your arm and we can arrange a little.... deal. Persist, and you shall meet your death."
______________________________________________________________________

HP Update

Lucas: 40/60
Jack: 100/100
Exile: 91/100
Leh: 81/100
Undead civilian: 20/20
Undead civilian 2: 20/20
Undead civilian 3: 20/20
Earth Elemental: 30/30

Lucas and Exile both have 1 healing potion remaining. All of you still have smond leaves. To see how many you have left, look at your character posts (first page).
____________________________________________________________________

HP update

Main Guard 30/40
Barbarian Lord: 40/40 (Has leadership skill)
Barbarian 1: 40/40
Barbarian 2: 40/40
Barbarian 3: 40/40
Barbarian 4: 40/40
Barbarian 5: 40/40
Barbarian 6: 40/40
Barbarian 7: 40/40
Barbarian 8: 40/40
Barbarian 9: 40/40
Barbarian 10: 40/40
Barbarian 11: 40/40
Barbarian 12: 40/40
Barbarian 13: 40/40
_____________________________________________________________________

OOC: Before we continue, we must decide if you are up to the fight. Do you: 1) Continue the fight? Or 2) listen to the Barbarian Lord's call to surrender?

Exile, Leh, Jack and Lucas each get a vote. Since the number of party members is even, the first choice to receive 2 votes will win. If you decide to fight, I will post combat rules.

OOC:Oh crap. Errrmmm....I don't know. I really don't want fight this battle. I prefer not dying in my first quest.

In the slums

The leader of the beggar chuckles. "Detailed account, Quenhali? What do we look like, eh, 'the royal digest'?

On this matter, there's not much else we can tell you. There is a faction that supports the agrarian lifestyle and considers hunting 'antiquated.' They preach nonsense about 'preserving nature'. Course, nature never tried to preserve us, so why should we treat it with more respect than it deserves? As you can see, farming ain't quite workin' out for us here in the slums. Ever since the hunters went out of business, so did much of Hammerhall...

Sure, they had a point about the war being long and contracted, o'good point, I'd say. Yet it was a worthy war, and the Knights did not deserve their fate. Least, that's what you're gonna hear 'round these ol'slums.

Abuse of power? Hah! As I said before, those are all o'bunch of bastards, the royal types...

But now you get us o'wonderin'.... How come ye be so interested in matters that do not concern your own kind?

Kamelion sets off to the general store.

Leh

"what are we waiting for? Let's bash some heads!"

Exile shook his head as he steps forward, his hand coming up "Step forward stranger, and lets hear your words. I am Exile of the Shadow Moon, speak unto me and I shall see your words. But leave your weapon."

OOC: No fight.

"I agree with the Vasar, I really prefer not dying here. So let us all sheath our weapons and talk this out like gentleman."

OOC:I prefer not fighting. So no fighting.

The General Store

A young woman meets Kamelion at the door.

"Greetings, traveler." She smiles at him, blonde locks of hair, falling on bare reddish shoulders. "First customer of the day. First customer of the week, for that matter! Why don't you come on in?"

Kamelion nodded and entered.

The woman sighed desperately, waving her hand in the direction of piles and piles of junk.

"Can't move anything, lately. Feel free to take a 10% discount on any goods. By the way, the name's Verana."

Kamelion wandered around the room, coughing as he inhaled the dust from stale products that had stayed on their shelves one day - or perhaps, one year - too long.

"I'm Kamelion. Actually, Verana," Kamelion said (OOC: via PM), "I found these rare leaves on my journey here. I was looking to part with them. At a good price, that is."

"Heh," the young lady giggled, "You speak as if we have any money to part with here. I assure you, or rather, my room full of junk assures you... we don't. Those leaves... their brilliant red color, their *ahem*", she cleared her throat, "...medicinal benefits... they must be worth 100 gold a piece."

"That much?" inquired Kamelion, raising his eyebrows curiously.

"That much!" she exclaimed.

"Mhm..." Kamelion replied.

"But around this city," she added, "I dare say you couldn't get much more than..oh, 50 for them. No one is walking around with that much coin in their purse in Hammerhall. Perhaps we could work out a barter? I will give you 30 gold pieces for each, and you can take an item or two from the store. That's the best I can do."

"You said they were worth 100 gold each!"

"Well," Verana giggled, "perhaps I have broken the first rule of business: honesty is good policy, but honesty in... moderation. As I said, I will purchase those from you for 30 gold each and give you some goods as well, hopefully that will make up the difference. I'm sure you can find something that interests you here."

"Perhaps," Kamelion noted, "..if I could breathe."

"My apologies, Kamelion," Verana returned, "so are you rejecting my offer? Or are you interested? The place is a mess, so if you want to go through with the trade you will have to tell me what types of items you're interested in and I'll see what I can dig up. We have almost anything that you can imagine here... just no customer to sell it to!"

The Shack

"You reckless fools," remarked the Barbarian Lord as he sheathed his weapon. "You bring your.... creatures," he said, pointing to the skeletons, "you attack our guard. Were you not warned to be discreet?"

The Barbarian Lord paces the room, with a hand held on the hilt of his weapon.

"Now, down to business. Hopefully your little 'invasion' will be seen as nothing more than a gang war. Better yet, let's pray it was not seen at all."

He inhaled deeply, raised his hand to the back of his neck and began rubbing it.

"Now, let's get down to business. They call me Ruk. I run the show around here. I know something of you from my informants, something... interesting. But pray tell, who are you exactly? What has brought you to Hammerhall?"

OOC: Anyone present may speak to Ruk.

Zaranak stares at the beggar's joking comment about them not being a newspaper "I suppose you're right. I was generally musing, however. there most certainly is something going on behind the scenes in this kingdom, and something tells me I need to get to the bottom of this. And outlawing the Knights seem too much of a ploy to destroy that which makes Hammerhall what it is.
"On your arguing regarding nature never preserving us - it does, as we preserve it. Hunting, however, is the natural order and action of a carnivore, and therefore, hunting preserves nature. Devoting oneself purely to agricultural edibles, however, is a degree of foolishness I have never comprehended.
"As to why I'm so interested. The recent battle of Northbrook. I was sent there with my squadron, and my companions fell in the battle. The army of Hammerhall left the scene before the battle was over with a single man in their custody, a former Knight. I need to know why they abandoned us all to near certain death. Which brings me to asking - have you any other information about Knight sympathisers, or those against the Knights? Anything at all would be useful." Zaranak finishes as he rubs his chin, obviously thinking strongly about what he has been told.

In the Slums

"S'pose you could be correct," states the beggar, "but the reason for outlawing the Knights all came down to one thing... power. These bastards thrive on it. It's all they want, all they need, all they desire. The Knights can be a major obstacle to that."

"Y'know a Knight y'say," interjects another. "Well, I'll be damned! Here why ya didn't just come out and say it? Now how did a Knight start associating himself with a Quen?

Now, don't s'pose I know much o'anythin about the sympathizers. We be among them, now that's true, but as you can tell, we aren't exactly 'the first regiment', so to speak. So if you're lookin' for men that 'matter', you haven't found the right gentlemen. We don't have a silver to our name, much less any armaments to speak of...."

The third adds,

"Tell you what you might do," he pauses, "...now this is under the assumption that you're gonna come back here and help us with our o'spider problem, you hear me? Not a drop of free advice... but I'll tell you what you might do. You might want to have a look at this old passage through the sewers. I'll point it out if you like. Reason being, the Knights used to use it to get from the slums to the city center and vice versa.

Why, I remember some years back, during the first persecution, they came here to drop off some meat for us. Came right through the sewer, in and out in a flash. Couldn't get a bone to gnaw on in those days. And s'pose not much has changed. Fine meats, they were!"

"Yes, the Knights were always good to us," the leader remarks.

Lucas

"Sorry about that. Seems like our leader got a little ahead of himself. Although your friends did try to forcibly make us come by taking me hostage," Lucas said as he leaned against a wall.

"However may I querie why you ask of the nature of our visit to Hammerhall? I'm very cautionous ever since our earlier "meeting". No offense."