by tumblingdice » Sun Oct 04, 2015 2:52 am
Though you are short on provisions as it is, you manage to scrounge up enough food to feed the refugees. The group eagerly devours the first meal they've had in days, and you see them start to relax as hunger releases its grip on them.
"Many thanks," Rashan says in answer to your kindness and hospitality after he has eaten his fill. He turns to Zelaz. "They came in the dark; it's hard to say for sure. The faces of the men were so twisted, so fierce was their rage, that I could not tell man from monster. Some had fangs, orcs I believe. A few large goblins, too. One beast, tall as my house, refused to die. So bad was the smell. We chopped off its legs, and then the head. But the limbs came crawling back. It got up, and chased after its own head!"
One of the children begins to cry. Rashan continues. "It was all such a mess. Darkness, smoke, fire. Screaming and cursing. I could not tell you how many there were, or who was in charge."
The door of a nearby hut bangs open, and out comes an enormous suit of plate mail with a bald, scarred red face popping out of the gorget. The door slams shut behind it.
Captain Sarras.
"Well, if it isn't the goddam welcome wagon!" he hollers, looking in contempt at all the new faces and mouths to feed. "Where'd you scare this sorry bunch up?" He turns to Tasrem. "Did you invite them to lunch, and then forget? Never mind! I don't want to know. You there!" he says, pointing a stubby finger at Taranna. "And you, you, you and you! Guard duty! Tonight. You too, pretty boy," he adds, nodding in the direction of Aristide. "And keep an eye out for Bishop Guillaume! He and his scouting party went out yesterday morning, and haven't returned. Crazy fruitcake!"
With that, Sarras storms across the rubble strewn square, and away to check on his men at the other end of the village.
Some hayseed militia man from the foothills of Darokin, scraping the remnants from his bowl of gruel, flashes a smile short a couple teeth. "Looks like the captain's in a good mood today."
Actions? Any more questions for the refugees?
Get thee to the dungeon. Get thee to the dungeon forthwith. Pass not the barbican. Amass not 200 GP.