At the Temple Square

When the last goblin falls the ranger comes running to the half-orc's side. The local's profuse, if merely eloquent in his fashion.

"Thanks for helping. This kind of thing never happens. Not from these rats. Something's got them antsy." He says, looking down at the paladin's wound.

"Gotta have that looked at. They make their weapons from our trash," he warns, shaking his head when he looks away. He calls out toward the podium installed for the cathedral's inauguration. He waves to draw attention. There should be a healer. "Hey!"

Looking about as the plaza clears he finally notices the town beneath the bluff. His mouth becomes a thin line watching smoke climb skyward from multiple directions.

"Damn . . ."

"When the last goblin falls" . . . is it me or does anyone else feel like singing?

Vic slit through the other goblin with the reverse stroke of his blade. His wrist flicks the blade to start the cleaning process, followed by wiping the flat of the blade along the calf of his pants. Pulling the blade back up it's sheathed, and he gives nods to the people who praise him. He raises his hand up in a passing sort of fashion, all the while working on removing his shield.

His shield is removed and stowed back on his back as he looks about for a brief moment. A nod is given to the man who shot at an arrow at one of the goblin assailants near him. He glances about fully to see the others who were grave enough to help out at the town square. His mouth curves into a bit of a smile, happy at the fact that there are still people willing to help out in this world.

With a concerted effort he takes a knee next to each goblin. Pulling free a couple copper pieces each, he places them over the eyes of the goblins. Once their eyes have been covered he reaches for the prayer book at his hip, pulling it free of the clasp and opening it up. He reads a short prayer for each, then replaces the book to his hip. The whole matter took maybe thirty seconds before he was back on his feet.

Regaining his feet, and his balance, he starts to pick his way toward the sheriff. He stumbles a bit on some of the wood, wincing some as his injured leg comes to a shuddering stop into a log. He looks down toward the injured leg once more, making a mental promise to try and take care of it when he got to the sheriff.

Kes tears his eyes from the sight of his burning hometown and watches the half-orc kneeling over the perpetrators in . . . prayer? He looks up at the completed cathedral, the labor of years, then the chaos around himself and the visitor. The thin line goes taut on his lips. He notices the image on the knight's shield. He turns and goes up the stage toward the man beckoning.

Titus was right. Dress them up, only makes them think they know better.

The goblins were everywhere. The sheriff is nearby. He walks past without looking up. "How did they get in?"

Rodrick arrived where the spectral horse should have been and found nothing but a dead goblin. Looking around he could see some of the chaos was starting to calm down as many of the civilians were getting off the street or arming themselves. He still couldn't see a goblin from his local but could see the sheriff.

Deciding his best course of action was to speak with the sheriff and coordinate efforts. He rushed over to him.

"How did they get in?" Sheriff Hemlock snorts. "Not like the town has solid walls, boy."

He does not have time for further 'light' conversation. Turning away for the moment he begins coordinating the guardsmen at hand. Some are sent to the armory for more weapons, others ordered to assist the townsfolk; there are fires to be fought and the streets made safe to send folks back to their homes.

"If Sandpoint had complete walls and even a moat, the little vermin would just crawl through rat holes." Adds Julian Scarnetti, the eldest son of Aldern Scarnetti and along with his father the chief voice of their clan. "You work for us, yes?"

This last part obviously directed at Kestrel.

"I am taking our retainers and getting my father, my aunt and younger cousins to the manor for safety." He tells Kestrel. "My brother is taking a handful of able bodies down to check on the mill. You are to stay here and assist the Sheriff in what ever way he needs. I will send back anyone I can spare, once the younglings are safe. If you can find any hands to assist, you have my authority to command them."

The Sheriff has a ends a terse discussion with a middle aged woman and comes over with a cross look on his face.

"The Mayor insists on moving down to the City Hall." He says without preamble, addressing Vicamaros and Kes. "I've told her the temple is more defensible but she insists and as it turns out I work for her, not the other way around. I need some good men here. I sent a runner to the front gate, he isn't back yet and that worries me. We still may have goblins on the grounds and there's too many people on the street."

Rodrick arrives in time to hear most of the directions, and the Sheriff includes him with a gesture as he asks for a favor.

"Can I count on you to stay here and keep an eye out for more goblins?"

Consider yourselves 'out of combat' for movement's sake and all, but try to not get more than five minutes or so ahead before my next post. Feel free to 'organize' a defense of the temple. Tell guards where to go or whatever. I want to give everyone a moment of playing around before I send everyone back into combat.

Rodrick approaches the sheriff as a crowd gathers and finds him giving orders to those around. He had chosen to wait at the side as to not interupt him and remembers how seriously he takes his job and how well the sheriff has done through the years. After giving orders to his men he gestured Rodrick into the group with the civilians that had took up arms and asked if they would stay on watch.

With a curt nod he said,"I'll stay watch over here but does anyone have something more than a dagger I could borrow?"

It takes Kestrel a moment to gather his thoughts after being suddenly thrust into the spotlight. After rousting a few fellow workmen he recognizes, he returns his attention to the two strangers.

"Kestrel." He says curtly by way of introduction. The young man seems concerned about something but his home town is under attack so that might be understandable. "I've sent two men to each corner to keep an eye out for more of the little rats. They should be able to hold off anything until the guard reinforce this area."

He gestures roughly in the direction of the open street paths that lead to the festival square. You can see the men he directed, along with the assistance of some other towns folk, overturning tables and assembling makeshift barricades. The area is quickly clearing out of non-combatants but most folks remaining are young and untrained, armed with little better than belt knives, kitchen cleavers and protected by party clothes and ceremonial shields.

"There's butcher knives over by the cooking stations." He adds, directing the comment to Rodrick. "Or you can borrow my saber." He offers the newcomer a curved blade.

"I suggest we get a look at Highgate." Kestral nods towards the north east end of town, hidden at the moment by the bulk of the temple. "If this is a serious attack of any sort, they are going to be coming down Coast Road and will be coming through there."

Vicamros makes his way to the Sheriff, and while there, works a bit more on trying to stop the bleeding of his leg. He pulls out an older under-tunic and rips off a scrap to make a bandage out of it. It's nothing fancy, nothing that will even help, just enough to cover the wound inflicted upon him by the goblin. He's listening to the man and nods his head in short-agreement, trusting in the sheriff to know his business about the town.

"I'll help hold the Temple. It's far too precious to leave undefended - and apparently they're somewhat keen on attacking it." His head nods once more and he stands up to look around at who will be available. Kestrel seems to take charge of the situation and so he defers to the man listening as there is a plan being formed.

"How many do we have and how sure are we that they'll come from that direction?" Vic inquires as he seems to mull it over himself, "Maybe we can try to divide them up into several smaller groups. Might help if they attack from two sides."

"At the moment I've got maybe five men you could count on in a straight up fight." Kestrel replies. "They're good men, stand up tall in a barroom brawl, but none of them have been in a deadly fight. Maybe a handful of others that will hold the line until the first time they see blood, then it's anyones guess if they stand their ground or break, or just puke up their dinner."

"As I said, enough to hold this courtyard until the Sheriff can muster the real guard and bolster them up. The real danger would be Highgate. The Coast Road comes in that way, and if the goblins are serious about taking the town they will need to break through there to bring in any real forces."

While the conversation is going on, one of the Acolytes comes out of the temple. He looks rather ill, apparently he isn't used to this sort of combat either, but for the moment he seems to be keeping his dinner down.

"Father Zantus sent me out to inform you." He swallows, keeping his composure for the moment. "The temple has been searched and there are no signs of other goblins. We do have several wounded, a few cuts but more that were hurt in the panic that followed the goblins. None are life threatening, thank the Dreamer."

"Do you wish the three guardsmen that the Sheriff detailed to check the temple to come out and reinforce your postion or do they remain with Father "Zantus?

Rodrick looks at the saber and smiles. "Yes, I think I will borrow your sword... That is unless it leaves you defenseless. Then I'll go where you think best and stand and fight if the litter buggers come.