Chapter 4 - A Fork in the Road

"Joachim, it would take me ten minutes to completely disarm, as I carry enough weapons to equip a small army. We don't have time to deal with this. If these goblins are an ally of the city and want others to trust and accept them, then they need to extend trust and acceptance to others as well. You know very well that even without a weapon, I can kill every person in this place. If they aren't going to just let us in, then we need to make haste and get to the city gates. The army will be here in moments, if it isn't here already. If they don't like me retaining my weapons, I'm heading on to the gates to see if I can kill some of the leaders of those that advance against the city. The distrust and protocol of these goblins is now interfering with the lives of those in this city."

To me, that makes all these green bastards an enemy and we should slaughter them where they stand. His mind was already thinking of ways that he could kill all the goblins in sight.

The assassin looks back to the goblin in front of him, waiting for an answer.

"It will take you a while to get to the valley on foot. Perhaps you should reconsider. I will talk to Ulro alone if it takes you so long to disarm yourself. Personally I must advice you to wear less weapons if you need so long to take out every one of them. It slows you down and is a waste of space, specially if you are as deadly as you say you are, why carry a weapon in the first place. Their protocol is justified I believe."

Joachim shrugs. He did not want to debate with Garak.

"Do as you like, Artax should be able to fly us there in less then an hour, on foot it might take you half a day. If you care not to wait, do as you please, but I think it would be to the benefit of all if you waited. In case you want to do something useful camouflage Artax for the flight or something."

He looks to the hobgoblins. "You have my word that no harm will come to Ulro, not by Garak, not by anyone as long as I am in the room with him. But I can not blame you if you deny entry to Garak, I beg you please grant me passage alone in should that be the case, as I have shown you I mean you no harm."

Garak was confused. Ara had indicated the advancing army would be at the city within the hour...

He shrugs though and waits for the goblin to make its decision.

Raz makes his way to the Queen's Honey, determined to do what is right. He knew the city needed to be mobilized, because if it wasn't, all of the money he was waiting on could vanish -- and that he couldn't let happen.

Striding in confidently to the Queen's Honey, ignoring the chorus of cooing women hailing him, he strides towards the back offices. "Where the @#%@ Madame!!! I need her now!" he bellows.

Only moments later, he stands straight up as the matronly proprietor of the Queen's Honey appears, her head cocked in confusion. "Raz? What's the matter? Is it one of the girls? If it is, I can assure you..."

"No - the girls are fine. Well, more than fine, they are pretty g..." he says, stopping himself.

"I need your help - and the help of your ladies. The city, it's under attack. And we can't get anyone mobilized. But your girls - they've got 3/4 of the city guard under their thumb and the other 1/4 are wishing they were that lucky.

I know what they have the power to do.

I need you to send them out to their Johns and use their looks, promises -- and if they need to, their threats -- to get the guard out to the wall. And they've got to do it -- now.

Don't worry about the lost business -- I'll make up for it." he says, reaching into his pouch with both hands and throwing a

for arguements sake, let's say 20 platnium (or 200 gold)

pile of platnium onto a nearby table.

"What do you say? Will you and your girls help me save the city?" he asks.

diplomacy:
Dice Roll: 1d20+9
d20 Results: 10 (Total = 19)

diplomacy

"I am sorry, friend," the Hobgoblin replies, "But I cannot let your companion in armed, so you'll have to speak to Ulro on your own..."

With those words, Garak steps outside, weapons and all, brushing quickly past the Goblins guarding the entrance. Artax stands outside, looking around with an air of nervousness and worry.
Sensing the creature's unease, Garak scans the skies as well, and in time spots something off in the distance, towards the direction of the city gates. Something in the sky, something big...something with wings!


Back inside the AAGP building, the Hobgoblin motions for Joachim to follow, taking the Paladin into Ulro's private quarters.
"Master - our friend Joachim is here, and he urgently needs to speak with you!" he exclaims, bowing to the seated Ulro. Taking a step back, the Hobgoblin stands just by the door, making sure the other fellow doesn't try to force his way in.

"Ah, Joachim!" Ulro says, eyes opening in recognition.
"Welcome back friend! How have you been?"

"Under attack?!" the madame exclaims, hands flying to her cheeks in shock. "Really? That's horrible!"
"Who's doing this?! Why?" she rambles, clearly not happy with the situation.

"You want - you want my girls to bring soldiers to the wall?" she asks, slowly beginning to comprehend. The bag of platinum tossed her way apparently jogs her back into reality, and she takes hold of it firmly, her gaze hardening as she does so.

"Under attack...the city is under attack! My city! My Saerb!"
"I will NOT let this go down!" the madame shouts, every face in the room now staring directly at her and Raz.

"GIRLS! GET UP!" she screams, rallying her troupe.
"Everybody ready up! We've got a mission!"

"We have to defend our city!" she adds, eyes filled with excitement and anticipation.

Tamrik had been walking around town after his dealings with the smithery. He had not seen the need to follow the others, and decided it to be best to be by himself. He had found his way down near the docks, where he had made his first kill in this town. He had his morningstar and his dagger with him, as well as one of the magical Longswords he had kept from the stash. He thought he might have heard shouts of terror, but ignored them, not caring enough for another person to try and find out the truth. He wandered the docks looking at the ships in port, it had been a long time since he had been on a ship. He had helped on a ship for several years after his abrupt exit from his family. The sea always called for him, and he thought that maybe he, Garak and Lorem might be able to do some seafaring, and pirating at some point. Smiling, he thought to himself That would be exciting!

Lorem decided to head to the gates before the others after collecting Delphine from the inn. "Alright, if I happen to fall, run back to the gates as quickly as possible... Uh?" Looking up as he was about to leave the city, Lorem notices something in the sky. He narrows his eyes to try and get a better look at the flying thing.

Lorem's eyes widen, remembering the two flying creatures of the cave, who couldn't compare with this one in size even if they had it beaten in ugliness. "A dragon... No, a wyvern? How did an army of goblin come to possess..." Then, it came to him. The mages. Magic could enslave and/or summon those kind of monsters, couldn't it? "... Damn it all! Delphine, round the others! The situation is more dire than I believed!" Just the perfect day to leave my bow with the smith!

"Y-Yes!" Surprised a little by Lorem's sudden swing of mood, not that she could blame him if the words he had spoken bore truth with them, she sprinted back in the direction of the brothel and then the AAGP, looking for the others. "Hey! Lorem says to hurry up to the gates! We have an even bigger problem! There's something in the sky! He said it's a wyvern!"

Garak sneers at the goblin and then speaks in their language with a clear evil tone. "The difference between the goblins here and those in the wild that people know are nothing but worthless vermin is that you are pretending to be different. You have marked your organization today as one that is not worthy of trust or respect."

The assassin heads for the door. Just as he is making his exit, he sees the shape in the sky. Turning back to face the goblin that denied him entry he barks out a few last words. "As I told you...a dragon approaches the city now. Might want to inform Joachim and whatever pile of dung runs this place. I'll be back for your head later, as I am certain that your organization has a part in this invasion."

With that, Garak turns to approach Artax. He tries to get the pegasus' attention and then points at the sky. The assassin didn't know if the mount could communicate with Joachim, but he hoped they had some sort of connection.

Regardless, he didn't spend much time trying to communicate with the animal, and instead headed for Gillaume's shop...disguising himself in an alley along the way.

As he burst into the shop, he approaches the mage, speaking in a hushed tone. "A winged creature is heading for the gates right now. There is an army of goblins, orcs, and ogres that will be upon the gates within moments. They approach from the valley." The rogue watches the mage's reaction to see if he can judge Gillaume's reaction.

After a few short minutes, the bulk of the party regroups outside Ara's safehouse. All are gathered save for Joachim, the Paladin most likely still engaged with the AAGP. Either his parlay ended badly, or he was still deep in negotiations...

Regardless, there was now an imminent task before you, the stature of which cannot be understated - the defense of Saerb. Where your journey here began as simple passer-by, the place a pitstop on their path to Saerloon, you now realize that you may be the city's last, and best, hope...

This concludes Chapter 4!
A long one it was...windy, with twists and turns aplenty, but it all had to lead somewhere!

Bridges have been burned, alliances have been forged, and wheels have been set in motion - will you figure out the maze before time expires, or will fate swallow you up?

Find out...in Chapter 5!

Don't spend 'em all in one place!