IC Scene - Tempest Bridge and Slums

Chamberlain Harold stopped. Upon realizing that no one had followed him, he began walking back to the group.

The place was not entirely quiet, but something did seem odd. Perhaps it was just the confidence of Rivatha's remark playing tricks of mind, perhaps not. The clearing that led to the gate was, well, clear. This was not expected from a city burning and in civil conflict. Now and then a group of commoners ran through the gate with their few possessions in large sacks, but no knight or city guard could be seen. Indeed, they would probably be on duty, fighting fire, the rebels, or both. And yet... none could be spotted at the gate, at least from the angle the group was in.

At one point two women, carrying two babies each, left the city. A man dragging a wooden crate, probably a husband of one of them, followed the women from behind. For a whole minute nothing could be heard, but then three boys, bald and skinny, passed through it. Then everything was silent again. Two minutes later a man carrying an old woman left. Then, once more, silence.

At that moment the Glove scouts returned bringing reports that mostly reproduced what the group had been seeing. There were no bodies in the nearby streets, no blood stains nor broken weapons. No commoner could be found to answer questions. There was literally no one on the streets, not even guards. Everything indicated that those who should be around had left the city some time ago.

Impatient, the Chamberlain urged the group. "So? Shall we leave? The gate is not far away."

Gudr added: "I see no reason not to."

"We are behind you Chamberlain. Gudr if you don't mind please walk between my men, we can cover you best that way."

Mattus gave his men Orders to follow the chamberlain and keep a lookout for anything suspicious.

"Spread but stay close to a group! One find a guard tower or other good place to observe area. Report back instantly after seeing anyone." Commanded Gaspar.

"Good idea to protect Gudr, Radiant, but could you also assign some of your man to Chamberlain as well?" asked Rivatha, she still stayed close to chamberlain.

Mattus looked aroud first after the leader of the other talked to him. He tried to assess the situation but nothing was really happening.

"Mikael, Pep move forward, stay to the right and left of the Chamberlain."

After almost a minute the Glove scout who had climbed the stairs to the small gatehouse did as he had been ordered and reported instantly, shouting from above:

"No guards here, but I can see the roofs around you are full of bodies!"

Then the entire group heard the sound of horses neighing, coming from the other side of the wall. The scout over the gate, who was closer to the source of the noise, shouted back:

"Three hooded riders! Chestplates painted black over a thick dark blue clothing!"

The movement sound became a gallop, then it vanished.

The roofs are full of bodies? Did he hear that correctly, something very strange must be going on in this City.

"We should leave now, as long as we still have the time, something strange is happening here and I don't want to be a part of it."






OOC: Mattus tries to make Gudr and the Chamberlain move faster out of the Town.

"Question is, is it safe outside of the city?"  Rivatha talked more to herself but loud enough so others could hear it.

"Anyway we would need horses" she continued.

"Stay at guard tower and report anything you see, Belia and Mortimer, go check the stables, fast!"

The rest kept moving with Morek

"We should leave now. The stables are probably too close to the town center and those riders could be back with more troops. If your scout is not mistaken, there were only few of them. It could be they were the ones who dragged the bodies to the roofs for some reason. And it is reasonable to assume they were waiting for someone to attempt to leave the city. "

The scholar thinks for a while.

"If so, it is possible they have scouts hiding at the other gates as well. And if the target happens to be one of us, all other scouts will come here to do their job".

Gudr talked while slowing following Mattus and the other knights out of the city. Upon arriving at the gate they notice it is not barred, but half open. There is still no sign of anyone nearby, guard or otherwise.

Mattus immediately took action.

"Gauntlets, cover Gudr and the Chamberlain, if they have horses our spears will be of more use than your throwing knives. I give you a sign when the way is clear."

With that collected his men and walked slowly through the opening.

"Stay in formation and be ready."

"If they indeed plan to come here, and if they have scouts in all exits, it will still take some time to alert them in all three other gates and ride in our direction. At this point I feel I should ask: where are we going? Do you have a camp or fortification nearby?"

Mattus was just short before exiting through the small opening before he heard Gudr talk again. He turned around silently and his men stopped with him.

"Our only goal is right now to leave the city and the possible dangers, we will move down the road and either reach a village or a merchant. From we can get help or horses. We have to concentrate on the important matters right now."



OOC:If no one has to say anything , me and my men move through the gate.

"True, Gudr but we still need horses." Rivatha said, and her words were soon followed by Gaspar's command.

"Exactly, Belia and Mortimer, you got 15 minutes to try to find any horse, by any means!"

Other 2 gloves were ordered to guard Gudrsoon and Chamberlain.

"I am coming with you." Said Rivatha to Radiant's and followed them, with her sword in left hand and throwing dagger in right.

The group left the city and followed the road for a while. No movement or torchlights could be seen so far, but a village soon would appear. Windholm is the last town this up North on the coast, and many settlements depend on its goods to survive.



OOC: I understood you all left the gate, and that the horses would be brought to you outside in about 15 minutes.

Feel free to RP the horses coming and/or the arrival at a village/inn, or pitching your tents/setting up a fireplace/building a shelter. What you choose will make a slight difference in future events.

Also feel free to do something else, in case you still have plans for Windholm and the other orders. You're still not far from the city.

After they finally left the burning City the group marched down a dusty road, not much was spoken on the way, and not much needed to be said. When they finally reached a village Mattus immediately approached Gudr and Rivatha.

"Now that we are here in safety, could we start talking please? There are still some souls to save in Windholm."

Mattus men brought them three small chairs which they gathered from the small village and placed them under an Oak tree some 50 meters away from the rest of the group. After that his men started to check their Gear and supplies. If they would really move back into Windholm then everything should be prepared.

"It's not safe even here, but if you are so eager to go to suicide mission i won't hold you back, let's get on with this."

With those words, Gaspar sat on one of the chair's, Rivatha by his side.

Meanwhile, gloves with Horses arrived, Gaspar simply ordered them to wait for futher instructions, horses were tied to nearest trees, so they could be used quickly.

Mattus sat down as well and waited for Gudr to sit down as well.

"Before I start I would like to know what you wanted in Windholm? I heard you were looking for the Raven Spear. If this is true then the Great Library of the Last Hope will help you in your search. It has collected knowledge for centuries and is well known in all of Pendor."

The scholar sat down calmy. He removed his heavy grey robe, revealing under it yet another layer of full clothing. Over his heart a blue pin was visible. It was perfectly round and completely blue, without any other marking or ornament.

"Very well, let us begin. There is much to say and heard.", he spoke. "My name is Gúdrusson, affiliated with the New Barclay Monastery and High Scholar of the Order of the Sky. You may confirm it by this pin, made lazuli, a gem only found only in Barclay." He removes the pin and offers you for inspection. "I have sailed for two summers from Barclay, the Empire with no End, bringing an answer and a question."

He paused to breath.

"Firstly, the answer. The Order of the Sky is a group of philosophers and archivists who, simply put, are in charge of collecting knowledge. After a decade of translations and analyses, we have concluded that an ancient prophecy is bound to be triggered soon, if it already wasn't, and that it is somehow connected to Pendor. I say 'ancient' because it really is. As we could infer, it predates the current format of your Pantheon. We have different and fewer gods as you, and the fact that all Pendorian gods were mentioned in the commentaries is what made us assume the link to your continent. This is the answer I brought you.

"By the way, " he turns to Mattus "Thank you for the offer, Radian knight, but we most probably have in Barclay every book written in Pendor, Amala and Santara. We memorize them."

"Now the question. We do not know the exact content of the prophecy. We have friends in Pendor who determined that the city of Windholm once had a large excerpt of the original text. Sadly, they were painfully outdated, and the lord who would possess it was driven to Torbah a century ago. My, ahem," he hesitates," last message was just this: 'he was killed, the Order knights who followed him fought to last man, and the city was destroyed'. Nevertheless, I must find the town of Torbah."

"This makes my task twice as difficult, as I believed retrieving this first piece of the text would be simple. There is, however, a second issue. The Order of the Ravenspear, which currently protects Poinsbruk, is expected to have copies of that text, probably in its entirety. As much as my pride is hurt by this, I admit they are the only ones who can hope to match our royal archives. This is my question: where is Poinsbruk, and how do I find this Order? Are you in good relations with them?"

"Thank you for your honesty Gudr. I will be honest as well. The town of Poinsbruk is no more, it was destroyed a long time ago and the Order of the Raven Spear was scattered into the winds. The ruins of Poinsbruk are now in Control of the Mystmountain Barbarians."

Mattus paused some time until he saw that Gudr fully understood what he said.

"The Order of the Radiant Cross seeks knowledge as well, there is much to find in the Ruins of Poinsbruk and I am sure that my Grandmaster will fund an Adventuring Party in to the North. We can all gain something from this endeavor."

"Must admit our order isn't interested in knowledge as much as Radiant's are. But i am sure ruins of poinsbruk are filled with other kinds of valuable stuff." Said rivatha, she was followed by gaspar.

"We will get boost to our reputation by helping someone like you and we may find something in ruins that may aid our order.Order of the Ebony Gauntlet will help you in this as well.Meanwhile we can use our connections to find anaything about Raven Spear."

"The Radiant Cross is known throughout all of Pendor for preserving peace and for healing everyone who is in need. Even the Barbarians of the north have heard of our achievements. With the help of our Grandmaster we can try to start and adventuring Party to Poinsbruk, we can try make a deal with them. We tend to their wounded and try to teach them to heal themselves and in return we are free to search the Ruins."

Mattus turned his head to look at Rivatha.

"The Ebony Gauntlet is only known for their hate of the Noldor, as soon as they set a foot into the territory of the Barbarians they will be attacked. The only way the Ebony Gauntlet can help you is if they send a Warparty."

After saying this Mattus gaze faded into the distance behind Gudr. He saw his men preparing their gear. From the distance he saw someone bring a group of horses.

Gaspar was showing signs of anger because he was pretty much ignored, but Rivatha placed hand on his shoulder, his anger wouldn't help right now, then she spoke.

"You are talking about barbarians right now, so you can be attacked as much we do."

Then she turned to Gudr.

"Still it might actually work.We will search for other information trough our sources and provide a brute muscle towards this mission, Radiants try to work out this deal of yours, we all get to ruins, we all get what we want from it."

I" do not think you understand what I am going at here. The Radiant Cross has a reputation to loose. We are the last Hope for Pendor in defense against the Snake Cult and all evil. We can not be seen siding with the Ebony Gauntlet so openly. Either Gudr comes with us, with you or he goes alone. There is no middle ground. The Radiant Cross has the best chance to get into Poinsbruk unless you want to wage war against a whole tribe."

Mattus again looked at Gudr.

"What do you say Scholar? If you want bloodshed then go with the Ebony Gauntlet. If you want a peaceful and much faster solution then come with me."

Gudr was deep in thoughts, as if assimilating what had just been said to him.

"From what I have seen in Windholm I assume this is how Pendorians solve your problems. How many cities have you lost so far? Windholm, Cez, Torbah, and Poinsbruk?"

He turned to both knights with a serious face.

"And no. I will not go looking for the Ravenspear without first having a piece of the prophecy in my possession to negotiate. And this in the best scenario. In the worst, we would be facing Barbarians in a cold tundra and looking for an order too weak to protect the city that entrusted with their safety, and which at this point could probably be extinct."

"I will go to Torbah. If your orders cannot be seen together, solve the issue yourselves. I will help you in anyway I can, but know that my goal is ultimately to find and get hold of that prophecy. And, as prophecies go, perhaps you will benefit being the first ones to know about it as well."

Gudr was visibly angry with this whole situation.

"Citys are lost and Citys are rebuild, a man dies and a man is born. This is not the way Pendor works, it is the way the world works. I do not say that it is the right way but it has brought us right here. Right here were we can help to make the world just a little bit better."

Mattus was looking down at his feet while saying this. There is enough war in this world, but what else is there to do for a warrior?

"You need our help and we need the knowledge of your order to defeat the Snake Cult. But to help you we need more information. What is this prophecy you are talking about? And what has it to do with Torbah?"

Rivatha decided to ignore Radiant knight this time, petty fight's about reputation weren't her thing, Gaspar always can do the ideological fight, if it is needed.

"I am coming with you, Gudr. Nobody has to know i am Knight of The Ebony Gauntlet, if you are as well worried about our reputation, i will communicate with Gaspar here should we need muscle or other help from our order.Like it or not, but my goal is power in any form for my order and i think i can.. my order can get something from this.Is that okay with you?"