IC Scene - Eastern Gate

Cadell spurred his horse onwards as he saw the smoke stacks and feared the worst. He had been riding with his retinue from Ironoak, to help supplement the Dawn forces he heard were being sent.

He saw the tall walls of Windholm and raced towards the gatehouse.

As he drew near, he saw it was ajar, and heard the distant sounds of battle. He charged forth through the opening onto Bay Road, and reared his horse.

He looked around, attempting to get his bearings on his new surroundings

Methodius Marci and his men could finally see Windholm, he could see smoke bellowing out from the city.
" Rumors of a rebellion seemed to be true" he thought to himself
As his warband approached the city, he was muttering to himself about the woes of being a foot knight; his caravan got attacked on the way and the horses were injured in the stalemate, forcing Methodius and his men to walk to their destination. He slapped himself out of it as he approached the gate and attempted to talk to the guards.

OOT: well, hope i don't put a dent on GM plans by appearing.

Methodius couldn't believe his eyes, a town the size of Windholm with no guards and gates open... the rebellion must have hit the city hard if gate guards were off duty. Despite its eeriness, the situation was in Methodius' favor, he could enter the city without causing trouble he thought to himself. He turned to his men "weapons on hand; were going in, be on alert as we don't know what we'l encounter". Methodius brings up his sword and shield, his gauntlets do the same and his sergeants grab their pole hammer. They enter the city.

Methodius found the situation more and more eerie, there was the growing fire that represented an obvious danger but the simple lack of people in sight made him reluctant to advance any further. Furthermore, moving into the city without knowing the true size of the fire and his surroundings could potentially be suicide. Thus, he decided to climb the gate wall with his men to perhaps get a better view over the city.

Just what is going on, thought Methodius

It seemed that sight from the walls was mostly blocked by the smoke, but Methodius noticed a group of armored men approaching the gate, he ordered his men back down to perhaps get an answer to finally understand what happened in Windholm.

As he and his men got down, he shouted "who goes there!?" in the general direction of the party he saw approaching the gate. His men were tense and were getting ready for a confrontation in case things went downhill.

"The king's men! Stand aside, we're on crown business." Klaus shouted at the hail. The party made no move to stop, and continued to move towards the gate.

Methodius had his men block the gate for the time being, this was his chance to figure out just what was going on in Windholm. He grit his teeth for a moment and stepped forward.

"As far as i can tell, all i see is men leaving one of the kings cities blazing in their wake"
He tightened his grip around his sword and shield.

His Gauntlet knights drew their crossbows and were at the ready with the gauntlet hammers standing behind their heavily armored brothers.

"My name is Methodius Marci of the Ebony Gauntlets, I suggest you stop and answer a few questions"
Methodius pointed to his men blocking the gate as he finished his sentence. It wasn't a suggestion.

"who are you and what kind of madness transpired for Windholm to end up in this state?"

Klaus waved to his men to halt with a clenched fist in the air.

"We are griffons, see our tabards, ja?" he growled, gesturing at the men behind him.

"We make take traitors and injured to Sarleon. Men leaved behind to deal with fire. Many traitor all rise up against the crown, but the king is strong, and make take back control. The struggle is over, order is restore. Now, you can help those in city with fire, or you can help escort us and we make more talk. Either way, we must keep move."

Methodius stared the man for a moment, trying to decipher his weird use of the language.

"so you say the rebels torched their own city? sounds doubtful, but we have no time to investigate"
He sighed deeply
"Either way it sounds like the rebellion was quelled"
There was no way the scholar was in this blazing city, and now the rebellion had also ended, this was a failed mission.

He ordered his men to turn around, they were leaving. He could of helped with the fire, but the scale of the blaze worried him, one wrong step and the fire could engulf them; not a risk he was willing to take.
Right before he left, he turned and thought about the mans earlier proposition

"Were headed east and Sarleon is on the way, I'l take you up on your escort offer"
There was no harm in escorting the man, and he could find out how the rebellion was quelled from the griffons. Right as he ended his sentence Methodius snapped
"OH right, I've introduced myself but i have yet to know your name?"

The Mettenheimer seemed to visibly relax as the situation resolved itself peacefully, giving the gauntlet a fist over heart salute, and a heartfelt felt inclination of his head. He then waved his group forward, and himself moved ahead to more formally.

"I make apologies for lack of polite, I am Klaus, knight of the Griffons and commander of these you see behind. I gratefully accept your offer, and will tell you about events here as we walk" he said, finishing with a glance behind him at the city. It was clear he wanted to keep moving.

"We arrive with city already divided, duchess stuck in castle, and small groups of city guard spread in small pocket. First task was to make communicate with pockets, while doing this, rebels attack us in big force. I try to explain situation, make parlay with rebels, try to talk. They make capture me instead, under truce flag. I am make freed by griffons, then we form defensive in a house. Dawn, dragons, eventide all fight against us, the lions and the clarion call. Dawn decide to burn house down to make us leave, fire spread."

He sighed, pressing his fingers on his nose bridge to force some of the tiredness he was feeling away.

"Big battle in streets, we win, take many captive. Now return to Sarleon with prisoners and injured men, including duchess son. We must protect, very important. Men might try to kill him again, so we must keep move."

Methodius ordered his men to stop and wait to meet the griffons.
Still taking a bit of time to understand the mans strange grasp of the language, he finally approached the man and walked with him.

"Well met Klaus, sounds like you went through hell. From what your saying it seems the red dawn showed up today"

He then turned with surprise to the young man Klaus mentioned
"so the son of the duchess is with you"

Methodius glanced at the young man again and tried to whisper so that he wouldn't hear
"but what of the duchess herself?"

This escort mission suddenly sounded worthwhile, if the duchess was dead then he would have escorted the heir of Windholm and perhaps scored some points with the young man. And if she was alive she would still be indebted to the gauntlets who escorted her son to safety.

"This could be, I have never make meet the red dawn, but I read about them of course" Klaus replied, nodding as his companion spoke.

"I do not know of the duchess. I did not make meet her, I only execute orders from the crown. She was in castle, I was outside fighting for her city" he said, though his voice left no doubt as to his thoughts about the ruler of Windholm.

"I see, then i suppose we should hurry up and leave"
Methodius then approached the the duchess' son during the walk

(OOC: or whoever he assumed he would be dressed as, and since the Duchess' son is wearing knight armor that doesn't fit him i assume it would be that person?)

Methodius spoke loudly enough for the party in the vicinity to hear in case he got the wrong person
"My lord i'm Methodius Marci of the Marci noble house, the Knights of Ebony Gauntlets will join the Griffons to escort you to Sarleon. We were once the most renowned bodyguards in the lands, so i assure you that you are in good hands, and if you have any needs from me and my men do not feel shy to ask"

(OOC: Methodius tries to use his noble background to befriend the Duchess' son and or/make him feel more comfortable during the journey, as for the thread i guess I'm done, unless Klaus or the duchess' son have something to say)