IC Scene - The Slums of Torbah

A short time later Harvey walked into the bar having received directions in exchange for a loaf of bread having decided that the best way to the peoples hearts was through there vices and so heading for the center of the most obvious.

Approaching the bar he dug into the pouch at his waist as he approached the bar keeper. (( I'm considering this to mean I've used about 3/4 of the money I had with me so I won't be spending much any more. ))

"A round of drinks for everybody on me good sir!!!!"

Lady Rose follows Harvey in noting with interest the presence of another Gauntlet Knight, thinking briefly she walked up beside Harvey kissing him on the cheek and motioning for her men to relax before approaching the Knight noting with amusement that the 5 super heavy infantry of her unit had followed her.

" Sir, I'm Lady Rose or Sir rose whichever suits you is fine. "

Lady Rose smiled around the tables at the other knights before putting on her best little girl pout.

" I know I'm scary and all but it's impolite to ignore a girl when she introduces herself. None of you going to offer me a seat or say hello? "

Methodius turned around after breaking his conversation with William and Sigwald and looked for the source of the voice, he saw a young girl donning the armor of his order.

"Lady Rose you say... never seen you before, that armor is however the craftsmanship of Gauntlet smiths."

Methodius pondered for a moment

"It seems you are from the Gauntlets as you claim, I'm Methodius Marci; captain of this group of Gauntlets. I take it that you are a recent admission to the Gauntlets? i don't see any other way of not knowing who you are. Also did the Grand-master send you? for what reason have you been sent here?"

" Recent enough, I joint 6 months ago and picked up my companions in the time since then, the big guys seem to think if they let me out alone I'll get myself into trouble.

They're smarter then they look.


Apparently when you failed your last assignment so I was sent along to provide the appropriate degree of muscle to get things done in case you can't handle things on your own. "

"6 months huh? so you say you are just a grunt yet you were briefed on the events of Windholm? sounds dubious, is there something you're not telling me?"

" Nothing important, my dads a lord and I was accepted because the order hopes when he dies I'll donate all my money but thats about it.

Besides who hasn't heard about the firestorm? The entire orders talking about it. "

Methodius was a bit irritated, his failure to help escort the scholar in the last event was not something you "mentioned" out loud around other knighthood orders, she was trouble alright.


"Alright, i'l take what i can get, this here is William Alatin and Sigwald, they are knights of the Dragon, we have made an alliance for our time in Torbah."

"are your orders only to support me? or have you been given more freedom to do things?"

" MY orders were simply to ensure the job gets done, other then that I'm free to do whatever I like and have had something of a stroke of luck.

My former bodyguard now turned lover is also in the city for the purposes of dealing with this order and he's amongst the best in Pendor with a bow so I'm sure he'll be happy to help me. Have you found out anything about our enemy at present I only arrived a short time ago. Do we know where they are or where any of them are going? "

"Alright, that is fine by me, i was in the middle of telling the dragons my suggested course of action when you got here."

"i'l update you on it later, William and Sigwald, what do you think of my plan?"

" What plan is this? I was thinking about trying to kill a few spies I'm sure they must be sending people into town so I wanna cut off there eyes and ears. Catch them near dawn when there tired and leaving the city and cut them to pieces. "

Despite speaking out of place, Sigwald spoke up while he brushed his beard with his two index fingers.

"Milady Rose, Sir Methodius Marci.-

The rangers got to their feet, their skins of ale empty and on a certain degree of alert for trouble due to the excessive spilling of drinks across the tavern, they made sure every Dragon affiliated man was ready for anything.

If I may be allowed to speak; we should not simply fight the army, butcher the men and destroy the future of the women and children. I've experienced first hand the atrocities that defeat causes the populace and it is not something I wish on my worst enemy.
We cannot kill everyone who might follow the horde and force the people of Torbah into slave labor because they'll be too poor to withstand the Red Brotherhood and the slavers of the House of Ramun."

If it had gone unnoticed until then, Sigwald's slavemark was now all too visible on his right cheek. His eyes spoke a tragic story much unlike the privileged upbringing of nobility.

Methodius was spooked, he didn't expect the drunk Sigwald to make such a speech.

"i can see that you speak from your heart Sigwald, i don't condone your reasons for thinking the way you do, and i hope we have a peaceful resolution as well since the odds in a fight with the horde are against us."

Methodius left a moment of silence fill the air before continuing to talk

"But... if there is no peaceful alternative, i will not stand by while this army pillages Pendor. I hope we stand on the same side of that issue"

[OCC; 2 days pass, we can still keep discussing this if you want Sigwald, since i'm assuming the Dragons follow me?]

Laisha wrote:

Results for Methodius Marci: Methodius' mission during the third and fourth days was more than successful.  The end of the fourth saw a hapless Jatu fall prey to his men and was tied up...wherever they were staying.  His attempts to contact other orders in the region was spectacularly successful.  Follow hearsay and rumors, his men discovered the presence of the Griffon knights in the ruins of the castle, Clarion knights and Radiant Cross in the old Residential district, and Dawn knights somewhere else in the slums. [You can use this information to contact Klaus, Natir, Morek, and Lucius (though the latter has been absent).]

Methodius heads to unhabitated ruins in the slums and then goes to a spacious area, he has his men set up a large perimeter to stop onlookers from wondering where they are. He then prepares a message for the knights he had located. Finally, he waits.

After writing it, it was sent to Klaus and Lucius in the slums and Morek and Natir in the Residential Area.

The message was:

Spoiler:

The messenger was halted by a patrol of Griffon retainers in the residential district who promised to relay the letter to their commander.

When he received it, Klaus nodded happily at the contents.

"Herr John! Make gather the greatswords. We go to the slums to speak with the other orders present in city!"

A little later, Klaus was leading the way confidently through the slums, his soldiers in tow scanning the destitute area for evidence of the meeting place.

(Feel free to find Klaus / have him arrive)

Right in the tails of the Greatsword contingent was a group of five horsemen clad in desert clothing. The light brown cloaks didn't hide the bulky armor very well, which gave away their identity as knights, but at least they were protected from the scorching sun. None of them had drawn their weapons but they were constantly looking around themselves, as if anticipating some form of trouble.

Leading along the other knights Lady Rose wandered into the slums and walked up to Methodius and smiled at him.

" These knights got your letter and wanted to meet you, mind if I stick around to listen in? I've got nothing else to do until I set up my next ambush tonight, my men got a little battered so they need a days rest. "

Methodius stood on a old town podium in the ruins, 2 of his knights were at his side while 8 were in packs of 4 at the front of the podium, the remaining knights were guarding the perimeter.

He saw Klaus arrive with Gilaver, he recognized the Griffons and nodded; he made small talk for a bit until interrupted by Rose and Harvey who came with the Morek and Natir. He nodded to Roses question.

Methodius started his speech
"We are missing the Dawn, but i reckon we are enough to start this"

"Let me introduce myself, I am Sir Methodius Marci of the Ebony Gauntlets, as you may have read from the letter i sent you"

"I have asked for you here because i believe we all share a common goal, which is to somehow deal with this Horde before it rampages through Pendor"

Methodius looked around for nods of approval in the crowd as he continued

"However, we all have a common problem in this endeavor, none of us can single-handedly fight or even threaten this horde that is composed of thousands, so to alleviate this problem i propose a truce of sorts"

"This is what i suggest, in the outcome of an all out war, we unite to fight this horde, giving us all a fighting chance together rather than dying individually"

"If this truce if formed, there are 3 course of actions that are possible. I will outline them from the most sensible to the least.

First; we try to negotiate with them, make them break up this horde through peaceful means.

Second; We take out their leader, i have been told that they have assembled under a powerful leader and that the horde is likely to break up if this leader is out of the picture.

Third; We fight them, this is the last resort, but with this truce it is still a possibility. If we are to fight them i suggest we lure them in Torbah and take them here. Fight them in defended and fortified choke holds, making their larger numbers and horses easier to deal with."

"so what say you knights of Pendor?"

Klaus nodded as the gauntlet outlined his plan, clearly agreeing with the majority of what was said.

"I am not diplomat, and I am not assassin. I am soldier. I hope horde leave without make blood. If clever word or knife in night make beat the horde then this is better, but if it comes to fight, then fight for Pendor I will!"

Klaus sniffed, and rubbed some sand away from his nose while looking around at the others gathered there.

"I am willing to work to fortify Torbah in case we make fight. If we have good defense then we make talk from much stronger place, no?"

He then looked away for a moment, seeming to hesitate but then continued regardless.

"A truce between us make very important. You are knights of Pendor, and many of you I trust your honour to not make stab me from behind... but not them!" he said, pointing at the small contingent of Dragons.

"In Windholm they make try to capture me under flag of truce, I cannot make believe they will not try again here. I will agree not to fight them unless they make attack me, but I will not stand by their side in battle."

Morek stood at the back of the gathering of knights, watching and listening Methodius speak and then Klaus in turn. After the Mettenheimer was done he spoke up.

"It's a big ruin. I'm sure you not fighting alongside them won't be a problem."

He stepped forwards to the fore of the crowd, still swathed in his dull colored sand cloak.

"Send the horde from the shores of Pendor across the sea; back to where their ancestors came from. To Amala. Spend their might against a foe no one wants to see return in force. Let my Order drive them against the Snake Cult in our Crusades. Two enemies dealt with and Pendor will see them gone."

He turned to pan his helmet across the gathering.

"I challenge any of you to give a better result than that."

It was never his place to speak when commanders and captains gathered, but that foreigner, the symbol of Pendorian arrogance that they had warned Sigwald about in the knightly houses of Rane. It had left him no choice, so encouraged by the curses of his rangers he stepped forward, took the faceplate from his head and spat on the sandy floor.

"I am proud to call myself a knight of the Dragon, a guardian of my home far north to here. Yet here in the far south of a land that I have never been before, I stand accused by a man I do not know."

Sigwald stepped towards the Griffons and took his axe into his hand. His eyes stood fierce and he had come so close that his slavemark was visible to Klaus Witz. Then he threw it into the sand and crossed his arms.

"I've met enough Mettenheimers to recognize their accent. My father, a simple man, taught me not to think badly about a man because he was born on a different patch of land, do they not teach the same in Mettenheim?"

Sensing trouble brewing between Commander Klaus and the strange Knight of the Dragon, Gilaver decided to interwene. He removed his brown hoodwith both of his hands from his head, letting his red hair fall to his eyes. He took a sharp look at both Klaus and Sigwald, and folded his arms in contemplation. He first turned to regard the bearded northman.

"Judging from your reaction, I believe I can assume that you were not present in Windholm. I hope you can understand that his grievance with your order, not you as a person, is born out of a real incident which he did describe. A truce is a fundamental diplomatic endeavour, and breaking it is a grave act: one that reflects upon the whole order whether the others were present or not. If you are more honourable than the knight there then good for you, I applaud that, but Klaus has a point in that trusting your troops with our order's back is not exactly the wisest of moves, and I hope you can understand that even if it sounds extremely insulting.."

Gilaver next turned to look at Klaus, a slight annoyance present in his face.

"Now, I'd rather focus on presently important matters first. Like, say, the horde around here that is a threat to thousands of Pendorians."

With that, Gilaver turned to regard Morek in curiousity.

"The result is no doubt optimal, but the way there is a lot more difficult. Getting the horde to Amala is no small feat by itself. Did you have negotiations in mind, or do you think we could drive them there?"

Sigwald's brains were busy mauling the speech of the intervening Griffon into understandable words, but all he heard was the arrogance for which he was warned. Anger starting to show on his face, he picked up his axe and turned around.

As he walked to his destrier, the rangers were already breaking formation and leaving the meeting ground, and when the knight had finally mounted he said in a loud voice before Morek could answer Gilaver's question:

"I am a slave no more, and I am free to choose not to bleed for a nation that doesn't want my help."

Then he simply returned to the tavern he came from.