3.3 - Call to Arms

We stood outside the door as Ilyra and Edric talked inside, the townspeople had been fed up with the lack of action from their Ward for long enough now. He had been unwilling to address the raider issue when trade wagons were being attacked outside the walls, he was unwilling to commit the guard to finding the raiders when they came inside, now that someone had died trying to protect the town they would not sit by. It would take some time before anyone could assembled, they all had their own jobs and duties to attend to, in the meantime I spoke to Edric about how he planned to do something, and what weapons were available to them. There was not much to speak about on that front.

I offered our assistance again, surely a ragtag group like that could use a few people that actually knew how to fight, if they could just give me an axe. He scoffed at that. Not derisively, but told us a few people might have an old sword, but most would only have basic implements, pitchforks, hatchets, things of that nature. I asked about the guard then, if they wouldn't act perhaps they would be willing to open the armory to those that would. Edric didn't think it likely, but told me where to find the guard barracks near the inner rise, and to ask for Captain Haldren.

We found a building with thick walls and narrow windows, clearly armed and armored guardsmen stood outside the door. We told them we were there to speak with the Captain Haldren on behalf of Edric and the town watch, and one of them went in to see if he would talk to us. We were lead to a room on one side of the barracks, the captain was seated on the other side of a desk, younger than I expected him to be. I told him why we were there, of Renn's sacrifice, and that the unrest of the townspeople was coming to a head. They would be taking action soon, whether they were properly equipped or not. I expected it to be rather difficult to convince him, but Haldren was eager to find a way to assist us. He had been frustrated by the Ward's orders not to do anything, and was tired of sitting back while the town and those nearby were attacked.

Upon returning to Edric with the good news, he was talking to someone else. They still did not know where the raiders were encamped, but it was a good bet that it was near the quarry since none of the other patrols had been killed. It was only midday and the watch was still organizing itself, so I offered to go out there again and find the camp. Despite our injuries, and that we had already been out there earlier this morning, we once again walked the quarry road out to the hills. We needed to find more signs of the raiders, and luckily they had not been careful about covering their tracks.

We followed them easily, keeping to the low sides of the hills, and it did not take long before we smelled the smoke of cookfires, and found the camp dug into hillside. A few men patrolled the perimeter, but most were sitting around the fires, digging into the stores of food they had stolen from the townspeople. We backed away, not wanting to be seen, and headed back to advise Edric where it is. Twilight was fading as we made our way back to town, and we found Edric had gathered a couple dozen men in the market square and was telling them what was happening. He called us up when he saw us enter the square, and introduced us and told the people what we had done.

Preparations were completed: they had access to proper weapons, they knew where the camp was, in the morning we would join them as they moved out to finally fight for their own security.