Part 3: A reckoning rides from the west

Ulfgard lets out a sigh. "The king's getting more insistent. Last month, he sent messengers with offers to purchase our services to produce weapons. I refused. I also refused to let recruiters for the army in. Officially, they're here to keep an eye on us. Unofficially, they're just waiting for the king's word to break down our gates and storm the village."

"Shit," Katrin mutters, rubbing her forehead. "I think I might've made things worse." She lets out a frustrated sigh. "The King invited us for dinner the night before we left Crossroads. I may have implied, accidentally of course, that perhaps we were moving towards becoming independent...which I explained that was not my intent, and I would never make any decisions without first consulting you...." her voice becomes quiet. "And then I was arrested. For remembering." After another long moment she adds, "And I don't think he knows I was released. Or if he does....I don't know what he's going to do."

Katrin's father looks concerned. "Katrin, they arrived weeks ago," he says. "This isn't your fault...it's just one more in a long list of grievances between us and the king."

Katrin bites her lip, her face twisted in an expression that might almost be...fearful. "But it didn't help," she says quietly, her grey eyes searching her father's face. "You don't think the King will really order an attack on us, do you?"

"I don't know," Ulfgard says. "We've been hearing stories from the front...his tactics of late are more brutal. Executing village leaders until they find one scared enough to swear to him. Pushing further and further into Cape territory...claiming more and more of their farmland even though the famine should be over."

With a cheery tone  "A good steak if they got it. We're gonna be off ta fortune know's where soon, gotta enjoy da little things when ya can."   Akiran hands over a few coins to Lilli before turning to Renley "Ya ta kind! I'll take ah whiskey straight no rocks." His scales flexed in a true smile Akiran retreives his mug, dipping it deeply into the fountain of ale before taking his seat.  Looking over to Osrik "Since we're gonna be here ah few days. What else is there ta do for fun around here? This looks like da place ta get a good drink, but ya got any gamblin' or fightin' spots out here?"

Lilliana returns Renley's smile as she waits for the others to give any requests for food and drink. "I think I wouldn't mind trying some of their red wine as well, thanks!" When Akiran comes over and hands her some coins, gives him a little elbow jab with a raised eyebrow. "Going to need a bit more than that to cover my belated birthday meal, Akiran." She gives him a wry smirk. "How you like your meat?"

Thrandimir sticks with Akiran, Lilli and Renley, keeping quiet for the most part as he listens and gets his bearings. "Yes, let's get some dinner. I haven't had a good meal in days."

RisenZed said: "I don't know," Ulfgard says. "We've been hearing stories from the front...his tactics of late are more brutal. Executing village leaders until they find one scared enough to swear to him. Pushing further and further into Cape territory...claiming more and more of their farmland even though the famine should be over." Katrin's expression darkens. "It fits. He invited us to his mansion to 'see what would happen'. And that turned sour really fucking fast."

Ulfgard raises a single eyebrow. "I'll let that pass since we're not actually in my house," he says. He looks thoughtful for a few moments. "What happened, Katrin? Why do you need the resiq all of a sudden?"

Katrin looks up at the glittering mineral surrounding them, then back to her father. "Ascian. The boy with the wolf. His...brother is...trapped, and we need the resiq to get to him." She furrows her brow. "I promised him I'd help him save his brother. But....some of the others....they hate him. They don't....don't think he's capable of...being good."

"And what do you think?" Ulfgard asks.

"Yer a hypocrite. Worst than Thrand, at least he fucking wears what he is in the open...." Akiran's voice barges into her mind, and she abruptly walks across the cavern, hugging herself and blinking furiously to keep the tears from coming. After a long moment, she turns back to her father, her eyes sparkling from suppressed tears, her throat raw from suppressed sobs. "I think they're wrong. They never even gave him a chance. But they're not going to listen to me. They don't trust me. Not anymore. Not after what I did."  And what did you do? Another voice filters into her mind. Rose. Always asking the questions she didn't want to answer. "Not after I lied to them."

Katrin's dad takes her in his arms and hugs her. "Kindchen," he says, "Losing trust is a hard thing to come back from. I don't know what lie you told, but it's time to be honest. Friends or not, they're your comrades in arms. If you're going to fight next to them, you need to be honest with them."

"But I did, Da," she says, pulling back slightly to look at him. "I told them and it didn't make one bit of difference. I don't know what else I can possibly do---" At this moment, Katrin's voice breaks, and she hugs him back, crying into his shoulder. Just like she had when she was little.

Ulfgard says,  "Broken trust is a lot like a broken blade. You can't just take it, heat it up, and stick it back together. You have to melt it down and start again. Reforge it. It takes time, and it takes work."

Matt B.  said: Lilliana returns Renley's smile as she waits for the others to give any requests for food and drink.  "I think I wouldn't mind trying some of their red wine as well, thanks!" Tegan J.  said: With a cheery tone  "A good steak if they got it. We're gonna be off ta fortune know's where soon, gotta enjoy da little things when ya can."   Akiran hands over a few coins to Lilli before turning to Renley  "Ya ta kind! I'll take ah whiskey straight no rocks."  His scales flexed in a true smile Akiran retreives his mug, dipping it deeply into the fountain of ale before taking his seat.  Looking over to Osrik  "Since we're gonna be here ah few days. What else is there ta do for fun around here? This looks like da place ta get a good drink, but ya got any gamblin' or fightin' spots out here?" Renley throws a wink to the girl as he procures a round for the table and returns, balancing his and her wines in one hand with a grip around the handles of a few steins of ale and one whiskey with the other. Hearing the dragonborn's question, he chuckles as he slides the drinks around the table. "If yuh looking for a fight Ah'm 'fraid yuh won't find none here that you didn't staht y'selves. Unfortunately Ah'm not quite sure Monsier Ulfgard would appreciate that much. 'Course, if yuh just looking t'offshore some gold real fast, plenty o'folk in here'd be delighted to oblige you."  He grins from beneath the wide brim of his hat. "Myself included."

RisenZed said: Ulfgard says,  "Broken trust is a lot like a broken blade. You can't just take it, heat it up, and stick it back together. You have to melt it down and start again. Reforge it. It takes time, and it takes work." Katrin's sobs slowly subside, but she doesn't relinquish her embrace. A long moment passes, and Katrin finally pulls away slightly, looking at her father. "But only if the metal agrees. The smith and the hammer have to be in unison. Or nothing gets done." Nothing gets fixed. 

"Most here are too busy or too tired to bother themselves with fighting," Osrik says, agreeing with Renley. "I train at the practice yard outside our house every morning, if you'd like to come by." After thinking for a moment, he half-grins. "I do have something I think you all could help with. There's not a lot of money in it, but there's bound to be some." Katrin's father nods. "Find the right tool, and every metal yields eventually." He barks out a laugh and gestures toward the cavern's exit. "Just don't go clubbing any of your friends over the head with a hammer."

Katrin manages a smile and a small laugh and starts towards the cavern exit. "Well, I lost my hammer, so I don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon." 

Ulfgard looks flabbergasted. "An Ironstone without a hammer. I just...I can't...what...how...?" He looks down at Katrin and smiles. "We'll get you another one." At the top of the lift, Ulfgard sends Katrin on her way, stating that he has a few more things to finish up here at the mines. Eventually, Katrin rejoins the Fireblades at the Hammer's Fall.

"Oh ya right kid!" Akiran bellows, giving Lilli a friendly shove as he speaks. Looking around at the rest before leaning over to Lilli & quietly saying "Ya should tell em. E'ery one here needs an excuse to put  back  a few  an' celebrate." Leaning back into the conversation as Osrik & Renley finish speaking  "Was plannin' on takin' a bit of ah vacation. Hang round the forges in the morning, an' spend the nights drinkin' & gamblin'." Letting out a deep breath "We're headin' ta some dark places after this, & ya gotta live it up while ya can!" Throwing a wink at Lilli. "But I'll hear ya out, whatcha got for us?"

Katrin enters the Hammer's Fall, slipping into the back room, looking at the rest of the Fireblade's scattered around. Her eyes finally rest on Osrik, talking to Akiran and Renley, Lilli close by. Steeling herself, she walks over just as Akiran finishes speaking. 

"And there she is," Osrik says. He leans in and begins to whisper with a conspiratorial tone. "How would you all like to do some smuggling?"

As Katrin enters Ascian looks up from where he'd lurked near Thrandimir, the wizard's shadow as much as Ember was his. The idea of smuggling hits painfully close to what had happened with the scarf back in the Crossroads, and he's quick to look to Akiran and Lilliana as well to see if a storm might be brewing – or if the dark clouds overhead were simply his own.

Katrin gives her brother a look. "What are you up to now, Osrik? This better not have anything to do with that fishing boat of yours or so help me, I will smite you. Or rather I'll get Tordek to do it for me."

Osrik winces. "You can't tell Tordek about it," he says. "It's not anything bad. I just take some food and medicine across the lake to the Dragoncrest side and leave it there for a dragonborn clan to pick up and distribute." He looks around at the group, suddenly dubious. 

Lilli smiles to Akiran and nods about giving everyone a reason to celebrate, she didn’t think many of them would actually care, but maybe it could give them a excuse to cut loose. Who knows, but before she could say much else Katrin returned and her brother announced a possible job. She glanced at Akiran, given this seemed to involve his people; however, something about it nagged at her. “I’m good for making some money, we have the time to kill, but… why do you need to smuggle it at all? Why not just sell it to them?” 

Akiran shifts uncomfortably in his seat, his mind seeming to relish at the chance to torment him during the day with the nightmares the plagued his nights.  The feel of his shield falling from his arm abandoned, the sound of his ragged breath echoing through the jungle floor, but worst of all the revulsion in the Elders eye's as he denounced and banished Akiran from Clan Sovine. Draining the glass of whiskey as he tries to hide his distress. His tone cold and stiff as he asks "What clan are they?"

Osrik glances at Akiran, but looks at Lilliana to answer her question. "It's...technically treason. But it's not like I'm stealing from the king...people donate their own goods, I buy some, and we take them across the lake, and usually we just drop them off. But recently, my contact in the clan said that the last drop was taken by someone or something. That's why I need some muscle." He looks at Akiran, as if suddenly coming to the realization that he is, in fact, a dragonborn. "I don't remember...I don't think they're just one clan. But they're the ones that run it to different villages deeper into the Cape."

Thrandimir leans forward over his beer to listen more carefully. "Sounds more like charity than treason and that's what we're all about, isn't it my friends?" He remarks with a daring twinkle in the grey eyes that peer out from beneath the brim of his hat.

“Sometimes treason is  charity, for the folk yuh do it on behalf’uh, hmm?”  Renley swirls the red liquid around his glass as he sits reclined far back in his chair, arm slung over the side. 

Lilli looks around at the others, terribly confused. "Sounds like we would be helping people, but I still do not understand why this is bad. Is the kingdom at war with the dragonborn clans or something? I'm for helping, but I'd like to at least know why this is..."  She gestures with her hands, leaving the word unsaid as she glances around to ensure no one is taking any particular interest in their conversation. 

Katrin grimaces, looking at Osrik before turning to Lilli. "It's...Tordek. My other brother. He's never quite seen eye to eye with the rest of us about...our opinions of the monarchy. Especially now that Darius has settled a bunch of soldiers outside the gates...it wouldn't be wise to go about blabbering." Katrin pauses before adding, "And I imagine that Father wouldn't be too thrilled to learn that Os is diverting resources either."

Osrik nods in agreement with Katrin. "Yeah, Tordek is a Heartlands patriot...sight-blinded fool. And no, father would not be thrilled. So it's a hush-hush sort of thing."  To Lilliana, he says, "They really don't like goods crossing the border, especially when this war is ostensibly about controlling farmland."

"Do ya usually make contact with the clans or is it a blind drop?"  Adding with a trace of hesitance in his voice  "How are the clan holdin' up with the war?"  It's something he tried his best not to think about, he'd been exiled for year long before the war had started. The news usually caused his emotions to bounce between pity & anger. Sympathy for his clan and the fact they too may be crushed beneath the might of the Heartlands and in his darker moment he thinks that may be what they deserved. But today, so near to his homelands he his haunted by a sense of shame and uncertainty. 

"Usually it's a blind drop, but since the last shipment went missing, we're supposed to stay until the clans' runners get there," Osrik says. "They're doing better than most, from what I hear. It was rough for them individually but it seems that since they banded together, they've been holding their own."

We. So he's not doing this alone. " Anyone help you out with this before, or do you do this all on your own?"

"There are a couple other guys in town that have helped out before," Osrik says. "But they're not so keen on staying over there and guarding the supplies."

“Not so sure any uh’this applies t’me but,”  Renley leans further back, until his glimmering eyes peak out just enough to meet Ostik’s, “well, you’ve tragically caught my curiosity. Yuh contact have any inkling what went n’snatched the last drop? As in, this more’ve a ‘ who ’ or a ‘what’ kinda situation?”

"The dragonborn aren't sure," Osrik says. "There was very little trace left at the drop site." He chuckles. "There's always Segoa. Could be her!" He gives Katrin a grin. The people of Dragonvale had been telling stories of Segoa for years -- an evil sea monster who feeds on, among many things, misbehaving children.

Katrin rolls her eyes, grinning back. "Segoa's just a story, Os. But sure. It's definitely the imaginary evil sea monster."

The foot of Renley's chair creaks against the hardwood floor as it and he shift rapidly forward, gold-eyes gleaming with interest at the dwarves' words. "What's all this now 'bout a sea monstuh?"

"You've been here for a few weeks and never heard someone threaten to feed someone else to Segoa?" Osrik laughs. He back slightly, casting his face into shadow and adopts a mock-grave tone.  "Segoa is a massive, many-headed shark that lurks in the depths of the lake, waiting to sharpen his thousands of teeth upon the flesh of the deserving." He leans forward into the light and his voice returns to normal. "Or just the kids who don't go to bed on time. Depends on who's telling the tale."

"Guess who got told they were the flesh of the deserving?" Katrin says, smirking at her brother. "Not me."

Osrik glowers at Katrin, then returns his gaze to the rest of the group. "Anyway," he says, stretching the vowels with mock irritation, "I basically need you lot to run security and help load and offload. Renley, you're welcome to come along. The dragonborn insisted on giving some coin as payment, so it's yours if you want it."

“Normally Ah’d say Ah hate t’impose but, well,”  he grins sheepishly, “if there’s a chance t’see such a legendary crea-chuh, then Ah would be real delighted t’join y’all.”

As the others discuss the mythical creature, Lilliana looks over at Akiran, watching him closely as these plans began to unfold. He seemed unnaturally tense as the talk moved to this about assisting dragonborn, his own people. She turns to the others distractedly. "Yeah, sure, I'm game to help out here. Especially if it's helping folks getting hurt by the war."  She then looks back at Akiran, leaning in close to speak low. "You okay?"

Ascian looks from Thrandimir to Akiran to the new face coming on board, slowly dragging the heel of his palm down his thigh enough to leave faint indents in the leather. "How long will we be gone."