Chapter #6i: The Square Moot
The crowd murmured as the “Sandpoint Saviors” joined Mayor Deverin, Alergast Barett, Father Zantus, and Kerr Mollin on the dais for the town meeting. Rumors regarding recent events had been spreading through the town like wildfire, and those flames had been fanned by both the militia call-up and the cordoning off of the Glassworks. Whatever was happening, people knew it couldn’t be good. Mayor Deverin had been smart to try and get out in front of the rumors as soon as she could, but the townsfolk were still extremely on edge.
The crowd quieted as the Mayor stepped up the podium.
“Citizens of Sandpoint!” She began. “I know you have been concerned about recent events, and I wanted to share with you what we knew as soon as possible. For we now face what is perhaps Sandpoint’s darkest hour.” The mayor was a practiced speaker. Her face was the very picture of sincerity as her eyes traveled slowly across the crowd, making it seem as if she was talking personally to every single person present. Her voice brimmed with sincerity and conviction. Still, her opening statement caused a nervous muttering amongst the crowd.
“We have learned,” the Mayor went on, and the crowd quieted. “We have learned that the goblin tribes have united, and may be targeting Sandpoint for attack.” She held her hand up to quell the surprised reaction to this news. “The Guard and your town council have been working hard since the Swallowtail Festival to discover exactly what the goblins were up to, and it is indeed fortunate that we have uncovered those plans. Just today, in fact, we foiled and defeated a goblin attack on the Glassworks!”
A wave of shock and disbelief crashed upon the podium, but Mayor Deverin stood tall, a tidebreak against the incipient panic. “Yes.” She nodded, looking as if she truly understood the fears and concerns of those listening, “we have been attacked. And we have lost friends,” the Mayor’s voice took on a note of deep sadness, “both during the Festival and at the Glassworks. And Father Zantus,” she gestured to the prelate, “will be commemorating their sacrifice tomorrow evening.”
“We will not forget the friends we have lost!” An edge of steel entered Kendra Deverin’s voice. “And we will not forgive those who imposed that loss on us!”
“The goblins,” She made the word into an epithet, “have had the advantage of surprise. BUT THEY WILL HAVE IT NO LONGER!!” The mayor slammed her fist into the podium, looking for all the world like a crimson-haired angel of vengeance. The atmosphere was electric. “These goblins and their leaders think of Sandpoint as SOFT. They think of us as UNREADY. BUT WE WILL SHOW THEM HOW WRONG THEY ARE!!!!” A few cheers rose up from the audience, but most of the townsfolk were still coming to grips with the town’s status as a target for attack.
“As you know, Lieutenant Barett and the rest of the Guard have started training up our militia. Even now, Sheriff Hemlock returns with support from Magnimar. And Shalelu Andosana roams the Hinterlands with Dav Hosk, disrupting the goblins’ movements and discovering their plans. When the goblins come, IF they come once they see the bulwark we have made of this town, WE SHALL BE PREPARED!!!!!”
Mayor Deverin waited a beat for the chorus of agreement from those gathered. “But Mayor Deverin, I hear you ask.” She swept her arm across the podium, indicating the crowd. “How can we, who are shopkeepers and farmers untrained for battle, defeat this evil? What can we possibly do? And to answer that question I give you Liseth Thoradin, Kellan Storval, Cato Crispin, and Pisca Neep Freemish!”
The mayor gestured at the four to stand, then turned back to the crowd. “These four,” she said, pointing back at them, “two teenagers, a scholar’s assistant, and a gnome no bigger than your youngest, Maver,” Maver Kesk was in the front row of the crowd, listening raptly, “not only saved the cathedral during the Swallowtail Festival, but drove a specially-trained unit of goblins from the Glassworks BY THEMSELVES. These four are HEROES!!!” Her last statement elicited shouts of agreement.
“But WHY are they heroes? Are they heroic because they have some special abilities that you or I do not possess? Are they heroic because the gods have blessed them in a way they have not blessed us?!? NO!! I tell you that they are heroes because when Sandpoint suffered, and her need was great, THEY STOOD TALL AND ANSWERED HER CALL!!!! THEY STOOD AGAINST EVIL NOT BECAUSE IT WAS EASY, BUT BECAUSE IT WAS RIGHT!!!”
The crowd was getting excited now. “The Sandpoint Saviors!!” Someone shouted.
“That’s right, the Sandpoint Saviors!” Mayor Deverin seized upon the shout. “Now I want you to imagine. Imagine what it would be like if we ALL stood tall. Imagine what will happen when the Sandpoint Saviors are not merely this group of four, but consist of us ALL, working together, fighting together, helping each other. THAT, my friends, is what I am calling you to tonight!!!! THAT, my friends, is what I believe we can accomplish together!!! THAT, my friends, is why, that if these goblins attack, WE SHALL THROW THEM BACK INTO TURANDAROK IN A VICTORY THAT BARDS WILL SING OF FOR AGES TO COME!!!
We shall NOT BE DEFEATED!!!
WE SHALL TRIUMPH!!!
WE SHALL TRIUMPH TOGETHER!!!!
FOR SANDPOINT!!!!!
Mayor Deverin’s last word hung in the air for a single moment, floating out above a crowd stunned silent by the force of her delivery. Then it happened. A wave of applause and cheering that grew and grew and crescendoed until every single person in the crowd was yelling their defiance of the goblins, their commitment to the fight, and how they would stand side-by-side with the Sandpoint Saviors in the days to come. Mayor Deverin raised her arms, a fierce expression on her face, as if signaling that victory was already theirs.
As Alergast Barett stood to join the ovation, he elbowed Kellan, winked, and grinned. “Guess that’s why she’s the mayor.”