"Actually, I represent the Lord's Alliance in this area," Sildar answers. "If the problem is local, it's up to the community to give any awards that they feel is appropriate."

"On the other hand, if the problem is regional, such as the goblins and now the orcs, then it is problem of the Council."

"I would have thought that the Redbrands was merely a local threat, but as it turns out, this Glasstaff wizard is... was a friend named Iarno Albrek. He disappeared about two months ago. I was going to offer to pay you to go find him. Since he was a member of the Lord's Alliance that went bad, that makes it Council business, and therefore so is the Redbrands."

"Rescuing the mayor was a Redbrand problem, so that puts it in my bailiwick. Those of you who participated in that can collect 50gp for your heroic efforts. By my count, that would be Darvin, Gimble, Mikal, Nicholas and Thalias."

"The others having rescued the prisoners from Tressendar Manor, ending the Redbrands threat and bringing Iarno to justice can collect 100gp. That should be Amiri, Artem, Cunaar, Ero, Kayle, Kyler, Lureene, Maldor, Mithra, Serena and Tramorn."


"For those of you going after the Orcs, that's more significant, so that will pay 500gp. I'm also authorized to offer a 10gp incentive to you newcomers. Let's see if I got that right... Hope, Ebrik, Thressa and Victor."

"I apologize if those amounts do not sound like much, but I do not set the prices; the Council does, since they are the ones paying it out."

"Did I leave anyone out?"

"Aaah, fudge," Mithra lightly exclaims at Victor's question.

"Spent so much time dealing with goblins and Redbrands, not to mention bugbears and wolves, I plumb forgot my manners. And with all these folks, I figured everyone knew who I was by now."

"The name's Mithra Stormraven. Yon warlock is Amiri Flamestorm. The gruff drinking fella there is Maldor. The Lady Bard is Serena Valais..."

She then goes through everyone and makes sure everyone is introduced.

"We got us a freakin' army goin' after orcs!"

In reply to Mithra Stormraven (msg # 48):

" The Wildflame will go hunt orcs or bring the villain to justice but I think the Orc hunters might need my light to heal. "

Maldor's eyebrows raised at the cleric's words.

"Boar? Boar good meat."

He turned back to the bartender.

"Maldor want boar meat. And more drink. Maldor thirsty. Drink, no thirsty."



The half-orc turned when Mithra spoke.

"Gruff? Maldor gruff? Gruff mean speak low, yes?"

He grabbed the new tankard that the barkeeper brought him. He downed a large gulp before continuing.

"Maldor speak low, yes. Maldor enjoy drink, yes. Maldor enjoy boar if human bring Maldor boar meat. Maldor enjoy beat bad orc on head. If bad orc bad like orc in Tower District, Maldor enjoy beat bad orc on head very much."

Mal let a large smile escape his lips before he drank the last of his mug. He sat it on the counter and pointed at it.

"Keep come drink. Maldor drink more. Maldor celebrate before Maldor hit more bad on head."

Seeing that there were many recent additions to the room and/or conversation, Mikal introduced himself as well, "My name is Mikal Mourningmoon, a student of alternative arcane, and participant in the rescue of the mayor. Ready to go hunt some orc."

The door to the inn swings open. A figure with severe features and a cowled hood steps inside. Striding over to a table, he pulls out a chair and leans back, listening to Sildar speak.

"Well, I will take your fifty, and I will raise it to the price for killing orcs. They don't mean nothing to me." Darvin states he is in.

"I will also go look in on the Orcs. They are bad for the forest, they tend to burn and pollute things very badly."

Gimble has returned to his seat at the table, and is once again sitting on top of his backpack.

Sildar eyes the new person speculatively for a moment.

"I do wonder what the attraction of Phandalin is to bring so many people here all of a sudden," he says to everyone. "Perhaps someone has put up a sign at the start of the Triboard Trail that says 'Free Beer'."

"I have no information whether this is a pressing need or not, but will you start out now or wait until morning?"

"The sightings of the orcs has been around Wyvern Tor. Unless you were keen on doing some mountain climbing, the easiest way to reach Wyvern Tor is to go to Conyberry on the Triboar Trai and then take the south trail out of the old village. Conyberry is about 2 days away. Trying to go over the mountains to reach Wyvern Tor could take you a week or longer."

"I'd be on the lookout as you approach Conyberry, though. I believe Lureene has been to Conyberry."

"Clearly all of us don't need to go beat on some poor orcs," the ranger suggested. "I will stay here and guard our new base of operations, as well as roam the surrounding countryside looking for any stray orcs."

"Anyone else care to stay?"

Several others choose to stay.

Lao and Wiglaf will mostly remain at the base as guards.

Bear, Tramorn and Nicholas will also stay in town to guard the Redbrands prisoners until it can be decided what to do about them.

Thalias also opts to stay behind. Dungeon delving is fine by him, but he's not keen on doing any mountain climbing.

"Since you seem to have another Bard ready to go entertain the orcs, I suppose I should stay here and keep the town entertained," Serena offers.

"I had my fun at the old castle ruins dealing with the goblins. Although... I hear orcs are a tougher crowd. Are you up to that, Mikal?"

It's not quite a dare as there is a twinkle in her eyes, but it does sound like a challenge.

Ero retires to a room and does what wizards do.

Mikal turns to pay full attention to Serena as she speaks to him. Seeing her for the first time, he looks her over from head to toe. Noting her weapons as well as her instruments, and...other things along the way. "Oh, I'm up to it alright." He pauses for a moment as he spots the signet ring on her finger, "We handled the Redbrands in seconds; orcs do not scare me."

Maldor used the back of his free hand to wipe some errant suds from his lips. He finished his drink and sat the mug down.

"If beer free, Maldor never leave. But beer not free. When we go hurt bad orc?"

Mal gave the bartender a look. He then glanced at his empty drink container, then back at the man behind the counter. The half-orc raised his eyebrows.

"Redbrands aren't orcs," Serena replies to Mikal. "For that matter, Redbrands aren't even goblins."

"There might have been one or two Redbrands that had an ounce of brains, but goblins are sly and devious. The only reason we didn't have a problem with the ones in the old castle was that some stupid bugbear was lording it over them."

"Orcs are the flipside of the coin. They get nastier if someone organizes them. Just watch out for their boss... if they got one. Another orc won't be so bad, but something else... that could be dangerous."

She then walks over to Maldor and claps him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, my friend. Drinks will always be free for you as long as I'm around!"

"Barkeep, keep the drinks coming!"

Maldor looked down at the half-elf.

"Singer pay for beer, beer not free," he explained in a more quiet roughness. "Beer man give beer, beer free."

Mal grabbed his newly filled mug and took a gulp.

"Maldor no want human give beer. Maldor pay. Maldor have coin after kill bad human in cave."

Another gulp.

"When kill bad orc, get more coin. Get more beer. And boar meat Maldor want before."

The tall fighter gave the barkeeper a glance.

Inside, wheels were turning in Maldor's head. Would any of the orcs that he would battle be ones he knew before his unfortunate memory loss? What if he was about to kill a cousin or training mate? If the orcs were evil, they had to go. Mal knew that. But having amnesia grinded at his spirit.

Victor chuckled. The half-orc was simple of speech, but he obviously knew the way the world worked, yet strove to do good. "Aye, Maldor. A singer can pay for drinks with song. Fightin' men like us have to make due with coin. Thank the gods there is coin in slaying brigands and monsters, or we might go thirsty! Anyway, long as everyone's in fighting shape, no harm in leaving now, unless some need provisions. Conyberry, that two days on foot, or by horse?"

The hooded man passed an appraising gaze over all present. After several moments listening to the various chatter, he seemed to come to a decision. "I'll go." he spoke, in a voice that went well with his outward appearance. "...after the orcs." he added.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 14:24, Sat 14 May 2016.

"I was hopin' to have more ale and sleep in a comfy bed tonight...but if others want to be shovin' off then I reckon I'm game to go now," Artem drawled with a wistful look at his ale mug and a nod to the companions.

"Another candidate for hunting orcs!" Sildar exclaims at Ebrik's words.

"If you walk a horse, Victor, it walks at the same rate as you do. When you ride the horse, it still walks at the same rate. So on foot or by horse, it is still two days to Conyberry. You can push the horse to go faster, but you can also run. Neither can be done all day. The advantage of a horse is that it can carry more. It can carry an armored man at the same rate, whereas on foot, that armored man would be greatly slowed."

"I know--seems counter-intuitive, doesn't it? It's the volume of material that a horse can carry that leads to that. A horse can pull even more than it can carry, and thus we have carts and wagons."

"In any case, there aren't enough horses in town for all of you. If you arrived with your own horse, then your good to go."

Victor scowled and muttered, "Damned army. Never tells the lowly infantry a thing. Gotta keep the nobility and their knights on a pedestal."

In reply to Victor Harkness (msg # 68):

Amiri shrugs.

" Sounds Fine "

In reply to Amiri Flamestorm (msg # 69):

" Yes, It illuminates appropriately.

"Well, keep in mind that if a horse carries a rider, it's the horse that tires from the effort, not the rider," Sildar explains a bit more. "The advantage to that, of course, is that at the end of the journey, the rider is now capable of going into battle instead of having to rest for the night."

"Also, in battle, a horse isn't as strained as it is when walking a great distance. Battles are often short and swift."

"Just as a man can walk, jog, run or sprint, so, too, can a horse walk, trot, gallop or race. The faster you or the horse move, the less time you can do it for."

"Anyway, I'll see that some provisions are put up for you in the morning."

"Anything else that you need?"