"Let's push on for a while," Eoni agreed.  "Jorr, how much further to town?"

Taerix cleans off his blade, just in case it got dirty, and waits for the party's verdict. The halfling agrees that staying here isn't the most prudent course of action.

Following their violent awakening to two rampaging owlbears, and taking stock of their injuries, the adventuring company quickly gathers their things and strikes out into early dawn. Daybreak is still a few hours off yet, so Jorr elects to travel along the edge of the Dawn Way, figuring there is less chance for the party to become lost or stuck with pokey things along the way.

The adventurers walk through sunrise and a few hours later are marching out of the Witchwood, toward Drellin's Ferry up ahead. Presumably, the group immediately seeks out Speaker Wiston or Captain Soranna to relay their findings.

Speaker Wiston arranges a meeting at his home. There, the Speaker has assembled the town's influential leaders, the town council: himself, Captain Soranna, Delora Zann (owner of the local stable), Kellin Shadowbanks (owner of the Skull Bridge Inn), and Iormel (a wealthy landowner and longest standing member of the Town Council). The Town Council eagerly awaits the adventurers' report.

"Well, you all know why we're here" Wiston says without preamble. "To hear these brave men and women tell it, in a matter of days we're going to have an army of goblins, hobgoblins and monsters on our doorsteps. What do we do? Fight? Try to talk to them? Abandon the town and flee? Or do nothing and trust in the good gods they don't come this way?"

The room erupts into chaos as each council member nervously talks over the next, each advocating their own position. This continues for some time, when finally, Speaker Wiston raises an exasperated hand and shouts over the din, "Please! Please! Let them tell you what they saw out there..."

The room quiets down and five sets of eager eyes come to rest on the assembled adventurers...

Eoni took a deep breath and recounted their observation of the bridge at Skull Gorge.

"They held the watchtowers and each end of the bridge," she explained, looking between council members.  Convincing people what to do wasn't her forte, but all she had to do here was tell them what they'd seen.

"We could see a half dozen tents and campfires on the far side, but the most formidable of them was a dragon resting on one of the towers.

"They seemed to be waiting or there just to hold the bridge."

Taerix looked at the assembled leaders and nodded, adding, "It is as the good cleric says. They were in no hurry to move."

Sarah watches her elders speak.

The assembled council listens to the adventurers' recounting of events and then each weighs in with their own viewpoint.

Delora Zann, a seasoned ex-adventurers herself, has no illusions about how fighting or talking are likely to work out. "Can't reason with murdering goblinfolk," she asserts rather pointedly to any who might adopt this position. "It's not in their make-up." She advocates flight, the sooner the better. "I've seen towns put to the sword before. Death or slavery awaits us if we remain here. We must gather the things we can and flee east, the sooner the better!"

Iormel, a sarcastic and snappish older businessman, favors fighting because he can't bear the thought of abandoning his property, or worse, paying a hefty ransom to "filthy goblinkind". He continues, clearly agitated, "We can't let them take everything we've worked so hard for, just because we lack the nerve to stand up to this hobgoblin rabble!" He appeals to the adventurers to stay and help defend the town and offers to put up a considerable portion of his deep coffers as an enticement.

Kellin Shadowbanks, the oportunistic and even-tempered halfling innkeep, advocates sending emissaries to the hobgblins ad trying to buy them off with whatever it takes. "They want treasure, don't they? Well, let's give it to them this time, but see to our defenses all the same. If they come back next year and ask for more, we'll be ready to fight by then." He looks around the room as though his position is the only sensible one voiced thus far.

Soranna, the town's Captain, is grim throughout the proceedings. It's her job to execute whatever decisions the council makes, so she is careful to not advance any particular course of action. When specifically asked on the matter, by Speaker Wiston, she replies that it might be suicide to fight given the sighting of a dragon and other monsters in their midst. "It's not for me to say. I'll try to do whatever you ask of me, but I don't think we stand much of a chance against an army large enough to count dragons, hellhounds, and manticores in their number."

Speaker Wiston grows equally flustered and indecisive as the proceedings continue. The speaker does not know what to do, and his body language suggests as much. He leans toward trying to talk to the hobgoblins, but even he doesn't expect that to work. "I guess I don't see that it could hurt to at least ask them what they want...maybe we should tell folks to get their children and elderly in wagons heading east, while we still can. What do you think?"

Speaker Wiston would like to hear the adventurers' viewpoints as well and makes a point of quieting the other council members to allow each to say their piece.

"I believe that the map notes we brought back from Vraath Keep specifically called out to save a particular race for eating," Eoni said, glancing in the halfling innkeeper's direction.  "I don't think they're interested in negotiating.  Especially if they have an eye on taking over the entire Vale.

"If it were just the hobgoblin raiders, we would have a chance.  Add a dragon and the other creature's as their allies, we stand little chance with the forces we have.  They are very well organized and must have a special leader that brought them all together.  One that knows how to plan and keep that rabble together.

"At the very least," she continued, agreeing with Speaker Wiston, "evacuating anyone unable or unwilling to fight would be prudent.  If the road east is clear, they should go as a group as soon as they can.

"As to the rest, if you have scouts to send out, they could warn us of an approaching army and gauge it's strength.  Our only hope of success is if they do not bring their entire army to bear on Drellin's Ferry.  Perhaps spreading their forces across the Vale in a single attack.

"Has there been any word from Terrelton or further east of reinforcements?"

"What do they want? WHAT DO THEY WANT?? They want yer heads on pikes, be what they want." Marklin snorted at the council members, as he paced the floor.

“If ye had a wall, if ye had more men, a lot more men, ye might stand a chance. But then again, they have a bloody Dragon. The gods only know what else they have. I be no Captain, but I served under a good one. Learned a thing or two, I did. They hold that bridge to.." He had to think for a moment..." to secure a line 0' march. Something be coming up the Dawn Way, that needs that bridge, to get at you lot."

Valthur listens intently to all sides before offering his voice. "Eoni's right. There'll be no negotiating with these goblin-folk. And we don't stand much of a chance against a dragon and Moradin knows what else, either."

He wonders to himself if fleeing to Terrelton will simply delay the inevitable.

"I still think if we get enough arrows into that dragon, it'll drop. And when it does, the smaller humanoids will be more likely to run than fight. I'd get the militia on bow practice straightaway. Send everyone else away, but we should make a stand somewhere. Anyone have a better place?"

Sarah seems to be playing some indiscernible game that involves intricate movements of her fingers.  At times, she moves two of them along the table top in a simulated walking motion.  But other than this, it is really difficult to discern what purpose her dexterous maneuverings may serve.

Whatever she is doing, she seems very intent.

For his part, Jorr is in favor of taking the battle to the goblins...not running away from them. "I know those woods like no other! We could give 'em hell and make them think twice about peepin' their ugly faces out of the holes they crawled out from!" he blusters.

He says this is his plan regardless of what the Town Council or adventurers elect to do. "Truth it, we never saw no goblin army. We saw a handful of patrols. Which we beat. A manticore. Which we beat. Hellhounds. Yeah, we beat them too. Hell! We even slayed Ol' Sixer!"

Jorr says he is too old to run and has nothing worth living for anyway and would just as soon go down fighting, rather than running.

Sarah does not look up, nor does she stop . . . . whatever it is she's doing with her hands and fingers. "Dragon," she says, as if that one word is all that needs to be said.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:27, Fri 05 Jan 2018.

"If there be no larger force, then why be they holding the bridge?" Asked Marklin

Aldara, being notoriously bad at planning, and in a rare moment of self-awareness, also keeps quiet.  By body language, she seems to agree with Delora and Kane the most...and with Sarah.

Captain Soranna shakes her head in the negative. "No word has come..." She leaves the next portion unstated for a time, but eventually concedes she believes goblin brigands along the road could have picked off any small groups of riders.

"Otherwise they would have returned by now."

Captain Soranna suggests the ford at Drellin's Ferry is as likely as a place for the goblins to cross as any others. "Once they cross the ford, the whole of Elsir Vale is at their disposal, with nothing but a road between here and the cities to the east."

She goes on to state Brindol is the only walled city this side of Dennovar. All the other towns and villages have no fortifications of note. An unchecked goblin horde would leave the towns of Drellin's Ferry, Terrelton, Nimon's Gap and Talar at their mercy.

Nobody has an answer to this question, but Captain Soranna suggests Marklin's line of thinking on the matter is not unreasonable. Despite the adventurers lack of evidence of any sizeable goblinoid army, their limited experiences in the Witchwood do suggest an organized force and not mindless bands of marauding rabble.

"We need two things," Eoni stated, holding up a finger and looking from one Council member to the next.  "How many are coming and when?

"And whether the rest of the Vale knows and has reinforcements to help," she concluded, raising a second finger.  She was nonplussed that Captain Soranna was deferring to the Council.  Eoni felt the woman was more qualified to make the decisions than they.  Perhaps with the exception of Lady Zann.  The Sister lowered her hand and continued.

"We can return to the Witchwood and see what we can find out," she said, volunteering the rest of them to go with Jorr, "but you need to know what the other towns are doing.

"If you can hold them here at the crossing, it safeguards everyone."

Valthur gives a satisfied nod at the suggestion they return to the Witchwood. While he hadn't exactly thrived on their last encounter there, the idea of doing something easily beats waiting for a growing horde of goblin-folk to build and eventually wash over the town.

And though he really hates to agree with Eoni, he finds more and more that her decisions are sound.

"Finally, some sense!" Iormel exclaims while pounding the flat of his hand against the chair's armrest. The wealthy businessman is obviously more amenable to any solution which doesn't require willingly sacrificing his possessions to rampaging goblins.

Iormel turns to Captain Soranna, "Conscript every able-bodied man, woman and child to the cause! We can defeat those bastards here at the ford!" he says, his eyes gleaming greedily. Kellin fidgets with a platinum coin, bouncing it between knuckles as he contemplates the future, but clearly he seems willing to support this course of action. Delora sighs and shrugs her shoulders noncomittally, saying if it's all the same, she still recommends fleeing, but will support the will of the Council.

Captain Soranna refrains from committing to anything before hearing what the Speaker has to say, but offers the same sentiments just posited by Delora.

The Speaker lowers his head and rubs his balding temples. Several moments later he emerges from his own thoughts, raises his head and addresses the group:

"If these adventurers will go forward and harass the goblins as they advance, we will bolster our defenses here in town and prepare to defend the ford. Meanwhile, Delora, I ask you to take a few fast riders to ride eastward and send word."

Satisfied that nearly all concerns were addressed and some sort of consensus reached, Speaker Wiston motions for an attendant to pour goblets of wine for all.

"Let us drink to our bold endeavor. For Drellin's Ferry!" he says while raising his glass to his lips.

To this, a refrain of "Hear, here" breaks out, though not as heartily as one might hope.

"Give us a chance to get cleaned up and a few hours sleep," Eoni said after the toast.  "Then we'll head back out."  She directed the statement at Captain Soranna but nodded to the Speaker and Council to acknowledge their decision.

They needed to catch their breath and restock before plunging back into the Witchwood.  They'd been lucky to avoid any raider patrols and she'd found it suspicious.  She'd have to speak with Jorr to see if they could try and find one this time without being spotted first.

 Marklin shook his head
" Good plan, unless they flank you. Plenty o' wood to make rafts to cross. And how long will your farmers and shop keepers hold up against long bows and Dragon breath? They will soil themselves and break and run. Your plan be folly."

Too tired to takes sides in the latest feud, Valthur quietly welcomes a chance to sleep. Even after the healing provided by Eoni, he can feel the savage tears from the owlbears in the wood. A good night's rest will do him some good.