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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 1152548" data-attributes="member: 2292">Servants run in with warmed mugs of honey-mead, carefully spiced with cinnamon and cloves, and everyone settles into the heavy wooden chairs that surround the king's talbe.  Every except the Arezzite War Cleric, whose aging visage hovers over the kings shoulder and glares at the group - his expression speaking volumes about his attitude towards the new blood to have arrived.“Borr is not an easy place to live,” Oleg begins, ignoring his advisors glare.  “The ice and snow have been particularly harsh in recent years, and the Goblin’s in the hills north of Ulgar's Steading have been getting more belligerent of late.  None of this is new.  We have faced these problems for decades, since Borr was first settled, and have not been bowed by them.  What worries me now is the sudden raids by the beast-men that live in the forests to the east.  They have been quiet since our arrival, rarely sighted and only occasionally raiding the outlying villages, but now their attacks have become more common and they wield steel-forged weapons rather than the uncivilised bows and clubs of earlier years."  "We don’t know whether these weapons are being forged by a traitor among the towns, or if the beast-men have simply learned the art of forging them by examining those blades they’ve stolen from their raids, but it is the concensus of my council that this bodes ill. Sterna has used magic to divine the future, and the indicators point towards war.  Even now some of my hunters have reported hearing war-drums in the wilderness, and the beast-men have recently started attacking larger settlements rather than outlying farms.  We do not assume that Sterna's divininations are infallible, but all signs point towards the possibility they are correct.  The Beast-man are driving towards war, looking to push us back into the sea.  If this is the case, then Borr may well fall – many of our settlers are farmers and fishermen, not warriors.  We have the manpower to hold our towns against the terrors of the wildnerness, but we cannot fight an extended campaign.”Oleg pauses, letting his words sink in.“Our one hope, as I see it, is to forge a treaty.  We know there is a dwarven settlement of considerable size in the mountains to the north, although the journey to their caves is difficult at best and the dwarves have shown little inclination towards negotiating with us.  In desperation, I’ve sent two diplomatic groups to the dwarves in recent weeks, but magic has shown that neither has completed the journey.  Among those groups were my mentor, a warrior who spoke the dwarvish tongue, and the sole member of the earth-born willing to undertake the mission.  Among the people left to me now, none stand even the slightest chance of negotiating with the dwarves – they either do not speak the tongue, lack the grace and tact necessary for such negotiation, or simply refuse to go.”Oleg stands and looks directly at Halgo.“I turn to you in the hopes that you will agree to go, as one who shares a common kinship with the dwarves.  Borr is still poor, still struggling, but I can offer you gold and land should you succeed, with similar rewards for any who choose to accompany you.  The Justicar who leads your mission has agreed that you may go if you wish, but will not force such a mission upon you, so I ask it of you.  Will you go?”The Copperheads look at one another uneasily.“Um, exactly what is it that got the other missions?” Geoffrey asks cautiously.“We don’t know,” Oleg says honestly.  “The ice and snow is treacherous at the best of times, and the creatures of the wilds dangerous enough for any man.  Possibly the beast-men, possibly the sabrekin, potentially anything.  I will not lie to you – Borr is a dangerous place, and the journey you’re being asked to make leads you through territory that is only barely charted.  It is still wide, and even before the beast-men became hostile they were known to kill travellers who passed through the mountains.  I know that even the reward I’m offering may not be enticement enough, but if you need me to beg your assistance, simply ask and I’ll do so.  I do not lie when I say Borr has little other chance of survive beyond alliance, should the Beast-man horde emerge from the mountains and forests we will be wiped out - man, woman and child.”“I’ll do it,” Halgo says, his face thoughtful.  “I mean, we’ll do it.”He looks at the others.  They stare back, momentarily stunned by his altruism.“Land, fame and power,” he says with a shrug.  “Isn’t that why we came here?”</blockquote>

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