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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7216828" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 80Captain Roghan looked tired.  It wasn’t just the old scars that covered the right side of his face, or the fact that the arm resting on the low table in front of him ended abruptly at the wrist.  He wasn’t an especially old man, but he looked like a man who had seen a lot in recent days.But if he sagged in his chair and looked like he could use a nap, the injured officer listened closely to their account and made the occasional note in the ledger book sitting next to his good arm.  He only asked a few clarifying questions before Glori had finished her account of their journey north, focusing on the humanoid bands that had been lurking around Northpine.“Well, you did well in the south, sounds like, but the real threat is up here,” Roghan said.  “You’ve just missed the army, Prince Dalgran led them out three days ago, marching east to confront this would-be conqueror.  But we can use you.  Spellcasters are always needed, especially ones that can heal.”He’d focused his attention on Glori and Quellan, after just a brief look of surprise when the half-orc had first come in.  Bredan he’d hardly glanced at since the interview had begun, and Kosk he’d dismissed as a curiosity.  From the look on the dwarf’s face he had a hardly better opinion of the officer.It had taken them the better part of an hour to get this far, after explaining their mission and showing their letters of introduction to the guards at the main gate to the keep.  At first the soldiers hadn’t wanted to let them in, directing them to a mustering center back toward the city gates, but Glori had managed to talk her way to a harried sergeant, who turned them over to a lieutenant, who in turn had gotten them this meeting with the captain after a span spent sitting on a long bench in a tiny niche inside the keep.“What can you tell us about the enemy army, Captain?” Bredan asked.  When the officer’s eyes flicked up they held nothing of the reassurance he’d offered Glori, and he quickly added, “We heard a lot of rumors on our way here.”“You shouldn’t give credence to rumors,” Roghan said.  “The facts are grim enough.  A dozen villages and settlements have been hit, and twice as many have been evacuated.  We’re dealing with a real army, one that is surprisingly well-led and coordinated in its actions.”The four adventurers shared a look.  “Is there a chance… that they might come here?” Bredan ventured.Roghan snorted at that.  “That would be a stroke of luck for us.  You saw the walls coming in.  This Murgoth would be a fool indeed to let himself get trapped between the city and our army.”Bredan didn’t say anything.  In the scenario he’d envisioned the army would have already been defeated, but he didn’t want to antagonize the officer further by suggesting that.Roghan took a slip of parchment out of his folio and scribed something on it, pinning it under his stump while he wrote.  “This will serve as a pass until we can get you formally mustered in,” he said, handing over the slip to Glori.  “We’re building new units as recruits arrive, but with your skills you’ll likely be given a special assignment.  But it’s not likely you’ll see any fighting.  The goblins are mean little bastards, and their larger kin know how to fight, but we’ve raised an army the likes of which the north hasn’t seen in over a century.  Chances are this war will be over as soon as the Prince catches up to Murgoth’s hordes, assuming they don’t flee back into the mountains once they’re up against real soldiers.  Where are you staying in town?”“We, ah, have not yet secured lodgings, captain,” Quellan said.Roghan grunted.  “Well, we’ve got some room here now that the army’s moved out, but the accommodations may be a bit starker than you’re used to.  See the supply sergeant…”“We’ll take rooms in the city,” Glori interjected.  “If we’re going to be waiting a while anyway.  We’ll send word once we’ve secured a spot.”Roghan gave her a dubious look but made a notation in his book.</blockquote>

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