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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 2219597" data-attributes="member: 2012">Tangles End:Bren found them all sleeping, except for the elf, late into the night. They let them sleep and Bactra told him what had transpired. Bren went and checked the avenue and surrounding areas. He couldn’t help but feel impressed.These strangers, these easterners came all this way just to make an alliance with a crumbling, ruined city. He knew that the Senate would debate about it for months, and in the end nothing would likely come of it. He told Bactra and Garth as much, after the elven wizard woke him to stand watch.“So it is all for nothing,” Bactra felt his need for the Reverie increase.“Even without an alliance, we have learned a great deal. Knowledge is never nothing, didn’t you’re tutors teach you that.” Garth smiled. “Besides, I haven’t given up on anything, yet.”“An optimist.” Bren smiled passing a flask of water to Garth.“Hardly,” Bactra suppressed his need to laugh, as he didn’t want to wake the others or hurt his uncle’s feelings. “Garth is more of a realist. He won’t accept the idea that the alliance won’t happen until he hears it from your Senate, himself.”“Ah, I see.” Bren laid down in the darkness. A fire in the tangles attracted the wrong sort of attention. “Well, you never know, stranger things have happened in this city.”“Well, I’m exhausted.” Bactra rubbed his eyes and positioned himself for his rest cycle. “Time for the Reverie. See you in four hours.”Bactra closed his eyes and was instantly into his cycle.“That is an amazing thing,” Bren couldn’t help but be transfixed by the resting forest elf. “I’ve never seen an elf do that before.”“Not all elves do,” Garth sat near the edge of the building, leaning against a foot high stone wall, which use to go around the entire building. “It is unique to the forest elves. Hmm, however, the hunter elves of the Verdalf Forest do something similar, but it is standing up.”“Can he hear us?” Bren looked back and forth from the wizard to the ranger.“No, I don’t think so,” Garth felt the need to divert the Onan’s attention. “Can I ask you a question?”“Sure,” Bren yawned.“Why do you stay?”“You mean us Onans, sir.” Bren replied.“No, I mean you personally, and your family. You could start a new life for your children someplace that isn’t so dangerous.”“I’ve just been stubborn, I guess. My wife wishes to leave and my son isn’t old enough to have become firmly entrenched in Onan way of life. I still love what’s left of my father’s family and, I guess, I feel like I’d be abandoning them.”“Yet, they refuse to deal with you due to social stigma.” Garth wondered if this city was a place that the Eastern Shores wanted as an ally.“What you say is correct, sir. Yet, I have to ask myself, if it had been their dishonor, would I have subjected my family to it. The truth is, I cannot say for certain.”“And now, after this latest attack. You showed bravery and honor in protecting your people. That should cancel out any previous dishonor.”“Unfortunately, it is not that simple, sir.” Bren’s mood seemed to be heading towards melancholy.“I will say nothing more on the subject, except this; if the alliance isn’t cast then you and family can travel with us back to the Eastern Shores. I can’t ensure that the trip will be easy, but I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t offered. Call it my own personal code of honor.”“Thank you,” Bren was visibly surprised. “I will consider it if and when it becomes required to do so.”They did not speak again until dawn, after the horns announced that the enemy was retreating.End: The Alliance (Part I)Below is a brief description of two new major NPCs that the characters encountered during this part of the adventure.Avaniia (NPC, elven female) - At this point, there is very little that the characters have learned about the evil elven woman, known as Avaniia (also known as The Foulsoul), who tried to trick the characters into delaying their journey to Onaway. The most the PCs discovered were the elven witch’s plan too lay siege to Onaway. (She was so confident that her ogre and merrow allies would make short work of them that she felt like bragging to the PCs.)Kellin One-Eye (NPC, ogre hero) - Kellin One-Eye is the only ogre on Harqual that is welcome in the Kingdoms of the Eastern Shores and a few city-states in the west. He is a hero in those lands and fights to protect humans from the predatory nature of ogres, orcs, and other evil humanoids. Why he chose to side with humanity against his own kind is a mystery to all except his closest friends. Some believe that he might not be an ogre at all but some kind of divine proxy of the gods or a spirit of some kind. Of course, these are all just rumors and Kellin isn't the sort who tries to quash wild stores about his past. After all, if these stories make his enemies nervous to face him on the field of battle, all the better. Of course, he doesn't deny that he is different from the savage and evil hordes that are constantly trying to conquer the continent.</blockquote>

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