Timber -the date is blocked by a small blot of ink- 201
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The seven Humans, and two Dwarves stood talking, the two Dwarves amongst themselves, eyeing men that had gathered in the courtyard, of a great house. Their were high walls, made of marble with a Iron gate allowing entrance to only those who deserved such. Or some how managed to break in. Household guards patroled the grounds, armed with swords and crossbows, looking like trained soldiers, or at least part time militia men.
The house was more like a complex, with a fountain in the center of a stone path that lead to differant buildings, all of which were made of the same Marble as the walls. Out of the huge double doors of the center house, came a giant of a man, covered in Iron Mail, looking slightly regal in the gold trimmed cloak and the two Household guards that marched in his wake. The ten adventurers lined up, most of them looking relaxed, as they fully knew they wern't expected to act like soldiers.
The man they all knew only as 'Hal', gazed at them with barely visable grey eyes from behind his helmet, looking the line down, finishing his sweeping gaze on Strife. "You there, your a soldier are you not?"
The man shuffled his feet. "Yes...Mi'lord." Hal boomed laughter. "None of that now." The man relaxed as he realised he wasn't expected to call his 'boss' My Lord every five seconds. "You will set a good example for this lot. No I wont be pushing you lot into line. You will do that yourselves, and follow orders, or you may just end up dead for what I have in mind. I have no time to test your skills, so I shall assume you all are ready for the task at hand. You all came with equipment, which is good, as I have none to spare, not when most of my own men are off on lease to the king, fighting his wars and all. You are all his citizens...or at least, not the Stone Folk who have come to offer their great service." Halastor glanced at the two Dwarven adventurers, not unkindly. "So you know what its like. Comeing to arms on your own was a wise choice, if the king had found out you had some skill in arms, he might have conscripted you for his own senseless battles." This might amuse any human citizen that lived in the Kingdom, but the Dwarves might not catch the reference.
"You know why your here, fame, glory, riches, and maybe a fine lass on the way out if you can. I know how it is. But the reason, you will likely never know until the end. Of your very short lives that is. You shall do as I say, and you will do it on the spot if you want to survive the dangers. If you refuse, I wont even yell at you. The Goblins will come and handle the punishments." The mention of the Greenskins could bring chills to anyone there. "You have until dawn to be ready, then we march." A man in Iron Mail with a axe came up to talk to Hal. Whispering for a few moments, Hal nodded. The man took almost all the Household men with him as he left, leaveing only enough to patrol the grounds. "It seems we won't have ANY of my own men to aide us on our journeys at all. A pity. Were on our own from here on. Worst yet, Goblins are planning an attack, and we have to stop it. We march on Dreadfulgazes, now."
Hal shook his head slowly. Hal asked all their names, and then nodded slowly now. "Shoruke, Neo, Urist, Strife, you and me shall go to attack the fortress in one group. The other group will sweep behind our wake and mop up anyone left, joining us if they can."
"Just us...Hal?" Asked Fred, a man armed with an axe and also in mail. "Yes. No time to wait for more forces. Your all hired. Your first payment, all the loot you can carry after were done with the fort. And theres a lot of it."
This came with smiles, but unease, as the men, and Dwarves all realised they had to take on an entire Dark Fortress, all on their own. Ten against, perhaps hundreds. "My kind of odds." Said Hal aloud, gaining looks of pure dread.
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Journel updates from here on out, until I say otherwise.
You may write in your journels now if you like, about the meeting, or about the (partway, not complete) journey through a forest together in the groups indicated. If you wernt mentioned to come with Hal, your in the other group trailing.