I wander the city each day, rising early with an alarm clock fashioned with 3 bells that play a small tune. I lead a small group of diminuitive constructs, letting children play with them and selling to those with a few gold to spare. Im living in a small room felix has given me, but feel indebted and want pay him back. I go to the market (emptier with each day that the xill siege the world outside. Next i go to the docks and watch my other creations work pn the fleets, enjoying the salty air and the reward of my labor. I carry a bottle of dwarven alcohol and sip from it sporadically and mentally design more and more elaborate, yet likely improbable constructions. I take lunch with the dwarves and then spend the rest of my day at the temple pf tprag until felix concludes his activity. We then take dinner and debate the nature the church should take in the new world. We finsh around 10 and i retire for the evening.

@Ludditetechie Felix acknowledges that preservation of the church of Torag will be paramount in any new civilization. His main concern, however, is the journey there. Traveling by ship for an untold amount of time into uncharted territories- the survivors will need the favor of the deities more than ever, and they haven't enough priests for each ship in the fleet. Should the gods turn their eyes from them, or worse, should a ship's population fall into heathenism... These are dark times, but darker times lie in wait.

I implore that Felix reexamine the flexibility and longevity of faith that comes from individual faith. It may be greater than a church can offer since it is omnipresent and requires no structure to maintain it. I further point out that pantheism is older and backed by evidence of other God's powers. Serving a lawful pantheon rather than a single deity could also grow the size of his congregations and be more likely to gain favor with any people we may meet in the new world.

Felix is unconvinced. Individual faith without the guiding hands of priests is what leads to people killing their neighbors because "Torag told me to do it." He reminds Luddita that temples and priests devoted to one deity do not necessarily forsake the rest of the pantheon. Worshiping multiple deities in one service would convolute the message, confuse the people, and potentially anger the prouder gods.

You make a compelling argumemt, as always felix. I must ruminate on this further. I will say, the reason i proritize the law over the church is to prevent such corruption of the individual. Freedom is upheld by limiting the actions of those that would abuse it. The church must be second to the state in the new order for this reason

Warning bells ring in the distance, crowds stampede towards the docks, and armor clatters as soldiers march towards the wall. The Exodus Festival has been interrupted by a Xill assault, and Felix has called local leaders to the temple of Torag. Agatha, Danny, Jarven, Luddita, Khan, and Thalia sit around a table in Felix’s office. They are joined by Felix and two other humans: one, a woman in formal military attire; the other, a young man in fine clothes and jewelry.

“The walls hold 7,200 militia,” the woman says, “we’re still awaiting a report from the front lines on their numbers.”

“Thank you, Arissa,” Felix says, turning to the young man. “What about the evacuation, Symon?”

The aristocrat speaks up, “It is not going well. Rowboats are attempting to ferry civilians to the fleet, but the docks are in a frenzy. People are being trampled to death or thrown into the water, several have leapt onto departing rowboats and capsized them. Further, the last supply boat has stopped midway to the fleet. It’s expected to be carrying 50 tons of food. Last word was that a small crew planned to row out to meet it, but I’ve not heard whether they have been successful in fixing the delay.”

A crow flies through the window and lands on the table, dropping a rolled piece of parchment in front of Felix. He unrolls it and his face pales as he reads aloud:

“Three to four thousand xill. Walls lost in seconds. Soldiers attempting to block streets to buy time for retreat. Dwarf Quarter cornered, no word from Gammar. Elf Quarter in better shape but not retreating, are requesting assistance on a search & rescue mission. Please advise.”

Felix passes the parchment around the table for everyone to see. Arissa and Symon sit in stunned silence for a moment- things were not supposed to fall apart like this. They turn to the rest of the table, clearly waiting to hear Our Heroes’ thoughts on the crisis.

Luddita says "We must find the leadership of elves and dwarves and save as many of the people as possible. I suggest splitting in to 3 teams of 3 [ooc there are 9 people here if i undestand correctly?] and checking on the slums, dwarven hold, and elven quarter. We can find any leaders and let them rally their people. We then head to the docks as fast as possible and reestablish order. Salvage what we can and get as many people and supplues as possible. I imagine we only have a few hours at best.

"Whatever action we are going to take," Jarven says, "I believe we need to do so with haste. We should send somebody to keep the docks under control, somebody to assist the Dwarven Quarter, and somebody to help the Elves out in their search and rescue mission." He sighs, rubbing his forehead with both hands before turning to look over at Felix. "We need to ensure that the council is able to reach safety immediately, and to that end I believe it would be best if we were to have them wait for us here while we gathered them. I volunteer myself as part of the group to investigate the Dwarven Quarter. Gammar may need our assistance..." The Inquisitor cringes as he imagines the carnage. He'd always thought the Dwarven militia was a force to be reckoned with, but considering how quickly the Xill took over their ranks... Clenching his teeth, the Inquisitor blankly stares forward for a moment. He had to be calm in times like these. Taking a deep breath, and after gazing briefly at the symbol of Torag on his person, Jarven sighs. "Speaking of, have we heard word from the other members of the council?"

@Beekeeper@Ludditetechie@The Large Dumbo
Danny starts to speak up "I know you all fancy being ruddy heroes but what about our own transport. I'm gonna sound like a right plonker but I want to make sure if I'm going the full Monty 'elping you blokes I'm not gonna get buggered." He looks like he's thinking for a second "Splitting the party's a barmy plan but we can't really muck about now can we. @Beekeeper Felix you stony bloke 'ow many old bills can you spare to come with us if we split up the 'eavy hitters." he said plainly "Personally I want us wankers to all stay together. Never a good idea to split the party in case we all get into to big a argy bargy. Send the Militia to reinforce the drunks since that'd be more their cup of tea, 'ave them hold out while we look for the gaffers the knife ears lost. Once we get the Elves right proper we swing by the Dwarves, paste the xill wankers then get out of dodge."

While i sympathize with ypur leariness regarding apartt split, may point ou that we are up against a superior force. Small precison strike forces are best

Thalia leant back on her chair, and initially refrained from speaking, listening to what the others had to say. She was of a mind with Danny: going up against such a large force in even smaller groups seemed like suicide, and his reasoning regarding the dwarves made sense to her.

"Look, hon," Thalia began, turning to Luddita "these three ain't fighters. It's just the six of us, and I don't fancy going it just me and a buddy out there against three to four thousand. Even with six, at this scale, this is a precision strike. Besides, I doubt two people could make much difference against a force large enough to corner the entire Dwarf Quarter. Better to go see the elves and make a real difference."

Im just afraid of a large group getting caught. I don't think we're all masters of stealth

@Ludditetechie
"I dunno Hen, I doubt we even 'ave any time being all sneaky like, might as well 'ave a barny with all the lads. Doesn't really matter right now, it's two against one but we've got two more blokes that I'm sure would fancy a say."

@Beekeeper
Danny turned to Felix and started talking in broken Dwarvish He gestured at a bird on his shoulder that wasn't mentioned until now the wizard hesitated not really finding the word. "Safe" he just said in common

The changeling in the room listened quietly at first, taking in the scene and prattling that ensued from Xill attack. Her eyes were on Danny when he started speaking Dwarvish, and a smile curled up on her face for but a brief moment. A clearing of her throat echoes through the room to gather the attention, her voice calm, but strong in the face of the adversity they are all dealing with,

"If I may,"

Once she had the attention of those who were listening, she continued,

"I agree that we should not split the party. Therefore, I will be sending my Friends, to assist with the evacuation, while we go to Dwarf's Quarters first, and then go to Elf's. If there is a chance that Gammer is still alive, then we need to take it lest it be too late,"

As she spoke, she stared into the eyes of two people. The first she stared into were the brown eyes of Danny. As she stared, she subtly implanted a trick into the wizard to ensure that if anything happened, then no harm would come to him. As she continued giving her plan, she next stared into the eyes of the Inquisitor, subtly giving him a trick that would help him in melee combat.

@Ludditetechie @Ciaran “Thalia is right,” says Symon, “we’re not fighters, we’re strategists. We’ve got our own roles to play in the evacuation that don’t include running through the streets and getting ourselves killed.” Arissa nods at this, but gives Symon a stern look at the end.

@The Large Dumbo “This message is all we’ve heard from the Elven council,” Felix tells Jarven, “Llenasae is their spokeswoman, so I assume she or Ayrie sent the request, the rest of the council rarely communicates directly with us.”

@JimFromTheOfice Arissa responds to Danny saying, “Redirecting the militia from blocking the streets may leave the docks open for assault. If that were to happen, the xill would wedge between the quarters and the docks, making any efforts to rescue either of the quarters practically futile.”

Felix gives Danny a blank stare as the wizard speaks in dwarvish, then looks to Arissa, who translates “He wants someone to retrieve his alchemy lab and to take his bird and horse to the fleet.”

Felix nods and says, “Where is this alchemy lab of yours? Perhaps we can send someone to gather it for you.”

@Guardian Angel Haruki Symon expresses a look of curiosity towards Agatha and says, “They must be very good friends or very foolish friends if they’ve not yet retreated. Speaking of which, I’m needed on the fleet.” He gets up and moves to leave the room.

“Arissa and I will need to be on our way soon as well,” Felix says, “time is of the essence. While I agree that splitting up is a dangerous idea, it would be better than sitting here debating if we can’t come to a unified decision. As I understand it, Thalia and Danny are in favor of assisting the elven quarter first, and Agatha and Luddita would like to rescue the dwarven quarter first. If I may make a suggestion- take it on a vote between the six of you, and if it comes to a draw, simply split up or…” Felix pauses, his nose wrinkles at what he’s about to say, “flip a copper.”

@Cu Chulainn

I vote for gammar and the dwarves. We need their militaey might, leadership, and skillsetd to build in the new world

@Beekeeper

Felix gives Danny a blank stare as the wizard speaks in dwarvish, then looks to Arissa, who translates “He wants someone to retrieve his alchemy lab and to take his bird and horse to the fleet.”

Felix nods and says, “Where is this alchemy lab of yours? Perhaps we can send someone to gather it for you.”

Danny shook his head in embarrassment both at the fact he spoke dwarvish to a man who didn't understand and because the woman told everybody about his requests. He walked towards Arissa "Oi you daft girl I didn't want every bloke knowing about my boofers." He whispered. the Wizard just sighed then told Felix his address while placing Owelbert on the table "Take care of him yeah? 'es a good lad, that one."

@Ludditetechie@Guardian Angel Haruki@Ciaran@The Large Dumbo
Danny turned to the group "Well Chaps, Since we can't spare any old bills to bail out the stumpies I say we go bail them out instead. Once we've got the boys outa their skiver, if they'd oblige we can send them out to the waterworks while we can 'ave a go at finding those dirt eaters an' their missing gaffers. Three outa six then" He stood up and started walking outside " I'm not too cuffed about being inside during a siege so I'll be waiting outside. Give me an earwig once you lot 'ave gotten your onions sorted out." Danny nonchalantly exited the building

Thalia smirked at Danny's mistake. On his way out, she said something to him, also in Dwarvish.



Thalia returned to the task at hand. Her opinion remained, but as she had said, staying in a group would be far safer, so she wasn't about to deviate from the others even if they decided to disagree with her. "I still think we should go to the elves first. Whatever they're looking for must be important. Besides, Gammar's neither weak, nor a fool: with all the dwarves there, it'll take a lot to bring him down. I'll go wherever we decide, but my vote is for the elves.

Khan was... oddly silent during the whole exchange. Normally one to answer quickly, it was a bit strange that the man was staying silent in such a meeting. It was as if he was actually thinking before he spoke. And indeed, the man was, as one of the many lessons from Pharlan rung in his head. All about how Khan acts too quickly, or how he's always too loud, or how he always eats most of the meat during dinner... Well, Khan can argue against that last point. Pharlan is a little man, and Khan is not little, so it is only common sense that Khan eats more than him. Protein is important for a dragon, after all.

"I see you all have decided to either help the stout-folk, or the tree-kin," Khan finally added, after a long, drawn-out hm, "But what of the docks? Surely, we cannot leave it in disarray. There are people being trampled on or drowning out there! I volunteer to go to the docks. Perhaps I'll take one or two of the militia men with me, but I will go there on my own, if I have to. If they are all foolish out of desperation, then I will talk some sense into them."

Khan stood up from his seat, nodding to everyone. "If you require my aid, just... shout loudly, or something," Khan concluded, before walking towards the door. "You may need to speak up, though. I believe the docks are rather rowdy, and it will be hard to hear unless you were really loud."

Cocking an eyebrow at Danny as he left, Jarven sighed. He had his own stuff to worry about once they were done here, but he was sure that he could have his personal inventory stored somewhere on one of the boats as they were to retreat. The inquisitor stood up from his chair, pushing it in as he leaned on it with both hands, briefly gazing towards the other members present at the meeting. "While I still personally think it may be just as quick to divide ourselves amongst the two pressing issues right now, I believe we may be able to try and regroup the Dwarven militia so that they can assist us in the search and rescue as one instead. It may cut down on the chance of any of us dying en route to help either party."

Despite his promotion of the Dwarven army, Jarven was also well aware of the fact that they could all already be dead. The thought chilled him to the core, but he also realized that there were surely others who were as concerned for the two Elves as he was for the entire Dwarven militia. "I believe it may be in our best interest to hasten this conversation. I'm capable and willing to help the Elves out, as am I the Dwarves. My vote still lies, however, with the Dwarves." Jarven finished with a frown. He truly was willing to help the Elves, but that did little to abate his worry about what may have happened to Gammar, perhaps the closest reminder to his home that he'd known here. Jarven's mind seemed to cloud itself again as he took himself back to the orc raid on Oghzammer, the event that would take him to where he was now...

Shaking his head, Jarven anchored himself back to where he was now. That was the past, something he could not change. This was the present, something he was holding a grand stake in, as were the other participants at the table. Turning to face Agatha, he cleared his throat before asking one last question to swap the floor. "You said you could send your friends to help our friend at the dock?" The Inquisitor inquired.