- AleBelly: Odlo
- AleBelly: Tyv
- Alethan: Thorhall
- Faanku: "Laughing" Pegg
- Faanku: Falnan Rosleigh
- greyarea: Casper
- greyarea: Pox
- Samwell Turleton: Hannu Survage
- Samwell Turleton: Magna Jonsdottir
- ybn1197: Brocard Bottomhill
From this elevation, Casper, Thorhall, and Magna can stand atop the High Road and look outward and down, seeing Worldtree Plaza, the chaos among vendors and merchants, the throngs of panicked masses surging towards the Land Gate and towards Dockside. They are able to look down at the dragon's back as it swoops low, terror and screaming infecting the panicked masses as it snatches up a guardsman in its mouth and two women in its claws, like an eagle carrying off limp and broken squirrels. Except that, as it swoops up, it drops the women, letting a momentary gap open in the crowd as they impact the hard earth and then close again as the mass surges and tramples. Their momentary gratitude at learning the fire wasn't caused by their forges (this time) passes as they see the dragon swooping, the kobold and dragonborn ground forces slaughtering with brutal efficiency in the town square. As the masses are herded towards the Land Gate, those left behind or standing to fight are being overrun by growing numbers of lizard-faced creatures who appear to be going door to door...
The Inns and Taverns here at the cusp of the Dwarfworks are more comfortable and friendly to the Small Folk, and Odlo and Brocard are among them. Brocard emerges from his sleeping hovel between two buildings to see Odlo trying to run with his wife, but losing his grip on her in the surging crowd. While Odlo looks about frantically among the knees of running northmen trying to make it to and then down the High Road, Brocard is able to see his wife clearly, broken, bleeding, and motionless on the packed earth street.
The halflings and smiths come together at the Treaty Junction - the intersection of Smith's Row and the High Road, where the avenue to the Jeweler's Square lies to the west and the tall half-timber Inns and Taverns stretch off to the east. The panicked mob surges in from the east and turns southward, pouring down to Worldtree Plaza like a flowing river of stink and fear. The Coal Bunkers sit silent above in the Dwarfworks, resting on rails that move the heavy sledges down and around the cliffsides to the docks, all the way down and to the west beyond the Inner Bailey and the Dockside sprawl. A scream brings your attention back to Jeweler's Square - a well-dressed woman is cut down by a squad of cultists, a handful of kobolds cavorting and cheering in support of them, something glittering in their hands.
As if from nowhere, Tyv appears at the elbow of Casper, Thorhall, and Magna. He brushed his sleeves, took a deep breath, and approached the dwarves. There was no time for a flattering introduction. "If you want to survive, listen to me. Running's not an option. We may outrun the men and their lizard friends, but we won't escape those scorchspitters up there." He points down the road towards Jeweler's Square, the cultists there. "Subterfuge is the play here. Wait for a group of those madmen in an alley, end them, and don their vestments." Tyv pulls back his cloak, revealing a dagger hanging from his belt. "May need to gut some kobolds to find ones fitting you" he winks at the dwarves. "Come this way, I know just the spot."
Before they can respond, a massive woman (Pegg) with a woozy halfling slung under one arm (Falnan) and a sack of shit balancing under the other walks up with a large butcher who conspicuously is missing fingers (Pox). He tells Tyv that he brought more reinforcements. A round-nosed, round-bellied farmer (Hannu Survage) looks winded, having been running from down the row of taverns, and joins the back of Pegg's entourage, looking like he expects this group to have a plan.
"Pegg, Pegg! What is going on? What is the hub-bub about?" Broccard says, glad for any familiar face. He only hoped Pegg would take a moment to notice him and fill him in on what was going on.
A group of six of the cultists starts coming your way, down the road from the Jeweler's Square, but it will take a few minutes for them to walk the distance...
Plan or Plans of action?