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Despite her best efforts and natural talent, Lily is edged out by the well-practiced rhetoric and niceties of the advisors.
Banker Soloman Zane pushes the advantage, turning from diplomatic overtures to veiled threats. Though he speaks of the blessings of Abadar, he makes his true meaning clear: sacrificing business and industry to instead invest in war will invite the displeasure of the god of commerce.
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A deep growl emanates from Esperanza, who locks eyes with the banker. "I have fought devils with nothing but tooth and claw, and broken entire platoons of Ironfang soldiers with my glaive," she says, her talons digging furrows into the table. "I am a warrior, not some child you can shout into submission, banker."
Esperanza's rebuttal cows and scares the Abadaran. What's more, by dropping hints of her exploits, she reminds the mayor - and the growing crowd of spectators - that an invasion presents a more tangible, likely danger than the speculated whims of a god.
The advisors attempt to read the crowd and the mayor to determine the best tact to regain the advantage. Unfortunately, they find the sentiment rapidly turning against their stance. Worse still, even amongst themselves they cannot decide upon a course of action, and this brief show of bickering costs them credibility.
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“Well-said, favored of Shelyn,” says Undari. ”The wise bird does indeed concern itself with feathering its nest, but only after making sure to be out of reach of the foxes. Likewise, we must prepare ourselves for the Ironfang onslaught if we are to have any hope of prospering once the battle is won,” Undari states.
The advisors are about to mount a counterattack when they are cut off by the sound of Mayor Crawbert's palms slapping down upon the pub table.
"You have been wise counsel in the past, my friends, but I'm afraid you may be mistaken this time," the mayor says to his advisors. "Not only are these folks the second group to bring such dire warnings, but they have spoken with a sincerity that, frankly, leaves me quite frightened. Some manner of coordinated attack may truly be imminent, and if so, we must concede that our defenses are not as sound as they once were."
Surprisingly, the advisors accept defeat graciously. They apologize for their ignorance on the subject of battling the Legion, and they admit that they may have let greed blind them to a genuine threat. They excuse themselves from the pub to see to their respective holdings, to begin their preparations for war.
You remain strongly suspicious of these three advisors. You doubt their sincerity, and you worry they may withhold support from preparations - or worse, even attempt sabotage to prove you wrong and save face.
"Since you brave folk seem particularly experienced when it comes to fighting these hobgoblins, I hope you would be so noble as to spearhead preparations, readying our dear home for the coming storm."
Mayor Crawbert agrees to aid you by providing whatever resources the town can afford, including a stipend of 20,000gp to make any purchases you might need to defend the town. He also offers a retainer of 500gp to each of you as compensation for leading the preparations, with the promise of greater rewards in the future.
"You are most wise, Mayor Crawbert, though I worry your advisors look out for their own interests above those of the town. My own skills lie more in the wilderness than in the defense of towns, but I will do my part as best as I am able," says Undari, approximating a small bow in a sign of respect.
Looking at the Ironfang prisoner, Undari decides he has had enough of babysitting him, saying to the mayor, "Would you perhaps have your local authority see to the disposition of this prisoner, then we could take the measure of this town and its available defenses and supplies?"
Once the advisors have left, Undari quietly tells the others, "The advisors have cards yet to play in trying to get back in the mayor's good graces, and I wouldn't put it past them to withhold support or even actively try to sabotage us--as odd as that may be given their own lives could be forfeit in the attempt to prove us wrong. We should have them watched carefully."
Esperanza visibly relaxes as the advisors retreat, though she still watches them until they are out of sight. Undari's quiet warning, however, sets her tail lashing in agitation again.
"We've publicly humiliated them. It should be no surprise that they would place their egos ahead of more practical issues like mere survival," she says, with a glance toward the door and the world beyond.
"Yes, we'll need to keep an eye on the pair of them, but for now we've a town to save." Thorek takes a deep breath and the lets it out, trying to not show how daunted he is by the enormity of the task.
Then the dwarf marches over to the assembled merchants and asks them their names and professions. "I won't sugarcoat it: the situation is bad, but not hopeless. The first thing we need to do is get the crops brought in behind the walls. Right now, your biggest source of food is vulnerable to a midnight raid by Ironfang cavalry. Harvest those fields before the hobgoblins burn them."
"In the meantime, our guest here," Thorek gestures to indicate ____. "...has informed us that other Ironfang forward camps have been established in the area. We're going to find them and destroy them--this should delay the enemy and also liberate additional supplies we can use."
"As to keeping an eye on some... key individuals, I think that Flopsy and I have some thoughts on the matter. We've been conversing and I think there is a lot we can offer the people of Longshadow by staying here," Gaius says. "We can organize things in town while everyone else takes the fight to the Ironfang camps, while also keeping an eye on it's people."
The mayor sends for his head sheriff, and after about fifteen minutes, she arrives: a half-orc woman of middle age and ashen skin, her most prominent feature is her iron dental work. A pair of iron inserts replace the broken tusk-teeth, protruding from her lower jaw.
"Grenta, please take this enemy agent to the jail," Mayor Crawbert commands the sheriff. "Please keep him behind your thickest bars."
With a solemn, wordless nod, the sheriff escorts Mahrzan away.
"As we prepare to defend Longshadow, if you are of a mind to investigate the area around town, I have a suggestion to offer. Well...it may be more of a request," Mayor Crawbert says after the Ironfang prisoner has been removed.
"There is a wizard who keeps her tower about 20 miles from here. Her name is Navah, and she is a friend of mine. In fact, we were part of the same band of adventurers back in the day. While I am certain that she would be a grand help in the coming battle, I am also worried. She usually visits town every couple of weeks to collect supplies for her research, but she failed to collect her last order. At first I believed she was merely busy with her work, but now that I know the Ironfang Legion is mobilized in the hills...well, I fear the worst."
Thorek gives Gaius a slow nod. "The town could certainly stand to have some extra firepower around here, and I'd feel better knowing there's someone trustworthy keeping an eye on things." He gives Flopsy an openly skeptical look. "You might be useful too, I guess. Maybe."
Looking around at the others Thorek shrugs. "Well once the early harvest gets underway I say we set out as soon as possible. We can check on this replacement for Gaius local wizard and scout out or destroy any Ironfang camps we come across. Any objections?"
"Sounds reasonable to me, Thorek," responds Undari, turning to Gaius and adding, "Though I will miss having you by my side in the heat of combat, Gaius."
"Gaius, I worry how you will survive without me and Thorek to watch over your," Esperanza teases, but quickly regains her usual seriousness. "Be careful. They may appear to be soft and craven, but remember that they are predators, and Longshadow is their domain." She smiles softly and squeezes the mage's shoulder with one taloned hand.
"We will not be gone long. I will be very cross if you have gotten yourself killed in the meantime."
Gaius smiles as everyone says their goodbyes. Flopsy just sticks out her tongue. "I've grown so much traveling with you all. I barely recognize myself anymore..." he admits. "We'll do our best for Longshadow and I know you'll do the same! Farewell and stay safe! We'll do the same, running away is what I do best, after all!"
Lily's eyes start to tear up and says,"Stay safe you adorable nerd and keep Flopsy safe. Remember I covered myself in the blood of the dead to rescue her... Though Im not sure if its going to be the other way around."
"Undari, walk with me, I want to ask you your thoughts on the town's food supply." Thorek attempts to find a decent vantage point up on the crumbling fortifications, surveying the fields and herds and approaches to the town with a critical eye. "I'm no farmer, but we need to get food stored away before the enemy forces arrive. What should we be harvesting first? Should the herds be slaughtered or just penned inside? Your expertise would be welcome."
"Undari, walk with me, I want to ask you your thoughts on the town's food supply." Thorek attempts to find a decent vantage point up on the crumbling fortifications, surveying the fields and herds and approaches to the town with a critical eye. "I'm no farmer, but we need to get food stored away before the enemy forces arrive. What should we be harvesting first? Should the herds be slaughtered or just penned inside? Your expertise would be welcome."
”We should bring in as much as can be stored easily, focusing on crops that provide the most energy and keeps the best, then the other crops can be eaten first. Cows and chickens should be kept alive for milk and eggs, but other livestock can be slaughtered for food and to save on feed,” replies Undari, focusing on Thorek’s questions.
”I will also want to check on the general health of the population—especially those who may be needed to fight and build up defenses,” he adds.
The first day is a flurry of activity beneath the Nirmathi sun.
Thorek begins by guiding the local hunters and trappers into the surrounding hills, passing along some advice drawn from the practices of the mountain rangers of Kraggodan. Undari provides his own insight, drawing from a wealth of knowledge of the natural world.
Satisfied with their work after watching them catch a fine bounty of food, Thorek and Undari return towards the fields to oversee the early harvest of crops and culling of herds. However, their efforts are stymied when many heads of livestock become spooked and escape from their handlers, stampeding haphazardly across the pastures and knolls.
When Undari returns inside the town walls, to begin assessing the population's readiness, this project is postponed when a fight breaks out between dockhands and foundry workers, spilling over into a large scale brawl.
Backed up by Eurydicia, Esperanza spends her time drilling the town's militia and relaying her own experiences of fighting the Ironfang Legion's soldiers.
"Their discipline is formidable, but not unbreakable. They will expect the initial shock of their charge to break your line; if you can hold against it, you can turn their confusion against them."
Esperanza quickly earns the respect of the town militia, impressed by both her skill at arms and her leadership ability.
However, whilst leading drills, she overhears some very perplexing rumors.
One of the militiamen claims that his brother, who owns a farmstead just outside the walls, saw none other than Gaius unlatching pasture gates and spooking the animals, causing them to get loose and delay the supplying efforts.
In a similar vein, another member of the militia claims she saw Lily down by the docks inflaming the rivalry between the dock and foundry workers, leading to the brawl that erupted the previous day.
Even if such behavior does not seem in line with Gaius' character (Flopsy, of course, is another matter entirely), there is the simple fact that Lily was nowhere near the docks yesterday, as you can confirm yourselves. Thus, it makes it quite bizarre that someone would claim to have seen her involved in starting the brawl.
Undari will consider the militiamen’s stories and question them closely, trying to discern if they are being put up to it by the out-of-favor counselors. He makes sure there are witnesses nearby who can disprove the allegations and witness any admissions of undue influence.
Lily just really flustered at her failure walks up the rest of the party and asks," You know leading people isn't my specialty. Do you have any suggestions... I don't want to start another riot..."
"Lily, maybe you could work with the townsfolk and help coordinate their efforts. You're quite skilled with words when you put your mind to it, after all."
When it comes to the topic of the false accusations of sabotage, Esperanza finds herself at a loss. "Could it be magic? Mind control, or maybe a disguise?"
Lily's eyes just grow wide upon realizing that she didn't do that. "Wait... Hopefully it wasn't mind control because I have no memory of that happening..... I mean I have disguised myself before as others so it could be magic.... Maybe we could ask the dock workers...." she says thinking deeply.
Scowling, Thorek mutters a curse in Dwarven. "Foes within and without. Let's go settle this matter and find who is responsible--we can't sally forth with traitors at our backs."
Undari cannot find any witnesses to either corroborate or disprove these stories. However, when he tracks down the locals who claim to have seen Lily or Gaius meddling with defense preparations, he judges that they are not lying - or at least, they actually believe what they saw. Whoever is responsible is trying to deceive both you and the people of Longshadow.
"Well I have a plan.... Undari said that the advisors weren't happy with us correct? Well why not disguise one of us as them and see what they are planning? Pull the same plan that they are probably pulling on us."
"I like it," Esperanza says, looking to Thorek. "What do you think?"
"You didn't see her fool an Ironfang delegation into surrendering their prisoners to us by impersonating a trodlodyte tribe leader. Saved a lot of lives and not a drop of blood shed," Thorek shakes his head with an appreciative chuckle at the memory. "Lily can pull it off I'm sure, I just don't like not being able to help--and I know my limits, I'd make a hash of her scheme if I tried." He gives the archer a nod.
"Well Lily, we're in your arena now; how do you want to run this?"
"I mean either you or me could disguise ourselves as one of the advisors and try and find any evidence of them sabotaging us. Nothing to absurd. Maybe a little breaking and entering."
To masquerade as one of the suspicious advisors, you have three to choose from: Garret Graygallow, a sallow, pale-skinned man who owns of one of the larger local foundries; Seneka Volstadt, a half-elven woman who operates the most profitable shipping company in Longshadow; and Solomon Zane, the middle-aged head priest of the Abadaran temple.
Lily carefully tries to disguise herself but is a bit upset at the results. "Not my best disguise but I think it'll do," she says a bit sollen.
Lily then proceeds to the town and discretely tries to make her way into the advisors office looking for any incriminating paperwork.
Although she is her own harshest critic, Lily still manages to transform herself into an uncanny duplicate of the half-elven Seneka Volstadt. She begins her hunt for evidence at one of the shipping magnate's dockside warehouses. She is easily able to fool the workers there, buying some time for a quick investigation. However, if one of the other two advisors - or even the real Volstadt - were to arrive, things will become quite difficult.
Lily too nervous to really do a thorough search for information tries to ask the dock workers for any potential incriminating information. "Hello... Im here to ensure that everything here is going smoothly," she says very politely to what she assumes is the leader.
"So...Undari. What's your favorite food?"
”Oh, I like all kinds of berries, especially with fresh cream,” responds Undari at dinner that night after having tried to make sure the townspeople were uninjured. ”I would be out there with them if I hadn’t used all my transformation capabilities for the day,” he adds.
”How about you, Thorek, what is your favorite meal to have after a long day trying to save the world from the Ironfang invasion?”
Lily proves too focused upon playing the role of Miss Volstadt to make much headway in the investigation. Fortunately, Esperanza - masterfully following Lily's lead in disguise and acting - is able to break away without any suspicion or interruption from the workers.
Esperanza observes a curious heap of crates against one of the warehouse walls. They are isolated from any other stack of goods, and she suspects there is something hidden behind them.
When Lily inquires about the status of those crates, one of the workers reply, "That special client you mentioned hasn't arrived to collect them yet, so we haven't touched them, just like you instructed. I swear."
"Interesting. I need to inspect them to ensure that everything is in order," Lily says while her eyes narrow.
"For your own sake, you should step outside," Esperanza adds in a haughty tone.
The workers are all too happy to take a break, and they depart the warehouse to patronize some of the dockside bars and food vendors.
With the cavernous wooden building to themselves, Lily and Esperanza investigate the heap of crates. As you open them, one by one, you discover that they contain only rocks, dirt, and sawdust...except for one.
This particular crate, located at the center bottom of the pile, is low and long, and it proves to be entirely empty. At the far end of the crate you see that wooden boards have been pried loose to provide access to some manner of hidden room beyond.
"Gods spare me from ever having to save the world! Just Nirmathas is trouble enough," Thorek makes a warding gesture. "My ma used to make these honey cakes that were sublime. They got pretty close at sublime, but they were missing the nostaligia so not quite as good." Thorek sighs. "I could really go for a honey cake right now."
Esperanza listens carefully for any sounds of movement from the hidden room, then gives Lily a shrug. "In for a penny," she says, then ducks through the gap.