Brantos Calderon's page

Brantos shakes his head. "Nasty surprise when we saw those cave giants, of course. But the Chief Defender is a fine tactician, certainly worthy of her high reputation. We picked off as many as we could from a distance in harrying maneuvers, but that considerably diminished our supply of arrows. We had to leave a few of the giants and hope that the bowmen on the palisades could take care of them. Or Alicia, of course." He offers her a playful wink.

Brantos glances up as the group enters. "Ah, here he is," he grins, approaching enthusiastically to clasp Marikel's hand in greeting. "Man of the hour, eh? And Alicia, well done indeed. I don't believe I've had the pleasure," he goes on in a hearty whisper out of consideration for those sleeping, smiling politely to Dorn, Mahath, and Levvy. "Brantos Calderon. An honor to meet you."

"Iomedae guide you." Brantos takes his leave, spurring his horse back toward the northeast.

"Ha! Well done indeed," Brantos laughs. "I was attempting to track down that giant before it could cause any more mayhem. You say you've defeated it?" He guides his horse to take a few more steps past the catapult until he can see the oversized corpse laid out on the ground. "And so you have. Miss Alicia," he greets her. "Master dwarf. Citizens." He nods politely to Levvy and Mahath. "We fare well, well indeed. The Chief Defender and the Patrol Captain are fine leaders of men. They have broken the strength of the Twisted Nail, and the survivors are fleeing ... if we don't cut them down before they escape. If you have this well in hand, my horse can be put to better use hunting orcs?" he asks politely.

It nears quickly, resolving itself to be Brantos Calderon. "Ho!" he calls ahead. "What's going on here? ...Marikel?" he questions, clearly surprised to see the cleric repositioning a catapult outside the walls. "Is all well? How fares the town?"

"How so? I only looked into the murder of a fellow citizen."

"Aye," the paladin beams. "Pitching in, lending a hand, demonstrating that we're all part of the same team, pulling together."

Brantos greets his fellow Iomedaeans with a hale smile. "It would seem I have you to thank for permission to ride with the Patrol," he tells Marikel, reaching out to grip his forearm in both greeting and farewell.

Brantos nods his approval. "I would have been proud to fight alongside him. What's all this about an imminent orc attack? Marikel, do you know anything about that?"

Brantos frowns in consternation. "Which --? No, you're right, of course: it's best not to voice such suspicions unless they are proven. To sow distrust in the lawful authorities is to invite anarchy. I shall approach the councillors without bias and breathe not a word to the citizenry."

"As would only be fair," the paladin succumbs graciously, "as it would be merely my own word as to the aura I saw. In Lastwall, my evidence could be corroborated by officers of the court. Here, an unscrupulous person might abuse such power, knowing no one else is likely to gainsay him. Still, with Marikal here on the posse comitatus," he slaps the cleric on the shoulder heartily, "I can at least report my findings to him and know that he will follow up by investigating my lead and uncovering such evidence as is admissible to the local authorities."

"Brantos, you were about last night looking for Miss Alicia and Miss Ruby. Did you see or hear anything suspicious?"

The paladin frowns. "No, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, having a good time. I wasn't on the outlook for evil afoot, I must admit." He gives Tyari an apologetic glance.

Marikel is up in a flash. As he dresses and arms himself he looks across to Brantos.

"You found Miss Alicia last night, right?"

Brantos looks wounded. "Would I have given up and gone to sleep if I hadn't?" He is strapping on his own armor and buckling on his sword belt just as quickly as Marikel is.

"Well, that's one less worry."

"Aye," he smirks, "that whatever's wrong, she's not up to her neck in it?" He sees that Marikel is ready to go and tells him, "Go on and see why they've sounded the alarm. I'll wait here with Tyari for now. If there's need, people know to come here for healing."

"That someone jostled her from behind and she fell forward, twisting her ankle," Brantos replies with a slight frown. "Which agrees with Miss Dawnblade's account but still fails to account for the delay."

"Did Alicia say anything when you were with her?"

Brantos arches an eyebrow. "She said the girl tripped on her way to the stage. I suppose everyone else stopped moving when she fell, to check if she was all right or to avoid stepping on her. Still, it doesn't explain why no one moved before that. I saw her fall, and it was after you and Miss Banny and the gnome had already taken the stage."

The competition seems to have come to some sort of conclusion, though Tyari and Marikel are too far to see who might have triumphed, when Brantos approaches them through the crowd. "Ah, here we are," he smiles broadly, joining the pair. "Any explanation for the miscommunication with the school children?"

Brantos grimaces but expertly turns it into a charming smile, as he sweeps the girl up into his arms. "Well then, let's find your parents. Miss Kelver," he nods politely to the schoolmarm, "if you'll trust me with this one, I'll let you see to the rest of your charges."

With the beginning of the tug of war, cheers and shouts of encouragement arise from the audience which cover the sounds of the disorder in the first rows. Indeed, most of the crowd is likely entirely ignorant of the scuffle among the school children. Once the competition is underway, Brantos quickly excuses himself from Halgra and Tyari and makes his way over to the schoolmarm to offer assistance.

"Here now," he says kindly, bending down to help Zola up, "what's the matter over here, eh?" He shoots Alicia an admonitory glance.