Are you guys doing anything else with the things you saw, or are you going straight to where Ozz says the break in the quarantine wall is?
Grellik is focusing on the mission, so he is not taking the time for the guy, and as we head toward Grimgar's alley we should get a better idea about what's going on to the south.
Nearing the Shield Tower without incident, it is clear that they have created a defensive position in the road where the opening of the wall is. Makeshift scaffolding has been built to allow archers to take positions *behind* the tower's walls, allowing them to fire into the bottle neck of the opening. A couple of spearmen are visible from the street where you are, positioned to close in on anyone coming through the opening. A small pile of bullywug corpses heap nearby them, about a half a dozen in total.
The Shields who are watching this area currently look board, but frequently look west, toward the opening. They don't currently notice you, the streets are quiet with exception of the still raging storm. You will have to pass by two spearmen, potentially have two additional spearmen to deal with on the other side of the opening, and there are three archers on the scaffolding who will have a mostly clear shot at the opening. This is all assuming they attempt to stop you from leaving.
"Hells.."Triss utters quietly as they approach the wall and Shields.
Does Grellik recognize any of these shields from either his time at the Shield Tower or at the Coin Toss before?
Triss leans back into Adrien to further shield herself from the elements. A short while as they trot along she leans back and whispers to him over her shoulder.
"So how was it last night? hard to keep it up with that hag mask breathing hard in your face?" She chuckles before focusing back on the path ahead.
"Bear, want me to approach them?" Triss calls up to Grell as he appears to be be thinking.
Looking at the Shields as best as you can without giving away your presence, you can make out one of the spearmen as the half-orc woman who was guarding The Cointoss.
If you circle around the tower to the Happy Hall's side, you'll have a better angle on the rest of them.
Grellik shakes his head. "not yet. That half-orc was at the cointoss during our last excursion. You may be disguised, but a drow and a hulking brute might jog her memory none the less. If we have to, I'll have you disguise me as someone...smaller, and we'll chance passing the gate, but I want to see who else is there, first." He will circle around to get a better look see
You all circle around the Shield Tower to the side with a better view of the defensive bottle-neck. You see no additional guards, but this does provide for better peeping at the ones you've already noticed, at a range that won't betray your presence.
Getting closer is possible, but stealth would be required.
Spearwoman Torea is defending the opening on this side, though she does look rather fatigued.
Yarris the dwarf, and the woman Adrien pocket-picked while disguised as Spearman Tylers are on the scaffolding with ranged weapons. The rest are strangers.
Ozz gives the group of Shields a once over, before pointing out who he sees.
"Your girlfriend is armed with spear, right there, on our side. She seems weak... The poison still not through?" he says to Adrien.
"Up on the wall is the dwarf we pissed off during our escape... The one held back by his comrades? Same with the woman that was in that hallway. Didn't you steal her purse when she thought you a new recruit?"
Cavell nods, looking where Ozz points. "I did indeed good sir Ozz, I did indeed," he hums quietly to himself, in a better mood than he has been for some time.
"Double Hells, if Torea is there its either because they're that strapped for personnel, or administrative punishment for having sympathies toward us. I hope we can get by peacefully." Triss says dejectedly at prospect of the alternative. She calls up to Grellik again, "What now bear?"
Grellik rumbles in displeasure after hearing the litany of familiar faces at the gate. He curses in Goblinese "Too many who know us! Tris could disguise Ozz and myself, but we may need the spell power later, and I know well how limited that resource can be.
Well, nothing for it but to convince them that they are better off letting us through than thinning their manpower. If that fails, well, we are on horseback, and I notice they lack that advantage." Unless anyone objects, he will approach the gate with weapons sheathed.
"Bear, before you go strolling up there... my magic only has the ability to disguise me personally. You should probably hang back, their nerves may already be frazzled and you're pretty huge and imposing. Let me go, I have some rapport with a few of them in case things go south and I have some tricks to escape if things escalate." She waits to see what he says before continuing.
Grellik ponders her request. In the end, he sighs. "Keep in mind that as many or more of them bear us all considerable ill will. But we will try the soft approach. We will approach the gate with you in the lead. But if they are reticent, I will impress upon them the error in fighting us."
His voice softens. "Though I suppose you can think of it this way: this is a prime opportunity to prove that they can be reasoned with.
He will allow her and Adrien to take point in their horse and fall in behind them.
Cavell mutters, "Bloody hells this is insane..." but he puts on a cheerful grin as he trots the horse towards the gate.
Adrien lightly kicks the horses sides and starts its moving toward the gate. Being in the front, Trissae holds the reigns and comes up with her strategy for accomplishing the groups goal, get by.
Grellik and Ozz follow shortly behind.
Trissae pats Adrien on the thigh and chirps, "Isn't it though?" before looking ahead. Once they get within eyeshot of Torea and the stranger Triss tugs the reigns to stop the horse.
"Stick here, but prepare to act if need be." Trissae slides off the horse, adjusts her outfit and pulls the tip of the hood down to further conceal her face. She walks forward toward Shields and slowly raises her hands to the sides to show she means no agression.
"Ho! Is the quarantine broken?"She calls out to get their attention. She disguises her voice using her hero tone, which is raspier and deep, but anybody who's heard her before could probably recognize it.
"Yes and no!" the spearman near Torea calls back, after the two turn to see you. "The whole city is quarantined now, the gates in and out of the city are sealed, but you are free to leave these walls..." he says, gesturing to the makeshift barricading. "... Wherever you find you're able."
Torea speaks up, her rain cloak dripping in the storm. "The river currently is being occupied by bullywugs right now! They seemed to have stopped their assault of this area at the moment, but I can't recommend leaving while they're a threat! We're using this as a point of defense now as opposed to a quarantine. I'd recommend staying in your homes until this passes!"
"Thank you kind sir!" Triss begins before stopping to hear what Torea has to say. For a moment she thinks to chime in, "Getting home is exactly what we intend to do!" but thinks better of it.
Triss then steps toward Torea and gestures over her shoulder. "We're from out of town. I have a small caravan, We've been trying to get to the other side of town all week but the blasted quarantine locked us in, we're suppose to meet friends on the other side." She says then waves a hand toward Torea, beckoning her over as she approaches.
"Madam spearwoman, perhaps you can spare a moment to discuss safer alternatives? I'll try not to take too much of your time."
Triss will continue to approach, so long as the Shields don't seem agitated or hostile. She'll also offer out her hand to shake toward Torea.
Torea and her fellow spearman talk for a moment, before it appears they agree. The man stays and watches the road out of the barricade set between the two walls, and Torea approaches.
She shakes Trissae's hands. She seems tired, but not hostile.
Trissae shakes Torea's hand eagerly and then turns, leading with the handshake, toward the direction they are approaching from. She does this to hide her face from the other shields and then begins to talk in a hushed tone.
"Torea, it's me Trissae. SHH! don't say anything unusual or react. We're on our way through to find out info on the others. We know that the Feng is free." Triss gestures and emotes using her acting quality for the sake of other onlookers.
"I need your help to keep this from turning into a scene, some of the boys are piping hot mad and it wouldn't take much for a brawl to break out." She laughs and pats Torea on the shoulder then gesturing over to the wall.
"Also, we have a lead on how to stop this crazy shit going on inside Yartar and are going to hit it head on after we've made sure the rest of the Sharks are safe." She turns sidelong to Torea and puts her hands on both her shoulders, looking her dead in the eyes.
"I promise you, no matter what happens... We will make this right, and return things to normal. That might just mean the Shields will have to go back to the traditional ways of trying to catch us." She reaches into the hood and pulls down the scarf and gives Torea a smile before lifting the scarf again.
Torea tries her best to hide her surprise with Trissae reveals herself to the spearwoman. Still, her eyes go wide, and she gives a not-very nonchalant glance back toward the other guards (Who appear to be minding their own business in the storm), and fidgets more while the drow talks.
After Triss finishes, Torea shows and expression of thoughtful indecision before speaking. "Look, I know you mean what you say when you speak of helping us out, that you don't mean any intentional hard... But your world and ours are very different. You're bandits who have made a living off of the lives of people from my world. While I trust your heart, I can't trust you actually know what is best for people in my world... "
"Even still... Yartar has many more problems that the Bogsharks right now. To be honest... Except for a few groups who have been ordered to engage you if spotted, the rest of us have been told not to engage, only to report. I don't want you lot to get into a fight here, I've seen what you can do, and I've been told that there is a forth one of you now too." he looks over at the large, rusty horse a bit away which bears Grellik.
"Truth be told, you can probably just ride right out without opposition, and I'll hold my report until after you're gone to buy you time..." she looks uncertain again, as if she wants to say something more, but isn't sure if she should...
Seeing the spearwoman not being very discrete, Cavell trots the horse up closer. "Mornin' love. Glad to see you survived the poison--and looking beautiful as ever--but alas, no time for flirting."
"Things have changed. One of ours has the plague," he sighs. "No choice now but to save your cursed Godsdamned city. Tymora's a cheeky wench sometimes, but there it is. I imagine that's as good as trust gets between guards and bandits."
Cavell tosses the good luck charm pouch he pickpocketed earlier. "Doesn't seem to work for me. She can have it back. By the way, where's Silvers held up?"
Triss looks over at Adrien as he speaks, he can see the look of relief wash over her as he speaks. After he finishes she looks back to Torea. She waits for Torea to respond before responding herself.
"If there is anything, anything else you can tell us that will keep our two parties from coming to conflict or that can help please tell us now before we head past."
After Torea responds Triss will head back to hop on the horse. Before she does she'll turn and say one last thing to the Shield.
"No matter what happens Shield, I will never be able to see you as my enemy again. I hope that one day you and yours can say the same of me." She'll then climb back onto the horse, this time behind Adrien, and hold tight onto him to prepare for departure.
Spearwoman Torea looks up at the mounted Adrien with slightly haunted, exhausted eyes. While he feels that flirting was charming and well-spoken, it doesn't seem to affect her very much. She looks back at him with a further, conflicted glance and pauses to think. Maybe it is true what they say; recent poisoning victims who survived by the skin of their teeth and are now faced with a difficult internal conflict while risking one's life too early after their rehabilitation to protect others from monsters during a city wide, magical storm-plague, just have no appreciation for a good compliment and handsome face.
She catches the charm pouch and looks over it thoughtfully, while Trissae speaks up. Finally, Torea replies.
"Retergrad's team, Captain Wen's team, and Lord Frostheight's team are the only three groups given authorization to engage with you. The rest are strictly defense." she says simply. "Others are unhappy about this... I'll let Silvers know about your words when I see her next. She's roaming the streets with another team, protecting people."
With that, she turns her back to return back to her post, if not stopped.
Cavell watches her go, if you know what I mean.
As Trissae settles back on the horse she waves back at the rest of the crew. "We're clear to pass! let's make haste." She then turns and leans her head over Adrien's shoulder and whispers into his ear.
Trissae leans in and kisses Adrien on the cheek. "Why can't other humans be like you?" she says, clearly dejected. She sighs and lays her head against his back and clenches his cloak tightly.
After they get across she'll mention to Adrien that they should bring up what Torea shared with them to Grell and Ozz.
Cavell raises his eyebrows, surprised. "Uh, thanks? What did I do?"
He spurs the horse onward. Once they're through and regrouped he'll fill Grellik and Ozz in on the conversation with Torea (as Triss suggested).
Ozz follows the others. In a random tease disguise and pulling his hood down against the wind, and to hide his face.
He holds his breathe for a moment as he passes between the two groups of spear man, and can feel the eyes of the archers on his back, expecting an attack.
Triss re-mounts, and you make a convoy of riders through this defensive position the Shields have made. You first pass Torea and the other spearman, and you know the eyes of all seven guards are upon you. Still, no call to action is heard, and they continue to let all of you ride out.
As the front horse comes close with the torn-down quarantine barricade, the exit out made between the two defensible walls of the happy hall, and whatever the estate is on the other side, the half-orc woman (the one who previously guarded the Coin Toss, and who Cavell caught using thieves cant) speaks up through the storm.
"Careful out there folks. If you're adventurers, and you look it, I hear that our brass wants more information about the current state of the Citadel and Captain Irontooth. If you see anything worth while, the brass might make it as much for you."
Unless anyone stops, another brief moment passes as you go between the walls of the two structures, a clear shot for any of the archers, including the dwarf that hates the Bogsharks.
You see bloodstains on the ground of this passage, spent from the bullywugs piled to the side, their bodies removed to prevent future waves from having easy cover in this kill-zone.
And without incident, you are out. The streets on the otherside of the quarantine walls seem, at first, similar to the streets within. Rain and wind storm and hail makes occasional appearances. As do lightning strikes every now and then. Buildings are closed against the storm, and curtains drawn. People are off the streets.
Down long streets you occasionally catch glimpses of movements. Shields? Dazers? Bullywugs? Usually they're gone before much info can be gleaned, their path just crossing your sightlines before disappearing behind other buildings far away.
Grelik feels nervous trusting their fate to what appears to be Spearwoman Toreas's OK, but he says nothing. He is tense going through the gate, ready to defend himself should any of the Shields recognize them and become hostile. When they are sufficiently clear he breathes a sigh of relief. "Well done, Trissae, I know not what you said, but I am glad it ended without bloodshed. Surely they must have recognized us, at least one of them?" He looks to see if anyone shares his sentiment before adding. "Well, in any case, lets proceed to Grimgar."
"Not to spoil your celebration, boss, but just a reminder, we can only leave a note for Grimgar and hope for the best."
He shrugs to Ozz.
Ozz shrugs back at Adrien, the human voices his own concerns. Ozz had tried to make this point clear, but knows that the others are smarter than him, and know what's best.
Still... It's best to stay together.
You all cross, and release tension after things go smoothly. The Shields have set up a formidable kill-box, and it was difficult to ignore how vulnerable passing through it made you. Finally, you have all made it out of the small, quarantined area to enter the rest of the city. Although now the entire city is quarantined.
Assuming, nothing else changes, you continue to the alley way, Ozz leading from memory. He takes you down several winding roads, needing to think about his path only once as now he isn't skulking through yards and down narrow alleys while on horseback.
The road curves out of sight again and again, limiting vision in this threat-infested place, and eventually he points to a darkened gap between two larger, two storied buildings. Horses look like they could go down it, but only in one direction. Once they enter, they could have to ride all the way through; turning not an option.