February 20th:

Snarg:
Scargil leans forward so far that he's actually hunched down on all fours, and for the first time it occurs to you why he was probably able to keep away from you despite being injured. "You know," his voice begins, very calmly, so sub-sonic that it actually vibrates the steel cage, "I was wondering if you were going to bring that up. If I did not already know the story, I would probably call you a liar. To your face, for the brazenness of accusing someone of pulling the strings behind the most benevolent organization on the planet. The only organization that has a chance in hell of stopping the maelstrom that just arrived on our doorstep..." he pauses, realizing something, then shakes his head.

He grabs the mesh suddenly with one massive, clawed hand and slowly brings his head up to eye-level with Snarg's, staring into Snarg's yellow eyes with his own round, blue ones. "But has it ever occurred to you the simple, inescapable fact that the Order accusing one of its own, a group that included an Olthoi, was anything save political suicide?" He stares into your eyes, and you get a sense of the mind that's churning behind his. "Why make such a stupid, foolish maneuver? Why exemplify everything the Order is not? Why destroy their own reputation to the point that now, I do not know if you have heard, but the entire Olthoi populace have formally banned the Order from their existence." He pauses to let the totality of that statement sink in. "And that's ignoring the apology package they had to throw together for thee and thine, which I only heard about today myself. So," his voice loses all its fire and goes quiet and low again, "if you are an honest Gnoll, then tell me." He reaches up and grabs the mesh with his other clawed hand, dragging himself up to full height to stare down at you. "Why?"

As Scargil reveals the news about the Olthoi, Snarg tenses up, taking a step backwards towards the corner of the room as his expression change to one of dispair, his breathing becomes quick and hard. "That's the whole problem, isn't it," he finally responds, only somewhat keeping his volume to a normal tone. "Trust me, this isn't the first time I've thought about that; I've brought it up before. A whole group's leaders don't just turn to something like that out of the blue. The Order weren't saving their hides, they were covering for someone or something else. As far as I'm concerned, even if no one in the Order would or had anything to do with it, there's someone ... or something ... who has control and that means I can't trust them until whatever is pulling the strings is gone! I can't promise anything I give or say to them to be kept in the right place. Not if there's someone in control who's willing to make them do what they did!"

Snarg turns away and throws up his hands in exasperation. "It's not like I hate the Order! Imagine what it's like not being able to count on the largest ally you know of and instead forced to consider that they could turn on you at any moment! I've got to struggle to keep one ally from being taken away and I haven't even been able to do that. No one wants to help us," turning back towards Scargil, Snarg calms his breathing and steps back towards the fence. His voice is quiet and lacking energy. "In fact, you're the first who has even considered I'm telling the truth or doesn't just dismiss hearing something that's outside of what everyone's always believed or thought was possible. There are much larger plays for something going on and it involves what's been happening with the Order, Stonehold, and everything else that's ripping this place apart. What's it for? Gold? Lordship? Power? Revenge? I don't know. I can't even figure out people I know let alone figure out why someone is trying to ruin everyone's lives."

"So: 'why?' I don't know why. I just know that what's happened has happened and I'm trying to stop what's been put in motion. I'm no weaver, no speaker, no leader, and no teacher. It'll be someone smarter than this Gnoll who figures out why there's people out there that want this. It seems like you've thought about it, so let me ask you the same question," Snarg grasps the mesh in the same manner as Scargil and looks up in to his face. "Why would someone do this?"

Snarg:
Scargil slumps over towards one of the stools and rests down on it, stretching one leg out far and groaning in pain. "I think it's coincidental. All of it, I mean, not just the specifics. Too many pieces moving in too many directions." He waves both hands in random patterns, emphasizing the point. "Some pieces fit together, the more I think about it. The Stonehold assault, the refugees, the Olthoi... but some pieces just do not fit. I think," he says, looking at you and pointing directly at you, "that we're just pieces on a board we can barely see, being moved around by players we don't see at all." He points the finger down, shifting it around like he was playing chess. "And I don't know about you, Gnoll, but I had enough of being a piece on a board in the Empire."

Scratching his ear thoughtfully, Snarg considers Scargil's words. His gaze wanders momentarily over to the corner of the room formerly occupied by the Hollow as he speaks: "Nah, I don't care much for being forced to do things by people who think they know what's best for you or are just doing it for themselves. Although, I won't say there's no room for trusting a good leader. " He once again steals a glance over at the corner. "You'd have to go a long way to find a link between a lot of the smaller stuff, yeah, but... What if you knew there were hidden factions who were in on this as well? Maybe one that spans almost all of Dereth. You think it's too many pieces for something as big as that?"

Rory
Keeping still, he would wait quietly and calmly for an hour, watching closely for any sign, or a gap in the patrol, a chink in the defense they could exploit.

Snarg:
"I suppose it's conceivable, but it would take a level of complexity far past us to do that. It still makes more sense to me that we're staring at multiple players. But," he adds, "we're getting a bit off topic aren't we?" He laughs despite himself. "I haven't told anyone about that, to soothe your mind. I don't know anyone I trust enough to do so. As for your friend, not-Mite..." there's a pause. "We'll get back to that. Right now, we need to decide if you think there is anyone you can trust," he looks back up at you, "or not."

Rory:
There is one gap that you can see that rotates around the town, based on the patrol pattern, moving 10 or 20 feet forward each time. It happens about once every half hour. It's also worth noting that the swarm of refugees are causing severe issues for the patrols.

Finally catching up to Fierneceal, Gwydo helps set up the make-shift camp before passing out from exhaustion.

Snarg shrugs and leans against the mesh. "There's someone who helped us out after the Order incident and they might have the resources to actually help do ... whatever ... needs to be done. I've put in a request for some help from them, although I don't know if we'll get that. The Exchange might be able to give some support, but that's a real risk and they're not going to be able to give much for a while. There's a few individual allies I can count on, and I hope you'll count yourself among them. It may come to where we'll have to pick whoever might do the least damage, but if you've got some other leads I'm listening."

Gwydo:
Fierneceal has managed to help you get into a relaxed position in the tent, out of the chilled winds and out of sight. She considers going after Rory for a moment, worried, but is hesitant to leave Gwydo behind unattended. Especially so close to the city. As she considers, she looks up and realizes that they aren't exactly hidden anyways, as several dozen Kobolds traveling together wander by, sparing them only a glance as they go.

Snarg:
The Moarsman gives a low, croaky laugh. "I thought you didn't trust me, remember?" He chuckles for another few seconds before shaking his head, but after the first outburst you can feel how forced his laughter is. There's a bit of a pause. "I'm going to inform the Constable I'm removing all the charges except murder, and that will rest solely on... not-Mite over there." His voice can barely contain a growl as he says it. "But I will also have a talk with the Baronet, she and I know each other a bit, tell her that it looks like the... martial threat I was worried about isn't." There's a pause. "I'd watch that not-Elf, by the way," he says in a quiet tone. "There's something off about her, and I wouldn't be surprised if she's in on... well, whatever the hells is going on." He stands, wincing as he does so.

"You can earn trust, Scargil of Pallidtone. When someone's in a bad situation, you can tell a lot about someone by what they do to others. There's no reason for me to be burning any bridges for no reason and you've shown you know what's important by holding saying anything about the artifact to anyone." Withdrawing himself from the mesh, Snarg sits down on the bed. "I'll be waiting on what's decided on the judgment - I've said my piece on it. In the meantime, it might be good for one of us to tell the rest of our group what's going on. If you'll be okay with one of us leaving, of course."

Snarg pauses for a few moments and looks around uncomfortably. "As for 'not-Elf', you're right, there is something off about her, but ... it's not for why you might think; not anything as sinister. I've sworn not to say anything about it to anyone, so I won't," he shakes his head at Scargil, "because of that, that's all I'll say."

Araiguna still sitting on the bed with his arms crossed and with a rather bad frown on his face, heard the words of the moarsman and let out a very heavy sigh. he then continued on to sulk on and on.

Snarg & Araiguna:
The Moarsman says nothing, pausing only to stare at Araiguna with a completely blank expression before slamming his large fist into the steel door once. A few seconds later there is a clunk, and a soldier appears, allowing him to leave. A minute later the footsteps fade, and you are alone again.

"That's that then." Snarg leans back in the bed and watches the door for several minutes before turning to the Hallow's corner. "You all right back there?"

Araiguna turns to Snarg still with the melancholy look on his face, and says
"ya, I just want to get as far away from this town as possible. I'll be fine eventually. Is that talking orb still working?"

"Oh, I wasn- uh, no, it's not right now," Snarg sputters, "it won't be for a bit. Just hold on for a minute. All this will get ruined if we leave right now."

"Fair enough.. i'll just sit here and think about my options then."

Snarg & Araiguna:
The two of you wait in silence, and you notice the Hollow from earlier has not re-appeared. You do hear a bit of noise and commotion from the streets, but otherwise no one comes by for some time.

Spoiler:

Seeing nothing in the span of a 1 hour wait on watch, Rory slowly began his slow descent down the side of the tree facing in the opposite direction of town.

Once at the bottom, he intended to watch for anyone who may have noticed and mark the tree by placing the stones he gathered around its base, gathering up bigger stones if the ones he had were too small to distinguish it from the others when said rocks were within seeing distance. He would then tramp back to the camp quietly and casually to report his bare findings.

skills:

Rory:
You believe you succeed in not being spotted nor heard during your interactions, making it down the tree with significant difficulty due to your foot catching a badly placed branch.  Nevertheless you manage to get back to the camp and find a very alert, exhausted, stressed, and strained looking Fierneceal who is watching and guarding the camp from random refugees.  Even as you approach you see her shoo several Gnolls away.

After a bit you also notice a large Lugian, still in his armor, snoring somewhat loudly in the tent.

"He's sleeping? Here? Dammit, it's almost like he's completely oblivious to his size and reputation as a Paladin," Rory grumbled loudly. Then, noticing her exhaustion, he added, "You look tired."

What his statement lacked in description, it made up for it in emphasis. He was just as surprised that Gwydo sleeping, as well as being in the wrong place. On top of that, Fierneceal looked like she was going to fall over. The plan was beginning to deteriorate, but he held onto the hope that the people he needed would arrive shortly.

Rory & Gwydo:
Gwydo awakens with a start, blinking with exhaustion and fatigue, having only gotten in about 40 minutes of a nap.

Fierneceal looks up at you, eyes slightly whiter than usual, and it takes you a moment to realize they're bloodshot.  "What can I say, it's been a long month."  She gives a wry smile you can tell is forced.  "I'm starting to think we're just waiting for one last hammer to drop, right around the corner, you know?"

Rory sighed. "More like a breakthrough," he answered thoughtfully. "I mean, aside from the circumstances, we could have something here. Er I could, anyway.

"So listen," he continues, cutting the banter short, "the patrol is suffering a gap that moves forward 10-20 feet every half hour or so. Could be a golden opportunity, but I'm not confident in the luck we'd need to try during the day. I'd rather wait for Zeiss if it came to that. Meanwhile they've got their own refugee problems, so the guards might be a bit distracted--or more alert, if they're causing trouble."

Rory & Gwydo:
"Uhm."  She considers a moment, blinking her eyes tiredly.  "Don't suppose we know what they're looking for, or why... no that would be unlikely anyways."  She lapses into thought for a moment.  "I think I'd rather wait for reinforcements personally, Gwydo and me are very much not in fighting shape right now if it came to that."

Snarg & Araiguna:
An untold number of hours have passed with no word from Hollow or Order when there's another clanking sound and several soldiers come down.  "You, Mite," one of them says simply.  "It is time for your trial."

"Not a whole lot we can do...alright, you get some rest and I'll keep my eyes open," he replied. His tone conveyed he was willing to take responsibility and let them get some rest, but worried about the factor of time and how much longer it would be before Zeiss arrived. He pulled up a nearby log and, after panning his wary gaze and soaking in the spatial layout of the surrounding area, took a seat.