Fifth Adventure 01: Trapped

Best read while listening to this.

Tabran:
You discover from various people here that the residents are in an uproar due to the unique nature of the current circumstances. For the last several weeks the faculty and students have been in a state of peaceful protest over the possibility of war, of any kind, let alone against their Sho neighbors. The universities nearly closed over the issue. However earlier today, February 8th in the year 348, for the first time in known history war was declared.

Against Stonehold.

The Sho and Naverre have announced a formal alliance, their ships and armies already poised to crush Stonehold into the ground and divide the conquered lands between them.

This came as a shock to everyone. The two sides had been playing a shadow cold war against one another after leaders from both sides met and realized a third party was manipulating them into hostilities against one another. It is their stated and official belief Stonehold is behind these deceptions, and they have been preparing for full scale war ever since.

Tol'Tarn, the Governor, was outraged at the deception against not just him, a State Governor, but against the people in general. Many people are upset, for many reasons. Most agree the war is a horrible thing regardless, some believe Tol'Tarn was in on it and are calling for his removal, some think it's despicable that a nation would lie to its own leaders, some think it's unforgivable a nation would lie to its own people. Tol'tarn is in fact not in Al-Jalima right now having taken his personal, private Airship to Yaraq for an emergency meeting of the Ministry. There are only rumors of reactions in Aluvia or Osteth at this point.

Underneath all the anger and yelling there is a strong undercurrent of very real fear. Such an act might mobilize a war amongst the Four Nations anyways, or something even worse.

Z looks utterly shocked at the news, and then angry. "Are they... idiots? Do they have any idea what that will do to them... to the entire planet?"

"the Gnolls seam to be the target of the attacks since day one but why"

Tab looks at Snarg and realizes that the Gnolls will be slaughtered
"Snarg im sorry"

Zeiss stands around, waiting for the others. After a moment, he says :

"How about going to the Hub?"

Snarg relaxes a at the news, although he still maintains an air of nervousness. His eyes constantly dart back and forth among the Naverre soldiers. He returns to the party. "W-we ... best be gettin' outta 'ere: now. Ain't safe to be stickin' 'round. They ain't idiots, they've been lookin' to hit Stonehold fer a while now. Conspiracy er not they're lookin' to grab their land," he sticks his fingers in to his mouth, biting nervously, "wars gonna be all 'round, I'm knowin' it. Now that Sho an' Naverre's bein' puttin' their 'ships to the north; it's gonna be war on all fronts!"

Snarg of Wildpaw wrote:"Wars gonna be all 'round, I'm knowin it. Now that Sho and Naverre's bein' puttin' their 'ships to the north; it's gonna be war on all fronts!"

"All the more reason to get to the damn Hub! Don't see why all these people are still here if they can just port out."

Zeiss thinks for a second. He hesitates. After whispering a swear, he takes his coin of copper.

"Templar of Adjunct 113. Are you there Executor?"

"Let's get goin'!" Snarg yells, taking off in the direction of the Hub.

"zeiss what are you doing we were told to keep silent and if we realy need to why not go to the Order office in this city and try and get in contact there"

The coin remains utterly silent. Not even static greets you.

Zeiss puts the coin back in his pocket. He doesn't seem surprised. He ignores Tabran's comment and follows Snarg to the Hub.

The Hub is, as you might expect, completely crammed. However there is a short, formal looking Mite standing on top of the Hub device itself, the tall crystalline structure glimmering oddly in the daylight. The Mite is repeating himself, going through every language you've ever heard and some you haven't, patiently and professionally.
"For the duration of the emergency and until more information is gathered, all Hub travel within the Naverre Confederacy and the Sho Empire has been suspended. There are no exceptions. We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience."

well that makes things a lot harder its at lest a weeks travel Zaikhal or rithwic or cragstone and it will take close on 3 week to get to glenden woods"

"i say we go to the orders office here and see what we can find out there, they may know more than us?"

Snarg skids to a stop in front of the Hub structure, eyes wide as he remains completely still, ears perked up in the direction of the Mite. After he rambles through his message several times, Snarg suddenly tenses up and darts off in another direction.

Spoiler:

"SNARG!!!"

"im going after him you guys head for the order office and well meet you there"

tab runs after Snarg

To your dismay you find that this outlet of Country Rider is also shut down, and in fact the doors to the building have been barred and reinforced. The reason why is obvious as you can see people desperately hammering at the walls and door, begging to be let in to send messages.

"Goddammit!" Rory looked around for something to break, stopped himself, and took the bourbon from his pack, taking a couple swigs. He looked around for a city map of some kind, looking for the nearest city exit leading east.

Spoiler:

"NO, NO, I GOTTA..." Snarg's yell trails off as he skids to a halt behind the crowd. Ignoring Tabran, he takes off again in another direction.

Spoiler:

As before, there are a number of guards at the city gates, as well as protestors. While some people are being allowed in at a slow trickle, the exit path is completely barred with several well-equipped soldiers are standing there, weapons drawn should anyone try to run the blockade.

Snarg stops short of the barred exit and stares the soldiers down from his crouched position. "Ya gotta be lettin' us out ... I gotta be leavin' ... please, please," he pleads to the guards, " 'least let me be sendin' a message out, ya gotta let me, ya gotta!"

The guard, to your surprise, looks genuinely sympathetic and responds in Undercommon. "I... we can't let anyone out right now, if we make an exception it'll force us to make exceptions for everyone, and this will dissolve into chaos very quickly." The Troll pauses, staring at Snarg for a moment. "But... what message do you need to send, maybe I can send it through military channels."

"Mil'try channels? I ... eh," Snarg looks over the guard hesitantly, "jus' ... be lettin' Al-Erat know what's been happenin' up 'ere. Let 'em know it ain't safe to be movin' up 'ere ... if they're thinkin' that. Jus', his mouth hangs open for a moment, as if searching for words, "be makin' sure everyone there's knowin' what's happenin' up 'ere ... so they ain't gettin' no ideas to be travelin'. Let 'em know where they can be goin' to be stayin' outta the war."

The guard promises you that they will get a message to Al-Erat as soon as they are able. There's a small garrison there, and it might take a few days, but it'll reach them.

Rory marches up to the guards in a less occupied spot further from any crowds, maintaining a safe, nonthreatening distance. "Why aren't your leaders letting people leave? If it makes any difference, neither me nor my companions are refugees."

The guard looks at the strange, not-Elf for a moment before answering. "People are scared, and riot or no this entire situation is on the verge of hitting a full blown panic. We could let people out, but then that would make more people want to go, and where would they go? Homes and work abandoned, people trampled over, families separated?" The guard shakes her head. "No, we need to keep things contained just for now, until people settle a bit. This is only temporary, honest. It's not like I don't understand, after all, I...." she fumbles her words for just a second, "..I have people out there I'm worried about too."