Neesk is a small town of approximately 35 families. Until recently, it had escaped the eye of the monsters, but has seen several attacks in the past couple weeks. There is a 10 foot high wall surrounding the city. The harbor is well guarded by several catapult stations that prevent unwanted ships from entering the docks, so the monsters attack via the road that comes to the main gate. To date, the men of Neesk have been able to fend off the monsters, but the cost has been high. The 2 clerics are overtaxed and few men are still healthy. Till now, Rard has been able to rally the men to hold off the monsters, but scouts have reported an increase in enemy forces that will surely overwhelm the remaining defenders of Neesk.
Michael escorts the party to meet with Rard. Rard, while appreciative of the party is moderately kurt. He does ask Leenia to help in the hospital, to which she agrees. Rudy accompanies her and slips off into the city to explore.
The party offers to assist in the defense of the city. While Rard does not say no, he doesn't readily accept the offer either.
He suggests the party stay at the inn, on him and visit the bazaar to restock their supplies with what meager supplies exist in the city.
6 comments:
This meeting with Rard surprised me. I was expecting the leaders of the village to be more open to accepting our services, and when we offered to help protect the city, he was all like, "Eh."
You know what would be a wise diplomatic move for both the leaders of this village and our own island? An alliance with the Shaughin four-armed lizard people. Convince them to make raiding attacks on the kobold and goblin forces, and this would ensure both islands live in relative security. It would keep the waters clear of foreign threats.
Also, it definitely seems to me that protecting this island any further is a lost cause, and that a responsible leader would seek a way to protect his people by evacuating. He said they tried to evacuate by ship once before, and their ships were destroyed. So it really sounds like the tunnel through Underdark would be the best bet. And if you moved a small army of 350 desperate homeless people through Underdark, with the added coordinated help of people from our island, I think they'd do pretty well.
By the way- what's the population of our island?
35-40 families, I believe Josh said.
35 families is what I said. Someone came up with the idea of 10 people per family. Rard was distrustful of strangers, and while you earned Michael's trust, Rard took more. Your assistance with defending the town for instance.
I assume the dwarves have no desire to really help these people - they are not reknowed for being the superheroes of the world (not like the lawful elves. Also, moving 350 people would probably be a project involving weeks of planning on both ends - the goblins would take care of all of us long before then.
I'm curious to know how the great legendary Rard ended up with this rag tag town being over run with goblins. He should have called Hasborac for help (or is this one of his ner be good offspring?)
The logistics of moving the people, especially so many injured would be overwhelming to say the least.
Add to that, the cave is outside the city wall, so moving a large group there would certainly be risky and expose the entrance.
Joel, just as a side comment, as I recall, Hasborac was a Ranger, you haven't needed one of those yet.
There has been a little discussion regarding Rard's actions and treatment of the party. First, remember that he has been undergreat pressure for a couple weeks fighting off monsters almost daily, with a diminishing group of defenders. Exhaustion does strange things to people. And while you did rescue his friend, he doesn't want to get his hopes up to much, or count on a group of strangers for help.
As for leaving the town, they did try it via sea and failed. Taking the people into the caves is out of the question as they just wouldn't be able to move all the injured, infermed, old, etc. The route is dangerous and has extremely difficult terrain. Lastly, the people don't want to leave.
From my perspective, I wanted to give you guys the choice of defending the city or not. I wanted to play Rard as more abrassive, but I'm still learning how to do that. I actually wanted you to actively NOT like him. As for defending the city, we all know the "right" answer, but you guys spent an hour discussing it anyway, which I enjoyed very much, thank you. I was very specific with Harbek to not order you to defend the city.
Your choice would/will impact the dynamic of your friendship with Rard. Your willing help will certainly be appreciated. Where, if you had waited for the fight to come to you, or fled, or just not participated, your actions would not be looked upon as favorably.
So while you probably didn't consider this in your actions, there will be a definite longterm impact. And now you understand a little more of how I think.
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