https://www.booksie.com/content/shaiyegray230/crisis-392952/chapter/24/version/1

Quest Objective

- Travel to Caldasher and put an end to her brother's plans.

Side Objective Added

- Cross the river.

In a strange new set of circumstances, the demon you'd been hunting has forced you into her service, making you her champion. Guided by her words, you will need to journey to Caldasher, and find a way to kill her brother Tazrael.

***

Travelling further south along the road, you soon meet trickles of refugees fleeing their homes, each of them bringing with them dire news to chill the heart. The City of Tarriel has fallen and in it's place a great swamp has emerged, spreading to the far north and south. A dozen Troll Kings and their armies have been sighted crossing the borders of Tarstone into the Land of Dreams. Lord Iron Heart, although victorious over Bagrodar's war host has been forced to flee to the Citadel of Fire in order to re-group. Rogue Honor Blades that have forsworn their vows to the Lightbearer have begun pillaging, towns and villages along the coast, commanded by Bone Eye, an infamous former Honor Blade that is known far and wide for his skills with the greatsword.

Word even reaches you that two of the most powerful Minotaur Lords, Salwin and Colmar are battling each other over some minor territorial dispute. Meanwhile the Honor Blades, the elite warriors of the realm have all been suddenly re-called to their Keep, Bastions End, where rumors tell of a great battle taking place between the Honor Blades and demonic creatures from the nether world. There are also rumors that Lord Paragin the First Blade of Light has been murdered, leaving the Honor Blades leaderless for the first time in centuries.

Inwardly you hope all the stories that you've heard are lies, but minotaurs are one of the few races on Coroleya who rarely take pleasure in that particular vice. In any case you think it might be best to leave the country as soon as possible and take to the seas. The demons' patience with them would not last forever, and they would be much safer out on the open blue waters.

Weary from travelling through the night to avoid roving bands of trolls, you spot a large thriving town in the distance with wisps of smoke filtering up from above it, mixed in with the smell of unwashed bodies and rotten fish wafting towards you. Surrounded on all sides by stout wooden walls, the town is guarded by dozens of redlings in boiled leather armor, wielding crossblades.

The place known as Shadow's Bay is nestled beside a wide river that stretches for many miles downstream with quite a few fishing boats and ferries working their way across the waters. Having been here several times before, you recognize the banner of Lord Colmar flying over the town, a shattered green kite shield upon a field of blue and right below it a strange new banner that you are unfamiliar with, a blackened fist clutching a beating red heart surrounded by orange flames.

Halting your steps towards the town, you glance over towards Lorna, who looks nearly as exhausted as you feel. "Any chance you recognise that banner?"

Wiping a hand across her sweaty forehead, Lorna peers upwards towards the floating pennats, Gorrack glaring hard at the guards patrolling the perimeter. "No, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before, although it could be mercenary flag, which would explain all the redling guards."

You'd heard talk on the road of Lord Colmar's strangeness, the way he delighted in purchasing exotic foods, luxury items and warriors from across the seas, but this was something altogether different. A town garrisoned by mercenaries, who dared to fly their own banner above the town was unheard of in the Land of Dreams. Not since before the fall of Lord Ice Eyes was anything like this possible. The Honor Blades had made sure of that. But now it seemed their power here was faltering, if Lord Colmar was resorting to mercenaries to guard his lands. Maybe the rumors of Colmar battling Lord Salwin were not far off from the truth. If so, you fear what would happen should their armies meet here, especially with the news that the Trolls Kings were on the march once more.

Without the protection of the Honor Blades these lands could soon be overrun with trolls within a matter of days. And with this being the only town for many miles in any direction, you still need to find a way to cross the river, before continuing on to the port City of Minos, where they could board a ship and make the last leg of their journey to Caldasher.

Pondering these thoughts, you hear Lorna cough and roll her eyes. "Well? What are you waiting for? The suns won't stay still forever."

You grunt back in annoyance at her attempt goad you, before shaking your head and continuing on down the road at a much slower pace, your hand never drifting far from your blade. Vivid memories of your time serving among the Wingdarts play through the back of your mind, bringing with them dark thoughts. While you've come to respect a few of these hired thugs in your lifetime, there were none in this world you would trust at your back, which means you would need to keep both of your eyes peeled for any danger.

Gorrack sensing your change in demeanor, shoots you a savage smile and pats his battleaxe almost lovingly, the big orc appearing gleeful at the prospect of another fight. And for once you are glad that you decided to bring these two along with you, Lorna's skill with the bow and Gorrack's fierce appearance would give any mercenary pause before crossing them, making your job that much easier.

The guards atop the town, seeing your approach quickly send up the word and soon a large party of armored redlings are making their way towards you, lead by a lightly tanned warrior with greasy black hair, and a sly smile that always seems to play upon his lips. "Welcome strangers, welcome to Shadow's Bay, since you're new to our fine town, it's only good and well that you pay your respects to our new commander Barook?"

Before replying back, you look around at the hardened faces of the men around you, their expressions devoid of all emotion and have an dark inkling that these were not the type of warriors you'd want to trifle with. Having dealt with mercenaries before you know that they were not averse to killing people to get what they wanted, even if it was for a few gold pieces. However bowing in to their request could show weakness and they could press you for more gold. "And exactly how much would that respect cost?"

The redling smirked in reply, "200 gold pieces."

(Click here if you choose to pay 200 gold pieces.)

Spoiler: Spoiler

Sighing heavily, you quickly dip your fingers into your pouch and pull out the gold, dumping it into a sack one of the men holds out before you.

"May we go now?"

The redlings eyes glitter briefly with malice, before reluctantly nodding his head. "You may pass, but your friends here will need to pay as well, if they wish to join you."

Eyes flashing white hot with rage, Lorna takes a step towards the red haired warrior, the mercenaries all around her raising their crossblades, causing Gorrack to growl and ready his battleaxe. "You said nothing about having to pay separately! I demand to speak to your commander!"

Chuckling with amusement at her outburst, the redling waved his arm down to his men, ordering them to lower their weapons. "Barook, doesn't have time to see the likes of you. So what's it going to be?"

For a moment, you think Lorna was going to do something reckless, before snarling angrily and handing over a pouch filled with gold.

Smiling broadly the mercenary nods his head towards the gates. "Enjoy your stay here."

(You must remove 600 gold pieces from your inventory. If you do not have 600 gold pieces to pay for entry, you can sell some of your equipment to other players at the Trading Outpost or check out the Marketplace to see the listed prices for items the merchant is willing to purchase from you.)

(Click here if you refuse to pay the entry fee.)

Spoiler: Spoiler

Refusing point blank to give away any of your hard won gold, you open your mouth to refuse, when all of sudden the warriors surrounding you raise their crossblades, aiming them directly at your chest and those of your companions.

With a smile that doesn't quite reach his cold hard eyes, the mercenary continues, "It seems you misunderstood me, this was not a request."

He nodded his head towards one of his men, who swiftly moved forward to pat them down for gold, the mercenary smelling of stale sweat and piss as he roughly pulled at their clothing. Having clearly done this many times before, the redling soon finishes filching through their pockets and returns to join his comrades.

Smiling again, the leader nods his head towards the gate. "Be on your way, and fair warning, you'd best not try anything else."

Mouth tightening angrily in reply, "What about the rest of my gold?"

The redling laughed, his bright blue eyes sparkling with life. "Consider it the price for your lives. Now leave before my men lose their patience."

With no choice but to do as he says, you storm off towards town, the redling watching you with that same smile playing across his lips, and feel your heart burn with rage. One way or another, you were going to find a way to rip that smile from his lips.

(Remove all the gold pieces from your inventory. From this point on, you continue with zero gold pieces.)

The town of Shadow's Bay is as much as you remember it, at least for the most part. Dilapidated shacks spread out all across a muddy circular expanse, where fishmongers, merchants and the like sold their wares all along the side of streets. Races of all kinds trudging through the muddy roads that had recently seen rain. All the while watched by Redling guards, who for the most part sat drinking, gambling or fighting each other. Many of whom, judging by their fitness haven't seen any action in a long while. If you hadn't known better, you would have thought you had entered a back water slum and not a minotaur town where it's only redeeming feature was a large manse atop a hill that looked like it had been recently cleaned.

For the most part, this place did not give you a good impression of this Barook, who as far as you could tell did not run a well disciplined force. Still, for a entire mercenary company to be equipped with crossblades, meant they had to be doing pretty well for themselves, considering how notoriously expensive and difficult they were to obtain.

Keeping that thought in mind, you plot a course to the nearest tavern, a ramshackle old building with boisterous laughter oozing out of its doorways. The establishment run by a long time acquaintance of yours going by the name of Grugold Blacktooth. The tavern called The Hob's Resting Place for reasons Grugold refuses to share with you was as good a place as any to collect information before trying to hire a ferry to cross the river.

Thrusting open the door, you are instantly assailed by the raw stench of sweat, vomit and shit. The tavern filled wall to wall with patrons laughing, dancing and singing along to some elven ballad that was being sung at the end of the room by a stout elven maid in a dark green dress.

Gesturing your hand for Lorna and Gorrack to wait here for you, you make your way across the creaking floorboards, feeling Lorna's scowl boring into the back of your neck. But it could not be helped, Grugold loathed all elves with a passion and would take it as a slight if you brought her along with you. And while that thought paled in comparison to the possibility of having your ears chewed out by the furious elf, you needed Grugold's help more.

Edging your way along the fringes of the room, you scan the tavern for any sign of the crazy old gnome and find him sitting on stool behind the bar, examining what looked to be a rumpled piece of parchment. The gnome biting his lips furtively to expose rotten yellow teeth and wincing inwardly.

"It's good to see you Gru, how's business?"

The gnome looked up with bleary grey eyes that hadn't seen much sleep, his wrinkled saggy skin as ashen as smoke. "What do you want? Can't you see I have my own problems deal with. Blasted Barook insisted I hire an elven singer and look what she's done?! My place is a complete mess and all these fools refuse to keep hounding me for booze. Why can't they all just go away and leave me alone?!"He harrumphed loudly.

Clenching your teeth to stop yourself from laughing at the gnome's predicament, you try mimic his indignant outrage. "It's pure madness, that's what it is! We must speak with this Barook immediately and rectify this situation!"

Grugold eyes tightened suspiciously. "Are you mocking me?!"

You shake your head emphatically. "Of course not, now can you please tell me what's going on?"

The old gnome stares at you for a bit longer, before sighing reluctantly and waving his arm to a doorway behind him. "Come along then, I've had enough of her braying to last a life time."

Taking the lead, the gnome waddled his way through a back door and into a cosy room with shelves adorning its walls. Each of the shelves packed full of scrolls, bottles and parchments that looked like they had been there for hundreds of years. Sitting behind a finely carved desk customized for his diminutive size, the gnome plopped himself down and pointed to a seat directly opposite him, which thankfully was much larger. "You've come at a bad time my friend, a bad time indeed. Lord Salwin along with a few minor lordlings have begun seizing land from Lord Colmar, claiming his rule was an affront to the Lightbearer. But whether that is true or not, Salwin has taken control over some rich farmland to the north that had once belonged to his family and refuses to withdraw his warriors. And with no Honor Blades here to settle the dispute, Lord Colmar has begun hiring mercenary companies to deal with Lord Salwin. A foolish mistake if you ask me, the other Minotaur Lords will not long tolerate foreign soldiers on their soil, you have my word on that."

"How far has the fighting spread?"

Grugold rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "As to that I can't really say, last I heard Lord Salwin had besieged the Citadel of Pride, an apt name wouldn't you say? But that was about it, although I hear Colmar may have contacted the dark mages from the Blood Mist to request their assistance as well."

Head bowed in thought at the news of infighting within the Land of Dreams, you finally ask, "What can you tell me about the other side of the river?"

"Thinking of crossing are you? Well be warned, Barook has taken to charging anyone that wishes to cross a large sum of gold. As to what's on the other side of the river, rumor has it Bone Eye has an encampment somewhere over there, where he can waylay travelers to Minos."

Looks like no matter which direction you go, trouble would be waiting for you.

Grugold seeing your consternation leaned forward. "Listen, I got a job that needs doing. It'll pay well and help get you across the river. I wouldn't normally ask, but most of my muscle is already busy elsewhere. What do you say?"

1. If you have the gold you can pay the toll to cross the river?(Toll: 1,500 gold pieces)

2. If you cannot afford to pay the toll, you can take up Grugold's offer of work in exchange for passage across the river and gold in your pouch?

3. You could wait for night to come and try to steal a boat to cross the river?"

4. Kill the guards by the ferry and force your way across the river?"

5. Head a little ways up stream and try to swim across at night?