Elhanna follow them inside. 

Upon hearing the crusader, Elhannas interest peaks but she silently watches the man Si’Juul is speaking to, too afraid of changing the subject. She will trust Si’Juul to guide this conversation. Instead she focus on maintaining the guidance spell on him. 

"About three years ago, some swashbuckle, calls hisself Jack the Handsome, 'e took over. Did so pretty quickly too, many o' the old folk must'a felt similar to you an' where glad for a chance at a new beginning. The money was good after, an' the tasks not too hard either- neither for the body nor the mind, I mean.

Septimus is the Archbishop an' ruler of this 'ere town of Arkos. 'E's probebly the closest thing to command within the city, but that's jus' cos 'es been buyin' the Brand wholesale for nigh on a year now. The Crusader's with the Church too, that's how Septimus must'a gotten wind of us. Don't know why 'e needs the Brand up north, but ain't for me and mine to question the orders- 's long as the contract's paid, we used ta do the dirty work. The whole thing with the Riviera turned us a little sour on that whole thing though. Was no way we could jus' stand by an' let innocents get slaughtered. But the Crusader seems to only care about dead drow, no care for what it costs him along the way. 'e's been mobilisin' the farm folk too, sayin' that their sufferin' will sanctify them in the eyes of Ilmater, an' such tales. Meanwhile, 'e's usin' us ta seize the wealthy estates, an' use the resources ta pay fer more mercenaries. Everythin' that man has sacrificed for 'is war against the drow... Ithink 'e wants his hatred ta shine like a beacon for others ta follow. An' truth be told, 'e's been doin' quite well given what 'e's workin' with, aside from us that is.

As far as the contracts go,  Jack usually makes the first contacts, but once on location, we're gettin' orders from the local warlords an' simply get paid fer our time. If you mean anythin' recent, then it's most likely either Septimus or the Crusader, though 'e's mainly been lookin' ta get people south, not send them north."

the halfling seems to try and explain the chaotic situation he himself doesn't fully understand.

"So, the few who got fed up like I did left, and the rest were securely bought and paid for. Good to see at least some of you still in the group have at least a little sense against killing helpless Innocents, even for massive amounts of gold. So, how many of the Brand stationed here in Arkos want to out the archbishop? Gotta be at least a few, from what you tell me. We're not exactly supporters of him either. If enough of us work together we can topple the system."

Paren will start scanning the group to see if anyone looks a little more angry about this suggestion than the rest. 

Insight: 10 

(After 6 straight rolls of no higher than a 5 Paren decides to jump off a bridge and hope his next life is more useful)

Insight check: 12

Does Elhanna belive that Si’Juul is right and that this man can be an ally? 

“I don’t know more about your band than what Si’Juul has told us. From what I understand, you used to live by a code of some sort, our hope is that some of you still do and feel like Si’Juul does. There is a great danger lurking inside the church of Illmater, do you know of what I’m speaking of?” 

((may Elhanna join you on the bridge?))

"Look, I ain't proud 'bout every job I did, but I accepted it as part o' the deal, but Jack seemed ta have a plan. Wasn't 'ti the whole situation with the church that everthing got so complicated. Besides who you see here, there's Andrea and the Dread Sisters in the Market district, they've been chafin' 'gainst command's understandin' of right an' wrong for a while now. Blake still seems ta go along wit' Septimus an' tha church though."

The halfling turns to Elhanna and gives a sharp nod: "Aye, from what i heard Blake was sent ta silence some heretic said somethin' like that up north, from where you came. We don't know exactly what you mean, but that sorta action doesn't speak greatly about the intention's o' the church now, does it?"

Turning back to SI'Juul, Brennan continues:

"Thing is, Septimus is clever enough not to rely on the Brand alone, there's other troops up here, from all over Talaveroth- you got the Bloodaxes with a few dozen or so men guarding the Northward, an' a comp'ny o' Silvershields patrollin' the Eastern Watch. You might also have seen some o' the Third Sons with their greatswords an' colourful clothes walk through the streets in the Fisher's quarter. Our odds aren't great, but with your merry men and Andrea's girls, we will have at least two dozen seasoned warriors. Si' Juul, you know more than most that mercs don't like talkin' to each other almost as much as they don't like fightin' when they're not paid. Septimus might have a bunch of forces here, but if you're somehow able to prevent him from any message gettin' to the different companies, they won't be able to do him any good. I don't know or want ta know what your endgame with the archbishop is, but 's far as I'm concerned, Jack's messin' wit' things he don't understand an' the sooner we can end this, the sooner the Black Brand can start bein' better."

Paren and Elhanna, looking over the group and Brennan as he speaks, you can see that they share a bitterness about their present situation and they similarly seem to blame the recent deals between the Brand and the church. You also notice that, though a mercenary outfit, they respect Brennan as their leader and take cues from him. From what he's been telling you, you surmise that many of these mercenary outfits work similarly with a veteran captain like Brennan or Andrea, or Blake whom you figure out must be the captain you met in the woods on your way to Arkos, guiding their members, not necessarily through an obvious rank, but through their experience and charisma.

"Blake is the one who I had marked, huh? Yes, I don't suspect he will be eager to join us after our last encounter. Looks like I will be heading to the market in the morning. I had business there anyway. Wait, did you say silvershields? He's got one of the dragon clans in his pocket?!"

"Aye, from the looks of it. Sent here from Setessa. True mercenaries them, half don't even believe in Ilmater. And as fer Blake, he can rot fer all I care, didn't say a word in our defence."

(Really sorry about the incredible delay. Didn't bother to check since i usually get a notification, but didn't for some reason.)

"Just mercenaries? Good, then maybe we won't have the entire Silver Clan come down on us if we encounter them. We're going to need to get as many people on our side as possible, or at least, off Jack and Septimus's side. So, in the morning I try to find these Dread Sisters in the market, what are you all going to do?"