Nevaeh enters, closely scrutinizing the faces of the strangers in the room, as well as the various items around the office. "Hello!" They smile to everyone.

Tayvello follows the woman into the office with the others, his eye on her blade more than her. In the office Tayvello gives Nevaeh a nod in response to them then turns his attention back to the woman waiting to hear about the job. 

Kairynna follows Nevada into the room. Smiling she approaches their host. "I saw the devastation outside of town and wish to help. I am Kairyanna, wandering doctor and mediator." She bows slightly and gracefully leans against a bear by wall to listen to the woman. 

The office that you are all piling into is not massive (and so you all end up standing). It is a nice wooden room with a large desk that has many compartments. Behind the desk (which the Vara moves to sit behind) there are two bookshelves and between them a framed rapier (of much finer make than the one on her hip yet it has clearly seen much use). As she sits behind her desk she takes a moment to examine you all and seemingly try to gauge what your strong suits are. "Welcome to Aoswell. I know it isn't much at the moment but that is why I've called you here. I am Vara Lonsvell, the leader of Aoswell. I'll tell you everything I know about the monsters that have been attacking us, but that isn't much. The point is, we can't withstand another attack. All of the attacks have been at night, so you're all here three hours before sundown to prevent any attacks tonight at least. I've gotten some money to pay you with from North Vexcall, but that is only once you've ended this threat entirely. Once you've done that you'll each receive 500 gold. So, what is it you want to know about the monsters attacking us?"

Sigi looks around the room and takes stock of the strangers who have joined his nascent group in answering the call.  Uraim - a dwarf - carried himself with a casual confidence that suggested he was no stranger to mercenary work.  The name - Silverstone - was too common to place.  He may as well have been named "Smith" or "Hammer".  The others were a young elf, and a half elf who had the look of a wanderer about him.  The last... Sigi had a harder time placing his lineage.  But all had the look of capable individuals.

That makes nine souls who have answered the call.  Nine.  The eight Gods plus one for mortalkind.  The universe working in harmony.  Nine.  A number of power.  This was auspicious.  He made a silent prayer to Sothel, thankful that the signs were so easy to read.

He steps forward and gives a short bow to Vara.  "Hail.  I am Seigfried Braun.  My traveling companion Thoradin and I are clerics, sworn acolytes of Sothel.  Until just hours ago we were unaware of your troubles, until these three" - he gestures toward Kairynna, Neveah and Mori - "brought this to our attention and recruited us to your cause.  I confess, we come to you ignorant of your circumstances so as Mr. Silverstone says, please tell us all you can, starting with the beginning."

Thoradin heroically refrained from rolling his eyes at Uraim and decided to play a bit of a prank. He nodded greeting to Vara and launched into the full formal dwarven self-introduction, normally never employed with non-dwarves for reasons which would become apparent. "Sothel' blessings on ye. I am Thoradin, son of Adrik, son of Barendd, son of Dain, son of Delg, son of Thoradin, son of Igor, son of Orsik..." He could keep that going for a full five minutes - or until she interrupted him.

After a while into Thoradin's introduction Vara looks extremely confused. "Right. Thank you. I will certainly get that money to Old Ivtan. Maybe that'll convince him to retire." Vara thinks for a minute. "The beginning? Okay. A few years ago the Vexcall Civil War ended and Aoswell got placed into the jurisdiction North Vexcall. After the monarchy of Vexcall fell I lost my title as duchess, but I still maintained leadership of Aoswell. I've been as suspicious as many have of a greater threat coming soon and between my conversations with Priest Soldus and my own research this feels like a precursor to it. Anyway, a few weeks ago there were some travelers that came into town saying they had been attacked on the road. It was only a merchant caravan but they had a number of mercenaries defending it so they managed to get here in one piece. After that I requisitioned more troops from North Vexcall to make sure Aoswell stayed safe. They sent some, but not as many or as qualified as I had hoped. Then, about ten days ago, Old Ivtan was attacked on the field and much of it was burned. The fire was stopped but a quarter of our crop had been destroyed. Patrols were established and securities raised but each night more fires were set to different parts of the fields. At the moment, our crop is an eighth the size it normally is. That means we would have just enough to keep our people fed in the year to come but have no exports to get any other necessary resources. The most recent fire was a few nights ago and travelers entering the town have said they were also accosted by these monsters. I did consider the reinstatement of a local militia but so many of Aoswell's people came to a farming town to escape war and leave whatever experience they had there and I can't do that to them. So I turned to mercenaries and now you are here. As far as what I know about fighting these monsters, I know that they have only attacked at night and they obviously have a passion for fire. They use pretty simple weapons. So far they have been using hit and run tactics. By the time the soldiers show up they are long gone. They are also stealthy, preferring to hide in the brush, but unfortunately for them they have burned almost all of that away so there is very little cover for them to hide behind. As far as your payment, it doesn't have to be in the gold. If you want to receive some other reward, whether that be items, access, or otherwise I can possibly arrange that. I can answer a few more specific questions but you all should get going soon."

Tayvello stands against one wall, his arms crossed, as he listens to Vara give her explanation. Once she finishes Tayvello pipes up, "I have a few questions, how large is the field we will be guarding? Do we have an idea on how many creatures are going to be attacking at once? Will it be a small pack or are we going to have to deal with something the size of a full platoon or company?"

"My apologies for being unclear. You don't need to guard only the field. Your job is to prevent them from setting fire to any more land and then to wipe them out entirely. If you want to go on the offensive instead of the defensive that's fine. The unburned field is to the North of town and from what I can glean from tracks they always head East after the attacks. The number of creatures that attack at once seems to vary but the whole grouping probably isn't larger than thirty or forty."

When Vara says they should kill the raiders, Kairynna's face turns pale. "Perhaps we should seek these raiders out? I am sure we can come to a better arrangement than simply killing them all? If we hurry we could catch them before it becomes dark," Kairynna says in a shaky voice, clearly unnerved at the thought of needing to take a life. "Perhaps an exchange of medicine or goods?"

"Ahem, I apologize again for my ignorance.  I hear much that is helpful about our enemies' tactics - they are nocturnal, they attack in groups, they seem chaotic in behavior but organized toward a common goal of weakening this community...."  Sigi takes a long pause.  "But what of the creatures themselves?  You call them monsters.  Has anyone actually seen them?  Do we know what manner of creature it is we face?"

Given the intelligent tactics there are only so many possibilities.  But still, it would help to know for certain.

Listening to the other speak Braci stands quietly in the corner of the room taking it all in. Makes sense, protect the fields tonight and ensure everything is safe but as soon as that is done we need to take the fight to them to solve this problem for good.

Stepping forward out of the shadow Braci looks towards Sigi and says, "Conversing with the others it seems we fight gnolls. I don't know much of these beasts but from what I hear it doesn't seem like they are creatures of reason." Turning his attention to the rest of the group he says, "I am not a tactician but I can fight, if you show me where they will be I will stand by you to protect these people. Once the crops are secure, I propose we find their den or lair and swiftly end this threat to the land."

"Gnolls, you say?  Is it certain?"  There is a bit of surprise and concern in Sigi's voice.  That would not have been my first guess.

He thinks for a moment and absent-mindedly touches the Sothel pin on his scarf.  Then he turns to Kairynna with a look that is almost sadness.  "Were it almost any other foe, I may have been inclined to agree with your instincts.  Violence should never be the first resort.  But gnolls...  reason and olive branches will earn you nothing but pain and regret.  I have never faced them personally, but all agree these creatures are driven by hunger and violence above all else.  By Sothel, even goblins know enough to quit when they are beaten or up against overwhelming odds.  Gnolls are another matter."  He looks back to the others assembled in the room.  "I fear there must be blood, tonight."

Vara listens to your statements with curiosity. "I hadn't identified them as gnolls, but that behavior does make sense for them. In that case, calling them monsters was polite. From what I know of gnolls, they are just here to kill." She faces Kairynna with a stern expression. "If that is the case, I am afraid Seigfried is correct. If you are not willing to kill them then perhaps your moral quandaries are not suited for this task."

"Well, I wasn't sure of anything and I was working to help the town more than I was trying to figure out what was attacking us. That is what you are here to fix. I do know that Gnolls are spawned from fiends and I am of the belief that there is a threat of those at the moment, so it does make sense that they would surface now when Aoswell has never been threatened by them in the past. That doesn't bode well, though." She seems immediately a little more concerned after she seems to have thought that through.

"And I couldn't pin down someone who didn't like what I've done in the past month specifically, but if you take a walk around town I'm sure you'd find Tyrem. He'd probably be preaching the lack of order and why I shouldn't lead. He's been a... critic of mine for years. He doesn't hold any real power here no matter how much time he spends giving speeches at street corners. Anyways, if you have any more questions I'll answer them but pretty soon you should get going."

"It is always worth trying to avoid conflict when possible. Should these goals not listen i can and will make an example of their leader. Msybe then they will listen to reason," Kairymma says in a calm icy voice. "But there is always the chance for folks to turn from evil."

Reading the room for once, Thoradin spoke up with "I'm with Kairymma on this, actually, inasmuch as we should not just rush in and start throwing steel and magic around. Then we are no better than them. I don't think a tribute is in order, though. We can try to come to peaceful terms with them, but not from the position of submission, I say." Not that he had much doubt it would eventually come to violence, but between the idealistic woman and his own skills diplomacy was a real option. "But it sounds like food is a real concern in the near term, with so many crop fields destroyed. Not so? What's being done toward ensuring that people have something to eat, and how can we help? Then we should find out where these gnolls are based and pay them a visit."

"At the moment we have enough food to barely last us until the next crop, but because this is a farming town we won't have enough to trade or sell to get any other materials we need. If this last field is burned then we will have no food and nothing to trade in order to get some. What we need now is that last field to be preserved. That is, unless you can think of any way to help the crop or get us food and resources in which case I am all ears. In the short term what Aoswell needs is safety."